Kimberly Steele's Blog, page 43

Food Diary Postponed

I’ve had a bit of bad news and don’t quite have the energy to keep a record of everything I eat right now–no worries, folks, I’m not even close to starving to death. I’ll resume my food diary another day.

My Vegan Food Diary – What I Ate Monday April 23

Many people ask what I eat now that I’ve been vegan about 2.5 years.  I’m not a fan of food diaries, however, I am keeping one this week because I’m slowly working on a book on how I went vegan for people interested in the health & happiness benefits of a vegan lifestyle.

This begins a diary of everything I eat in a week.  I’m not into counting calories but I think I eat around 2200 calories a day at least.  I don’t avoid fat or sugar at all.  As far as exercise, I walk at a moderate pace for about 30 minutes a day, about 3.4 mph on the treadmill at an incline of 10.  Sometimes I ride my bike on the weekends, no more than a couple of miles, usually to get stuff or run an errand.

I cook most of my food at home for two reasons.  1.) It’s cheaper.  2.) The array of vegan choices in restaurants is not great here in the Midwest.  I can usually eat much more nutritious food here at home; also, at home I don’t have to worry about cheese or bacon getting slipped into my order.

Morning:

1 Lucy’s gluten free cinnamon cookie (hubby bought them) and 1 Midel lemon snap cookie

Black tea, no sugar

Early afternoon:

Big bowl of peanut butter sauce broccoli, carrot, sweet red pepper stir fry over brown rice.

You can buy this yummy spicy green spread at any place that sells Indian food. The plain mint and plain coriander chutneys are also excellent.

Snack:

1/2 mint-coriander chutney sandwich: 2 slices of whole wheat bread spread with Swad mint-coriander chutney sandwich spread

3/4 cup coleslaw: fresh organic cabbage with sweetened-vinegared vegan mayonnaise (made on Sunday)

Through the day:

 Several big mugs of unsweetened Lipton orange herbal tea

Dinner:

3/4 cup coleslaw leftover from snack

other 1/2 of chutney sandwich

1 cup of curried tofu eggless salad: firm tofu, vegan mayonnaise, onion, carrot, and Indian spices (made on Sunday)

After work:

1 medium size mango an 5 strawberries, chopped, with 2 teaspoons of sugar

Small bowl of peanut butter stir fry, about 1 cup over 1 cup of brown rice

Kiki Lulz April 2012

It's good to be Queen.

Kikizilla in the Lego house.

 

 

Outfits: Your opinion wanted

Is this dress passé? I don't know where I'd wear it at any rate. What color shoes go with this?

Thanks to Acts of Love and Good Works for her suggestions, this outfit was constructed based on her advice on my jeggings and new dresses post.

The tights are actually brown and my shoes are burgundy-colored, though you cannot tell from the picture. This outfit was my favorite.

Macrame.

I did not know that Mr. Steele did macrame when I married him.

Pre-macrame.

My new clothes; your advice wanted.

Please help!!  I'm not a fashion bug–some of you know I loathe shopping with a passion.  I only go because of the soft pretzels.  The clothes I wear to work are easy enough to put together (my brother jokingly calls them Piano Teacher Outfits, which is exactly what they are) but when the weekend comes I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.

Hubby bought me jeggings, the new variation on stretchy pants. He doesn't realize I'm 38 years old, bless him!

I'm not sure what to wear with them.  Knee high boots?  Sandals?  Also, probably not a T-shirt, right?  Should I have gone for a long tunic on top or will that make me look shorter than I already am?

They fit exactly like tight jeans.

Look it's my butt! Hooray.

I love this new dress that hubby bought me from H&M. However, once again I have no idea how to accessorize it. Yes, I will iron the dress before actually wearing it outside.

Should I wear my hair up with this dress or would that be too severe?

Again, I'm not sure what accessories or jewelry to wear with this.

Carnie Wilson: Please Go Vegan!

Carnie Wilson had stomach-stapling surgery in the 2000's and now she's had lap band surgery to lose weight.

I was dismayed to read that Carnie Wilson had lap-band surgery in January to shed weight.  I don't know much about Carnie except that she's a really good singer who was in Wilson Phillips and that her dad was Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.

Both lap-band surgery and bariatric surgery (stomach stapling and removal) are absolute madness in my opinion.  Doctors who perform these horrific removals and re-routes of the stomach are BARBARIANS.  How can poor Carnie and anyone who has had these surgeries ever digest food properly with half a stomach?  Furthermore, how can any doctor who performs this butchery even claim to adhere to the Hippocratic "harm none" oath they all swear to at the end of medical school?  These forms of brutal surgery are the modern equivalent of trepanning, or cutting holes into patient's skulls in order to let the demons out!

This is the least disgusting pic of trepanning I could find. Here's a suggestion: DO NOT Google trepanning!

Carnie, please, GO WHOLE FOODS VEGAN!  Every person I've ever met who went vegan lost weight; some of my Facebook friends even lost to the tune of 200 lbs!  Do it for the animals.  Do it because you'll be able to eat lots and still lose weight.  This is why:

 

Quantity of food is the problem!!  Not to mention, every chicken, egg, cow-corpse burger, and hunk of cheese are laced with hormones to make the animals grow huge fast . . . sound familiar?

Carnie, set an example!  Fire your doctors and heal yourself by eating what humans were meant to eat, fruit and vegetables.

Me, Losing Weight.

Back in 2007, I was a little zaftig at 113 pounds (when I was ovo-lacto vegetarian) I tried to lose weight via exercise and had no luck.

Me in 2012 at 103 pounds after being vegan for about a year. Notice the lower left corner. She has a thing for green tote bags. Not just any tote bag: it has to be the GREEN ones.

I've never been the type to diet or count calories. Still, I found it frustrating when in 2007 as an ovo-lacto vegetarian that I could not lose a few pounds even when I upped my exercise regime. Happily, upon going vegan I lost 5 pounds immediately, then lost 5 more after a few months. Nowadays, I've never felt healthier or happier in my life. My once-chronic tummy aches are gone and my skin is a bit clearer. I reversed a health scare that I had to have surgery for in 2003, that was the coolest thing ever. The best thing though is the energy. I've always got pep no matter what time of day–it used to take a good dose of caffeine or sugar to get going. It's nice to be free of stimulants and still have energy all the time. The only "bad" thing about being vegan is my extremely low tolerance for alcohol–a 5 year old can pretty much drink me under the table these days. Cheap date.

Vegan Tofu Scramble and Pancakes

The pancakes aren't a recipe, they're just Aunt Jemima whole wheat pancake mix made with WestSoy unsweetened vanilla soymilk, canola oil, and Ener-G Egg Replacer instead of eggs. They're good with Tofu Scramble, recipe follows pictures. I like eating this meal for dinner; I'm not a breakfast person.

Tofu Scramble

Ingredients:

1 package firm tofu, drained

1/2 onion

oil for frying (2 teaspoons to one tablespoon)

1 teaspoon onion powder

Salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Directions:

Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat, throw in the onions and saute for a minute. Crumble tofu in pan over the onions, toss around. Add the onion powder and turmeric (adds a pretty yellow color) and stir well.

MEGA Kiki Lulz February/March 2012

Kiki went from being a tiny, scrawny kitten, see to quite a big girl. She now weighs 14.6 pounds!! We now call her MEGA-KIKI.

Kiki sniffs out my Valentine's Day vegan peanut butter chocolate cupcake.

Kiki, Mistress of Shelves.