Flowers and food

Thought I'd do a post and tell y'all what I've been up to. The coolest stuff I don't have pictures of. I went with our young women to Girl's camp last month down near Capitol Reef and Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument. We did two major hikes: Calf creek, and Sulfur Creek. I was telling my sister about them, and she said maybe her boys would like to do one of them when she came up to visit from California. So this weekend, we loaded up all seven (!) of our kids, and went down sans husbands to do the Sulfur Creek hike. We spent the night in The Cowboy Homestead Cabins which were cute, but a little cramped with seven kids and two Mom's. That's what we get for doing it on the cheap. I was pretty nervous about driving to the area, and then a little nervous about actually doing the hike carrying her baby in a backpack carrier the whole way because some of it is pretty technical. You're hiking down a riverbed the whole time, and you need to cross small waterfalls. I was pretty sure we could pass the baby along OK, and we did. It was a little nerve wracking though. One cool thing about this trip was that we found a number of geodes. I cracked one of mine open already, it was small, and the crystals were plain white (not purple or anything really cool --but still neat) and I'm saving the rest to do with all of the kids.

I've gotten a few striking bouquets out of my garden recently. The one above was for a family friend who had a stroke. I love that purple and gold color combination.

Buddlea, Yarrow, Tansey, and Canterbury bells.

The other thing I've been working on has been veganizing the diets from my personal trainer from last summer. I really liked where my body ended up last fall, and I felt pretty confident I knew how to eat to maintain it, then I read The China Study and decided I needed to go as vegan as we could in our daily fare for long term health. THAT threw me for a loop! We're not perfect by any means. My kids sprinkle cheese on their burritos, I'll throw an egg white into muffin batter, and it seems like at family parties the kids are always begging chicken off of someone (annoying). If I'm somewhere I can't get any other protein, I go for the leanest meat I can, but, day to day, for our family meals, mainly dairy and meat free.

I've been maintaining my weight at about 7-8 pounds above where I was at last fall, but I'd really like to get back down. I thought, well, I paid for those diets, maybe I can use online calorie/macro calculators to figure out a similar menu that's all vegan. It took some work, but I've translated two rotations so far, and it's doable. Wanna see?

My Diet rotation number 1

Low Carb Days (Mon. Tues. Fri.)

Wake up drink 16 oz. Water

Cardio

Meal 1 1/3 c. oatmeal, 2 T. cocoa, 1 T. omega butter; 25 gram protein shake

Train

Meal 2 25 g. shake with ½ grapefruit

Meal 3 6 oz. Seitan, and 1 cup green beans

Meal 4 1 ½ servings protein shake with 3 cups spinach

Meal 5 2 cups tvp 2 cups vegetables

Meal 6 protein shake

Meal 7 25 gram protein shake with 4 cups greens

High carb days (wed. thurs. sat. sunday)

Cardio

Meal 1 ¼ c. cream of rice, protein shake

Train

Meal 2 1/3 cup oats, 2T. Cocoa, 1T. Omega butter, 25 g. protein shake

Meal 3 8 oz. Seitan ½ cup green veggies, whole wheat tortilla

Meal 4 50 g. protein shake, 3 oz. Yam or pumpkin, 10 asparagus or cup of green veggies.

Meal 5 Salad with 1 cup tvp

Meal 6 25 g. protein shake

Meal 7 4 oz. seitan

For the shakes, I mixed protein powder with water, and rotated between soy, brown rice, hemp, and whey (I kept whey when going more vegan, as it didn't show up in the studies as a major cancer or heart disease contributor.) Tvp you can buy in bulk in any health food store, and for an easy seitan recipe go here . I know it's fashionable to be gluten free, and soy free, but personally, I never have had digestive problems with either. Give me cabbage in any form or too many nuts, and my stomach is toast, but grains and soy? never. I depend on both.

Here's my current rotation:

Cutting diet rotation #2

Meal 1: ¼ block tofu with slice toast, 2 tablespoons salsa; green drink:3 cups spinach, ¼ lemon juice stevia

Meal 2: 4 oz. Seitan, cup green beans, 1/3 cup oats

Meal 3: Apple& cinnamon (or 1 cup berries), 1 T. almond butter (or omega butter)

Meal 4: Protein shake w/ 1 T. omega butter

Meal 5: Salad, w/ 1 cup beans, 2 brown rice cakes, 15 g. protein shake

Meal 6: Chocolate tapioca pudding and ½ c. raspberries

Meal 7: (if you need it) 1 whole grapefruit

Recipe for chocolate tapioca pudding:

1 c. almond milk

1 T. tapioca

1 T. cocoa

stevia and salt

So I'm really liking the second rotation better. It's about 700 calories less, but the higher carb content, and variety of foods is a lot easier on me mentally. When I make the seitan, I finish it, slice it thinly, dredge in whole wheat flour, and cook in a nonstick skillet coated in cooking spray. I do the whole weeks worth of meals at once, and pack them up so I'm ready to go. I also mash up the portions of tofu, and cook them with a chopped onion, and turmeric, chili powder, curry, etc. so they are like a tofu scrambler and ready to go. The tapioca is all made at once in the beginning of the week too. The other night, everyone had cake at a family party, and I wanted some so bad! i was able to come home and have that chocolate fix, and be OK. It really worked. Sometimes it doesn't work, I'll be honest, but it's a good weapon.

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