Tranquility Workshops Blog

Now I’m 11 days into my Mindful (vegan) Eating Adventure, and doing well, not craving  meat or dairy products.  Over the week end,  I stayed on the food plan, but apparently consumed more than usual, resulting in a slight weight gain of .4lb.  So, my weight loss total to date is 2.8 lbs.   Obviously, I’m now going to have to be mindful of how much I eat, by monitoring portion sizes and keeping a food log (counting calories or points).  Even with healthy eating, calories matter. 

I’ve been enjoying some new products that I’ve tried:  Food For Life (Ezekiel) Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Earth Balance Spread, and Vegenaise (Dressing and Sandwich Spread, which made a wonderful potato salad).   One of my favorite snacks is Purely Decadent Mocha Almond Fudge (non-dairy frozen dessert).  Yum!  Joy gave me a sample of  Field Roast (Italian) Vegetarian Sausages, which I grilled and added to some spaghetti sauce. I made up  a “sausage” grinder for my husband, and he thought it was very tasty, noting:  “If you didn’t tell me that this was vegetarian, I would have never known it.”  Actually, I was personally unable to have a taste of it, because I noticed there was eggplant in it, which happens to be one of two food allergies I have.  Joy told me that Field Roast also makes other products, including an apple-sage sausage, which she says is delicious.  Have to give that one a try!

I’ve still been unable to go walking with my pedometer, because of my knee injury, but today is the first day that I’ve noticed a decrease in the level of pain.  I’m on the mend! 

Drinking half of my body weight in water is still a challenge for me, and unless I have water near me at all times, I stop being mindful about drinking it.  One thing for sure….I am drinking a lot more than I used to!

The joke of the week for me was attempting to  make cranberry scones (from scratch).  I found a easy recipe, but chose to substitute whole wheat flour for the white flour.  I now don’t recommend doing that!  They came out dense and un-flavorful, that after one bite………..I threw them away.  Blecchhh!!!!!  Joy thought it was quite funny!  Well, I learned a lesson here. 

All in all, I’m thoroughly enjoying the way I’m eating, especially considering the ingredients and nutritional value of the food.  Eating lots of delicious fruits, veggies and whole grains, and I feel great!  Try eating a big, ripe, juicy strawberry mindfully, using all of your senses.  You won't regret it!

Well, I’m six days into my Mindful (vegan) Eating Adventure., and  so far, I’ve lost a total of 3.2 pounds.  As I eat most of my meals alone on the week days, I prefer to keep it simple, and  don’t do a whole lot of cooking.  I’ve been enjoying hommus (with olives) on Thomas’ Whole Wheat Bagel Thins, veggie burgers,  brown rice and veggies, salads with nuts and beans, veggie soups. Nature's Path waffles, whole wheat cereals,  and my favorite thing of all……..smoothies, made with almond milk, bananas and (frozen) strawberries.  I continue to notice that by eating this way and drinking (almost) all of the water, that I have lost almost all desire to snack in-between meals.  If I do, it's usually fruit. 

My friend, Joy, told me about 2 websites that offer good information and recipes:  vegweb.com and goveg.com.  I’ll be looking them over to come up with some good recipes to try during the weekend. I love trying new things, and this is actually a lot of fun for me.    I’m also on the verge of making some vegan cranberry scones, to enjoy in the morning with my cup of coffee. 

My walking routine has been put on hold for the moment, because I’ve been having some moderately severe knee pain from an inflamed tendon.  I experienced a fall last week, while playing soccer with my grandson, and it’s been hurting ever since.  The doctor assures me that rest and an anti-inflammatory med should take care of the problem.  I’m noticing improvement day by day, and can’t wait to get back to my regular routine.

I’ve been reading the book, Savor…Mindful Eating, Mindful Life, and I find it to be a helpful guidebook to keep with me along my journey.  The authors (Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Lilian Cheung) advise us to take a good look (beyond the packaging) at what we choose to eat, noticing if those foods are promoting health and weight loss, vs. being a detriment to our physical well-beings, soothing our emotions instead.  I know a lot of the foods I was eating , were in no way doing anything to enhance my health.  Potato chips, doughnuts, ice cream, fried foods, diet soda, and other foods high in fat and sodium did nothing positive for me, except to soothe  a craving.  After eating those things, if I was truly mindful, I would notice that I felt nothing positive……only guilt, regret and disgust about the choices that I made.  I often felt powerless about making better choices, because my “habit energy” was so strong.  If I wanted it, I ate it……no thinking involved.  And that, my friends, is mindless eating……..which leads to ill health and weight gain. 

Let’s face it…. every food-related decision we make is an important one, however if your switch is set on auto-pilot mode, you won’t even be aware that there is a decision to make.  You just grab and go, with no consideration of the importance of that moment.  Pretty common to let our emotions do the deciding!

As of this morning, I’ve lost a total of 1.8 lbs.!  An important thing that I’ve noticed, is that by eating foods that are high in fiber and low in sugar, that I’m staying fuller for a  longer period of time, and I’m not having cravings to grab snacks constantly.  Drinking water throughout the day probably helps, as well, although I only was able to get in about half of the amount that I should be drinking.  I deliberately didn’t bring water along with me to some outside activities, because I didn’t want to be  running back and forth to the bathroom constantly.  I tried to make up for it later in the day, but there’s only so much water you can drink in a short period of time without feeling waterlogged!

Some of the vegan foods I tried today:

• Van’s All Natural Homestyle Blueberry Waffles:  they smelled and tasted like blueberries, but none to be seen!  I prefer the plain ones over these.  If I’m not going to see the blueberries, I don’t want to taste them!

• Amy’s Shepherd’s Pie:  full of organic vegetables and tofu in a tasty sauce, topped with mashed potatoes;   I found this to be a typical frozen dinner, ok for a quick meal on the go.

• Whole wheat pasta with sauce and salad:  tasty, although the color and texture are slightly different that the regular pasta.

Now that I’m several days into this, I really need to find some good vegan recipes, because there is nothing like home cooked food! 

At the end of the day, the pedometer read 8500 steps (which included a short hike at the local state park).  My right knee was starting to bother me, so I didn’t attempt to do the remaining 1500 steps.  For me, 10,000 steps is going to take some effort. 

All in all, my mindful eating is going well, and I feel that I am becoming more aware of the difference between actual and emotional hunger. 

I’m also pleased that right now I’m not eating animal products, as mindful eating involves considering the origins of your food.  Watching the DVD of Food, Inc.  made me more aware of what goes on in the food industry, particularly in meat and poultry processing plants, and that information has given me food for thought.   Now that I have this information, I can either choose to put it out of my mind, or use  it make changes in my lifestyle as I see fit.  Observing my thoughts and my emotions related to this topic have brought me to this juncture, and right now, eating a vegan diet feels like the right thing for me.   I’ll continue to monitor my thoughts, feelings, weight-loss results, and overall physical well-being to see to see if veganism if the right path for me to stay on.  It sure is an interesting adventure!!  So many people I talk to say:  "I could never eat that way!".  Well, in my opinion, you don't know what you can do until you try it.  I'm finding out for myself......step by step. 

Looks like mindful eating might be paying off.  The scale says that I weigh a pound less than I did yesterday.! 

This morning at  breakfast time, I was really having thoughts about missing my usual Vitamuffin, but since it’s not non-dairy, I made a decision to go without it.  Instead, I chose to have a cup of coffee and a  bowl of Kashi Autumn Wheat Cereal, along with some  almond milk.  This meal was more filling and satisfying than my usual breakfast, because of the added fiber. 

After breakfast, I got dressed, put on the pedometer, grabbed a water, and headed out the door for a walk.  My plan is to keep water near me at all times, so that I’ll stay mindful of drinking it.

About mid morning, I saw my husband eating, and although I didn’t feel hungry before this, I noticed I was starting to have food cravings.   I began looking through the cupboards for something to eat, and became aware that my thoughts were advising me to grab things that don’t fit in with my new way of eating.  Like yesterday, I decided that I was in charge of what I eat…….not my urges and cravings, so I grabbed another water instead.  After several minutes, I noticed that the water seemed to diminish the so-called hunger I thought I was feeling.  It seemed like a good time to clear out the cupboards and refrigerator of any foods that I don’t want to eat, and I felt empowered.  Later today or tomorrow, I’ll be going grocery shopping to stock up on healthier foods. 

At lunch time, I chose to have an Amy’s (non-dairy) Burrito, which proved to be tasty and very filling.  After eating, I once again recognized that I was craving something sweet, so I had a piece of fruit. 

Later in the afternoon, my husband and I enjoyed 2 glasses of wine (while munching on peanuts) as we sat outside on the deck enjoying this beautiful day. 

At dinnertime, my husband asked me to make him a sandwich, and that’s where my thoughts started giving me some trouble.  Although I’ve never been a cheese fanatic, I’ve always enjoyed eating  a slice or two of Swiss.  As I picked up the slice to put it on the sandwich, my cravings began:  the freshly cut cheese smelled so good, the slice looked so appealing to me, and the texture was so perfectly pliable.  I had such a strong urge to have a piece, but luckily, I remembered that the urge was just a thought, not a command.   I placed the cheese slice on the sandwich, covered it up with the top half of the roll, and distracted from it.  Done!  I then moved on to choosing something else to eat.  As I was only slightly hungry at that time, I decided to have some whole wheat crackers topped with some taboule.  Delicious! 

A bit later, I was craving something sweet, so I had about ½ cup of So Delicious (Chocolate Velvet), which is a non-dairy frozen dessert.    Tasty and satisfying!

I did better with consuming  water today, although I only got it about 3/4th of the amount that I had intended to drink. 

At the end of the day the pedometer read 7500 steps.  I thought I did a lot of walking, but I need to get in more!

Feeling great!!!