Dating animal free

As a person who doesn’t actively seek out other vegans to date and start a commune with it can be a little awkward crushing a meat loving man’s dreams by telling him I don’t touch the stuff. This must be handled carefully from keeping him running for the hills.  After dropping the bomb you usually get a blank face staring back at you with one eye looking for the door. I blame this on the vegan thing but it’s entirely possible that it’s something else like my red hair and freckley skin. Nobody wants a ginger baby. I digress.

So my new plan is to avoid any sort of food situation for the first three months. That’s totally realistic right? For instance, I was just offered to go out for tapas and I smoothly played that one off by saying I’d love to join you but will be saving all my stomach space for the sangria. When asked why I didn’t want to eat anything I informed him that there was food in alcohol. Win.

Next up, the lunch date. I just show up to this one already drunk and let him know if I eat I might throw up. Win.

Then there’s the baseball game, it being springtime and all. Romeo gets up to grab us a couple of hot dogs and I let him know that his smooth operator date snuck in her food in her oversized purse. Economical and healthy. Win.

I'll invite you all to my wedding.

Time to Start Sweating

I’ve been recently getting super bored with my workout routine. I don’t think I can take another day at the gym hitting the treadmill or the elliptical, no matter how rockin my playlist is. I’m thinking about switching things up and considering getting back into Bikram yoga. I did Bikram for a summer a couple years ago, and I really liked it. Here are a few things I loved and didn’t love so much about Bikram:

Love:

You get a great work out. And you sweat out more toxins than you thought possible while also clearing your mind of everything. For those of you who have never done or heard of Bikram yoga, the class consists of 90 minutes of 26 poses in a 108 degree room. I know, it sounds crazy, but the benefits are amazing. If it’s your first time doing Bikram, I’m not going to lie, you probably won’t love it the first couple of classes. You’ll probably feel nauseous and/or really tired, but after that initial phase, you’ll start to feel refreshed and energized.

Not so Much Love:

The classes are pretty expensive, especially if you’re a student like me. When I first tried Bikram in Texas, the location I went to fortunately offered student discounts for their 10 class passes at about $85 with the discount. Now that I’m in New York, a 10 class pass runs about $150+. I think I’ll be lucky if I can find somewhere that gives student discounts. There’s also other packages out there including three month, six month and one year passes, but I can’t really afford to drop more than $150 at a time on yoga classes. And they say if you want the true benefits of Bikram, you should go at least three to four times a week, but with my budget, that’s definitely not going to happen. I went one to two times a week when I first tried it, and I felt like I was still able to get enough benefits. If you have the money, by all means, it’s worth it. But if funding is a little short, I still recommend trying it out even if you only start out going once a week. That’s my plan for this summer – Bikram one day a week and gym the rest of the week.

I was pretty proud of myself when I mastered
the toe stand pose for the first the time.

My advice is to try Bikram if you’ve never done it and are looking for something new in your workout routine. It’s probably different than any other workout or class you’ve tried and most places offer a discounted trial class or week of classes. Happy sweating!

The Challenge

To celebrate the end of my first year in grad school, and a very long year in a long-distance relationship, my boyfriend & I will be hitting up one of our favorite vacation spots over Memorial Day for some serious California fun in the sun Venice Beach style. While I've been feeling good lately, I'd love to rock that bikini with 100% confidence. 

So... I've been considering a major mental and physical challenge in preparation... THE CLEANSE. 
Scary, right? But also potentially incredibly rewarding. My body is craving a major detox.
Do you think it's crazy? Have you tried a cleanse? I'm considering BluePrint and would love to hear your thoughts. 

Enjoy the Ride

Life (food) is an adventure. Enjoy the ride... and cheers to the memories! 

Save cheese for a special treat. 
Like la fromagerie. This happens to be one I visited (frequented) on a trip to Paris in 2008. 

Picnic style meals. 
Enjoy a little bit of all of your favorite things. Make it extra special when traveling in a new place, like this meal I put together on that same Parisian adventure with my boyfriend in 2008. A sliced apple or pear would be a great addition to this plate as a compliment to the cheese. But, I dare you not to fall in love with that baguette.

Road trip.
And never pass by that fruit or veggie stand on the side of the road without stopping. Never!

Invite friends over for bites and cocktails.
Chicken skewers. Melon wrapped with prosciutto. Homemade roasted eggplant hummus. Veggies. Fresh squeezed cocktails.

Date night.
Make sushi with your man.

Mediterranean Diet.
A 2010 trip around Greece with the boyfriend inspired many healthy, Mediterranean influenced meals. Stuffed Roasted peppers? Greek salad? Need I say more?

Make pasta a special treat.
And do it right. #Eataly

The Jeans Mini Crisis

Alright, ladies. Let’s admit it. We’ve all had that morning(s) where we wake up, brush our teeth, wash our face, make our way sleepily over to the closet, grab our go-to jeans, and then, oh wait, scratch that – OH SHIT! They’re not fitting! Why are they so tight?! Why am I bulging over?! Well, it’s simple, really. Calories in must equal calories out if you want to keep fitting into those perfect jeans. Now, I know it doesn’t always seem that easy. But don’t fear! There are simple things you can do to slim down and be back in those jeans in no time. How do I know this? I’ve recently experienced this exact mini crisis. I say “mini” crisis because it’s a matter of getting yourself back on track for a week or two. No need for a major lifestyle change here. And I know, I know. How did I, the gym rat of the bunch, let my jeans get too tight? It happens. The calorie scale can still tip even when you’re working out. And I know there are others out there who have experienced this too!

So, what can you do?

1. Stop eating wasted calories. Do you really need a soda, even a diet one? Or cheese on your salad? Or the side of mediocre french fries that came with your meal? Or the 2% milk latte instead of the skim? By thinking about the little changes we can make in our day-to-day eating habits, the calories we can reduce from our diets will start to add up and make a difference.

2. Move…or move more. Even if you can’t make it to the gym, get in a little stretching or go for a walk. Any movement will help with the calories out part of the formula.

3. Create a new goal or incentive to stay disciplined and motivated once you’re back in your jeans. You don’t want to quickly find yourself in the same mini crisis all over again.

I’ve been in back-on-track mode for almost a week now. I think I need another week before I’ll be completely happy with where I am, but I can say that the jeans are definitely fitting better today than on Monday. Whew!

The crazy adventure of a vegan restaurant

Taking a non vegan to a vegan restaurant can be quite an adventure – for the non vegan. They approach it as if they’re visiting a new country. They ask you questions in preparation, “What’s it like there? Is the food good? What do they even cook with? Will I be full? Will I need to get a slice of pizza afterward? If there’s no cheese, animals or eggs what does that leave?” These questions get more frequent the closer you get. Then there’s the “I’ve never done this before. So exciting!” Yes, eating food is exciting.

Last night I had the pleasure of trying a vegan restaurant with my non vegan friend, Gina. She was excited and skeptical but all in. I tried to preemptively defend vegans by telling her how for some yes, it was a lifestyle but for others, including me, it’s not what defined them but rather a healthy diet we embraced, and that a lot of vegans are normal people. So of course when we arrived the place was filled with vegan stereotypes, including silent, sulking man whose style resembled that of my grandmother.

That being said Angelica Kitchen is nicely decorated and has a welcoming feel. Unfortunately they don’t take credit cards or serve booze. After some yelling at the waitress for not having alcohol and how would I survive we decided to order an appetizer, the walnut-lentil pate with tofu sour cream. It was the shit. I’m not sure if Gina even got to try it because I was too busy shoveling it into my mouth. Delicious.


Next up, Gina ordered the sushi and I a Japanese soba noodle dish. Gina gave the sushi the thumbs up but I was pretty disappointed with my soba thing. It just tasted like someone dumped a bunch of soy sauce on noodles and said "Viola! Amazing vegan goodness!" Not so much. That being said it wasn’t gross or anything, just not great.

Afterward, Gina and I hit up a bar in the neighborhood to fill our bellies with beer then parted ways. I have yet to hear if she grabbed a slice of pizza on her walk home.

Nice Headdress

Quick Tips To Get That Fat Disappearing

I thought I would use this post to share some tips I found interesting. Things that I am going to make a habit, since they don't force me to change me overall diet! But they do help you shed some of those pounds! Don't worry...I won't give you the usual tips that you read on other sites. Well these you probably can read on other sites...but lets just say they aren't as common as most! So here you go:

Bitter Foods Help Lose Weight

Tip #1: MUNCH ON SOMETHING BITTER

Yes...its time to man up and sink your teeth into some disgusting bitter foods like kale, olives, mustard greens, radish etc. Either 'pretty' them up in an omelet or soup or just go hard-core and make a smoothie! But EAT THEM! Have it for 3 meals a day to start seeing some instant results. They help boost digestion, detoxify the liver and (for all you chocolate lovers out there...) they reduce sugar cravings!! 

Tip #2: TAKE DEEPER BREATHES

I know what you’re thinking.... That sounds easy enough!! That is exactly what I thought - till I had a life changing realization that I have apparently been breathing wrong for 27 years!!!! How does one do that! But supposedly it’s pretty common. This article I found said that 9 out of 10 people breathe wrong! Why is this bad If I am still alive? Well...Oxygen burns fat. By breathing wrong you are cutting down your oxygen in-take to one-third. So when your body doesn't get oxygen, it cannot burn through the fat!!

So I will give you the quick test to see if you are breathing properly and then tell you how it can be worked into your weight loss plan!

Quick Test to see if you got the Basics Wrong: Put your hand on your chest, the other on your abdomen. Take a normal breath. If the chest hand goes up, you’re breathing wrong!

So I know 90% of you are in shock right now...but it’s fine. Never too late to learn! So here is how you do it right: The goal is take breaths into your abdomen. To practice this, lay on the flop with a book on your belly. While inhaling the book should rise and should come down when exhaling. 

Now that you’re on the right track with your breathing - lets talk about what is going to make that ass and belly smaller. Apparently a good way to lose weight is to keep changing your breathing patterns. Total Beauty (the brilliant site where some of these tips come from) suggests a 1-4-2 regime. The article explains it very clearly so I am just going to quote:  

'Breathe through your nose to whatever count is comfortable. Hold the breath inside your body for four times as long, and then exhale through your mouth for twice as long. So if you breathe in to the count of 4, lock it into your body for 16 (4x4) and exhale for 8 (4x2). Do 10 of these, twice a day."

 Time to inhale and exhale ladies!

Say No to Salt!

Tip #3: CUT OUT THE SODIUM

For people looking to fit into your favorite dress this weekend which has gotten a wee bit tighter...try out this trick. Cutting out sodium from your diet helps reduce bloatiness and sheds all the water weight! Try not to consume more than 500mg of sodium everyday! So from today, go easy on the salt! 

That's all from the Uncompromising Fatty today. Lets give a hand to Total Beauty for these awesome tips!