Relationship Building

I work in PR. We use the term "relationship building" all the time.


So, I got to thinking. Why should my approach to food be any different? The truth is, it shouldn't. Just like any other, your relationship with food is something you have to work on.


There are things we love in life. I love food. I love cooking. I love cooking for people. I love wine. 


I love going out to dinner and trying new, amazing, expensive restaurants. I love hole in the wall Mexican restaurants. I love the most absolutely decadent flaky and delicious croissants ever made from Tartine Bakery in San Francisco.


I love it all!


What I never want to feel is anger or resentment when I indulge in any of my favorite things. This is why I am constantly striving for #balance. Because we all know, with too much indulgence, your pants get tight, your heart gets heavy and your spirits go down. I really don't believe in self-deprivation. But I do believe that everything in moderation is good. Because, if after a long week, that glass of California Zinfandel makes you feel good and makes you feel closer to home... I say... ENJOY! 


I've said it once, I'll say it again. Knowing I would be enjoying some well-earned wine tonight, I kept my calorie intake otherwise low. Oatmeal for breakfast. Salad with turkey for lunch. Fruits and nuts for snacks. I promise, it works!

Going to the grocery store as a newbie vegan

Go AROUND!!!!! Imagine you’re sitting on the 405 during rush hour and your car stalls. The traffic starts to move forward and you just sit there. People start to honk. They pass you with glaring looks. You’re so close you can hear some of them murmur things under their breath or possibly intentionally loud enough for you to hear. You are like a large tree limb blocking the flow of water. After a few minutes of you desperately trying to get your car started so you can move forward you become frantic, anxious and frazzled. One more person honks, one more intelligible comment at you and you snap. “GOOOO ARRRROUND!” Half your body leans out the car window and your arm moves in a circular motion you yell, “GOOOOO ARRROUND!” This is me. At the grocery store. Imagine it: New York, Whole Foods, Saturday afternoon, narrow aisles and people crammed into that urban food oasis like sardines. You’re a vegan and you don’t know what they hell you’re buying. You have to look at every food item differently now and with question. You have to pick up every item you used to buy and read the ingredients. You have to look for alternatives. You have to check your cart to see if you have protein. What about calcium, am I getting any of that?  Can I make a meal out of any of this? What will I eat for lunch? What about snacks? It’s all unknown and you’re standing right in the middle of the interstate blocking traffic as you stop every two feet and read every ingredient.

Fear not, with each passing visit you will figure out what foods work and remember them. You’ll whiz through that store like a professional roller blader in the 80s. You'll become skilled in breaking through the clutter and honing in on items you can eat. After many a trips below are some the things I look for every time:

Fruits & Veggies – So many wonderful things that are your friend

• Spinach – I eat it out of the bag with hummus. Stack several pieces and roll.
• Avocados – Proof that Jesus loves you. Best. Food. Ever.
• Red/Yellow/Green peppers – make great snacks due to their dippable power when sliced
• Sweet potatoes – These babies take an hour to bake but reheat easily so pop a few in the oven and bam, yummy potatoes for a week
• Apples - great snack, slice em up and take em to go
• Berries - for some added oatmeal goodness

Chips

• Tortilla chips – pair with salsa or guac. You know what to do here.
• Food Should Taste Good brand – they have blue corn tortilla, sweet potato, olive, and lime chips to name a few. The label on the back will say if it’s vegan.
• Sesame sticks – a.k.a addictive crack sticks
• Pretzels – Read the labels though as some brands have a lot of added ingredients. Organic seems to be the way to go here.
• Plantain chips – Salty deliciousness

Frozen

• Amy’s Organic Indian, pizza, burgers, Mexican, stir fry, tofu scramble - On the back where it says Ingredients right after it will say (vegan) if it is. You don’t have to read through the whole list.
• Soy Ice Cream – those three words just don’t seem to go together but I swear when they’re in sandwich form they’re amazing. Give it a try.
• Sweet potato fries

Deli area

• Tofu – you can get it plain or in flavors. I love the savory and oriental flavors. If you go with plain to bake it yourself at home then start out by choosing extra firm and go from there.
• Tempeh – you can buy this stuff in strips and fry em up on the stove. Go nicely in sandwiches or tacos.
• Vegan cheese, yogurt, cream cheese – I honestly have never tried any of the vegan cheeses as I’ve heard the flavors are so great but they’re there if you need em.

Inner aisles

• Amy’s organic soups
• Pasta & pasta sauce
• Soy milk, almond milk – again I haven’t tried either of these as I wasn’t a big milk person before but they’re popular items among the diary free. 
• Beans
• Oatmeal
• Pine nuts – make your pasta dishes magical

If you have any more please share in the comments section. Momma* always needs some new ideas!

*disclaimer – I am not a mom

My awesome lunch today

Conquer Your Demons!

Hey Fatties!

It's 12:47am and I am up doing grad student stuff (YUCK!). Someone please tell me why my face is itching to be stuffed??!! I have been daydreaming about all the scrumptious things I would much rather be eating instead of doing this work.

So I went to my fridge to see what I could find that would be permissible, but of course I found nothing. Decided to peek into the freezer and lo and behold, a sexy tub of Dulce de Leche ice cream...mmm my favorite. Anyone who's had a spoonful of this sinful goodness knows that it's a bite of pleasure every step of the way. But alas, I must be firm and resist the urge to turn the 3 miles I ran today into uselessness.

So here I am...back at my desk...with a glass of water...sulking... because I finally know what the devil looks like.....and.here.is.his.face:

Peace!

The Food Pyramid is long gone...

The Food Pyramid is long gone...Call it the color wheel!!

I saw this today and had to post, as it’s very reflective of my dieting philosophy. Fruits and vegetables are your best friend when trying to achieve #balance.

Since my weekend of fun (eating and drinking) I’ve gone back to my healthy ways. Oatmeal for breakfast, and fruit and salads with lean meat the rest of the day.

I even restrained myself yesterday when my office got free Chipotle for lunch. OK, I did not say no to a free lunch, but I did say no to the burrito and instead got a healthy salad with chicken, salsa and guacamole, holding the beans, rice, sour cream and cheese. A sacrifice, yes. But worth it... and still delicious!

Going to a concert tonight, which will most likely mean a cocktail or... two... three... ok, I’m not counting. BUT I did make the restaurant suggestion, suggesting Pio Pio in Hell’s Kitchen. The rotisserie chicken and avocado salad... YUM! Small plates are great for sharing and portion control.

Back in the Kitchen, Woman

When I first went vegan I embraced the whole cooking thing but old habits die hard and I quickly found ways to get around that. One of the great things about NYC is all the delicious vegan options for eating out or ordering in. Some of my favorites include the mac n ‘cheese’ from Loving Hut or the Midtown Melt seitan burger from Blossom Du Jour. It’s easy being vegan when you have someone else to cook it for you! The downside is this is a great way to go broke fast. It’s also probably not totally healthy.

Last week I ordered lunch from Blossom almost every day. In order to meet their $15 delivery minimum I ended up spending about $20/day. That’s $100 for the whole week! I’m a graduate student not a member of the Jonas Brothers.

It’s time to get back in the kitchen and channel my inner Julia Child (if she were a vegan). I’ve found that if I don’t cook on Sunday nights I’m screwing myself for the week because by the time I get home from school the last thing I’m going to do is cook. One of the up sides to being single is that you can make a dish Sunday night and it will last you through the week, or at least part of it. At the risk of sounding un-American, this week I made a cheeseless lasagna complete with tofu/cauliflower ricotta. I know that seems like something you would feed your dog but honestly it’s freaking amazing. Isa Chandra Markowitz is a genius and I’m living off her cookbook, Appetite for Reduction. 

So to all you vegan maybes out there I highly suggest you buy this cookbook or at least just give the roasted cauliflower ricotta lasagna a shot. I mixed it up a bit and halved the amount of spinach and added in grilled mushrooms, squash and zucchini. Things were getting ca-razy in my kitchen!
My second favorite recipe from the book is the Mango BBQ beans. Freaking awesome. I ate them over brown rice then did a little dance.

Happy cooking.

Oh stress, how I’ve NOT missed you

So far, so good with the bigger breakfast idea. Instead of just having a banana, I’ve been slicing my banana to mix with a plain cup of yogurt, blueberries and sliced almonds, all topped with a little honey. SO delicious, and it keeps me fuller longer.

Now, on to a new predicament. With finals only a week away, the end-of-semester stress has fully set in. So what does that mean? No sleep, crappy meals, coffee overload, brain fog and overall exhaustion. Well, at least that’s what it meant for me last semester. This time around, I’ve made eating healthy, getting a decent amount of sleep and maintaining, instead of increasing, my usual coffee intake a priority. Let’s be real though, I’m definitely still experiencing stress but not nearly to the degree of what I went through last semester. I realized that at the end of the day, it’s better to just close the computer or put down the book because you won’t retain any information or come up with anything brilliant when it comes to working into the wee hours of the morning anyway. This is at least what I’ve found to work for me, especially as I’ve gotten older. I can’t even tell you how many all nighters I pulled as a freshman and sophomore in my undergraduate years. I have no idea how I was able to do it. Now, as a graduate student, I’ll get to a point where I hit a wall and can’t keep going as much as I try. I need to at least catch a few hours of sleep, and then I can start again in the morning, with a healthy and filling breakfast of course. So, put down the slice of pizza and Red Bull and grab a salad topped with some lean protein as you step away from the study guides, final papers and presentations…before you fall asleep in your study cubicle.

Too Busy For The Gym???

Murphy's law states (and this is a direct quote):

"When you decide that you are going to start going to the gym, that is when you will find yourself suddenly drowning in work"


Damn it Murphy's Law - Not really helping the situation here!!

So as you probably guessed, things have been a little crazy for me. Its the last 2 weeks of school and I am up to my neck in work with projects and finals so I have been lax about my gym routine. Well...lets be honest, my gym routine is kind of non-existent at the moment! I figured, Ill embrace my fat temporarily so I don't land up letting go of my GPA!! But that is the worst attitude!

Instead of not doing anything while you are waiting for things to calm down, how about a 10 minute in-home exercise routine? That is absolutely doable (no excuses ladies!). Find a set of exercises for parts of your body that you want to concentrate on, and till you have time to breathe again at least get those parts working!!

Hips, Butt & Thighs
(What I wouldn't do to look like that!)

At this point I think it is crucial that I share my body type. I am what I like to call a "Christmas Tree". As pretty as that sounds, what that essentially means is that I have a tiny upper body which keeps expanding the lower you go!! The gifts bestowed by my lovely indian genes!! *Sigh* (Love you mom!!). So my major issue parts are my hips, butt and thighs, and that is what I am going to work on for the next two weeks till the crazies die-down!! If you share the Xmas tree curse with me, check out free e-booklet on home exercises posted on FitWatch. Click here to visit the link. 

If your body type represents any other festival or religious symbols, well thats what the all-knowing Google is for! So get off your busy ass and get at least 10 minutes of a concentrated work out in every day!!

Thats it from Guru Uncompromising Fatty!! Keep checking back for more pearls of wisdom from 'The Great One'!

Cheers@