Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Simplifying

I am reading a new book: "When Organizing Isn't Enough: Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life" by Julie Morgenstern. Here is the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/When-Organizing-Isnt-Enough-Change/dp/0743250893/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217425927&sr=8-1
I have been drawn to read books about simplifying lately, but this one is so much better than the usual how-to-organize book. To begin with, Morgenstern asks you to think about the last major change in your life and name, in a word or two, what was the "theme" of that period of your life. Now name your new "theme." For example, perhaps your last theme was "ambition" and now it is "free to be me." Now, get rid of everything that does not align itself to your new theme. What an interesting concept! I am going to give it a try!

Reading is such a joy, because it takes you down a road of change. I love change!

Keep enjoying the vegan life, dear friends!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Flax Seed and B12

One thing I learned at Summerfest (from Jeff Novick) is that most people do not get enough omega 3 in their diet and that the ratio between omega 3 and omega 6 oils is way out of wack. The remedy for this for vegans is to eat flax seed. Lately I purchased some crushed flax seed and I put a tablespoon on my cereal each morning. At first I didn't like it all that well, but now, one week later, I am okay with eating it.

This is an exciting time for doing what is best for the body and making the best decisions. I am also taking a B12 each day, dissolving it under the tongue. Those two things - B12 and flax seeds, are important for vegans to take. B12 is only found in meat, since today's soil is so depleted. Without B12 one could develop nerve problems.

I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful summer and the yummy summer berries and healthy fresh air. How lovely it is to be outdoors, enjoying the beauty of the sky this time of year.

Until next time, let me know if you are a new vegan and we can encourage each other. Bonnie

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Wild Ginger

I was able to go to Wild Ginger, the restaurant in Soho, NY, and the meal was heavenly. I enjoyed the ever so delicious Malaysian Curry Stew and a tasty fresh salad with yummy ginger dressing. A glass of Chardonnay completed the divine meal. My daughter loved it too!

I was just on the Pritikin Longevity Center website that has a perspective page that advocates a diet of only 10 percent oil. I am aiming for that but for me, it isn't that easy eliminating too much olive oil, as I loved going to Carrabbas http://www.carrabbas.com/
and eating a lot of the seasoned olive oil and bread. However, I am forcing myself to change. At Carrabbas the other day I requested a margurita pizza without the cheese and I only put a little of the herbs from the olive oil on the pizza. That is quite a change! It's not so bad having a pizza without cheese, especially at Carrabbas. Not as good - but worth it, and you can get used to anything. Besides the cheese gives the stomach a bad feeling afterward, and without it, you feel free and light! Love that!

Pritikin also had an article on whole grains and how that can make your stomach flatter than by eating white breads. Oh, that has to be the next step for me! Eliminate all white flour and only use whole grains. My downfall is pretzels, but I will look for the whole grain ones from now on.

Being vegan is a great road to be on. Until next time, Bonnie

Saturday, July 19, 2008

New York Visit

I am soon going to New York to visit my mother-in-law in Queens and we will be seeing a lot of our Chinese relatives (hubby is Chinese) and we will go out to a restaurant together. I am a bit apprehensive, because often when I go there is not much to eat. It's funny - you would think - that there would be a lot, but we often go to a Dim Sum restaurant, and all they serve, basically, is greasy meat dishes. There is one dish that has veggies, but sometimes there is a shrimp in the middle of it. Often my stomach hurts in New York, usually because of too much oil in the dishes. The wait staff are usually very ethnic, so you can't say to them "little or no oil."

Oh well, maybe I will put some oatmeal bars in my purse. It will be worth it to see the relatives.

Sometimes, on the way, we stop in Soho and we eat at a terrific, quaint and inexpensive restaurant, Wild Ginger. In the windows, they have dried weeds and rocks encased in glass and it is really artistic. You could read about the restaurant in the 2008 "The Vegan Guide to New York City," written by Rynn Berry and Chris Abreu-Suzuki. I recently met Rynn Berry at the Vegetarian Summerfest in Johnstown, PA. My sister and I sat with him for lunch. It's really neat how, at the summerfest, people just sit with "strangers" and get to know them. Loved that! We sat with several authors at the event.

Well, got to go. Here is a link to The Vegan Guide to New York City: http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Guide-York-City-2008/dp/0978813219/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216464356&sr=8-1

Until next time, Bonnie

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Reading "No Bull: The Mad Cowboy Targets America's Worst Enemy: Our Diet"

I am currently reading the book "No Bull: The Mad Cowboy Targets America's Worst Enemy: Our Diet." Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/No-More-Bull-Targets-Americas/dp/0743286987/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218468741&sr=8-1. This book is very interesting. This previous cattle rancher is now a vegan and he speaks persuasively and passionately - it could move anyone to action!

One great idea that I should take to heart is this: he advocates eating not 5-6, but 15 or 20, fresh fruits and veggies every day. In his menu section, how he accomplishes this is usually to pile fruit on cereal in the morning (lots of fruit!), having a huge salad with perhaps a sandwich on whole grain bread for lunch and having a terrific veggie soup for dinner and fruit for dessert. I like his menu selections in the book. He has suggestions for two weeks worth and they sound easy and tasty!

He also advocates eating fresh fruit and veggies for about 50% of the diet. I've got to learn that! I have linked the title of this entry to an Amazon.com address, in case you are interested in checking out the book.

Lately I traveled to the Pittsburgh area, and I purchased great vegan food at Maggie's Merchantile. I got such yummy food there both ways, traveling back and forth on the PA Turnpike. Yea for Maggie's! Such nice people working there too! Here is a link to the vegan deli: http://www.maggiesmercantilepa.com/index.html

Life is good! It is such a joy to be committed to this lifestyle! I put two bumper stickers on my refrigerator: "Please be Kind to Animals: Don't Eat Them" and "Veg For Life: For Health, For the Animals, For the Earth." The first bumper sticker is from the Vegetarian Resource Group http://www.vrg.org/ and the second is from www.vegforlife.org.

Until next time my dear friends, Bonnie

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Sister Becoming Vegan and BYOV

I am so excited about this! My sister, Carol, has decided to become a vegan! She said that she didn't realize what an impact Vegetarian Summerfest had upon her until she made this decision a few days afterward.

Her reading, too, impacted her decision. I gave her a lot of books to read on the subject, and she bought some at the Summerfest too. Some books, about slaughterhouses, especially moved her to take action. In addition, she wanted to change for health reasons, as we see how our Mom is doing in her later years.

One of these days I will write down the titles of all of the books, but only after they are returned to me, so I have record of them. Many are quite remarkable.

Since becoming vegan, one colleague Carol works with said, "Carol, you are getting skinny." (By the way, have you read "Skinny Bitch"?) Carol has lost 5 pounds in a short amount of time. I forgot to say that she is eating not only vegan, but low fat vegan - my goal as well. She doesn't want to eat many processed foods, so she is cooking veggies like crazy and she also bought a juicer!

Victoria Moran (see my other post for info about her) says that she always makes herself veggie juice every morning that includes apples and kale, as two of the ingredients. Kale makes me so happy, because I know when I eat it I am doing something wonderful for my body.

One day I began eating kale off a veggie tray. It was supposed to be a garnish just to be pretty under other salads or fruit or something. But I found kale to be okay just eaten raw, and it is great torn up with some delicious balsamic vinegar (the best kind from Williams Sonoma), salt and pepper on it, and nothing else. You can make a big salad - in a company sized salad bowl - and just eat that and feel really good about it. Does that sound weird? Another thing that Victoria said was that sometimes people say to her "are you going to eat all of that salad?" And she says "yes, and I may also eat another one after this one!" She has a good attitude!

My sister, Carol, has the right idea, though, trying to not eat processed foods. I, on the other hand, eat just about nothing but processed foods. I love beans, and they are readily available. Just open a can! Today I had Hormel Veggie Chili (one gram of fat) and Bush's Baked Beans (zero fat) and a veggie dog. Oh, I'm bad! It was good, though!

I will tell you one more funny thing -- my daughter, Holly, invited me to a July 4 cookout. She said it was BYOV -- do you know what that stands for? Bring your own veggie burger!

Until next time -- I hope to hear from you soon! Bonnie