Yup. I eat fish and other seafood.

I think I may have mentioned this fact before, but from the looks of things on this site, I really come off as a die-hard veg. Aaaaand… I am.
Let me explain:

The Hubs and I have an agreement that we will eat to live, eat for health, and also occasionally splurge on things that aren’t so healthy (like that homemade chocolate cake my grandmother makes). Personally, I don’t let my eating habits interfere with relationships.  For example, a veg cousin of mine once refused a butternut squash soup, made by our sweet, aforementioned grandmother, because it was made with chicken broth. Poor Grandmom thought she was making a perfectly fine veggie soup, and when Cousin said she wouldn’t eat it, “You should have seen Grandmom’s face. I’ll never do that to her again. I wish I would have just eaten it.”

Now, this is not to say that I’m going to partake in a traditional Thanksgiving, just for the sake of the matter, or that I’m going to give in when my mother says (even though she knows the answer), “You guys won’t eat chicken?” Or, “But I made a delicious pulled pork…” But I will enjoy myself when in the company of friends and family and not get too caught up in the ingredients of things (to a point) if it’s beyond my control.

And I will eat some fish. Wild caught. Not an over-fished species. And purely for the health benefits.

The last time I prepared fish (a few days ago), I thought about swearing off of it. It had been alive! I was cutting through something’s muscle and bone and veins. ::shudder:: I also made the mistake of wanting to show-off my raised-by-the-shore heritage by letting Hub’s friend bring over some freshly-caught crabs. I wanted to show Hubs how to pick one. So, I was placed in charge of overseeing the cooking. It made me sad. I can’t believe I allowed a live animal to be boiled alive in my kitchen. See how pride is a deadly sin? Never again.

This empathy is a fresh feeling for me, truly. When I began this diet, I sympathized with true vegs but had no empathy for the animals. However, after being pregnant, giving birth to a life, and being completely immersed in the process of the makings of life, it is VERY hard to consume something that once had life, or was meant to give life, or lost its life unnecessarily. It sounds a little batty, but I feel more in touch with that life energy having experienced it firsthand through giving birth.

So, little fishies, we shall see if you end up on my platter in the future. I know that the Omegas found in fish are necessary for building little Soy Sprout’s brain, but how can I counterbalance the guilt I feel eating it?

The Little Sprout, one month old

So…………………………………

All this healthy living paid off! Our little Sprout arrived as the sun rose one Friday morning in May, weighing in at 8 lbs. 5 oz. and 21 3/4″ long!  The boy gained two pounds in a week and is growing healthily! He’s alert, happy, and may I say it without jinxing myself? Mellow. He cries when he’s hungry, gassy, or just tired–that’s it. We’ve been blessed with a fantastic baby but I can’t help but say that I know my healthy eating habits, paired with a desire to avoid negative energy, getting acupuncture, and having a great, supportive birth center experience didn’t contribute to little Sprout’s state of mind, too.

I’ll admit that I had a fear that Irony would play a hand in this parenting game and deal us a child with some sort of “problem” debunking all our efforts at health and a natural birth. Thankfully, health-wise, Sprout is just…perfect (C’mon! He’s my sweet baby boy! What else could I say?!)

Because there are enough baby-related/parenting/vegan blogs out there, I hope not to take the route of eco-veg-mommy blogger and keep this blog focused on eco- and health issues that focus on everyone. Admittedly, the blogging has gone by the wayside as I figure this motherhood thing out.

Healthy meals can be just as quick and easy as junk food! I thought I’d share two easy (read: lazy) meals I ate today that are chock-full of good stuff:

Breakfast:

Hot Cereal with Honey, Bananas and Nuts
1. Cook your choice of hot cereal. I really like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal. (I half the directed recipe which makes about a cup and a half of cereal.) 7 minutes
2. Stir in: 1 1/2 T. local raw honey, 1-2 T. of Earth Balance margarine, 1/4 c. ground nuts (I keep these on hand in the fridge.)
3. Add sliced bananas (or fruit of choice).
4. Enjoy! You’ll be full ’til lunchtime

Lunch:

Yum Hash
1. Cook any type of grain that suits your fancy: quinoa, brown rice, cous-cous… Keeping cooked grains on hand in the freezer makes this infinitely easier. (15 minutes if cooking from dry state)
2. Heat a veggie burger or two in a pan or microwave. We like Dr. Praeger’s or Sunshine brands. (couple of minutes)
3. Mash veggie burger into quinoa in a bowl.
4. Add in whatever flavors you’d like! Ideas:
-olive oil, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
-flax oil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar
-coconut oil, curry paste
-olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, nutritional yeast
-canola oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, dill, fresh tomato
-the possibilities are endless!

Yes, it’s allergy season. There are tons of over-the-counter allergy meds being marketed, but they’re not going to help solve the problem. Here’s what has worked for me:

1. DIET CHANGES. I’ll say it again and again and again. Diet is the root of our health. Change what you give your body and it will change what it puts out. So, eliminating dairy has made a huge difference in the way my body can handle allergens. Since the body’s not focused on digesting the dairy and reducing the inflammation caused by it (and other indigestibles), it has an easier time fighting off histamines.

2. NETI POT or SINUS RINSE. I’m not the first one to recommend this. C’mon, even Oprah thinks it’s a good idea!

3. ALLER-EASE. This stuff works! I’m currently not taking any such supplements due to pregnancy, but Hubs and I have had mucho success in the past with this product and others from the Buried Treasure line.

4. BLOWING MY NOSE. Sounds simple enough, but how many times have you seen someone sniff and sniff and sniff (and sniff and sniff) without eliminating the mucous? The body is trying to get rid of it! Help yourself out!

5. I also found some great information in this article found on Mother Earth News.

Good Luck and Happy Spring!

Last March, I posted about items that Hubs and I still use that really don’t fall into our lifestyle agenda. I thought I’d revisit the list to see if any changes have been made in a year:

-Our 2006 Jeep Liberty: Nope. Still on the list. The semi-good news is that it will probably be a vehicle we “drive into the ground,” which is ultimately more eco-friendly than purchasing a brand new one.

- Razors: We no longer use disposable ones, but disposable cartridges are still on the list.

- Swiffer Wet Jet: I am almost finished the bottle of cleaner that comes with the WetJet unit, after which I will be filling with a non-toxic cleanser.

- Ibuprofen: Off the list! Especially now that I am pregnant, but more so because we know of natural remedies, ibuprofen has no need in our home.

- Regular ol’ batteries: still on the list

- Plastic wrap, plastic baggies, plastic cutlery: We have replaced plastic cutlery with these bamboo utensils, but I have yet to figure out how to function without plastic storage bags and plastic wrap.  I will say, however, that most of our food gets reserved in glass containers and a box of baggies lasts months at a time.

– Pizza & Mexican food: about once every 5-6 weeks, we make concessions and just eat some damn cheese (Yup. Still the case.)

– Traditional household paint: I’m so proud to say this one is off the list! We recently moved and painted the new house using only Mythic paint. I hope to post about this product soon.

– Leather shoes/jackets/gloves: Quality and stylish vegan shoes are hard to come by, but if there is a non-leather option for the type of shoe I want to purchase (and the material is eco-friendly, too), I go with that. I haven’t put any other leather products on my body in over a year.

– Paper towels & napkins: Woo Hoo! We now use cloth napkins exclusively and are currently finishing the last of our paper towels. “Unpaper” towels are already in use, though.

–Trashbags: there are bio-degradable trashbags, recycled trashbags…nothing breaks down in a landfill anyway but I suppose we could use something that isn’t made of petroleum. One day, when we have a yard, we will compost and have minimal trash production. We have a yard now! We’ll be composting regularly come spring and will also have curbside recycling. Considering we produce, at most, two bags of trash per week (because we aren’t currently recycling), I think this is great.

–Tampons: With pregnancy, it’s off the list. I started using The Diva Cup before we conceived and have been using “mama cloth” pads in lieu of disposable pantyliners during pregnancy.  I’m not sure how things will be handled once Aunt Flo returns and I go back to work after the baby is born…

So, the list is still in existence. For a perfectionist, all-or-none person like me, I’m surprised I’m okay with this. We have made some pretty big changes in the past year and if the trend continues, perhaps this list will be obliterated in the future!

A few weeks ago, Hubs decided he wanted to incorporate eggs back into his diet. He enjoys egg whites (even though a whole egg is more nutritionally sound) for a heart-healthy protein. For the record, his egg habit lasted through not-even a carton. New [eating] habits die hard, eh? During this Week of The Egg (blech), Hubs forgot to wipe up after making an omelette and egg albumin was left on the countertop (blech again), freaking me out. It had been so long since I had worried about food-borne bacteria that I realized the joys of vegan cooking:

1. There is never the risk of food-borne bacteria, aside from the possibility of bacteria living on unwashed produce. However, this type of bacteria is generally not caused by the food itself, only the handling of it. Raw meat doesn’t have quite the same built-in safety. Any spills on the counter will not send me into a germaphobic frenzy as they once did, pre-veg diet!

2. I can taste my food at any point in the cooking process! I was throwing together some “meaty” filling recently, made with nuts, breadcrumbs, and spices, and was able to taste the concoction as I went along. Try (er–actually, don’t try) that with ground beef. I also enjoy the fact that I can lick the spoon/beaters/bowl while baking without my mother’s voice ringing in my ear, “There’s raw eggs in that!”

3.  Along the lines of the above reasonings, I like that my child will grow up in a household where the kitchen is a loving room producing life-giving nourishment, not a place where things have to be maimed, hacked, and cooked at high heat to be deemed safe.

4. I have a stellar pantry! Sometimes veg cooking calls for unusual ingredients if one is trying to replicate non-veg foods, but often veg cooking just lends itself to trying other cultural food choices (like Thai curry or Ethiopian lentils). Therefore, I’m proud to have an incredible spice collection and to call my cabinets home to things like: agar-agar, barley flour, masa harina, nutritional yeast, kelp flakes, nori, tamari, liquid aminos…the list goes on!

5. (Pretty much goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway.) No animals were harmed in the making of this food.

This book has been in print since the ’80′s but was recently updated for its 10th anniversary.  Food and Healing put all of the ideas I have about health, living, and eating into words. Sensible, interesting words. The book is not about veganism. It’s about maintaining balance in the body. Having a balanced body promotes a balanced life, and vice-versa. I will say that having an open mind about non-American philosophies is helpful in reading about what Colbin calls “the whole food health supportive” diet. She discusses the Standard American Diet (SAD) and how it matches up to her theories of health. It ain’t pretty, folks.

What I liked most is that this is a well-researched and well-written book. It isn’t a fad diet. In fact, it isn’t about a diet at all. It’s about using food to support health and, therefore, one’s purpose in life. (Good luck in figuring out what your purpose is, though. She doesn’t discuss that!) I was just blown away by how much sense Colbin makes. Her way of maintaining and reaching optimal health is ultimately how I would like to cook, eat, and live.

I’ve mentioned the book before on this blog in this post. I commonly refer to Colbin’s philosophies in explaining the choices for my diet/lifestyle, so I wanted to give yet another nod to the book that has such an impact on my life.

The biggest question I see (not hear, because I never hear it in real life) concerning veganism is, “How do I become a vegan?”  I am a regular poster and/or lurker on a few message boards that are geared toward eco-friendliness, and the topic comes up quite often, including issues of “safely” converting to a vegan diet and how to feed children in this way.

There are many, many resources online to aid in the transition to a veg diet/lifestyle, which I have listed at the end of this post. However, I’ll share my personal experience, too, in order to show how it can realistically happen. Our transition to this type of eating was certainly done in stages, so I’ll organize it as such:

Starting Out (Fall 2005)

We naively thought that eliminating animal products just meant substituting soy for dairy, veggie burgers for meat, and tossing any products/foods that didn’t comply.  When we found that all we were eating was a lot of soup, bread, and snacks (and gaining weight in the process!), we picked up a few vegan cookbooks and started learning more. One thing that made it tough was we tried to go, excuse the pun, cold turkey and ended up craving meat and cheese periodically. We called giving in to these cravings “meat cheats.”

Tip: Don’t try to go completely vegan right away. Start slowly, eliminating one thing at a time. For example,  start with soy milk in place of cow’s milk. Or, try getting rid of cheese but keep your eggs and milk for awhile.

Getting the Hang of Things (2006)

We began to understand how to cook without animal products and began building a small repertoire of dishes that worked for us, mainly using processed soy products (like soy “cheese” or “sausage”). We genuinely liked the taste of these products and didn’t miss meat. However, I’m pretty sure there were times when we were more vegetarian in our eating as we couldn’t totally get rid of cheeses.

Tip: Accept the fact that vegetarian/vegan processed foods aren’t always meant to exactly replicate the carnivorous version they represent. Enjoy these foods as they are. Enjoy a veggie burger as a veggie burger and not as a hamburger substitute. These products should make the transition easier, not painful, so choose things that taste good to you!

Really Learning, Really Eliminating (2007)

Here are some common questions (with my answers) about maintaining a vegan diet:

1. How expensive would it be in comparison to vegetarianism?  I really have to watch our budget.
I can’t really say much about cost in comparison. We spend A LOT of money on food and nutrition per month, but we also live in an area with limited options. We’re lucky enough to have an organic market that stocks many items, and there’s a chain grocery retailer that sells much of what we use, but we live in a resort area and pay high prices for everything, it seems. Like anything, there are ways of going cheap, and there are ways of going big. If you’re constantly buying processed, pre-made vegan food, it will add up. If you want, you could live off of rice, beans, and veggies and be fine!

2. What are the staples of your diet?
This is basically what we always have on hand, and consider it’s winter in the fruit/veggie dept:

Protein:
tofu (use this for everything, for any meal, including desserts)
nuts (not just for snacking–I use them in place of meat to make everything from stuffed cabbage to meatloaf to patties)
black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans,quinoa, soy milk, soy yogurt, avocados

Grains:
quinoa, long grain brown rice, cous cous, rice pastas, enriched pastas (the only thing we buy that’s not organic), hemp or other whole-grain breads, wheat tortillas, polenta

Fruits (right now we always have): apples, bananas,  citrus, papaya, mangoes, frozen berries

Veggies: Spinach (fresh and frozen), cabbage, leafy greens like kale, carrots, celery, onions, potatoes (technically not a veggie for us)

Supplementary items (this is where it adds up): greens drinks (for extra veggies), nutritional yeast (for necessary B vitamins), flax seed oil, good quality cooking oils, tamari, minced garlic, ginger, good spices, Earth Balance margarine, rice milk, etc.

Supplements: probiotics, enzymes, high quality multi vits, pre-natals, vit E, cal/mag/zinc liquid supplement (the only thing we take regularly is the vitamins and calcium; Hubs is better about taking enzymes and such–not really required for vegans, just something we do for good health)

3. What is a good place to start that is comprehensive but not overwhelming with vegan info?

The bottom of this post has a good list of places to start.

This is For Life (2008 to present)

We finally learned the right way to eat: we balanced our food groups, got the right nutrients, and eliminated processed soy products (which are no better for the body or the environment than any other mass-produced food).  A supportive and informed naturopath was essential in this process.

We started this diet together when we were dating, and I wasn’t in love with meat enough to hang onto it, so I supported Hubs in his quest to live a healthy, heart-friendly life, so I did most of the cooking. It was a learning process, for sure (still is). However, I advocate it not only because I learned about the horrible food-industry practices in this country, but because we have read SO MUCH about how a vegan diet is better for your health, hands down. The body cannot process all of the protein and dairy that generally comes along with a Standard American Diet, and it leads to other health issues.

Mainly, I found this: when I stopped eating meat (dead energy), my world got brighter. I believe it is because I stopped ingesting dead things. When we started eating more cleanly, more natural foods, we stopped getting sick. When I stopped eating dairy, my chronic sinus problems went away. And when I stopped eating things that most people eat, I was no longer tempted to buy into our consumerist society. Changing the way I ate changed the way I thought about life–and so much for the better.

Excellent Resources:
Veg for Life–excellent easy-to-read site about making the transition to veganism
Go Veg–in association with PETA; tons of info and their Vegetarian Starter Kit
Farm Sanctuary–a wonderful organization which is a wonderful reminder of why people choose to eat vegan

Books to Check Out:
Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet,  Davis & Melina
Food and Healing, Annemarie Colbin
The China Study, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.
The Great Cholesterol Con, Dr. Malcolm Kendrick
Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer

Favorite Cookbooks:
Vive Le Vegan, Dreena Burton
Veganomicon, Vegan with a Vengeance, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Vegan Soul Kitchen, Bryant Terry
La Dolce Vegan, Sarah Kramer
Vegan Yum Yum, Lauren Ulm
Vegan Planet, Robin Robertson

The diaper bag I won! I love it!

A few weeks ago, I posted a giveaway for a Maxwell Designs diaper bag.

Well, as it turns out, I WON! I am so in love with this diaper bag: it’s perfectly functional and practical, it’s just my style, and moreover, it’s COMFORTABLE. Baby Soyager hasn’t yet arrived, but I’ve been stuffing the bag with baby things so that my parent’s dog will get used to scent of baby items. We’re teaching him that it’s “not his.” The bag’s strap is perfectly sized for me, but the bags are now available with adjustable straps, which is probably great if you share the bag with someone who isn’t your size.

Well, Maxwell Designs has a new blog, and in honor of this fact, Maggie (the genius behind these lovely products) is hosting some fantastic giveaways! Check it out by clicking here!