European Vacation

My whole family went on a vacation to Portugal and France. I knew it was going to be difficult to maintain the VEGAN lifestyle. Earlier in the summer I went to Toronto for a month and stayed VEGAN the whole time, besides that one chicken dinner at The Q (it’s really special chicken). It was easy in Toronto. Firstly I was staying at my sister’s house, so I could cook for myself and the restaurants all had vegetarian choices, if not VEGAN. Plus I went to a great RAW restaurant called Rawlicious. Anyway, I was sure that Europe was going to be harder, especially since I was either cooking for two families at the villa in Portugal or eating out. I came prepared with an over-the-counter drug called Cholest-off that supposedly blocks Cholesterol from being absorbed. I took two of these pills before any meals that I knew were going to contain cholesterol. In Portugal, the worst of it was the pastries and I had to have some of that dried ham, like a prosciutto. But I didn’t have any meat besides that and had cod fish three times. In Paris as well, besides some chocolates, I really didn’t slip up too badly except for one overpriced shrimp salad at the Café de la Paix. I really do not want to eat any eggs, dairy or seafood. They are the worst in cholesterol. Of course I don’t eat meat either. I think a reasonable amount of salmon once a week is probably good.

The Dieting Vegan - Miso Soup

So the fact is even VEGANS have to watch their calories. Ok, so I haven’t gained any weight being vegan, but so many times I’ve read that people loose weight when there is no animal fat in a diet. Anyhow, now I plan to have miso soup every day. There’s a recipe for it in Alicia Silverstone’s book The Kind Diet. Basically, you have to get the miso paste from the health food store and dilute it in water. You can add any vegetable into it like onions, carrots, shittake mushrooms, green onion and leeks. Now I had never eaten leaks before and I find them really delicious. Also Bok Choy can be added. I have never bought this cabbage, but I plan to. Don’t forget to cut up the veggies cute to help fool you that this is really a very thin broth with boiled vegetables.

The Fat Vegan

It’s all in the calories I guess. Yesterday I ate a wonderful 8 oz. Israeli couscous salad that turned out to be a whopping 720 calories! Go figure! I don’t get it. Not fair. It was not swimming in oil!

The Results are In ... 202!

There’s good news for sure! My cholesterol went down 85 points. Down to 202 and I don’t have to take any cholesterol medicine. It only took 30 days of being strict vegan. I was so happy. But now I have to continue being a vegan. So I will keep on blogging about staying VEGAN. If the following numbers mean anything to you, here they are: HDL which is the good cholesterol went from 80 to 63, still good. LDL which is the bad cholesterol went from 197 to 122, fairly good, but could be better. Triglycerides went from 52 to 86.

So the experiment was successful. I must tell you though that I did fall off the wagon yesterday when I was in limbo, having taken the blood test, but not having the results yet. It was King Crab Legs that my husband brought home. Worthy of a slip-up. My kids were bugging me to have something at McDonald’s, but I told them that if I were to go off the diet, I wouldn’t do it at McDonald’s. BTW they don’t have chicken nuggets or burgers at McDonald’s. They had a chicken wrap and a chicken sandwich.

Blood Test Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day: Cholesterol test. On the 30th day of being VEGAN I will have my blood drawn. A full month of full-on VEGANISM. I swear to you that I have not cheated. I found out that I have a will of iron. I can’t wait to see the numbers. But I am not optimistic. I am simply scientific in my approach. I read on the internet that a guy lived VEGAN for a year and his cholesterol number actually went up.

Breakfast Change

I have stopped eating my delicious cold cereal that I told you about earlier and now have been eating OATMEAL for the past week. It is absolutely tied with lowering cholesterol and probably a bunch of other healthy benefits. I sprinkle it with nuts and granola. I only make ½ a cup, don’t want to fall into the FAT VEGAN trap! As of this morning I have lost the the 3 lbs. I gained after the initial 2 lb. loss and lost one additional pound. All this is fairly minor, for all the trouble I'm going to. So after a month of VEGANISM, I would have to say it’s not a weight loss program and I still have to count calories.

Fresh Sprout Beans

Here’s a picture of some fresh, not dried beans that I found as a crunchy snack at the health food store. The beans shown are in order: adzuki beans, mung beans, green lentils, red lentils and green peas. Hydroponically grown and only $1.69 for 6 oz. It's a great snack when you know you shouldn't be eating anything more. The beans are so tiny, that it takes a long time to eat just a little, plus it's got to be healthy. Better than chips.