Weight gain, what I eat, vacation eating, and so on.....kinda long

[Guest guest]

Hi group....

 

Been reading all the messages, great discussions going on! I'm going to respond

to a few things in one email, hope thats ok.

 

First off, weight gain. I'm another one of them " Volutious Vegans " (thats a

cookbook, BTW) Quite frankly, at my age, 42 on Saturday, I know my metabolism is

not what it used to be, so as long as I am eating healthy, well balanced meals,

I don't worry about the weight..its called, ACCEPTANCE! It was a process for me,

but I am happy more with treating my body in a healthy way as opposed to

worrying about weight loss, crash diets, and the like. I've been a vegetarian

for quite a while now, years, and I have slowly lost weight, about a pound a

week, which is the RIGHT way to do it. From time to time, for no apparent

reason, I will gain a pound or three, but I stay pretty steady right around 240,

but I don't look it, and I am 5'3 " . For me, its just who I am, and I accept

that. I got down to 200 one time, but I was starving myself, practically, and

working out in various forms for about 2 hours a day, 6 days a week. Life is too

damn short to spend that much time in deprivation, and work! It was unrealistic

to think I could keep up that pace for the rest of my life, which is what I

would have to do to maintain a weight of 200 lbs. I blew out my knee and the

arthritis set in, and blame the poor nutrition and massive amounts of weight

bearing exercise. The results, permenant damage to my knee, hip, and shoulder,

disability sticker for my car, use of a cane occasionally, and a completely

altered life due to limited walking ability are the consequences I have to live

with for the rest of my life. In a time when I should be enjoying life to the

fullest, I have to plan around what I can and cannot do due to my mobility. I

exercise, non weight bearing, lift weights as I can, and my disability does not

keep me from enjoying life, but I get much more pleasure from knowing I am

HEALTHY and treating my body with respect, and accepting who and where I am in

life. After all, I've bore three children, successfully raised them, and have a

happy, satisfied husband, am able to keep my home, my dogs, and my sanity..what

more could I ask for? Besides, if I should ever become seriously ill, I have a

built in store house of reserve to live off for a while ;-) BUT, I will tell

you, if you want to shed some extra pounds, watch the sugar intake, and this

includes white and wheat flours! If you must have bread, look for bread that is

made with WHOLE GRAIN, not wheat flour...the key word is WHOLE GRAIN. Giving up

all processed food has not made me lose much more weight, but it has helped my

arthiric conditions tremdously. Its a lot of work, but well worth it!

 

Tonight for dinner we had black beans and rice. Black beans were soaked all

night and ready to go this morning. I added long grain brown rice cooked

yesterday for another dinner to the black beans after they were cooked, threw in

some homemade salsa (tomatoes, green peppers, onions, and various spices) and

has this over tortilla chips that I made myself last week. (Blue corn chips

would work out nicely too if you use them) and had a nice summer spinach salad

with berries on it instead of dressing. For lunch, hubby and I went to one of

our favorite vegan soup places, Benevolence. I had Vegan Smokey Split Pea Soup,

and a salad. Hubby had a Tabuli Salad. For breakfast we had Oats and Fruit with

just a sprinkle of nuts on it, and herbal tea. I have been satisfied all day

with that amount of food, which is typical for me. Tonight we will pop some

Black Velvet popcorn in the microwave in a brown paper bag with no oil or salt.

Its a real treat.

 

To prepare for our 12 day vacation starting next week, I have been cooking

double what I normally do for nearly a week now, and we have 5 meals in the

freezer ready to go! Whole wheat pasta with tomatoe sauce and grilled veggies,

Lentil soup, tonights Black Beans and Rice, 1/2 of a Vegan Shepards Pie, and a

Mexicali Corn Casserole. I will only have to heat and serve next week! Dinner on

Wednesday will be out since its our 20th anniversary, and we will probably make

a pizza while we are there. With the various other things I have been storing

up, i.e, homemade granola, brown rice, for breakfast, vegan cookies, hummus, I

think we are all set for a vegetarian vacation!

 

I'm wondering how many of the people on this list embrace the simplicity

movement? I know a few people who believe that simplicity and vegetarianism go

hand in hand. Its certainly does for me and simplifying my life has been a

godsend. Any thoughts from you all on that?

 

I've rambled on enough...although I could go one some more, I'll close for now.

 

Blessings and peace...

Nancy