[Suzanne 3FC]

Who's vegan this week?

I'm going out of town today with family and we'll eat out for lunch. Fortunately the place we've chosen offers a fantastic vegetable plate with garden fresh veggies

Last week went pretty well, though I did eat something off plan Friday night

Does anyone have a favorite tip to share? OH I tried something new last week - Soy Feta cheese from Sunergia foods. I was surprised, it was really good!

[SoulBliss]

way to go, Suzanne 3FC...Calling ahead or looking at the online menu is one of the smartest choices *any* dieter can make and it is a MUST for a vegan eater!

My vegan "tip" would be to be sure to get enough protein in, to keep yourself feeling satisfied and for nutritional purposes. Other than that, my advice is close to what all other diet conscious people's advice is: Plan ahead, have healthy foods ready (lots of snack-ready veggies and fresh fruits)!

[Suzanne 3FC]

Well we went to the restaurant and were greeted by a sign "closed on Mondays" But we found an interesting vegetarian restaurant and I tried something new to me - tempeh! I was impressed! It was in the form of a Cuban style sandwich, with pickles, hot mustard, black bean spread and caramelized onions. The tempeh was lightly fried, though, so it added a few extra calories. It was served on a ciabatta style bun about 5 inches square. I ate half of it, then I took the other half apart and ate the filling and left the bun.

Great tip! I'm having a hard time getting the protein in every day, but will keep working on it.

[SoulBliss]

That sandwich sounds delicious. Tempeh Reuben's are great too! I can post a recipe if you like

I had a great day because I planned ahead.

Breakfast was a sprouted English muffin with 1 T. of almond butter and 1/2 a banana.

Then I felt like I needed more protein, so I ate a soy jerky strip. (YUMMY! )

I took an organic "Raw Nectar" bar with me to eat during my 2 hour exam. I had my water bottle with me, full and refilled it again after the exam (I am sure I got an "A" by the way ).

Things got a little busy after that and I waited too long to eat, so I am really glad I loaded up earlier!

I was able to weigh myself and I am happy to report that I have LOST 6 pounds since recommitting to myself!

So, I had a late lunch/early dinner of a large salad (the usual, mixed greens, beets, carrots, hummus, peas, jicama, baked tofu, lemon juice and spices).

Then for dinner I had a hearty red lentil, tomato, zucchini, green beans, onion, corn and peas stew with 1 Dr. Kracker cracker with 1/4 an avocado and a roma tomato sliced on top, with lemon squeezed over it and spices too


I had planned and logged into my "Fitday" that I would have fruit salad but I am getting tired. I might go to bed by 11 and don't eat this late at night usually. Plus, I don't feel hungry!

Have a great night and an even better day tomorrow!

[Suzanne 3FC]

Wooo! Congratulations on 6 pounds lost, that's fantastic!!! Congrats on the test, too! Must be all the brain food I'm impressed with your salad, it sounds so much more balanced than mine. I usually stick to the basics - lettuce, onions, tomatoes, dressing. Sometimes I add smoked tofu and a little rice. I LOVE smoked tofu, but our local natural foods market doesn't carry it. I buy it when I go to a neighboring city (still over an hour away) which I went to yesterday. I bought all of the smoked tofu they had, 8 packages, and it's happily waiting in my freezer

I lost 3 pounds last week. I'm curious if I'll do just as well with a looser vegan diet and not the ETL formula.

[shananigans]

Hi ladies! I’m glad to see the vegan/ETL movement has come back to the veggie board here. I’ve not had the inclination to do ETL, a little too restrictive for me at this point, but maybe I’ll give it a trial run someday. Congrats on all those pounds lost, I’m jealous!

I’m vegan most of the time, every now and then (usually on my one meal out per week) I’ll let some dairy slip in there, and I’m not really strict about things like egg whites in faux meat products, but I’ve been cooking a lot more and trying to reduce my frozen convenience food lately. A lot more homemade seitan, tofu, beans and TVP for my protein. I’ve yet to make anything at home that I really like with tempeh. I’ve had tempeh bacon at restaurants and liked that, guess I just haven’t mastered its preparation yet.

To give you an idea of my typical weekday eating I’ll post today’s menu:

B: 1 c Kashi GoLean cereal with soymilk and ½ banana

S: ½ pumpkin cranberry nut muffin (recipe is posted on my blog http://sweetbippy.blogspot.com/2007/...way-to-be.html) and ½ banana

L: Spinach salad with mandarin oranges (canned juice packed), 2 T walnuts and sugar free raspberry vinaigrette (a new find – only 5 cal/2T!)
Chickpea Spinach Leek soup (recipe on my blog http://sweetbippy.blogspot.com/2007/...sible-pie.html, post also contains the mac n’ “cheese” recipe posted for dinner)

S: ½ pumpkin cranberry nut muffin and an apple

D: Mac n’ “cheese” with broccoli (made with whole grain pasta)
1 glass red wine

I’ve only lost 2 pounds since recommitting and trying clean up my act (started April 1), but I’m already feeling better and I’m glad to be losing anything at all again.

Keep up the good work, keep eating them veggies!

[Suzanne 3FC]

Your muffins sound delicious!

Today I stuffed some mini bell peppers I sauteed a little bit of sweet Vidalia onions, and mixed them into Tofutti cream cheese. I added finely chopped tomatoes and finely chopped fresh baby spinach. I also added chopped sun-dried tomatoes. I spooned the mixture into the tiny peppers and baked them. They were delicious!

[shananigans]

I love stuffed peppers, those sound awesome! Does the tofutti cream cheese you use have hydrogenated oil? I know their sour supreme has both the hydrogenated and trans-fat-free varieties, but I wasn’t sure about the cream cheese?

I made some lovely spinach pesto stuffed mushrooms a while ago, I bet that pesto filling would make good stuffing for peppers, especially if I added chopped up mushrooms and bread crumbs to the mix.

I'm having PB & J for lunch toady. I recently found out about something called the PB & J campaign. http://www.pbjcampaign.org/ I’ll never think of this humble sandwich the same way again.

[brnagain]

Hi everyone,

I am doing the Volumetrics way of eating, but starting today with a vegan twist. I've done enough reading to know that for many different reasons this is the way to go for me, personally. I've been on and off the fence for a long time, but this is the way to go.

Suzanne, thank you so much for the link to vegan feta. I never knew such an animal (pardon the pun!) existed! I will definitely be on the look-out for this one.

A wonderful book that you may all be interested in is Dr. Neal Barnard's new book - Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes. It's geared more toward folks with blood sugar issues, but has wonderful information that is so helpful with weight loss as well, and terrific recipes.

I'm really glad I found this thread!

[loganandlivsmom]

Hi everyone!
Suzanne-I am sorry I have been AWOL!! I ask if anyone wants to start ETL and then I start eating badly again. So frustrating. I have all these goals and then screw it up. I am glad to see that you are doing it!!
I am also glad to see some a good little group here. I promise to start checking in more often. I am already a vegetarian/junkfooditarian. I need to cut out the cheese and sweets like the coffee creamer, iced coffees, etc...I know I would feel better if I could cut out the junk~

happy memorial day!!
Laura

[Suzanne 3FC]

Hey Laura, welcome back! I moved your post to the new vegan thread, hope you don't mind We're going to lump ETL with regular vegan eating.

Brnagain, I've heard of that book, but haven't read it yet. I'll be sure to add it to my must-read list, thanks!

Volumetrics is great, and it seems easy to incorporate into this lifestyle. I've stayed stuffed without even trying!

I had a very non-green dinner for a change, but it was so good! I had some organic gold and red beets, which I roasted then chopped. I diced a sweet potato and some onion and tossed it with a little bit of olive oil and roasted it till done. I mixed it together with a little lemon juice, and some Caribbean spice mix that I bought from World Merchants Spice. It contains allspice, ginger, habanera pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic, onion, and thyme. It was so good! It was very filling, so I didn't bother eating anything else with it. I'm going to make it again, but I'll add in some roasted eggplant or zucchini or something else non-starchy and see how that is. It might be good stuffed in a pita.