How I simultaneously love and hate swimming

So, I went swimming for the first time in months. Does anyone find it incredibly challenging to motivate yourself to go swimming? With the elliptical or stationary bike I feel as though it requires virtually no motivation at all. I just hop on, get out my book or turn the TV to a good station and I could be there all day. Running takes a little more motivation since it can be long and challenging depending on the day. But for the most part, I can talk myself into changing and getting out there. But swimming is a different beast entirely. You have to change, pack your swim bag, travel to the pool, change, talk yourself into jumping into the cold water, swim, get tired, swim some more, get out of the pool, shower, change and journey home. Before you know it 2-3 hours of your day are gone. But the one thing I will say for swimming is it may be the hardest to talk yourself into but it’s the most rewarding at the end. You can head home feeling clean and refreshed inside and out.
There is, however a down side to swimming that isn’t present in most other workouts: people. Now, don’t mistake me for someone who is antisocial. I LOVE working out with people. But with swimming you aren’t swimming with people, you’re swimming despite them. And that’s not as inspirational.
I was fortunate today in that I spent the first half hour with a lane to myself and it was glorious. The second half hour, was less glorious as two gentlemen joined the lane. The first I would describe as the swimmer who thinks he knows it all and the second was the type of swimmer who’s trying to prove he knows it all. Neither are attractive qualities.
The first took it upon himself to regularly sprint to the wall out of nowhere and come inches away from smacking into me as I went to flip-turn and push off. He was a treat. To him I have the following to say, “Sir, I understand you are impressed by the speed you achieve in doing a single length, but I, myself am doing 60 consecutively so I would appreciate it if you timed the one length you do more appropriately.”
The second gentleman was the dreaded, flipper-wearing type. The type who do a couple of lengths at top speed before draping themselves across the wall to rest, thereby making you turning around at the wall next to impossible. But this particular gentleman was the type who also found joy in swimming as close to me as possible so he could brush against me while he passed. To him, I have the following to say “Friend, I understand you are deeply impressed by the speed your fake duck feet give you and you are eager to show me just how skilled you are. However, as someone who is holding her breath every fourth length and kicking with the dainty toes God gave me, I am less than swept off my feet. Kindly desist from body-grazing me. Much appreciated.”
But all in all, I genuinely enjoyed my swim and really must commit to doing it more. What about you? Any humorous swimming stories to share?

Winning at running and laughing at Halloween

Okay I have two things to post about today.

The first is to give myself a pat on the back because yesterday I ran my first 9km since taking 5 weeks off to heal my horrendous shin splints. It’s a double success because as anyone who enjoys exercising can attest — taking a month off (even though you know it’s right for your body) can be a very frustrating experience. So that fact I managed to do that and am now better for it is a huge reward. Hopefully I can keep the dreaded shin splints at bay from now on!

And secondly I must post about the hilarity of taking public transit or even just walking around downtown on the weekend before Halloween. Seeing people on the subway engage in what they feel is a completely normal conversation while wearing a massive teletubby get-up or sporting eyeliner drawn scars on their faces is pretty hilarious. Also, seeing the amount of people who I’m sure would proudly announce their costume to be a “sexy _____” really just look like very cold, under-dressed hookers is a little humorous as well. Because let’s face it, a mini dress that has “Diet Coke” written on it does not mean you are a bottle of coke — it just means you’re wearing an itty bitty dress on a cold night. But hey, to each her own!

I myself will be enjoying a quiet and peaceful Halloween. Rather than donning a creepy Halloween mask, my friend and I will be sporting the moisturizing kind as we enjoy a girls’ night in this evening. And then on the actual day I will be engaging in the joyful experience of handing out candy to little tots. Sounds like the perfect combo to me!

Gratitude of the Day: Being an easy-going cook

Now, I wouldn’t be so bold as to say I am a good cook. If you put me on the set of one of those reality cooking shows I would stare at the rows of ingredients like a deer in the headlights and then maybe manage to whip together a mediocre salad off the top of my head. I wouldn’t know where to begin when creating a recipe for muffins or cookies or pies from scratch. I don’t know anything about palates or contrasting flavors or any of those things cool people go to culinary school to learn. What I do know is that I am relatively easy to please and my mother was kind enough to instill upon me what I call the “shrug and go” technique. It involves exactly what it implies. When you come upon an ingredient you don’t have or a method you don’t understand you simply shrug and proceed ahead with whatever first pops into your heard. For instance, this evening, I decided to put together a recipe I found for Kelp Noodles and Spicy Peanut Sauce and my inner monologue went something like this:

“I only have one package of noodles instead of two. Ah well, never liked noodles much anyway — more veggies for me! Oh. I don’t have broccoli. Brussel sprouts it is then! What on earth are Enoki mushrooms? Let’s pretend it says button mushrooms. One teaspoon of grated ginger? What if mine is frozen into a solid block formation? Hmm… yes this large chunk I have sawed off will do. Don’t have red curry paste…let’s go with green. Two teaspoons? That’s awfully complicated to measure. I think a small-ish sized glob will be just fine. Hey wait, I don’t have cumin or coriander or chili sauce like I thought. Curry powder? That’s spicy-ish. And cultural. Meh… sound good. Hurrah!”

And I gotta say… it was a pretty darn fine meal. I mean look at it:

Now, truth be told, this method doesn’t work for everything. I once swapped evaporated milk in for condensed milk and the results were not pretty. I probably should have assumed from the names that evaporated would be the exact opposite of condensed… but hey — live and learn! I don’t think I’ve ever followed a recipe word for word and I’m okay with that. It all tastes fine to me!

P.S. You should totally try this recipe in whichever form works for you — because it’s seriously delicious.

30-Day Vegan Challenge is complete!

Well folks, it’s official: at 5 p.m. yesterday I completed the 30-Day Vegan Challenge. And I gotta say, it was a lot of fun. And surprisingly, a whole lot easier than I would have guessed. Granted, I think a lot of the simplicity was thanks to the fact that September was a relatively quiet month for me. Which brings me to the main point of this post: my list of what is awesome about being vegan as well as what makes veganism a little more on the challenging side.

What is awesome:

• It does wonders for your insides. Seriously. I read a lot about how veganism can make you feel better from the inside-out and I definitely see what people were talking about. I literally didn’t have an internal issue in the entire month period. And as someone who tends to have tummy aches, poor digestion and/or abdominal pain multiple times a week — this is a pretty awesome and welcome change. And by some bizarre chance of fate, it actually worked out that I had plans to go to a restaurant with no vegan foods whatsoever at pretty much the hour I had finished the challenge — and my body definitely felt the effects.
• Although it is certainly possible to eat vegan unhealthily, it does eliminate many of the usual bad options you might be prone to turn to. Think about it, how many bad foods can you think of off the top of your head that don’t contain some kind of animal product? Not a whole lot. Pizza, cream sauces, chocolate bars, ice cream, burgers, candy, etc. all involve animal products. So if you go at it with the right approach, it’s very easy to totally recalibrate your eating habits.
• The majority of vegan recipes don’t just remove the meat or dairy and call it a day. They tend to experiment with a huge variety of different grains, legumes, nuts, vegetables and more. I haven’t tried this many different healthy foods in such a short amount of time in so long! Very satisfying.
• It can help you eliminate some of the things you weren’t really loving in the first place. I’ve never particularly liked milk or eggs or red meat but I felt as though there were no alternatives. So experimenting with flax eggs, soy/rice/almond milk and tempeh/tofu were welcome changes that taught me a lot about how easy it can be to reduce your impact on animal production.
• You find super yummy new things like using ground cashews as Parmesan cheese and putting alfalfa sprouts on everything.

What is less awesome:

• There were lots of people that were very welcoming of the changes I was making and were excited to learn more and share their experiences and thoughts. But I also encountered some people that responded in very odd ways which was upsetting. Some looked at me like I was crazy, others seemed angry and a select few actually made fun of me. And as someone who doesn’t really know how to handle confrontation, this left me feeling sad, confused and even embarrassed. If you’re considering going vegan, don’t let worry of such attitudes deter your — there are definitely more positive people than negative. But it can be challenging at times.
• Eating out is undeniably different than eating out when you aren’t vegan. I got in the habit of making big quantities of food and then packaging them individually in case I had to go somewhere and would need a meal which made it a lot easier. But if you’re going to someone else’s home or have been invited to a restaurant that doesn’t have vegan options, be prepared for big changes.
• For me, I think one of the biggest challenges was feeling as though I was inconveniencing people or offending them in some way. In most cases I don’t even think it was anything they said or did, I was just overly worried that I’d be putting someone out. As someone who has loved being able to respond to the question “I made ____ is that okay?” with “Of course, I eat everything!” — this was a big change for me and not one I think I could easily get used to.

So where does all this leave me?

I suppose you could say it leaves me enlightened but confused. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to speak to someone who has fully research the both sides of the debate and she helped me figure out how I feel about everything. I do believe that human beings are meant to eat meat. But I don’t believe that we need quite as much meat as we have become accustomed to and I don’t believe that animals should be treated the way they are treated in order to satisfy our mass consumption. It also frustrates me that there’s this notion that we’re at the top of the food chain and that entitles us to eat as much meat as we want. But the factories we get most of our meat from don’t have cows grazing around a field until it’s time for them to be used. They’re stuck in unbearable circumstances that no living creature should have to endure. If a cougar tracked down a person and ate them, that would be the circle of life. But have you ever heard of a cougar tracking down a person, tying them into a miniature cage, force feeding them food and hormones to make them gain weight, impregnating them so they would produce milk, taking away their baby at birth so the baby could be used for baby meat and then killing and eating them? Nope. Cause that’s not how the circle of life is supposed to work. But I digress — all this is just to explain why I think changes do need to be made — although I don’t think it has to be all or nothing. There are plenty of naturally raised farms in Canada where the animals are treated very humanely and even enjoy equal or better lives than they would in the wilderness. I’m just not a fan of how treating animals cruelly in the name of meeting demand has somehow been deemed okay. But it’s obviously a complex issue and I do believe there are dozens of worthwhile ways to look at the issues. Now, where was I? Oh yes… I have also come to realize based on a lot of research that the whole notion of drinking another creature’s milk or eating their eggs just doesn’t make sense to me. That doesn’t mean I’m going to go to a restaurant and ask if each item on the list contains the products — but I am going to stick to cooking with flax eggs at home and drinking soy or almond milk wherever possible.I definitely respect vegans that are able to cut them out entirely no matter where they are, but I don’t know that’s where I am yet.

I read a wonderful book called The Main Street Vegan that opened my eyes to the possibility of being an “at home vegan.” Where essentially you eat in a vegan way at home and make vegan choices when available while you’re out but if they aren’t available that’s okay to. The author suggests that living this way can help people gradually move towards being more vegan if and when they’re ready, or if not, they’re still doing something to help the world and that’s great. If anything, these 30 days have taught me it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. I can still do my part to help the animals while I’m at home but I can also enjoy the health benefits that come from eating healthy meat products when I’m out. And I can also not worry about offending someone when I’m a guest in their home or not being able to pick an option I can eat off the menu. These beliefs might change with time and that’s okay too. We’re all just trying to find that happy balance between what we feel is right and what makes us happy — and as long as we keep fighting to find that, we’re doing okay.

Most importantly, I hope I haven’t offended anyone in writing this. Whichever side of the debate you may sit on (or somewhere in the middle!) I hope you can understand that I’m new to this and am just another person trying to find my way and discover what I think is right. As I’m sure we all are! But I’m always open to new perspectives — so please feel free to share your thoughts!

Super Healthy Dinner: Vegan Tempeh Marinara Pasta

This dish is the perfect combination of healthy and tasty. Which is great because I so rarely think of pasta as being “good for you”. But this dish is full of nutritious goodies. And I finally feel like I understand why Italians love making their own marinara sauce. The taste is so much better! I followed a recipe I found on Healthy Happy Life with a few minor adjustments:

• I used sliced portobello and button mushrooms instead of of shitake.
• I doubled the amount of kale (for some extra green goodness)
• I used about half the amount of olive oil recommended just because 1/4 cup seemed like a little two much
• I realized at the last minute I didn’t have any onion which was too bad, but I’ll make sure to have some on hand for next time!
• For the sauce I did a small ziploc bag of plain tomato sauce that I happened to have in the fridge and then cut up one roma tomato and one normal tomato. I also chopped up a red pepper and added it along with the garlic and spices.
• I ground raw cashews into a powder as topping instead of getting a Parmesan cheese substitute.

Next time around I think I’d like to use whole wheat pasta or maybe soba noodles. This was my first time using tempeh which was cool. It was very interesting. I’m excited to try grilling it to see how that works. Definitely a day of firsts!

Day 7 vegan discovery: Delicious wraps

I am pleased to say I have finally solved a mystery. In the past when I have made a wrap for myself it typically just involved me throwing some cheese and maybe a little ham in a whole wheat wrap, warming it up and calling it a day. So it’s no wonder I didn’t find it as exciting as when I got a wrap at a sandwich shop or restaurant. But when you have the right ingredients — a wrap made at home can be even better than one you buy.

Seeing as I’m not spending money on meat, cheese, or dairy products anymore, I have some extra funds to buy ridiculously awesome produce that I would otherwise have talked myself out of. And that lead to creating the best wrap of my existence. I filled a whole wheat pita with tomatoes, red pepper, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, avocado, shredded carrots and the “piece de resistence”: lentil hummus.

I found the recipe on Oh She Glows and it was unbelievably easy. I’ll be making it a lot more when I want a change from chick pea hummus. So simple and so good!

Mushroom and Kale Gravy over Millet

Oh She Glows is overflowing with healthy and delicious recipes such as this scrumptious Mushroom and Kale Gravy over Millet. The gravy is creamy and delicious while the kale adds a nice chewy texture and the millet adds the perfect tender crunch. I followed the recipe quite closely except that I used red onion instead of white because it was all I had and I substituted 2/3 button mushrooms and 1/3 portobello mushrooms because I didn’t have cremini. I also doubled the kale quantity for some added fibre and leafy greens. And because I didn’t have nutritional yeast I ground cashews into a powder instead. It was so good I literally closed my eyes to savor it. Enjoy!!

The 30-Day Vegan Challenge

For a couple of years now, the concept of going vegan has been bouncing around in my head. There are many aspects that have always drawn me to the lifestyle. But it always seemed like too much. It was too big, too daunting, too restrictive, too expensive, too time-consuming… and on the list went. Could I live with never eating yogurt again? Could I turn down the plate of turkey at Christmas? I didn’t think so. So I kept putting it off. But over the last few months, every time my vegetarian roommate cooked dinner I thought… “well that looks easy!” And in her warm and inspiring way she would tell me about some of the documentaries she has watched and what she’s learned and things in my head started to shift. I took out books from the library. I looked up facts and recipes on the internet. As I learned about what animals endure to fill the needs of human beings — how cruel the methods are, how wasteful, how unnecessary. I was saddened. I was deeply, deeply saddened to know how much of a role I had played in their suffering. And I felt foolish at having pushed away my concerns or questions about what they go through simply because I didn’t think I could handle the truth. And with that new knowledge, making a change started to seem more doable. And most importantly, more necessary.

But it wasn’t until I came across the book The 30-Day Vegan Challenge that everything clicked. There was suddenly a resource that made it all seem within my grasp. Really, what can’t you do for 30 days? Especially when it’s something you believe in and want to commit to? I’ve commited to countless things for well over 30 days that I’ve had absolutely no interest in simply because I “had” to. So why wouldn’t I commit to something that I’m passionate about? And clearly there is no good answer to that question because I am now on day four of the 30-day challenge!

But despite how excited I am and how easy and fun and invigorating it has been so far, there is still something that has been nagging at me just as it used to over a year ago: what if I can’t stick with it forever? What if I desperately want to enjoy the Christmas dinner I’m used to? What if the dish at a restaurant that I really, really want has cheese, or eggs, or salmon? How will I feel about giving in? Now that I know all that I know about the industry such products come from? Seeing as I have 26 days to go, I can’t answer that question yet. I don’t know how I’ll feel. Maybe 30 days without animal products will make me lose interest in them all together. But it also may be the case that there are certain products I don’t think I can live without. And it may also be the threat of always feeling I am inconveniencing others when I go to their place and can’t eat any of the foods they offer. I truly don’t know what I would do in such a situation because hurting their feelings or inconveniencing them would greatly upset me.

As I’ve been reading The 30-Day Vegan Challenge I have been bouncing these worries around in my head to no end. And then finally, when I reached the very last chapter I was presented with a notion that changed it all:

“Don’t do nothing because you can’t do everything. Do something. Anything.”

Attempting to diminish my footprint on the world doesn’t have to be all or nothing. No one is perfect. No one can do everything. Someone may not eat meat but they may buy grains that have been cultivated by a worker who was paid next to nothing for the task. Another might bike to work rather than drive but buy running shoes that have been made by child workers. I might not be able to live a 100% vegan lifestyle forever, but have I done any harm by trying?

In just four days I have learned many new things that I feel will contribute to diminishing my impact on animal suffering for the rest of my life. For example, ground cashews can add the creaminess of Parmesan cheese to a pasta dish. And gravy can taste equally divine when made with vegetable broth as with beef or chicken. And tofu, when done right, can taste every bit as savory and decadent as the best cut of meat. And as the days move forward I hope to discover some other great alternatives such as coconut milk based ice cream and soy yogurt. If nothing else, living without animal products for 30 days will open my eyes to all the alternatives that are out there in order to help me reduce my negative impact on the lives of animals. I may never be the perfect vegan. Or the perfect person. But who is? All I can do is open my eyes to what is going around me, absorb the knowledge and do my best to live my life as open-mindedly and compassionately as possible.

Cheers to day four!

Peanut Butter Soba Noodle Stir Fry

Okay, I virtually always like the things I cook. Even if something I whip up may be disgusting, the fact I made it makes it my baby and I feel I am required to like it. But this…this dish is AMAZING. I seriously feel like you could find it in a restaurant. It’s nutty, creamy and delicious.

I used this recipe almost verbatim: Soba Noodles with Shrimp, Snow Peas & Carrots — with a few exceptions…

1) I realized after I had started that I only had half the amount of shrimp I needed. So I pan-fried a diced chicken breast in sesame oil and added it to the mix at the same time as the sauce. I strongly recommend it!

2) I accidentally used snap peas instead of snow peas — but it was still delicious!

3) I forgot to add the cilantro which was sad but I have plenty of leftovers that I will load up with the stuff.

4) I think I added close to an extra cup of grated carrot which I think made it even better so I would totally recommend doing so.

5) I used these super cool soba noodles I found at my local health food store:

They’re 95% buckwheat and 5% sweet potato! How cool is that!? If you can track them down I can practically guarantee you will love them. Enjoy!!

Healthy Banana Bars

A little while ago I came across this recipe for Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey Road Cake. And this morning, as a reward for the busy day I had yesterday, I decided to finally enjoy some quality baking time. Unfortunately I didn’t have one of the title ingredients — honey. But the fact it was the healthiest banana bread I had stumbled across in some time (possibly ever) made me decide it was worth trying anyway. And the substitutions I made seemed to work out perfectly. The only thing I think I could have added but didn’t think of until it was too late was chopped walnuts. Walnuts are always a great addition to banana bread. Oh well — next time! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup Splenda (or other sweetener of choice)
• 1 egg (or flax egg if making vegan)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 heaping tablespoon creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons apple sauce
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine banana, Splenda, egg, vanilla, maple syrup, peanut butter and apple sauce in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Ensure all banana lumps have disappeared.
3. Stir in flours, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
4. Pour mixture into a greased 8 x 8 baking pan. Even out mixture.
5. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes. You can check on it at 25 minutes but I find the bananas cause the mixture to take a long time to cook.
6. Let cool for 10 minutes or so as bread will continue to cook on the inside and then serve.

Note: Loaf can easily be cut into squares which are convenient to take with you as a quick snack or breakfast on-the-go.