I have a big confession to make. I am a vegetarian, but I'm a bad vegetarian. I'm a vegetarian who doesn't eat nearly enough vegetables. I'm a junk food addict, trying very hard to break that habit! Pizza and chocolate are my "crack." It's impossible to have just one slice of pizza or just one handful of M&M's.
A few weeks ago, my typical meal would consist of a big bowl of spaghetti with shredded cheese on top, garlic bread, and canned green beans - I needed a vegetable somewhere! I lived off packaged macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza, sugared cereal, and ice cream. This is not a healthy way for anyone to live, let alone an overweight and depressed vegetarian with MS and mom to a 6 year old (yep-that's me in a nutshell!)
I decided to do something about it. I've tried and failed diets in the past including the HCG diet where I ate only 500 calories a day, Weight Watchers point system, counting calories, and eating only vegan foods (french fries from most places are vegan...that means healthy, right?). I failed at all of them. Sure, I lost weight on the HCG diet, but it made me feel miserable, and I gained it right back. I do not ever recommend anyone try that particular diet! I've tried exercise plans, personal trainers at the gym, and classes at the gym. I have failed at those too. Somewhere along the line, I get bored. Also, exercise can be hard with MS - I need to find something that works for me, but for right now, my focus is on diet.
This time around, I am keeping a personal blog to be accountable. I don't care if I'm accountable to an audience of 1,000, or just me. I need to keep track, somehow. So here I am! My new plan is to eat a plant based diet of whole foods. So far I am doing great. I got an Instant Pot for Christmas and have used it many times to make many things including my new favorite breakfast: steel cut oats. I also use it to cook up dried beans, rice, and quinoa. It's so easy to cook at home, I don't feel like grabbing something quick, like pizza, Jimmy Johns, or the sugar induced coma from IHOP.
My new favorite meals are steel cut oats with cranberries and walnuts, scrambled tofu loaded with veggies, beans and rice - made flavorful with a variety of spices, and the occasional Gardein product. My favorite snack has become home made vegan yogurt. For an easy meal, like lunch, I tend to grab a peanut butter and jam sandwich made with whole grain bread, all natural peanut butter, and simply fruit jam - served with a small handful of tortilla chips, a salad with home made vegan ranch, and an apple or banana.
I just finished drinking a delicious smoothie made with protein powder, a banana, some spinach, vegan yogurt, and frozen blueberries. It was delicious! Maybe I won't miss ice cream after all. Here's to a new year full of delicious food that is also GOOD for me.
<3 Tricia
