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This afternoon turned out to be another beautiful one of several we have had recently. It was so nice that John and I headed to a local park to walk Merlin and get a little exercise and a good dose of sunshine, which I have been needing recently.

This is an exciting week for me. I have been to two concerts (The Fruit Bats on Monday night and Ani Difranco on Tuesday) and I leave tomorrow for SXSW. I’m not sure how the new diet and workout program will go with the upcoming traveling but I’m dedicated to giving it my best and making it work. I’m more concerned about finding healthy food options more than anything. My hotel has a great workout facility so I think I have that part mostly figured out. Anywho…. that’s life right? I gotta figure this stuff out some time or another.

I’ll leave you with a couple of my favorite songs by the Fruit Bats:

“I rather think I do”.

1/365, originally uploaded by attercat.

I’ve decided to start a 365 project using the camera on my cell phone and the apps available for it. I’m not doing any external editing. This is to help me get my creative photography mojo back. I thought it would be nice to look for things around me daily and use the limitations of the camera on my phone to make me get a little more creative to make it interesting.

I started week three of the training program today and things are moving along marvelously. I’m really enjoying this heart-rate based program. By being so focused on my body I can easily monitor what small changes do to either raise or lower my heart rate. I have also been able to lower my heart rate around 10 beats by simply focusing and breathing more deeply. I feel like a ninja when I do that!

I discovered that my recovery rate is actually pretty decent. I’m still working with the spikes at the lows and highs of my zones but I can already see those are getting better and I’m more in control overall. It is a little game that I get to play with myself. I have to move from one zone to another and learn to listen to my body enough to know when to change the settings, on whatever machine I am on, so that I catch the perfect heart rate for that zone. This game makes time go so fast and I’m competing with no one but myself which is nice.

And now for the pièce de résistance, I have lost a little over 3 pounds! That is slow and steady and I’m cool with that. I have also been eating around 1800-2000 calories a day. I know! I eat all the time! I track my meals loosely to make sure I’m eating around 300-400 calories every three to four hours but other than that I haven’t been obsessed about what I’m eating. I may have to be more restrictive in the future, but for now, I think this is the best route for me. I’m working on changing a lot of habits and I want to make it as doable as possible.

The trainer warned me today that I may not want to look at the plan for next week. I think he mumbled something about boot camp when I was walking away. I’m not looking.

Eating a vegan diet has put a damper on me eating out a lot but I see this as a good thing most of the time. Saying that though, I should probably own stock in Panera Bread since I grab a yummy mediterranean veggie sandwich there a few times a week (minus the feta of course). I also love their black bean soup. However, the lack of good vegan food out in the wild has forced me to cook a little more at home and luckily there are a lot of resources available now to people who choose an alternative diet.

I wanted to mention a couple of cookbooks that I picked up that have been huge in helping me transition to the vegan diet. The first book is The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. I enjoy this cookbook because it has a lot of quick easy meals and most of them are pretty healthy. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite recipes is the Sicilian Collard Green recipe below. I think I like this one so much because there is a nice mix of sweet, sour and nutty tastes together. Who knew I would ever eat collard greens and like it!

Sicilian Collard Greens
1 bunch collard greens
2 tbsp pine nuts
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Cut out the central rib and stem from each collard leaf. Rinse the leaves in a sink of cool water, lifting them into a colander to drain a bit (you want some water to remain on the leaves). Tear leaves into smaller pieces. If desired, chop some of the stems into bite size pieces.

Toast the pine nuts over medium heat in a dry skillet for about 5 minutes. Shake the pan often to keep nuts from burning. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Place the garlic and oil in a large skillet and saute over medium heat for 1 minute until garlic is fragrant. Add the damp collards and stir, then cover the pan and cook for 2 minutes longer. Add the raisins and pine nuts and stir. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, cover and cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer.

My other new favorite cookbook is Veganomicon. There are SO MANY GOOD recipes in this one. If you are entertaining the idea of eating vegan, even occasionally, this book is a must. I recently made the chickpea cutlet recipe below and it was hearty and filling and awesome. You can eat these on a sandwich like a burger, with your favorite dipping sauce or simply eat them as is. Seriously kids, check these out.

Chickpea Cutlets
1 c. chickpeas
2 T. olive oil
1/2 c. vital wheat gluten
1/2 c. plain breadcrumbs
1/4 c. vegetable broth or water
2 T. soy sauce
2 garlic cloves , pressed or grated
1/2 t. lemon zest
1/2 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. Hungarian paprika
1/4 t. dried rubbed sage
to taste olive oil , for pan frying or baking

Mash the chickpeas and oil together until no whole chickpeas remain. Add remaining ingredients and knead for 3 minutes until strings of gluten have formed. Preheat large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Divide dough into four equal pieces. Flatten each piece and stretch to roughly 4″ x 6″

PAN-FRYING: Add a thin layer of olive oil to to the pan. Place cutlets in the pan and cook on each side for 6 to 7 minute They are ready when lightly brown and firm to the touch.

BAKING: Preheat oven to 375°F, and lightly oil baking sheet. Brush both sides of each patty with olive oil, place on baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes. Flip patties and bake another 8 to 10 minutes until firm and golden brown.

I’m wrapping up week one on the new workout plan from the trainer and decided this morning to treat myself with some new running shoes. We have this great little store in town called John’s Run/Walk Shop that specializes in helping you find shoes that work best for you. I’m so glad that I decided to consult the shoe gurus (thanks Mike for your help!) because my new shoes are definitely going to make a difference. I already took them for a spin on the treadmill and what a difference. For one thing, I was wearing a half size too large before and, secondly, I never realized what good support should feel like. The shoes are a bit more expensive than the discount store version I have been wearing but I think it is totally worth it in the long run, especially if they will help keep me from getting an injury. Mike also taught me a nifty loop trick for tying my shoes that keeps the heel from slipping up and down on me. This was huge for me since that is something that has always bothered me in almost every shoe I have owned.

Meet my current favorite workout song:

Six weeks ago, I started some pretty big changes in my diet and my lifestyle. The week between Christmas and New Years I did a cleanse. It was an amazing experience for a few reasons. First, I learned the difference between hunger and eating from emotions and habit. Second, for the first time in years, I have kicked the caffeine habit. There are no more highs and lows from the caffeine swing.

After going through a week of body and head aches and finally feeling lighter and more energetic, I couldn’t simply return to business as usual. I decided it was time to overhaul the diet to see how I felt. I began by eating strictly vegan. For six weeks now, I have not had any dairy or eggs. That’s right… No cheese! I thought I would never be able to do that but you know what, I don’t miss it at all. As a matter of fact, I feel more energetic and have less cravings overall and a nice bonus is my clothes are getting looser and I’m not evening counting calories. I know that it will level out soon but it has helped me to stay motivated to live healthier this year.

I realize that eating vegan alone won’t make me healthier so I am also dedicated to cutting out fructose and other refined sugars as well. This has been harder because it is in everything! I had to go through at least ten loaves of bread the other day in the store aisle to find one that didn’t have milk, eggs or fructose syrup in it. The best solution is to make my own bread and, while I have experimented, I haven’t been that motivated yet. I’m working on the learning to love to cook part. I’m getting there I think… well more so than days of old.

Finally, today I met with a trainer to start a 12 week cardio program. You see, I want to be a runner and I want to improve my cardio and endurance so that my favorite outdoor activities, like hiking and biking, are not so hard for me. I want an active life style. I have been going to the gym for a few weeks now and the other day I saw an ad for a trainer that does heart-rate based training. I came straight home, looked up his web site and emailed him immediately. This is exactly what I had in mind. I scheduled my first meeting and fitness assessment (um, I have some work to do) for this afternoon and now I have a game plan in hand and am ready to get to work.

I plan on keeping track of the journey here with updates on the vegan diet and fitness goals. The thing I’m most excited about is that this isn’t a diet but a true lifestyle change. Until science figures out the whole fountain of youth bit or making me immortal a healthy ticker will have to be my focus.

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”
- Pema Chodron

A few days ago I happened upon the quote above and it jumped off the page and made me pause. I quickly stored it away in my little book of quotes I love. And then today, Sharon read the exact same quote after yoga and I was all in awe of how sometimes the universe delivers up little magic moments like these. I left yoga thinking more about these words and how relevant they are right now with the horrible suffering in Haiti. It is so important for us to realize that we are all tied together through our humanity and, when one suffers, we all suffer.