I was hoping to have a new restaurant review for you this morning, but a little mix-up is delaying that for awhile. Too bad for you, because now you have to listen to my random musings about recent happenings.
First, I saw Mark Bittman do a TV interview a few weeks back, talking about his new book "VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good," and was instantly convinced that it's a great idea. I immediately downloaded the book to my Kindle and started eating vegan before 6. Is it for ethical reasons? No - while I'm not super excited about factory farming and the poor conditions in which the animals live, I don't think it's realistic to believe that a few people going vegan is going to do anything to change that (sorry).
Like Bittman (a professional food writer), I did it as a compromise for the life I've chosen - loving food, loving cooking, loving going out to eat, but not wanting to weigh 300 pounds. To me, the smartest part of this lifestyle is that is basically
forces you to eat more fruits and vegetables. With no eggs, no cheese, no yogurt, and no meat or seafood, what's left for breakfast and lunches? Fruits and vegetables, and lots of them. You eat healthy, fresh food all morning and afternoon, and come evening - do whatever you want. It doesn't impact my social life at all - I can still go out to dinner with friends whenever I want, wheeee!
I decided to take a modified approached, which is "Vegan Before 6, Weekdays Only." I love the awesome breakfasts my husband cooks up for me each weekend, and I'm not willing to give them up, in all their egg, sausage, and coffee with vanilla creamer glory. So, last week, I did it every weekday, and it wasn't difficult. Like, at all. Here's what I ate:
Breakfasts:
Homemade Cold Cereal (a recipe from the book) with vanilla almond milk, or an apple with made-in-Michigan
Koeze natural peanut butter.
Lunches: Homemade Greek Salads (spinach, cucumbers, chickpeas, roasted beets, kalamata olives, capers, red onion, and olive oil-lemon dressing). I also roasted a big batch of brussels sprouts and carrots, which I ate with quinoa and hummus on the days I didn't have salad.
Snacks: Watermelon, more apples, cashews,
NatureBox snacks and lots of ice water.
I plan to continue this week - I think I'll make up some southwest quinoa black bean bowls for lunches. Yum!
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Next up, on Saturday, June 8th, I'll be participating in the 2013 Women's Football Academy, benefiting the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. I've participated in previous years, and had a great time throwing footballs, tackling dummies, oogling the football players' muscles in the weight room, and getting cool guys like Zoltan Mesko to sign my hat. But more than all of that fun, this event supports a great cause. If you've ever known anyone touched by cancer (who hasn't, unfortunately?), please consider making a donation
here. I'd appreciate it, and I'll take you out for ice cream next time you're in Detroit. All donations are 100% tax deductible gifts, and support initiatives within the Patient & Family Support Services Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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Finally, just a reminder for readers who typically only visit on weekdays, I participated in #sundaysupper this week, so I posted yesterday about my Root Beer Ribs. I almost always make ribs over Memorial Day weekend, and that's probably what I'll be doing this year, too. They just feel like a holiday food. Check them out!
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