Years back when I did the Jenny Craig diet, I became somewhat constipated and gassy, and my counselor had the nerve to blame it on the vegetables! I knew then she was wrong, but years later when I got on Nutrisystem and became a constipated fart-face, I knew it definitely was not the vegetables that I added to their packaged foods causing me problems. They suggested drinking more water and even taking fiber supplements.
Well guess what, I do drink water on the vegan diet, but not nearly as much as I did on those other diets. Why? Because most of what I eat has a high water content and my body doesn't crave it in the form of a big, full glass. Nature knows what she's doing, and humans really need to pay attention. Many people think drinking gallons of water helps to flush out the toxins, but what they fail to see it that it also flushes out the vitamins and minerals. And going by my constipated-drinking-8+glasses-of-water-a-day dieting compared to the vegan diet, I am convinced that drinking all that water does not flush out any toxins. Poop is essentially toxic waste, right? Why didn't all of that water I guzzled down flush it out? Something to consider if you are a water guzzler.
Here's some more good news... Just three days in and I have just about lost three pounds--2.9 to be exact. And even in such a short time, my skin is clearing up. I have been using a regular facial cleanser, not one for acne prone skin, and my face is less red and feeling smooth. Normally when I would try to escape the acne cleansers, I would break out in a million little bumps and even bigger pimples. Since I have not been putting any garbage into my body, it does not need to find a way out. And as I am no longer constipated, the waste has a better way out than through my skin.
And again, I can still say that I have not been starving or counting calories at all in the past few days. Yesterday was slightly challenging as it was the first day I followed the vegan diet while at work. Challenging, because I am a massage therapist, and so I have to be sure I eat the right amount of food before being locked away in a dark room for hours at a time. I do not have the luxury of snacking while I do my job. So, when my dinner break arrived I was definitely hungry. I did not add much in the way of protein to my lunch, and I think that is what the problem was there. I also shared some of my smoothie with my husband, but I had not used more tofu than the other days so I lost some protein there as well.
One thing I have weirdly omitted from my food log is the coffee I drink in the morning. Maybe I am ashamed of my coffee addiction..? I do not know. I drink three cups in the morning. I am not proud of this, but it is what it is. The first two days of the diet, I finished using up the fat free Coffee-Mate powdered creamer I got into using while on Nutrisystem (allegedly non-dairy). I have been using non-dairy creamers for most of my coffee drinking career. I think they actually taste richer than half-and-half, plus milk products usually irritate my sinuses.
I have tried Silk brand's coffee creamers and SO Delicious (coconut) creamers, but I did not really care for them. They each had a strong aftertaste for me. On Day Two of this diet, I noticed at the end of the ingredient list on the Coffee-Mate container a note that it contains traces of milk. Great! But, I was okay with that because I wanted to stop using it anyway. It is full of weird chemicals and high fructose corn syrup solids. I do not know what in the world took me so long to do this, but yesterday I simply added regular soymilk to my coffee and wah-la! Success! It tastes great, and I am officially eating a 100% vegan diet.
So here is what I ate:
Breakfast: Oatmeal, toast with apple butter, and coffee with soymilk.
I shared my oatmeal with my husband yesterday, and so I let him pick the dried fruit. His options were apricots, figs, or raisins, and he chose raisins. I prepared it in the same way I have been, but yesterday I added 1/2 cup of applesauce to sweeten it slightly (I used unsweetened applesauce with apples as the only ingredient). I had a slice of Ezekiel toast with apple butter on it, which is just apples and apple concentrate.
Snack: Smoothie.
I only had about 1/4 cup of orange juice left, and so I added about 1/2 cup of water this time. I also omitted the mango and substituted it for a banana to make up for the sweetness lost by the lack of orange juice. On the whole, these smoothies are mildly sweet, which I am doing on purpose to cut back on sugar intake.
Lunch: Veggie wrap.
I got a little creative this time. In a small blender, I combined sundried tomatoes, fresh basil, and hummus to make a spread. I buy the kind of sundried tomatoes that come in a bag without the oil, and I soaked them in really warm water for about ten minutes before using them. I am guessing I grabbed about 1 tablespoon worth out of the bag--I did not use a measuring spoon. I also grabbed about 7 or 8 basil leaves, and added around 1/4 cup of hummus with a few tablespoons of water. I spread the paste on an Ezekiel tortilla I had warmed in the pan, and then topped it with zucchini and red bell pepper stips I had sauteed in vegetable broth and garlic powder. I used 1/2 of a pepper and 1 entire zucchini.
Dinner: Cabbage roll, raw carrots and Silk brand chocolate soymilk.
I would say that I brought 2-3 somewhat skinny carrots cut in half to enjoy with the cabbage roll. I had peeled and cut them up a couple days ago, and I just eyeballed the amount thinking it looked good. I thought I would be sick of the cabbage rolls by now, but it was such a wonderful meal. I gobbled it down and thought I was still hungry. After eating the carrots, I came to feel quite satisfied. The chocolate soymilk was such a treat.
Snack: Fuji apple.
Pretty simple. I just washed and ate this delicious apple, sweet but chalked full of fiber and nutrients.
Now on to Day 4....
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