Snow Fun & Karlito’s Sweet n’ Salty Cereal Snack Mix

We got a lot of snow in Kansas City last Wednesday, and I had a blast playing with my dogs while the snow was still coming down and it was so bright that it was nearly daylight. Me and Mikey the Wonder Dog had a snowball fight … I won. He can’t make snowballs for beans! Then we played chase … He won. I can’t run and chase for beans! Then I made a snow angel. I haven’t made a snow angel in thirty years at least. I hesitated at the thought and then I just went for it! I dropped down into the snow and I was 10 years old again! Fantastic! Mikey the Wonder Dog jumped on my head!

It's amazing the difference in my ability to shovel, workout and play since I've been eating a plant-based diet and getting regular workouts. I enjoyed shoveling the drive as my workout on both Wednesday and Thursday. The air was crisp, the snow was pretty light, and it felt great to be outdoors. I shoveled the drive, the walks and the patio and still wasn't ready to go indoors, hence the doggy play.

On Thursday I got another snow day, and after shoveling again, I curled up on my chair, snuggled under a warm blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and watched Amelie, a movie that’s charming and beautiful. If you live near me, I'll gladly loan you my copy.

And my movie snack? Karlito’s Sweet n’ Salty Cereal Snack Mix! I cop to the fact that Karlito’s recipe is different, but mine is a gluten free version and totally delicious! Here’s the recipe: 3c Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise cereal, 3c Nature’s Path WholeO’s, 1c-1½c salted peanuts, mixed together and sprinkled with stevia to sweeten to taste. I mix and store it in a plastic bag and 1c = 1 serving. Yum! The Mesa Sunrise is a multi-grain flake-style cereal with corn, amaranth, quinoa, flax and buckwheat. WholeO's are a brown rice and corn Cheerio-style cereal that's gluten free. You can use flake and O-style cereals of your choice.

Switching gears: Sad that the Bears didn’t pulverize the Packers, but as the old Chicago saying goes, “There’s always next year!” I joined a group at Tower Tavern to watch the action and totally forgot (Absolut will do that to you!) that pita bread is definitely not gluten free and ate some of that along with, not dairy free, artichoke dip. What can I say? The trauma of the 1^st half took over!

Go Blackhawks!!!

Monday Morning Ramblings

A gluten free vegan journey is a different trip. I’m not sure what to call this blog since I still occasionally eat seafood. It’s not vegan, although my intent is still to eat a vegan diet. So, I’m leaving the name and working through the confusion and difficulties that surround food choices. That’s the purpose of my blog; to work through the challenges publicly in support of anyone trying to improve their health, animals’ lives and the health of the planet.

The conversion to gluten free is one of those challenges. The reduction in allowable foods has left me with little variety although I recall feeling the same way when I quit eating meat, dairy and eggs. My goal is to follow through on making new recipes each week.

I rarely ate potatoes and now they are a staple making their appearance on my plate at least twice a day. Saturday I made a pot of blackeyed pea soup in my slow cooker and I decided to throw in a few whole russets to let them cook along with the soup. They were delicious! I’ve eaten all four (they were small) topped with a teaspoon of Earth Balance and coarse ground salt and pepper. Yum!

Another favorite that I can still enjoy is my morning smoothie. Combine a half to three-quarters of a cup of cranberry juice with one peeled and quartered orange, two frozen peach slices, three or four frozen strawberries, a couple of chunks of frozen bananas and a small handful of frozen blueberries. After you make it a couple of times you’ll know exactly what quantity works best for the thickness you desire and for the strength of your blender.

If you’re trying the new Weight Watchers Points program, the only thing you have to count is the juice. Use light cranberry juice for very low points!

The smoothie is easy to change depending on what you have available. When I have fresh spinach on hand I like to throw a handful in, and often throw in a few carrots. You don’t taste the spinach or carrots at all. If you have kids who resist healthy eating, make them a green shake, put on a Shrek video and tell them it’s all Shrek will drink for breakfast! A healthy way to start their day!

This weekend friends and I went to JC Wyatt’s in Saint Joseph, Missouri for dinner. The restaurant is owned by two guys from New York, Jim (front of the house) and Jeff (chef), who go out of their way to please. This place is magnificent! It is a restored Victorian home that’s so beautiful it takes your breath away. I gazed at the ceilings all night. Jim created wonderful designs out of period-correct wallpaper.

We had an email discussion relating to diet a few weeks before our reservation, but since the addition of the gluten free happened rather quickly I decided to have the maple glazed salmon rather than ask them to prepare a gluten free vegan meal at the last minute. The food was divine!

The table is asked to limit their choices to two entrées from their menu of the day. They keep it small so that everything is prepared to perfection. The entrée price includes a first course, (ours was a choice of soup or salad), dessert, iced tea and coffee. You are welcome to bring in your own wine or beer. It is so worth the drive to St. Joe’s!

Since we have plenty of snow on the ground, I am going to forgo the gym and workout by shoveling snow. I love shoveling snow when I don’t have to do it right away to get to work. I can pick the time and enjoy the beauty of nature while working up a sweat! Even snow haters have to admit that the first day of a snowfall is beautiful.

Inveterate Experimenter

My community center is sponsoring their 2nd Annual Biggest Weight Loss Challenge, and since I stalled at a fifteen pound loss, I thought it would be a good idea to join. Sunday the 2nd we weighed in, were measured, and did a six-minute walk test to see how far we could walk and/or run in six minutes. Being a competitive sort, I just had to push it and so I mostly walked with about .10 mile of running added, for a total of .45 miles … Not a marathon-winning pace, but respectable. My feet were convinced we’d run a marathon.

Last Friday I decided to take my workout out of the pool and back onto the track. The muscles in my right leg felt healed (after a strength training move I should never have done) and I missed my walking sessions a lot, so I walked for 30 minutes, fairly quickly, and then moved to the elliptical for ten minutes. I stretched out and went home. My feet were hurting a bit.

That afternoon I had to do a bit of minor repair at the back fence line. A section of my neighbor’s fence had blown down and I needed to put a temporary fence up so that my dogs could be out in the backyard off leash. I was out in the cold wind for half an hour or so hammering 16-gauge galvanized mesh to fence posts. My fingers were numb from the cold, and my feet were aching from the stress of bending on an uneven surface. By evening my feet were screaming!

Saturday also took a toll on my feet since I was on them all day. A few friends had decided to have a progressive New Year’s Day event so we could share our holiday decorating with each other before we put everything away. My house was first on the list so I spent Saturday cleaning and preparing food for guests. This was a great way to share hospitality … half the work of having to prepare an entire evening and really FUN! My feet had toned down the cacophony, but were still being heard.

On Sunday when I went to workout, I walked 1.2 miles, had my scheduled Challenge weigh-in, then cycled for 20 minutes and headed down for the orientation meeting and initial team meetings with our newly-assigned team leaders.

My team leader is a meat, fat and green leafy veggie sort whose diet plan is contrary to almost everything I follow. His plan includes meat, seafood, fish, eggs, green and root vegetables and tubers, and includes saturated animal fat along with healthy fats. Basically his plan is a modified Atkins, with root vegetables and tubers being the only modification. He stresses in all caps, NO FRUIT, NO GRAIN, NO DAIRY, and NO LEGUMES. And, he said that exercise wasn’t critical … WHAT??

I find it interesting that I ended up in this group. The other two teams and all of the Challenge’s printed materials espouse Bob Greene’s ‘The Best Life’ plan. Go figure. I’m considering sending an email to the program organizer asking for his input on the discrepancy.

We discussed our differences after the evening ended and I agreed to give up gluten, but that was it. My vegan diet stands. I’m concerned that the individual support he offers will be subject to his bias. I’m taking a wait-and-see approach.

However, credit goes where credit is due and it was my team leader who got me interested in a gluten-free diet experiment. According to research that we discussed (and I researched online), gluten is inflammatory, and so a diet without gluten should significantly lessen arthritis and asthma because they are both responses to inflammation. Being an inveterate experimenter, I decided to adopt a gluten-free diet and gauge it's impact on my arthritis and asthma. I have experienced a significant reduction by eliminating dairy and eggs; however when I add a bit of running to my walking, I end up experiencing minor asthma attacks and my feet still ache. I am definitely hoping for a positive impact on these.

It will be tricky … gluten-free and vegan. Most of my comfort foods involve noodles. I see a lot of rice, quinoa and corn tortillas in my future. It’s being done by many, but it will be challenging to get started. Stay tuned!
Here are a few links if you are interested in more information. Huffington Post,  Mission Hills Integrative Therapy Newsletter, eHow.