a peek inside the fishbowl

It’s been awhile since I felt like I was dragging my weary bones out of bed. I woke up feeling pretty awesome today. There could be a number of reasons why: (1) the sun was shining (2) there are more fruits and veggies in my diet, and no meat (3) I got a decent night’s sleep (4) re-introduction of my B vitamins.

Last night as I went to bed, I found myself running up the stairs and punching the air like some kind of Sylvester Stallone, and then I stopped and thought, what the hell just happened there? I’ll tell ya what happened: ENERGY and other GOOD STUFF.

I should add I am still working on my good habits: getting in a minimum of 10,000 steps a day, following them up with pushups, and long-form journalling brain dump when I wake up in the morning.

I’m only four days in to this veg challenge, so it might be too early to say, but it’s not that hard to drop meat out of one’s diet. I know I can do this. Half the world isn’t eating meat anyway – for religious, economic, or dietary reasons – so why should it be difficult for me?

Other quick observations before I get back to work and attack a few deadlines:

• Flavourwise, almond milk yogurt is no replacement for my usual Activia brand. I’ll be hiding the rest of it in a smoothie later. Urgh.
• Fruit makes a great snack – it’s sweet and filling. Yay for fruit!
• Coconut bacon is not like real bacon :)

Thanks to everyone who’s commented, tweeted, and emailed! I really appreciate your friendship and support. xo

This post is part of my 21-day vegetarian challenge. You can read all of the posts in this series right here. If you’re curious, I’m tracking what I eat right here.

I want to take a moment to introduce you to some carnivores now living in our home. Meet Jaws:

It’s a Venus Fly Trap! We bought four of them at Farm Boy (the Britannia location) last night.

Not only is this a pretty darn cool window decoration but it’s a biology lesson to boot. Because I have a notorious black thumb as it comes to green things, I have been reading up on how to take care of venus fly traps. One resource I’ve found so far: How to care for Venus Flytraps (It’s Wikihow. Perfect.). I had no idea they had a dormant period and loved crappy soil! (In other words, I can probably do this.)

Suffice it to say we’ve been shooing tiny flying things into their maws already. Maybe they’ll reduce the number of fruit flies we get during the summer??

I promise that the next 20 posts aren’t going to be all about what I’m eating, because that would be boring – for you and for me. I will update here and there when I have something to say, but if you are curious and want the daily menu update it is posted over here and will be updated as I go.

If you recall from yesterday’s post, I entered into this feeling determined yet woefully unprepared. No time. No list. No groceries. On Monday I had to go to the office early and wasn’t able to prepare a lunch. So, I dropped by Victory Caffe to see what was on the menu. It’s a different kind of place. Victory Caffe is actually a gym (the offer various fitness/boxing/coaching programs) and there are some food/coffee options/tables in the front part. Victory is actually my regular source for office coffee. They carry Happy Goat – locally roasted beans – and it’s always an excellent brew. There are always healthy items on the menu, and snacks too, and I knew I was in good hands if I asked The Question.

It was a little early for lunch, so I asked Anna, the owner, if she had any vegetarian and/or vegan options on the menu today, and then I told her about my 21-day vegetarian challenge. She asked when I was starting this challenge and I suspect my answer didn’t create much confidence.

“Er, today.”

Then she asked if I was eating eggs. I had no quick answer because honestly, I hadn’t thought about the exactly parameters of this particular challenge. And what about fish? Obviously, I still need to figure this out. Sigh.

We chatted about the importance of protein and macronutrients for women of, ahem, a certain age (Anna really knows her stuff) and we agreed that I’d come back at lunch hour for a beet ball sandwich. (Yes, you read that right. BEET. BALLS.)

I came back at 12:30 and we chatted some more. My sandwich was prepared and wrapped up in butcher paper and I happily went on my way.

Well, I wasn’t disappointed. It was FULL OF ALL THE FLAVOURS and I am drooling as I type this. Surprisingly, it didn’t taste very beety, even though it was a pretty major ingredient. It was all very nutty and fresh and crunch and savoury and filling. There was goat cheese in it too, and the whole thing was pressed between a couple of slices of really excellent bread.

I’d call that a successful lunch, but her menu changes so frequently that I don’t know if she’ll ever have that same sandwich again. (Oh well. Dare to dream!)

That was probably the highlight of my meals yesterday.

This may sound terribly obvious to some of you (or most of you!) but just because someone calls themselves a vegetarian or a vegan doesn’t mean they’re healthy. If I was a vegetarian I can still eat all kinds of things that aren’t good for me: french fries, ice cream, cake, fried foods etc. The same is true for vegans I suppose. Potato chips and Coke would be a perfectly vegan lunch, but it’s far from perfect, isn’t it? And then there’s the question of processed foods. I had a meeting today and stopped by Rainbow Foods on the way home to pick up some dairy-free yogurt to try and some tofu. I also picked up a vegan caesar salad dressing that looks interesting, but holy cow, there’s no shortage of food products that are chock full of ingredients I don’t recognize or like. For example, many brands of veggie burgers have caramel colour in them. (I guess to make them look like their BBQ’d beefy counterparts?) Anyway, it’s something else to think about as I sit down and plan a proper menu for the week. I have a feeling I will be eating out a few more times too. This challenge would be a cinch if someone just fed me every day! ;)