Current Lessons

       I hear from a lot of people that I'm always so positive, that I'm too happy. It's not that I don't have my bad days but I do a lot of things to maintain a positive attitude and outlook on life. I'm also incapable of feeling sorry for my life and self for more then an hour at a time. The reason for this is because I was a very depressed teenager. It could have been teenage angst but I was also diagnosed with a thyroid deficiency that left me laying on the couch all weekend in the dark watching lifetime movies instead of being a normal person. After a series of tests, lots of medication (some of them anti depressants), they finally figured out what was wrong. I had Hashimotos a rare diseases that occurs when the thyroid works against itself and essentially self-destructs. This will result in depression, weight gain, brittle nails, dry skin, etc etc. Lots of lovely stuff. So after they figured it out I went to see a psychologist and was on anti depressants for a while until the thyroid medication built up enough that I could function on my own. Ever sense then I never wanted to feel that way again. I never wanted to spend my weekends feeling sad, and worthless in the dark if I could help it. I figured I'm either depressed and I have no control of my feelings or it's fixable and I need to stop pouting and fix it already. So here are the things I do to maintain a positive attitude.

1. Breathe. (Seriously). I usually say to myself breathe. stretch. shake. let it go. Because honestly, does it matter? somethings do. Sometimes this method doesn't work. A lot of times this method does work. Getting angry in traffic? Breathe. Stretch. Shake. Let it go. Have to wait 5 minutes for a late co worker. Breathe. Stretch. Shake. Let it go. Got bumped by some jerk on the subway with no apology. You know, breathe. stretch. shake. let it go. If they aren't things you can control, and if they are things that really only changed your day/life for 5 minutes then let it go. You can't go back in time and make people be polite, or make them on time, or make traffic move faster, so you might as well let it go.

2. Journal. If I can't let it go, if its a bigger issue. A friend that did a shitty thing, a boyfriend who made a mistake, a mother who is on my nerves, I write it down. Sometimes in the form of letters to those people. Dear so-and-so, I think your rude, I wish you had a better attitude, I'm sick of you talking shit about everyone, you know you aren't perfect, I don't need your negative energy. OR something along those lines. anyway, usually that helps me to let it all go. Sometimes things just need to be put out in the universe. But not on Facebook or Twitter.

3. Go to sleep. Sometimes its the only solution. Sometimes the only thing you can do is wait until your mind is well rested. Nobody solves problems well late at night. I can't think of a decision I made at 11:30pm that I thought was brilliant again the next morning. People think better after they are rested. A lot of the time the thing that was bothering me, won't be bothering me again in the morning. Sometimes my issues are solved with a dream (but not usually). If its only 2pm, take a nap. Maybe your only upset and frustrated because your body is running on steam. Refuel!

4. Exercise. There are two reasons why exercise helps me to clear my mind. 1. I usually am focusing on not falling over, passing out, and doing the move correctly that I can't dwell on anything else. and 2. It produces serotonin which makes people happy. And as we all learned from Legally blonde, "Happy people don't shoot their husbands". So exercise, because it may just clear your head enough to figure out why somethings bothering you, or it may make you happy enough to let it go.

5. Ask yourself what your really mad about. I get really frustrated with my mom, I don't like to admit that but its true. I'm not mad at what she's doing, I'm just mad at all the unfair circumstances that have occurred in her life this past year. Sometimes it takes me a minute to remember I'm not mad at her, I'm mad at everything else. Sometimes we snap at co-workers because life at home is hard, sometimes we are rude at the grocery store because we had a hard day at work, sometimes we aren't good to our loved ones because we aren't happy about our lives. Figure out what the real issue is. Anger is really just a cover up emotion, it's not a real emotion, it stems from something else. Feeling bad, being overwhelmed, jealousy, resentment, hurt feelings. Figure out what the problem REALLY is, and try to solve it. It doesn't help to sit there and dwell and get mad at people, or mad at yourself, or mad at your life. Everything that happens in your life happened for a reason, and if they aren't reasons you like, then change them. It may not be an easy change, but nothing in life is forever except family, and tattoos. 

6. Eat right. I'm sorry you can't be happy on chocolate chips. Well you can, but its temporary and a lot like crack because you crash and need more chocolate chips. Sugar plays a huge roll in your mood, if you have too much or too little you will be a bitch. It's how your body works. You're body is trying to operate on specific levels of all sorts of vitamins and minerals and if you aren't providing them correctly your mood and everything else will be effected. If you think I'm just making this up google mood foods. They will all say sugar is a bad idea, and suggest lots of delicious foods that can help improve your mood. Also EATing in general is helpful for moods. If I'm hungry I can't function, I shut down and can't handle any issue big or small. My friends and family all know to feed me when I get like this, it's also why I usually always carry snacks with me.

7. Don't air your shit on twitter and facebook. I think we can all figure out what's appropriate to post on these things and what isn't. But I think a big trap that people fall into is being negative on facebook or twitter, it's seeking reinforcement for a poor attitude. You get the initial relief of letting it out there (that you could get from journaling) and occasionally you'll get people to join you in feeling bad. Which can spiral out of control. Ask yourself why you need to post "whoa is me" facebook status? Why do you think everyone needs to know your life is horrible (do you really believe that?), or that your boyfriend is cheating bastard (Okay, but now you better dump him or you look like a idiot), or that your life is just tragic (um why is it tragic? can't you change it?). I can admit that I've posted stuff like this on facebook, but not in a long time and it's always embarrassing 20 minutes after the fact when its not even a big deal. I think facebook updates should be about things we can subscribe to for more then an hour. Also are you looking for attention or help? If you REALLY feel like life is unbearable and this isn't just a changing mood then  you should call your best friend and talk it out, or call someone who knows how to help you out of feeling that way.  There is nothing wrong with seeking help, if your actually seeking help. 

Another reason I think posting negative behaviors on facebook and twitter is because you assume that you are that person. By putting out negativity in the world you are saying that this is who you are, you may be more likely to continue to be negative if a few people like that post, then you would if you had posted a positive post. You can get trapped in playing up to the facebook audience of people who are supportive of you and accidentally your negative attitude. 

8. When all else fails, list all the things your happy about. It always helps to make an on going list of the things that you are happy about or the things that did go right. It's easy to see flaws in everything, but once you practice looking on the bright side you'll find that it's easier to brush you off.

9. See it all as a challenge. I like to look up to the sky and laugh and go "oh good one" when life goes crappy. I see it as a test, oh how is she going to handle this situation? am I going to break her this time? Nope. I try not to take life to seriously. I love to say that its only life. I see everything as a series of events that we have created for ourselves. I think I'm where I am, and not where Im not because of the things I've done, friends I've made, choice I've made. I think that everything that has happened to ME personally is my own doing. I mean there are shitty things that happen to other people that do affect my life, but I try to let them go because they weren't my choices. I can't control that. 

So I just finished my first week of Couch to 5k. I don't think that I feel like a real runner yet. I feel like I'm doing okay, but I still can't even imagine running for the whole time. I guess that's why it starts small. I do like the way this program works, that it starts slow with three days, and running intervals and then warms up to you running a whole 5k. It makes it seem doable. It's funny because even though when I finish one day I want to never do it again, the next day I wake up wishing it was a training day. I get very excited to go out and train. It feels like a grand accomplishment after I'm done. I may not be the best runner, and I sure as hell don't look graceful out there, but I'm trying. That's a lot more then I can say for everybody on the couch. My real motivation is that I hate being envious of things I can attain. I can be a runner if I want, so I will be. I wanted to be thin, so now I am. You shouldn't ever look at things you're controlling with envy. 

I also appreciate technology because I am able to use three apps (FREE apps!) in order to do this. I use Pandora for my music station (cause I need change rather than music I've head before), I use Runtastic to GPS my run and calculate how fast I was going and what distance I went, and I use C25k Free to announce when I start running and stopping (she talks over your music!). I'd highly recommend any of these applications.

I wont lie, I think it's extremely cool to train for the 5k, and I'm beyond proud of myself. I think that the sexiest thing that people can do it is take care of their bodies and push themselves to all sorts of limits and try new things. I love this new challenge. 

      So because of my trip to NYC and the amount of cookies in my house I thought that I wasn't going to be on track for success this week, but the scale informs me that I'm doing alright! Good, because I haven't been working out this often because I enjoy breaking a sweat! 

Stats: Weight 143 everything else has stayed the same.

I guess I should be proud that I'm at least losing weight, but I'm very frustrated with the fact that I'm doing the fitness leg work out as recommended (3 days a week) and NOTHING is happening to my legs. I've also been working out on the other 3 days every week which should ALSO work my legs, and I walked all over NYC this weekend. I feel a little burn on occasion but for the most part I'm not seeing any results. Maybe I'm doing them wrong? Not putting 100%? I have no idea. But it's really frustrating. It may be just harder for me because unlike the girl in the article who recently gained weight, I've been hoarding this leg fat my entire life so it's probably fairly attached to me at this point. I'm giving it two more weeks then I'm burning this plan.

I'm hoping that my new game plan will also help aid in the loss of leg fat, I've decided that I'm going to do the couch to 5k challenge. I've always been envious of runners and just wrote it off as something I could never do. I'd like to prove myself wrong, and at least do one 5k. Then I'll quit, because I'm pretty sure I don't enjoy running (maybe this will change). Right now I just finished my first day, I enjoy this program because a. I get to walk a lot, and B. it's only 30 or so minutes. I have no excuses. I feel awful right now though, I think its more the temperature is a little chilly with the wind so I'm defrosting and my heads congested now, and I want to throw up everywhere. This is not a runners high. Hopefully this gets easier.

The big challenges this week were going away to NYC and all the cookies in the house. I did pretty good with NYC and made sure to eat healthy. It's actually easier for me to eat healthy when I'm away because most of my food options are salads when dining out. Being a vegan makes it incredibly easy to diet. Also all the walking that you do in NYC Is a perfect work out, so that helped out. I only ate a little poorly and those were vegan treats so there wasn't any butter and usually had whole wheat flour and agave so not even the worst of the junk foods. I do need to get better at not eating the cookies in my house, but they are delicious. I did tell everyone that I don't want any more cookies so that don't have to make me a vegan batch. I know they think I'd feel left out but I feel bad not eating all the specially made vegan treats, but I don't really want them anyway. The less junk food I have as an option the better for my life.  

There are two things I do to stick to my diet:

Number 1:    The thing that absolutely saves my diet when I'm traveling, or going out with friends is that I love snacks. You'd think that it would make it impossible for me to diet, but it saves me every time. I'm pretty sure if you asked ANYONE who has spent more than 6 hours with me they'd tell you I probably have almonds and granola bars in my bag. This is my favorite habit and it helps ensure that I'm never over eating.

     I honestly feel like the worst thing I can do to myself and my diet is to get hungry. I hate being hungry, and I know if I'm hungry I'd eat things that I'd regret. (I also know its bad for you to get hungry because your body goes into starvation mode) I always make sure that I have a small little container of almonds or a granola bar in case I miss an entire meal. This makes it so that I don't pig out on wings, or late night pizza when we end up there. They key is also to eat it before you see your friends who aren't dieting eating all the foods you enjoy but know aren't that great for your diet. That way when you get to there you'll already be full and it will be easier to say no. 

     It's also a really fun conversation starter when your sitting at a bar and you whip out your snack. Sadly, its not a great idea to carry around a banana or other fruits unless you know your going to eat them right away. Oranges hold up pretty well, as do clementines but you have to worry about the peel after. If you have a big enough purse you could probably fit them in a container.  My favorite snacks are almonds, granola bars, and spicy mixed nuts.

Number 2:     This one is really important and sounds a little strange. Visualize yourself in different eating situations so you can mental prepare for saying no, or choosing a better option. The chances of all your friends being on diets are slim (and it'd be a little scary honestly if they were), so you're going to be in situations where you know you should order the salad but your friends wont be following suit. You have to decide what moves you want to make here.

When I went to Colorado I decided that as long as i ate small portions, and made generally healthy size choices (side salads, side of sweet potato fries), and did enough walking and drank enough water I'd allow myself free range to eat a little poorer. It worked, allowing myself to eat what I wanted in moderation made it so when I returned I hadn't gained any weight. I hadn't lost weight, but I hadn't gained any. For this weekend when I'm going to NYC I've been there before, I really don't need to step off my diet. I'm allowing myself one vegan donut as my special food, and I know I'm going to drink more then usual. So I'll make sure I pick lots of salads and vegetables when we go out to eat. I'm also packing my almonds, and granola bars. Being vegan makes this easier because most of the choices at non-vegan restaurants for vegans are just salads and fruit. Perfect. I also know I'll be in situations that have people mindlessly snacking, so I'll bring some healthy snacks or a magazine or knitting if I need something to do with my hands. 

Also the best mental trick for me is just being completely diva about this (but only inside my head). When I go out for dinner, drinks, or a weekend away  I just pretend I'm too good to eat poorly (cause I am). I pretend that it's beneath me to order food that is high in fat, and make myself feel disgusted about choosing those options. I also pretend (well maybe its true in some situations) that everybody is jealous about how good I look and at my extreme will power to not eat food that's bad for me. I obviously don't share this with anyone else during the meal because I don't want anyone to feel bad about their choices, I just like to feel like a princess about my choice.

    I honestly have no idea why we started calling people, things, acts, etc stupid but its awful. I hate this word and it makes me cringe every time anyone says it. Although I'm not immune, I also say it out of a terrible habit that makes me feel defeated every time the words come out of my mouth. The definition of stupid is:

1. lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; dull.

2. characterized by or proceeding from mental dullness;foolish; senseless: a stupid question.

3.tediously dull, especially due to lack of meaning or sense;inane; pointless: a stupid party.

4.annoying or irritating; troublesome: Turn off that stupid radio.

5.in a state of stupor; stupefied: stupid from fatigue.

None of these are positive things. It's also a word that stings no matter how we use it. Even if we are joking around it has a little sting to it. We still are implying that was a stupid move, or oh someone said something stupid. We are also constantly calling ourselves stupid and belittling ourselves when we are embarrassed for mistakes. "oh I'm so stupid ha ha ha". No please, you aren't. We really need to stop degrading ourselves and others. I think that intelligence is the most important thing we have and as long as we keep using the word stupid we are holding people back from showing their true intelligence. Why take any risks in showing how smart you are if you risk being called stupid? 

Week Update: 

Tuesdays have always been my weigh in days, I figured it gave me one extra day after sunday to recover and work off any fri/sat errors I had in my diet! So stats for today are:

Weight: 144 (back to a better start weight.)

Legs: 22/22 no changes.

Waist: 27 (one inch less than last week..but if I had to pee it'd expand again haha)

So I've been keeping up with my schedule of doing The Fitness Magazine leg work outs. I really like them even if I haven't seen any success yet. My legs feel nice and sore afterwards so it might be a slow inside out process. I do it like it says, 3 days a week not in a row. It also says to make sure your following a 1,500 calorie diet. I haven't been diligent about counting calories but I'm guessing I'm somewhere around there anyway. I also did some yoga, 15 minutes abs,  and some Jillian Michael's 30 day shred on the days I'm not doing the leg work outs. I'm planning on checking out the library and seeing if they have some other nice quick work outs for me so I don't have to shell out any cash. I do a lot better with variety. 

The hardest part about all this is that I hate feeling like Im cheating on eating healthy, or not being at strict as I should when I'm doing all this exercise. I'm struggling with the fact that a lot of my meals are prepared by my father who doesn't follow any recipes strictly that I'm not going to be able to accurately count calories. I mean today I'm going to have miso and sushi for lunch. I'm going to have to guess at what I think the calories are for both because they are both homemade and not directly measured. This has to be the most frustrating part.  Hopefully I can either figure out a way around it so that I can reach my goals. 

Another part of my struggle is that my dad made delicious peanut butter balls and now I'm driven to eat them. Which is terrible because I don't usually even enjoy sweets but they are made especially for me. Hopefully I'll be able to make it through with out eating to many of them, also I'm headed for NYC this weekend. I'm going to assume the amount of walking I'll do will make up for my exercise as long as I eat healthy and don't go crazy overboard with drinking! I'll write more about my game plan for NYC before I go.

I get concerned when people post the new diet they are trying out on their profiles. Or when I overhear people discussing out they are cutting out carbs, or going on a liquid diet. I just feel like when people chose to do these trendy quick fix diets that there is only one goal in mind: being skinny. I also feel like there is little research done in what the possible effect this may have on their body. 

Why I believe it's unsafe to cut out foods: 

I think maybe that sounds funny coming from a vegan, but I did a LOT of research before cutting out meat, and dairy. Before I decided to cut anything out I read books that discussed what health risks there are in cutting out these things. We don't have a food pyramid for fun, we have it because different foods provide you with different vitamins and minerals. Sure it's good for your health to limit your intake on some foods, and can be valuable to cut out entire groups but you have to do it the right way. Also if your plan is just to eat them again in 2 weeks your body will most likely just regain whatever you lost. It's important when trying to eliminate foods from your diet that you make sure you do it in the healthiest way possible. Sometimes your body will react even if the change is good for you, and you're going to want to be prepared for that too.

Why I believe cutting out foods wont work:

If your just cutting out pizza and beer for 2 weeks so you can lose weight, what happens after two weeks? If you aren't changing your lifestyle so that you can maintain your weight loss chances are that you will  just gain it back. Any research in what happens to the body after weight loss and gains like this makes it harder the next time to lose the weight. Yo-Yo dieting isn't a the best option out there. I think that its a great move to cut out things that are unhealthy for you, but depriving your body of food only makes you more resentful that your on a diet, allow yourself to have small portions of the foods you crave. I can't give up pizza, so when the option is there to eat it I eat a small piece with a large salad. That way I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I don't think I could ever stick to a diet that didn't allow me to eat whatever I wanted.

Why I believe being skinny as goal #1 doesn't work:

What is skinny? Skinny first of all is in the eye of the beholder. How do you know when you get there? Healthy is a much more realistic goal because its a goal you can feel. If you are tired, cranky, and get out of breath easily you aren't healthy. You can also be a super model and be incredibly un-healthy. My motivation has always been to be physically fit first, and skinny second (I mean lets be serious, everybody's a little vain). Skinny is also a goal that is last reached. When I lost 40 pounds I wouldn't say I hit skinny until the very last pound. I can say that I ran 2 miles, I learned to do 2 push ups (Not even girlie ones), and that I hiked 3 mountains along the way. Those were milestones that reinforced I was getting healthier, that I wasn't just losing weight and not seeing any results. If your number one goal is to be skinny, it's going to be easier to quit if you get discouraged, or if you decide that your skinny enough. 

Don't think you care about being healthy? The number 1 & 2 causes of death in America right now are heart disease and cancer. By maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet both the risk of both of these significantly lowers for you. I know, I know, your thinking "well what if I eat healthy and still die of a heart attack". It's possible, yes, but you still wear a seat belt right? Do you still look both ways before you cross the street? Do you take any medications? All of those things are suppose to help prevent you from dying but none of them guarantee it. But we still do them, because it's proven that it will help increase our chance for survival. So why not eat better if it will increase the chances?

I use to say that I didn't care about being healthy because I didn't want people to judge me. I thought that if I cared about being healthy people would look at me like an idiot for reaching for the oreos or weighing 20 pounds more then I should. I thought caring about being healthy was a tight leash that made me eat wheat grass, and salads and work out for 60 minutes a day. One day I realized that it wasn't fair to myself to eat so unhealthy because I wasn't sure if I could be healthy. Because I was afraid of failing or gaining the weight back as I've done with all the diets. The more I researched the easier it seemed to live a healthy lifestyle. It also seemed like something I could maintain and not just gai right back. Now I'm sure that my friends would say I'm healthy and I'd be proud to agree. I don't eat salads every day, I enjoyed some oreos this weekend (but at serving size recommendation) and I dont miss being unhealthy one bit. I think I placed being skinny and being healthy on highly unreachable pedistals so that I didn't feel bad for not being there. Now I realize that they were closer then I thought all along. 

Alright, so now that spring is around the corner, and it's actually light enough at 7 am to get me right out of bed. I have no more excuses for slacking my exercise. I will give myself some credit, since I got my weight down to 144 in October 2011 I haven't had any issue maintaining around the same weight. Due to past 2 weeks and the brownies that my dad made for valentines day, and some poor choices on vacation I'm up to 147. I'll be honest and keep that as my start weight. So goals for the start of summer:

1. Look smoking hot in the bikini I bought the other week. (not a trackable goal but a fun one).

2. I'm fine being 144 but since it's possibly and still healthy, I will make a new goal of being 135.

3. Drop at least 1-2 inches in my legs (DAMN YOU LEGS!)

4. Get back into running, and actually sign up for some sort of marathon (I will wait until it is consistently warm out,...lets not get too crazy haha)

5. Hike mountains the minute it gets warm enough, I'm such a baby in the cold

Starting Stats:

Height: 5'8 Weight: 147 Legs: 22 Arms: 10 Waist: 28 Hips: 38 WHR: .73 BMI: 22.3

Game Plan: The sexy legs work out in fitness magazine on Sun/Tues/Thurs

                   Yoga or some other form of carido once I'm in 100% health I plan to do some Jillian Michael's DVD's (30 day shred, boost your metabolism) on Mon/Wed/Fri

                   Saturday=either a day of relaxation or outdoor adventure! <3

Challenges:

Booze: I love a good beer, but the best beer is full of flavor and calories. Will save for special occasions....

Feeling like I shouldn't have too: It's not fair I've lost 40 pounds, WHY do I still need to work out, Reminders: To be healthy and in shape! Lets be able to kick some ass by summer! Run a marathon, hike some bad ass mountains, and look insanely hot in a bikini!

Late Night Snacking: Make sure that I have a healthy snack planned out, get my dad to make me more fiber muffins! 

Sneaky temptations in the house: remind myself even though its wasteful not to eat food and let it go to waste, it's not better for the environment or me if I gain unnecessary weight. It's going to the compost anyways, it's helping wormies! 

Not knowing the nutritional value of food: When you eat food prepared by someone else, who rarely follows recipes and sure doesn't use measuring cups you just have to guesstimate. Try to do my best by figuring out whats in food and programing it into myfitnesspal.com 

 A year ago today it was a snow day. It a friday and I got sent home from work. I still enjoyed watching jersey shore, I could still finish an entire pizza by myself, and I still ate meat and cheese like it was my job (NACHOS!!!). All I wanted to do was get drunk and eat. I weighed in at around 184 pounds, I wasn't satisfied with life, and I was full of dreams and was just waiting for them to happen. A year ago today something happened that threw me off course, and I'm so much better for it. If you had told me who I'd become in the next year I would have laughed, I wouldn't have ever imagined that I could be this girl. I've never been prouder or more in love with myself. 

Today I'm proud to say that a lot of things have changed. I'm a healthy weight of 144 (even though my goal had been to only be 164, I passed that! go me!!). I've been Vegan for a little over 5 months and loving every minute of it (I have more energy, and it's easier to maintain my weight with less rigorous exercise). I still enjoy drinking but only good beers, and decent wines because I don't need to get drunk anymore. Since this day last year I have visited 9 states, 5 of which I had never seen before. I increased my only flying once by flying 3 times. I even did a solo trip to Colorado. I've hiked 4 mountains and one of the great 46 in the Adirondacks! 

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Yup. I did that. (along with Jess, Sang, and Mary) I also fell in love with yoga and meditation. I found out that I can work out every day and absolutely love it. I can do 3 push ups now!!!! I learned to run 2 miles (I got out of running a mile every year in high school, so I had never even ran ONE Mile..let alone two!). I remembered to journal every once in a while, to take deep breaths when I'm upset. Now I don't cry because life is to hard, I usually only cry when I watch Grey's. I've also stopped watching crappy TV (no more jshore or teen mom), I watch three shows live, and maybe 6 shows total. Plus the Daily Show and Colbert Report so I can get some news in. I learned how to knit. I found I really enjoy eating lunches by myself. I made out with someone from Ireland, and went on a blind date. I learned to make doughnuts, and pie crusts from scratch. I've been more creative then I have been in a long time. I realized how brave, and strong and adult I could be standing by and helping my mother through her tough year. I've grown up in so many ways. 

If you are thinking about vegan, or are just trying to make a healthier life for yourself you are going to need to think about what you can substitute. All substitutions are not created equal, but here are a list of some of my favorites.

1. No More Eggs!

    -Ener-G which is kind of hard to find, usually at a speciality food store but its great to have around. It’s a powder that doesn't go bad, and is easy to store and wont change the flavor of foods like other replacements. This is what it says on the website: 

“Our top selling egg substitute made with potato and tapioca starch. With only 10 calories per serving, Ener-G Egg Replacer simplifies baking and allows you to enjoy a variety of delicious egg-free baked goods. Used strictly for baking, not only is Ener-G Egg Replacer 100% egg-free (contains NO eggs nor animal protein), it is also gluten-free, wheat-free, casein-free, dairy-free, yeast-free, soy-free, tree nut-free, peanut-free, sodium-free, cholesterol-free, and it’s low in protein. It mimics what eggs do in baking recipes so it’s perfect for people who cannot have eggs, replacing whole eggs, egg whites, and egg yolks in baking. 16 ounces is equivalent to approximately 100 eggs”

    - 1/4 cup of Apple Sauce/ 1/2 a Bananas they also work as an egg replacer but obviously will add some flavor. Although a lot of the times they can make things more delicious. Apple sauce works great in cupcakes, and bananas make for delicious flavored cookies and cakes. 

(Note: for fake egg nog mix place 1 frozen banana, 1/2 cup of soy milk, in a blender. Add cinnamon and nut meg. Delicious smoothie!)

2. No More Butter!!!

    -Earth Balance This is the best vegan butter out there. it comes in whipped, olive oil, and regular. It doesn't melts slightly different and doesn't blend the way that butter does with some ingredients. It tastes extremely good,and it’s so much better for you then butter or margarine. It’s non-hydrogenated so it’s the best thing if you need a butter flavor, or need it for a recipe.  Even better most grocery chains have it! 

3. NO MORE MAYO!

-Vegenaise First of all it has a great name, second of all I think that it taste even better then mayonnaise (and trust me, I LOVED mayonnaise!) Besides the fact that it taste better, it’s SO much better for you, it’s also gluten free! 

(There are other brands out there, but I’m not a fan of any ones I’ve tried as much as I have of this one, although I haven’t tried them all).

       -Make your own! this is how I do it:

Blender Mayonnaise

1 ½ tsp Ener-G egg replacer 

2 T water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

1 cup salad oil — divided

Put all ingredients except 3/4 cup of the oil in blender & process at Whip/Mix. Remove feeder cap & pour in rest of oil in steady stream. Stop blender & use spatula if necessary to scrape sides of blender if necessary.

Yield: “1 1/2 cups”

[I use the little blender without the ‘feeder cap’ — I just add the last 3/4 cup of oil a Tablespoon or 2 at a time & whip it well between each addition.]

4. Cheese.

   -Daiya Okay so this is a tough one. I wish I could tell you that I found a cheese that tasted exactly like cheese, but there isn't one out there. There are ones that come pretty close, and ones that are absolutely disgusting. The company that has the best vegan cheese in my mind (I mean it melts fairly well, and tastes great) is Daiya. The best bet is the mozzarella (shredded and bocked). I've tried the pepper jack (shredded) and it doesn’t taste like pepper jack but it’s still good. The cheddar (blocked) really doesn’t taste anything like cheddar and IDK why its orange, but it’s still good and melts really well. 

Honestly though, cheese besides daiya is at your own risk. I’ve had a lot of weird rubbery awkward cheeses.

5. Meat.

    -Smart Deli -This has my favorite bologna, ham, bacon, hot dogs,tempeh and pepperoni. Don’t even bother with the Turkey, it taste like dog food. Seriously. Trust me. **BEWARE!!!** not all of their food is Vegan, the deli slices are but some of their sausages are not and are made with eggs or milk! 

Quick Recipe that you can make on Sunday and eat for snack/breakfast throughout the week! 

Shredded Carrot & Black Bean Salad with Lemon Dressing

Ingredients:

1/2 lb shredded carrots

2T dried parsley [watercress]

1 cans black beans drained and rinsed

Salted pistachios for garnish [chopped OK- but not necessary]

Dressing: 

Juice and zest of 1 lemon 

1 tsp sugar

dash of salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1-2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Make the dressing: Combine the dressing ingredients in small Ninja-

pulse 10 seconds- rest 5, repeat 5 times.

2. Shred carrots in foor processor- toss with parsley and black beans.

3. Give the dressing another 10 second ride-pour on salad and toss.

4. serve with pistachios for garnish.