Still here and renewed

I have not forgotten this blog although it feels like it sometimes. I intended this blog to be more general in content, as opposed to The Mouse and More, which is more about my running and training. Fumbling through my forties came about at a low time in my life, which I have since climbed from to where I am now.

But where is that? I was having problems with work (actually had just left my job in 2008) and felt unsure about my future. It took several months, but I found I great job with a good company (that I still have) and found some focus in taking control of my life by re-dedicating myself to my running and becoming vegan. The resulting health and lifestyle changes have been all good and I appreciate the benefits I have gained from those changes. There was still something not quite balanced, though. I found I was still stressed about a few things that interfered with really enjoying myself fully. It took an unfortunate event to help me get a better realization of what's important. Several weeks ago, my cousin suddenly died. He was 50 and a great guy. He reminded me of my Dad (who died in 2004) and the suddenness of my cousin's death coalesced the importance of not wasting time worrying about things that are ultimately unimportant. It also made me realize that we shouldn't put off things just because it might be inconvenient or expensive (I'm not advocating going into crushing debt). Time is short, I'm getting older and I don't want to look back and say, "If only I'd done ..."

To that end, I had an opportunity to go to Walt Disney World the last weekend of February, solo, and I found myself at the airport on a Thursday morning boarding a plane to go back six weeks after we'd gone down for Marathon Weekend. Although this was the first time I'd gone down solo since 1980, when I was 15 and had a chance to go for a day (much different time back then), it was an interesting opportunity to do some things I haven't done in a while. I used this trip to scout and confirm vegan food options, as well as think a lot. Usually, I run a few times on non-race trips and this trip was no exception. I spent one day visiting three parks and Downtown Disney, which entailed a lot of walking, scouting possible running routes at a couple resorts, and generally enjoyed myself as much as I could while traveling solo. I wouldn't mind going down again solo, but I'll always prefer to travel with my wife and son, as a lot of the joy and fun is watching them have a great time there.

I hope that the future holds other adventures for me and that I take advantage of them, as one never knows what's in store tomorrow or beyond.


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Not as blah

Feeling less blah than I have been. We've had a lot going on with work and with some health-related issues (nothing major or life-threatening, but still never fun to face), so I've tried to take care of the family and the house more than myself. I think that was a major contributor to the blahs I had. I was able shake a good portion of them recently, but still have some lingering blahness. Should fade soon. Really just need a weekend with no plans to be able to unwind. May be a while before that happens, but with fall coming (a favorite time of the year for me), I usually snap out of it.


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Blah

I'm sitting in the library feeling blah. I'm not sure why and, oddly, I don't know that I mind much. I've felt this way the last few weeks. I think I'm in a rut with my training, with my diet (not my eating habits, but my choices or rather lack of choices), and with the summer. I think I just need to re-focus on the important things and push all of the other stuff aside. This feeling usually happens to me a couple times a year. Various things pull me out of it, so I just need to find the right one.



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New toy

We bought an iPad2 today, along with a carrying case that is also a bluetooth keyboard. I'm typing this entry on the keyboard right now. This rocks!


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Very Brief post

Two things:

Gazpacho rocks!

I love this time of year, when berries are plentiful, as I eat them many times a week.

That is all.

March WDW trip - a bit late

I was able to go to WDW in March for a work conference and stayed at Coronado Springs. I was a little surprised at the difficulty I had finding vegan food there. I was able to eat a few things at the resort, although I had a lot of water, fruit, and coffee. I did get a black bean burrito for lunch one day that was pretty tasty. I had much better luck at Downtown Disney, where once again (actually twice) I visited Babycakes NYC and partook of the wonderful baked goods there. Also, I had great assistance at Pollo Campero, where the greeter, cooks, and cashier all helped make sure I had a fantastic vegan dinner.

I'm getting more comfortable know what to ask for at WDW and I was surprised at one particular interaction I had at, of all places, Pop Century's food court. I asked a couple of managers to see the ingredients for something at one of the stations. They insisted on getting the head chef to come out and talk with me. Chef Jose spent several minutes going over options and finally, we had a meal planned out. After a few minutes, he came back to tell me that there was an ingredient that had dairy in it that couldn't be taken out. He then said that he would grill some vegetables for me and bring it out. What he created is above. That's eggplant, zucchini, red onions and hummus with strawberries. To me, even though I know the chefs at WDW will accommodate special dietary requests, this was above and behind. It was delicious and, frankly, not something I expected from Pop Century.

I have a new post over at The Mouse and More that updates how my weight is doing, as well as my training for the increasing number of half- and full marathons I'm doing this year, but overall, I feel great and I'm looking forward to the fresh veggies and fruit that summer provides.

Further thoughts on vegan eating at Walt Disney World

I was in Walt Disney World for Marathon Weekend from Jan 5-12. As in October, I ate just fine, although I tried a couple of new places to eat. Tangerine Cafe at the Morocco Pavilion was a big success. The vegetable platter is awesome and I had it twice while we were there. Honestly, I'd have it every day if we are in Epcot.

The Sci-Fi Dine-In restaurant at Hollywood Studios, however, not so great. There is a marinated tofu with rice and veggies dish that is okay. I'm not fan of tofu, so that is part of my "eh" reaction, although the rice and veggie were good. I do like the theming and the film loop of cheesy Sci Fi movies and drive-in promos, but the food is not the best.

I also found out that the Lighthouse sandwich at Columbia Harbor House in the Magic Kingdom is vegan. I asked to check the ingredients of the broccoli slaw and bread and they were fine. This sandwich is the aforementioned slaw with hummus and tomatoes. Very tasty and not too filling, a good alternative to the veggie wrap at the Golden Outpost in Frontierland if you're not in that area of the park when it's time to eat.

Last, but definitely not least, Babycakes NYC at Downtown Disney. This is a vegan bakery that has delicious cupcakes, cookies, and brownies. Yum! I tried several different treats, all of which were very tasty. I will make this place a must-do stop from now on.


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Holidays vegan-style

I am happy with my ability to make it through the holidays without many issues related to my vegan lifestyle. I am a bit surprised how little I missed foods I used to chow down in large quantities in previous years. Roast beef, mashed potatoes, cookies, hot chocolate, Christmas candy, etc. all used to be on the menu.

This year, I basically ate the same things I've been eating the last few months. Italian sausage seitan with sautéd orange and yellow peppers, mushrooms, and diced tomatoes in brown and wild rice or small servings of spaghetti is my current mainstay meal. I also started having small vats of salad with black beans, corn, and pineapple with a touch of balsamic vinigrette. I've been finding more variety in my lunches and dinners, which has really helped hone my palate and get me thinking about other ways to prepare simple meals. I'm excited to see what else I can create in the new year.


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Thanksgiving Day post

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a post over at The Mouse and More for your reading pleasure.

Vegan at Walt Disney World - not easy, but not hard either

My family went to Walt Disney World last week, my first extended trip away from home after I became vegan. I'd read up on what WDW could offer vegans and it's more than you'd think. The week before we left, the Disney Food Blog had post about vegan dining at WDW, which helped reinforce what I had already read or heard. Many resorts have grab-and-go areas of their food courts or quick serve restaurants. At Pop Century, the resort we stayed at, I found hummus, Silk Soy Milk, Divvies cookies and caramel corn, and corn flakes. At Epcot, the Sunshine Seasons food court in The Land pavilion of Future World had vegan black bean soup, which I had three times in the week we were there! They also had veggie sushi rolls and hummus, so I was very happy to eat there as often as we did. We celebrated our wedding anniversary while we were down, eating at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. A chef came out to our table and walked me through the buffet tables, telling me what was and what wasn't vegan; if a dish wasn't vegan, he offered to make a similar dish that would be! I had a great meal there. I've heard that Boma, a buffet restaurant at Animal Kingdom Lodge is also a good option, so I may have to try that next time we're down.

Overall, I had no real problems eating as a vegan while I was at WDW, although a few times, I had to look carefully at what was included in a dish or read labels to make sure I would be okay eating something. I do miss, a bit, having a Dole Whip, but I'm sure that, if pressed, the chefs at the restaurants would whip up something equally delicious. I knew that I wouldn't have too much trouble, but I'm glad that I have now experienced being vegan at Walt Disney World for myself.

Doing better with portions, but still...

Over at my other blog, The Mouse and More, I just posted an entry about why I run. I thought I'd do the same thing here about why I became vegan, but I explain it somewhat at the other site. If interested, feel free to read it. I'll wait.

Ok, so, instead, what I thought I'd do with this entry is briefly describe how I'm trying to restart the weight loss I'd experienced earlier this year as I became vegan. I've cut down on the vegan junk food (yes, as far as I can tell, there is such a thing - at least there's no animal-based products in what I was eating). For example, coconut milk frozen dessert is yummy, but if you eat most of a pint, with a crapton of blueberries and cashews on top of it, that's not necessarily a good thing, weight loss or health-wise. Neither is doing that every night. That's not what a treat should be. Once a week or so, that's a treat.

Vegan burritos nuked and covered in salsa three or four times a week isn't necessarily "bad", but without anything else on the plate, especially anything in the vegetable family (salsa from a jar doesn't really count) is less than optimal in my mind. Now the last couple of months have been tough with some extended family issues, but still, a salad is just as easy as a burrito. Change is coming as I get back into the cooking habit again. I've come to enjoy cooking again and even though I'm still making two or three different meals each night (depending on if my wife and son each the same thing), I'm learning how to prep ingredients quicker, how to combine things for different meals and how to finish off a dish with a different twist each time. I've moved beyond relying on tofu so much, too. Seitan is great and very versatile. I've done a little with tempeh and plan to do more as we get to the time of the year for comfort food (at here in Minnesota when it getting chillier).

So, I'm doing much better about what I'm eating (still all vegan) and how much (the bigger issue) and hopefully, I can reach my weight loss goals and be a better and healthier runner.

Food choices good, but amounts? not so much

I've been doing really well lately catching hidden non-vegan ingredients and finding vegan alternatives when eating out, but in the last few weeks, I've had a hard time with how much I'm eating. I can attribute much of the problem to being injured and not running as much as I had been. Not only was my exercise cut way down, but I was not in the best of spirits for the last few weeks. I haven't gorged myself or anything like that, but I have found myself eating more than I need to whenI'm feeling stressed or bored.

A bad habit I've had for years, this pattern can be overcome with some determination and, now that I can start getting back into running again, a strong desire to continue my journey toward more mindful food choices. It's not easy sometimes and we've had some family stresses lately that have not helped being planful about preparing good meals, but there's light at the end of that tunnel, too. As I get more comfortable with what I can eat, I'll get better at figuring out how to eat.

Hitting my stride?

It seems as though it is becoming easier for me to find vegan foods, find hidden ingredients in non-vegan foods, and find good food to eat. I think that as I get more used to what to check for, it will be easier to eat better. Although I am still checking labels because I'm getting store-bought foods, for the most part, I have moved to getting veggies and fruit every week, eating all of them (yes, much like the clean plate club!) and rinding new ways to make good, nutritious meals fairly quickly. I had thought that cooking my meals would help hone some knife skills, but I have found that a kitchen shears does wonders dicing or mincing peppers, green onions, broccoli, and spinach. I still cut up the veggies, but the more involved prep is done with shears. Works great and pretty quick, too.

A couple of weeks ago I got to make a trip to Whole Foods that didn't involve dashing in to pick up a few things. This trip, I got to check all the areas of the store that have what I'd want and I came away with a good sense of what's available for me to make that I'll enjoy and my family may try, too. It was very exciting to have that first trip under my belt and I look forward to finding more treasures next time. Now, if I could only figure out what to do with the tempeh I bought!

Pitfalls and hidden traps trying to become vegan

Recently, my friend Gordon posted on his new blog A Vegan in the South a rather surprising and shocking piece of information for those of us who thought that they were keeping vegan by eating certain brands of “veggie burgers.” Reading Gordon’s post actually depressed me briefly, as I had been using Morningstar burgers as a primary means of getting some protein into my diet without using tofu, seitan, or tempeh (which I use, but I haven’t used enough to be really comfortable using all the time yet). I think I will ultimately be much better off not eating Morningstar burgers and I have found actual vegan burgers (Gardenburger brand) since I read Gordon’s post, but his warning opened my eyes to how much I don’t know about what I should and shouldn’t eat and how so very important carefully reading those labels is to making sure that what I’m eating is indeed vegan and not some weird marketing hybrid of ingredients.

Slight shift in focus

This blog was intended to be a chronicle of my life as I went through a difficult time for me. I made it through that time and decided to keep the blog going, updating it infrequently while hoping to post more often. Rather than set an expectation that may or may not be met, I'm going to shift the focus of this blog slightly and post when I feel I have something interesting to say. Now, honestly, I would really like to post in a more timely manner, and the focus shift may help get me to be more regular with my posts.

So here's the focus shift: I've changed a large and important part of my lifestyle drastically in the last five months (although I started these changes last July) and I have seen my weight drop from 226 lbs. in July of 2009 to 192.5 lbs. as of last week. I'm still running and training for races, so the change isn't getting more exercise. The other way to lose weight is by changing how and/or what you eat. Portion control, calorie or carb counting, special diets, etc. all can drop weight, albeit temporarily unless you stick with the program or book you're following. Lifestyle and habit changes, however, last longer (hopefully for the rest of your life) and are easier, in my opinion.

I have made lifestyle and eating habit changes and since at least late March, I became a vegetarian with hopes of becoming vegan. I am almost there. I say almost, because I can't 100% guarantee that food I eat that I did not make myself is vegan. I try very hard to make sure and experience and learning will get me to the point I feel comfortable saying I'm vegan.

But why? Well, right now, I have 33.5 reasons why. I've lost weight without feeling weak, tired, or hungry for foods I used to eat (and eat a lot!). I don't miss meat or dairy products and as I learn more about what I should eat and what I can eat to be vegan, I find that I actually like most of the foods people think vegans eat. Yes, that means tofu, hummus, veggies, fruit, soy milk, almond milk, but I already liked these foods. I didn't have to make a huge adjustment. I'm re-learning how to cook and re-learning that cooking everything on high is not necessary or even a good idea! Now, as time goes on, I may embrace the other aspects of a vegan lifestyle, but right now, I know that I can eat well, lose weight, and feel good about myself. And that's just fine with me.

So, how does this change affect this blog? Well, the posts may be more oriented toward my journey to a full vegan lifestyle (or not), but I wanted to give context to why you may see posts that talk about good vegan recipes, creative ways to make tofu, or what seitan is and why I eat it (once I try it).

Odds and Ends - briefly

Again time passes and this blog sits lonely, feeling forlorn. It's not, of course, just not top-of-mind right now. All of the great ideas I get for posts here get lost before I can write them. I even carry a small notebook to jot ideas down, but I forget to do that. Sad, really, but I will rectify that starting with this post. I may not write a lot each time, but I will write more often. I started this blog to post about my life in general when I was not in the best of places emotional and personally. I'm much better now - much, much better. We'll just have to see if I'm more timely.

Not forgotten

I've not forgotten this blog, I just tend to write more at The Mouse and More instead. Since last August, I trained for the 2010 Walt Disney World Marathon, which I ran in the coldest weather Orlando had seen in over 30 years; I celebrated my one year anniversary at my current job; and generally enjoyed life. I had thought I would use this blog as a general, catch-all for non-Disney related thoughts, but I haven't found the time I'd like to have to do more meaningful posts than simple updates. I still intend to try to post more often, because I feel like I have things to say. Hopefully I will be much better about updating more often. I mean, really, I don't think I could get worse, could I?

Twitter twittering, pt. 2

One thing I have noticed about using the Twitter apps on the iPhone is that they are somewhat interchangeable in function. Rather obvious observation, but what distinguishes one app from another? There are a few basic things I like to do when I'm using Twitter each time I open an app: check updates, direct messages, and respond to any follow requests. All four of the apps I have do these things in a very similar way. The differences are small, but may make the difference in choosing one app over another. For example, TwitBird Pro (formerly iTwitter) shows the most recent update so that you have to scroll down to find the last unread tweet. I have tried to find a way in the settings to switch this option, but I haven't yet. If I don't check for awhile, when I update I have to scroll down to find the last unread tweet. TwitBird Pro does allow for easy marking of read tweets, although the only option is to mark all read. I have been using TweetDeck more and more lately because of the groups option, whihc allows you to create groups for easier following of your Twitter friends. I also like the interface with TweetDeck more than the other three apps I have. The experiment will continue as I try to determine why I like one app more than another.

Twitter twitterings

Today, Twitter went down and revived itself before I even knew about it. I saw a news story online and then saw a flood of stories about how Armageddon had almost arrived. I was expecting the Four Horsemen of the Internet to have descended upon the fragile intertwinings of the new darling of social media. People were literally all atwitter about the lack of Twitter. I like Twitter, I use it, although in a more passive/lurker mode than as an active and frequent twitter tweeter. I follow friends and podcasts, folks who have similar interests that I may know from forums I read (and lurk in). I have posted 220 tweets (as of today) and I joined Twitter over a year ago. I have also sent about 60 direct messages (most to the same person – it seems quicker than email or texting for some reason). I’m not a super-user by any stretch of the imagination, but had I known that Twitter had big issues today, I probably would have checked every few minutes to see if it was back up and working. I like seeing what my tweeps are doing, what interesting pictures they're sharing, or what links they have posted. I do feel connected to these folks and I would not have enjoyed being out of touch.

How I would have checked Twitter's status brings me to this point: I can’t have Twitter open on my work laptop (nor should I, really), but I can check the various apps on my iPhone that allow users to tweet, post picture via Twitpic (or yfrog, flic.kr, etc.), send direct messages, follow, unfollow, well, you get the idea. The apps allow a person to follow Twitter, even when they can’t get to a computer. There are many apps around that do this. I have 4 right now, Twitterific, TweetDeck, TwitterFon, and iTwitter. What I’d like to try to do over the next few posts (which I hope are more frequent than my more recent posts), is review, in an unscientific way, these apps, how they work for me, which one I use most and why.

Not complaining, but still. . .

So, it’s hot here in Minnesota right now. The kind of hot we don’t like, humid, and, to use a technical term, “icky.” It is not fun having to go to work dressed up, although it is fun to have to go to work. Please don’t think I’m complaining, just not overly thrilled with humidity and sweat. Thank goodness my car’s A/C works so well (as does the A/C in the house!).

I haven’t had much success getting into a good rhythm for my race training this spring and summer. I really need to find a way to get my workouts done without worrying about how or when I’ll do them. I also need to do much better with eating, portions, and choices. Part of the problem is that I’ve been tired lately and I just don’t feel like I’ve had a chance to take the time to get my head on straight. I’m hoping that this weekend will allow me the opportunity to get these things under control again.