31 Days to Better Health - Day 4

Before we get to the exercise for today let’s review what we have done so far.

Day 1 – we defined success as well as what was holding us back
Day 2 – we determined our purpose and whether we have passion or not
Day 3 – we set specific and achievable goals for this month

I don’t know about you but I think we have made a lot of progress in just a few days. Go us! I really hope you are feeling as good about your progress as I am about mine.

In terms of the goals I set yesterday here is what I have done so far:

1) Monthly Newsletters – I spent about two hours Tuesday working on this and at this rate I should have this crossed off my list in no time. *woo hoo*

2) Wearing my Body Bugg daily - I charged my Body Bugg Monday night and I put it on first thing both Tuesday and Wednesday morning and I have learned that I am definitely less active now than I was during the summer which I needed to know. As I like to say, we can’t change what we don’t know and now I know I need to step it up in the exercise department.

3) Scheduling at least one weekly date with my hubby - Dan and I made a date for Wednesday night which means he should be home by 7:30 this evening at which time I will have finished everything that I need to get done so that we can spend time together.

How about you, have you set things in motion to start making progress on your January goals? I hope so. If you haven’t gotten started yet please do. There is no time like the present to get moving. I can tell you from personal experience that it feels good to be making progress on my goals.

What Should You be Doing that You Have Been Avoiding?:

Today I am going to ask you to spend some time thinking about the things that you know you should be doing. Please do not let this upset you because there is something you aren’t doing. The purpose of this is to get you to acknowledge those things which you know you should be doing and then to get you to commit to do at least one of them this week. These items could be anything but should relate in some way to your idea of success and your purpose.

Please go back and reread what you wrote to the first three days exercises if necessary to remind you of your areas of interest. (Have you put your responses in a notebook or separate Word doc yet? I have mine in a notebook and it makes this easier.) The items that you know you should be doing could be as simple as drinking more water or as complex as overhauling your entire diet. I want you to think of the things that you have been meaning to do but haven’t. These could also be spending more time your family or friends, eating more greens are getting more exercise. What is important in this part of the exercise is to list as many things as you can that you have meaning do though they haven’t made it to the top of your priority list yet. For me the things that I think about often, but don’t do, are the ones that I really need to work on. I imagine the same is true for you. Sometimes the act of writing these things down also makes them more real or at the very least brings them to the forefront of your mind.

When you are writing your list think about how long you have been intending to do these things. Those items which have been on your list the longest are probably most important. The reason I ask you to think of what you know you should be doing is:

1. We all know ourselves better than other people know us. In other words each of us knows what we need to do better than anyone else knows what we need. Typically it isn’t that we are unaware of what we need but that we just need to move from interested in these actions to being committed. Make sense?

2. Tasks that we think are important are more likely to happen. To put that differently if you think you need to exercise more that feels completely different than if your spouse thinks you need to do it. Does that make sense? By determining your own “to-do” items you are increasing your probability of success.

Let me show you an example of something that most people should be doing, which is getting more sleep. Almost everyone that I know is chronically sleep deprived. Most of my friends work long hours, try to cram as much time in with their family as they can into their “free time” and what tends to suffer is their sleep. Since inadequate sleep is linked to weight gain, increased risk of heart disease, trouble concentrating and difficulty remembering things it is important to get enough rest every night not just on weekends. If you think that you might not be getting enough sleep this could be a good goal for you work on this week. Start by going to bed 15-30 minutes earlier than usual (to gradually change your bed time) and move up your bed time until you are getting a full 8 hours of sleep. You will know that you are getting enough rest if you wake up refreshed. I would suggest that you use how you feel in the morning, whether you “need” coffee, and how alert you are during the day, to tell you if you are getting adequate rest. Your body is sending your messages all the time all you need to do is listen to them.

Here is my list of things that I know I should be doing (in the order that they popped into my head) as well as why I think I am not doing them and how they relate to my purpose and idea of success:

1) spend at least an hour a day working on ideas for my business – I guess that I am avoiding this is probably due to perfectionism rearing its ugly head again, this clearly relates to health both mine and others

2) measuring my calorie dense food like nuts and seeds - while I realize that all of us tend to have portions that grow over time I really dislike measuring even though I also know that it's a good thing to do periodically therefore I avoid it, this is also tied to health

3) organize and purge my clothes closet – I have been avoiding this because I hate to get rid of clothes that are too big but are still good so now the mess makes me unhappy and that is not good for my emotional health

4) make an inventory of my pantry - so that I don’t run out of staples as frequently which would be good both my physical and emotional health

5) start going to the gym at least twice a week rather than working at home all the time – exercise variety is a good thing and would be positive for my physical health

6) wearing my Body Bugg daily – which I started today (Tuesday) when I was writing this post and it is
clearly good for my physical health

7) eat more salad – this is one I have been avoiding for a while and I don’t know why but it would
definitely be beneficial for my physical health

8) eat fewer whole grains and more cooked beans – this is another one that has been on my list but that I have been dodging though it would be good for my physical health

9) get into bed earlier so that 5:30am doesn’t feel so early -  this would help me get back into the early
morning gym routine which would be good for my health

10) vary my exercise routine - again this is something that I know is important yet I like what I like and I really need to push myself to make regular changes to my workout routine for my physical health

Okay now you have an idea of what I know I should be doing that I'm have been avoiding. I decided to stop my list at 10 things but if you wish keep going I think that's great, please do! Once you are satisfied that your list is long enough please choose one item in your list to work on this week. You can either choose an easy one so that you know you will be successful or you could choose the item that you think will have the biggest impact. Remember you can always add to this list at any time. We will come back to this list next week so that we can tackle another item.

Now it is your turn, what are the things that you know you should be doing, yet you aren’t getting them done? When you are making your list think about how these items relate to your idea of success and to your purpose. Start working on items which relate to your purpose and will make you feel successful.

You probably noticed from my list that there are some recurring themes. Clearly exercise variety is on my mind as it appears in item 5 and 10. Also it is obvious that I want to make a few more tweaks to my food intake. The item I have been considering doing for a while in terms of food that I've been avoiding is measuring calorie dense items. I can't tell you how much I dislike measuring food. It feels so restrictive and unnatural to me. Currently I sprinkle nuts and seeds on things with no serious attempt to measure. Since I know this is an issue I'm definitely going to work on it this week so that I can better eyeball quantities in the near future.

While I only asked you to work on one item I am I am also going to commit to working on my business an hour a day. This is something that I've had in mind to do since the summer that I haven't gotten it done. Six months is enough time to procrastinate and now it is time for action. I will set aside an hour every day when I work on my business plans without interruption. I am confident that I know enough, in fact more than enough, to make a career out of health and wellness. Now I need to stop talking about it and just do it. In order to hold myself accountable I will tell you each day what I did. If you don't see me mention that in each post for the remainder of the month please ask me about it. Like I have been saying accountability is a good thing.  :-)

For those of you that want to get a head start on tomorrow that topic will be assessing whether you are an optimist or a pessimist. Since all of us know which one we are the next question is which one do you want to be? I will have some suggestions for how to change your attitude since I used to be a pessimist which I imagine surprises many of you but it is true. Believe me if I can become an optimist anyone can do it. ;-) I will explain this tomorrow.

Tuesday:

The morning started like usual by my reading and meditating before Dan got up. Then I made Dan breakfast, while he made us double strength mugs of tea. While his fruit and nut oatmeal was simmering I packed his lunch and we chatted about the plans for our respective days.

My breakfast ended up being some broccoli and hummus that I had originally packed for Dan’s lunch but he thought that I was sending him too much food so it became my meal instead. I love broccoli and hummus so this was a fantastic breakfast in my mind. I sprinkle some paprika on top for a few reasons, flavor, extra vitamin C and the red color is pretty. ;-) I also added pine nuts for flavor, texture, protein and fat (to help me absorb the fat soluble vitamins in the broccoli).

Once Dan left for work it was time for me to do some work on the computer. I spent a couple of hours finishing up the post for Day 3 and then it was time to start this post. It sometimes shocks me how much time I can be on the computer.

I did take time to enjoy my hot tea with grapefruit and cinnamon, watching Masi being mesmerized by the snow flurries, and then I did some cleaning and cooking and it was noon. How does the day go by so quickly?

Since my morning had been relatively inactive I opted are of very light lunch most of you proud because snack of a banana and some almond butter. I had planned to get outside new quickly 3 miles this morning. With a temperature of 31 and a wind chill of 21 the idea of getting outside for exercise was not terribly appealing to me. Gee, I wonder why? Given the weather it made much more sense to work out inside today. Thank goodness for exercise equipment at home is all I have to say. On days like this I appreciate they have will stay warm inside.

Once I had finished exercising I had a bowl of leftover bean, mushroom and kale soup over quinoa. I hope you are noticing that we eat a lot of leftovers. Having intentional leftovers available is the biggest reason that we are able to eat this way. If it weren’t for those leftovers I would not have time to do anything other than cook which would make this lifestyle all but impossible.

After lunch I spent more time working on the blog, gathering items for future exercises this month, as well as cleaning and planning meals. When I got a few free minutes I took the time to do a little reading in the public health book which I just bought. Who knew textbooks could be so interesting? LOL

I also found two hours to work on my newsletter project. I should be telling you more about that very soon. However I can tell you it feels good to be making progress on something that has been on my to-do list for entire too long. In addition to the newsletter project I also spent some time working on my business plan today. Productivity was in full swing at my house on Tuesday. *woo hoo*

Dan was a little late coming home because he stopped at the boat on the way home since our overnight temperatures were supposed to dip into the mid-teens. Even though the boat has been winterized he wanted to increase the temperature inside the boat overnight just to be safe overnight.

Dinner at our house was another huge salad which I am sure shocks you…..LOL. The salad had a base of baby spinach, I used salsa in place of dressing, added some broccoli, raw sunflower seeds and hummus. Dan’s salad also had cold cooked quinoa for a few extra calories and protein.

Wendy sent me an email yesterday asking about how I eat salads without dressing and any suggestions that I had for her since she can’t imagine enjoying undressed salad. Since I am sure she isn’t the only thinking this I wanted to share my thoughts on this with you too.

In terms of salad without dressing I think that is something that becomes your new normal in time. Back in the “bad old days” there was nothing that I loved more than blue cheese dressing which was my favorite. Hard to imagine isn’t it? Then I went through a long period of olive oil and vinegar. Now when I have salad, evenly lightly dressed, it just takes greasy to me. Again this is something that I NEVER thought would happen.

My favorite salad dressing currently is salsa and hummus. I just toss the greens with a little salsa and top it with hummus. I find that if salad has enough “juicy” foods in it (like artichokes, tomatoes, or fruit) that I don’t even need the salsa or hummus. However I wasn’t always like this. In the past I would place either raw sesame seeds or raw cashews in my Vitamix and add flavors like: raw garlic, lemon juice or vinegar, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and herbs and spices and then blend until the dressing was creamy. There are lots of these recipes on my blog just search for “salad dressings” and many of them will come up.

I hope the salad tips helped a few you. Thanks again for the question Wendy. :-)  Keep them coming!

Happy Thoughts:

• Today it was very good to have exercise equipment at home. It was so cold and windy outside there was no way I could face 3 miles outside. Thank goodness I was able to stay warm inside yet still get my exercise in for the day.

• Making progress on goals which have been languishing on my to-do list feels great. I hope you are finding the same thing at your house.

• I realized that my daily activity is lower now than it was in the summer and fall. Now that I know this I plan to step it up starting tomorrow. This is exactly why I bought the Body Bugg and how I think it is best used. I admit that I don’t wear mine all the time, which probably makes more sense, but even wearing it periodically is enough to point out trends that require action.

• The meditation course (Practicing Mindfulness) that I ordered from The Great Courses arrived yesterday and I have already watched 3 hours of it because it is that good. If you are interested in meditation I think you will enjoy these DVDs. When I finish the entire series I will tell you more about it.  BTW, the courses go on sale often, if one you want is full price just keep checking back, it will go on sale.  I have many of these and haven't paid the list price for any of them.

• I checked on my parents today and they are doing well. My mom was feeling good enough to go out and that was nice to see. For those of you who do not have elderly parents having them up are around is a big deal.

• Dan checked on the boat this morning before work and everything seems fine. Given that it was colder here this morning (17) than it was in Minneapolis (25) we are both grateful that everything with the boat was good.

• I realized today that I haven’t watched the news for many months. In the past I used to start my morning watching the news and then would turn it on during the day and again in the evening. While I didn’t intentionally put myself on a news fast, that is what happened by accident. I have found that by not watching the news I am much more at ease and less worked up. Apparently there is something to what people say about 24 hours news being overly stimulating. Since I just realized this I wanted to mention it to you. BTW I also discovered that when something happens that I need to know I still get the information usually by talking to others. It is nice to be able to spend my free time focusing on things that are much more positive in nature than the news which is almost always bad news.

Signing Out:

It is time for me to start working on the next post. I got so carried away watching the DVDs on practicing mindfulness that I haven’t started the next post yet. *eek* I better get my tush in gear.

I hope you are having a wonderful week and that you are enjoying my January posts. Again, if you have any suggestions or feedback please feel free to share either here on send me an email. You can reach me at veganepicurean@gmail.com. Talk with you again tomorrow.

Sweet Tomato and Tarragon Pesto

Over the weekend I decided to make flax crackers which I have not made in months. The reason I stopped making them was while they are packed with healthy omega 3 fatty acids they are also very calorie dense. However this weekend I thought I would try an experiment and see if I could make them lower in fat and calories.

I started by grinding 1 cup of golden flaxseeds in the Vitamix. If you don’t have a high speed blender that you can use a coffee grinder which is how I grind a tablespoon or two of seeds. Place the flaxseeds into a mixing bowl. Next I added 1 cup of dry oats to the flaxseeds. Now add water slowly while you stir the dry ingredients. Continue to add water until you have workable dough. Season the crackers any way you like. I added garlic powder, dried onions, black pepper, paprika, and lemon zest.

I spread half the mixture on one teflex covered tray in the dehydrator and did the same thing with the second half of the cracker dough. Turn the machine to somewhere between 105 and 115 degrees and dry until they are firm on top. Then flip the dough, cut it into cracker sizes (I used 9ths) and then turn them over (so the damp side is up) and continue to dry until all the moisture is gone. I store them in a zip top bag at room temperature until I want one.

Since I made the flax and oat crackers over the weekend I wanted something light to top them with. After all flax crackers are delicious and nutrition but low fat they aren’t. I decided that tomato pesto was the way to go and here is what I did:

Sweet Tomato and Tarragon Pesto
Makes 16 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup dehydrated tomatoes (or sun-dried not in oil)
enough filtered water to cover the tomatoes
1 cup golden raisins
1 large clove garlic
½ cup fresh tarragon (you could use basil, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, oregano but all in different quantities just add a little taste and adjust)
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Optional:

lemon zest
lemon juice or wine vinegar
finely diced red onion

Directions:

Cover the tomatoes with water and store in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, I let them soak overnight. Drain the tomatoes from the water reserving the water. Place the tomatoes in your food processor, add the raisins, and garlic and process. Drizzle in the reserved tomato soaking liquid until you like the texture. You may need to scrape the sides of the processor once or twice. Add the fresh herbs a little at a time until you like the flavor. Add freshly ground pepper to taste and store covered in the refrigerator until needed.

If you want to change the flavor you can add some lemon zest, lemon juice or wine vinegar.

Nutritional Information (assumes 1/16th of the recipe or about 2 tablespoons depending on how much water you add):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 36.74
Calories From Fat (3%) - 1.28

Total Fat - 0.15g
Saturated Fat - 0.03g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 72.34mg
Potassium - 188.49mg
Total Carbohydrates - 9.21g
Fiber - 0.81g
Sugar - 6.64g
Protein - 0.84g

Comments:

This is one of those recipes that you can use many different ways. It is good as a spread on a cracker. It works spread on a pizza and topped with veggies. Try it tossed with pasta or roasted potatoes. You can use it as a salad dressing. As you can see it is versatile.

Other than my snack of these two items my food was fairly boring today. The weather was spectacular today with highs in the upper 80’s but low humidity. I took the opportunity to go for a nice walk through the neighborhood so I could soak up the sun, smell the wisteria and enjoy the fresh air.

I had a green smoothie which I am sure no one is surprised to see given that we have kale in the refrigerator.

There was also my usual orange and two Brazil nuts.

I was feeling rather lazy today and not much like cooking so I grabbed a package of seaweed snacks. If you haven’t tried these both Dan and I enjoy them though many of our omnivore friends are less than enamored by the taste.

There was also a glass of fresh vegetable and fruit juice (beet, collard, celery, kale, cucumber, apple, lemon and ginger).

Dinner was another variation of my deconstructed sushi salad but this time I made it was black rice but without miso.

I guess with the weather getting nicer I am not much in the mood to cook. Hopefully I get back into that soon. LOL

Happy thoughts:

• Our weather today was glorious. It was just hot enough but not too hot. I loved that the humidity was low so that I could keep the windows open. Even the felines enjoyed the fresh air coming through the windows all day. Days like this are so nice because we have had a very wet, rainy spring.

• I had a little time to read today, not as much as I have lately. But that is mostly due to the time I spent outside so I am not complaining. I wasn’t as “productive” as usual but I was happy and really that is all the mattered to me today.

• It looks like I will be getting time to spend with my hubby later this week. I should know for sure tomorrow. *fingers crossed* Can you tell I am looking forward to it? ;-)

• While Dan worked late again this evening he did find time for a walk before dinner and that made me very happy. I like him to remain active to keep his immune system ramped up. Working behind a desk all day long I worry that he doesn’t get enough activity. However he has been good about this for a while for that I am grateful.

• I am still enjoying “The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse”. I think this is going to be something that I do multiple times per year. It is helping me to reframe the way I see the world and is having a positive impact on my attitude. Who couldn’t use a little more positivity in their life?

• I am also grateful that Jackie’s cat came through his surgery fine today. It is always difficult to have the fur children at the vet. Thank goodness Jackie noticed that he wasn’t acting right and got him to the doctor before it was serious.

• Next week we are going to see Ottmar Liebert with Jackie and Walid and that is going to be great. I am really looking forward to that. I am fortunate to have a number of things to look forward to this month. Maybe that will soften the blow of my turning 49 soon. *shivers* When did I get old? I swear I still feel like I a kid mentally but that means this whole old thing is just no fun an confusing. ;-)

Signing out:

Like usual I am getting this post up much later than I had expected. You know I am going to blame that on Dan working late right? To be honest it isn’t his fault completely though it is a contributing factor. I hope he can get a break soon so that he can get a little rest. I really don’t like that he works as hard as he does.

I hope your weather was a beautiful as ours today. We had a magnificent day from a weather perspective. I will leave you with a few pictures that I took of my azaleas this afternoon with my cell phone. The flowers took a bit of a beating in the rain the other day, but they are still colorful.

Don't forget to comment here for a chance to win a copy of "The 21-Day Vegan Weight Loss Kickstart" signed by Dr. Barnard.

Talk to you again tomorrow. I hope you enjoy what is left of you evening. Good night!

Blueberry, Collard and Cocoa Smoothie… What?

This morning we awoke to a typical grey rainy spring day in the Mid-Atlantic. We get a lot of rain this time of year. But that is what makes everything incredibly green and lush so I shouldn’t complain. Since we ate dinner very late yesterday we were also up late and slept in this morning. Needless to say we were not at the gym at 6am. ;-)

Breakfast for Dan was his usual oatmeal with frozen wild blueberries, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, ginger, stevia and walnuts.

With the thunderstorms today I didn’t go for my normal walk *boo* and I really missed it. Somehow cardio and home just isn’t the same. My plan is to keep any eye on the weather so that I can go for a short walk during a break in the storm. With a little luck that will happen since I get recharged from being outside.

I finished reading “Clean” yesterday and now I feel like I need to drink more smoothies and fresh juices. Does the power of suggestion work on you too? I will write a review of the book later this week. Here is what I made myself for breakfast on Tuesday:

Blueberry, Collard and Cocoa Smoothie
Serves 2 (or you can do I want did and have half now and half later)

Ingredients:

1 cup wild blueberries, frozen
1 ½ cups homemade sprouted soy milk
1 cup raw baby collards, tightly packed
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon powdered ginger
1 pinch stevia
1 tablespoon freshly ground flaxseed
2 tablespoons wheat germ
ice and water

Directions:

Combine everything in your high-speed blender (I used my Vitamix) and process until smooth. I like to serve my smoothies in ice cold glasses which I keep in the freezer.

Nutrition information (assumes 2 servings):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 216.31
Calories From Fat (26%) - 56.32

Total Fat - 6.39g
Saturated Fat - 0.92g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 103.6mg
Potassium - 354.34mg
Total Carbohydrates - 31.77g
Fiber - 5.26g
Sugar - 7.41g
Protein - 10.41g

Comments:

I decided to add cocoa to the blueberry smoothie after discovering that I liked the combination a couple of weeks ago when I made the chocolate and blueberry hearts to take to Walid and Jackie’s house. This smoothie was tasty and healthy. My only complaint is that made a huge amount...poor me.  ;-)  I bet you know what I will be having later for a snack…more smoothie that I stashed in the freezer.

I had the second half of this smoothie about 3 hours later. It spent about 1 ½ in the freezer and another 1 ½ in the refrigerator and was still cold and slushy when I was ready to enjoy it.

I also had a small container of the white bean cheese, salsa, cucumbers and red bell peppers.

In addition I had an orange and Brazil nuts.  I am recycling pictures because I love Masi in the background of this one and I am being lazy.  ;-)

With the grey rainy weather I have been very lazy today. I spent too much time chatting and not enough time being productive. I had a webinar in the afternoon that forced me to do something other than chat most of the day. ;-) We had thunderstorms off and on all day. Tuesday was definitely a day that was best spent inside.

(This was my dinner) 

(Here is Dan's which gives you a better idea of the dish)

Since I was being unproductive our dinner was a very simple dish. I made some bulgur with sun dried tomatoes. In my usual style I made extra bulgur to include in our lunches tomorrow. I topped the dish with a simple Sicilian style broccoli. The broccoli is similar to a spinach dish I make, and also similar to Ian’s Tuscan carrots. I “sautéed” red onion in a little water and red wine vinegar and added broccoli, hot crushed peppers (wet hots), garlic, raisins and fennel seeds. After the onions and broccoli were cooked I added some fresh cucumber slices for crunch. I finished the dish with a few sliced almonds. Who says fast food needs to be unhealthy? I had this ready in less than 20 minutes it had a lot of flavor and was good for us.

Happy thoughts:

• I am happy to have the ability to workout at home when the weather is uncooperative. While I don’t like indoor cardio it is better than no cardio and I didn’t need to drive to the gym which was a very good thing.

• It was great to spend Tuesday relaxing I really needed that after the month I have had. As much as I like to get things done sometimes crashing is the best thing you can do for yourself. Wednesday morning I got up and had tons of energy so relaxing must have been exactly what I needed.

• While I was in sloth mode on Tuesday I took a little time to read which always makes me happy. I am grateful that our library system has a wonderful selection of books on health and nutrition since I never get tired of reading anything on that topic.

• Our weather on Wednesday is supposed to be glorious! *happy dance* We are expecting temperatures in the mid 80’s today. *woo hoo* I plan to enjoy myself outside as much as I can today. Today will be a great day to get a little vitamin D, but not too much since I don’t want to burn.

Signing out:

I am looking forward to a productive and beautiful day today. I hope the weather is as nice where you live. Talk to you again tomorrow.  Now I am off to catch up on my health and nutrition reading for today and to post links to articles on Facebook.  Have a great Wednesday!  :-)

Pig Business, Pics of DC and the Food

I woke up in a tremendously good mood on Wednesday. I imagine it has something to do with Dan taking a half day off work and going to DC to see the screening of Pig Business. I must confess that I am very much looking forward to hearing Dr. Greger speak tonight after the film. With a little luck I will have an opportunity to talk to him after the event and get my picture taken with him. Hopefully he won’t think I am some crazy stalker, LOL. When I told Dan that if I get to talk to Dr. Greger he was to take pictures his response was “who are you and what have you done with my wife?” I think that was his way of telling me that I am out of control. ;-) There is never a dull moment around here.

With temperatures in the upper 30’s in the morning we opted for oatmeal for breakfast. Dan had his usual with fruit and nut (wild blueberries, wheat germ, ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, stevia and walnuts). I keep suggesting savory oatmeal to him but he has such a sweet tooth that he always goes with the fruit option. *sigh*  Oh well, he eats more healthy than most men so I should focus on that right?

I opted for savory oatmeal this morning and had an enormous bowl. There is a little oatmeal in the bottom that I flavored with nutritional yeast, cumin, no-salt seasoning and paprika. Then I added wheat germ, ground flaxseeds, some black beans that I made on Sunday, artichoke hearts, broccoli salsa and a few raw pumpkin seeds. I was stuffed after I finished this breakfast. Knowing that we were going to be on the road at lunch time I wanted to make sure that I had enough food for breakfast to keep me fueled for a while.

We both washed our oatmeal down with a double matcha green tea. As I have said many times I have to start my day with green tea or I don’t feel healthy. I am sure it is all in my head but that is okay with me. ;-)

Next I needed to figure out what I was going to wear to DC. With the seasons being in flux it is not easy to pick an outfit this time of year. Not to mention heels are out since I have no idea how much walking I will need to do and as all women know wearing flats impacts which pants you can wear. Decisions, decisions, LOL. In the end I went with jeans, flat scrunched boots and a big bulky sweater but it took me a while to decide. Even though our weather was grey and rainy at least it was reasonably warm (50) which is only a littler cooler than usual. However it did get colder later in the day which means that I should have taken a coat and gloves. Have you noticed that I don’t like coats and normally pay the price for leaving them at home? *rolls eyes* Maybe one day I will learn from my mistakes. LOL

I drove downtown to pick up Dan since he got a ride to work with Troy in the morning so we weren’t leaving a vehicle in the garage overnight. Since Phil was heading back to Missouri this afternoon after the conference we picked up him and Jeff and dropped them at the airport (BWI) which was on our way south to DC.

I packed a few snacks to take with us. What? You didn’t think we would go somewhere without food in the car did you? I like to make sure we are prepared. There is nothing worse than a hungry and grumpy wife is there? I didn’t have time to photograph everything before leaving the house. The photograph above is from the car. I packed the following which became our lunch snack: fat free hummus (made yesterday), salsa, carrots, cucumbers, red bell pepper, walnuts, Brazil nuts and more matcha green tea.

I also brought us some raw vegetable tempura that I picked up at Whole Foods. I really wanted to like this but the texture is weird and neither of us wanted more than a bite. Needless to say I am sad that I can’t recommend it. Too bad, it seemed like a good idea.

Overall our lunch snack was not a lot of calories but this was only intended to hold us over until dinner. After all the only thing we were doing was riding in the car to DC we weren’t calorie burning machines in the afternoon, LOL.

We made a quick stop in DC at the Gallery Mall before heading to the Capitol. I thought you might find this interesting. Old buildings are something that I love. Isn’t this a beautiful adaptive use of old buildings in downtown DC?

Too bad the weather was dreary and rainy. I was hoping to get a lot of nice pictures of DC before it got dark. However I took my camera any way since I have friends that live far away from DC and wanted them to see more of the city. Here are a few of the pictures that I thought came out reasonably well. The first one at the top of the post is of the Capitol Dome as we came out of the visitor center (where the screening was shown) is by far my favorite.  I was a little wary of taking my camera to the Capitol since I didn’t know if they allowed it. However I was in luck they let me take it in. *huge sigh of relief*

Here is the lobby in the visitor center at the Capitol. The large statute is the one that was used for the bronze cast on top of the Capitol which was much larger than it appears from the ground.

I liked this picture looking up at the statute from the base.

The screening was well attended which made me very happy. There were a few empty seats but not many. It was good to see so many people that were interested in the topic. Two congressmen were also in attendance (sorry I didn’t write down their names but one from Virginia).

Here is Congressmen Dennis Kucinich.

Then there is my personal favorite Dr. Greger. Can you be a health groupie? LOL

Here is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

I need to do a little research to confirm some of the things I heard in the film and then in the panel discussion after the film before I share that with you. But what I can tell you is I can’t imagine ever allowing anyone that I love to eat conventional pork again. The health consequences are too disturbing to make that an option for us. *sigh*

After the panel discussion the crowd swarmed the panelist so that I didn’t get a chance to talk to Dr. Greger. Boo hoo! Oh well, I will just need to attend his next event I assume.

By the time we left the capitol it was 9:30pm and we were both STARVING. Thank goodness Jaleo in DC was open until 11pm on Wednesday. We headed straight there for tapas (small plates).  The pictures above are the view as we walked to the car.  Gloriousisn't it?  It was a beautiful walk to the car I think.

I liked this shot of the Jaleo sign in the window over Dan's shoulder.

Since I was a human popsicle (due to no coat or gloves) I started the meal with a pot of blood orange and hibiscus tea which is quickly becoming my new favorite tea. Dan liked it enough the last time that he got one as well.

We also got a bottle of sparkling water because tap water worries me since I never know if it has been filtered or not. I know the same can be said for many bottled waters but I feel like they are typically filtered.  Don't you love the detail of the rose on the glass and how it matches the mural on the wall?

We started with the roasted eggplant, onions and red bell peppers.

We ordered a “potato salad” which was unlike anything I had ever had before. This one was cold and without mayo. Instead it was flavored with cooked white or yellow onions, sherry vinegar and olive oil. I am not positive if the green was cilantro or parsley because it was so subtle but suspect it was cilantro.

Our next dish was my favorite of the night. It was cauliflower with smoked paprika, dates and green olives. I am fairly sure it also contained garlic. What I liked about this was that it had a different flavor depending on whether you got a date or olive with your cauliflower. The “juice” in the bottom of the bowl was so good we used the plain bread to mop it up. I will be making something like this at home it was that good.

Since we were still hungry we ordered the tomato bread which is always good.

We also got some of the mushrooms with garlic and lemon.

That was finally enough to fill us up. Of course it was late and we needed to head for home since Dan had to work the next day. It was after midnight by the time we got home and all I wanted to do was crash.  I think I was asleep 15  minutes after we walked in the front door.

Happy thoughts:

Wednesday was such a good day that I am not sure where to start but here goes:

• I loved being able to spend so much time with Dan yesterday. We talked all day yesterday about everything and nothing. There is nothing I love more than spending time with my hubby.  xoxo

• I also had a chance to chat with Phil on the way to the airport. Phil is one of those people that I immediately clicked with years ago. I always enjoy seeing him even if it was only for 30 minutes.

• It was incredibility encouraging that “Pig Business” was very well attended on Wednesday. I love it that so many people are interested in the topic. I can honestly say I will never look at pork the same way again. I knew the factory farming conditions would be bad but didn’t realize the health implications of living near the operations let alone consuming pork. I am also thankful that my husband is willing to attend events like this with me. I think his willingness to be open to information is why we are able to eat the same diet. Many of you ladies constantly remind me how fortunate I am that my husband doesn’t demand unhealthy meals full of meat.

• Dinner at Jaleo was wonderful. It is wonderful to have somewhere we can go in DC and get a great vegan meal and have lots of little dishes.

• It was great fun yesterday to go spend some time in DC being tourists. I need to spend more time doing the same thing in my own city. When you are open to seeing beauty around you suddenly it is everywhere.

• Thursday has been a rainy day and I am thankful that I didn’t have any errands to run. It was great to stay home all day and watch the rain from the comfort of my warm house. I also like knowing that all the rain we are having will result in beautiful spring flowers soon.

Signing Out:

Sorry it took me much longer to get this posted than I anticipated. I took hundreds of pictures yesterday and it was difficult to decide which ones to use and then get them edited. I hope you enjoyed the trip to DC with us. Talk to you again tomorrow after I get my errands knocked out, attend a webinar and get finished with an appointment. However it is Friday which means I will definitely be looking forward to the weekend.