Meatless Continued

It's week 6 of my teacher training and things are going really well. I thought 12+ hrs of yoga per week would be way too much and I would get frustrated without any variety in activity. Actually it's been pretty great. I'm learning about poses, how to teach with cues, a little bit of sequencing, and adjusting bodies, but mostly I'm practicing yoga. I am getting stronger, more flexible, and more balanced. Advanced poses are in the near future right after I am done rehabbing my carpal tunnel hand.

Anyway after the last post I made a more honest effort to cut meat out of my diet. I even went to Costco to search for those B12 pills in bulk. When I said that those things were 120% of your daily value, boy was I wrong. That sh*t is 41,667% of your daily value. Truth is on the label.

So I put that crap back down and bought 3lbs of almonds instead and a 6 inch wheel of Brie cheese. I also went to Trader Joe's and bought some hemp protein power to mix with milk and yogurt. Between all that, tofu and eggs I have my meat cravings down to almost never.

The past few days I was kind of surprised to find that I haven't missed meat at all. That thought made me feel pretty empowered. One less thing I have to rely on in life. I won't say there aren't times I want to eat it cause it smells good, but there have been just as many times where I don't want to eat meat because I know it will be hard for me to digest. The deeper I get into this process the less I will want to eat meat because it'll make me feel less healthy and more sluggish. Now I see why my teachers asked us to go vegetarian. It's a trap! A downward spiral into becoming hippy and I totally fell for it. Oh well too late now.

I also got a vegetarian coach. Her name is Heather and she sits about 5 cubes away. She's been giving me advice and brings some delicious food to share during lunch. This week I'm giving kale and Tofurkey a go. Steamed kale with sesame oil and tofurkey sausage with pasta is on the menu. I have to say that tofurkey is pretty good. Of course you can't expect it to taste like meat, but if you expect it to taste like tofu you'll be pleasantly surprised cause it's got a good flavor. Also on the menu is tomato soup with yogurt. The vege saga continues.

Going Vegetarian?

Before starting teacher training we got an email recommending that we all get rid of our coffee addictions and take up vegetarianism. The idea behind getting off caffeine was that a lot of poses and meditation we do will require that we be of a calm state of mind so having a stimulant in our system would hinder our ability to gain the full benefits of certain aspects of Yoga. That was fine because I don't drink coffee (thanks momma). The purpose for asking us to give up meat was in respect for all things living. We are what we eat and if we are consuming the energy of another living being it can convolute our own.

Whether I believe that or not is to be determined. Out of respect for the teachers I am trying to cut meat out of my diet. Those of you that have known me for a long time remember that vegetarianism is not unfamiliar to me, but it was only for 40 days a year. I always knew the commitment would end. But since then I've also developed really healthy habits, so I didn't doubt that this would be easy.

How wrong I was. Lol. Even though I'd been vegetarian before I was not working out as much as I do now, so the diet change has been tough. After going two or 3 days without  meat I get this weird headache and feel awkward or off kilter. Eating some sort of meat (chicken, fish, pork) cures it within 5 hours and I feel myself again. I'm aware of the typical B12 deficiency but I tried to anticipate that with a daily egg. Seems that one egg is not enough. According to the NIH I should  be eating 4 eggs a day to get the adequate amount of B12. This is my problem with vegetarianism. You have to up your intake of food/protein by almost 4 times to compensate because meat is such a dense source of nutrients. If you work out, you are eating often and a lot. So this is quite the experience with trying to find balance in the food I eat and finding time to go to the grocery store in between yoga classes. I have failed or cheated more than once (maybe >8 times >_< ) in the past 3 weeks.

I'm trying not to submit to the supplementary pill popping, but that just might happen. I don't like multivitamins because I don't need all those extra things. This is America, and I have a job. I am not malnourished so I don't need to take a pill that is 120% of all the vitamins and minerals I need. And I don't believe that I should need to take a pill when I can find some sort of delicious food to eat that has those nutrients.

The first new food I've tried is quinoa (pronounced "keenwa"). It's pretty good actually. It's supposedly a new "Super Food" that carries antioxidants and nutrients. It absorbs flavor really well too. [Picture is quinoa with onions, tomatoes, basil and vegetable broth.]

Is this vegetarianism thing gonna pan out? Probably not. I don't feel like killing animals is a bad thing and would be fine if I owned a farm and had to kill a chicken a day. But I'm trying to face this as a challenge and hopefully learn a lot more about nutrition and food along the way.

Carbs and Clarity

So this is the week before the MS 150. Wah! I got my bike last Friday and have been making fit adjustments - shifted my cleats, moved the seat, got a shorter stem. It is feeling much much better, but I am still unsure about feeling perfect on the ride. I guess I will see. All this week I've also been stuff my face with pasta. I think after this is done I'll probably eat my weight in pasta to recharge and then go on hiatus.

Also since last Friday as my bike is fitting better and better, my anxiety is decreasing. I am calmer and can think more clearly. I remember things better and can think more outwardly. It's awesome. I think once this ride is over and I can tell I have no pain then I will be content. Like SUPER content. Especially with my job lining up the way I want it to, things are great. Finally!

The Chinese Diet

Yesterday was Papa Yu's birthday, so we do our simple celebration of going out to dinner. Of course my dad picks a little place in Chinatown because he can't go a meal without rice. Now I grew up on a Chinese Diet, but after countless nutrition talks from a guy I once dated and hours on WebMD, NY Times and the like...I am enlightened. Don't get me wrong, I love Chinese food. I was pretty excited to get to go to Chinatown and devour all those delicious meats, but now I know just what an unbalanced diet my culture perpetuates.

So what did we order last night? 2 meat appetizers, green beans, the house special tofu dish, ribs, shrimp and white rice - which translates to 1 Starch, 5 Protein and 1 Veggie. But actually the green beens were even stir fried with ground pork, so the more acurate translation might be - 5.5 Protein and 0.5 Veggies. haha. YUM. Basically what I'm getting at is there is a major tip towards eating meats in this diet. Which mean's we're all going to get atherosclerosis and have heart attacks at the age of 45.

I'm not even going to talk about how much oil we use and the ratio of fried/stir fried to steamed dishes. lol.

Also, theres little to no fiber in much of the food we eat. Veggies have fiber - yes, but the largest source of fiber in someone's diet is grain and we don't eat that. So one might ask when do Chinese people Poop? And the answer is maybe once every week when our Colon's get backed up. (This statistic is based on 4 months of living in Hong Kong. Also there is only one data point in this statistic so please comment to add more.) Once every week? This sucks considering a person should poop at least once a day. You don't want to be carrying around a weeks worth of food waste in your body. Thats probably 2 lbs of crap in your colon depending on your size. Gross.

I'm sure the Chinese health commision or whatever government department that monitors public health was aware of this as Digestive Crackers were sold everywhere. These babies were like fiber and sugar pressed into cracker form. Worked really well, but you had to remember to eat them...

So moral of the story? Papa Yu needs to eat Digestives.

Food Tastes Good

Ugh. I just did the typical and ate myself into an impending food coma. Since I moved home I've found it hard to keep up a healthy and happy diet.

First I don't do the grocery shopping and do almost no cooking now. Bad bad bad. My mom doesn't know what's healthy, what's not, what's more healthy or just ok, etc. She doesn't balance the meats and veggies well. And of course, in a traditionally Asian home, we always have rice for dinner. Pure starch. I try to cut down on the amount I eat, but that just means I'm still hungry and fill myself up with the loads of meat my mom cooks. She doesn't always buy the veggies I like, so more often than not I skip those. Result? Probably a little bit of weight gain; probably a little bit of wear on my performance, and mostly a lack of the vitamins I need. I'm already feeling anemic again, and I've been taking my daily multivite.

What's more, my mom doesn't always cook the food I want to eat at the time I feel like eating. So I will snack or starve. When dinner finally comes around I will eat too much or not that much and feel bad after. And if it's not food I particularly like, I'm not satisfied despite my being full. Maybe I'm complaining too much, I mean having my mom cook dinner really gives me more time to work out or do other things, but I live to eat; I love to cook. I love everything about food. And I hate doing dishes. Not being able to do eat or cook what I want is wearing on my physical and emotional health. I need to find a good medium or I will eventually hate this situation and steer myself down a path of unhappiness.

First I need to find a way to get out of doing dishes...