The Jersey Shore

The location, not the TV show.

I went out to Sea Bright, NJ this weekend to have dinner with some friends from work, and wow, was it worth the trek. What a beautifully quaint town with the Atlantic Ocean on the east side and the Shrewsbury River on the west. There were plenty of local shops and restaurants, tons of docked boats, and beach clubs all along the seaside. My friend even pointed out one of the clubs as being the one to which Bruce Springsteen belongs as we walked along the dunes.

Saturday weather was a bit temperamental which meant sharply dropping temps and severe wind advisories as the sun went down, so I didn't get to explore outside as much as I wanted. But my gracious hosts drove me through their cute little town, pointing out good shops, restaurants, and bars along the way. I wish I'd taken some photos, because the sunset was just gorgeous over the river on the west side. I can't wait to go back in the summer!

While getting back to Sea Bright is simply an easy ferry ride to Sandy Hook from Wall St., I have to say that I should rent a car and leave Manhattan on the weekends from time to time. While the crazy amount of money I spent on gas + tolls was not so exciting, I did really enjoy getting a better feel for the geography in my area. There was an inexplicable thrill associated with driving over the Triboro Bridge (recently renamed RFK, although no one seems to call it that yet) and the GW Bridge and through the Holland Tunnel on the way home. (Tool niche, Kathleen!) I even found myself in the west village by accident instead of the FDR. It was incredibly scary driving home through the surface streets of Manhattan, and I have certainly gained some respect for taxi drivers now.

**Fabulous photos (except for the obvious Google map) by Sam Meyer, my favorite New York photographer.**

This week's triumphs + a couple of recipes

I admit it. I am a stress eater. My job in New York is hectic, chaotic, and demanding, and I've been managing the crazy a lot better in the last year or so than I did when I first arrived. But I do cave into anxiety very easily, and while I hold it together fantastically at work, I can't help but let loose when I get home. Since grad school I've been contemplating buying stock in Frito Lay, because their reduced-fat sea salt Ruffles are my go-to snack when life is rough. And I have consumed a lot of those chips in the past five years!

Anyway, this week, I've been assigned to a show that I don't normally do. It's a difficult program with a lot of technical moving parts, and a show team with whom I'm not particularly comfortable. I definitely haven't been sleeping much, and when I have been, it's been restless and fraught with nightmares about screwing up something technical on air. It's a recipe for binge snacking, in my opinion. I did walk to work on several days, because oddly, the weather in Manhattan was brilliant this week. 50+ degrees in February several days in a row is very uncommon here.

I'm writing this post today because I managed to get through the week without any major missteps. Here are the three accomplishments I was pleased with: 1) I managed to take my lunch to work every day, which kept me from buying food that is calorie-laden but delicious. 2) I loaded up my desk with fruits & nuts for snacking, and I actually ate them instead of visiting the vending machine. 3) I drank a whole lot of water and herbal tea. Whenever I felt the snacking urge come on, I would drink a glass of water or make myself a cup of tea. I know diet plans all recommend this technique, but I found that 80% of the time, it actually worked.

One particularly beautiful day, I sat in Central Park and ate a small cup of almond gelato in the middle of the afternoon. It seemed like something I really needed to do, so I did. But overall, I did really well this week. Lots of water, lots of fruits & veggies, some walking here and there, and no take-out food!

Easy Chicken & Black Bean Chili w/ Cabbage
-1/2 pound of ground chicken
-1 can black beans, rinsed
-1 can tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes
-1/3 green cabbage, shredded
-1 medium onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
-1 cup chicken stock
-1 cup water
-2 tbsp chili powder (the kind with oregano, cumin, cayenne, etc. all blended together - or you can add those spices in individually to make about 2 tbsp of spice mix)
-1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional - add more or less to your liking - or substitute cayenne pepper)
-1 tsp turmeric
-1/2 tsp ground black pepper
-1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
-1 tsp olive oil

Heat oil in a large saucepan or soup pot on medium high heat. Add the onions and red pepper flakes and saute till softened. Add the ground chicken and cook till it's browned slightly. Add the salt and turmeric and cook till chicken is golden brown. (Don't worry about cooking the chicken all the way through - it will simmer for a while with all the other ingredients so it won't be raw when this dish is finished.)

Add the tomatoes or tomato sauce, beans, garlic, chili powder, water and chicken broth and bring to a boil on high heat. Then lower the temperature and let it all simmer together for about 20 minutes. Add the cabbage at the end, and cook for another 5-7 minutes, or until the cabbage is soft. Then add salt & pepper to taste. This makes about 5-6 servings.

I made a big pot of this easy chili on Monday and ate it for dinner every night when I came home from work. It was hearty and satisfying, and for once, I didn't mind eating this for several nights in a row. (I'm not a big fan of leftovers.) What I like about this recipe is that it's totally customizable - if cabbage isn't your thing, add spinach or kale. (I just like adding veggies in there, so I don't feel like I have to make a salad or steam some veggies to go with it. I'm slightly impatient and usually starving when I get home after work.) If you love super spicy food, add more red pepper and cayenne and black pepper. Have at it!

My Cousin Monica's Super Salmon Spread
-1 can wild Alaskan salmon, drained
-2 tbsp mayonnaise
-1 tsp mustard
-2 tsp Tabasco or hot sauce of your choice
-3 tsp ketchup

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl till combined, and then put it on your favorite bread for a sandwich that'll make your typical tuna seem stale. My cousin made this with tuna when I visited her in Montreal a few years ago, and it knocked my socks off back then. Since I read a health book over the weekend that extolled the virtues of salmon, I decided to try to incorporate some of the heart healthy fare into my diet this week. I ate this with oat nut bread from Whole Foods, and it was delicious.

PS - How in the world does Whole Foods make those vegan chocolate chip cookies taste so darn delicious?

Sticking to it... and more recipes.

Hi folks, I'm definitely trying to keep to the basic constructs of eating well, but I'm not being as strict as that detox plan outlined. I'm trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables, eating as little processed food as possible, and drinking a lot more water. My favorite moment at a Weight Watchers meeting (yes, I have pretty much tried it all over the years to keep the pounds at bay) many years ago happened when a woman said, "None of us are here because we ate too much broccoli." Well said, lady. Well said.

Over the weekend, I finished reading a book by Dr. Nicholas Perricone who extols the virtues of fish oil and omega fatty acids. Whether these experts agree on vegan vs. not, most of my favorite health and food writers (Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman, Joel Furhman, Neal Barnard) agree on the same thing - preservatives are bad news, too much meat is probably a bad idea, and you can't go wrong with fresh, healthful fruits and veggies. Incidentally, when I was growing up, my mother said this all the time too...

I wish I had the ability to keep a garden in Manhattan, because there's nothing more inspiring in the kitchen than going outside and picking a tomato or cucumber and some fresh basil from your garden to make a salad. My sister-in-law Sonia has a fabulous garden, and I love to visit my family in Austin for many reasons. But one of them is to see what she's planted and taste what amazing salad or soup or entree that she makes out of her harvest.

I decided to channel my mother over the weekend, and I whipped up some traditional Bengali comfort food. My relatives are going to crack up when they see these recipes, because they are pretty common "everyday" foods for most Bengalis. But I thought I'd share the processes with my non-Indian friends.

Roasted Moong Daal Kitchuri (made w/ cracked wheat instead of rice)
1/2 cup cracked wheat (cooked, per pkg directions)
1/2 cup split yellow mung lentils
1-1 1/2 cup water
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/2 tsp grated ginger (optional)
1 tsp olive or vegetable oil
1 tsp salt

Start your saucepan on a medium heat and toast the unwashed lentils on the stovetop. You have to keep stirring this or the mung pods will burn. It goes rather quickly depending on the heat index of your particular stove, usually within a few minutes, and you'll be able to smell the nutty aroma as they get roasted slightly. When you see the mung daal change color from a light butter yellow to a darker ochre color, you're done. Remove the lentils from the heat and let them cool. Give them a little rinse to remove any grit or dust, and then put them back into the pot with about a cup of water (you'll want to add more if your lentils take a long time to cook). Bring that to a boil, and then lower the heat to medium low and add the chopped tomato, turmeric, ground cumin, ground coriander, and salt. Let the mixture simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are softened (when you pre-roast daal in this way, the lentils will not melt down completely) and a lot of the water has evaporated. Then add in the cooked cracked wheat and stir it all together. Most of the water should be soaked up at this point.

The next step is the coup de grace really. It's very simple, and all Indian daals end this way. But without this step, this dish would just be so-so. Take the oil and heat it up in a separate pan (I use a small frying pan - and be a little wary, this part splatters a bit) on medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds, red pepper flakes, and grated ginger and swirl the goods around in the pan. Once you smell the spices cooking (and you will smell it almost instantly, but give it a minute to really dance with the oil), add the spice mixture to the mung daal & cracked wheat concoction and stir to combine it all completely. This makes 3-4 servings.

PS - My mom adds some ghee (an Indian kitchen staple - clarified butter) to this last step to make the dish really rich, but if you are sticking to a vegan diet, you can omit the dairy. There are enough spices in this dish that it tastes pretty great without the ghee. If you are gluten-free, use rice instead of cracked wheat. This dish is traditionally made with the uncooked rice and daal thrown into the pot together and cooked through at the same time. I just find it easier to add the pre-cooked cracked wheat in later.

Bengali style cabbage
1/2 head of cabbage, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp oil
1 tsp salt

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium high heat, and add the whole cumin seeds and red pepper flakes till they jump in the pan slightly and release their fragrant aroma. Add the cabbage and tomato and the remaining spices, give it all a stir, and then put a lid on it and lower the heat slightly. Keep stirring it all every few minutes to keep the cabbage from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Just keep an eye on it, but at this point, you're just cooking down the cabbage. It will let out a fair amount of water on its own, and you just want it to cook in its own juices. Towards the end of the cooking process, add in the frozen peas and give it a stir again. Once the cabbage is cooked through, raise the heat and cook of any remaining liquid in the pan, stirring often to keep the veggies from sticking to the bottom of the pan. When the water is gone, you're done. Serve with the kitchuri from above, and you have a pretty hearty, low-fat, & vegan meal.

I really should've taken some photos of this stuff. (I wish my beautiful and talented friend Kenzi lived near me to help me out - my food actually tastes a lot better than MY amateur photography skills make it look. She'd make it sing in photos.)

Breakfast of champions! And the last days of the detox diet.

I started out on Saturday quite well. This bowl of oatmeal with rice milk and berries was my hearty breakfast. Unfortunately, that was the end of my run on this detox diet. I was still pretty good the rest of the weekend, making wiser, more healthful choices than I usually would. The bottom line is that my hormones kicked in, and I really needed some protein.

Over the past few years, I've read a lot about vegan diets, and how they can be beneficial for weight loss and disease prevention. There are a couple of people really writing about it a lot - Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live is pretty influential in this movement. Also, Dr. Neal Barnard is on PBS all the time. He's also created a more formal place to learn about this stuff - the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) that has an organized 21-day vegan kickstart several times a year. There's an iPhone app you can download for free and very easily follow at any time. It tells you exactly what to eat, has recipes, and is very user-friendly.

I grew up practically vegetarian, in an Indian household where fish and chicken were not daily food items. So I wrongly assumed that switching to strict vegan wouldn't be that difficult. I am not a big cheese eater, but yogurt and milk & cereal are my go-to snacks quite often. So it was challenging to think about snacking on other types of foods. Hummus & carrots worked really well, and so did nuts (pistachios, almonds, walnuts, pecans) but I wasn't mindful about portions, and I suspect that eating too many nuts is likely problematic in the long run.

Things that I learned from this experience (these are pretty obvious, I suppose) - 1) Eating lots of fruits and vegetables is a really good thing. I actually didn't feel very hungry most of the time because I was snacking on high-fiber, low glycemic index foods. 2) It felt good to be more mindful of what I was eating every day. I didn't just order pizza or Thai food because I was tired and that was easiest. I made an effort to take my lunch & snacks to work and prepare a meal when I got home from work. Yes, it was only for a few days, but those habits have carried into this week. 3) I can drink coffee & tea without sugar now. That's a triumph I hadn't been able to accomplish in many years, and now I'm careful and conscious about my daily sugar intake. That's got to be good in the long run. 4) Moderation is a really good thing. Instead of letting myself have free reign to eat & drink whatever whenever, I am being mindful of what I've already consumed in the day before deciding if I want dessert, another glass of wine, or those small fries with my salad.

That's all for now. I'm going to keep posting healthful recipes and tricks that work for me. I'm thinking about joining a CSA this summer, which will be an interesting experiment in learning to prepare and eat unfamiliar veggies and fruit. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts and ideas as well.

Breakfast of champions oatmeal recipe
-1/4 cup oats
-1/2 cup water
-pinch of salt
-1 cup washed and chopped fresh berries (I used strawberries & blueberries)
-1/4 cup rice milk

Prepare oats per package directions. I throw it all (oats, water, salt) in there together, bring it to a boil. Then I let it boil on medium low heat for about 4-6 minutes till it's creamy and cooked through. I used to put some maple syrup or brown sugar in there at the end, but I'm finding I can actually eat this without the added sweetener now. The fruit adds enough flavor. I add a tiny bit of rice milk to cool down the mixture, top it with the fruit, and am full for hours afterward.

Tip: Sliced bananas, mangoes, peaches, apples, pears all work really well with this concoction. Berries are just the easiest fruit to prepare.

Day 5. Visitors!

My favorite neighbors from Charleston are visiting New York this weekend! We went to see a very weird show last night called Sleep No More. It's one of those shows that is getting a lot of word-of-mouth buzz, and it's been sold out for months. Since it's been about 12 hours since we finished, I am still mulling over whether it was the most insane or the most brilliant thing I've ever seen. As my friend Catie said, "Why can't it be both?" I guess it can. (But I'll post more about this slightly terrifying adult haunted house with MacBethian & Rebeccan themes separately if anyone is interested in hearing more.)

On the other hand, having good friends in town usually means food & drink, which can easily derail someone's detox dieting efforts. I'm happy to report, I only steered wrong slightly. I did not drink any alcohol, although I suspect it would've helped assuage my fears slightly if I had partaken. But for dinner, we wandered around a dead zone in Manhattan while the temperatures dropped considerably, and finally settled upon a sports bar near Madison Square Garden where I wanted to order a BLT or a turkey club wrap, but I didn't. I went with the veggie wrap instead, which had mushrooms, arugula, and feta cheese. I had asked for the feta to be on the side, but they did not get that right. At 11:30pm, when our meals finally came to the table, I was starving and didn't have the willpower to send it back. So I ate that wrap, and did not feel guilty about it.

I'm only focusing on the wins right now. Win #1 - I avoided alcohol all evening! In a social setting where everyone else was drinking! Win #2 - I did not order the bacon-laden sandwiches I was really craving. Win #3 - I'm starting Day #5 of this thing.

And my final thought for today is to share a recipe I made yesterday for lunch that came out quite nicely. I took a picture, but since I'm no food photographer, it came out looking kind of gross in the photo. So I'm not going to post it here. Sorry!

Arugula Pesto Risotto
-1/2 cup cooked brown rice
-1/4 onion, chopped
-3 cremini mushrooms, chopped
-1/2 cup frozen vegetables (I used peas & carrots b/c that's what I had at home)
-2 tsp olive oil
-2 tbsp arugula pesto
-salt & pepper, to taste

Directions
Heat oil in a non-stick pan on medium-high heat and saute the onions and mushrooms for about 3 minutes, or until they soften. Then add the frozen veggies and saute them till they thaw a bit (about 3 more minutes.) Add in the brown rice, and keep stirring for a few minutes till the rice heats through. Add 2 heaping tablespoons of the arugula pesto, and a touch of water as well, if needed. I lowered the temperature to a medium-low and simmered the whole concoction for about 5 more minutes to take the edge off the arugula. Add salt & pepper as needed.

The result
A creamy, delicious pesto-risotto delight with mostly vegetables and no cheese. This made enough for two portions, as it's quite filling. I ate half yesterday for lunch, and I'll eat the second half today for lunch.

Day 4. Eating out.

Yesterday was a challenging day on this detox diet plan, because I didn't have time in the morning to prepare anything for lunch, and I went to a movie after work, so dinner was also going to be an eating out adventure. I had taken some snacks to work - hummus & carrots and an orange. Unfortunately, I was so busy with work stuff that I didn't end up eating them. But I did visit the salad bar in the Time Warner Cafeteria for lunch. They had several safe options (beets, spinach, orange wedges, grilled eggplant, cucumbers, carrot shreds, red onion, and a touch of oil & vinegar) that fit right into my plan, and there was even a quinoa salad that I used to round out my meal.

Dinner was trickier, because I had an hour to kill in between when I left work and when my movie was supposed to start. And of course, one of my favorite Chinese restaurants is literally across the street from the theater. As I was trying to think of what I could possibly eat at Ollie's that wouldn't derail me completely, I spotted another option.

There, just a block away (but on the same side of the street!), was a Mediterranean hummus bar called Nanoosh. This is a Manhattan chain restaurant that I'd never tried before, so I ventured in very carefully and sat down. What I ended up ordering was the mushroom wrap plate without the wrap (pictured above). They did give me a soft, warm piece of whole wheat pita to dip in the giant mound of hummus, which I carefully placed at the back of the plate and avoided. The meal consisted of marinated, sauteed mushrooms on a bed of mixed greens, a giant mound of hummus with a beautiful pool of olive oil taking up half the plate, a small bowl of tahini sauce, and a small bowl of tabouleh. Did I mention the giant mound of hummus?

I made one rookie mistake with this meal, though. Since I was not getting the wrap, I had the option of ordering a side salad of tabouleh, quinoa, or greens. I went with the tabouleh completely forgetting that it is a grain salad made of cracked WHEAT, herbs, and vegetables. (I'm supposed to avoid wheat on this diet.) Never mind that, this salad was delicious. It had tiny squares of apple mixed in with parsley, cucumber, and tomato. Nice touch, adding the tart apple bits in there, Nanoosh! I am going to recreate that with quinoa today, and I think it'll be delicious. I'm not sure I'll be able to cut the apple pieces into quite such a fine dice, but I'll live.

(Side note: I finally saw Mission Impossible 4 in IMAX. It was the final IMAX showing in the city last night. I guess they are making room for The Journey 2 in IMAX which is opening today. MI4 was a fun action movie, and some of the IMAX-specific scenes were pretty amazing.)

Diet, Day 3. Recipes!

Instead of posting mundane lists of what I've eaten every day, I've decided to post recipes that have potential. I've realized very quickly that I can succeed at this, but only if I'm diligent and slightly creative about preparing foods ahead of time. To that end, I made my second visit to Trader Joe's this week and stocked up on those Snickerdoodles (for my daily treat), some hummus & carrots (for snacking because it seems like eating nuts for a salty fix probably isn't a good idea in large quantities), and quinoa (adding whole grain variety to the brown rice of which I'm bound to quickly tire.) Now onto the good stuff. Recipes!

Breakfast or anytime snack salad (without lettuce!)
-1 cucumber, seeded & chopped
-1/4 cup TJ's rosemary-flavored dried cranberry & pecan mix
-1 can of beans (I used wax beans for variety, but easily black beans, chickpeas, etc. would work)
-1 Bosc pear, chopped

Vinaigrette:
-2 tbsp red wine vinegar
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1 tsp tarragon mustard (any mustard will work, this is what I had at home)
-salt & pepper to taste

Directions: Whisk the dressing ingredients together, then add all the chopped goodies into it and mix it all up.

Surprisingly, this salad keeps really well. I had it fresh yesterday for breakfast, and then again today. I was expecting a watery mess in the plastic container when I opened it up this morning, but it was all in there, looking pretty and pristine. The pecans got a little soggy, but the rest of the salad actually tasted better today than yesterday! I have a little bit left, and I'll probably eat that tomorrow for breakfast. I should also give a shout-out to my sister-in-law, because she makes delicious, creative salads like this all the time, and yes, I was actually paying attention.

Arugula pesto
-2 bunches fresh Arugula, washed and roughly chopped
-1/2 cup walnuts
-3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
-1/2 lemon
-1/4 cup olive oil
-salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Put the arugula, walnuts, & garlic into a food processor or blender, add the olive oil and whir away. Once it's processed into a coarse paste, add salt, pepper, and lemon juice to your desired taste, and blend together once more to incorporate all the ingredients.

I made a mistake with this one - I didn't want to add too much oil, so I started with some water, but as this particular leafy green is pretty viscous on its own, I realized that I didn't need to add anything at all. Next time. Otherwise, it came out really well, and I am quite happy with the results. This made a big batch of pesto, but I plan to use it pretty much the way I would use regular Genovese pesto. I like to stir it into soups for added flavor, and I'm planning to stir it into some brown rice or quinoa tonight for dinner with some sauteed green beans. Should be pretty tasty. Another word of warning, this pesto may taste a bit raw depending on the greens you use (rocket salad mix uses baby leaves which aren't so pungent - I had grown-up arugula leaves), so it's probably a good plan to put it into something towards the very end of the cooking time to take the edge off.

PS - I'll try to post some pics in the next edition to make this blog a bit more interesting! I just can't believe I've made it to Day 3 without having any major set-backs.

Day 2. Vegan Detox diet.

Well, I survived official day 1 of the detox diet. But I've realized I need to have a couple of solid recipes in my arsenal, or else this is never going to work. I seem to do really well until I get home from work, and then I just want to order take-out every night. Luckily for me, I live in NYC, and there's a fantastic vegan restaurant four blocks away that delivers. But I am proud to report that I did not succumb to that yet. I'm trying to save it for Friday night, when I really need it.

Here's what I ate yesterday:
B'fast
-1 glass water with fresh lemon
-2 small Snickerdoodles w/ my morning tea
-1/2 cup brown rice with sliced bananas & 1 tsp of almond butter

Control room snack
(instead of my usual vending machine fare)
-1/2 cup pistachios w/ shells
-water

Lunch
-1/2 cup brown rice
-1/2 cup kidney bean & broccolini curry (that I made over the weekend)
-water

Snack & dinner
(I wasn't very hungry, so I just snacked a bit before I went to bed)
-1/2 cup trail mix with almonds, walnuts, cranberries, raisins, & dried bananas
-4 dark chocolate covered cashews
-1 pear
-water

In my fridge, I have arugula, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, green beans, potatoes, and onions. I have several large containers full of spices from all over the world. I should be able to cobble something together for dinner with this stuff, right? Looking for some viable recipes now... ideas are welcome!

(A couple of side notes - the blog that I am borrowing this diet from says that you'll be more tired initially, and you should plan to get a lot of rest. I can't tell if I'm really more tired, or if my day job is just that draining. I suspect it's door number 2, but I guess I'll have a better sense on the weekend. You are also supposed to get 30 minutes of leisurely exercise every day, but I haven't really been doing much more than walking to work occasionally. Since it's supposed to snow today, that's not going to happen yet again. I'll ramp it up next week.)

Day 1. Vegan Detox diet.

Living in New York has its challenges, but one of the main ones is avoiding all the delicious food options that seem to be everywhere. I know, I know, it's a walking city, so this shouldn't be a problem, right? The extra pounds I've packed on since moving here would indicate otherwise. So I've decided to spend the rest of February 2012 trying to reset myself into a more healthful diet.

I've had a fascination with food and cooking for years now, and most of my friends share my love of healthy eating. My problem is that I also love to eat pizza, French fries, and Thai food. So I've been reading up on different detox diets and vegan diets and low-carb diets and juice-only diets, etc. etc. etc. There are a lot of choices out there for quick weight loss and other novelty side-effects, but I'm really interested in just getting my palette back for fresh fruits & veggies, with a side of pizza every once in a while.

Of all the plans I've read, this one seems the most reasonable. Basic premise: a vegan diet.

Things allowed:
fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts & seeds, lots of water, lots of water with lemon, reasonable amounts of tea & coffee

Things not allowed:
no meat, no dairy, no wheat, no soy, no peanuts, no processed foods, and NO sugar/sweeteners (including maple syrup, honey, etc.)

My small caveats...

1) I've recently weened off my morning coffee habit in lieu of tea, but I cannot do it with rice milk. I can do it without sugar, no problem. So I will have my morning tea with regular cow's milk.

2) I can't stomach those greens drinks, so I'm not doing that even though she suggests that should be your breakfast on this thing. I normally eat a lot of green veggies, and I'm ramping that up even more with this plan. So I'll try this for a week and see how I feel before investing in those expensive "healthy greens" drinks that make me gag.

3) I'm allowing myself one treat per day, and I've decided that the Trader Joe's soft-baked Snickerdoodles (vegan!) are going to be my vice this week. Since I'm cheating with about 2 tablespoons of real milk every morning, what's a Snickerdoodle here and there? (By the way, I'm allowing myself no more than two of these tiny delights per day.)

I'll try to post what I've eaten every day and recipes if something comes out particularly well. I did a soft start yesterday, and that went reasonably well until I had a bowl of cereal (the ridiculous sugarey kind which I shall not name) for dinner. So I'm officially starting today. Wish me luck! (And send me your vegan recipes!)