The Kind Life I'm living

I've been inspired. For those that don't recognize from title, I've chose to begin experimenting with a vegan lifestyle. It's been a thought of mine for many, many years now, and I can honestly say it all started with an influence from Alicia Silverstone.

Back in the days of Clueless, I loved her as an actress. As the years progressed, I became familiar of her passion for animals. As an animal lover, myself...I always thought of her as quite an inspiration. You can only imagine my excitement when I found out she was coming out with a book.

After my move to New York City, I began falling in love with all sorts of different cuisines I've never been previously exposed to...things like sushi, thai food, and more amazingly, vegan foods! I have always been a huge fan of veggies (HUGE...like, I have odd cravings for snap peas, asparagus, broccoli, and even brussel sprouts!), so I've always thought, "Hey, I can be a vegetarian." But, at the time, I didn't see it being a logical fit for me.

Well, now, I dare take that statement one step further. I want to try being vegan. For any of those who know me well, I'm a lact-y (what I like to call someone who is lactose intolerant), so staying away from anything dairy has been a constant in my life for at least 10 years now. Phew, this makes my attempt a little bit easier. But what about all those other things? There is SO MUCH to becoming vegan, so this is definitely me just testing the waters.

I've started reading Alicia's book, The Kind Diet, and so far everything is making complete sense to me. It just clicks. There's no feeling of pressure...just honesty (if that makes sense). As she likes to say, she doesn't expect a "superhero" overnight...it can take months or even years, so, yeah, I'm taking my baby steps. Let's be honest, have I even really cooked before? Not really. There's a lot involved, but I'm attempting it.

Tonight was my first night doing that. I made Gingered Green Beans with Garlic & Onions, Falafels, and mashed sweet potatoes. It was actually really good, but it's just a start.

Now, my question is...how do I give up sushi? How do I give up my scrambled eggs? These are things I cannot think of right now. I shall take it slowly...wean myself off, and give up one thing at a time. Any words of encouragement?

Tricks aren't just for kids

I'm totally wandering into being the world's most boring blogger, but here's what I wanted to discuss anyway:

The other day someone offered me some of these awesome looking yogurt covered raisins. Of course, I'm thinking, raisins = healthy + yogurt = still healthy...and come on, look at the packaging! I figured, at least it's not Raisinets, so why not?

I'll admit, I'm not what you would call a healthy eater, but sometimes, I like to see if I can be. Anyways, come to find out later, these things are awful for you! Now, chances are I can eat half the bag if not the whole thing in one sitting, so let's see if I can explain some calculations I came up with.

One serving size is 18 pieces, and there are 8 servings to a bag. Per serving is 6 grams of fat (and even worse, 6 grams of SATURATED FAT), and 140 calories. So say I were to eat the whole bag...that's 48 GRAMS OF FAT and 1,120 CALORIES (that's more than half of what your average daily calorie intake should be). This just completely blew my mind.

Then, I decided to take your average snack of a chocolate chip granola bar and compare some factors. There are only 50 calories in one bar, so that means I would have to eat approximately 22 granola bars to equal the calorie intake of these so-called yogurt covered raisins! I mean, seriously!

I guess my point is you can't judge a book by it's cover (which I find myself so often doing). The packing totally sold me on this one. Bravo to them for having a great advertising team, but yikes, I realized I really need to start reading more into the labels and nutrition facts on the side or back panel.