Hope everyone had a beautiful holiday season with family and loved ones!
I don't really have a ton to say, so enjoy your vacations (if you're lucky enough to get a few extra days off). As for me, I'm back in the office and it is SLOW! Spending most of today catching up on celebrity gossip and making plans for the next couple of weeks :)
Exciting things that are coming up in the beginning of 2014:
Jan 1: Resolution 5k run!
Jan 6: The Blonde Vegan 5-Day Cleanse program that I'm starting with a few other girlfriends (check it out here: http://www.theblondevegan.com/2013/11/15/tbv-cleanse-program/)
Jan 9: My 5 year anniversary with my boyfriend <3
and a little bit later on...
March 15: The Color Run 5k
March 22: Dirty Girl Mud Run 5k
I can't wait to see what amazing things this new year will bring !
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Monday, December 16, 2013
Having a Healthy Holiday
Every year around the holidays my grandma gets to work and makes the most amazing food. There is an endless amount of pastas, meatballs, crab, cookies, candies, etc. Her most famous is a savory bread roll (think the size of a small cinnamon roll) stuffed with seasoned ground Italian pork and caramelized onions, baked to golden perfection. My great-grandma made up the name for it (which I won't even attempt to spell) but it is pronounced "bean-yah-notty". For as long as I can remember, my grandma has made every year for the holidays, and all of my family, neighbors, friends, and coworkers LOVE them. She makes hundreds and hundreds every year! Since they are nothing short of amazing and a favorite of mine growing up, I had absolutely dreaded the day she was going to start making them this year. I knew this would be the one thing I would let myself "cheat" on and go to town.
Instead, I decided to veganize her classic recipe so that I could enjoy them without feeling guilty and knowing I made the right decision for myself at this point in my life. Yes, I could have said "Okay, just one" but that would turn into two, three, and so on. I just didn't want to do that to myself.
SOOO I drove my butt down to Whole Foods yesterday and picked up a pack of Lightlife Smart Ground veggie protein to sub for the pork, and some gluten-free cinnamon roll/hot roll mix. In order to make the hot roll mix vegan, all I had to do was substitute the egg it calls for with an egg replacer.
To be honest, I didn't even care if they were going to come out well because I was having such a fun time drinking wine and spending these moments with my grandma.
To my great delight, they actually came out pretty well. Obviously not the exact same, BUT it definitely got my fix taken care of. It made me realize that while there are certain limitations with a vegan diet, I'm in no way doing myself a disservice by not eating meat or other animal products. I can still enjoy things that I once enjoyed and indulged in before, it is just in a different way now.
No matter which way I look at it, I'm becoming healthier with every meal. I'm notorious for having a sweet tooth and I for sure would have gone to town on those cookies and fudges before; I did it even just last year when I was trying to be "healthy". I didn't want to give up all of the things I love to be 5 pounds lighter.
I see it very differently today. I now understand that I'm not "giving up" anything. I'm replacing things I once considered a treat with healthier substitutes. I'm most definitely not treating my body to anything when I shovel processed sugars and refined carbohydrates down my throat. There's always the argument of "You only live once, you might as well eat what you want and enjoy it!" But there's no way I'm going to fully enjoy my life while I am still unsatisfied with my health and how I look. So until I'm there, I'm going to suck down my green smoothie and substitute the hell out of all the products that did me dirty for so many years. Not to say that once I'm there I'm going to revert back to all of my old habits, because clearly that wasn't working for me, but I refuse to think of it as a punishment or an obligation that will end once I reach my goals.
I'm happy every day with my decision to pursue a vegan diet. I've actually lost about 8 pounds and was FINALLY able to overcome the plateau I've been stuck at for months. So yay for that!
Tell me your thoughts: how do you make your holiday a healthy one?
Instead, I decided to veganize her classic recipe so that I could enjoy them without feeling guilty and knowing I made the right decision for myself at this point in my life. Yes, I could have said "Okay, just one" but that would turn into two, three, and so on. I just didn't want to do that to myself.
SOOO I drove my butt down to Whole Foods yesterday and picked up a pack of Lightlife Smart Ground veggie protein to sub for the pork, and some gluten-free cinnamon roll/hot roll mix. In order to make the hot roll mix vegan, all I had to do was substitute the egg it calls for with an egg replacer.
To be honest, I didn't even care if they were going to come out well because I was having such a fun time drinking wine and spending these moments with my grandma.
To my great delight, they actually came out pretty well. Obviously not the exact same, BUT it definitely got my fix taken care of. It made me realize that while there are certain limitations with a vegan diet, I'm in no way doing myself a disservice by not eating meat or other animal products. I can still enjoy things that I once enjoyed and indulged in before, it is just in a different way now.
No matter which way I look at it, I'm becoming healthier with every meal. I'm notorious for having a sweet tooth and I for sure would have gone to town on those cookies and fudges before; I did it even just last year when I was trying to be "healthy". I didn't want to give up all of the things I love to be 5 pounds lighter.
I see it very differently today. I now understand that I'm not "giving up" anything. I'm replacing things I once considered a treat with healthier substitutes. I'm most definitely not treating my body to anything when I shovel processed sugars and refined carbohydrates down my throat. There's always the argument of "You only live once, you might as well eat what you want and enjoy it!" But there's no way I'm going to fully enjoy my life while I am still unsatisfied with my health and how I look. So until I'm there, I'm going to suck down my green smoothie and substitute the hell out of all the products that did me dirty for so many years. Not to say that once I'm there I'm going to revert back to all of my old habits, because clearly that wasn't working for me, but I refuse to think of it as a punishment or an obligation that will end once I reach my goals.
I'm happy every day with my decision to pursue a vegan diet. I've actually lost about 8 pounds and was FINALLY able to overcome the plateau I've been stuck at for months. So yay for that!
Tell me your thoughts: how do you make your holiday a healthy one?
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