The Not "Quite" Skinny Enough, Pretty Enough, Talented Enough Actress.

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Day #30

Day 30! I've made it...well almost! I cheated twice, Once by accident and once on purpose for my wedding cake tasting day. 

How do I feel? I feel good! I did not gain nor loose weight. In the past when I've cut fish out of my diet completely I've craved protein, but this time around I loaded up on healthy carbs (brown rice, sweet potato's, rice pasta) and felt fine! 

The hardest part about this 30 day challenge was eating at work. I do not have the kind of job where I can easily pack lunch, and although there's usually some healthy salad options on set, the carbs can be mixed with butter, eggs, or a little bit of cheese. 

Will I remain vegan? At home, yes!!! At work I will most likely remain vegetarian and I may occasionally have some fish on special occasions.....such as my wedding or at a fancy restaurant. Hardcore vegans would look down on me but I'm glad I did this challenge and am envisioning less animal product and a ton of veggies and fruit in my future!

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Day #28-WHAT I ATE WEDNESDAY!!!!

Today I decided to do a WHAT I ATE WEDNESDAY to give you an example of what I've been eating during the last 30 days. I didn't work today so this is the kinda yummy food I've been eating on a regular basis!

BREAKFAST:

I always wake up starving and I HATE breakfast food! I need something high carb and filling to wake my butt up! Today I made this coconut milk (light) soup with rice noodles, a ginger broth, peas, and broccoli/carrot shreds! I swear this is a vegans answer to Mac n' Cheese! It's just full of delicious creamy yumminess! 

SNACKTIME

You would think all that food would fill me up but within an hour I'm feeling a little hungry and craving sweets so I have a Zevia which is gods answer to soda addicts. It is sweetened with Stevia which is a NATURAL calorie free sweetener and won't poison the body like all those other chemical versions. I also had some all naturaly gummy fruit snacks.

LUNCH

I can never do a grocery shop at Whole Foods without leaving with some sushi. It's a bad habit of mine because I could probably get cheaper rolls at a normal restaurant...but it's just so easy. Normally I'll get something made with brown rice but today the only thing vegan prepared was a veggie roll with white rice! Still awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DINNER

Normally I would eat way more than this for dinner but I bought myself a treat at Whole Foods so I decided to have a light dinner of a big ole bowl of broccoli sauteed with ginger, garlic, and Liquid Amino's (a soy sauce supplement) to save room for dessert.

DESSERT

I wish I could give up sweets but I'm addicted! I had a little less than half a pint of this AMAZING vegan ice cream tonight!!!!

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Day #24

My life is so hard. Today I had to go to 2 different bakeries and try over 20 different flavors of cake for my rehearsal dinner and wedding! Delicious! My selections? Rehearsal dinner will be a cookies and cream frosting with vanilla cake and wedding cake will have 2 tiers with a cannoli cream and vanilla cake and 2 tiers with a vanilla custard, strawberries, and vanilla cake! 4 tiers total. All amazing! I decided not even to look into vegan cake. My wedding cake is included in my venue's package and I have to get it from 1 specific Italian bakery. Besides the fact that Italian bakeries aren't known for their vegan cakes, that would most likely have been an extra fee. The rehearsal dinner cake is from a French bakery that also does not advertise vegan cake. Honestly, it's hard to find quality vegan cake! Have you ever had vegan cake from WholeFoods? It's not that good! It tends to be dry and the frosting can be hard. I've on rare occasion found yummy vegan cake (for cupcakes BabyCakes in NYC is awesome!) but for a big beautiful wedding cake that tastes AND looks amazing....it's a rare breed! What we need is a vegan bakery to really start specializing in wedding cakes!!!!.....On Long Island!!!!!

All that being said....yes I cheated today on my 30 day challenge....but this will be the last time I cheat. Only a couple days left! I don't regret cheating. This is the only wedding cake I will ever have and I wanted to make sure it tasted good. I apologize to all the unborn chickens that sacrificed themselves for my wedding....but honestly, I saved them from a life on the factory farm! I also apologized to all the cows that were milked for the butter in my cake!!!! I really appreciate it and am grateful!

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Day #18

"Laurie, how are you going to get enough protein on a vegan diet!"

All meat eaters think it's impossible to get enough protein through a vegan diet.

Do people commonly die of protein deficiency? I don't think so. There is more than enough protein in a whole foods plant based diet! 

"Well, it's impossible to build strong muscles on a vegan diet!"

Wrong again! Vegan bodybuilders exist! My favorite is Robert Cheeke! He has written books on how to body build and develop muscle on a plant based vegan diet! Here is an interview with him on youtube! Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGXjpr0oUy8

 

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Day #17

I'm a cheating whore!

I could have lied.....but then what is the point of this blog?

I made it through 2 overnight's of work...on the 3rd night not only was my brain not functioning properly but I also had to gear up for a day of work with no sleep! I ate a meat/dairy free dinner but I wanted a sweet treat to #1. Reward myself for making it this far and #2. Get a sugar rush to last me through the night. I had a couple bites of a chocolate cake. I felt guilty the whole time but there was no dairy free vegan sweet options on set. 

I'm back on the wagon today and I plan on staying on it with the exception of my wedding cake tasting next weekend!

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Day #11

I am NOT happy! After last nights cupcake debacle I soothed myself knowing that I would have time this morning to run to Whole Foods and grab the illustrious vegan cupcake that I have so been craving!

Well, there were none! At least not at the Whole Foods on 24th and 7th! I settled for a $5 piece of chocolate vegan cake....which did not do the trick! As soon as I have a free day I'm either going to run to Babycakes Bakery or bake my own damn cupcakes! This should not be this hard! Now I know why I am vegetarian and not vegan!

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Day #10

 

I WANT ONE OF THESE RIGHT NOW!

Just did a grocery shop at Trader Joe's where there are NO vegan cupcakes! Gary literally had to drag me from the cake aisle kicking and screaming! I feel like I've lost control and I'm about to go nuts! I am CUPCAKE MONSTER and I want a cupcake!!!! Day 10 and I guess the vegan challenge is getting to me. I know there are loads of yummy vegan cupcakes I could have....but it's 9pm on a Saturday night and I don't feel like searching! I want it NOW! There is a Duane Reade downstairs! How easy it would be for me to run downstairs and grab a nice toxic box of Hostess cupcakes! Mmmmm!!!! But I won't because I will feel guilty in front of all my 10's of blog readers that have been following my journey! I think this is a lesson in how vegan foods aren't as easily accessible as we would like them to be. Yes I live in NYC. Yes Whole Foods is 5 blocks away. But, wouldn't it be fabulous if Hostess had a vegan cupcake that I could grab at my local CVS or in a vending machine! I would never feel a need to cheat, like I almost did at Trader Joe's just now! Hostess, read my blog and get to work! 

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Day #8

Today is a sit around the house and get boring stuff done kinda day! That kinda stuff makes me crave junk food! Before I went nuts and started eating everything in sight, I made myself a Wasabi Chickpea Crunchy Snack! It's fairly healthy accept I do have to use some coconut oil to keep the wasabi and salt sticking on it. I know I know, Coconut oil is healthy....but it's loaded with saturated fat and calories so I try to keep it to a minimum! It came out great! This is how you make it:

Soak dry garbanzo beans over night. Boil them for about 45 minutes in water. Dry them out for a little bit. Rub em in Wasabi powder, Wasabi Salt, and Coconut Oil. Spray a cooking sheet with non fat coconut oil spray. Cook em for 45 minutes at 350. Take em out mix em up a little and put them back in for another 30 minutes...and then they are done! They taste best right out of the oven! Yummy!

 

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Day #7

I started to feel sick last night! I don't know if it was a "detox" from going completely vegan, being around other sick people, or the weather that did it....but 8 zinc/elderberry lozenges, 2 Emergen-c's, and 3 glasses of water with lemon and apple cider vinegar later I feel way better! Feeling like I had a cold coming on also made me WANT to eat more fruit because it's soothing on the throat and I know it's loaded with vitamins! Perhaps my oncoming cold went away quickly because there is no mucus forming dairy in my system? I don't know! Either way, still going well on day 7!

30 Day Vegan Challenge: Day #6

Six days, no dairy and fish! But also no weightloss. I didn't do the challenge expecting to loose weight because I am still eating in BULK...but with the wedding approaching I'd like to shed a couple of pounds!

Lani Muelrath promotes a LOW FAT plant based whole foods diet. She's had similar weight issues as I, and in her 60's has a strong lean body. In the past I would eat healthy oils/avocado's/nuts in bulk. While these foods are nutritionally good, they won't do anything for the waistline! I've already stopped cooking with oils.....but Peanut Butter remains my POISON! Hopefully I can use this momentum of my vegan challenge to quit the junk...at least temporarily! 

Here is Lani's website! She's really awesome so check it out!: 

http://lanimuelrath.com/about/