At the End of Six Months

Six months. That's how long I've been a full-on whole foods plant based vegan. And I can't imagine ever going back to eating meat or dairy or highly processed foods. Not only is eating WFPB a healthy approach to what goes into my body, but the simplicity that comes with eating WFPB is enough for me to never want to return to consuming all the other things I used to consume. 

I've fallen into a routine of using online shopping at a local grocery store and picking up my order curbside. Not having to actually enter the store is wonderful. I just pull into one of the pick-up parking spaces, call to let them know I'm there, and within minutes an employee brings my groceries out to my Jeep, loads them in, and I'm good to go. Easy peazy. I've noticed this not only saves me time, but it also saves me money. When I'm filling my grocery cart while shopping online, I'm much less likely to buy things I really won't eat, like bok choy, which I bought twice when I shopped inside the store and both times it rotted in my fridge. I can see my running total as I'm shopping, too, which helps me stay within my budget for the week. 

For the past few weeks, Lovely Beautiful Daughter has been staying with me a couple of days during the week. She's in her last semester and is completing her student teaching. LBD wants to get her ESL endorsement, and unfortunately, the only teacher who would take her to help her achieve this teaches at an elementary school an hour and a half away from her home. Believe me, when I heard about this I was (and still am) really angry at all the teachers who teach much closer to her home but refused to take her on as a student teacher. Shame on them. All of them at one time were a student teacher. They all need to remember that and open their classrooms to any and all current students who are attempting to complete the student teaching part of their degree.

But I digress. The car LBD has is okay, but it has a ton of miles on it and it leaks oil. To reduce the amount of miles driven each day, which would also shave off some driving time as well as not stress her car so much, she packs up and stays with me Tuesday through Thursday. From my place her drive time is under an hour.

With her being with me, I've tried out several new recipes. Thankfully, LBD is very open to eating strictly vegan when we eat meals together. If she wants meat or dairy, she brings it with her and prepares her meals separately, but for the most part, she has happily eaten what I've cooked up. Last week, I tried a recipe I watched being made by a YouTuber I follow, Nisha Vora at Rainbow Plant Life. The recipe -- 

The only change I made in making these was using Impossible burger rather than the lentils and mushrooms. Using the Impossible meat (which isn't meat) was just quicker. Next time I'll try the lentils and mushrooms. I'm pretty sure they're healthier for me than the Impossible product. In any case, these were delicious! 

Another meal I made was a sushi bowl that came from this recipe I found online. Again, so delicious. Even just writing about this makes me want to have a sushi bowl for either lunch or dinner today. The only problem is I don't have anymore sweet potatoes. I'm pretty sure, however, I can find another recipe that doesn't call for sweet potato, so all is not lost!

In late February I have a doctor's appointment for a routine physical. I've not been for a physical in five years, which technically makes me a new patient -- this just cracks me up, so I (and my doctor) thought it would be a good idea for me to see her and make sure all is well. I'm going to take a list of tests I want her to order: blood sugar, cholesterol, plus a whole host of other things. If she looks at me like I'm crazy I'll point out it's been five years since my last physical, I'm heading towards 60, and I want to know if I need to make any changes to what I eat. 

To start February off, I fixed a bowl of mixed grains for breakfast: buckwheat groats, millet, purple barley, and sorghum. I threw in a banana and a couple of medjool dates, some cinnamon and allspice, then a little soy milk to top it off. Talk about yummy! Seriously good. And I have enough already made for the next two days' breakfasts. 

Eating vegan really isn't all that difficult. It does take time to get a routine in place. I worked on moving totally vegan for a year and a half. I'm glad I took it slow and learned as much as I could about being vegan during that year and a half. It made all the difference in going completely vegan and being able to maintain it, as well as being happy about the change in general.

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