Top Ten Things to Know About Being Vegan (with all new video)

10.  Being a vegan is so much better for you than being vegetarian, but no where near as easy.

9. You need to go buy stock in black bean makers because you will be eating A LOT of them so you might as well get rich. But being vegan does not mean you should put black beans in spaghetti. There are just too many things wrong with that

8. A lot of stuff we do in life is tied to food and not the most healthy food usually--ie.: Superbowl equals chicken wings, Valentine's Day equals filet mignon, and going to the Lake House equals burgers on the grill. You have to change how you define fun.

7. Being either vegan or vegetarian means that the majority of what you eat SHOULD be vegetables. Being a vegetarian is not the same as a cheesetarian.

6. People look at you funny when you tell them you are vegan especially when you are an overweight old guy--servers actually laugh at us. Guess it just doesn't fit with their stereotype.

5. You might not lose weight at first being vegan but you will eventually so keep at it. You will not lose as much weight beging "vegetarian" aka cheesetarian.

4. Eating out is not a good idea if you are vegan unless you have an assortment of vegan restaurants around you. FYI--Applebee's and Chili's and all the other 'SSSS are NOT places for vegans to go. BTW--vegetarians shouldn't go to Chick Fil A either even if their 9 year old daughters beg. The suburbs just don't make this easy.

3. Cognitive function does seem to suffer under this diet probably because we are not doing it right but nevertheless we are both pretty dimwitted right now. I said that Gerald Ford took over for President Carter last night and watch the video to see what Tyler forgot teaching math the other day. Wow!

2. You don't really miss the meat--just the convenience of cooking meat or ordering meat at a restaurant.

and the number 1 thing you need to know about being VEGAN is:

1. IT'S REALLY HARD but you just gotta stick with it. It is the best diet out there because being a vegan is very black and white. There is no excusing this or that--it's just not allowed. Plus it's worth it if you reduce your impact on the planet and lose a little weight in the process. But then again, Tyler is already planning on chicken wings for March 1st. Tisk tisk!

Random blogging about MOMA--the Modern Museum of Art

I was going through pictures today to prove to Christa that we did stand on the spot of the Boston Massacre. She had to write an essay on it and said she didn't know anything about so I told her we were THERE this past summer and she argued with me so I had to show her. Anyway.... the point is as I was going through photos and I found some interesting photos from our trip to MOMA this past summer that Christa took. Ryan was trying as hard as he could to find the EXIT especially once we went to the 6th floor (we were not allowed to take photos up there).

So here is our photo blog on our trip to MOMA.

 

Would love to get some interpretation on this one? I sent the photo of it to Tyler since he wasn't with us. He loves Salvador Dali so I figured he might like this too. Reminds me of Dali.

 

 

 

This is the view from inside the museum. Ryan was reading a Star Wars book he got on a recommendation from this guy we met one day when Christa was working. Not only was he seriously into the book but he was trying hard to avoid the museum.

He is a not a big fan of modern art.

This egg had all sorts of cool stuff inside it like human hair, watches, papers and other assorted things from normal life. Maybe the artist was commenting of the ordinary aspects of creation or maybe he just wanted to put some stuff he found in his basement in an egg and call it art. 

This is a statue of LBJ holding Lady Bird and his two daughters in his hands. Read more about the artist and her inspiration. I don't think she was a big fan of LBJ.

 

Click HERE

 

Ryan was super embarrassed by this one and thought it was so awkward especially since his sister was taking a photo of it. Of course everything is akward and embarassing to him.

 

Hmm.......??? OOF!!!!!

 Art replicating real life here--a bus driver made out of paper mache sitting in the remnants of a real bus. 

Looks quite different from different perspectives.

 

Light installations

 

 

Art using all sorts of mediums including glass stacking

There were lots of people there finding inspiration at MOMA and it is free on Friday nights (thanks to Target) so the price is certainly right.

 

 

A frying pan with a lion in it. Maybe this is a commentary on the current woes of so many creatures on this planet as climate change, habitat destruction, and poaching put them right into the frying pan.

  

 

I love that so many people come to MOMA to check out the art and discuss it even if it is really weird and sometimes doesn't seem like art at all AND even if the only reason they came is because their mom made them.

Dining out Vegan (new video included)

First, I must admit that Tyler is a way better vegan than I am. On Friday, I was a vegan until about 2 pm and then I just couldn't take it anymore. I had peanut butter, humus, nuts, vegis and I still was not satiated. Tyler had prepared a black bean pumpkin soup for dinner but there was no way--I wanted "real" food so I suggested we go out. We had a buy one get one free at Applebees that we got from the hockey game the week before so we opted to go there. Probably not the best place for a vegan, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. What ensued was hysterical. I don't think our waitress completely understood veganism. Tyler tried to explain which was quite comical. Needless to say (especially if you watch the video), it was not a good idea to go out to eat and certainly not to a place like Applebees. Being vegan is tough, but trying to dine out vegan is just about impossible. In other news, Ryan finally broke his silence regarding this whole vegan thing and revealed his February plan which he details at the end of this video. Hope you enjoy!!!

Cheese--Public Enemy #1

If one is going to go on a vegetarian or vegan diet, then the majority of one's diet should be vegetables, right??? I said that I would do vegetarian the first week and then vegan from that point on. When I actually eat vegetables I do pretty well and I lose weight--that seems like a true vegetarian diet. But when I eat a cheesetarian diet it doesn't go so well but it is SOOO hard to figure out what to eat if I don't eat some cheese. Plus I LOVE cheese. Really, I love gouda, brie, asiago, swiss, feta, blue and the list goes on. But if I am truly making a committment to this then I have to give up CHEESE. I have not missed meat but I think I will really miss cheese.

If I just convince myself that I will lose more weight without the cheese and if I tell myself that actually I am blocking my iron asorption with all the dairy, then I can surely give up the cheese. Right?? Not so easy, but at this point I have less than 12 hours before I will need to figure out what to eat without dairy because tomorrow is vegan day numero uno for me.

Tyler has been doing very well going pretty much vegan but unfortunately is not feeling the results I am. He hasn't lost any weight and doesn't feel any better but we are hopeful that will change soon.

As far as the kids, I just don't know what to say. A little back story for those of you who don't know--Christa became a vegetarian at 6 years old. After a year of eating vegetarian, we had to make her start eating meat again because her iron was low. Since that time it has been a constant battle with her to eat meat but now that the family is trying to eat less animal products she is arguing against it. The other night at the Thai restaurant she refused to share our usual dish because I didn't want chicken in it. Makes me wonder if her vegetarianism was more a rebellious statement than an ethical one. Who knows??? Ryan still is not even making any attempts at even vegetarianism but that is his choice.

During the month of February our other comittment was to spend less by going on a spending freeze for all non essentials. That has proved to be pretty much HARD. I have avoided going out to eat the last couple nights even though I really wanted to but I certainly would not say that we are anywhere near a spending freeze. When Christa had her big interview at RCA, I wanted to get her a new outfit but I resisted and instead looked into her closest to see what she already had which was fine. So we have made some progress but it is not where we wanted to be. The only big way we are saving some bucks is that we have no trips planned in February--pretty much the only month in the recent past and future that we have not traveled.

So what shall pose the greatest challenge--a true vegan diet or a true spending freeze?? We will see. Stay tuned.

Vegan Super Bowl????

Why is it that we associate things like the Super Bowl with things like chicken wings? They actually said there might be a Super Bowl Sunday shortage of chicken wings this year. I guess most super bowl viewers are not vegans.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/01/23/chicken-wing-shortage-looms-ahead-super-bowl/

Maybe it's all the commercials??? Who knows, but the idea of having a vegan Super Bowl just seemed WEIRD--very weird. Shockingly, it wasn't so tough. Tyler made a vegan chili, we had a vegi tray, hummus with chips, and guacamole. But what does one do for your guests who might not be as far on their path to food nirvana as you? Yes, you allow them to bring a meaty chili and you provide things like cheese and sour cream for the chili. Maybe you even have a taste off to demonstrate to everyone that chili can be tasty without meat. And what do you do for your son who refuses to accept the vegan challenge? You allow him to make his 7 layer dip--it's vegetarian at least. Much better than his burger with bacon.

But what none of us were prepared for was when one of the smallest guests (a kindergartner) says "I don't eat any of this." Ohh no, in our attempt to be vegan and then to also accommodate our carnivorous guests, we forgot about the finicky children. Not good. How to overcome this oversight??? Yes, by ordering pizza. I know what all of you are thinking.... we had to wait about 12 hours for Pizza Hut to deliver on Super Bowl Sunday. No way, we sent the men out to Riverside Pizza. Ok, so it wasn't vegan and actually one pizza wasn't even vegetarian BUT desperate times call for desperate measures. The crisis was averted and I didn't feel much temptation to eat pizza but we did send the leftovers home with our non-vegan friends to make sure that we didn't have it dwelling in our refrigerator summoning us with "EAT ME."

All in all our mostly vegan Superbowl party was fun. We made some fun bets, we ate some decent food,  talked, and some of us watched the game. I would say that our Vegan Super Bowl party wasn't much different than our Meaty ones. But then again, the lights did go off at the Super Bowl and I am currently feeling pretty hungry. Hmmm.......

It's tough to be a vegan on Saturday.....

Day 2 was a little difficult because it was Saturday and that means fun which usually means eating out and such. Tyler took Ryan to GA Tech for a class on how to make Apps so Ryan wanted a donut on the way. Ryan is not even trying to take the challenge, but that is ok because we never planned to make the kids do it. Christa and I had a bagel with apple butter for breakfast which according to all labels seemed pretty vegan. Tyler has coined a new term "label" vegan meaning if no animal product is listed on the label then he is ok with it. I know there are many products out there that have animal product in them upon researching but we just can't go that far with it.

Tyler picked Ryan up after his class at GA Tech and took him to his regular computer programming class in Toco Hills. Again, food temptation everywhere. Ryan was hungry so Tyler took him to lunch before his class and Tyler ended up having a bagel with cream cheese. There is a great bagel shop in Toco Hills. Not vegan, but at least vegetarian. Usually he would have gotten a bagel sandwich with three meats on it all processed so I think we are making good steps.

Christa and I snacked on nuts and fruits all day. She apparently does not like pistachios but I told her she had to try them at least.

The REAL challenge was at dinner. We went out with the family--mom in law, sister in law, kids, friends, nieces, etc to Arena Tavern before we went to the Gwinnett Arena for the hockey game. Micheal scored us free tickets because of his awesome job. So, what would we normally get??? Chicken wings, burger, or something like that. What did we get this time? Tyler had a house salad with balsamic and a little cheese. I had nachos with no meat--just black beans and salsa, etc. with cheese. No, it is not vegan but seriously there were really no great vegan choices. Probably not a lot of vegans hang out at the Arena Tavern. Ryan had a burger with bacon--again, not even trying and Christa had noodles with butter. I love how she eats vegetarian without ever eating vegetables. Not a great way to do it but this has been a battle with her for a long time since she decided not to eat meat when she was 6 years old.

As we arrived at the Gwinnett Arena for the hockey game, I could smell the burgers and pizza but it was not horribly tempting. I am becoming more aware of how it is all around you and how you get on auto pilot when you order. You almost feel sickened to watch everyone ordering all this food knowing how bad it is for you, for the animals, and for the planet. I think Plato said something about being in a cave once and I saw a lot of cave dwellers. Of course, maybe I still dwell in the cave a bit too!

The good news is I have already lost weight just doing no meat for the last couple days. I have not felt hungry ever, but I have also not felt the same satiety as before. Experiment continues today with Super Bowl Sunday. How does one have a vegan Super Bowl party??? We shall see.

Day 1 (with video now)

Day 1 of our vegan adventure has left me feeling much more vegetarian than vegan. I started out with my chai tea latte with soy which is vegan but I ate Honey Nut Cheerios with soy milk but..... honey is NOT vegan. What????? Because the bees do not voluntarily give their product. So, I failed my first attempt. Tyler did better than I--he had Shredded Wheat with soy milk so he passed the test for breakfast.

I went out to lunch with my Mom in law to a local Greek restaurant. Once again, I failed the vegan attempt but was a good vegetarian. I had a greek dip sampler which was definitely vegetarian but not vegan. Then I had a greek salad with feta cheese. Ohhh, what a bad girl. Of course, I said from the start that I would go vegetarian and then transition into vegan. This is hard people! For lunch, Tyler had cashews, flaxseed oil peanut butter, and lots of fruits and vegis so once again Tyler did a good job. Tyler 2--Hope 0.

For dinner, I tempted Tyler to the dark side with Provinos Italian Restaurant. We were celebrating his Mom's move to Atlanta so it seemed a good place to go. There were plenty of vegetarian dishes, but not many vegan choices. I got a cannelloni with cheese and mushrooms and Tyler got manicotti with cheese and marinara. Both of us failed at dinner but we did eat a ton of salad before our meal. I do have to admit that I ate one of those amazing rolls with all the butter and garlic--sooo not vegan but ok for the vegetarians I guess. Both of us failed the vegan test at dinner, but passed for vegetarians.

The kids--not so much, but that is ok we have no intention of making them do this but we will not cook different meals so when we are at home then will participate. Christa can always do pretty well as a vegetarian as long as there is enough cheese and noodles around. She does seem to forget the vegetable part of vegetarian. Ryan did fine during the day, but made no attempt at dinner to go vegan or vegetarian. I think he ordered chicken just to oppose us, but the funny thing is he didn't even eat his chicken dinner because he filled up on salad and rolls.

Watch Tyler's Day 1 video--this is previously unknown of footage. Tyler forget he filmed it!