Meatless May Update

Now that May is more than halfway done, it's time for an update on Meatless May! For readers who haven't read my blog in a few weeks (ahem my good friend LESLIE, who busted herself last week by naively asking me what a kip-up was), I decided to challenge myself and give up meat for the month of May. I also went ahead and decided to kibosh dairy as well, so I've consumed zero meat or dairy for the past 18 days.

So how's it been? If I had to give an answer in just two words, I'd say "surprisingly easy." I knew the meat part would be no sweat, especially with all of the vegetarian options out there today. I thought that exempting dairy from my diet would be a huge struggle and was halfway preparing myself to try and reason my way out of it after two weeks or so ("Ice cream doesn't REALLY count as dairy, right?" Wrong.). But you know what? Doing no dairy has pretty much been a breeze as well! It also helps that my roommate Velvet (who is, coincidentally, my number one blog commenter) decided to forgo meat and dairy as well for the month.

Here are some of the major changes we've made this month:

I used to drink at least 1 glass of skim milk a day and generously fill my cereal bowl with it...

(*Here in Canada, we drink milk from bags. Bags! It's a change that after 7 years in Canada I'm still not completely used to.)

Now, my bag o' milk has now been replaced by rice milk (Velvet prefers soy).

I thought this would be the hardest switch to make, but really, rice and soy milk are pretty tasty. I wouldn't ever pour myself a big glass of rice milk on its own, but in cereal it substitutes for milk just fine. I actually found substituting rice milk for cream in my morning coffee has been a harder switch to make, as the taste just isn't the same as delicious, creamy cream. As a result, I drink less coffee (which can't be a bad thing).

On the meat end of things, I used to eat chicken...

(*And yes, our chicken dinners always looked like the above picture. Either that or in nugget/finger form, which is pretty much the same, you know?)

Now it's goodbye real chicken, hello soy chicken!

We've been eating a few of Gardein's meatless "garden protein" options. The best one by far has been the Santa Fe Good Stuff version, which is filled with beans. Overall though, I gotta say, these haven't gone over big in our house. They have a weird texture which somewhat successfully mimics meat, and while eating it you think to yourself "Hey, these aren't too horrible, I guess" but then afterwards you realize that you dipped every bite in mustard or some kind of condiment to disguise the taste. On that note, I've become a huge fan of Kozlik's Canadian Mustard (especially the Amazing Maple one), which is both local in Toronto and preservative-free. Thanks for getting me through some rough dinners, guys!

And you know I have to mention cereal. Before, my go-to cereal was....do I even need to say?

In one of the world's cruelest pranks ever played on me, Great Grains contains milk ingredients and is therefore off limits. What's even worse is that I just returned from a road trip to Detroit (more on that later) and picked up 5 boxes of Great Grains to add to my stockpile. So now I have at least 7 boxes of Great Grains on top of my fridge, taunting me every morning with their crunchy pecans and grainy greatness. My life is hard.

Since Great Grains are a no-go, I now eat Nature's Path organic dairy-free cereals.

SO GOOD! I've loved pretty much every option I've tried. They're a little pricey (around $5 per box), but since I've received $26.00 in free coupons from Nature's Path due to a letter I wrote them about a gigantic cereal cluster found in my cereal (perhaps more on that later, too), I'm set for awhile. And might I take this time to say that Nature's Path's superior customer service has really endeared their cereal to me and made me a faithful buyer (Kim and Collies from Post, hang your heads in shame).

As you can see, we've had plenty of alternatives and therefore haven't had to struggle too much.

I think I miss yogurt the most (though some days I REALLY want a piece of pizza with some feta), whereas Velvet pines for cheese and chocolate. And I should probably mention that living in a city like Toronto, which is so accepting of all kinds of lifestyles and has readily available organic/vegan/vegetarian supplies, makes it so much easier. On our recent road trip to Detroit, it suddenly became MUCH harder to stick to the plan. I think the idea of having vegetarian options on a menu is a foreign concept to downtown Detroit (don't even waste your time wishing for vegan options). At one diner, the only viable dinner options were the stuffed zucchini appetizers or single vegetable sides (I know, I know, I shouldn't complain; I'm sure a can of corn can be a really satisfying dinner sometimes).The next day we drove to 3 different restaurants before finding one which had even basic non-meat options. Hey, at least you've got Target going for you, Detroit.

Damn you, IHOP, and your delicious looking breakfasts. Do you know that IHOP has a new pancake breakfast called "New York Cheesecake Pancakes?" I don't even know what they are, but I wanted them. Still do.

With only 13 days left of the month, you might be wondering if I've felt any different without meat or dairy. I didn't weigh myself at the beginning of the month because I never weigh myself (willingly), but I do feel a bit slimmer and less weighed down. I get my protein by eating lots of beans, spinach salads, eggs (I didn't give up eggs and go completely vegan) and nuts, so I've been feeling strong and fairly energetic. I've also started reading the ingredients on EVERYTHING, which is a great /scary habit to pick up. If the ingredients sound too unpronounceable and chemically, then just think about that going into your body (before I start sounding too preachy, I will mention that I'm still a big fan of McCain Smiles and could eat a whole tray of them for dinner).

I'll do a final review at the beginning of the June while I'm eating my cheese-drenched meat-stuffed burger and vanilla milkshake, but until then, I'm sticking to no meat or dairy. I can check out this website if I need a meat fix.

Bacon cheddar cheese filled mug, anyone? Ugh.

...As for kip-up progress, I don't want to talk about it. My friend Jesse managed to do one after 3 attempts (in his work pants, no less)(I now hate him). I still haven't accomplished this goal but have taken to practicing at my day job on a yoga mat when my boss goes to lunch. I'm a real career-focused woman, as you can see.

Stay strong on your May challenges, everyone! Anyone know a good dairy free cheesecake pancake recipe to share?

Meatless May!

It's almost a new month (May), which means it's time for a new challenge!

I believe in challenging myself as often as possible, often for extended periods of time. Today, for example, I did not blow dry my hair in the morning. I recently gave up chocolate for 40 days and 40 nights (this happened to coincide with Lent, but was not specifically for Lent). Last summer I tried to wear a dress every single day that it was feasible (not raining, warm weather outside, you know).

I think you can see from these three photos that I successfully accomplished that challenge.

I believe my latest personal challenge will be to give up meat for the month of May. I'm not a big meat eater and I already take vegetarian options quite often so it won't be incredibly hard. I'm also considering POSSIBLY giving up dairy for May, which would be quite likely the hardest thing I could imagine. As you know, I'm an avid cereal consumer, and I also love yogurt, frozen yogurt, cheese, etc. I know there are non-dairy options for all of these things, but relaxing with a glass of almond milk just isn't the same as skim. I recently saw the documentary Food Inc. which has definitely influenced this challenge idea. We'll see if I have the willpower for it.

My other challenge for May is to learn how to do a kip-up. After closely observing Buffy's fighting techniques in my nightly character studies, I noticed that she often does a move where she is on her back on the ground and propels her body upwards by swinging her legs forward. Sounds confusing, huh? I didn't think it would be so hard to discover the name for this move until my gfs and I tried to research it online.

We combined vague key words in attempts to describe the move and received equally vague Google image results. Check out some of the more helpful results we found:

"Buffy swing up move"

"Buffy fighting ground kick"

*Note--I'm totally naming my next dog/cat Buffy.

"Lie on ground and flip up move"

*Note: this will hopefully be the only time Sarah Palin will be featured on my blog.

Finally we wised up and discovered that this particular move is called a "kip-up." If you're still confused, watch this video to see how to do a kip-up.

You can find other kip-up videos, but I liked this guy the best.
I admire his ambition, especially when attempting the no-handed kip-up, which he hasn't quite mastered yet. I will look to him for inspiration this month.

While researching "Buffy kip-up" videos on YouTube, we also discovered this fun gem. This British guy does kip-ups too, but he calls them "the Buffy flip." I might like him more.

My favorite part is when he reenacts Buffy being stabbed and falling to the ground.
And then he stands up and does it one more time for good measure. If I met this guy, I would instantly offer him whatever role he wanted in my Buffy episode, no audition needed.

So there you have it: my challenges for May. I'll keep you updated on the meat (and possibly dairy) free month.

If I master the kip-up, I will post a video of me doing one at the end of the month. If I don't, I will pretend I never said anything about it.

Is anyone else up for a fun challenge in May, like giving up smoking, opening your own business or learning Ancient Greek? I invite you all, at the very least, to join me on my kip-up challenge. What better way to start summer than by lying on our backs and using our feet and core strength to propel us upwards to a standing position and surprise our enemies!