Health

2 Comments Posted on food reviews, Uncategorized, vegan

How To Have A Vegan, Vegetarian, Kosher Or Plant-Based Christmas

How To Have A Vegan/Vegetarian/Kosher/Plant-Based Christmas

Though I’ve been a vegan for more than a year and a half, a vegetarian for 3 years, and kosher (no pork, shellfish, etc.) for 6 years, I haven’t always held non-meat eaters in the highest regard.

Back before my gradual conversion that began in 2008, I used to mock the concept of vegans and vegetarians. I had them stereotyped pretty easily in my mind.

How To Have A Vegan/Vegetarian/Kosher/Plant-Based Christmas

Then, as my eyes began being opened by watching Netflix documentaries like Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change, I began understanding the attraction towards an “I eat nothing from an animal diet”,  but I chose not to participate because I wasn’t ready to make such a lifestyle change.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

If you ask me, becoming a vegan or vegetarian requires you to live an alternative lifestyle.

I would know, since I live the vegan life 100% every day, no exceptions.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

By the way, part of the lure to veganism is that it means your daily cholesterol intake is less than 1%; or in other words, 0%. While “vegan food” (veggies, fruit, grains, beans, nuts, & seeds) do contain some cholesterol, it’s never enough to register high enough to count as 1% on the food label.

So I thought it would be interesting to produce a collection of picture collages featuring what our family ate during the 5 day Christmas vacation we just came off of.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

I must admit, I have a major advantage in my vegan lifestyle: My wife is an extremely good cook, and she loves planning and cooking our family’s meals. (That’s her in the picture above in the blue and back shirt.)

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

In the way I am passionate about blogging, she is passionate about making good food for our family.

One of her secrets is a website called Oh She Glows. The majority of the food you see today is derived from her plant-based recipe website.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

Over Christmas vacation, we dined on sweet potato chili, spinach pasta with “vegan meatballs” (made with oats), vegan veggie pizza (vegetarian for those who eat cheese), vegan nachos (made with potatoes and avocado), and cashew sauce pasta, to name a few meals.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

And thanks to my mom and my sister, we definitely weren’t short on vegan desserts.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

How To Have A Vegan/Vegetarian/Kosher/Plant-Based Christmas

My mom had a table full of vegan cookies and cakes, while my sister made vegan chocolate cupcakes, per my son’s request.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

The biggest challenge was when we drove an hour to a family reunion near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

We wanted to be able to spend time with that side of the family, but we were unable to eat any of the food there; and I especially didn’t want to be a hardship to them because of our dietary limitations.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

So here’s what we did: We packed the Lexus LX (the vehicle I was reviewing last week) with Larabars and water; which kept us full through the visit. We arrived 30 minutes early, to maximize on spending quality family time, before the food part started.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

In total, we were there for a solid hour and a half, before they started serving their food, which is the point at which we left.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

Fortunately, the Whole Foods was only 8 miles away; that’s where we had our lunch that day.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

I admit I was a bit skeptical going into this holiday season how as I vegan, I would be able to participate in a feast of Biblical proportions. But my family made it happen.

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

Honestly, I don’t feel like I missed out on anything food-wise this holiday season. I ate very well and had a great time; just without the cholesterol.

For more on this kind of stuff, just click on tab on the upper left-hand side of the page: My Vegan Life.

And of course, feel free to ask questions in the comments below!

Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change

Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting, Uncategorized

As For Me And My House, We Will Refuse Flu Shots

You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Refuse A Flu Shot!

I’m bored by the conversations about whether it’s a good or bad thing to get vaccinations. I flat out don’t care what other people choose for themselves. Let them argue online about that without me.

But what I am passionate about instead is standing my grounds on my right to refuse a flu shot. I have my reasons for having refused flu shots my entire life, and I’m sure they’re nothing new or interesting to anyone reading this.

Ultimately, I just don’t appreciate the fact that there is pressure from society, businesses, the medical field, and the government to tell me I need a flu shot. I’m too clever of a guy not to question that.

Maybe I’m indeed a conspiracy theorist who believes that the real reason the media bombarded us with the Ebola scare might have been that the government wanted us all to be vaccinated for their own agenda.

(I also question the fact we were never shown footage of an actual plan crashing into the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001. Most people I know are okay with that… I’m not. And that makes me the crazy one, labeled as the wacky conspiracy theorist.)

“No thanks to vaccinations” is what I have to say.

I also made sure that at my son’s recent check-up, that he did not get a flu shot. My son was pretty happy that his Daddy got him out of that!

By the way, I’m 33 years old and I’ve never had the flu… nor have I had a flu shot. And that information is validated from my mom. She would know.

I find it pretty interesting that walk-in clinics these days are all spending plenty of advertising dollars on “selling flu shots.” I guess there must be a lot of profit to be made off of selling vaccinations that may or may not even work…

What really got me riled up about this recently is when a close family member (who will remain nameless for my fear of outing them with their employer) was heavily (!) pressured by their employer to get a flu shot.

This family member had to put in writing exactly why they were refusing the flu shot; they were told by the deciding committee that the only acceptable exceptions had to be either for personal or religious reasons.

The first two times, this person was denied the right to refuse the flu shot, after having given personal reasons; like explaining to the employer that a flu shot is an unnatural, invasive procedure.

This family member was, in essense, told that their personal reasons were not legitimate enough to merit a flu shot refusal.

It took the 3rd time before this family member’s reason for refusal was accepted; after saying their body is a temple of God.

For whatever reason, the employer accepted that answer.

This article was also helpful:

Mandatory Vaccines for Healthcare Workers: How to Refuse Mandatory Vaccines and Not Get Fired

I’m not telling anyone whether or not they should or should not get a vaccination, because again, that’s a personal decision and I should have no say when it comes to other people.

Flu shots are right for a lot of people. I’m just not one of them.

Leave a comment Posted on Health, Uncategorized, vegan

Dairy And Egg Free Testimonials: James Hardy’s Asthma- Week 7

Let’s found out about James Hardy’s 7th week on my challenge:

Journal entry date: November 2, 2014

Since my last update I have had some great changes since I have cut all eggs and dairy from my diet. I have lost 6 lbs and kept it off without any additional changes to diet or exercise. My back acne is dropped to only a few zits here or there. Around this time of year my asthma gets the worst yet it seems to be causing me no major issues. In the past 2 weeks I have no longer needed my emergency inhaler while at the gym. With lacking breathing problems my workouts have gotten easier and I have actually noticed I am recovering faster after a workout.
Dairy And Egg Free Testimonials: James Hardy’s Asthma- Week 2
Today 11/2/14 I have decided to test how my allergies are being affected. I went to a local pet store where every time I have ever entered I needed 2 Benadryl and 2 puffs of my emergency inhaler. Today I was in there for 30 minutes and I usually stay less than 10. I had no need for my inhaler or Benadryl. I did get have my nose run a little bit but it went away probably 10 to 15 minutes after I left.
After the gym I played with my dog and kept him close to my face than normal. He hasn’t caused me more than just light sinus issues when we played too long, but today we played for a long time and I had no issues. I even pushed it by sticking my fingers in my eyes and nose. Yes, my nose, and I had no issues.
Leave a comment Posted on Health, Uncategorized, vegan

Dairy And Egg Free Testimonials: James Hardy’s Asthma- Week 2

Let’s found out about James Hardy’s 2nd week on my challenge:

Journal entry date: September 21th, 2014

Dairy And Egg Free Testimonials: James Hardy’s Asthma- Week 2

I have officially gone over a week with no dairy or eggs. This has been a very tough week for me. I never knew how many things needed eggs, or milk and how much of the food I purchase had eggs and milk in it.

In this week I have had all kinds of things happen to my body that were out of the ordinary. I had a very harsh sinus drain on day 4. I wasn’t sick, it lasted only a day, and it was very clear. Since then my breathing has had an improvement and something else improved that I didn’t expect. I have had hearing issues in my left ear since I was 16 years old. I qualified for a hearing aid but after that sinus drain I have noticed a very noticeable improvement in my hearing.

The last weird thing I have had happen is my stomach some crazy issues on day 7 and 8. These weren’t normal bowel movements and I feel my body was moving out all of the nastiness that doesn’t get moved due to all of the dairy. Things are back to normal now.

 Day 6 was a big test day for me for how no dairy and eggs would affect my asthma and allergies. On day 6 my wife and I went to visit her parents and brother for her brother’s birthday. Her parents have cats and dogs all over the place. Normally when I go over there I take a total of 6 Benadryl throughout the time there and will have to take many puffs of my emergency inhaler.

This visit I only used 2 Benadryl and 1 puff of my inhaler but I don’t think I needed it. I could breathe perfectly fine and wasn’t having allergy issues but my brain was freaking out like it was. My body is starting to have positive reactions to this new diet but my brain has yet to make new connections to what is going on.

On day 4 I had felt like I was having an asthma attack yet I could breathe perfectly fine. I took some deep breaths and it stopped. I have a few theories as to why my brain is doing this but for now I am having less breathing issues, less allergy issues and I can calm my body down from these fake reactions through deep breathing.

I plan on another expose test to an allergen on day 16 to see what my reactions. This will be a controlled test, with medication ready and my focus will be to see how my eyes, nose and skin reacts to cat allergens.

So far this diet change has not affected my workouts. I have been using a pea based protein for after gym protein intake. It taste like I am drinking rice when I mix it with water but when I mix it with vanilla almond milk, it taste great. So far I have not physical changes to my body.

Still at the same weight and I seem to be the same body fat percentage. I am hoping other than my asthma and allergies getting better I am hoping to finally lose my love handles.

Leave a comment Posted on Health, Uncategorized, vegan

Dairy And Egg Free Testimonials: James Hardy’s Asthma- Week 3

Let’s found out about James Hardy’s 3nd week on my challenge:

Journal entry date: September 28th, 2014

Dairy And Egg Free Testimonials: James Hardy’s Asthma- Week 2

I am more than three weeks into no dairy and no eggs. There have been some battles over the last week. My wife’s family had a pre-holiday get together and the foods I love the most I had to avoid. It was tough but I fought through it.

Since my last post I have noticed some more changes I have noticed. For as long as I can remember I have had issues with plaque buildup on my teeth. I brush twice daily and floss trying to prevent it. On day 18 I did not have any plaque buildup. I kept to my ritual but I haven’t had any plaque buildup on my teeth since then.

The next thing I noticed was my bacne has gotten better. I do a lot of weight lifting and no matter what I do, it doesn’t go away. On the three week mark I noticed that my bacne was noticeably better. My wife has also commented on how much it is clearing up. I was told by a doctor when I was in high school that if I avoided milk it would clear up but I didn’t listen.

Week three was very rough for me because I was sick as well. I was starting to feel a cold coming up but my mucus never thickened or changed colors. My body still hurt and I suffered many of the symptoms but my nasal passages moved very well and my mucus stayed thin. I am fully recovered and feeling great.

This diet change as not just been tough on me, but it has been a challenge for my wife as well. One of a go to quick meals has been hamburger helper, which requires milk and has cheese in it. Since I am avoiding dairy we have had to get creative on quick meals so we came up with our own version. We brown hamburger meat like you would for hamburger helper and then we add half a can of tomato paste, 1 cup of almond milk, handful of daiya cheese, and then we sprinkle in some of our favorite seasonings. It taste much better than hamburger helper and it is much healthier.