Eating with omnivores

Hi guys, today I want to talk a little about living with, or eating with omnivores, carnivores, non-vegans, whatever you like to call them.

I haven't got much to say on this subject other than, good lord sometimes it's hard! Eating with non-vegans once in a while, like sharing a meal at a dinner, or going to a café for lunch isn't really that hard, most of the time you'll get questions etc, but other than that it's fine. The trouble arises when it comes to family.

My father is a diabetic (type 2), he's overweight, has constant migraines, terrible teeth and arthritis. This is only the health problems that I know of, there are always little things that we don't consider health problems until we change something and it goes away. Evidently, he doesn't know everything I know about veganism and why I chose to eat like this, but he's been very accepting, although challenging at times. He's biggest issue with my diet, as it has always been is: size. I can eat an immense amount of food, less has never been more to me. On a high-carb low-fat vegan diet, restriction is a no-no, and one of the reasons that I chose this way of eating is because I know that I simply can't restrict, I'll only end up binging!

For my dad however, the mantra of trying to restrict what you eat and how much of what is so deep set in him, that he has great trouble with me eating larger amounts of food, even though he himself is obese and diabetic... If you've ever seen some of Freelee the Banana Girl's videos, you know how much she eats, and I eat nowhere near as much as she does, I simply can't. So in my vegan world, I eat very reasonable amounts of food! Yes I eat more than someone who is an omnivore and calorie restricts, I eat exactly what I feel that my body needs, and it's taken me a long time on this vegan-lifestyle to learn the balance I need between fruit, veg and cooked-carbs. Therefore it really just winds me up when my dad try to play "how much are you allowed to eat"-God. Obviously neither he or my mother did a very good job of teaching me how to eat properly and thus we all suffer from obesity and health related sicknesses.

*sigh*, the trouble of being you parents child is that no matter how old you grow, I'm nearly 20, you're always they're child somehow, and it's hard for them to relinquish control. Thank goodness that I have my own apartment, my own kitchen and my own food! I'm only here for the summer.

Today my dad asked me, after denying me one last potato which I then snatched myself, "how many potatoes how you had?", after him having chomped down a tiny bit of salad, a couple of potatoes, large splotches of butter, feta cheese and steak. I answered "I don't say anything about your food, you don't say anything about my food". I love my dad, he's the smartest person I know and I am eternally grateful that he's my dad, but sometimes he just grinds my gears ;)

 - Elk

Favorite Vegan Tips

Hello guys, I though I'd gather up some of my favorite vegan tips from around the internet. The first one is the picture above - not exactly a tip, but some information I find very good to know!

#1) Rebuild yourself! When I started this vegan journey (2 months ago) I thought alot about that my body would gradually be rebuild, and that I had to give it time to being replaced with fruits and veggies. All the cells in your body dies, and will be replaced gradually, so quite literally you are what you eat. Do YOU want to be a burger on legs?

#2) Part of you! Following up on your body literally being build from what you eat, if you're about to eat something bad, ask yourself "do I want this to be a part of me?". I'm guessing that too many times the answer will be no, and no matter if you choose to eat it or not, let alone thinking about it I think is a good exercise.

#3) Keep it simple! This was the tip that actually got me started in the first place. I was quite scared, you're going from a diet where you have a big repertoire of recipes to rely on when you come home late after a long day and just need something quick to cook. When you're changing your diet radically, you don't have that repertoire to rely on, therefore - KEEP IT SIMPLE. In the beginning what I ate was, fruits and veggies for breakfast and lunch, mainly fruit, in their whole form or in a smoothie. For dinner I'd pick one of my top 3 cooked carbs, potatoes, rice and pasta, and dress it up from there. Super. Simple. Guys!

#4) Carb up! Have your got an uncontrollable hankering for a BigMac, cake, pork chops? It's simple, you're not carbed up! Your body tells the brain that it needs food, unfortunately it doesn't specify, so you'll feel most inclined to go for the most stimulating and convenient food, not usually fruits and veggies.

#5) Embrace those crappy days! Seriously, if you're having a crappy day, embrace it! But not by allowing yourself to eat whatever. I like to say that I have an angry, or a sad vegan inside of me. That way I try to separate my crappy mood from the rational part of me. Therefore I focus on nurturing and comforting myself and making that angry or sad vegan inside of me happier.

#6) Every cell in your body runs on sugar! Don't be afraid of sugar, if you've had biology you know that every cell in your body runs on sugar, so give it some prime fruit-fuel!

#7) Find out what works for you! I've had many doubts whether to eat wheat or not, wheat pasta and bread. Then I realized, if it works for me to have some break with hummus and tomatoes in the afternoon, then that's what I'll do. Try out different things, and see what makes you feel the best and what keeps you nice and satisfied, then make your own rules!

#8) Find someone who inspires you! The internet if wonderful, and it's full of people to inspire you and motivate you. Whether you likes blogs, vlogs, forums or something completely different I'm certain that you can find inspiration out there. Personally, FreeleeTheBananaGirl and DurianRider, on YouTube, are my vegan-heroes! I find going online for help and motivation very important to me, because I don't know a single vegan, not even a vegetarian.

#9) If you're hungry, eat! Your body is telling you that it's hungry, and if you're eating a good clean vegan diet you can eat all you want. If you let yourself go hungry, and especially if your in a food-toxic enviroment, for instance a supermarket or otherwise surrounded by alot of unhealthy convenient foods, it'll be harder to resist!

#10) Do not restrict your calories!  By restricting your calories you're teaching your body to be a energy-storerer rather than an energy-user. Also, a calorie is not a calorie, contrary to popular belief, the proof is in the banana-pudding, look at raw-foodists, fruitarians and long term high-carb low-fat vegans - they eat masses of calories each day and THEY'RE LEAN!

Hope you liked some of my tips, some of them are really quite repetitive but they underline an important point.

 - Elk

Little things that make me a HAPPY VEGAN

Hi guys! Today is my 51st day as a vegan, and I'm looooovin' it!
I know it would have been more of a "milestone" if I posted this yesterday on my 50th day, but yesterday was an awful day so I'm doing it today.
This post is just going to be an assorted collection of pictures of things that make me a happy vegan.

Pure little juice-box size smoothies for a buck.

Delicious smoothie, cherry juice (from thawing frozen cherries) and banana.

100% plant soy-chocolate milk - better than the "real" thing!

An amazing vegetarian supermarket in Malmö, Sweden. Unfortunately I do not live there. :(

Delicious soy-"meat", red curry, coconut, veggie rice dish. Scrummy! Even my omnivore friend was very impressed.

Friggin' veggie wraps at McDonald's! *probably only vegetarian* None existent in Denmark!
So happy I didn't have to ask for: "a chicken salda without chicken, without cheese and without dressing please".

Freelee The Banana Girl's "Datorade". Tried it for the first time today, because I now have a blender!

So here's a couple of remarks about my veganism. 1) I live in Denmark, vegan "meats", "cheeses" and other special products for vegan DO NOT EXIST! However we do have soy milk, rice milk etc. and soy-ice-cream, but that's pretty much all. 2) Some of these foods, processed fake meats, McDonald's veggie wraps and soy-chocolate-milk aren't foods I eat often, I aim to eat raw 'till 4, whole foods, fruits, veggies and starches. 3) FREELEE THE BANANA GIRL IS MY GURU!

P.s. I will do a more in-depth post about this vegan thing that I've begun ;)

 - Elk

High Carb Vegan, What I Eat in a Day #1

Hi guys, I thought I'd do a "what I eat in a day" post, now that I've posted about this vegan eating ;)

 Breakfast, yum yum, leftover banana/strawberry smoothie made with soy-milk. Oh and water.

Lunchy time, an orange, a pear, to smaller tomatoes, some cucumber and some radishes.

 Snack times! Popcorn, now I know that lots of high carb, low fat vegans out there probably is like noooooo. But I checked the salt and oil content, and I didn't think it was bad at all. Besides I didn't feel so bad because they were like fancy organic popcorn, and the only three ingredients were corn, salt and oil.

                                              

 More snack, vegan homemade bananabread with some jam. I try not to eat too much jam, because I like to avoid the added sugar, but it was Saturday so I think of it as a treat :)

 A little pre-dinner orange.

 Dinner round one, sweet potato oven baked fries with vegan ketchup.

Dinner round two, regular potato oven fries with pepper, oregano and ketchup.

I know it seems like I ate a lot of food, and I did! But if you know anything about this vegan way of eating, you must know that there is NO CALORIE RESTRICTION! And in fact it's best if you eat 2,500+ calories a day. Basically, if you're hungry, you eat. This suits me absolutely fine, I love to eat and haven't ever counted calories.

Tomorrow is my 2 week mark eating this way, sooooo exciting! Hope you liked this post, if not, too bad 'cause I'm making more :D
 - Elk

Vegan Adventure

Hello guys, I thought I'd make a bit of a random post today, and it's about food! (No pictures, sorry.)
So A week ago I started and adventure - a vegan adventure. If you are like "what da heel is dat gurl talkin' 'bout?" then I'm gonna tell you right now!

So if you don't know, vegan is a way of being or a way of eating, I chose the eating part. Vegans do not eat meat, nor dairy or eggs - all in all, no animal products.

I've always been very interested in nutrition and food, I've always liked watching reports and documentaries about it, and my interest for nutrition probably stems from the fact that I'm overweight and have been all my life. I've always known that vegetarians and vegans existed, and I've always known what they were and how they ate, but I had always thought that it was too extreme for me, and that the key to loosing weight for me would just to eat healthier. If you didn't know, I lived at a boarding school for four years, from age 14 to 18 and I felt like the reason I was still overweight was because someone else cooked my food, and I couldn't go on a diet.

Therefore, I was stoked when I moved into my own apartment, with my own kitchen - now I could be totally in charge of my food! And I was SURE that things would change - that was almost 8 months ago. And guess what, nothing happened. I didn't loose weight despite being in charge of my food and riding 30 - 40 km each week, my bicycle and my feet the only form of transportation I have.

Then, in the end of December, after having failed The Dukan Diet, I stumbled upon Forks Over Knives, a documentary, on Netflix. If you haven't seen it - go see it! Basically the message is that a whole-foods, plant based (basically vegan) diet is the best for a long and healthy life. When I saw that I thought to myself "of course! If I don't want diabetes, cancer and all those other diseases running in my family, I have to do this!". However, changing your diet completely, from one day to the other is not easy, and the stress of a completely new way of eating and not having any repertoire of recipes to fall back on, the mission to starting eating vegan only became a dream.

But then, some months ago I discovered Freelee the Banana Girl on YouTube and I thought DAMN! I wish I could look like that and have her energy. I was scared to start eating like Freelee, worried that I couldn't do it because I didn't have a repertoire of recipes, scared that I couldn't afford it and just plain old scared of leaving my comfort zone.

I think that I essentially wasn't ready to change, but about two weeks ago I realized what the key is to starting - simplicity. Breakfeast? How about some apple, maybe some pears. Lunch, have some grapes, maybe some radishes. Afternoon cravings? A delicious smoothie with banana, frozen berries and soy milks should satisfy that. Dinner? All you can eat, potatoes, rice, pasta etc. Snacks, eat all you want, delicious veggies and fruit. High carb, low fat vegan. (Some days raw to 4.)

It's been a week now and except for the 1st day and yesterday, I've felt completely satisfied, happy that I didn't have to feel guilt about eating lots of food, energized (I used to nap like - every day!), and thrilled that I finally did what I've wanted to.

If you want me to do more posts about eating this way, please leave a comment, and if you don't. Meeeh, I'll probably do it anyway ;)

Sorry for the long post so... Here's some potatoes (which by the way is like, my favorite vegan food - ever.)
 - Elk

                                                

Makeup: Dark Horse

Hello-oh! I don't know about you guys, but I purchased Katy Perry's recent album Prism, and I really liked it. Therefore, when I saw that a music video was released for Dark Horse, I got majorly excited! I loved all the costumes and makeup and extravaganza in that video! And needless to say I felt like making some Dark Horse inspired makeup!

I like the latter much better! I think the first one just looks kind of weird because I don't have a blue/turqoise that pops as much as Katy's. But I thought the second look was really fun!
Also.. If it's not visible, I can tell you right now that I got my hair cut, PIXIE! I know, kind of crazy. My hair wasn't really long anymore, it was a shorter, bob kind of style, but I decided I wanted to take the leap and go pixie. I have been now for... I don't know, a long time ;)
Next time I get a trim (it needs it) I'll try to take some pictures and show you guys.

Other news, I'm on Goodreads! So go ahead and follow me if you want to :) Elk's Goodreads

- Elk

Makeup: Serene purpleness

Hello guys. Today when I emptied my camera pictures of this look popped up. So funny because I don't even remember making this look :D

But, as far as I can see, this was an attempt to combine the two colours that I don't think work for me and my eyes. Purple and grey. I'm not sure what to say about the look other than I think it looks nice, but it's still very simple, too simple for my taste. Ergo, I must continue in my quest to make grey and purple work for me!

 - Elk