Day 8

Change of plans---in addition to The Kind Diet, my daily quotes will be coming from some other sources as well. Today, it's from Crazy, Sexy, Diet by Kris Carr. A little bit about this girl; she's amazing! She was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2003, it was stage IV. She took it upon herself to find a way to stay alive and she did just that. I watched the documentary Crazy, Sexy, Cancer several years ago and find her book to be inspiring and potentially life changing. You should read it, everyone should read it! For more on Kris Carr visit her website; www.crazysexylife.com.

"The belief that we need enormous amounts of protein to be healthy and strong is one of the most pervasive myths in America. In fact, overdosing on protein is one of the key reasons why we've become so unhealthy. Studies show that as protein consumption goes up, so do the rates of chronic disease. In truth, protein deficiency is virtually nonexistent in industrialized countries. The USDA's recommended daily allowance for protein is about .36 grams of protein for every pound of body weight." Crazy, Sexy, Diet

For me, that comes out to about 41 grams of protein per day. When you look at the list of plant foods high in protein that is pretty easy to reach. I already eat foods like black beans, brown rice, almonds, peanut butter, peanuts, quinoa, sunflower seeds, broccoli, cashews, spinach, baked potatoes and walnuts on a regular basis. Before giving up the meat I was probably one of those people getting excess protein, considering a chicken breast has about 27g. Now that I'm conscious of what I'm eating each day I can refer to the list and create meals that ensure I'm getting enough protein.

Yum!

Day 8, woo hoo! I made it a week with no meat and it was much easier than I ever thought it would be. I worked from home all day today so by lunchtime I needed to get out for a little bit. I drove into town to Lee's Produce. A few years ago when I was seeing a nutritionist (ie: listening to what she had to say but not really doing any of it) she mentioned this place to me. I remember her listing out all of the things they carry there that were hard to find in the supermarkets at the time. I was not disappointed. I came home with some gorgeous grape tomatoes and a large bunch of broccoli at a great price.

I've been craving Chinese food lately so I decided to do another stir-fry. This time I used Tastefully Simple's Honey Teriyaki Sauce (I was too lazy to make my own) and the leftover rice from Sunday night. I like that the TS products use real ingredients and there was no HFCS on the ingredients list. The stir-fry was awesome!

Broccoli, Red Pepper, Carrot, Zucchini & Cashew Stir-Fry

At least it looked pretty.

This afternoon I decided to attempt making "green juice". I used Kris Carr's recipe minus the sprouts and ginger. It was not good...I did not like it at all...I will try again. I know how good juicing is for you and I really want to give it a fair shot. The celery taste overpowered everything else and I found myself drinking the juice with a straw trying not to gag. If I'm going to try these things and encourage you, my readers (all 10 of you), to try them too---then I'm going to be honest with you. And the juice I made today, I did not enjoy one bit. I did get it down though, every ounce of it. And you know what? I did feel something different during my yoga class tonight. I don't know how to explain it, but something was different, my energy was different. I liked how I was feeling and I'm going to keep experimenting.

Kale, Cucumber, Broccoli, Pear & Celery

It's been amazing to me over the last week, and especially today when I posted about my less than desirable green juice, how willing people are to share what they know. I love all of the recipes and ideas my friends have shared with me and I will try each of their suggestions. The support as really helped me over the last week and I hope we can all continue to support each other as we try to eat a more kind and more clean diet.
Speaking of a clean diet---I treated myself to pizza for dinner. I was starving after class, it was almost 9pm, Andy isn't home and I just didn't feel like cooking. I had two slices and a Pepsi and thoroughly enjoyed both. I probably negated ALL of the good that green juice did for earlier. Oh well, sometimes you gotta live a little, right?