Eat to Live Day 6

Almost one week down! I have to say, I'm getting into the groove of eating this way. Yesterday, I found a couple of new recipes that are giving me more confidence that I can make it through 5 more weeks of this!

I'm also feeling great. Before starting this, I would often feel not-so-good after eating (probably because I was eating TONS of junk food all the time). A few weeks ago, I also had a gallbladder attack. While my first couple of days on Eat to Live were tough, I'm feeling really good now. I'm less moody and don't have any digestion issues. And I don't think there is ANY possibility of having a gallbladder attack while eating this way.

I've also definitely lost weight. Since I weigh a lot right now, and I've radically changed my eating habits, I will have a big loss this week (which I will report on Monday). It's mostly water weight at this point, but it's still motivating!

Yesterday, I started my day off with my usual smoothie, along with some almonds. For lunch, it was time to try some scrambled tofu. There are TONS of recipes for this online, so I hemmed and hawed about which one to try. I finally settled on the Breakfast Scrambler recipe from a book I recently got from the library (I've REALLY been making use of my library card lately): Breaking the Food Seduction by Neal Barnard, M.D.

First, I mixed minced onion flakes, garlic powder, turmeric, and parsley flakes together. I omitted the salt and pepper called for in the recipe, but added in some Mrs. Dash (a salt-free seasoning blend) later on.

I crumbled up some extra-firm tofu that I had pressed the water out of already. The recipe called for firm tofu, not extra-firm, but mine worked fine. It seemed I was doing more smooshing than crumbling, though. I added the tofu and the seasonings to a nonstick pan over medium heat (I didn't use any oil or cooking spray. Oil would probably make it taste MUCH better, haha).

I heated it through, and tried a taste. It seemed a bit bland, so I decided to add in one more ingredient... something I bought on Friday for the very first time in my life.

Nutritional yeast!!!!! I have read about nutritional yeast for ages on other blogs, and I think I had some once in a dish prepared by someone else. There is a good description of what it is here, but it's basically used as a healthy flavouring in vegan dishes. Apparently it can be a good ingredient to use for a cheesy taste, among other things. It also contains lots of nutrients. Anyway, I sprinkled it over my scrambled tofu.

It was pretty good! I still think it could use a bit more flavour. Also, I found that all the dehydrated onion flakes and parsley flakes were clumping together a bit - it was almost like a Mr. Noodles seasoning packet (without salt and msg, of course). Next time, I will cook it with real onion. The best part was when my mother tried it and thought it tasted like eggs! She even asked if she could have some. :)

For dessert, I had some strawberries and grapes. One reason I've been able to stick to this eating plan is because I've been eating lots of delicious fruit!

I was excited for dinner, because the day before, I came across this recipe. First of all, the FatFree Vegan Kitchen website has been indispensible to me during this challenge. And when I found Susan's recipe for Hidden Cashew Ranch Dressing that had NO oil in it, I started to have faith that I wasn't destined for five more weeks of boring salads.

I made the recipe exactly as written. It smelled good. I was hopeful.

I decided to be daring in my dinner salad in another way:

That may look like an innocent picture of a mushroom, but it represents so much more. You see, I HATE mushrooms. HATE THEM. But lately, I've been wondering if I should give them another chance. They're just so darned good for you! Dr. Furhman (who wrote Eat to Live) recommends eating them every day, for Pete's sake (along with greens, onions, berries, and beans)! I sliced one up and hoped for the best.

First things first: the dressing was good! I found it a bit too garlicky, so next time I will either decrease the garlic or use roasted garlic (yum). I am so pleased, though, that I have a creamy, low-fat dressing ready to go in the fridge for the next few days.

As for the mushrooms: I managed to choke down a few slices before abandoning them. I think I can safely say that I hate them less than I used to, so that's progress, right??

Along with my huge salad, I had leftovers from my dinner at Fresh on Friday night.

For dessert, I blended some frozen mangoes and strawberries with soymilk. I had to add some water when it wouldn't blend. It was pretty good, but not great. I did something similar with bananas last week that was MUCH yummier (I'm sure I'll be making that again soon, and I'll blog about it next time).

All in all, a successful Saturday!