Readin' Vegan

Right now, I'm eating oatmeal with peanut butter and banana. Joe and I make steel cut oatmeal for breakfast every morning and sometimes I eat it and sometimes I don't. I'm having it for dinner at work because I've begun to realize that maybe the highly fragrant curry-type dishes I usually reheat in the closet microwave probably don't mix as well with a HIIT workout as they do with my desk job. Oh well. It's yummy, vegan, and no sugar added!

Why no sugar added? Well, I just finished reading A Year of No Sugar by Eve O. Schaub, per Kate's recommendation (of course). I took the book at a slow and steady pace, allowing myself about a week and a half to work through it. While I'm not going to do a no sugar challenge at the moment (veganism is enough to tackle for now!), reading this book has really made me take a second look at my sugar consumption for the past few weeks. Veganism by nature cuts out some fructose monsters - traditional chocolates and cookies being prime examples. But do I really neeeeed to douse my oatmeal in maple syrup? Nah, guess not. At the end of the book, Eve reflects on her family becoming much more selective about the sugar they choose to consume as a result of a year of cutting out all sugar entirely. I think this is an approach I'd like to adopt in the coming year - just taking a second to consciously think about sugar going into my body and enjoying treats as treats. I'll keep you updated.

Oh, that brings me to another update! In my initial "plan" I said I was going to use MyFitnessPal to track carbs, fats, proteins, etc. I've decided not to do this, mainly because the app has a large focus on calories and counting calories and in general being worried about how many calories one consumes. I've found that going by how my body "feels" for the past two weeks has been working well and I'd like to continue along this trajectory. Hungry? Eat more. Low on energy? Eat more.

You get the picture.

Now I'm going to start reading "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollen because rumor has it it's the Bible of the real food movement. Again, I'll keep you updated.