48. Getting Oriented

This Thursday and Friday, I roamed around Umass Amherst in near-record heat during New Student Orientation. Five hundred other freshmen-to-be flooded campus, with lanyards denoting to what college or program within the university they belonged. When I began to lose focus in the information sessions, I looked around at the colors around everyone’s necks. Orange? Engineering. Red? Undeclared. Green? College of Natural Sciences– like me! A potential new friend. And then the spiel: “Hi. I’m Ziv. Where are you from? What major? I’m biochem. Do you know where you’re living? I’m in a RAP (Residential Academic Program)…”

For the duration of orientation I introduced myself to as many people as I could, even earning the praise, “wow, you’re so social. Well, more than the average math and science person. You’re so outgoing!” I decided to take it as a compliment. Hey, I’m social! Who knew?

In short, I tried my best to be friendly, struggled with the online class scheduling system, and learned to appreciate the air-conditioned buildings (the dorms, unfortunately, were not). It was a lot of academic briefing, and I’m looking forward to Fall NSO, which is more about the social aspect of student life. But everything worked out, and I have at least one friend!

Firsts This Week:

• Attended Summer New Student Orientation at Umass Amherst
• Signed up for college classes!
• New friends!

47. Vegan Day 7

Breakfast

Fruit and nut granola with blueberries, pineapple, and soy yogurt

 

Late Lunch

Okra in tomato sauce with rice

 

Snacks

Dried fruit and nuts

White peach

Apricot

Hazelnut milk

 

Sunday

Last day of the vegan experiment. I woke up late, which threw off my eating schedule. Breakfast happened at 11, lunch at 4:30, and the rest of the day was mild munching. My mother never ceases to surprise me with her Whole Foods finds: today it was hazelnut milk. I’ve had many, many types of non-dairy milks, including almond, soy, rice, coconut, sunflower seed, hemp, and rice milk, but I had never even heard of hazelnut milk. We also have an almond-hazelnut-cashew milk drink that I have yet to try.

I don’t know if I’ll stay 100% vegan (my friends and I are planning a supper club, and I want to be able to try a variety of new foods), but I’d like to continue experimenting with vegan cooking and baking. It feels more wholesome, and I feel like my system is cleaner. Being vegan also cuts out a lot of processed foods, salt, fat, and sugar. I am quite fond of cheese though, so I don’t know how things are going to go from here. I’ve discovered that I have the willpower to be vegan, but I lack the conviction behind it. I am not an ideological vegan, who opposes eating animal products due to animal cruelty or a “save the planet” mentality, nor am I a vegan for health reasons, like my mom. Vegan Week was an experiment to see if I could do it, and if I would feel any different afterwards. In all honesty, being vegan doesn’t feel much different than eating a “normal” diet. It’s just one that initially includes a lot of substitutions.

However, a week is not enough to truly experience the lifestyle. I haven’t had to order food in a restaurant as a vegan, nor search for vegan makeup and other household products. I’ve promised myself Monday as a cheat day because my sister has been hounding me about Danish pancakes (dairy), but overall this week has inspired me to eat cleaner, and thereby live cleaner. Try it and see what you think!

Note: This blog is based on my experience only, and should not substitute for instructions from a health care provider. Consult with your doctor before making any changes to your diet.

47. Vegan Day 6

Breakfast

Banana

Oatmeal

Lunch

Pasta with marinara sauce

Lemonade

Dinner

Assorted vegetables and fruits, in no particular configuration

Snacks

Apricot (both fresh and dried)

Dried cranberries

Adzuki bean energy bars

Pita chips and hummus

Assorted nuts

Saturday

On Saturday I was in and out of the house for twelve hours, so although I’ve categorized what I ate as “breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” my consumption was more along the lines of “grazing” than eating distinct meals. In all honesty, I generally eat breakfast and lunch, and after 2 pm I’m on a “see-food” diet– I see food, and I eat it. My family doesn’t really cook, so I’ve become accustomed to eating whatever is in the fridge. My thought process goes something like this: Raspberries? I’ll have a few. Mmm, there’s baby spinach, I’ll add dried cranberries, chia seeds, olive oil, and voilà! I have a salad. An apple. Maybe with almond butter and shredded coconut? Good. 

Everyone in my house generally eats like this, with a few quirks. My brother is quite fond of pasta, and my mom is vegan but doesn’t eat a lot of wheat products. I swear my dad lives on coffee and peanuts. My sister usually looks around, sees what everyone else is eating, and then copies them. So even though I have categorized my food as “breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” I am by no means a three-meal-per-day person. I eat when I’m hungry, which is about every four hours, and it’s a system that works for me.

Today I went to another graduation party. After grazing all day (the energy bars kept me going for a while), I wasn’t hungry, but I was craving salt. I ate some cut vegetables without dressing, pushed aside the Pringles and Chex mix, and took a lap around the yard. No way to fix a salt craving here. Similar to yesterday, the signals my body was sending me were a lot stronger than normal. Being on a restricted diet means a lot of processed so-bad-but-so-good foods were off-limits. Though I don’t normally eat the kinds of snack foods at the party, I still found it hard to control my cravings when my body’s salt alarm was blaring at full volume. At home, I ate some nuts, which instantly quieted my body. I’m still learning to find a balance between indulging my food wants and being disciplined, but ironically giving in to my cravings is often a better choice than using all of my willpower to avoid what I really want. Case in point: chocolate.

1. Give in. Some days there will be no question of whether or not to eat the chocolate. I’ll eat a square or two of dark (70% cacao or more) chocolate, remind myself that it has antioxidants, and go on with my day.

2. The Compromise. I’ll have a few chocolate chips. No, you don’t want the sugar. Well, if you add dried cranberries, almonds, and walnuts, it’s trail mix! You’ll be getting protein! In this scenario, I end up eating more than I originally intended, but I usually don’t go overboard.

3. Failed willpower. Don’t eat the chocolate. No chocolate. Do. Not. Eat. It. Okay, but I still have a sweet tooth. I’ll eat an orange. And some dried cranberries. Still not sweet enough. Some dates. Fine. I’ll drink some coconut milk, and then I’ll really be done. In addition to all the excess food I just consumed, I most likely sneak a few chocolate chips five minutes later.

Some habits are extremely difficult to break. If you’re like me and would like to give in to a chocolate craving in a healthy way, here’s a recipe by a vegan marathoner, originally from Runner’s World:

Scott’s Chocolate Adzuki Bars

1/2 teaspoon coconut oil
1 15-ounce can adzuki beans, drained
1 medium overripe banana
1/2 cup almond or rice milk
1/2 cup light coconut milk
1/2 cup barley flour
1/4 cup rice flour
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup goji berries, currants, or raisins
1/2 cup non-dairy chocolate chips [optional]

Preheat oven to 400° F. Grease a 9-inch square pan with coconut oil. Blend beans and banana with almond and coconut milk until smooth and creamy. Add the flours, cocoa, syrup, vanilla, and salt, processing until thoroughly mixed. Stir in dried fruit. Pour mixture into pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until firm. When cool, cut into squares. Makes 16 bars.

CALORIES PER BAR: 121 CARBS, 23 G FIBER, 1 G PROTEIN, 2G FAT

47. Vegan Day 5

Breakfast

Apple Cardamom Muffin

 

Lunch

Indian food leftovers!

 

Dinner

Salad with pear slices, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, and dried cranberries

Assorted tomatoes with basil and olive oil (caprese salad minus the mozzarella)

Baguette with hummus and tahini

 

Snacks

Cherries

Peach

Strawberries

Chocolate chips

Pita chips

Falafel chips

 

Friday

What do vegans do at parties? They socialize, and then awkwardly avoid the hostess when she asks why they won’t eat her food. “Is good, is good,” she assures. “What, why don’t you eat milk? Trying to be like your mom?”

“I’m doing an experiment. You know, just… trying something out.”

“You start your experiment tomorrow.”

It is one of the unspoken rules that if a Jewish mother offers you food, you never refuse it. Ever. To avoid an uncomfortable social situation, I quietly sidestepped the massive amounts of labneh (a strained yogurt spread), four types of Quiche, and pasta and scooped some salad onto my plate. The mesclun salad contained some goat cheese in it, which I avoided. Naturally, the tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad contained dairy, so I picked out only the tomatoes. Which brings me to the vegan lesson of the day: eat before you go. If you’re unsure of whether there will be suitable food for you at a social event, plan ahead, or offer to bring something you can eat. Don’t put the hostess under more stress when she has twenty other people to feed and she’s having a meltdown that there’s not enough food for third servings.

So I made it work. The only truly difficult part of the evening was skipping the desserts, as some of the cakes were begging me to try them. I convinced myself that I didn’t need the sugar anyway (true, considering the massive amounts of chocolate chips I ate earlier), and poured myself a cup of tea. But I’ll have to try “veganizing” some of my favorite desserts…

47. Vegan Day 4

Breakfast

Apple Cardamom Muffin

 

Lunch

Pasta with tomato, olive oil, and oregano

 

Dinner

Indian food– okra, cauliflower, potatoes, and chickpeas

 

Snacks

Orange

Green smoothie (spinach, cacao, assorted fruit)

Trail mix (chocolate chips, pistachios, raisins, banana chips, dates)

 

Thursday

The word that comes to mind for day for is “extremes.” Since I’m paying a lot of attention to what I put in my body, I also notice how it reacts to the changes. When I’m hungry, I’m HUNGRY. When I’m thirsty, I’m THIRSTY.

The highlight of my day (in terms of food) was experimenting with the apple cardamom muffins. The recipe is from the vegan blog One Happy Table. I basically used her recipe with a lot of substitutions, because we really need to go grocery shopping. If I’ve learned one thing from going vegan, it’s always keep your fridge full, because you go through fruits and vegetables fast. Basically canola oil became sunflower seed oil, rice milk became sunflower seed milk, two small red apples became one medium green apple, and instead of baking soda and apple cider vinegar (an egg substitute), I used baking powder and oil. But the general idea was the same. The muffins came out fluffy and packed with the cardamom flavor, and they were all gone by the next day. Thank you One Happy Table! I think I’ll keep making these.

Another lesson: vegan food doesn’t have to be bland! Spices are your friends! We ordered Indian food for dinner from a local restaurant. In the vegetarian section we found some dairy free dishes, so we chose those, and checked that they were free of other animal products (eggs, honey, etc.) New mission: learn to cook Indian food this summer.

47. Vegan Day 3

Breakfast

Watermelon tangelo mango smoothie

 

Lunch

Cranberry walnut pancakes

 

Dinner

Pita with hummus and schug (Middle Eastern hot pepper condiment)

 

Snacks

Peach

Dried fruit and nuts

Adzuki bean brownies

Wednesday

Today I made more of an effort to cook. Originally I planned to make pancakes for breakfast, but I woke up late and wanted to go to Zumba so I made a quick smoothie. We have a very watery watermelon that we’ve been trying to use up, so I’ve been using it as a smoothie base for a few days now. When I got home from Zumba, I made pancakes from this website. I started out with their basic pancake recipe, but I substituted almond milk for soy milk, and added cranberries, walnuts, cinnamon, and a dash of vanilla to the batter. The resulting pancakes were fluffier than the ones from my normal recipe. My family couldn’t tell that they were vegan!

My next baking attempt was not as successful as the first. My mom likes to make energy bars out of adzuki beans, but this time she wanted to make brownies. However, the recipe called for black beans, and the adzuki beans were an inferior substitute. The texture was too chalky due to the beans, and the balance of ingredients was off, but when I tried them the morning after the consistency had improved. I think we’ll need to make another attempt at the recipe before posting.

I got another stomach ache, but it was nowhere near as bad as Tuesday’s. Apparently it is normal to get an upset stomach when transitioning to a vegan diet. A fellow blogger commented on yesterday’s post saying that she’s been a vegan for a month, and she still sometimes has stomach issues. Eventually it’s supposed to subside, so I’m hoping my body gets acclimated sooner rather than later!

47. Vegan Day 2

Breakfast

Oatmeal with dried cranberries, cinnamon, agave nectar, and almond milk

Lunch

Sandwich with hummus, tomato, and baby spinach

Leftover beet and carrot salad

Dinner

Okra with tomato sauce and caramelized onions

Watermelon mango banana smoothie

Snacks

Raw almond butter with shredded coconut, cocoa powder, and agave nectar (macaroons)

½ avocado with shredded coconut, cocoa powder, and agave nectar (a variation on the above)

Dried fruit- dates, plums, banana chips

 

Tuesday

Day 2 of going vegan brought up some new challenges. Yes, I was eating free of animal products, but I had basically removed dairy and eggs from my already very leafy diet. I hadn’t drastically changed what I had been eating, so going vegan didn’t feel like doing anything new.

The only time I really noticed a change was while I was at work. I work as a cashier at a frozen yogurt shop, so I’m always on my feet behind the register, or otherwise cleaning and bending over. I’m not sure if it was due to hunger, the food I had been eating, or some unrelated cause, but after I had been at work for a few hours I got a massive stomach ache. A sign that my body was cleansing?

One of the perks of working at a froyo shop is that employees are allowed a free serving of yogurt per shift. That day, we had introduced a few new flavors that I hadn’t seen before (white chocolate raspberry, lemon, and taro come to mind), that I was unable to try. I still got yogurt at the end of my shift, and I raced home on my bike to give it to my brother before it melted. He gladly devoured it, while my sister picked at the toppings.

That evening I decided to look up some recipes to try for Day 3. Since I’ve started Vegan Week I’ve had a few more followers join me, some of whom are vegan themselves. I’m looking forward to experimenting more with vegan cooking, so stay tuned for new recipes!

47. Vegan Day 1

Breakfast

1 banana

Oatmeal w/ cinnamon, agave nectar, and almond milk

 

Lunch

Beet and carrot salad with pistachios

Veggies (cherry tomatoes, red pepper, green pepper, celery) with hummus (gluten free)

Watermelon banana kiwi smoothie

 

Dinner

Sandwich- hummus (gluten free), baby spinach, tomato

 

Snacks

Pop chips (gluten free) with corn salsa

Banana chips

Raw peanuts

Peach

 

Going vegan takes preparation. While we normally keep a variety of fruits, vegetables, and non-dairy milk on hand, I was surprised at how limited my food choices were. I found myself checking the food labels of foods I normally consume, but had never thought to check for animal products. Shredded Wheats Cereal from Trader Joe’s? Gelatin. Granola? Made on equipment shared with milk, eggs, etc, Kosher Dairy. I settled on a banana and oatmeal for breakfast, using agave nectar instead of sugar or honey as a sweetener. Honey is controversial in the vegan community, because although it comes from bees, vegans are unsure whether taking honey from the hive harms the bees. For simplicity’s sake, I eliminated honey from my diet this week.

When going vegan, easy ingredient lists are your friend, as “Vegan” symbols on food packaging. Unbeknownst to me, Pop Chips are free of animal products, and though I don’t generally eat potato chips, I did sneak a couple. While reading ingredient lists, a few times I came across “guar gum.” Early in the day, I avoided salsa that included it because I didn’t know what it was. I looked it up, and guar gum turned out to be a derivative of the guar bean. I was relieved, because I had been eyeing the salsa all day, and I now knew that it was safe to eat.

Aside from being more aware of my food choices, on Sunday, the day before I began my experiment, a friend pointed out that I would no longer be able to wear my favorite sandals, as they have leather soles. I had been planning on wearing them with a belted dress for a job interview, but both the shoes and the belt had to go, as the belt was of questionable material (leather? pleather? none of the above?). I ended up scouring my sister’s closet for a pair of rubbery black flats, which suited me fine.

As the day went on, I noticed that I would feel full volume-wise, but not calorically. To counter this, I ate some fruit, which helped a bit. Over the course of the day, what struck me was the sheer volume of food I was eating. Since I ate mostly produce, I was getting a lot of nutrient dense, but not calorically dense food. This is why many vegans tend to be slim: though they consume a high volume, they consume fewer calories overall. I did miss being able to eat dark chocolate.

 

Going Vegan: A Note About Post 47

I’m going vegan. I’ve been toying with the idea for a few months, but I kept putting it off with excuses like “I have a dance show next week, I won’t get enough protein” and “I can’t come up with a fast vegan lunch when I’m already late for school.” For the past few weeks I’ve been hopping from graduation party to graduation party, too often giving me the opportunity to indulge in a sweet or four. The excess of sugar and yummy-but-not-good-for-you foods has started to make me feel sluggish and unhealthy overall, so I thought this week would be a good time to start paying a lot more attention to what I put in my body. For the next week, I will be posting daily about the trials and tribulations of going vegan. Each day’s post will correspond with the previous day, to ensure that I include the entire day’s food (including any late night snacks that may happen). My goal for the week is to get a sense of what it’s like to be on such a restricted diet, and learn what does and doesn’t work for my body in terms of food. Hopefully the process will allow my body some time to cleanse, though it more than likely takes longer than a week to get the full benefits of eating vegan. Enjoy the temporary new format!

Feel free to comment or ask questions below, and send me any recipes you would like me to try!

46. Peaches and Pizza and Stir Fry, Oh My!

At times I have to remind myself that this is not a food blog. However, it seems that many of my new experiences– and my most relatable ones– involve food. Food is a universal truth; we consume to survive. However, the way we interact with and play with our food distinguishes us from each other.

This week I finished reading Anthony Bourdain’s 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confidential, and was thus inspired to cook more than I have been in previous phases. Bourdain feels at home in a “pirate ship kitchen,” where crass language, hierarchies, and methodical chaos rule. What separates a professional kitchen from the typical home kitchen are the tricks of food prep: the chiffonaded parsley, roasted garlic, reduction sauces, and copious amounts of butter. Nonetheless, the home cook can do a fine job of recreating typical restaurant dishes without the excess. This week I enjoyed making Mozzarella and Peach Pizza with Balsamic Reduction sauce and Peanut Butter Stir Fry.

For the pizza, I used a pre-rolled pizza crust, but for those of you looking to make something from scratch, there are various dough recipes online for thin or thick crust pizza. Though I have a friend who regularly bakes bread, I am far too impatient to wait for yeast to ferment and dough to rise. I was pressed for time, so the shortcut it was. I began with the reduction sauce. I poured about a cup and a half of balsamic vinegar into a saucepan, heated it on high just till it boiled, then let it simmer on low for a while. Though balsamic vinegar reduces by half, it ended up being too much sauce. We used it the next day on a salad, so none of it went to waste. Next, chopped peaches and mozzarella landed atop the pizza crust, along with mint (used instead of basil). The balsamic reduction sauce finished it. The pizza went straight from the oven to our stomachs. Aptly, this song was the soundtrack of the evening:

 

A few days later my friend and I decided to make a stir fry with brown rice for dinner. The ingredients were simple enough– broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, red pepper, bean sprouts, an onion, a clove of garlic, ample fresh ginger, and coriander– but it was a good thing no one else was in the kitchen when we were making the sauce. Peanut sauces are de rigueur in many Asian cuisines, but as is wont of my friend and I, our plan for the sauce was to wing it. We ended up using more than half the jar of peanut butter, as well as soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, water, and honey. The end result was a creamy concoction that covered our giant pan of stir fry, plenty a table of eight. The peanut butter, protein and fat rich as it was, filled everyone up quickly. Originally we had planned to make ice cream sundaes afterwards, but we nixed the idea after seeing everyone clutching their bellies and smiling.

Ingredient List: Peaches and Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza

1 pre-made pizza crust, or dough of your choice

1 ball Buffalo Mozzarella, sliced

2 peaches (approximate), sliced thing

1 handful mint or basil leaves

1.5 cups balsamic vinegar

For reduction sauce, heat on high stovetop setting until it starts to boil, then reduce heat. Let simmer and stir periodically.

To make the pizza, layer mozzarella, peaches, and mint or basil leaves atop the pizza crust. You can pour the reduction sauce on the pizza either before or after baking it, according to preference. Bake pizza according to crust instructions, or follow your regular dough instructions.

As for the stir fry, there was no real recipe, and if I had to recreate it, I would do it according to taste. Feel free to leave questions in the comment section!

Firsts This Week:

• Finished Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, and began Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
• New music: listened to “Peaches” by Presidents of the United States of America
• Peaches and Mozzarella Pizza with Balsamic Reduction Sauce
• “Just Wing It” Stir Fry