Archive for June, 2009

Biggest Complainer YET

{ June 30, 2009 @ 10:45 am } · { Natural Curly Hair, Vegan }
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I’ve had some complainers, some more vocal than others since I’ve started my vegan diet. I have experienced rude comments from co-workers, friends and even my doctor. Not sure why she’s so mad, my insurance is STILL paying her when I visit. But the most vocal complainer has been none other than my hair! My curls are MAD.

I’ve been natural for a teeny bit over a year now. I had a great routine that worked extremely well for me. A nice balance of 98% natural products with the tiny inclusion of some silicones in my leave-in. This was working GREAT. Well, since I’ve been eating a plant based diet, for some reason my hair has gone completely crazy!

There’s this layer of frizz that has sprouted up, literally over night, making my favorite wash/shake/go method of hair styling almost impossible. My hair (which is finally long enough to do something with since my BC last year!!) is now pushed back into a ponytail, but I feel nekkid without my big hair.

What do I do? New products i’m sure. Yet, I have no idea what type of products my hair needs. More moisture? A protein treatment? Some sort of styling aid to force it to behave? No to the latter of course, I have to maintain it’s health before worrying over it’s appearance.

Hmmm, i’m going to do some searching through natural hair sites and see if I can find a solution. I will definitely update once I and ready to move to Phase 2, Operation Research.

Dairy Milk Alternatives PT. 2 of 4

{ June 29, 2009 @ 8:51 am } · { Dairy Alternatives, Vegan }
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We all know, or we should all know i’m an island girl. So when I found the below brand, SO Delicious on the shelves of Whole Foods I was extremely excited! I enjoy the benefits of coconut milk and oil for many things including conditioning my hair and skin. However, I either make it myself from an actual coconut, or use something similar to the image on the right. Standard coconut milk out of a can that is much too thick to be used poured over cereal or to just enjoy a fresh glass while eating something chocolatey or peanut buttery. Well. SO Delicious (named accurately) has fixed that problem. They have taken coconut milk, lightened it up and created something i’m excited about.

The consistency is similar to Whole Dairy Milk. It is slightly thicker/richer. I would say in between Whole Milk and Creamer. I tried the original and it was not annoyingly sweet. The flavor was definitely that of coconuts, however it wasn’t so strong that someone who is not a a HUGE fan of coconut wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. The color is the same as dairy. My boyfriend (non-vegan who I slipped this to) didn’t even know the difference! Although i’m still going to try other options. So far this is definitely going to be a staple replacement for me!

Nutritional Information:

Supply and Demand

{ June 24, 2009 @ 1:57 pm } · { Random Rants }
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Dear (insert job title here),

Hi, I’m the person you assisted the other day. I would like to take this time to provide a friendly recap of our longer than brief supply/demand based interaction.

I came into your work space as I required something within your area of expertise. I waited until you decided I had waited long enough and proceeded to request my demand of your supplies once I was certain I had your full attention. But who are we kidding, I never had your full attention, did I?

Your attitude was less than desirable. Your tone of voice was rough with traces of annoyance and indignation at my requesting a demand that you are employed to supply. You took your time while attempting to look up my demand, to see if you had any idea of this outlandish thing I was requesting.

Eye rolling, this happened on many occasions often followed by a deep and heavy sigh. I get it, I annoy you. The thing is though, I need this. That is my only purpose for being in your workspace. I can assure you in my free time, I do not intend to hang out in your area of expertise.

“Hold on!” you bark at me roughly causing me to cringe. “Sure, no problem” is my polite and airy reply, hoping it’ll speed up this interaction which has now become much, much longer than brief. You answer your phone and are suddenly all smiles. This person makes your day. Perhaps he/she is the reason you are at this job you so obviously loathe, making the work day longer for both I and you. After a brief sun filled interaction with the person on the phone, my presence looms in the background like a darkening storm cloud, destroying your mood. I didn’t know how terrible of a person I am! I’m glad I’m doing this recap.

“I have to go, I’ll call you later.” This is the dry response I’ve caused you to give the person that only a few moments ago lightened your entire existence.

“Hey, if it’s a problem, I can come back…” I trail off as you give me another of your patented looks of disgust. I hush up and wonder if you realize how much faster this could be if you would just DO YOUR JOB. You do get that, don’t you? You hate me, but I can’t leave because YOU won’t let ME.

I lean against an object large enough to support my weight or sit back in my chair and check my text, tweet, e-mail and wait.

Eventually, FINALLY, you have the supply that I demanded originally. THANK YOU. This has taken so much longer than I expected.

I receive the supply only to find that it’s wrong. So close, but so very wrong. Is this possibly because I never had your full attention to begin with?

I remain calm, the economy is bad. You’re lucky to have a job, you can’t be concerned with what it is you do and how you do it. You just need the money, yes? Perhaps to care for the person who made the sun shine in your stormy world.

I sigh, wait for you to acknowledge my presence in your world once again.. so that we can do the same dance of supply and demand.

Dairy Milk Substitutes PT.1 of 4

{ June 20, 2009 @ 8:30 pm } · { Dairy Alternatives, Vegan }
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This was about $2. Almond Milk, found it at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and even some Jewels and Dominicks.

The texture/thickness is inbetween Skim and 1% dairy milk. Color is a bit off-white. Taste is slightly nutty which is to be expected. However, tastes great with coffee and some lightly flavoured cereals. Not much of a difference from dairy honestly. I would definitely have it again.
I’ll also be trying Hazelnut, Hemp and Coconut Milk

Health Updates

{ June 17, 2009 @ 7:44 pm } · { PCOS, Sickle Cell Anemia, Vegan }
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So, PCOS.. talked about this last time. In addition, I have sickle cell anemia, which I’ve had since a child. Don’t get me started on all types of allergies, bad immune system and of course the lovely side effects that come attached to them all.. mainly PCOS.

After much research and planning.. I’m going to try to let my body become healthy enough to heal itself. The doctor recommended surgery to go in and try to manually “burst” each of the cysts in my ovary. Um… no thanks. I’m not a fan of invasive procedures. I’m even less of a fan of anesthesia.
I’ve decided to, wait for it, not only take the plunge into vegetarianism, but take things one step further.. I’m going to try to become vegan :-) I’ve done so much research and a plant based diet seems just the right step for me at this time.
I’ve recently started… well, we’ll call today my first step disregarding all of the Internet research I’ve done.
Day 1 to Vegan:
I went to Borders and bought several books that should be helpful. They are:
  • Becoming Vegan which is a guide based on nutrition. It is very detailed and I’m excited to get started!
  • Vegan with a Vengeance I would say it contains recipes of a medium level difficulty. It has SNACKS! (I enjoy snacks, lol) but also provides actual meals that I can prepare for myself and my boyfriend. I really love to cook and don’t want to give that up
  • Peta’s Vegan College Cookbook This has fast and easy recipes with things like Raman noodles and peanut butter, lol. For those days where I’m too lazy to cook or I don’t have time to cook.
I’m thinking I have a pretty well round bunch of information to get my started.
My plan is to have 3 vegan days to let myself get used to the textures, new additions to my diet, taste, preparation, etc. Find out what I like and what I don’t, what works and what doesn’t, etc. Ease myself into it.
I am however giving up dairy now. After finding out more about it… I can’t, I just can’t consume dairy anymore. *shudders*
I seriously want to go up to the CEO of the FDA and punch him in his penis. He KNEW about this and let me eat/drink dairy all this time! SERIOULY? Why do you hate Americans??? :-(
Oh, more one thing… I also downloaded this very helpful list from Trader Joe’s.
Lastly, (hahaha, one more last thing) I bought Almond Milk today. I don’t want to start off consuming too much soy.. so I’m going to try Almond Milk, then Rice and if I can find it Hemp milk before resorting to Soy…
I’m going to also post new recipes that I try, pictures and taste results. Luckily, so many Dominican recipes are already vegetarian and with a tiny tweek can become vegan fairly easy!
Well, I’m excited and here’s to my health!!!!!
CHEERS

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