Archive for Vegan

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:

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

Delicious, Vegan Friendly and Low in Cals..

{ March 30, 2009 @ 1:28 pm } · { Recipes, Vegan }
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Random Recipe I make all the time.

Low in cals, delicious and relatively fast to make. It’s also vegetarian friendly if you’re watching your meat intake.

Learn to love Caribbean food. :)

Recipe for Rice and Beans in Coconut Milk

Ingredients:

1 tbsp of oil (I use expeller pressed grapeseed because of the health benefits)

¼ cup of organic onion.. diced

2 cloves of fresh organic minced garlic

1 ½ cups of organic rice (I used brown, feel free to use what works best for you! including wild rice or even Quinoa!)

1 ½ cups of filtered water

1 can of organic coconut milk

1/8 tsp organic ground thyme

1 packet of Sazon without annatto

2/3 cup of dry beans or 1 can of beans (The original recipe calls for red beans, but my favorite is pink, so I use those instead)

Seasoning to taste (I used Adobo w/ pepper, but season salt, or just salt and pepper should do the trick as well)

Cooking:

1. In a large pan (I use a wok) heat the oil on medium heat. Once oil is warm, stir in onion and garlic. Let it cook for roughly 2-3 minutes. Add seasoning and let it cook for about another minute

2. Add rice and cook for about 2 minutes stirring frequently. Stir in water slowly, making sure everything is mixed well. Stir in coconut milk. Stir in thyme, a bit more seasoning and the Sazon. Bring to a boil. Stir in cooked beans and return to a boil. Cover and lower heat. Simmer for roughly 30 minutes, check and stir frequently to avoid sticking. (Note: cook time is longer for brown rice, you may want to “pre cook” the brown rice until it is tender outside and firm instead before adding to the recipe to lower the total cooking time)

3. When rice is tender, remove from heat, fluff, cover and let sit for about 3 minutes.

Serve and enjoy! J

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