Thanks for all the positive feedback on my 2011 goals- this is going to be a great year and I'm looking forward to seeing many of you accomplish your goals as well!
It has become the practice of many Christians recently to begin the new year by fasting in some sort of way in order to get focused on God and de-clutter life for a while. Many believers choose to fast food completely (and only drink water or juice), others may choose to stop eating only certain things (fast food), while others choose to abstain from some form of media. I really enjoy and regularly participate in fasting as it really does help me focus on God while keeping various aspects of my life "in check."
While I typically lean towards doing a water only/juice only fast, this year I felt that I should do something different and as of Monday I've embarked on a 21 day "Daniel Fast" which is for all intensive purposes a variation of a VEGAN diet (or at least what I understand to be one). Now, anyone that knows me (or has even read my blog for any period of time) knows that I pretty much eat Chicken at every meal (excluding breakfast) and the idea of becoming a vegetarian/vegan has never been something I would ever/have ever considered doing; however, I've taken the plunge and for this 21 day period I will be:
Abstaining From All:
- Meat
- Dairy
- Eggs
- Soda
- Candy- Anything made from White Flour
- Anything containing salt or sugar (in the ingredients list)
- Eating out (yikes!!!!)
My Diet Consists Of:
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Whole Grain/Whole Wheat items
- Water
- Beans
And that's about it folks. Truthfully, this has been easier in some ways as I'm used to not being able to eat at all during fasting, but on the other hand I'm quite the veggie-virgin and have never abstained from meat or dairy IN MY LIFE. While I have absolutely no intentions of maintaining this lifestyle after these 3 weeks, I am learning a lot and think this can only be a good thing for my weight loss journey as well as my relationship with God.
Having to work with foods that I've never tried before (and with such a limited number of options) has definitely caused me to get creative in the kitchen- here are some of my latest food endeavours:
I created this semi-delicious "dessert" when I began having cravings for something sweet. It's a whole-wheat cinnamon raisin english muffin topped with a mashed up banana, vanilla, and cinnamon. It wasn't great but it did the job.
Now this was delicious! I picked up some brown rice tortillas at Trader Joes (which I was a little afraid of at first but are def decent) and threw them in the oven to create some "tortilla chips", and topped with it with Trader Joe's garlic hummus, a tomato slice, and some balsamic vinegar. I do believe I will be having 3-4 more of these tonight with a nice side salad.
I am interested to see what my weigh in will be like tomorrow- particularly with cutting out soda- I usually onl y drink diet anyways but I know my sodium levels have definitely gone down. I guess we'll have to see!
Anyways, I'll be sharing more of my adventures as a temporary vegan throughout the next few weeks, enjoy at my expense :)
Peace out girl (and boy) scouts!