A little bit of lots of things

On Gaining Health: I had a visit to the Doctor's and we assessed all the numbers, looked at the blood test results and you know what? We have good numbers all around plus the numbers have also come down since we last checked all the numbers. [Numfar does the dance of joy]

[Doctor dosen't do the dance of joy] We had a brief discussion about lapband surgery, again. It's less do or die now, it's more like it'd be the quickest way of losing the last of the weight now. I still don't think it's the option for me, changing my lifestyle has been a slow process but I've come along way from how things were. I think I can finish this, keeping a positive mind set.

Gaining Health Props I Love:

My much used copy (the post-it markers show when on the shelf among my other books this is also my most used vegan cook book) of Appetite For Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, to borrow a qoute from the back cover "Only 200 to 400 calories per serving".

While the book has no breakfasts or sweet stuff, it's all soups, salads and other mains & sides. The food is delicious that I have made so far and it's also very filling, I find myself not riffling the kitchen in search of snacks after I've eaten. A very good thing in my case as this was really my downfall in the past, not eating enough at meals and then madly scrambling through out the day for unhealthy snacks - overly processed, high fat, loaded with refined sugars and while calorie dense not really all that nutrient dense.

I think the Low Fat recipe selection on Isa's website the PPK can give you some idea of the kind of recipes in this book, a few of them are actually in the book but the majority aren't. My top reccomendations Hottie Black Eyed Peas with Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Apples, Marbled Banana Bread and Eggplant Bacon.

My Food Diary! It's been abandoned, I got really slack about taking photos and posting them, might have been a bit less slack about some of the stuff I'd eaten recently if I had been doing this. Oh well. We can but start over!

And a little app I love Zombies, Run! It's kind of quirky, very fun and really the only kind of fitness app I ever want to own. Basically it plays a little story out, "missions" are unlocked as you complete the stories so as your walking, jogging or running imbetween your music you get little bits of story, post apcolyptic world with zombies so you get updates from the people back at base camp. As your moving you gather supplies which after you run you can distribute in your camp to help it grow so kind of also a game as well. Growing your base also unlocks more "missions".
The best bit? It has optional zombie chases, giving you the option of turning it into interval training. This alone sold me on this app. :)

And the newest addition, just arrived so I haven't had time to try anything out of it yet, Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia C. Simpson. As the cover says "Every Recipe Has Fewer Than 350 Calories Per Serving!".

This has everything breakfast, soup, salad, mains and sides, dessert and drinks. All of it looks delicious, I think I'm going to have to start with the Cheese Steak on the cover, I have been coveting it ever since the cover was unveiled.

Although running a close second is Chilli Cheese Fries, I haven't eaten them since, I can't remember when. The only time I had them in the past was when I frequented the local Creole restaurant. A little haven of Americana food adventures. Miss it. :(

If I have to make a short list of must try's Seitan Cheesesteak, Chili Cheese Fries, Butter Pecan Ice Cream, Home-Brewed Ginger Ale, Crispy Risotto Cakes and Sticky Bun Popcorn.

Gaining Health ideas that baffle me:
Paleo diet, I don't quite get the excitement.
Running, everyone's all into running now, running is the it sport at the moment and everyone is either running their way to health or running their way to run a marathon.
Fat/Oil-free, I'm always perplexed by fat free. What are you eliminating exactly? All fat both good and bad? Or just bad fat? Are you still eating avocados and nuts? Oil free is a bit more specific, but having been down that road myself in the past, just no.

Final answer? It's back to 1200 calories and daily exercise, it's winter rolling around so maybe I should join the gym. Decisions decisions!

We've only got 20 minutes

Not quite as catchy as the Justin Timberlake and Madonna song is it? No sadly not. :(

What we have is 20 mins while the tofu gets pressed Darkside style...

I've heard epic tales of a thing called a Tofu Xpress but I've yet to see one, I suspect one of the local health food stores might hold such a treasure but were making do.

Tonight I'm mkaing Moo Shu Vegetables and (with my skills allowing) Homemade Chinese Pancakes from Chloe's Kitchen.

Some of the things I've made from the book so far are...

Cinnamon-Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

(A horrible photo of) Penne alla Vodka - I've been meaning to make a version of this for years, so good!

Some things I've made from Chloe's blog that have made it into her book (I'll have to search for the photos).
- Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Hazelnuts
- Vegan Mac 'N' Cheese (In the book the recipe is baked but otherwise it's the same)

Other things I've made from Chloe's website (for which I will also have to search for photos) which so far have all been good!
- Garlic Sesame Soba Noodles
- Chocolate Chip Banana Cake
- Harvest Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
- Witches Fingers Cookies

I borrowed Knits for Nerds from a knitting friend, I love this book! Eventually I'll have to have a copy of my very own for my collection but for now I have a lend.
My two top picks for thing I must make first go to Aim To Misbehave Jacket (a femine take on the "Browncoats" from Firefly) and Big Bang Girl's Sweater Vest. The vest might be the lower effort and therefore quicker to make but that jaccket is beautiful. And I'm really excited as they both go up to Large and a Large that will actually fit me. Squee!

Speaking of things fitting me, moving into the Gaining Health, I still have underware that's 3 sizes too big. I've bought smaller underware as I've shrank but not completly replaced what I have so I've been making do. One of the 3 sizes too big pairs, I put them on yesterday and the crotch was down around my knees. I figured I'd just pull them up higher, didn't work they migrated down and I had knicker crotch around my knees again.
In the end I took them off and threw them away, it was ridiculous! I need new jeans/trackpants/skirts as there all gettting a fraction too big. Which is easily fixed with the skirts because I can just roll the waistband and make them shorter. This does not work with pants. :(

On a happier note this can mean only one thing, new clothes! :) This has to be a happy thing, might have to do the op shops over and which on the upside should strech the clothing budget quite far provided I can find anything suitable. It really is lucky dip.

Mastering Menu Planning

It's been awhile since I menu planned and I have been sort of cooking on a whim and eating a lot of peanut butter sandwichs.

My family have this notion that I eat complicated food, I cook in my parents kitchen. They have an actual kitchen as opposed to a kitchenette, plus their actual kitchen has a dishwasher. Downside to this is their in my way while I'm trying to cook, asking questions, making faces (alright this is limited to my Dad) and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Really how many times do you need to come into the kitchen and make a cup of coffee? Apparently 10 times more when I'm trying to cook.

And I think they percieve my cooking to be time consuming and complicated based on the fact that I'm always chopping up a bunch of fresh vegetable. Since what I eat is nearly all vegetable, that's a fair bit of veg for each meal.

Task #1 - Make my food look less complicated.

Then there's my own little goal. Alright so this is more a ginormous goal.

Task #2 - Cook from the umpteen dozen cookzines I have, plus the cookbooks I've never used.

Then comes the big one, since I've started photographing all my food I'm eating, this is only day three. It's been kind of shaming all ready. Definite room for improvement.

Task #3 - Cook and eat more healthy food!

#3 is a big one, as I'm still very much on the road to "gaining health". The Roller Derby Workout has had an annual challenge for the last 2 years now? This will be year 3 if I'm couting right and I belive there is talk of a vegan meal plan this year. I'll be interested to see what they come up with.
Sadly my library dosen't have any of Brendan Brazier's books which I have seen reccomended. I will admit I am a little uncertain about how they would fit with where I am, my primary focus is to strip away the fat, from a vanity point of view I'll worry about shaping what's underneath later. Maybe it would be more time wise to think about shaping what's underneath the fat now as well as stripping the fat?
Does a book on fitness really fit what I'm trying to do? I'm unsure if there is a definate link between me now and how I see me later.

Fitness is the key overall issue here, whatever derby once was, it has very much evolved into a very competitve sport. Derby girls are now athletes, I want to be a derby girl, so I have to be an athlete? Maybe there is more of a connection to this "fitness". 
Trial and error I suppose, I'll get there eventually. I hope?

Onwards to the menu planning!

From Sunny Days in Texas cookzine
Jackfruit Brisket - A quick one pot dish, that I'll only need to chop an onion for. Low effort!
ETA photo!

From Appetite For Reduction (Low-fat cooking, hopefully clean up my eating a bit more.) -
Broiled Blackened Tofu, Butternut Coconut Rice & Jerk Asparagus
Chilli-Lime Rubbed Tofu with Pasta de los Angeles
Tamarind BBQ Tempeh & Sweet Potatoes
Masala Baked Tofu with ??????? (Possibly cauliflower dish of some description.)

Start as you intend to go on.

My New Year Day's dinner, Hottie Black Eyed Peas with Ginger Sweet Potatoes & Apples from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Timeline of gaining health...

June 2010 - My doctor told me I'd never lose the excess weight I was carrying unless I had lap band surgery and promptly wrote off a referral to the surgeon.
The day after this appointment I went out on a mission and revamped my pantry, changing how I shopped and what I ate. There was this thing called the Low GI diet and I jumped on that band wagon with gusto.

November 2010 - I saw a dietician and stepped on a set of scales for the first time in forever. A very, very daunting experience. We set a mini goal of 10kgs to start as my dietician told me the fastest way I could lose weight safely was a 1kg (2 pounds) a month.
This is the month when I went vegetarian again and started looking into veganisim.

October 2011 - 11kgs (22 pounds for the non-metric) down and I finally see the surgeon about the lap band surgery. We discussed, I say discussed, basically he talked and I listened. The surgeon packs me off with a bunch of "home work" to read up on, come back and see him in Feb 2012 with any questions I have from all my "home work".

Come Feb 2012 if I decided I want to have the operation are we good to go? No, I will need to see the hospital dietician and psychartrist and get the OK from both of them and I can go on the waiting list.
It's already been 16 months, add on another 4 months before I go back, about 20 months in total? Plus how ever long it'll take for the two other appointments + on the waiting list time.

Is it an understatement to say I am underwhelmed?

November 2011 - Where I stand now, well 19kgs (or 38 pounds) to go, my dietician thinks the fact I can consistently lose a kilo a month means I have got a fix on the food and its time to up the 30mins a day exercise. I need to increase it a tiny bit each day to bring it up to an hour and we'll (hopefully) see results of about 2kgs (4 pounds) a month.

What I've learned on the last 16 months trek up the mountain?
- When throughly fed up with myself and feel like I am never going to get to the top I think about Roller Derby. I have never wanted to play a sport ever, till I discovered derby. Maybe if other sports let you have ridiculous names and tacky outfits I'd have moved a lot sooner.
Next month my local league is holding a Fresh Meat session in prep for their intake in Feb 2012. I need to get myself along, nothing ventured nothing gained.

- I like parsnips/eggplants/shitake mushrooms/savoury yeast (aka nutritional yeast)/tempeh/tofu/oyster mushrooms. These things are all cool now.

- A whole new world of culinary adventures has been opened to me, along with the opportunity to shop for new gadgets and gizmos for the kitchen. Basically I'm still obsessed with the kitchen/food/eating but in a new way since I started eating more vegan food.

- Portion control! I can not talk about what an absolute must this is, it wasn't when I converted to a Low GI diet just changing what I ate but how much of it I ate. I'll admit it took me from June 2010 to November 2010 to wake up to just how important that really was.
I've never been one of life's fast learners, unfortunatly I need to spectacularly crash and burn at something, well anything, to learn from it. I lurch on to the bloody end, the world burning down arounrd my ears just about. What? That didn't work? Oh well, we'll start again.

Isn't it a Chinese saying, there are many paths to the top of the mountain but the view is always the same.
I'll see you at the top. Eventually.