Last week, I dislocated my thumb and went to the doctor to have it checked out. While there, they took my weight and blood pressure and I have some really awesome news!

First, a bit of background which you may know if you’ve been reading this blog for a while – but anyway, for the past 5-6 years, I’ve had high blood pressure and for the past few years, I’ve been on prescription medications for that as well as high cholesterol. But back in July when I became vegan, I started noticing changes and on the advice of a doctor I spoke to in September, I quit taking those medications.

Well, when I went to the doctor last week, my blood pressure was 124/77!!! WITHOUT medication! That is the best it has been in 6 years. I’m so freakin’ excited about that, I get all giddy every time I think about it.

Plus, I have officially lost 30 pounds. I can wear long-johns and sweatpants both under my regular jeans, they’re so loose! LOL (I know, on the verge of being TMI, there.) But that is so good because the weather is very cold here right now – between 25 and 34 degrees lately. Too cold! At least there hasn’t been any snow!

Listen, I keep hearing things from family and friends about how eating vegan is so hard and cooking differently is so time consuming and so difficult. Well, you know what? That’s bullshit. Total bullshit. It’s NOT hard. I’m one of those people who refused to cook 2 separate meals for the kids and the adults in my family – I know a lot of people who do that – they cook something for the kids and then something else for themselves and their significant other. I’ve always been against that.

When I became vegan, though, I didn’t want to force my family to eat that way if they didn’t want to so I started cooking different meals. Actually, what I did mostly was double the amount of vegetables I cooked. They ate the “main” meal – steak, chicken, or whatever meat product – and some vegetables and I ate vegetables. Since we eat a lot of Asian style food in our house, doubling the veggies and stuff is simple. Plus, we often eat rice with our meals.

It IS pretty easy, folks.

And there are so many good recipes out there! I have found tons of recipes that use vegan ingredients that taste just like what you would expect. For example, things like pumpkin pie, gravy, spaghetti. You can cook very simply without eating ‘boring’ stuff and have it be not only be filling and delicious, but also vegan.

Now, there are a lot of vegan advocates out there who say to stay away from “white” foods like rice, potatoes, bread, flour, etc. that I don’t agree with completely. I do agree on the flour and bread – white flour is bleached (YUCK!) – and that’s just not cool. But potatoes and rice I don’t agree with. I still eat those. I think where people get in trouble with rice and potatoes is not the food itself – it’s what they put ON it. Stuff like butter, ranch dressing, etc. You can’t put all that on there and expect it to be healthy.

Just to show you that vegan food doesn’t have to be boring, here’s a typical daily menu for me -

Breakfast – hashbrowns cooked in a non-stick skillet with NO oil and NO cooking spray then topped with salsa and green onions.
OR corn chex cereal with rice milk.
OR 10-grain hot cereal with a little brown sugar and maple syrup.
Lunch – baked potato with green onions, black pepper, chopped tomatoes and a bowl of split pea soup.
OR corn tortillas filled with vegetarian refried beans, green onions and taco sauce.
OR a huge bowl of steamed veggies like snow peas, broccoli, spinach, carrots seasoned with some kind of no-salt seasoning and rice with low-sodium soy sauce.
Dinner – spinach and romaine salad with tomatoes, green onions, green beans, chick peas and roasted red pepper dressing and a bowl of rice with soy sauce.
OR 3 bean chili over a baked potato and topped with green onions and tomatoes.
OR yakisoba noodles tossed with steamed broccoli, onions, carrots, peas and cabbage and seasoned with low-sodium soy sauce.

I find that repeating the same meals weekly is quite satisfying. The basics stay the same – rice, baked potato or hashbrowns, beans – and then I just change the other things that go with it – broccoli, tomatoes, chickpeas, asparagus, salad, etc. I’m pretty content eating the same things over and over, though. Like split pea soup – I could eat it everyday for lunch for weeks and not be tired of it.

I think the key is to find things that you really like and then add other things once in a while for some variety. Your body will tell you when it’s ready for something else. This is what Tim Ferris says in his “4 Hour Body” book and on his blog. He eats pretty much the same things every day during the week and eats something different and more varied on the weekends. In fact, he advocates a “pig out” day once a week where he eats junk food all day. I’m not sure I’m ready for that but possibly at some point when I’ve reached my goal weight and all of that.

Anyway, this post is already longer than I intended but I hope it gives you some ideas. Even if you just do vegan a few times a week, it’s a start. That’s how I started, actually – I’ve been eating partially vegan for about 5 years. It started out as a few times a week, then I went to eating vegan during the week and “normal” on weekends and then I finally graduated to vegan full-time.

At this point, I seriously think that decision was the best decisions I’ve EVER made in my entire life.

And that’s no exaggeration.

Until next time . . . keep blazin’

Wishing you love, success + fire in your belly . . .