It's been quite a while since I've posted here on this blog. I don't usually feel bad about this but reading back through previous posts made me realize how much I enjoyed writing here and how much I missed it. I am obviously still cooking and eating a plant based vegan diet (loving it more than ever!), I just have been terrible about keeping up here. I post a bit on Instagram (@chavisamet) which is a tad easier in terms of social media-- a picture and a caption and you're done!-- but that's about it.
I figure this post will be a bit of an update, where I am, what I'm eating these days, etc.
First things first. In terms of health, my hair is still shedding. I don't know if it's improved or normalized but it's still coming out in the shower. Not freaking out about it anymore because as my hair dresser says, I still have plenty left. I'd been to see a naturopath (whom I didnt like!) and then began a journey into Chinese herbal medicine. Ive been taking herbs to improve my periods and while I've noticed significant improvements, things aren't always consistently good so we're waiting and seeing there. In terms of the hair, the nurse I saw emphasized that hair is made of protein and that I need lots of good, strong blood and protein to keep my hair strong and healthy. She suggested I up my take of spirulina and so instead of taking just six tablets a day, I've upped it to nine. We'll see what happens there. I had blood work done pretty recently and my D turned up extremely low and so I've started supplementing there as well. Taking b12 everyday (which I hadn't done before) has been helping me with my energy levels. I take probiotics, digestive enzymes, some zinc (almost done and then will stop), some iron and biotin. It sounds like a lot, and it probably is, but I just want to be safe and I will stop taking some of them when the bottles run out.
So what am I eating?
Well, when I went to see my naturopath, he told me to lay off fruit. Totally disheartened, I started to lay off the oats and berries. (Which I think lowered my immune system as up until now I've experienced a record three colds in just as many months!) To get rid of the rest of the berries and fruit in my freezer, I made baked oatmeal a lot (I will post about this) and then subsequently started making Dreena Burton's granola (I'll post about that, too!) and enjoying that with soy milk. My Chinese herbalist looked at my numbers and told me to get back on fruit and that I'm in good health so I decided to add back berries! I couldn't have been happier about that. So these past few days, I've been having Grape Nuts and soy milk with frozen strawberries and blackberries and I'm a happy girl! I will try to see if I can get a good price on Grape Nuts and stock up if I can. If not, I'll re-evaluate breakfast!
As for lunch, I've been having mostly baked sweet potatoes with broccoli or brussel sprouts and some tahini drizzled over. Depending how my week goes, I'll have Shabbat leftovers but I'm pretty consistent about the sweet potato and green lunch. I just love it. Dinner... well, I admit, sometimes I get lazy and just have some matza with homemade almond butter and jelly (don't judge!) but lately I've gotten back to cooking from the books so I've been cooking again. I cooked for a while from Plant Powered Families and I've come back to cooking from Isa's books because I just love her. I've made a list of her nightshade free recipes and I'm working through those.
Still trying to keep an eye on my budget and be frugal but it doesn't always work. Hopefully getting back to posting will keep me accountable.
