Day 146 - Monday 27th April 2009

Have been keeping an eye on my weight of late and have noticed that I have again lost more weight and am now down to 52kgs. My goal weight was 55kgs, but somehow I went below that. Maintaining my goal weight is harder than I expected, but hey, having the difficulty of putting on or maintaining my weight is a hell of a lot better than trying to get the weight off. I think this is probably the first time in my life that I've had to deal with this. That makes a nice change in a way.

Since my last entry, I can honestly say that my diet has changed for the better. Although I am still a strict vegan, I have incorporated one cooked meal a day back into my diet. This is another reason I believe I am still losing the weight, as vegetables are low in fat and carbs, so have little on their own to increase the weight. I have dropped off eating as much fruit as I use to, so will have to increase the higher fat/carb fruits like dragonfruit, bananas, avocado's and include more nuts and seeds. I want to still stick to a low fat diet, because high fat plays havoc with my digestion, but by including more of the above my weight should start to plateau. I will have to make a point of doing my measurements again this week, as it has been quite a while since I last recorded them.

Made a delicious nut cheese the other day, which is awesome and have been putting it into my salads and stir fries of late. Discovered a really great wrap bread, called Mountain Bread that has no dairy, eggs, sugar etc... that I have been eating of late also. It does have a rice wheat in it though, which probably shouldn't really be in my eating plan, but I'm enjoying it and it doesn't make me feel bloated and digests quite well. I generally fill up the wrap with salad or stir fry veg and with a little nut cheese is really tasty.

I'm happy with how I feel at the moment and the foods I'm eating are really agreeing with me. My cravings for SAD have pretty much dissappeared and although I will admit that a lot of the foods smell great when they are cooking, that's as far as I generally want to take it. Tasting these foods now, does not even enter my head, but instead I look forward to eating vegan.

Changing my way of living and eating vegan has made a huge difference in my life. The difference is not only noticeable on the outside, but also on the inside, which is why I feel so much more healthier than I have ever felt before. My body now teaches me what to feed it and what agrees with it. Just the other day hubby took me out to dinner at Sizzler for my birthday where I could choose from a large array of fruits and salad items to fill me up. Upon eating a salad that I thought was tomato, onion, capscium, herbs, I soon discovered it was actually a very spicy salsa salad that gave me stomach and digestion pains that made me literally feel sick. The next day I was still recovering.

Since becoming vegan I have discovered the following about my digestion and the foods I eat.

I cannot consume melons on an empty stomach.

Too many nuts and seeds causes constipation, bloating and stomach pains.

I need to avoid spices in foods.

Fresh, whole raw foods do digest easier, but so does cooked vegetables also.

My body quickly tells me what it likes and what it doesn't and while it continues to, I will continue eating this way.