Camera Shy

So as much as I want this to be a daily food sort of blog, I'm finding its hard to consistently take pictures of what I eat. When I'm at home, no big deal, but its difficult when I'm out with friends or family. I haven't "gone public" with this blog and I'm not ready to explain the constant table photo shoots. How do you guys deal with this? Do you tell people what the pictures are for? I'm sure for you veteran bloggers, people are used to it! But what about when you were first starting out? Just curious if you had any advice on this!

Since I'm at a work event all day, and probably won't be taking pictures of the eats, I think ill do some recent product reviews.

Arctic zero.
This stuff is hard to find in stores (I'm lucky enough to have it stocked at my local Whole Foods, but for those of you out of the distribution area, you CAN order it on Amazon. Anyways, back to the review!




First, let's talk nutritional stats. Its 32 calories per serving. That's right, 128 calories in the whole pint!! Obviously that's what originally piqued my interest... it comes in a new different flavors: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry banana and chocolate peanut butter. I've only tried the chocolate peanut butter, but let me tell you, this is amazing stuff!
Its not exactly like ice cream, more like a really good frozen protein shake. (Oh yeah, the calories that ARE in it come from whey protein. Its also lactose free.) I eat it straight out of the container, but I've also heard it makes a great base for a milkshake. This still is a little pricey (about $4 in the store, but its more expensive on amazon due to shipping and all that stuff.) But id say its worth it! Add some almond butter to it and its amazing!!

Alright, that's all I've got!
Liz

Favorite Food Books!

I've been reading some great food books lately. I just finished In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. GREAT book! I highly recommend it. It's not only informative, but also an entertaining read. You'll have trouble putting it down, trust me!

Now I'm reading a Food Politics. This one is much more... scientific. (Is that the right word? I'm not sure.) So it's a bit of a slower read, but it's still very interesting. It's making me very very skeptical about food marketing. There are some crazy tactics out there, and now I see how many of them I've fallen for!

I've also been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. (I know, I know, I was a little slow to catch up on this one! Thank goodness for Hulu!) It was so cool to see how involved he was in the lives of those families!

Being in the marketing field has definitely made me more aware of advertising tactics, but I guess I never thought they were so... deceptive, particularly with food and health claims. It's disappointing the way government regulations fail to push on these issues.

Does anyone have any other book or documentary recommendations for me?

Grocery Addiction

I spend entirely too much time and money at the grocery store. At 21, I think I'm supposed to be racking up bar tabs, not grocery bills! But I can't help it, I love the grocery store! Yesterday, I went to Kroger to get toilet paper. Just toilet paper. I left with onions, broccoli, soy crisps, make up, garbanzo bean flour and tabouli salad mix. That's right, the one thing I forgot was... toilet paper.

Am I the only one that goes to the store for one thing, and comes out with an arm full of groceries?? I hope not!

The good news is, the tabouli salad came out delicious! Good thing I picked up pitas at whole foods!


turned into:



Please excuse the bite marks and the messy plate. I'm still getting used to the food blogging thing, and I started eating before I remembered to snap a pic! :)

Other highlights of the day:

I finally tried the banana soft serve recipe from Katie and I added in some Dark Chocolate Dreams. This combination turned out to be fantastic!!!




That's all I've got for today!

-Liz

Deal of the Century!

So while perusing the grocery store, I came across a food processor that was on sale for $2.50. Yes, two dollars and fifty cents! I couldn't pass it up! I have a Magic Bullet Blender, but I really needed something that could do heavy duty blending. So I lucked out on this purchase!



Making homemade almond butter!!

What's your favorite thing to make in food processor?

First Attempt!

Hello All!
I'm Liz! And this is my attempt at living Vegan!! I've been a food blog reader for quite some time, so I thought I'd try writing my own little blog. Please grace me with your patience as I learn my way around this blog situation. So let me give you some background, and explain why I'm even starting this project!

Ever since I was little, I've had very high cholesterol, due to genetics. (Thanks, Dad!) The doctors wanted to put me on medication at the ripe age of 11, but my parents didn't want me to start something like that at such a young age. Eventually, my doctor put me on medication, around age 18, but I only took it for a year or two. While the medication did seem to help things, I'd like to attempt some life style changes, and see what difference that can make before I get back on the meds again. So this is the kick off!

Some Vital stats:



I'm 21 years old, I'm 5' 4", 124lbs. My over all cholesterol is 277... anything above 200 is bad news! My LDL (the bad cholesterol) is 225, and that should be less than 150! My HDL (the good guys!) is 39, and it should be over 50. My main goal in the next 6 months, is to get the total cholesterol and LDL to go down, and to raise my HDL!

I've been a vegetarian for the last 3 1/2 years, but admittedly, I didn't necessarily replace meat with healthier options. If you've ever tried vegetarianism, you know how easy it is to fall into the trap of tossing out meat only to replace it with extra carbs + fat. Yuck! I've been a diet coke addict for awhile, and I'm a habitual snack-er. *sigh*

So here are the new nutritional goals!

1. Going vegan!! I've heard a lot of great things about veganism, and I think for lowering cholesterol, going vegan will help me stay on track. I think the hardest thing to give up will be cheese + yogurt. I've been reading lots and lots of vegan blogs recently, to give me some recipe ideas!

2. Exercising regularly. I have months where I work out religiously, and months where I can't seem to get my butt off the couch. Here's to starting a new routine!

3. Cut out artificial sweeteners. I know the hardest part is going to be giving up my beloved diet coke, but I think in the end it will be worth it!

4. Eating less processed/packaged food. I've always been a fan of the "grab and go" type of food. But a box of wheat thins isn't as healthy as fresh vegetables... no matter what the box claims!

Those are some initial goals, so hopefully I can stick with them!

What are some of your hardest food challenges? Is there a particular food or food category (i.e. salty snacks, ice cream, chocolate) that you just can't stop eating?



Any comments, ideas, and advice are greatly appreciated!

-Liz