Day Five

Wesley Chapel, Florida

Poor Al, not only does he have a sinus infection but now he’s hurt his back and is suffering from that.  We are doctoring the back with a moist heating pad and some pain meds.

We’re kitty sitting for a neighbor starting today.  We just have to go over to their motor home and check on their kitty Frisk.   They’re going to be away for a week,  and asked if we would look in on  Frisk.  Unfortunately, we are leaving Sunday and they won’t be back until the next Wednesday.  Frisk will be on his own 3 days.   (well maybe we’ll be leaving on Sunday…maybe not)

They think Frisk will be fine on his own,  but I worry if the air conditioning goes off poor Frisk would die in the heat.   I asked Frank if it was okay if I could find someone else to check on Frisk after Sunday.  He was okay with that, so that’s my project for the next few days.   I am just not comfortable with that kitty being on his own for a few days.

 

Some of your comments have convinced me that it’s okay to keep posting my thoughts from our vegan diet experiment here on this Rv  blog.  I was surprised how many of you find it interesting.  I promise to try not to bore you too much.  I just want to document a little about how we’re feeling and what we’re eating.  

I still hope to convince some of you to watch this great video Forks over Knives.  It’s free (for now) here .

Today is the day 5 of our vegan diet experiment.  We are still taking it one day at a time,  but now we’re  starting to think that maybe we want it to be a permanent change.    I don’t know what the future will bring, and we could end up slipping back into our old eating habits. 

I hope not.  Our old eating habits have made us fat, tired and unhealthy.

We didn’t seem to have the energy we did even 10-15 years ago.  Is this a normal part of the aging process, or is it due to our poor nutrition?

I’m starting to feel it was poor nutrition since I’m already feeling a lot more energetic after only four days.

Finding foods that we can eat is a challenge, but we’re learning and discovering all sorts of new foods and ways of preparing them.  There are lots of things to eat, we just have to find a new way to look for our foods.  No, we don’t have to eat tofu and lettuce every day.

The fact that Al is open to this is a shock to me.  If his Mother could see him now!   I have heard him say many times over the years that he could never be a Vegan!   He likes his beef, cheese, and junk food.   He has never been open to any type of new or different foods.  He hated anything mixed together, and wasn’t a vegetable eater.

Last night I fixed a pot of Lentil’s with onion and garlic.  He had some corn chips dipped in hot and spicy hummus, a kale salad and he was happy.  Shocked me!   The dinner was darned good too.  I had forgotten how good lentil beans were.

Al came home yesterday with three Vegan cook books from our friend Terry.  She and Skip tried the vegan diet, but couldn’t do it and gave up.  One of the books had some wonderful recipes in it.  It was written by the personal chef of Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi.  He was a chef, who learned vegan cooking when he became their chef.  It gave me some ideas for meals.

We are becoming more and more accustomed to the new way of eating.   We haven’t been hungry, and we haven’t felt at all deprived.  We are eating as much as we want.  We leave the table satisfied and full.  I have lost two three pounds. 

Here is what I’ve discovered so far.

The extra energy I’ve been feeling hasn’t gone away.   I kind of feel like I’m revved up.   It’s a good feeling. 

Al hasn’t experienced any of this extra energy.  I believe he will once he gets over his sinus infection. 

Breakfast is easy.  We bought a powered protein mix that we have been drinking every morning.  It’s a little expensive, but no more than breakfast at McDonalds.   We supplement the shake with nuts, fruit, or toast, or all of the above.   Our goal is never to be hungry!

Al worked all day yesterday so I made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and gave him some nuts to munch on.  I’ll have to do better, but that was all I could think of.   He didn’t starve but it wasn’t the greatest packed lunch.

Al came home yesterday with a present for himself.  I couldn’t believe it.

We are trying to only bring things into the motorhome that are useful and don’t take up too much space.

So what does he bring home??

Inside that big old box is a french fry cutter.  Okay Al…we had one of those that we got rid of because we decided it was just as easy to use a knife to cut potatoes….and it takes up too much room.

I could cut up a few potatoes before I could even pull this thing out of some unknown cabinet,  and put it together.

Men….

I told him, he was going to be on the blog today for sure!   Needless to say this big old thing is going right back today!!!!