Congrats, Alicia!!!

[source]

I feel like as a blogger who blogs about The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone, I should have known about this before today. Where was I??? Alicia Silverstone is very pregnant, and I'm so happy for her! I'm excited to see how she does with raising her child as a vegan.

Congratulations to Alicia and Chris!!!

Will "college eating" destroy my Kind Dieting?

This thought occured to me yesterday. Now that I'm a college student, I'm eating more "on-the-go" types of vegan foods for dinner and snacks most nights.

Sandwiches, trail mix, cut-up veggies and fruits, oreo stix...

This also means that I'm basically switching from brown rice to whole grain bread.

In TKD, Alicia says that I should choose whole grains in their purest form whenever possible... so I'm hoping that by making the rice-to-bread switch I don't mess up my body. Or my weigh-ins.

My bread is 2 PointsPlus per slice. But it's actually only 3 PointsPlus for two slices. Don't ask me how, it's Weight Watchers math. Either way, I'm glad to save that point.

But will my new sandwich habit slow down my losses?

I'm actually craving brown rice right now... Which is a good thing, I suppose. But now I won't have time to make and eat my beloved brown rice except for on the weekends. So I guess that I will make a delicious, brown rice-infused meal tomorrow night, and stop worrying about my bread.

And it's only my first week as a student, I need to give my new way of eating a few weeks before I start to worry... right?

Or is there a way to make rice and beans in a crockpot? I will have to look into it, because it would be great to come home from class (around 9pm) to a home-cooked meal of beans and rice.

A couple of things...

First, I just want to update my weight for you: I am down to 158.2, which would usually mean that it's time for an updated progress picture. But this time I'm waiting to get down to 155, since that is the weight that will put me into a "normal" BMI, so I really want to post pictures then, which is now only 3.2 pounds away. YAY!!! At the rate that I'm losing (1 pound a week on average) I will be there in January, so look forward to more progress pictures then.

(This .2 is sticking around, so much so that I'm considering changing my goal weight to 135.2!!)

Secondly, I want to apologize for not re-reading the first part of The Kind Diet as I said that I would. So much is going on in my life right now (mostly that I'm recovering from a cold that won't go away!) that I keep forgetting about it when I'm at home. As soon as I pick it up (hopefully tonight) I will report back the next day with the chapter review, as promised.

Finally, I want to share my happiness with the new Weight Watchers plan, PointsPlus. I'm loving it. I know that I gave it a kind of harsh review initially... but I've come full circle, and I love it now. :-)

I feel as if I get to eat so much more, and still lose my weekly pound! It's crazy science, I'm sure, but it works. The extra weekly allowance points have really helped me.

After a weekend that had TWO holiday office parties, I still have 39 WPA remaining to get me through the week. Last week, I ate all 49 WPA, but I'm not sure if I will have to this week. They are there for me if I'm hungry, or if I suddenly decide that I just have to have an entire Amy's pizza with some french fries for dinner tonight. (yum.)

I'm loving the free fruit, and the increased APs (though I didn't need to use them since I had so many WPAs), and the satisfaction of eating more whole foods than ever before. I think that this transition has been easier for people like me, because I haven't been relying on heavily processed foods as much as a lot of Momentum WW-ers were.

PointsPlus is really about eating more whole foods than Momentum was, which is just another reason that WW and TKD work so well together. Loving it!

Time for me to re-read The Kind Diet

I need to re-read The Kind Diet. I really feel like I've gotten too Weight Watcher-y lately, and less focused on The Kind Diet/Weight Watchers combo: whole foods and on a transition into a more "Superhero" diet/lifestyle. (If you do not know what I mean when I say "Superhero" please read The Kind Diet along with me! It's a great book about transitioning to veganism).

Weight Watchers has been amazing for me. I lose about a pound a week, which is my goal. Slow and steady weight loss is what I'm going for, for the first time in my life. My slow and steady losses are what make me believe that this is the time that I will get thin and stay thin. :-)

Anyway, it's time to re-read the book that inspired this blog. I will update with thoughts about each chapter of the book as I re-read it. If anyone wants to read (or re-read) along with me, I will be starting tonight with the introduction and the first chapter.

Halfway Point! ...and a confession...

The year 2010 is half over. So is my personal challenge to lose 50 pounds in 2010. How am I doing?

Drumroll, please...

I am down 25.2 pounds this year. In other words, I am right on schedule!

I remember a time when I thought that I needed to lose 8 to 10 pounds a month otherwise it wasn't "worth it". Now when I lose a pound a week, I am thrilled! And so far this year, I have been doing that.

Some weeks I lose more (this week I am down 1.6) and some weeks I lose less (last week I was down .6) but I almost always am down SOMETHING and for that I am so proud of myself.

I do credit The Kind Diet to helping me reach my goals. But only partly. Because here is my confession, dear followers:

I have started to follow Weight Watchers again. I am still keeping the principles of the Vegan section of TKD, but am also counting WW Points every day.

As much as I was enjoying the freedom of not counting anything while strictly following TKD, I found that I was being too loosey-goosey about the whole thing, especially my hunger signals. And I fully intend to stop counting again at some point. But that point is far into the future, because I think that right now I need the accountability that comes with counting.

I think that WW and TKD work very nicely together!

Can following TKD help prevent dementia??

The answer, according to my research, is PROBABLY.

Several articles that I've read indicate that though there is no proven way to prevent dementia, there are ways to reduce your risk.

One of the biggies is diet. The number one recommendation is to go on the Mediterranian Diet, which includes a lot of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats. It does specifically mention fish, but we all know that there are other ways to get those fats, even omega-3, without eating a friendly fish.

Here are the basics of preventing dementia, according to a lot of scources, including cnn.com, webmd.com, dementaicarecentral.com, ehow.com, and more...

Diet: Go towards a more "Mediterranean Diet" which is rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and healthy fats and eliminates processed foods.

Exercise: Exercise is good for the brain! Exercise at least three times every week.

Keep your heart healthy: eat healthy, exercise, don't smoke, maintain a healthy weight, good blood pressure

Mental exercise: Stimulate your mind with puzzles, challenging reading material, board games, playing a musical instrument, dancing

Protect your head: Prevent head injuries. Always wear a helmet when you ride a bike, always wear your seatbelt, and avoid sports that risk head injuries

Socialize: (copied directly from dementiacentral.com article) Older people who engage in regular social activities show less cognitive decline. One reason for this effect is that social activities promote new connections between brain cells.

Back to vegan (for awhile)

Being a superhero is definately not for me. Not right now, anyway! It was too stressful, even on an every other day basis.

I just adore some processed foods entirely too much to not consume them daily. And some processed foods are not that evil, such as wasa crackers.

Still going strong as a vegan, but not anywhere near macrobiotic yet, and I'm not sure that I even want to be anymore.

I love tomatoes, potatoes, and spinach. So there.

Good news? I'm down another 1.4, which brings me to a new low weight of 186.8 pounds. Very exciting! Now if I can only lose 4.8 in June, I will be down 25 for the year and right on track to my very lofty goal of losing fifty pounds in 2010. Only time and effort shall tell...

Another Superhero Plan

breakfast: oatmeal, banana

lunch: barley w/ white beans and EVOO, steamed zucchini and greens w/ lime juice and sea salt

dinner: brown rice w/ pinto beans, big salad w/ oil and vinegar, steamed greens w/ lemon juice

snacks: airpopped popcorn, guacamole (avacado, onion, lime juice)

exercise: Curves and Nordic Track (90 minutes total)

I had a gain this last week. I'm back up to 188.2. I know it's because I overate and underexercised for a week, and now I'm back on track and re-focused. Ready to conquer the world as a superhero. :-)

Despite the dietary limitations of the superhero plan, I feel a great freedom with it. I can eat as many whole grains and vegetables as I need to to feel satisfied. No more calorie counting ever. It feels great!

Challenge: Day One

Day One as a Superhero!!!
This is the beginning of my 50% Superhero Challenge! Today will be the first day that I will try to be a Superhero. For those who haven't read "The Kind Diet", when I say "superhero" I'm talking about the ultimate diet plan outlined in TKD, basically macrobiotic veganism.

The differences between the vegan plan and the superhero plan? As far as I can tell, food-wise, there are three:

1. Vegans still eat processed foods, as long as they are vegan. Superheroes don't.
2. Vegans are encouraged to eat a lot of whole grains and vegetables, but superheroes make whole grains and vegetables the center of their diet.
3. Vegans eat as many of any type of vegetable and fruit that they want. Superheroes limit fruit to once a day or so, and avoid all vegetables that are considered "nightshade", such as: peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants, and superheroes also try to avoid spinach.

Why would ANYONE want to eat this way? What are the benefits? Can I ever eat potatoes and tomatoes again? Good questions. ;-) I will answer all of these soon, but not today because I'm almost out of time!
Here's today's plan:
breakfast: oatmeal, banana
lunch: steamed greens, miso soup, millet
dinner: brown rice, pinto beans, EVOO, sunflower seeds, sea salt
snack: airpopped popcorn with EVOO and sea salt
exercise: 30 minutes Curves circuit training, 60 minutes Nordic Track skier

50% Superhero Challenge!

I'm big on baby steps. Especially when it comes to changing how I eat. When I decided to cut meat, I was able to do it right away since I had never eaten too much of it anyway. Dairy was another story altogether. Processed foods that contain trace amounts of dairy, eggs, and honey were the most difficult thing to let go of! But I did it, in baby steps.

I did a 50% plan. Every other day, I was vegan. Until one day I was out of dairy, eggs, and processed non-vegan foods. Then I stopped buying them, and was vegan 100%, every day.

Now I want to start cooking more often and become superhero. I want all the good feelings, weight loss, and health that come from eating like a superhero (as outlined in TKD, of course).

So I've made an important decision: I am going to be 100% superhero every other day. So on the road to being superhero, I will be "just" vegan every other day for awhile. Hopefully this will train me how to eat like a superhero with no real pressure. If it's hard, at least I know that I can eat a potato/spinach/soy milk/rice dream the very next day.

I will let you know how it goes!! Today is a vegan day, and here is my plan:

breakfast- banana (small)

snack 1- almonds (about 8 of them)

lunch- Amy's bean and rice burrito, salsa, air-popped popcorn with EVOO

snack 2- raisins

dinner- pita bread, hummus, big salad (spinach, kale, tomatoes, cucumber, onion)

snack 3 (if hungry)- wasa crackers with homemade guacamole (avacado, onion, oregano, garlic, lime juice)

exercise: Curves circuit training (30 minutes), Nordic track skier (60 minutes)

Becoming a Superhero in steps...

I feel like I've really deviated from my quest to become a superhero. Therefore, I'm going to start taking the steps, once again, to becoming a superhero as outlined in the book (and losing 1-2 pounds every week by following most of the suggestions in the "tips for faster weight loss" section).

Leah's 5 Step Plan to becoming more like a Superhero!!!

1) Start at breakfast. Plan breakfast the night before. Put the pot and oatmeal right by the stovetop and set my alarm for 15 minutes earlier to make oatmeal. Acceptable superhero breakfasts: oatmeal, leftover grains, steamed greens, miso soup. Acceptable vegan breakfasts: all superhero breakfasts plus fruit, nuts, seeds; granola bars

2) Start going to the farmers market or produce store every weekend. Try new things, inculding vegetables Alicia considers "magic" like daikon.

3) Cook from the book. Yes, I admit it: I have yet to actually cook even one meal from TKD. I've been a very lazy vegan. (which by the way is the title of the book destined to make me famous and/or rich some day, "The Lazy Vegan"... or does that already exsist?)

4) Make a monthly trip to the health food store. Stock up on bulk whole grains, try some new organic produce, get a couple of vegan junk food items (should probably erase that last thought, but Rice Dream was mentioned in the book more than once!)

5) Keep up with the exercising. Add variety to my routine. Start biking on the weekends and learn how to run! Maybe start the Couch to 5K thing. Anything to keep it fun! :-)

Miso soup for breakfast!

not actually my soup, but this looks like it----------------------------->

Check me out. I got up early enough today to make a batch of miso soup for breakfast. And it was delicious! I will have to report back later to let you know whether or not it was filling. Right now, 45 minutes later, my satisfaction holds, but until lunch? Unsure.

It was really good soup. I'm looking forward to adding new things to it in the future and playing around with different flavors and types of miso paste. I started with plain brown rice original miso paste.

Anyway, this is how I made it (per the instructions on the lid of the miso paste, modified only a bit, cut in half because it was for one):

ingredients:

* onion (I just cut a red onion in quarters and used about a quarter, sliced)

* 1/2 tsp. EVOO

* 1/2 cup vegetable broth

* 1/2 cup water

* 1 tablespoon miso paste

* some leftover brown rice (my own addition!)

directions:

1) Put onion in a medium sauce pan with EVOO, saute until onion starts turning translucent.

2) Pour in broth and water.

3) Add miso paste and rice.

4) Simmer 5 minutes.

5) Enjoy!

*I'm mad at myself now for forgetting to add nori, the delicious salty seaweed that I bought just for this, but have actually been enjoying as a snack! Tomorrow?*

Wishing everyone superhero thoughts this morning! Have a great day.

Getting back on track: Today's Plan

breakfast: 1 banana w/ some peanut butter

snack 1: another banana (hey, bananas are delicious and ripe right now!)

lunch: brown rice, beans (haven't decided what kind but right now I'm thinking aduki or white), EVOO; steamed greens (collard and kale w/ lemon juice and sea salt = delicious!)

snack 2: seaweed rice crackers

dinner: vegan bean burrito! (multigrain tortilla, refried beans, salsa, onions, other veggies); side salad

snack 3: vegetables with dip (probably kraft catalina for lack of creativity!)

snack 4 (if hungry): airpopped popcorn with EVOO and sea salt

exercise: Curves circuit training (30 minutes); Gazelle cardio (30 minutes)

Thoughts:

I feel pretty good about today's plan. Last night I really rocked my cardio session! I started to get that "high" about 20 minutes in, and it lasted the rest of the hour. It was fantastic! I love it when I really get into my exercise. I have always been more of a cardio person than anything else. But I have gotten much better results since adding a strength routine (Curves) to the mix, so I know now that I need both. I still don't have any flexibility training in my regular workouts, so I would love to start some sort of yoga or pilates regimen. No extra time or money for that right now, though. Hopefully eventually!

My meal plan is just a loose plan, really. I am not counting points or calories anymore, so if it changes, no big deal. The only reason that I wrote this down today is because it's day one of "no chips allowed" and I really need to hold myself accountable. Plus it's nice to see (in writing) how few processed items got in there. I am really focused on eating mostly whole foods, and I'm loving that. (damn "natural" ruffles!)

My "first" trip to Whole Foods...

My first trip there in a loooooong time anyway. And my first trip there as a vegan. It was fun to find all the items recommended in TKD. I did get a couple of processed vegan junk food items: Rice Dream Mint Chocolate Pies, Newman's Own oreos... some sort of seaweed rice crackers.

And yes, I have already tried all three of these, and the verdict is delicious! I only ate two bites of the Rice Dream thing, because I was admitedly intimidated by the nutrition label: 330 calories and 19 grams of fat. Yeah, definately not an everyday food. But I agree with Alicia when she recommended these as spectacularly evil-tasting vegan junk food.

The seaweed rice crackers taste good, but healthy, which is my way of saying that they are not greasy like chips. But not salted cardboard, either. Good.

On to the healthy items I purchased: quinoa, barley, millet, whole wheat couscous, aduzki beans (sp?), red beans, kidney beans, black beans, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds, collard greens, sweet potatoes, whole grain tortillas, nori, miso paste, brown rice pasta.

I ultimately decided against getting the umeboshi plums. I've heard so many bad reviews about them, and they cost $15.99, which just isn't in the budget right now. I know that some day I will get suckered into trying the "Magic Weight Loss Tea", but that day was not yesterday. They were out of brown rice syrup! I was sad, because that was something that I really want to try. Next time...

And yesterday was tax-free day at WF, so I got away without paying sales tax. Awesome. Today I get to start trying new whole grains, which are now the staple of my diet. I'm very excited to see what quinoa tastes like, I've heard nothing but positive reviews.

I will let you all know what I think after I try it. This weekend I will be experimenting not just with grains, but with miso soup and steamed greens for breakfast. Sounds foreign, but I'm game to try anything.

Week One- Thoughts.

Okay, so I know that it says in the weight-ticker over there that I lost 2.6 pounds last week. That's both true and misleading. This is actually the weight I lost between March 29 and today. So it's for two weeks. But since I skipped my April 5 weigh-in, 195.6 was the weight that I knew when I started this blog.

So really the average weekly loss is probably 1.3, not 2.6. Which is still AWESOME! My goal for 2010 was to lose an average of one pound a week, and so far I'm pretty much doing that. And it looks like since I stopped tracking by calories/ww points I'm still losing well.

I'm really trying to honor my hunger signals as discussed in The Kind Diet as well as putting my meals together with the 50% vegetables, 25% protein, 25% whole grain, or 50% vegetables and 50% whole grain formulas in mind. And chewing well! I really practiced my chewing over the weekend and realized that I don't need or even want as much food as I used to. When I chew really well, I eat about half of what I had planned for.

And I've discovered that I really love beans. All kinds! I have been eating canned, but this weekend I bought a bag of dried and will be trying those out this week. I also really need to get some more grains, because although I'm really loving the brown rice, I know that if that's what I keep basing my lunches and dinners around I'll be doomed to get bored of it soon.

Over all, I've learned that being vegan won't be as difficult as I have always thought it would be. It will be hardest when at family events and when going out to eat. For example, my mom's birthday is next month and I know that I will probably eat a piece of cake, which will have both eggs and dairy in it. But according to Alicia, that cake won't even taste right to me after a month of clean, vegan eating. We shall see.

Whole Foods Shopping?

I am going to add a short trip to Whole Foods to my grocery shopping this weekend. First I will try to get everything at Kroger and Easy Way (a produce store chain in the Memphis area that gets most of its produce locally and is fairly cheap so I've heard). Then I will give in and go to Whole Foods to get some more vegan convenience foods and other items mentioned in The Kind Diet that Kroger doesn't carry.

I found a list online of foods that Alicia recommends getting from the health food store.
(my thoughts in italics)

The List
* Follow Your Heart cheese- will probalby try this, but not necessary. Will definately depend on the price! I'm not really too interested in finding a cheese alternative.
* Vegenaise - will definately get this. I have had it in the past and love it!
* Earth Balance butter - another vegan product that I've tried and love, so again, I will get this!
* Field Roast sausages - I will compare prices of several vegan "sausages" and probably buy at Kroger, because more than likely it will be cheaper.
* Tempeh bacon - not interested. I hardly ever ate real bacon, so no need for alternative.
* Sunspire chocolate chips - will probably need if I want to make "raw balls" a recipe that looks really good in the book!
* Annie's Naturals Goddess organic salad dressing - I plan to make my own dressings with lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil. But if it's on sale, sure.
* Brown rice penne pasta - nah. I have plenty of whole wheat pasta already in the pantry. But probably in the future!
* Organic olive oil - maybe when I finish my giant bottle of generic EVOO.
* Balsamic vinegar - definately a Kroger item.
*Gardein Chick'n Scallopini (meatless) - nah.
* Amy's Organics soups - again, not necessary, but will check the prices.
* Whole grain rice - bought a big bag of Uncle Ben's the other day, so no need!
* Organic EdenBlend Rice & Soy Beverage - no thanks.
* Hemp milk - another thing that I will only get if I need it for a specific recipe.
* Leafy greens - Kroger and/or Easy Way for sure.
* Maple syrup as a sugar alternative - Kroger again.
* Rice Dream Mud Pie (Mint is Alicia's favorite) - She describes this snack throughout the book so much that I really have to try it now. I wonder if they are a sponsor! If not, they really need to give her money for the advertising, because I'm sure I'm not the only one who went out and bought this because of her.
* Whole grains - I can get plenty from Kroger.
* Newman's Own Organics Dairy-Free Newman-O's cookies - I saw these at Kroger, not sure I'm intersted. Seems like something I'd eat too many of.
* Luna Bar (Alicia likes the chocolate peppermint stick flavor) - These are amazing. I can get them from Kroger.

This is where I'm starting! I added a couple of my own things to the list:

* vegan bread
* sprouted grain tortilla
* umeboshi plums
* daikon
* nori
* quinoa
* ingredients for "raw balls"

Thoughts about Chewing

I was reading about chewing last night in "The Kind Diet". Alicia goes on and on about how important it is to really chew our food.

She says that she herself tries to chew every bite 30 times. Apparently chewing food thoroughly makes it easier to go to our bloodstream as glucose, because of the chemicals in our saliva. Gross. But healthy!

According to the book, if you are feeling like you have low blood sugar, it could easily be because you aren't chewing enough when you eat, and sitting down to eat some brown rice and a salad and chewing every bite at least 30 times or until it's practically liquid before you swallow it will relieve the feeling.

I was eating almost entirely white sugar and white flour products before starting this diet. All of that food is so soft, it requires very little chewing and sometimes can be practically swallowed whole. (which came in very handy for binge-eating, but for very little else).

Now that I'm eating mostly whole foods, I am re-learning the "art" of chewing. It's definately strange! I will start really practicing this at lunch when I sit down to eat a healthy home-made burrito.

I'm thinking that one of the keys to why eating this way helps aid in weight loss is because of the whole "it takes your stomach 20 minutes to tell your brain it's full" thing. If I start eating slowly and chewing every bite until it's liquified, my stomach will hopefully have plenty of time to tell my brain when it gets full. The trick is to listen to it!

My First Kind Grocery List!

Here it is, my first grocery list as a "flirt" on The Kind Diet. In case you think that I've gone completely vegan, you'd be wrong. I still am enjoying my lean cuisines and smartpop popcorns that my mom keeps her freezer and pantry stocked full of for me. So I will partake in those pizza-and-popcorn meals a couple of times every week until I decide to make that sacrifice. That's the whole point of doing this slowly though. I'm learning! Here's the list:

Whole Grains
* brown rice
* cous cous
* bread
* tortillas

Spices/Cooking oil & vinegar (since I'm starting from scatch, cooking-wise)
* lemon juice
* sherry vinegar
* red wine vinegar
* sea salt
* black pepper
* chilli powder
* ground cumin
* cayenne pepper
* popcron salt and seasonings

Fresh Produce
* 4 medium red potatoes
* 4 medium shallots
* 18 cups arugula
* beets
* 2 medium oranges
* 3 medium zucchini
* 1 medium garlic clove
* cherry tomatoes
* mint leaves
* 1 bunch bananas
* 4 small apples
* 1 bag of salad (I know, I know)

Canned
* tomatoes
* fat free refried beans
* salsa

Nuts/Seeds
almonds
pumpkin seeds

Cookies/Chips/Snack Food
* vegan cookies
* natural chips
* wasa crackers
* raisins

Frozen
* Edamame
* Amy's no-cheese pizza

Misc.
* aluminum foil
* Diet soda

And at the bottom of my list I have a written disclaimer/note to self:

$100 maximum!!! Things that I can put back if I have to:
* pumpkin seeds
* wasa crackers
* Amy's no-cheese pizza

Obviously I'm buying some ingredients for a couple of recipes. I found them on the Weight Watchers website, and I will let you know how they are. Wish me luck with my first "kind" grocery shopping! :-)

My Thoughts on the "nasty foods"

Alicia mentions three foods that are "nasty" and that everyone should give up, or at least eat in extreme moderation.

1) meat
2) dairy
3) sugar

Here are my thoughts on that. The easiest of these three things for me to eliminate from my diet is meat. I didn't really eat much meat to begin with. People would often ask me if I was vegetarian. But nope, I wasn't. I would still add chicken to my salads sometimes, and eat my mom's homemade roast beef on occasion. Oh, and sometimes I would eat things like pepperoni pizza rolls. Yep, definately not a vegetarian. I have been for a week now though, and it feels great to eliminate this "nasty" food from my life.

Dairy is another story entirely. I eat dairy with almost every meal almost daily. Dairy and sugar kind of go hand in hand for me, too. When Alicia talks about sugar being a nasty food, she means processed and refined sugar. One of my favorite meals is a lean cuisine four-cheese pizza, with a bag of smartpop popcorn on the side. Delicious, low-cal, and seemingly harmless.

However, this meal couldn't be more processed. The pizza itself contains at least eleven ingredients that I can't pronounce, most of which end in "-ose", which definately puts it into the highly-refined, highly-processed, "nasty" sugar group. Same story with the popcorn. And both contain dairy, too. Very nasty meal, according to "The Kind Diet".

I need to replace the lean cuisines with home-cooked food. I ordered a cookbook called "Student's Go Vegan Cookbook: Over 135 Quick, Easy, Cheap, and Tasty Vegan Meals" by Carole Raymond. It has a couple of pizza recipes in there, so hopefully it lives up to its title... the title sounds too good to be true!

Sugar will be the last thing that I get rid of as I take these baby steps towards a healthier lifestyle. First I'm working on being a healthy vegetarian. Also I am eating less dairy and less processed foods, but have not cut them out entirely yet (actually am nowhere near to cutting them out entirely, but I will get there).

Looking forward to see how this new style of eating affects my weight.

Me: In a Nutshell

Hi everyone! My name is Leah. I'm 25 and currently live in Memphis, TN. I work for a small engineering firm as an administrative assistant. My biggest dream for a few years now has been to move to New York City. It's actually a real goal now, and the plan is in the works! I estimate that I will be there by my 28th birthday, which is October 7, 2012. I will be keeping track of that goal on this blog, too. Mostly because my brother (who lives in NYC currently) has promised to follow this blog, and I'm sure he's curious how my NYC plan is going.

My history with dieting is pretty skewed, so I won't go too much into it except to say that I have tried a lot of different diets to lose weight. Also have had some experience with eating disorders. The latter was years ago, but my addiction to food has unfortunately held strong.

I have tried vegetarianism in the past, and really loved it. I really want to do it the healthy way now, and to eventually go vegan.

The book "The Kind Diet" has really inspired me to start the transition to a kinder life. I will start slow, as suggested in the book.