A Running Girl's Blog

Archive for the ‘food’ Category

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution has come to a close and the internet is buzzing.  There are a lot of blogs and commentaries analyzing, criticizing and/or praising the show and Oliver’s efforts… so I thought I would add my 2 cents

Personally, I loved the Food Revolution.   It was simply good TV.   Shocking food scenes, a well intentioned underdog, feel good moments. My family has been tuning in every Friday for the last few weeks. We watched incredulously as he showed us a week’s worth of one family’s processed food in a greasy pile on their kitchen table.  Our hearts broke for the mom who tearfully expressed her desire to make a change so her kids can live longer, healthier lives. He later buried their deep fryer in the back yard.  We all groaned when he made chicken nuggets out of a bloody, nasty chicken carcass and cringed when the kids, having watched this process, still raised their hands when asked if they’d eat them.  And who can forget french fries classified as a vegetable per the USDA??

School lunch is an issue that I have skirted primarily by packing lunches for my kids.  There are no healthy vegetarian options for children in schools and I don’t consider cheesy breadsticks to be a reasonable meal!  This Lincoln, NE sample school menu is pretty similar to the choices that my kids have, I am guessing the choices most of the nation’s kids have.   And Oliver’s show open my eyes into how very processed the food is – from the frozen nuggets to the weird packaged mashed ‘potato’ pearls, it’s really revolting what we slap on trays and serve to our kids nationwide, day after day.

I have to admit that as I watched (at least initially) I was asking too many questions that came from being a vegan.   Where were the veg options?   What’s with the frozen veggies? I gave him kudos on the campaign against flavored milk, but I questioned why there were no non-dairy drinks – stuff of that nature.   What I failed to realize until one very interesting episode, is that many people have never even prepared a fresh meal –cooking something in their own kitchen, something not processed.  The episode I am referring to is the one where Jamie is on a crusade to teach 1,000 people in Huntington how to cook on a bet with the DJ.  After a pretty cool cooking flash mob on the Marshall University campus, Jamie takes his cooking lesson to the streets.  In one scene, an older woman cooked up her stir fry and proudly announced that was the first thing she ever cooked.  Wow.  Forget veg options – there are people who have actually never prepared a meal … I assume living their entire lives eating stuff out of cans, boxes, drive-thru or restaurants.    This was an eye-opener to say the least.

As a veg/vegan, I cook for my family most nights. In fact, I bemoan the fact that we have fewer prepared, easy options because of our dietary choices.   FR opened my eyes to how far the consumption of processed, prepared food has really gone in this country (and, as Oliver points out, in Great Britain).   And I know he’s opened the eyes of many others across the nation.

The show ends with Oliver returning to Huntington after a 3-month absence.  He is faced with many concerns including kids dropping out of the school lunch program (opting instead for brown bag lunches filled with processed grub), budget issues and stockpiles of the standard school lunch fare that needs to be consumed – creating a “processed food Friday” program.  A disappointed Oliver tells viewers that “this is not a happy ending” and indeed viewers (and bloggers) are left questioning how successful Oliver really was in Huntington, WV.

I think FR has raised awareness and brought attention to a critical issue: the massive and widespread consumption of nutritionally-devoid, fat, sodium and chemical filled processed foods.  FR shows viewers that it’s really not hard or expensive to make simple meals at home.  There is no longer denying the fact that we are feeding our children some of the worst foods every day as part of the public school system… all in compliance with USDA regulations that leave most of us scratching our heads. Most importantly, people are talking – conversations, awareness … internet blogs, twitter, facebook, an online petition to make school lunches better …momentum. The full impact is yet to be seen but I think these things have the power to lead to change.

As I’ve been blogging, a few months ago, I decided to try a vegan diet.   At the time, I really thought I was going to have a hard time giving up stuff like cheese and whey protein.  About a month later, I realized that the hard part wasn’t so much giving up dairy and egg items but reading labels and educating myself on what’s in all this food I’ve been eating.  Since then, I veganized all my recipes, perfected a vegan hemp shake for my pre-run fuel, purchased vegan cook books and added vegan blogs to my daily reading.

Yesterday, I finally received my copy of Alicia Silverstone’s book The Kind Diet in the mail (after scouring bookstores only to come up empty handed, I ordered it online).   I was intrigued with her book after watching her go on a vegan grocery shopping trip on a recent Oprah show and reading rave book reviews … reviews which I agree with.  I love Silverstone’s writing style.  I learned a few new things regarding the human body’s true capacity of processing meat and I have been introduced to so many new foods.  I highly recommend this read!

Also just today, Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Eating Animals, made another appearance on the Ellen Show.   I love Ellen Degeneres and appreciate the eloquent way in which she and Safran addressed the issue of factory farming and veganism.  She also featured three guests who shared their own experiences in removing animal products from their diets.

sharing the video clip from vegan.com

I had to share this marvelous recipe that my creative vegan friend came up with.  I’ve made this twice for my family and each time they’ve gone back for seconds and even thirds.   Click for the complete recipe:  Vegan Shepherd’s Pie.

the "meat" replacement includes a variety of delicious vegetables. Carrots, parsnips, celery and onion are a hearty combo!

Boil the potatoes as you would for any mashed variety

the potato topping is great with a unique flavor from using dijon mustard and chipotle spice.

hot out of the oven, let it cool a bit before you cut/plate.

I served the pie with a nice green salad.

People sometimes die during long distances races – marathons, half marathons.  It’s sad and scary.  It makes headlines – validate the decision of non-runners not to run and makes runners take pause.  I used to assume that these poor runners had underlying problems that put them at risk.  But recently it seems like there have been more sudden deaths among otherwise healthy and young runners.  These runners are in the headlines more and more… or I’ve become hyper-aware since joining the long distance running crowd – either way, the news certainly does give me (and all runners) something to ponder.

A recent review by the IMMDA (International Marathon Medical Directors) indicates there might be a culprit in our morning drinks, sports gels and energy beverages:  caffeine.

The cases include the following:

• A 33-year-old male running a half-marathon dropped at the 12-mile mark, at 3:10 into his race. The morning of the race, he had drunk two energy drinks and a Starbucks Grande coffee, and used two caffeinated gels. Cardiac catherization revealed a small lesion (less than 20%) but otherwise clean coronaries.

• A 42-year-old woman running a marathon dropped at the 24.5-mile mark, 4:10 into her run. She had drunk two large coffees and had three caffeinated gels. Her cardiac cath also showed clean coronaries.

• A 26-year-old male also running a marathon dropped at the 25.5-mile mark, 3:25 into his run. He had taken two caffeine pills plus coffee the morning of his race, and also had clean arteries on cardiac cath.

(source: Please Limit Caffeine on Race Morning!, Runner’s World, Ask the Running Doctor blog)

Interviewing and examining the habits of otherwise healthy runners who’ve collapsed and been successfully revived, seems to point to a trend in excessive caffeine consumption in many cases.  The current recommendation according to the Runner’s World article is no more than 200 mg of caffeine if you’re headed out for a long run or a race.  200 mg is about 2 cups of coffee.  I know energy gels, chews etc… give the caffeine amount right on the package because those are the ones I normally go for. …I have read the studies lauding the benefits of caffeine for performance athletes and have a typical Pavlovian runner’s reaction – reaching for the caffeinated gel or chew when I am refueling.

While this is not an official research study, (the IMMDA is planning one), I still took a few minutes to examine my caffeine habits.  I usually have a cup of coffee in the morning.  That is about it.  Unless I am running a long distance or racing, in which case I grab the above mentioned caffeinated gel(s) (Clif Shot products are vegan depending on flavor)… each contain about 25 mg of caffeine. So it seems that I usually stay well under 200 mg.  However, I can see how one could easily exceed this amount.   The Running Doctor asked runners to get the word out, so I am.  I am also going to add caffeine free fuel to my long run routines – better safe than sorry.

I wanted to answer the question, “you’re vegan, what do you eat?”  and “aren’t you hungry?” with an example.   A vegan diet does require creativity sometimes.  And as I’ve mentioned, if you want something good, sometimes you just have to make it yourself.  But being vegan is not about deprivation – food is good, it’s healthy and it is filling.  It can be very simple.  With that in mind, I made super healthy, easy and hearty burritos for my family tonight: 

fresh ingredients

ingredients:

• Kashi 7 Whole Grain Pilaf
•  1 package of corn (canned or frozen)
• 2 cans of organic vegetarian black beans
• West Soy Seitan – 1 package
• a handful of chopped cilantro
• a couple of cloves of garlic
• a teaspoon or so of chipotle spice (to taste)
•  a tablespoon of olive oil 
•  ¼ of a packet of vegan taco seasoning
• giant tortillas
• vegan gourmet cheese substitute (cheddar flavor). 

 Optional: salsa, avocado, vegan sour cream – any other stuff you want to stuff into this burrito. 

again, you can add anything to this - onion, mushroom... peppers

Cook the Kashi Pilaf as per instructions.  Heat the oil, cook up the minced garlic.  Add the chopped seitan and about a teaspoon of chipotle spice and heat the combo for about 5 minutes.  Add the black beans, corn and pilaf.  Add about ¼ cup of water and the taco seasoning.  Once it’s all simmering, throw the cilantro into the mix.

I like a little fresh salsa, the vegan cheese adds a gooey texture

 Assemble your burrito and wrap it up.   

yum

eldest son's second vegan burrito

This meal is a hit with my entire family.  My eldest child gobbled one down, asked for another … this is what we eat – we are not hungry.

While I am kind of just running right now with no near term race goal, my running strategy loosely follows a typical training plan for a half marathon – about 4 days of running including a long weekend run of 8-12 miles, an interval run and a couple of tempo/easy runs.  I don’t have a race scheduled but I am sure I will find something that I want to run soon – at least I will be ready for anything up to a half marathon distance, right?  I am relatively injury – free (knock on wood) with the exception of some pain in my hip – particularly on downhills.  I’ve logged about 30 miles on my new pink kicks that I got just last week

The Seattle Rock n’ Roll Marathon is on June 26, 2010 and I’ve been debating the full vs. the half.  I ran the half marathon last year. This debate is a blog post in and of itself…

 (concerns: several out and backs and hills in the 2^nd half)

 On the food front, veganism gets easier and easier especially with articles like these popping up in the news regularly: 

• Meat Safety: How Well Done?  Chicago Tribune , January 21, 2010
• California Firm Recalls Beef Products Due to Possible E. coli O157:H7 Contamination, USDA website, January 18, 2010
• Safety of Beef Processing Method Is Questioned, New York  Times, December 29, 2009

I do have to remind myself that there is a fine line between being a vegan and an activist.  I think many veg/vegans want to share what they learn about the meat industry, the factory farming abuses, the health issues, the humanity issues etc.. etc… easily becoming an activist or vegevangelist as I’ve come to identify myself on occasion.    But many people simple don’t want to know: “don’t tell me,  “I don’t want to know…”   And on some level, I guess I can relate to the sentiment.  After all, didn’t I run around as a cheese loving vegetarian for the last 20 years – living happily in the dark about the realities of the quality and health risks of milk/dairy and horrific abuses of dairy cows and their little babies? 

 It’s hard, however, to “not know” these days.  The media reports, bloggers like Erik Marcus with his popular and informative blog: http://www.vegan.com/,  best selling books like Jonathan Safran Foer’s  “Eating Animals” all report the realities of the meat, dairy and egg industries and all through mainstream media outlets.   These are the pros, the people I will quote or point to their links for all things vegan…. and that will be the extent of my vege- evangelism.  Unless of course, you do want to know – then I would love to share thoughts, ideas, concerns and recipes!

To be honest, evangelism in general has never been a favorite thing of mine and despite my passionate views on animal factory farming methods, if you dont’ want to know, then you don’t want to know and it makes me uncomfortable to be the one that others might point at and whisper “why that sanctimonious vegan __________!”    

We are well into January and I have finally stopped dating things with ’09 and started using ’10 consistently.   I didn’t make any big resolutions for the New Year but I did decide to go vegan about a month ago and so far, so good.  The things that I thought were going to be hard haven’t really proven to be a problem at all – namely giving up cheese.  I don’t miss it.  Every once in a while I miss pizza but Amy’s makes a great vegan frozen pizza that hits the spot when I have the craving.  

The more difficult part of this journey has been the realization that so many of our foods have dairy, milk byproduct, egg or egg byproduct in them – even many of the vegetarian convenience foods that Morning Star and Boca offer in the frozen food aisle.  So I have become an obsessive nutrition label reader.  I have learned to look for the “vegan” label.  And I have really reduced my consumption of convenience foods.  More often than not, as a vegan, if I want something good, I have to make it myself.   

One big example: my favorite Mix 1 drinks contain whey, a milk byproduct from the cheese making process – this was a big blow initially but I did my research and discovered that hemp is a more perfect protein than whey and hemp powder is readily available locally. There aren’t any ready made hemp shakes that I can grab while running out the door, but I can make a delicious soy/hemp shake with just a little bit of planning.  Plus all the predictable hemp jokes are fun.   So going vegan hasn’t been difficult in terms of any feeling of deprivation… it’s just a more thought out diet, one that requires a bit more planning. 

 (hemp protein you drink it, not smoke it )

One byproduct of my vegan journey is that my kids have decided to be vegheads.  Not big meat eaters to begin with, they have decided to become vegetarian (not vegan).   I was rather disheartened the other day though when my high school son came home to tell me he skipped lunch because there were simply no vegetarian options available at school– the situation in our school cafeterias is unbelievable.   He normally packs a lunch – but the option to buy was a nice convenience … again, the veg diet is not always a convenient one. 

One more new thing for 2010 – in 2009, I ran in Asics Gel Kayano 15s…  I went thru 3 baby blue pairs… the last ones just hitting 400+ miles at the end of the year.  So last weekend, I went to the shoe store and the Gel Kayano 15s are marked down since the 16s are out now.  As I was getting ready to buy my fourth pair of these baby blue shoes, I eyed the Kayano 16s… the shoe guy was explaining all the new features to me.  I wasn’t really listening though – I was pretty much sold when I saw they are pink with a groovy disco pattern in the background.  After all it’s a new year, right?

Not too long ago, I light heartedly mentioned that I follow a vegetarian diet.  For over 20 years now, I have chosen to follow a diet that excludes meat but includes dairy and eggs.  It was easy.  I was happy.  Then I went to the bookstore and stocked up on some new reading material.  It began with Born To Run, a great book about the incredible super athlete, ultra running Tarahumara Indians.   I found it interesting that this tribe follows a primarily vegetarian diet and was even more intrigued by ultra-runner Scott Jurek who adopted a vegan lifestyle in the late 1990s and proceeded to win the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run seven consecutive times.  But it wasn’t until I read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer that I even contemplated personally adopting a vegan diet.  I simply love(d) cheese.

My initial thought after completing Foer’s book was to seek out local, natural and more organic sources of dairy and eggs.  To that end, there are several options for eggs in particular that eliminate the concerns of consuming factory farmed products.   For example, Nest Fresh provides consumers with certified humane, organic eggs that are readily available in my area.   Dairy proved to be a bit more of a dilemma for me.  I had to acknowledge some of the harsher byproducts of the dairy industry – namely the baby calves.  As a dairy consumer, I am taking the milk (and milk product) that is naturally intended for the calves.  I am quite unsettled by what happens to these calves.  The logical argument is that these animals are created to provide food for humans.  I understand that argument – but it’s an issue that I find difficult to resolve personally.   

I also found out that many of the cheeses that I have so loved over the years are processed with an enzyme called rennet.  sigh.  Rennet is an animal enzyme that comes from the stomach of a baby calf.  Fortunately for lacto-vegetarians, there are many rennet-free cheeses that are available at most grocery stores.  I didn’t even know I needed to check for rennet – hell, I didn’t even know what rennet was!  This may be the end of my love affair with cheese… even though I know it will be hard to make a clean break.    As a vegetarian for health and ethical reasons, I am facing the fact that my egg and dairy habits are contributing to industries that treat animals as cruelly as any meat production facility.   

For myself, I am ready to try a a well intentioned vegan diet.  It’s going to be hard to break up with cheese for good.  For my family, I am fortunate to be able to purchase certified humane eggs and organic, rennet free cheese for my children, – I know that not everyone has these options.

I can’t believe that Thanksgiving has already come and gone.  The dishes are done; the house cleaned up… my sisters and their families gone back to their homes, their routines.   We had a great time this year.  My family is an active one – we pumped, we went to spin class, yoga and ran the 2009 Briargate YMCA Turkey Trot.  I didn’t run my best 5K by any stretch, finishing with a 26:38 time according to my Garmin but still managed to come in 7^th in my age group.  It is a pretty hilly course.

(Poor Daniel had to sit this on out..stress fracture)

Also, this year we celebrated our first completely vegetarian Thanksgiving.  In years past, we’ve had the traditional turkey for the hubbies and kiddos but we collectively decided to go veg this year.  I made a valiant effort to go all the way vegan but we did have some cheese on our vegetarian shepherds pie and our pumpkin pies were baked with what we hope are cruelty-free eggs from Nest Fresh.   Judging from the lack of leftovers, our feast was quite a success for adults and kids alike.

The Las Vegas Rock n’ Roll Marathon and Half Marathon is a week from today.  I don’t have a great expectation for a PR on this one.  Seattle was a great race for me this year and despite my speed workouts, I am sort of stuck at 8:30-9 min as my best pace right now.  It’s kind of discouraging but when I think back on my year of running, it is an improvement.  Early this year, breaking the 9 minute pace was monumental for me … anyway, we’ll see how Vegas goes… no matter what, it’s going to be a great time!

Thought I would share another product that I enjoy.  I like to drink a Mix 1: all natural, enhanced protein shake for breakfast and/or before more intense workouts.   Until recently, I was never a big proponent of meal replacement shakes for a couple of reasons:  for one thing I like to eat, I don’t want to replace my meals and for another, some of these products taste pretty bad and have a lot of ingredients that I can’t pronounce.  

But when I started working out and running with more intensity, I found it wasn’t always logical to eat before a run or workout and solid food is not particularly appealing after a long, hot run.  Mix 1 is a good solution for these occasions. 

This drink satisfies my hunger in the morning without that really full feeling that can disrupt an intense work out.   I can drink ½ of one before a weights class and finish it between weights and cardio – consuming 200 calories total and usually burning about 1000 between both work outs.  I have the energy to complete both workouts without feeling depleted or hungry.  I can easily drink one before or after a long run as well.   Sure you can probably mix up your own natural protein drink, but if you are busy and just want to grab and go, this product is a great, natural solution!   

 Mix 1

• Superior nutrition + the right mix = balanced energy
• 15 g of premium whey protein isolate
• 23 vitamins and minerals    
• 3 servings of fruit/veggies
• Anti-oxidants = to 4 cups of green tea
• Free of lactose, gluten, soy and caffeine

Tastes pretty good too – my favorite is the blueberry vanilla.

 … as of this post, they are on sale at King Sooper (Kroger) for $12 a case.