I’ve decided to get shredded. Oh yeah, and go vegan too.

I should have known myself a little bit better. One of my biggest problems is an all or nothing attitude. I have problems with it at work, at home, at the gym, in relationships, you name it! Half of my life has been fighting myself and telling myself to take a chill pill, in order to spare the others the full blast of me in full blown productivity mode.

Because of this, only Jesse knows the extent of my recent frenzy. It’s been about a month now, and I’ve been

hiding myself away, watching free health documentaries on Netflix while spooning vegan ice cream and reading vegan cook books/health books. This is my current watch list…

 

 

 

 

 

Cowspiracy

Forks over Knives

Veducated

Hungry for Change

Fed Up (halfway through)

Food Matters

 

My current reading list consists of

My Beef with Meat

Thrive

All of this has culminated in my desire to DO SOMETHING. It is pretty apparent that the animal meat and product industry is completely messed up, inhumane, and furthermore, NOT NECESSARY. Do some people need to eat meat and/or animal products? Sure, but the amount that they need to consume is a mere fraction of what the reality is for most Americans. There is also nothing else that one can do, that is easier, and more powerful, than switching to a reduced animal product/meat diet. If the whole world went vegan, we would cut our global greenhouse emissions by over 50%. For those who can’t go vegan, if they ate a limited amount of animal products, we would have the resources in order to make animals valued members of our shared ecosystem.

So let’s get more people to be vegan! Or at least vegan-ish!

But, people don’t like hearing about vegans. They don’t like the guilt, the new ideas, and it is very scary to contemplate doing something new. I’ve covered this topic before, and it makes me super frustrated. How can you convince people to change if they are not willing and ready to listen?

So what’s a vegan minded girl to do?

First, here it is…

My name is Jean Dahlquist and I am going to go vegan. I have some food to eat up, but after that, no whey protein shakes. No cheese. No eggs. (Though I’m still eating honey because that part strikes me as stupid. American honey bees need all the support they can get!)

AND…

I want to bulk up. I’ve never really focused on that, since I love my ten milers and long runs. But, I think if I truly want to make an impact, I need to get ripped, and wear some vegan t-shirts to the gym and to boxing. I would also like to compete in a women’s physique competition if all goes well. This means looking into dance classes again, namely a belly dancing one at the YMCA. I’m going to start off slow, and just watch the impacts of diet and focus, adding in only a few extra exercises while making my runs shorter and more speed based. If you’re interested, you can check out my new workout routine page.

This is an experiment and I don’t know where it will go, but I am excited to find out!

 

 

This week in updates: THE FIRST WEEK

OMG OMG OMG, my first vegan week has finally arrived! I’m so excited! It is also grand opening week for the Sacramento Natural Food Co-op, so what could be better? I got 30% off my first container of Vega vegan protein shake! The extra 30% off meant that I could even afford to get some Halloween candy for any tricker treaters who want to stop by on Monday.

On the gloomy side, it has been raining. A lot. For someone who loves doing everything outside, California is being very depressing right now. Even if it does look greener.

 

The Recipe: Chocolate Seitan and Black Bean Chili

I love this simple chili on sweet potatoes with some nutritional yeast flakes (tastes like cheese). Protein and nutrition packed, a great way to start a week of vegan weight training!

Ingredients:

1 Tbs Chili Spice mix

1 Tbs baking cocoa

¼ tsp cinnamon

Dash of Nutmeg (very important!)

Dash of allspice

Red pepper flakes to taste

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

½ recipe seitan, put into the blender to make crumbles (link)

1 cup dried black beans, soaked for 8 hours

 

Put all ingredients into crock pot and mix. Cook on high for 4 hours or until black beans are soft. Put onto sweet potatoes, pasta, or anything else you can think of! Top with nutritional yeast flakes or vegan cheese.