We’re nearly to the end of January with just under a week left. How are your resolutions going? Now that we’ve passed the 21 day mark, various challenges inevitably crop up. Here’s how I’m dealing with usual suspects like cravings, scheduling and consistency issues when it comes to going vegan and meditating 100 hours.
Vegan By January 31st
This week was a mix of good and bad.
Pantry. Things are going well on the vegan front in terms of eating through my non-vegan pantry and once they’re gone, replacing items with vegan foods. I’m down to a few tablespoons of fish sauce, half a jar of mayo and maybe half a cup of condensed, sweetened milk. That’s not too shabby. A few Thai iced teas should finish off the milk, a few curries and ramen bowls do in the fish sauce, and some fritters and dips should end the mayo. Even if a little remains, they are dregs which won’t make me feel like I’ve wasted money or resources if I toss them at the end of the month.
The pantry building though takes some adjusting. I’m eating more tofu and my breakfast routine has been the most disrupted thanks to the change. I like a solid breakfast – something quick, loaded with nutrition and simple to make since I’m not exactly the most alert or motivated before my coffee kicks in.
Right now my staples are scrambled tofu with turmeric and nutritional yeast, chia pudding, and plain Cheerios with bananas and oat or almond milk. I like the taste of nutritional yeast and both it and Cheerios are fortified with B12, replacing the B12 from the eggs I used to consume.
I’m liking chia pudding as a replacement for yogurt. It’s quick to make a batch that will last days. It’s also versatile like yogurt in terms of toppings such as fruit, nuts and seeds. I make mine various ways. At the moment I use a smoothie base of mango and pineapple which makes my pudding incredibly tasty. It’s even quicker than making yogurt. I just blend the smoothie, add chia seeds, let set. Easy peasy.
Cravings. This week the cheese cravings hit hard once I ate through the last of my Gouda, a favorite evening snack. Cheese cravings can make you claw the walls. This is due to the casomorphines in cheese which break down into morphine-like chemicals that bind to our opiate receptors. Once off cheese, which has these in concentrated doses, I went into withdrawal. Since I expected this and had experienced them on the slow-carb diet years ago, they didn’t take me by surprise. I knew to plan ahead by having other snacks on hand like bean dips, guacamole, fruit and even scrambled tofu with nooch (nutritional yeast) for its savory cheese taste.
The withdrawal cravings still sucked but lightened up after a couple of days. When they hit, I try to eat something savory or loaded with protein as this seems to help.
Thinking of going vegan or doing the vegan challenge? How is it going?
Meditating 100 Hours
Thanks to you lovely readers I remain on track toward my weekly meditation goals. I fear the embarrassment of not making a set number of sessions each week which makes for excellent motivation to sit! So thank you for helping me add another 3 hours to my total, bringing it to 12 hours and 15 minutes.
Consistency. January has started off strong. Usually I meditate 6 days a week for thirty minutes. My morning schedule is all over the place though which makes for difficulties in establishing a routine but usually I find time to meditate by 3pm.
The hazards of not being consistent about a time include forgetting to meditate, putting it off till late and being groggy or sleepy, or having it guilting nag at you until it feels like a chore. All these create a negative attitude toward the practice that can hinder us in sticking with it. An early, set time when we’re alert is best. We will not only have it out of the way, but we’ll have better results and carry them throughout the day. This creates a positive attitude toward our practice and keeps us returning to it.
How is your practice going? Do you find it easy or difficult to sit consistently and meditate?
Committed
So far I’m enjoying this year’s resolutions and results. The challenges are manageable with forethought and planning. Lifestyles commitments aren’t always easy but over time they become habits that replace the old ways. The journey to that point is where we experience the most fun and personal development. Who doesn’t like that?
Let me know your problem-solving or motivational thoughts on going vegan and taking up a meditation practice.
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Well done to you!
Going vegan is quite a challenge… I couldn’t do it.
I thought about you actually this weekend. I had invited friends over for a Sunday relax lunch. They are slightly fussy when it comes to food so I stayed basic to please every tastes: cheddar & spinach scones, one squash savory tart, one onion “tatin”, and an endive salad with pink radish. They said they’d bring the desert – which ended up being a plain sponge cake 🥴.
The lunch pleased everyone but by the end of it, I had the impression all I’d eaten was gluten!! Too much wheat flour for one day!
I realized it would be extremely complicated for me to get rid of gluten, eggs and dairy. Not that I want to. But if I had… Uuurgh! Anyway, well done you!
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Thanks for your support! Lunches/dinner parties are certainly fraught with potential issues these days! For me, my food lifestyle revolves around real food. The non-stop intense pain and other ailments that my real food diet cured was a huge wake-up call. The poor & rigged US regulation of our food growing methods, GMOs, ingredients, etc just added to it. Our entire food industry is insane over here! When the why is big enough though we can accomplish most anything when it comes to lifestyle change. That’s what has kept me motivated 😊
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I agree, you’re CERTAINLY worse off in the US. But still, you can be very proud of you.
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