Accidentally Vegan Chocolate

Aldi - 200gr - 0,99€ 

Recipe #125 Lentil curry

Shopping list

• 1 cup of basmati rice
• Olive oil
• 1 can sliced carrots
• 100gr dry red lentils
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1/2 tablespoon ginger Puré
• 50gr green lentils
• 75gr mixed lentils
• 2 tablespoons of tomato passata
• Array of spices (see recipe #69)
• Cashew nut for decorating 

Method 

For the rice: take 1 cup of basmati rice and rinse it until the water is clear. Then add 2 cups of water and get it to boil. Add a pinch of Himalayan salt and lower the heat. When almost all the water has evaporated, turn off the heat completely and cover the pan until the rice is fluffy.

For the curry: 

Cook the lentils in boiling water with a pinch of salt for 10-15 min. It's ok if the red lentils get a bit mushy.  Drain and reserve.

Now chop the 1/2 onion. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil ( or coconut oil) to a saucepan and the chopped onion and ginger; let the onion get golden. Open the coconut milk and try to scoop out as much of the cream as you can, don't use the water. Add the coconut cream to the pan and stir in 2 tablespoons of masala mix and 1 of tomato passata. Let it blend for a couple of minutes and add the cooked lentils, the drained chickpeas and the drained carrots. Allow to cook on low heat for s couple of minutes and serve on a bed of rice topped with cashew nuts.

Galway (Ireland): G Hotel Gigis Restaurant

The G Hotel is one of the few 5 star hotels in county Galway. Conveniently located just 1km from the city centre, over looking a lake and decorated in a smart, fancy but vintage style.
We have had food here before, as an omnivore and twice now eating vegan.

Last May I ordered my vegan menu in advance and got to choose what I wanted to eat beforehand. I was not disappointed:

- incredibly great tasty pea soup (served with extra raw peas)

- Great grilled mushroom with vegetable gnocchi

This time I called and wanted to order my vegan meals in advance again however they informed me that now they have new menus: Vegetarian Menu and Vegan Menu. So no need to book in advance!

We went of course for the vegan menu.
(the allergen icons were a typo, which the restaurant apologised for, of course none of the dishes has dairy or egg)

So we went for the Potato and Leek soup and Vegetable Spring Rolls followed by the vegetable penne pasta and the vegetable wellington.
(sorry some pictures are very dark):

Potato and Leek soup 

Vegetable Spring Rolls

vegetable penne pasta

 Vegetable wellington

Sweet Potato Fries

Asserted desserts: hazelnut and chocolate truffle and coconut cake with a ball of mango sorbet.

Everything was superb, delicious and presented in the most wonderful way. The staff was very nice, friendly and knowledgable about their food and wine pairings.

It just could not have been any better...! Oh wait, it could. Because we mentioned at reservation that we were celebrating we received complementary coffee and an extra treat!

5 star service and felt very pampered. The G Hotel never lets you down. If you have something to celebrate be sure to go to Gigis for dinner. And the best part: without wine the vegan dinner for two was 55 euros.

Thank you ! Thank you ! Thank you !

Loosing weight: keep your body Alkaline

He suggests three pathways by which animal fat enters muscle cells: 1) Protein intake raises insulin, which in turn weakens the ability of muscle cells to keep out fat. Fat enters the cells. 2) A high protein diet is acidic. To keep its pH level balanced, the body extracts calcium from muscle cells, which causes these cells to waste, making them vulnerable to fat depositions. 3) Microbes contained in meat emit endotoxins that become embedded in the meat’s protein. When we digest the meat, its saturated fat shuttles the endotoxins into our blood stream, causing inflammation. This state of inflammation enables fat to enter muscle cells. Here’s what comes next:

Once fat gets inside the muscle cells, it interferes with that cell’s ability to develop new insulin receptors. With fewer insulin receptors it becomes more difficult to get sugar into the cell for processing, causing the sugar to build up in the blood. The pancreas then has to churn out even more insulin just to get the sugar into the cells. The very high insulin, which is not normal, will cause even more fat to enter the cells in a vicious cycle.

And so we become insulin resistant.

The best way to shed weight, be healthy, reduce inflammation in your body is a whole foods, plant based diet.
More in proteinaholic.com 

My weight loss journey (part 3)

It's been 7 months since I started my fitness routine. For the past 2 months it has been hard to shed some weight, I have been happily eating to my heart's content and not putting on weight either. But mostly I feel i'm still loosing size, but which is not reflected on the scale. I've lost 4% body fat since I started 7 months ago and I'm thinking of signing up for a 1/2 marathon next year. I'm not sure if the changes are noticeble from the below picture but I feel my legs much more toned and strong, as well as my tummy !

I am very happy to have dropped 4 denim trouser sizes and I currently fit comfortable into a size 10 (tops and bottoms!). Small everyday victories.

Last week I ran for charity an 8k run and found to have beaten my PB even with some knee pain and a recovering Achilles Tendon (spreading the vegan message yeahhhhh!)I finished under 56min

Currently my cardio workout consists of a short run (around 3k run) or a 30min spinning class. Then I have been focusing on my weight lifting plan. Squats with weight lifting, planks, donkey kicks (with 2,5kg ankle weight), side leg lifts with ankle weights and lunges.

This has made my legs stronger to support me in longer runs, such as 8k and 10k

Galway (Ireland): Quay Street Kitchen

The Quay Street Kitchen is a small restaurant in the heart of the city: located on Quay Street (like the name suggests) and strategically near the Spanish Arch. 

I was surprised to find vegan option on this menu so we decided to eat here. We ordered a sharing platter with 

Hummus, Falafel, salad, grilled courgette and aubergine, olives and pita bread.

Then they have two vegan main courses: a bean burger and a tofu wrap. We tried the bean burger with sweet potato as side dish.

It was really tasty and filling !! The burger was big filled with some more grilled peppers and hummus. The sweet potato were perfectly grilled.

We were happy and quite satisfied and usually don't order dessert because well, when you are lucky you find vegan food a la carte but almost never vegan desserts (unless you want plain fruit or sorbet)

But wait on the dessert menu they had a chocolate cake "for our vegans...", we had to try this!!

And it did not disappoint:

The ice cream was delicious (I suspect Swedish Glace vanilla flavor ;) ) and the cake was moist and well just amazing ! I surely would recommend any vegan visiting Galway to go here - but be sure to arrive early enough as this seemes to be quite busy at dinner time (and I don't believe they take reservations), well I understand why !

I rate this

10/10 for the quality of food

9/10 for the decoration

9/10 for staff's friendliness 

9/10 for the price*

* The cost is around 25 euros per person (3 course dinner with a glass of wine), the tables are a bit small for tall people and it unfortunately took 45 min to serve the bean burger because the restaurant was packed.

How to save our planet in 1 step?

And although hogs more easily turn grain into protein – it takes only 3 pounds of grain for a pig to gain a pound of weight (chickens take only two, while beef takes seven) – all those pigs mean a lot of grain is needed.  China now purchases more than 60 percent of the soybeans available for export in the world, a vital ingredient in animal feed.

in Forbes  

If it takes 7 pounds of soybeans to produce 1 pound of beef this means we could feed 7 pounds of tofu (to 7 different people) instead of 1 pound of beef for one person only (and still reduce our carbon emissions  because a pound burger will emit on average 3kg of carbon emissions into the atmosphere).

So instead of feeding soybeans to cows to kill them to produce burgers we could simply take the soybeans we already produce anyway and transform them into protein tofu burgers and feed 7x more people than currently, and also reduce dramatically our carbon emissions.
We *could*:

Save the planet,

End world hunger.

We could.... but somehow we don't. Most people are too hypocritical to make a change and prefer to donate money to end world hunger while munching on a beef burger or some sausages at breakfast.

Please, go vegan. For your health but also for our planet and for the animals.

Recipe #124 Sushi

Ingredients:

- one package of Nori Leaves

- 2 cups of sushi rice*

- 1/4 cup of Sushi seasoning

- Sushi fillings (such as carrots, cucumber, avocado, wasabi, mushrooms)
In this recipe I added Umeboshi (Japanese picked plum)
- bamboo mat to roll the sushi

* 1 cup of boiled sushi rice gives around 3 sushi rolls. So in this recipe i'm making 6 sushi rolls which is enough for 3 hungry people or 4 average hungry people ;)

Start off by boiling the rice: boil the rice in salted water (I measured 2 cups of rice to 2.50 cups of water; you don't want your sushi rice to be a paste).
Get the water to a boil, add the rice and allow this to boil for a few minutes. Turn off the heat so the rice won't burn and put a lid on it.
When the rice is cooked add the seasoning. I bought this ready made or you can do it at home (use ½ cup of rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt. Use only rice vinegar!).
Stir this seasoning into the rice and allow it to cool off a bit (enough to handle with your hands).

Now take your bamboo mat, add a layer of celophane wrap on top and then um nori leaf (shiny side facing down). With your hands or with a spoon spread rice on the nori leaf but leave the top 1/5 of the nori empty (to finish the roll).
now add your filling in the lower part of the nori square. Then carefully roll over the bamboo mat and press down. This requires skill (which I don't have yet! but you can find a lot of Youtubers showing you how to roll the perfect sushi).

At the end use the celophane to wrap the sushi roll and keep the rice together at each end. Place it in the fridge for 30min or some hours (you can prepare this in advance for a dinner party).
Before serving unwrap the sushi roll from the celophane and using a REALLY sharp knife cut each roll into two; then each half into two; and then each quarter into two. Each roll should give you 8 pieces of sushi.
Serve chilled with Soy Sauce to dip it in.

Sue

Sue is making Ireland awww in this cute vodafone commercial (well a copy of New Zealand's commercial where the guy finds a pig as well). People are cheering that Sue gets away from the free range pork farm but then go and eat bacon next time they sit down to eat. It's a cute commercial but very few people make the connection. It's really sad. Here's the cute Piggy Sue:

Cow vs Bean

When I say I'm vegan and I do not drink cow's milk, instead that i drink plant based milks, I usually hear that people cannot give up their precious milk. I hear that cow's milk

is better, 
has more protein, 
is a better source of calcium, 
is natural,
is good for your bones,
is hormone free (that soya has estrogen that causes breast cancer),
that plant based milks are only good due to their supplementing, 
and if you are lactose intolerant you can even get milk without lactose!

So let's check these comments:
To start off I took two known brands of milk and compared the two. Regular milks with no special labels or extra fortified anything.

So soy milk has 

• 30% less calories per 100ml
• 50% less fat and only 10% of the total amount of the saturated fats existing in cow's milk (triglycerides; believed to be one of the most common causes of cardiovascular diseases)
• has fibre (au contraire to cow's milk that does not contain fibre)
• It has practically the same amount of vitamin B12
• Almost 50% less sugar than cow's milk (the sugar in milk is called lactose) 
• practically the same amount of calcium as cow's milk
• 0% cholesterol (this is only found in animal derived foods)

But it's hormone free (soya is bad for you): cow's milk is never hormone free! It might be free from artificial hormone injection but have you ever seen what hormones during pregnancy do to a woman? Well do you think it's different just because a cow is pregnant? Hormone levels rise up to trigger and sustain all the body changes that a female cow goes through during pregnancy and lactation. And all of this (all of what she eats, grass or made made food with antibiotics) goes into her milk. That milk that is supposed to make a baby calf grown 500% their size in the first 12 weeks. That's it, hormones that make you grow bigger, i mean the calf... or whoever is drinking the milk. So milk from a lactating female can never be hormone free.

Soy is a bean; soy does not have estrogen. Studies show that soy acts like estrogen (acts like, it is not the same; due to having isoflavones) in our body and some cancers grow in the presence of estrogen. (But you know what is estrogen and in a much much high quantity? Milk from a lactating female - e.g. Cow!. Milk and cheese are products that contact a high amount of estrogen, just look at how many men have developed man boobs in the last century due to their dietary choices to have cheese on everything.) But back to the bean, there are no studies that show that high consumption of soy beans are linked to higher occurrences of cancer, in fact populations in Asia that eat a lot of soy derived products such as Soy sauce, Tofu, soya milk suffer much less from cancer than western societies.

Lactose is bad for people who are intolerant to it, but now we get lactose free milk!

I hate it when people speak of lactose intolerance like it were a disease. It's not; it's what is normal.

Lactose intolerance happens at a certain age, estimated around 3-6 years old when you have weaned. Since you are not consuming milk (that has lactose) your bowel stops producing lactase (the enzime that brakes down the sugar Lactose). Our bowel is an inteligent organ on its own: it produces the enzimes we need based on the type of foods we eat; it gets stressed when we suffer from mental stress; it adapts the bowel movements and force applied to contract depending on how much fat and fibre you eat; it looses or forget certain abilities if you start eating wrong... and so much more! 

In the past we were weaned and we stopped consuming(or at least in the quantities we are used to now!) milk. We also are prone to loose lactase if our bodies are too acidic (which happens when we consume too much animal products, the ideal condition in our body to produce lactase is when our pH is near to 6, which is basic).

So when we loose lactase we are unable to properly brake down lactose and therefore is travels further into the gastrointestinal tract undergoing fermentation by bacteria, resulting in the production of gas and discomfort. (this is not the same as dairy allergy!)

Usually adult humans are supposed to be lactose intolerant, as they do not need to consume lactose rich products but some world populations have mutated throughout the years and have continued to produce lactase into adulthood and hence are able to eat cheese and milk without feeling discomfort.

But back to Lactose-Free Milk. There is no such thing as lactose free milk: to achieve this end product producers add lactase to the milk, therefore breaking down the sugar lactose into simple sugars (glucose and galactose) that are easily absorved by our body. So this means we are not consuming lactose free milk but instead Milk with Added Lactase, and instead of having the body break it down into simple sugar we already are consuming processed sugars milk.

It is natural!

Is it? We are the only animal on the planet to consume milk (from another species) into adulthood. I know a lot of people will say that other animals do not travel, have cars or mobile phones. But really... do you think it is natural to drink from a cow's tit and take away her newborn baby for whom this milk was produced for?

It has more protein (or better quality protein):

We have already compared above that cow's milk has not more protein. Better protein; higher quality protein? 

So do you know what a protein is? A protein is a string of essential amino acids, essential because our bodies cannot produce them. The nine amino acids humans cannot synthesize are phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, andhistidine

Proteins have several functions in our body such as repair tissue,

Once formed, proteins only exist for a certain period of time - they have an average lifespan of 1–2 days in mammalian cells.

You do not need to eat these amino acids as a complete protein string (as you find in soy beans, cows milk, meat, fish), you can eat them individually and our body will string them up and form proteins to use. That is why it is so important to eat a wholefood, varied diet!

When people talk about protein quality they mean the protein is better because the percentages of all amino acids are similar, when they refer that a protein is not as good they refer to the fact that some plant protein sources do not have all amino acids quantities in the same proportion to each other, one or more amino acids might exist in less quantity then others. Animal proteins are better for that fact if you want to source your protein just from one food (just as meat) because we are eating the body of an animal, made of proteins that are similar to the ones we have in our body. But this doesn't mean the quality of the amino acids is worse in plant based sources, it just means you need to compensate with another source > and that's again where the wholefoods plant based varied diet comes in play. As long as you source nutrients from a lot of different sources you do not need to be worried about the amino acid quantity because your body will use all the amino acids you eat (in all foods) and build proteins from them.

But its good for your bones!

We have already compared above that cow's milk has not more calcium than plant based soya milk.

In a 12-year Harvard study of 78,000 women, those who drank milk three times a day actually broke more bones than women who rarely drank milk, why?
(see Debunking the Milk Myth )

Here’s how it happens. Like all animal protein, milk acidifies the body pH which in turn triggers a biological correction. You see, calcium is an excellent acid neutralizer and the biggest storage of calcium in the body is – you guessed it… in the bones. So the very same calcium that our bones need to stay strong is utilized to neutralize the acidifying effect of milk. Once calcium is pulled out of the bones, it leaves the body via the urine, so that the surprising net result after this is an actual calcium deficit.
Knowing this, you’ll understand why statistics show that countries with the lowest consumption of dairy products also have the lowest fracture incidence in their population (there’s more on this later).

Vegan means love, not hate

We all have that friend, or met someone like this, that is the "angry vegan". You are out for dinner and choose that XXL burger with bacon and cheese. And off he/she goes: that you are eating dead bodies, that cows were violated and their babies took away for that slice of cheese, that baby piglets were mutilated and tortured for that bacon... 'Yes Yes we know, but bacon is so good, i don't care'. This triggers the youtube videos of animal cruelty while you are eating your burger; ruined your dinner, had a fight with your friend and then and there you might think this friendship is hitting down low.
This is what I call an angry vegan.

Yes guilt can make people do a lot of things. You might feel guilty and suddenly you don't want to eat that burger full of cruelty anymore. But guilt can work both ways, as above described, instead of guilt you might feel angry at that person for pointing this out to you and then be angry at that person rather than your actions. As they say ''don't blame the messenger'', is not always true. 
The same way our minds are amazing at blocking out certain things (like a steak is a steak and is not a piece of a dead cow) it is also amazing at redirecting feelings, such as being angry at the person for them pointing out the obvious (or providing you with more information on what is on your plate) instead of looking at yourself and judging your actions. Because WE never do anything bad. Have you ever met anyone who thought about themselves as being a bad person? Of course not, we always believe we are the best we can be (and do) until someone shows us another, better, way.

So instead I prefer the "plant the seed" approach. Instead of bashing and screaming and telling someone how bad and terrible they and their actions are (which we of course never are) I like to think that the positive vegans as the ones that can make YOU think instead of telling you what is bad. 
And that is the common rule to make most things happen: you have to want it. Have you ever seen a diet work just because you called someone fat or over weight? No. The person needs to want to loose weight and until that happens the weight is not going anywhere. The same for veganism. 

Make people think.
Make people aware.
Help people feel.
Help people make the connection. A steak is not just meat, a steak is a piece of the body of a cow that was raised to be killed and processed into steaks.

But do this in a positive way. Show them how clever cows are, show them cows feel in the same way our dogs and cats feel.
Show them it is not necessary to eat other animals for our survival, less even for to increase our health. With time make your health bloom and show everyone how you are thriving since you started eating a plant based, compassionate diet. And bottom line: happiness is in fact something that comes from inside and reflects on the outside; if you feel good and if you feel serene about your choices you will be happier. Just try it.

Don't be angry at vegans; don't generalize all vegans as bad angry vegans. Some of us just are not vocalizing it the right way. Most of us were meat eaters, so we understand your side.
In the end we are all just trying to help others make more compassionate choices, be a better person, help the planet that we all live on and make it a happier place for animals. 

Recipe #123 Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

- one package of gnocchi

- tomato passage

- 2 bell peppers

- 300gr fresh white mushrooms
- 1 chopped onion

- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)

- 1 tablespoon white wine

Salt, black pepper, garlic powder, hot paprika and oregano.

Start by cooking the Gnocchi. Bring 1 lt of water to boil with a pinch of salt. When the water is boiling add the gnocchi and wait until they float. As soon as they start floating use a slotted spoon and remove them from the water. (This is very important that you remove them as soon as they float, or else they will over cook and become mushy).

Then heat the olive oil in a wok or large pan and fry the onion until it's golden. Now add the mushrooms and the peppers and the spoon of white wine. Season well and allow the vegetables cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the tomato passata and the balsamic vinegar; stir everything together and let the sauce bubble a bit. Turn off the heat and THEN add the gnocchis. Stir carefully and serve.

Thank you !

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SFV at Aldi

1.19€

Really nice smell, makes a lot of foam, I really find this great to take on a trip or with me to the gym. Great 3 in 1 for a third of the price of others on the market.

A cheaper version of the Original Source shower gel with scents such as Lemon, Mint and Raspberry Smoothie.

Beautifully said

In eat & run by Scott Jurek