Crazy Sexy Diet: book review

Yes, I am an unabashed fan of Kris Carr. I've read all of her other books, so when Crazy Sexy Diet came out, I rushed to get it despite my recent moratorium on all books with "Diet" in the title. Even though there's so much in the book that I've come across elsewhere, I just love the way she puts it all together. Not only is the information well organized, but the layout of the book is awesome. Everything is attractive and accessible, right down to the font, pictures and colors that she uses. All of the "guest columns" in the book are informative. I especially liked the Frank Lipman piece on Vitamin D, and her suggestions on supplementation were right on. Her writing style makes me giggle. She actually *motivates* me instead of making me want to starve myself in a cave. Any "diet" where I don't starve, I don't have to eat meat and dairy and where I am strongly suggested to meditate is A-OK with me.

There are some studies briefly mentioned in Crazy Sexy Diet. The nerdy little researcher in me would have liked foot notes and research/study citations, but we can't always get everything we want...maybe next time, Kris? Pretty please with yacon syrup on top?

I also would have loved more recipes, although the ones she included look pretty tasty. I am especially excited to try the vanilla chai tapioca pudding.

I am definitely going to give the 21 Day cleanse a spin, as I am feeling particularly gross after all of the vegan junk food I have been indulging in while I've been recuperating (read: sulking) from my hand surgery. Definitely letting my lack of mobility be the excuse for living on Uncle Eddie's vegan cookies, Tofurkey vegan roasted veggie pizza, organic popcorn with Earth Balance and english muffins. WTF? Some one's going to have to roll me out of my apartment soon, like Violet Beauregarde in Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory: "Would you roll the young lady down to the juicing room immediately, please?"

Here is a link to an excerpt from the book as well as a video appearance from Kris Carr on Good Morning America: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/book-excerpt-crazy-sexy-diet-kris-carr/story?id=12633095&page=2

And here's my personal favorite green smoothie for newbies recipe, straight from my test kitchen:

Mo' Greens, No Problems Smoothie
1/2 cup organic apple juice
1/2 cup hemp milk
three handfuls of spinach or 4-5 dinosaur kale leaves
1 tbs chia seeds
1 scoop plain or vanilla vegan protein powder
2 tsp E3 live blue green algae flakes or Crystal Manna flakes
1 tbs vegan EFA blend or flax oil (Barlean's vegan berry 3/6/9 blend is ridiculously good in this)
agave or stevia to taste (optional)
handful of mixed organic berries

The trick to not getting chunks in your green smoothie, even if you have a crappy blender on its last legs like mine, is to put the fluids in first, including the oil. Then add the greens, and if you are using kale, de-stem it and tear it apart with your hands. Blend until everything looks smooth and green. Slowly add the powders one at a time and blend after each one. Add the fruit last and if it gets too thick, add some water to thin it out. I usually don't sweeten mine, but if you have a sweet tooth do what you need to do, OK? If you want a super green colored smoothie, you can also substitute half of a banana or peaches for the berries---the color will be much more intense.

Vegan Pizza at The Pizza Place, Wynn Casino: review

I HAD to do it. Gotta work my way through the Wynn's vegan offerings sooner or later! I went last weekend to investigate with some of my vegan and veg friendly friends who were visiting from Florida. We had the vegan pizza with Teese cheese and all of the available veggies as well as the salad and vegan garlic knots. They even had vegan gelato on the menu (!!) as well as gluten free options and other clear allergen listings. It was a totally separate menu that they whipped out from behind the counter.

This is also one of the less expensive places to eat at The Wynn, as well as somewhere you could easily bring omni family and friends. There's even a beautiful manmade waterfall outside! And if that isn't your scene, there's flatscreen TVs with sports for those who are so inclined.

The pizza was quite tasty. The Teese cheese was a pleasant change from Daiya: more stretchy and less oily. I liked it and would definitely buy Teese if I could get my hot little vegan hands on it! The pizza came out very fresh (obviously made to order) and the service was great. My friends even asked, "Why are all the servers so incredibly nice here?" Oh, and the garlic knots were amazing! Real East Coast style---I devoured them all by myself.

Ironically, a few weeks ago I was with my vegan buddy Easy Ice at the Riviera while she was working an event and I overheard some guys talking about working at the Wynn. One of them stated that Steve Wynn was "totally fucking insane" and really didn't sound like he liked working there all that much. He also said that he's a control freak, but that he thought it probably takes being a control freak to build a casino empire. Yeah, probably! I've also heard a lot of blowback from my brothers' friends in the restaurant industry who know people who work there. Apparently a lot of the employees (including some of the chefs) think Steve Wynn's vegan thing is a very annoying kick that he's temporarily on and that hopefully he will get over it soon. I hope not, because selfishly I want to keep eating all of his awesome food!!! And obviously, it's great for the animals and for creating awareness of veganism locally and in the media. Thank you, Steve Wynn---I'll be back!

Vegan Guide To Sephora, part one

The whole guide is coming soon, I swear! This is a personal pet project of mine, born out of the fact that I totally fracking love Sephora. I am such a girl.

I recently 100% veganized all of my cosmetics at Sephora and it was a very interesting experience. It also inadvertently ended up being an educational experience for me as well as for the awesome sales associate who was helping me (ironically also named Maria: we are legion, and we are taking over the world, bitches!). She didn't know what carmine was and looked like she was about to hurl when I told her that it was red pigment from crushed up beetles. Oh, and did I mention the potential neurotoxin part? I had heard this when I worked for Whole Foods, but I haven't found any information yet to substantiate that claim. I'm working on it, though! Research Science Girl to the rescue... anyway, Maria was awesome and I made sure to compliment her to Sephora. I am a firm believer in the Veganic Pay It Forward: if someone goes way out of their way to really help me find vegan stuff or food, I write a glowing letter to the company ASAP and mention the person by name. I love you, fellow vegans, but some of us are (for lack of a more delicate term) assholes. I've certainly been a hysterical vegan asshole in the past when I was frantically looking for vegan eats and there was nothing to be found but iceberg lettuce and blank stares of incomprehension. It's my karmic duty now to be the most joyful, kind, positive vegan I can be every single day. And it's certainly a hell of a lot more fun than being a dour, angry, jaded, judgemental bizatch.

But I digress. For now, the best bets are Urban Decay, Tarte, a foundation by DuWop and one lip balm by The Balm. I also know for sure that Fresh, Too Faced and LaVanilla also do not test on animals, nor does Benefit (I wrote and asked). I am working on getting vegan listings from them as well as other companies. I also wrote Sephora and asked if they had a list of cruelty-free companies/vegan products. Pretty sure they don't have it, but at least I can let them know that people are interested!

Urban Decay has a handy printable shopping list here:
http://www.urbandecay.com/vegan.cfm

And Tarte does, too---they actually certified their products with PETA (oooh!):
http://tartecosmetics.com/tarte-shop-vegan-cosmetics

Here is a link to The Balm's vegan lip treatment; not only is it vegan, but all proceeds are donated to pug rescue:
http://www.thebalm.com/makeup/rescue.htm

DuWop carries a really nice vegan anti-aging foundation (ahem!). Yeah, I need it. Being over 40 ain't pretty, even if you are vegan and sucking down green smoothies like they're the new crack:
http://shop.duwop.com/foundationofyouth-1.aspx

Too Faced has lovely "teddy bear hair" cruelty-free, synthetic brushes:
http://www.toofaced.com/accessories/makeupbrushes.aspx


That's it for now, but I will post more once I get some further information from the companies I wrote to. Please comment if you have any additional sneaky insider vegan Sephora tips or information!

This vegan thing seems to be sticking...!

Vegas gets a bad rap. When I first came here as a visitor, I thought it was the most vegan/veg unfriendly place on the planet. It seemed like everything was smeared in fois gras and not a veg entree to be seen for miles. It was easier to find venison medallions than it was to find it a veggie burger. When I decided to go back to being a vegan (man, I wish I had never stopped...but that was my path I had to go down), I discovered a whole world of vegan food and it just keeps growing and growing. There's been a huge upsurge in interest in veganism since I've lived here for the last 4 years. I switched over to this blog as an outlet for all of my vegan interests (including bodybuilding),cooking and activism. I've imported some of my vegan focused posts from my old blog, Slayer Is My Personal Trainer. Sorry if it seems piecemeal or weird, but it's been a long hard road to get to where I am now. Getting sober, having serious surgery, changing jobs---moving to Las Vegas started a whole chain reaction of transformation and upheaval for me and I am so glad I did it! Didn't do it alone, of course...I've had help from every direction, and even when it's been really, really hard, it's been worth it.

It's a celebration, bitches!

Yesterday I celebrated 2 years clean and sober! I still can't believe it. And it was just another day in my drug & alcohol & animal product free life...OMFG, I've turned into one of those friggin' straight-edge people I used to drunkenly mock! I slept in, read trashy vampire novels, snuggled with my Italian Greyhound, went to the library and ate a super yummy celebratory vegan meal at the Red Velvet Cafe. Overall, I spent the whole day really, really relaxing. Tonight I take my chip at my AA home group.

I discovered a new blog that I really like, http://ohsheglows.com/. The author has a great attitude and lots of yummy "green monster" recipes. The green monster pancakes look awesome! I will have to try them this week...


Today's eats:
breakfast: acai, strawberry, pomegranate juice, blue green algae, rice protein powder
snack: hemp granola with vanilla coconut yogurt (and it smells like birthday cake! mmmm)
lunch: raw kale, romaine, cabbage, red pepper and carrot salad w/ balsamic ving, black bean and veggie burrito with guacamole
snack: apples, green smoothie if I am really hungry post workout
dinner: salad, boca faux chicken patties

Today's workout: turbulence training beginner's workout A followed by 20 min interval training
If I have time, yoga before bed.

WTF I am eating...today

So this is what I've decided to feed myself with today...
B: Vega protein powder, unsweetened almond milk, strawberries, 2 tsp flax oil, 1 tbs raw cacao powder, 1 tsp crystal manna blue green algae.
L: multigrain pasta with cannelini beans, broccoli and faux cheese red star sauce
D: sunshine burger on an ezekiel bun with spinach, sprouts, red swiss chard and portobello mushrooms as a side dish
snacks: apples, carrots, jalapeno hummus.

Yup, this is how I have been eating lately (hippie food, anyone?). In some ways, it's a return to the comfort zone of my past---vegetarianism/veganism. I'm not the world's greatest meat eater, to be perfectly honest. In fact, I've been finding meat to be increasingly revolting for the past 6 months. I started eating fish in 2000 on the advice of three different acupuncture physicans and the bodybuilding community at large. The animal product eating "experiment" continued for most of my 30's and I've been ambivalent for most of that time. I've gone back to veganism, raw veganism or just good old vegetarianism over and over again but felt like I just couldn't get it right. I kept wanting to binge on cheese and dairy products. A lot of that had to do with my eating disordered ways and nothing to do with veganism itself. I've been silently cheering on the resurgence of veganism in the media---Oprah doing the Quantum Wellness challenge, Skinny Bitch (altho I have serious issues with that book), The Engine 2 Diet, the guys behind Precision Nutrition and Turbulence Training trying out plant based diets and even my favorite fitness blogger, Skwigg, has taken the plant-based plunge recently. For me, it goes beyond the whole "plant-based diet" phenomenon---it has to do with my spiritual growth. I cannot continue on the path I've been on without taking the leap to a more compassionate way of living that encompasses all living creatures.

I am also shifting my workout ideals and body image ideas. I worked with a personal trainer for the past few months who was simply AMAZING...she's a NPC figure competitor and there's a link to her on my blog. I learned so much from her in the short time I got to work with her. But during that time I also made some serious realizations about myself:

1. I have no desire to be a figure competitor, esp. since it seems to involve torture and tilapia, and not necessarily in that order.
2. I am tired of being in physical pain, and my workouts have been contributing to that level of pain for quite some time. My eating has been significantly contributing to that pain level by causing inflammation and emotional distress.
3. I am no longer willing to judge my self-worth by the numbers on the scale or by the size of my pants or by my age and physical appearance. I am an almost 40 year old woman and even when I was 16 I didn't look like some of the 16 year olds I see today. Trying to force myself to fit a beauty standard that is sick and discriminatory by nature is not happening for me anymore.
3. I hate eating fish. I fucking hate it.
4. My diet has been working against my spiritual growth. Period.
5. If I don't make some serious, permanent changes, my health will continue to decline and I will continue to be a miserable, sick, binge eater.
6. I engage in negative self talk in every area of my life all day long. My thought patterns hold me captive. They hinder me in every area of my life. My lack of acceptance/sheer hatred of myself is astonishing. I've been working with affirmations a lot lately.
7. I need to find a way to eat that makes me feel spiritually and physically good. This new way of eating will lead to weight loss by default, but it will also transform me on every level.
8. Support is 100% necessary for me. It needs to be non-judgemental and nurturing. I do well with 12 step recovery programs, so I am back in OA and have a wonderful new sponsor. I also will reach out for support online and through the vegan and Buddhist communities. If I need to, I will consult dietitians/nutritionists and therapists as well.
9. My workout programs need to be less punishing. I no longer have a desire to feel like I have been run over by a fleet of mack trucks on the day after I work out. I also don't want a workout this is so non-challenging that I feel like I just took a nap. I need a program that will develop a sense of ease and comfort in my own skin...something functional. I also need a hell of a lot of work on my flexibility and alignment. And my feet and ankles are still all jacked up, so whatever I choose needs to not hurt them in any way.
10. All of this can change at any moment. I reserve the right to continually revise my own "rules". I don't have to live by a rigid set of restrictions imposed upon me by the diet police, the vegan police or anyone else. I don't have to drive myself crazy with perfectionism or restriction.

Whew. That turned into quite the manifesto.

Anyway, I feel like I have reached a turning point and I am excited, thrilled and curious as to what the future will bring.

Off to work out---I am trying Turbulence Training and Baron Baptiste's 40 day yoga program right now. Might start logging my workouts and food now that I have a computer at home again.