Vegetarian Day 2 and counting

Alright, I'm really liking this 'Vegetarian day' thing and it's not been hard to follow. I realize that when I was in school, I had been doing almost just that. For breakfast, I usually had cereal or waffles and sometimes for lunch I would have yogurt or yogurt and a salad. Anyways, here's what I had today.

Breakfast: I just had some Corn flakes with raisins (and Organic milk). Sometimes, I might have corn flakes plain, but if I'm not sprinkling it with sugar, I add raisins. Raisins are sweet and tasty and are a good replacement for sugar. And then I had a little bit of orange juice.

Lunch: I really liked my lunch today. I first ate a peach that I cut up and sprinkled cinnamon on top. Cinnamon is one of my favorite spices.

And I ate it with my own homemade potato salad. Of course, it doesn't compare to my mom's but it was a good try!
And also something I haven't tried before - toasted wheat bread with peanut butter on top. A healthy and tasty replacement for regular butter.

Dinner: This was something different too. I had some steamed 'Spring Vegetables' - squash, zucchini, peppers, onion, asparagus, and carrots. I had Spaghetti pasta with it but instead of using spaghetti sauce, I made my own. First, I sauteed cut onions and minced garlic. I added it on top of the Spaghetti with cut black olives and tomatoes, drizzled over with olive oil. Be careful not to put too much olive oil or it will take away from the flavor of the meal. Add some ground black pepper, parmesan flakes, and after I decided to add some Italian seasoning.

Have a happy Saturday, Everyone!

Organic Milk

I know of organic berries, organic tomatoes, organic granola bars, but I never thought much about Organic milk. I had heard that regular milk that most people probably buy actually may contain blood and pus from the cow's udder because the cows from those large farm 'corporations?' are treated badly. Those farms want to get the milk out as fast as they can and sell sell sell, that they neglect the proper treatment of the animals. It's awful. People claim organic milk is better because organic farmers are more likely to treat their animals kindly. I've never seen the workings of cow farms in person and I'm not claiming I know everything about this issue, but one cannot go blind to all of those who are speaking out against this. There obviously is a problem. In one documentary I saw, they showed what goes on the inside of these animal cruelty farms and it was horrible. The poor chickens were living in the most horrible conditions.

A Vegan I know always gets on the non-vegans for eating meat and drinking milk saying that we're drinking the blood and pus of cows. But you know, it's probably true and just last week it really hit me. It's expensive to live a healthy, organic lifestyle in the U.S., but we started to buy organic milk and that's what I have been using in my cereal as of now. It cost about $2 more and it smelled kind of funny, but taste fine. We still get the 1% kind of it.

Blood and pus! Imagine! It's disgusting, right? People don't know what they're eating or drinking. We need to research more about what we put into our bodies that will benefit our well being. I am not a Vegan, but I do not condone animal cruelty. Animals should be treated with respect and should be treated kindly. That's what I like about Kosher or Halal food - they kill the animals to limit as much pain as they can to the animals and they treat them humanely. Humans may be above all animals and plants, but we should still strive to protect the earth.

In some places, adults don't literally drink milk at all, they consider milk only for babies or young children. When you think about it, it makes sense. A mother's breast milk is only meant for her baby and when the baby grows, milk is given to him/her to give them calcium to strengthen their bones and teeth. When we get older, do we really need cow's milk? Tell me. If a human's breast milk is for human babies, shouldn't a cow's breast milk be only for cows? And a goat's milk only for baby kids? I like the taste of milk in my cereal and with yummy cookies and of course I use it in baking, but perhaps drinking milk will stop altogether someday. Right now, I don't know. Organic milk seems to be okay and I'll continue to use it unless some other revelation comes to me!

But Blood and pus? Ewww! Now you see how important it is to treat animals kindly.

Do We Need Meat?

On my first post of this blog, I wrote how the earth has so many resources that we don't need certain things because the natural earth provides it all. Can this idea be the same for meat also? Although animals are part of the natural earth, do we really need to eat them to gain nourishement and all the vitamins that we need? Those who don't eat meat would say no, of course not. Meat does provide protein but so do other foods like beans. I heard one person say that we really "don't need to eat meat more than three times a week". When I weighed the possibilities and considered the things that I have heard and read over the years, perhaps she is right. One reason is the one mentioned above.

The second reason is that meat takes so long to digest. Fruits and vegetables go through the digestive system easier and faster. Sometimes it can take days for some steak to digest fully through your body. Imagine what your insides look like as this happens. It's pretty gross. While you're eating your salami sandwich, the big hamburger that you ate two days ago is still trying to digest. According to Dr. Oz, a show that I really enjoy, that can be a cause for indigestion. They said that when you're eating a meal, eat the fruits and veggies first before you eat the sandwich. We tend to eat the sandwich first, but when we do that the meat goes down slower and creates a block, not allowing the other good foods to go through. If we decreased the amount of meat intake, we will be giving our bodies more time to work properly and we won't feel so sluggish either. My family in general, doesn't eat a lot of meat. For one thing, it can be pretty expensive. We eat it with our meals, but not a lot of it. Nevertheless, we eat some at least twice a day. I've been considering it and I am now trying to not eat meat everyday. I'm not on some diet and I'm not doing this forcefully as some kind of fad. I'm doing this because I want to and I want to live healthy and take care of my body. Of course I get that taste for a juicy vegetable topped hamburger or a beef enchilada. I like those things, but I know that I need to get in those vitamins from my vegetables.
I'm always learning and if we know everything, then why try to change something in our lives. I don't know everything but I am learning more in how to treat my body how it should be treated. My mother always says "We only have one body" so let's treat it right.

The third reason is what you might have heard about recently - the now famous "pink slime". Apparently, the major beef companies, after cutting the beef that we eat, have been mixing the leftover 'stuff' of the cow that nobody wants and have mixed it creating this pink stuff that looks like slime, "pink slime" as they call it. Excusez-moi? Ewww! Now, it's not in all beef products, but it was probably in the ground beef that we bought at the store not too long ago! Imagine, all of those times I went to the restaurant or the store and ate that... It makes me cringe. Seriously? Could something like that be the cause of all these health problems that Americans face? Sometimes you can never know what goes in your food. The cook may not have washed his hands after going to the bathroom. Not everyone wears gloves or hair nets. Flies buzzing. Low health rates of the restaurant. Don't be rude to the cook, they just might spit in your food. How will you know? Well, at least we now know of this slime. All of these things makes me want to only eat at home, where I know what the cook is doing!

Yesterday, I chose to eat Vegetarian and I felt good about it. I didn't feel the need to eat sausage or turkey or beef and I was fine. Do what feels right for your body. Listen to your body.

Nature has its laws, maybe we have forgotten it and need to listen to it again.  :)

Peppers

Green peppers and onions are my staple vegetables when it comes to cooking tasty food. Many meals I make end up having peppers and onions and that's what I like with my eggs too. Last week we had some hot dogs (We generally only buy the 'all-beef' hot dogs) and we still had some lonely peppers in the fridge. Great, add some veggies to the meat!

I cooked the franks on the stove, drained them on paper towels and then added the sliced peppers to the same pan to get all the juicy goodness! I sauteed the green, yellow, orange, and red peppers with about two teaspoons of minced garlic. The combination of all the peppers was delicious and so easy. You can even add rice and onions to the mix. The next day I used the leftover peppers in my scrambled eggs.

Goodness Milk

Recently, I tried rice milk. I've heard of almond milk and soy milk, but not rice milk. I tried the Wholesome Goodness Organic Rice Drink in Vanilla. You can probably find it at your local grocery store or supermarket.
This rice milk was kind of like the almond soy milk I had before which I did not like at all. The rice milk though was tolerable, definitely something I would have to get used to. It was a cream/tan color and very watery. I'm kind of used to "watery" milk because I drink 1% milk. I like the fact that it was very healthy and contained many vitamins but this rice milk was too sweet for me, perhaps because of the vanilla, I don't know. I mostly used it for cereal. Here is a milk drink for all you vegans out there!

Vegetarian Day

Well, I was meaning to post this earlier (on Thursday), but I got caught up in other things. And I am still up so I thought I would post this now. Yesterday, on Thursday, was my Vegetarian day. My sister and I have started this thing where we have days that we only eat in Vegetarian style. Once I start attending university with my sister, we are going to set a few days of the week where we only eat Vegetarian. For me, I'll most likely do the Vegetarian that allows dairy - eggs, cheese, butter, and milk. I did it today and it was quite easy. In fact, earlier I did a month where I eliminated all pork from my diet - which actually ended up being about 40 days. The details are on my other blog. Since then, I have had lesser desires for pork.

Without further ado, for breakfast, which was more like brunch, I had some cinnamon waffles with berries and maple syrup. I drank hot tea of course - Strawberry tea. I was still a little bit hungry so I had some pineapple afterwards.


Blueberries, Strawberries, Blackberries, and Raspberries

 If the waffles didn't have cinnamon in it, I would have added it on top. Cinnamon is one of my most favorite spices. I add it to waffles, ice cream, pie, some cereals, toast sometimes, oatmeal...

For dinner



Egg sandwich with lettuce and sliced tomato. I actually ate only half the sandwich and added lettuce to it. Sliced tomatoes taste good by itself. The egg had cheese, onions, and green peppers with a little bit of salt and pepper. Instead of toasting the bread, I spread a little bit of butter on the bread and put the whole sandwich (without the lettuce) into the oven to bake.

We also had some macaroni and cheese with whole green beans.
I don't think I ate too bad today, so I had a Klondike bar.



Nature and Food

I have always enjoyed learning Natural health remedies and natural and organic foods that are delicious and good for the human body. I am still learning for there is much to learn from this beautiful and complex earth. I admit, I like to eat good food. I think most people do. And I also love to be in nature - taking long nature walks, dancing with the wind, observing the bees suck nectar from the precious flowers. And listening to the song of the birds and the conversations of the trees. I love trees - they seem to be my favorite object for many of my paintings and drawings. Nature makes me feel so alive, calm, adventurous, and romantic all at the same time. What can I say, I am a 'hopeful' Romantic.
I believe God provided humans with all the necessities that we need right here on earth. Nature has so many varieties that it doesn't seem that we really need anything man-made, synthetic foods, medicines, etc. You can look at Eastern medicine and see all of the natural substances that they use to treat various ailments. In reality, I admit, we probably don't even need to eat animals either. We can get protein and other nutrients from plant sources. Soybeans are like a miracle plant. I am not a Vegan or Vegetarian, but I am going to start having days where I eat only Vegan or Vegetarian food. For an Omnivore, eating Vegan or Vegetarian food is no big deal. As an Omnivore, I can eat almost anything. It sounds funny - omnivore, but it is what it is! And I mean 'no big deal' as in 'I can still eat this or that', but it can be a big deal in 'finding what I CAN eat'. I already have been reading food labels for a long time and it seems to become a habit of mine to read the ingredients too. I cringe at some of the ingredients! And yes, I read the serving size too. I don't believe myself to be a "health freak", I eat sweets and salty snacks here and there, but I try to eat in moderation. Some days are easy, others difficult. But I struggled with my weight like some kids do starting at around age 10 through age 15. I am 18 now. And since then, I have lost most of my objected weight. I am not overweight, but I still want to get rid of those remaining 15 pounds and tone my body. I never was obese but I did feel a difference in my body after I lost weight. I felt light and I could easily run and jump, twist and turn. I can't wait to find a good tree to climb!
But in terms of moderation, I think that is one of the biggest problems people have. Most people that are overweight or obese don't eat in moderation. I know I didn't and that is what greatly contributed to my weight gain.

I believe God has given humans many natural nutrients and elements of the earth to use for all sorts of things. I am sick and tired of all the processed and fake substances that is injected in our food. I believe that is a major problem in the world today contributing to bad health. In terms of the U.S., the life expectancy is greater than it used to be, but there are so many health problems arising, including obesity, which seems to be the talk all across the news.
Nature and food go hand in hand. If being out in nature can make you feel alive, can not its fruits give you life as well?
I don't eat all organic foods all the time as I would like. I wish the healthier foods was more affordable than the 'junkie' foods. It's pretty sad to me. In some other countries, the lower classes eat a healthy diet, but in the U.S., the lower classes are left with high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar food. What helps our body should come natural and affordable to all.


I don't think I have a favorite food/cuisine, but I love to eat Cuban, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, and Japanese food. I am part Native American, Cuban, and Italian, so perhaps that has some influence on my food tastes...yes, of course it does!

I wrote a lot about food on my first blog Candle In The Corridor, and decided I should create a blog just for this. As I mentioned in my profile, I will probably mention natural health remedies, herbs and spices, oils. I come from a family that LOVES herbs, spices, teas, incense, candles, and perfume oils. And witch balls - I just had to throw that in there!

Thank you for visiting my blog and I pray that you stay and share your "thyme" with me with your own natural remedies, favorite foods, and how you make use of Mother Earth!