Contest
Do you have an adorable pet? Would you like a free portrait for him or her? Please send photos of your pet to anamanamakes@gmail.com and I will choose one photo at the end of January to receive a free vector portrait! Tell your friends!
Quitting
G is trying to quit smoking. I quit last June. It was fairly easy for me. I’ve never understood some of the weird side effects of quitting I’ve heard various people experiencing. Things like extreme shakiness and morning sickness? It seems like these symptoms must be psychosomatic. Other symptoms, like headaches and cravings are ones I can relate to. This is the sort of thing that happens when you stop taking any drug. It shows you what that drug has been doing to you this whole time, how it has been weakening you. I think this should be even more motivation to quit. Relax, breathe, it will be over soon and you will feel better than you did before.
I’d like to be vegan.
When it comes to eating, I am definitely most concerned with how the ingredients will affect my body first, and how they will taste second. I mean I’m not going to eat something if it isn’t tasty, but I probably will not eat something tasty if I know from personal experience and research that it has the potential to be harmful. This poses more of a problem lately, as I am increasingly interested in becoming vegan. The vegan diet seems to offer many benefits, but I haven’t yet figured out how to adopt it and remain healthy.
Most of my research seems to point to soy products as a main source of protein. Tofu, tempeh, etc. Previous research suggests that soy products contain an overwhelming amount of a thing called lectins, which are kind of nature’s answer to pesticides, as I understand it. Everything has lectins. It seems that if one eats too much of a particular thing, one may become sick as a result of an accumulation of too many of the same type of lectin wreaking havoc on the body. This is presumably meant to protect any given plant from complete extinction. Supposedly the soybean naturally has a lot more of these lectins than any other plant. In addition to this natural abundance of lectins, we now have humans modifying soybeans to grow with even more of them, so the plants will be more resistant to pests. This naturally means that ingesting the plant would be exponentially more harmful to little creatures, as well as humans. So this really doesn’t seem like a viable option.
From what I understand, protein is essential for maintaining normal blood glucose levels. So what’s a girl to do? I know that vegetables have protein, but is that enough? Grains seem to be another staple providing valuable nutrients to a vegan diet. I wish I could eat them; I find many of them delicious. Unfortunately I also find them to be at least as harmful as soy from personal experience, and have read a lot of agreement on the subject.
Nuts are a great source of protein. The main problem with eating too many nuts is that they produce urinary oxalates, which when consumed in excess can cause problems in the kidneys as well as the rest of the urinary tract.
I would like to find some magical protein source that I have overlooked or forgotten about that would allow me to become vegan. I’d even settle for lacto-ovo vegetarian, but I don’t feel that I should rely on eggs and dairy for all of my protein. There has to be something else. Lectins are in everything, so even too much eggs and dairy can make someone ill.
I will continue researching all of this. I’d love to hear from anyone who has advice on the subject.
Delicious chocolate chip cookie recipe with a relatively low GI/GL
This recipe makes about 24 cookies
1 1/2 cups quinoa flour
1/2 cup soft butter (keep wrapper and set aside)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2.5 grams fiber supplement (I use larch arabinogalactan)
2/3 cup apple sauce
1/3 cup raw honey
1 1/2 tbsp black strap molasses
6 oz mini chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375°
Combine butter, honey, molasses and applesauce in a large bowl and whisk vigorously for several minutes. Add egg and vanilla and continue to whisk until well mixed. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and fiber. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture slowly, mixing as you go. Once ingredients are a uniform consistency, add chocolate chips and stir until well distributed.
Grease cookie sheets with butter by wiping them with the insides of the butter wrapper. Use a large spoon to scoop out dough, and place neatly onto the cookie sheets, spaced apart a few inches or so. Bake for about 8 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Allow cookies to cool for several minutes before serving.
