Vegetarian Middle Child does food cleanse

That’s right, folks. 5/7 days of the week I’m vegan, but today I start on my 21 day cleanse. Since re-reading Kathy Freston‘s Quantum Wellness I’ve just begun to realize that wellness is a 24/7 practice. And while I’m always doing great in one area, there’s always work to do somewhere else.

I’m two years, 3 months vegetarian and counting (with the odd wavering during special occasions). In 2010, I began to have some major digestive problems. Since going to the doctor and testing out various over the counter meds and food, I’ve been able to cut down on the bouts of stomach acidity but it hasn’t quite completely left me yet. So after much binging on seafood, ramen noodles and the best pork I’ve eaten in my life for 8 days in Tokyo, I’ve decided to get my body back in gear. For 21 days, these are the guidelines I’m going to adhere to as recommended by Freston in her book:

- No alcohol
- No caffeine (I know – what will I do without green tea?)
- No gluten
- No sugar (the hardest challenge)
- No casein – since I’m already mostly vegan, this is the additional challenge aside from meat products. Casein appears in some cereals and veggie-based meats.

Yesterday I walked my way to Famous Foods so I could get my regular groceries and some additional goods I knew I couldn’t find at the Pricemart I usually drive to.

Since I only had to get half the groceries for this week than usual, I was hoping I wouldn’t spend too much. Shopping at places like this can be expensive. I went $6 over my $35 budget but it wasn’t too bad since a lot of the items will last me at least two weeks.

List for this week:
- Organic bananas
- Broccoli
- Strawberries
- Soy yogurt
- Quinoa
- Nature’s Path organic flax multibran flakes cereal (not my usual maple pecan, but I know my colon’s gonna love that bran)
- Blueberries
- Onion
- Lime
- Organic lettuce
- Green onions
- Brown mushrooms
- Van’s gluten and sugar-free apple cinnamon waffles
- Peanuts
- Black beans (I know I shouldn’t buy canned, but the bulk is EXPENSIVE)
- Green pepper

For the next few days I plan to make a quinoa-based salad and then a veggie stir-fry with brown rice. The soy yogurt and berries will be a new change from the peanut butter sandwiches I eat for breakfast, along with oatmeal as well. Eating out will also be a challenge but I LOVE raw vegan so we’ll see how many places I can manage.

I’ll blog again on April 12th to let you know how I’m doing.

Living raw bliss at Organic Lives

I’ve wanted to visit Organic Lives for a long time and especially since food blogger Mijune Pak highly recommended their Coconut Cream Pie… after all, Organic Lives is said to be the city’s best raw vegan restaurant, and desserts recommended by non-vegans are all good in my book.

The main location is at Quebec Street and 2nd Avenue, but I planned out my Chinese New Year to eat with company downtown, so ventured to the brand-spanking new location at the Chopra Yoga Centre on Granville of Hastings.

At the downtown location, it’s more of a take and go. There are seats, but no tables, so unless you’re having a quick bite, it’s probably best to take your meal with you. I ordered the Pecan Sushi, Pad Thai, and Ridiculous dessert to share with my sister. The menu is definitely more limited than the main location’s, but some of the selections are the same. The counterperson was still getting used to the computer payment system and the order took about 10 minutes to make, but good god, was it worth the wait! I wasn’t even going to take photos, but I had to show you how beautiful this stuff looks, even in to-go boxes. Great photos is one reason why people should convert to vegetarianism!

Pecan Sushi: Pecans, alfalfa, cucumber, carrots, mango, tomato, seaweed, wasabi 

There was also a side sauce with the sushi whose flavours I can’t identify, but it was more on the sweet side. The sushi didn’t taste like your average Japanese sushi, as there was no rice. This baby is all good stuff and I was even ok with the dash of wasabi, which I normally don’t like. The mango was also a nice punch of sweetness.

Pad Thai: Noodles, peanut sauce, spinach, cabbage, carrots, cilantro, parsley, red chili sauce, nuts

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Beachside vegan at Organic Connections Cafe

I’m a hippie at heart, and I ain’t too proud to admit it. One thing that has been great in our city that doesn’t like to flaunt its vegetarianism is the daily deal trend. And ethicalDeal has been alright with me.

My first deal with them was at The Refinery. Yes, The Refinery, where I nearly got drunk off one tasty cocktail and indulged in fresh pasta. ethicalDeal has also offered wicked clothing and shopping deals. So when I saw the post on Organic Connections Cafe in White Rock, for $30 worth of food for $15, I jumped on it.

I’ve been wanting to go on a road trip to White Rock for a long time also to visit Tracycakes Bakery Cafe, so on the Labour Day long weekend my boyfriend and I took the gruelling long 30 minute car ride from Richmond to explore the beautiful Marine Drive of White Rock.

Organic Connections Cafe is mostly raw vegan, but they say vegetarian because of a few exceptions – such is probably the case with many of the popular vegan places around town. I was expecting it to be quaint and home-like, which it was, and ethicalDeal was also there along with some live musical acts to accompany the sunshine. We got there at an odd time of 3:30pm but by the time we left the place was full.

I started off with the Warm Red Quinoa Bowl ($12) with curried quinoa and a nice helping of steamed vegetables – just what I wanted after  a brunch full of carbs. Tons of kale, and a bit overspiced but I still liked it. My boyfriend got the Pizza and Salad ($15) which was a deconstructed pizza with a buckwheat & sunflower crust, tomato basil sauce that couldn’t be seen, creamy cashew cheese, black olive tapenade, alfalfa, fresh tomato, and brazil nut parmesan. That would have been real tasty if not for the alfalfa sprouts. He considered this to be an appetizer and then ate fried chicken at Uli’s later. I try.

Organic Connections also has a great selection of smoothie drinks and vegan desserts as well – if I hadn’t been full off the curry bowl and saving room for Tracycakes, I would have gotten one of the cheesecakes. For $7 I got the White Rock Sunset Smoothie made of house-made almond milk, banana, dates, and strawberries. Mmm mmm good.

We were lucky to have a great atmosphere at this place and although it took about 25 minutes to get our food, the beachside view couldn’t be beat and the healthy food reminded me of why I became vegetarian.

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