Yoga Challenge Day 1? Round 2.

Well, I took a yoga class last night after skipping Wednesday due to feeling like crap. Last night's class was AH-MAH-ZING. Seriously. I was still pretty weak and shaky, but for the most part could hold my own and really got into the whole yoga "zen" thing. I felt so relaxed and my mind was calm. So I am starting over my 30 day challenge as of yesterday. I am so happy to be on the way!

Also, my food "cleanse" has been going great. I have made some really tasty foods and have had no trouble with staying away from dairy, processed carbs and refined sugars. I feel so healthy when I eat a vegan, whole foods diet, it just makes me feel like I should eat this way all the time. I always say "I love fish, eggs, and cheese too much to give them up"....maybe true, but after all I have read in the book Gristle...and others books...I am beginning to think I shouldn't eat that stuff anymore. More on that later.

In the meantime, I thought I would do a quick summary of what I ate yesterday. I typically don't count calories, per se, but I do have general idea of the caloric build up of my foods and aim for three 400-ish calorie meals allowing for a few snacks in between if I am hungry, for a total calorie intake of no more than 1800 calories daily. I would love to use the calculator Dawn from Florida Coastal Cooking uses...one of my favorite blogs with great recipe ideas and gorgeous pictures of Florida.

Anyway, I thought I would do a guesstimate of yesterdays food, and also give you all a sample of what I am eating.

Breakfast
1.5 servings of steel cut oats 225 c
2 TBSP chopped cashews 80 c
2 TBSP chopped dried cherries 60 c
1 tsp raw local honey 20 c
1/4 cup hemp milk 30 c
Total 415

Lunch
Steamed and lightly sauteed:
1/2 tsp olive oil 20 c
1/2 head of cabbage 24c
1/2 carrot 3c
2 green onions 15c
Drizzled with: 1 TBSP Flax Seed Oil 100c
2 TBSP Sesame seeds 100c
Drops of Ume Plum Vinegar (nominal calories)
Total 269

Snack
5 dried apricots 100

Snack.
2 TBSP homemade hummus with carrot, celery and bell pepper sticks 100

Dinner
1 (AMAZING!) Lentil burger  from 101 Cookbooks. Seriously, this was so good. It was fun to cut the burger in half and stuff it...I didn't miss a bun at all and have to agreed with Heidi that sometimes eating a veggie burger in a bun can seem a bit "bready" I subbed for the breadcrumbs some brown rice and chickpea flour, and for the onions, I used green onions and cilantro. I also halved the recipe. Also...I used plain green lentils and it worked out fine. These were SO good. I can't wait to eat one of the leftovers. I am really going to have to guess on this one's calorie build up. I would guess 225 c?
Stuffed with 1/2 small avocado 100c
and arugula 20c
and topped with some of this incredible dressing, maybe 45c?
I put some of the arugula and avocado on the side too for a little side salad with the dressing. It as an awesome dinner.
Total 390c

Dessert
5 dried apricots 100c
2 cuties tangerines 80c

Wow...this is surprising, my total for yesterday was about 1454 calories. Hmm, less than I thought! Well, I am really going to have to think about this. I was never hungry yesterday and ate enough to fuel my yoga workout, a long day of work, a trip to Trader Joe's, cooking, and reading a whole book. Not to mention, two loads of laundry and playing with Peroni for about a half hour. I think I am going to need to do some calculations of how much I should be eating to meet my goals and have enough fuel for my day. I think I might be over guessing how much I actually need. I am not really into counting calories...I try to eat intuitively...meaning, "am I really hungry?" and "what does my body really want right now?" and eating accordingly. But I do have some goals about how I want my body to look, so I might have to reconsider some of this.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful day. I will be back with updates on this whole calorie thing. I am a bit baffled. In the meantime...please try that Green Goddess Salad dressing and those lentils burgers. Yum!