Plant-based Diet Days 10 & 11: High on a Low

On Day 10, I had gained a pound and a half and the crazy thing is this morning when I weighed myself I lost 2.2 lbs. which puts me at 4.7 lbs. lighter than when I first started the PBD (Plant-based Diet). Also, this morning I had weighed in the lightest I have ever been since I started tracking my weight back in March.

A couple of things since starting the PBD:

1.) I eat less because I feel full most of the time.
2.) I no longer crave meat or cheese as much as I once did, but I do still crave a little oil and butter especially in my cooking.
3.) Eating at ton of carbs does not make you gain weight which goes against everything I had been conditioned to think. As long as you eat carbs that are whole wheat, not processed and with no oil and low in fat, you can eat as much as you want.
4.) I don't know if I feel better than I did when I ate meat, but I do know that I do not feel bad at all. Actually, today, I had eaten a stir-fry dish that was oily (and I asked for no oil!) and I felt pretty gross and sick after eating the dish.

Day 10 Meals
Breakfast:
Whole Wheat Tortilla
V8

Lunch:
P.F. Chang's Buddha's Feast (Steamed)

Dinner:
3 Beers
I realize that makes me look like an alcoholerix or just a plain alcoholic, but I am not. I promise. I just was not hungry.

Day 11 Meals
Breakfast:
Vegetable Breakfast Sandwich from Old Soul (which is a cheat because I was on a high with my low weigh in and I wanted to treat myself. The sandwich consists of sauteed veggies in balsamic vinegar, avocado spread and english muffin that I'm sure contained butter).

Lunch:
Eggplant and veggies in black bean sauce from Ma Jong's which turned out to be super greasy. I ate about half of the dish.

Dinner:
What I would call Pasta with mushroom "creamy" sauce. I tried to make a type of white wine reduction sauce with mushrooms but it is impossible without using butter or oil. What I did instead was braise onions, garlic and white button mushrooms in a little bit of veggie broth and white wine and reduced the sauce. I added a little bit of wheat flour to thicken the sauce to make it "creamy". I also rehydrated a mix of dry mushrooms (crimini, oysters and portabella) in veggie broth then added the mushrooms and veggie broth into the sauce. I then reduced the sauce some more, then added instant brown gravy I had made for added flavor.

The dish turned out pretty good. I think the mushrooms and the gravy gave the pasta a good earthy flavor. I am not sure if the instant gravy is a cheat because it contained enriched flour -- but did not contain beef or oil.

Wheat pasta is kind of an amazing food because I always feel really full after eating half of the serving I would normally eat with white pasta.

In other news about my exciting life that you all wish you had...

My phallic cactus is dead. I thought it was impossible to kill a cactus, apparently not with me.

R.I.P Cactus. You had an awesome 2 weeks of living with me.