And In The Beginning, There Was Food… And Holiday Weight Gain + RECIPE: Stir Fry with Avocado over Cous Cous

(Intended to be posted on the 2nd)

Parental Guidance Warning: This blog entry contains two pieces of foul language on account of eating terribly over the holidays. I think you’ll understand.

I stepped on the scale this morning, and I was really disappointed with myself. I gained 5 pounds in a week and a half.

::Shakes fist angrily in the air:: I let the holidays fuck up all my hard work for a month and a half.

Never has it been more clear to me why I need to maintain eating healthy food and exercising.

Starting the Transition

Update #1: Update to change all updates: Updates will become regular, starting this week.

In January, I will go completely vegan for one month. I already know the most difficult part for me will be not eating cheese. Especially because I cannot afford “faux” cheese. But, I do believe in trying to cut out as many processed foods as possible, so that’s good.

Day “I-Don’t-Remember-What-Day”: Starting Over, Tonight, Tonight

I tried very hard to live off of a plant-based whole foods diet. I was successful for about two weeks, and really “success” is a bit of a stretch. I ate a little cheese here and there.

But living on the poverty wage makes it extremely difficult to eat the food I want to eat.

Professionally, I work with the Development & Program Directors at Dwight Hall at Yale through the New Haven Education Initiative, AmeriCorps VISTA program in New Haven, CT. The VISTA program specifically means Volunteers In Service to America. I take the same oath as the President of the United States. And I earn a stipend based subsistence pay that is adjusted to the poverty line in my area. In New Haven, this means between $11k-$12k for the year.

I am not complaining about the wage. I signed up, knowing I would earn that wage. I merely mean that because of this wage, I qualify for food stamps, aka EBT or SNAP.

In some ways, I am very lucky. New Haven has a series of farmer’s markets that run year round. CitySeed, who run these farmer’s markets, have an amazing initiative to get SNAP recipients to the farmer’s market: they double your amount up to $10. The extra amount, up to $10, has to be spent on produce. I love that. But organic prices can still be difficult to maneuver around, even when you are getting double your money each day you go to the market.

Also, I forgot to mention, I’m trying to diet. I recently invested in appx 40 Lean Cuisine meals. My boyfriend’s parents bought me a step, which is my favorite form of exercise.

Lean Cuisine does not a whole food plant based diet make.

This blog will now be used to update, from time to time, about my thoughts, and complex difficulties with eating low fat, meat-included diets vs a whole food plant-based diet.

There are also variations of both that confuse that crap out of me.

Tonight, I start keeping track of my meals. Tonight, I start exercising on the regular. Tonight, I keep checklists to organize  my life.

Tonight, I start a blog version of the debate in my head over a practical life of including whole foods, and specifically organic foods. Oh, and trying to figure out if that means including meat. Oh, and if that means including dairy.

Day 2: Damn It Sucks To Go On A Diet, But Of Course It Does, It’s Day 2.

Today I woke up extremely late for work (as I had a meeting yesterday later in the day off site, and didn’t have to go into work on time, so my alarm was late) and so I scurried quickly through my house and ate my home made granola clusters on the way to work.

Day 1: Go Crazy

Hi. My name is Gina Caciolo. Here I am wearing a hat I crocheted out of sustainable eco-alpaca yarn and a shirt I bought at the thrift store Impact!

Today is my first day towards a life of change and healthy living. This past Saturday I was drinking wine with my loving partner. I went to the bathroom at a certain point, and stepped on the scale. What proceeded was a lot of tears, and eventually a few slow pouty steps back to the bedroom. When my parnter looked at me, he could tell immediately I’d been crying, and I told him I stepped on the scale in his bathroom and found that I had gained 40 pounds in the last 4 years (in fact 20 in just the last year.)

He sat next to me, and held me, and said, “Well, this is the moment that you have to remember. Be determined and move forward.” He was right. That was the moment I needed to say, “Stop saying you’re going to do something, and start doing it.”