Review: Smart Sausage Chorizo Style veggie protein sausages

I want to chronicle my experiences with non-animal protein alternatives, and today was my first adventure into the world of fake-meat! Now, I don't generally want to rely on fake-meat to make up for the meat "missing" from my meals, but instead create meals based around a variety of vegetables, legumes, grains, etc. But I feel like I need to use SOME fake-meat/soy products to help boost my protein intake.

Today's fake-meat review: Smart Sausages Chorizo Style veggie protein sausages.

 

At 150 calories and 14g of protein per link, this was a decent meat alternative. It's higher in sodium than I'd like (500mg) and rather high in fat (9g, 1.5g saturated fat, no trans fat). I cooked per the skillet preparation instructions on the package (8 minutes) and this was actually VERY good. The texture was a tiny bit dry, but I could really taste the chorizo heat, and the outside of the sausage fried up to a consistency much like that of a real sausage. These came in a package just like regular hot dogs, so to preserve the rest of the sausages (4 to a pack) I just tossed the whole thing into a ziplock baggie.
Taste: *****
Texture: ****
Packaging/Storage: *****
My rating: ****

Postive Affirmations

I started using positive affirmations about a week ago, and THIS REALLY WORKS! At least, it's working for me.

"Affirmations in New Age and New Thought terminology refers primarily to the practice of positive thinking—fostering a belief that "a positive mental attitude supported by affirmations will achieve success in anything." More specifically an affirmation is a carefully formatted statement that should be repeated to one's self and written down frequently. For an affirmation to be effective, it needs to be present tense, positive, personal and specific.^{" - Wikipedia}


I say my affirmations every morning when I wake up, every night before I go to bed, and every time I need a little help getting through during the day. Especially when 2 p.m. rolls around and I get the afternoon munchies. Telling myself "I think before I eat," "I eat like a thin person," and "I effortlessly stay on track," really helps me not to mindlessly stuff my face.

The day after I started this, I had someone comment on my weight loss. OK, here's some background: In January 2011 I started a "weight loss journey," and managed to lose 40 lbs my June of 2011. Great, right? Then I hit a wall or a plateau or whatever you want to call it, and after about a month of maintaining that 40 pound loss, I sort of gave up. My eating and exercise became really erratic, and I gained back 20 lbs by February of 2012. (Sad, right?)  The long and the short of it is, I have not lost any weight in a long time. I've been pretty steadily gaining a pound a week up until recently. But on the very next day, not 24 hours after I started telling myself "I am getting stronger and slimmer every day," I get a comment on how great I look and am I trying to lose weight? Because it's really working.

So, without further ado, here are my affirmations. (And yes, this is my narrowed down list - I had more than this that I liked to start with, haha!)

I am strong, confident, and beautiful.
I choose to make positive, healthy choices for myself.
I am healthy and full of energy.
I like to get up and exercise in the morning.

I have non-stop daily determination to reach my healthy weight.
I am focused and committed to my goals.
I deserve to have a slim, healthy, attractive body.
I am a good person and I deserve good things.

I eat like a thin person.
I do not overeat. I leave food on my plate when I am full.
I build lean muscle, and body fat falls off me fast.
I effortlessly stay on track.
I am getting stronger and slimmer every day.
Weight loss is easy and effortless for me.

I have a positive attitude about what I eat, how I eat, and when I eat.
I think before I eat.
I lose weight systematically and keep it off permanently.
Developing healthy eating habits becomes easier each day.

I say only positive things about myself to myself.
I am motivated by both successes and failures.
I forgive myself for my mistakes, and learn from them.
I accept and love my body as it is, and work to make it better.
I deserve to be at my ideal weight.

I fall asleep quickly and sleep through the night.
My sleep is restful and rejuvenating.
I am an early riser and a deep sleeper.
I wake up each and every morning refreshed, renewed, and alert.

I feel fulfilled and joyful.
I am becoming better every day.
I have the power to change my life.
I love life, I love my body, and I feel great!

Pescatarian vs. Flexatarian

Now that I've learned some more about vegetariansim, I'm trying to figure out if I am/want to be a pescatarian or a flexatarian.

Pescatarian
The word “pescatarian” is occasionally used to describe those who abstain from eating all meat and animal flesh with the exception of fish. Although the word is not commonly used, more and more people are adopting this kind of diet, usually for health reasons or as a stepping stone to a fully vegetarian diet.

Flexitarian
You don’t have to be vegetarian to love vegetarian food! “Flexitarian” is a term recently coined to describe those who eat a mostly vegetarian diet, but occasionally eat meat.

Both of these lifestyles are often a transition to becoming a full vegetarian, which I guess is my end aim. Who knows, I might even end up shooting for vegan - we'll see where life takes me. =)

Why am I choosing to be vegetarian/flexitarian/pescatarian, you ask? Well it all started when I picked up Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin.
Check out their website.
In it, they talk about how a large part of our weight problems come from the crap we put into our bodies. (Crap is their word, not mine.) And, OK, the part about how eating dead animals is eating anguish and pain and fear seems kinda woo-woo to me, the part about how the animals we eat are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics and about how you are what you eat really struck me, 'cuz that's fact. I mean, look at fish - we're told to limit our intake of the big fish that eat smaller fish because they have higher levels of mercury in them. Why do they have higher levels of mercury? Because they're eating all the little fish with their little levels of mercury, and you are what you eat.

So that pretty much did it for me. Needing to make a change, I cleaned out my fridge and freezer and hit my local co-op for a large scale overhaul of my kitchen.

So for now, I'm still deciding which "brand" of vegetarian (almost-vegetarian) I'm going to be. I'm hoping this will have a big impact on my weight loss efforts, and also on my general mood.

Wish me luck!

ShoeDazzle!

ShoeDazzle is a site a just recently discovered (I know, I know, I'm so behind the times) and I really like to look at it!

http://www.shoedazzle.com

When you first sign up for their (free) site, you are asked to choose which you like best from several series of three pictures each. Then it reveals your "style profile." Mine is "Artistic Free-Spirited Whimsical."

What's your style?

Nail art - pink w/ polka dots

I got bored the other day and decided to try out my first ever nail-art! I think it didn't turn out too badly. Next time I will try something more ambitious. <3

Hot pink nails with white polka dots - the colors don't show up well here.

Used:

Sally Hansen HD Hi-Definition "Hi-Res"

Kiss Nail Artist - White

I really love the Sally Hansen HD collection - I want the Pixell Pretty and Lite colors and will probably go buy those next. =)

Sally Hansen HD "Pixell Pretty"

Sally Hansen HD "Lite"

Photos of polishes taken from http://www.alllacqueredup.com/.

K-Pop music videos - my anti-noms

I track my calories/nutrition info online using a nutrition tracker at Sparkpeople.com, and I do really well... when I can manage to stick to my planned foods and not snack. My biggest problem with snacking is in the evenings, when I'm home alone and bored.

I read in an article that many times when you think you're hungry, you're really something else - bored, or lonely, or eating out of habit. I spend a lot of nights eating my dinner in front of the TV in my living room, so when I sit down to watch TV my body is conditioned to want food. To fix that, I try not to eat in front of the TV anymore (or while reading, otherwise reading makes me hungry too!) Meanwhile, I have to break myself of this nasty habit of eating while I watch TV!

My solution: Every time I start to feel like I want a snack while reading or watching TV, I get up and go to my laptop and watch a video (or five) on YouTube. I like to watch K-Pop videos (Miss A is my favorite!) because seeing all the thin cute girls dancing makes me want to look thin and cute too. <3 After watching a few videos, I feel more determined to stick to my diet, and I might even feel motivated to go do a dance workout, like Zumba for the X-Box Kinect or a Turbo Jam video!