Looking Back

During the month of October I tried to challenge myself by making a few key changes, namely moving to a strictly vegan diet.
I started the month strong, with lots of fresh produce, homemade shakes and smoothies. It was very exciting, and I learned a few new kitchen tricks. As the month wore on, I lost some of that enthusiasm and relied on premade meals. I stuck to it though, and made it through the month eating only vegan foods.
I still want to change some other habits, and I'll be working to make adjustments to my fitness habits and practice routines.
The month of October brought many changes, namely a significant change in my employment situation. I'm now working entirely in music, which is very exciting. I'm still adjusting to the new job, but it's been fun to be working with a group of great kids.
As we move forward to the end of the year, I'll be trying to get back to a higher level of focus and drive in my professional life.

One Week Vegan

I'm so glad to say that I survived this first week of eating entirely vegan! 

*One thing that I do want to clarify from my last post is that I absolutely do not regret watching documentaries on veganism. I'm so very glad that I did. It's really helped to give me the push to change my diet in a way that I've been wanting to for a long time, and that's something that I'm very grateful for!*

There were a couple factors that played into my ability to follow through with this goal. First of all, I watched a lot of relevant YouTube videos. I watched mostly presentations or discussions about why the vegan diet is more effective and healthier, plus some videos by vegan YouTubers about what they eat, some of their favorite recipes, and tips on how to successfully transition. The biggest tip that I saw was that if you switch to lots of whole fruits and veggies, then yes you will consume a much higher volume of food. Knowing that helped me to know that it's okay to load up on food at meals, and getting hungry between meals doesn't necessarily mean I'm doing it incorrectly.
Another helpful thing, which was sort of incidental, was that I found good, filling breakfast ideas that weren't fruit smoothies. It's a veggie smoothie! I've had fruit smoothies, and I like them, but I just wasn't able to get nearly as much variation as I wanted, plus they turn brown and start tasting funny very quickly, so making them in advance wasn't really an option. The veggie smoothie recipe that I tried was this:

1 medium carrot
2 celery stalks
one big handful of spinach
1 pear (or apple)
coconut milk (or other vegan milk)

It's very tasty! The pear/apple adds a little sweetness without going overboard. I've also been adding two kale leaves and half an avocado to mine which makes it more filling and creamier. Another thing I tried which worked well was I put in about a quarter or less of bell pepper. That spiced it up and changed the flavor profile in a very positive way. I'm going to add/subtract ingredients so that I can slowly increase my options and increase variety further. Usually I would drink half of the smoothie, saving the other half for the next day/later that same day, and eat a bowl of corn flakes to get some carbs too.

While I did everything I wanted to with my diet, I still didn't get as much exercise or as much practice time in as I wanted to. Now that I have feel like I have my diet in a good place that I can maintain, I'm really going to focus on the other two.
To that end, I'm going to go switch the laundry over and then hit the stack of recital music that is currently staring me down. November 24th, here I come!

31 days of Change

Last night I made the mistake of watching a lecture on veganism, and it's safe to say that I'm pretty skeeved out by animal products now. Besides that little adventure, I have been eating in a pretty unbalanced way and I need to get myself heading in the direction I've been wanting to for a while.

I'm going to try to make it 31 days eating strictly vegan.

Yes, I said "try." I know that it takes commitment to make these things happen, but if I just say that I will do this and then mess up, it's all going to be over. So, in an attempt to keep myself on the path that I want to take, I'm going to say "try."

I have a few other goals for this month, but I'm going to put them a little lower on the totem pole so I don't overwhelm myself. The first goal is to practice every day. Every. Day. I'm getting ready for a recital in November, and the spring and summer will be taken up by the Latin Flute Affair, so I want to get some quality practice in now, and stock up on some solid technique as well as assuage some body use issues before the pressure hits.

Besides regular, quality practice time, I need some exercise. My yoga practice has fallen by the wayside since we moved. Mostly, it's because getting to my old studio would require me to drive in fairly heavy traffic, and I haven't found a new one in my area yet. Plus, I just haven't made it a priority lately. Mostly it's that. I'm also hoping to go walking/jogging more.

So far today I've been a good vegan and a good flutist, let's keep it that way!

Last month of my Year of Practice!

It's already been about a year since I started using this blog actively (a term I use loosely), and it's been quite the year.

A little review:
Just after starting, the Year of Practice we up and moved over a thousand miles from the beautiful hills of West Virginia, where I had just finished grad school, to the beaches of south Florida. The move was a major leap of faith (really though, the only reason I get to call it a leap of faith is because it happened to work out for us. It very well could have been absolutely disastrous).
I was in probably the worst playing shape of my life.  Ironic, I know, since I had just finished a Master of Music, but thanks to a little bit of unfortunate circumstances, and a lot of unfortunate habits on my part, I found myself in a place where my nerves were so bad I could barely get a sound out of the instrument some days - and that was when I was practicing alone in the house.
I was working part-time in a sports restaurant doing prep work. As much as I wanted to be gigging, teaching, or otherwise musically employed, I wasn't in a place to take any work, even if I could find it.

The goals I set for myself at the beginning of this year included:
To be in a stable financial place.
To be an employable musician, with 25% of my income coming from music.
To increase the home/from scratch cooking.
Begin exercising.
Do some scholarly writing.

With the exception of the last one, I can say that I've met each one of these goals. While I do still work in foodservice, I'm also now on the faculty of a university as an adjunct professor. I've also had a few good gigs. Few, but enjoyable.
I have also been cooking more at home, and all at-home cooking has been vegan, which I'm pretty happy about. I've also been going to yoga since sometime in February. It's been extremely helpful for relieving stress, tension, nerves, all sorts of things.

If you go back in the blog, you'll see that I had a grand plan for this entire year. A plan that fizzled out pretty quickly. It was nice in theory, but I think it was too rigid of a plan, which was exasperated by the chaotic nature of this past year. An idea like this one would work better in a more stable environment and it would need to be more flexible, changing and adapting as it progressed.

Over the next month, I'm going to keep working and practicing like I have been. I'm currently working my way through Moyse's 480 Scales and Arpeggios, which I'm almost halfway through, plus various tone exercises, as well as a few pieces and excerpts. I'm also hitting the clarinet and sax again, getting ready for the school year to start again. Maybe I'll do something special to commemorate the year ending. Ideas?

Watching What I Eat

School is going well, I have one student each on clarinet, saxophone, and flute now. My students are doing well, I'm enjoying it, blah blah blah. Let's talk food.

In the past year, I've started making changes to my diet. Some have been more successful, some are important to me, some are convenient, and some most have been failing miserably lately. The most important change for me has been cutting out dairy and finding non-dairy replacements for foods I still really want. Another important shift for me has been the move towards a vegan diet. Without fail, any (non-vegan) person I talk to about veganism (is that a word?) says "Oh I could never do that," "It's so hard," or "I just couldn't - I love cheese (or bacon, or whatever) too much."

Which is true. But also not.

If you know me, you know that I LOVE bacon. And cheese. And meat. And ice cream. I love pretty much all food. Despite all this, eating vegan has been reasonably feasible for me. How?

First of all, I know that really I can't do cold turkey (pardon the pun). I have to work my way into a new habit or routine. If I tried to wake up one day and cut out all animal products no questions asked - I would never be able to do it. Instead, I started making smaller, feasible changes. I replaced my cow's milk with almond milk. I started increasing my veggie count, decreased the amount of meat. I tried Daiya vegan cheese (which is surprisingly amazing. You should try it sometime.) and have really enjoyed.

Along with allowing myself the time to switch, I've also given myself flexibility. I know that some days I'll be totally happy to have a tempeh sandwich with vegan everything. Other days, I really just want a burger. And that's okay! If I've been eating a standard American diet (full of meat, cheese and sugar) for some 25 years, then it's fine if it takes me a little bit of time to change my habits and cravings. 

Now, if I allow myself to slip a little whenever I "just want a burger," how do I keep myself from falling off the bandwagon? I don't stock non-vegan foods in my house. The only time I eat non-vegan is when I'm eating out. By not stocking non-vegan foods, I keep myself on track (generally). Plus, eating out is more special because I don't to do it very often.

I'd highly recommend that you try out at least a little bit of a vegan diet, even if you just try Meatless Monday. If nothing else, it's kinda fun to try these new things! Also, there are some really yummy meat substitutes.

I plan on talking more about this topic later, but let me know if you have any questions about anything I've talked about!