Being a Vegan in Texas

I'm sitting in George Bush International Airport in Houston, on my way home from Austin.  I've had an interesting food weekend, including 2 "cheats" while I was away. 

When I travelled in on Saturday morning, I managed to find vegan, no-gluten, no refined sugar energy bars in the magazine shop at the airport.  Who knew?  That and a banana were breakfast.  I had a very bland spinach salad at the airport in Denver for lunch, and an avacado with tomato when I finally got to Mike's house. 

The dinner party at Mike and Ben's house was really, really fun... and I managed to NOT eat any of the food cooked on teh grill.  I had a huge, delicious salad.  But then the wheels fell off the cart.  Ben had bought a giant carrot cake for the evening, and after watching EVERYONE else eat it, I also had a piece.  A Texas-sized piece (although my state of Texas was half the size they were serving up for everyone else).  I love carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, it was truly outstanding. 

What I found interesting, though, is that I woke up with an absolutely horrendous headache on Sunday morning.  Absolutely head-splitting.  I read in the Alicia Silverstone book that it can be an offshoot of eating sugary food after abstaining for a while... really?  It's only been 3 weeks!  I will definitely put me off sugar for a while though. 

We spent Sunday morning on the Lake waterskiing.  I had a peach for breakfast, and was starving by the time we made it to fabulous Tex-Mex for lunch.  I indulged in chips & salsa (how could I have known that tortilla chips do not have gluten?) and a corn flour tortilla stuffed with roasted mushrooms and red peppers.  Delicious.  And on-diet!

I met Scott and Renee at her storage place in the afternoon, and hoofed boxes and bags up 2 flights of stairs in 107 degree heat.  I have NEVER sweated like I did yesterday afternoon - not even in my most difficult workouts with Michael.  Renee's dorm room is small and cozy, and she is in love with it.  I think Scott wishes it was bigger - he's worried about how she's going to fit all of her things in.  Renee was confident, though, and happy to be getting settled in.  She truly LOVES school.

We went to her favorite sushi place for an early dinner, where Renee and I shared a bowl of edenmame and 3 roles.  The roles had tuna, white rice and spicy mayo... none of which is on my diet.  And my stomach really, really, really hurt for a while post-dinner.  We walked all over campus so that Renee could show me her school -- such a beautiful campus.  More sweating, and then I was off for the night. 

This morning at the airport I'm back on track.  I had another vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar free energy bar with a banana for breakfast.  I had steamed veggies and rice noodles for lunch, and am not happily sipping away on an all-fruit smoothy while I wait for my flight to Seattle. 

I'm anxious to see how this weekend affects the scale... but will have to wait to the morning to find out.  3 weeks down; 3 to go... though truthfully I'm already feeling like I'll stay with this beyond the 6-weeks I committed to.  I just feel that good.  :)