hungry hungry hippie

My shout out for readers’ questions brought up so many awesome topics, I had to abandon my original plan of making an addendum to my “about me” tab (The Hippie).

Instead I decided it would be better create an entirely new tab with the whole Q&A sesh.  Hey, if one person is wondering it, maybe others are too?  Maybe not, but cutting and pasting from my posts wasn’t too difficult to master (even for the non-tech-savvy hippie in me)…so here you have it.

Why and how did I come to be vegan?

I figure if you know me in real life or read on a semi-reg basis, you know how I eat.  Vegan shmegan.  I’m not big on labels, and my food preferences are more motivated by how my GI system reacts, not so much my personal feelings on consuming animal products.  That said, this answer requires far more extensive background info, so I’ll start from the beginning.

My mom is (was) a vegetarian and raised the family (me and my two younger sisters) on a diet with minimal meat involvement.  My dad wasn’t overly carnivorous, and since she did the cooking, she made what she ate.  No complaints here.  I was a tofu loving baby, the proud product of hippie parents, and I preferred carrots and broccoli to almost everything else – so much so that I have an orange nose in most photos from my infant years.  True story.

Eventually chicken and fish found their way into the hippie household, but my poor non-veg dad never got red meat unless he BBQ-ed it himself.  To be honest, I was completely unaware that I wasn’t eating real bacon, and to this day I’ve never had an actual beef hot dog.  I never felt deprived or anything, though, because you should have seen the meals my mom made!  Not just dinners either, I had packed lunches and snacks that all my friends envied.  (This is one of the perks of being the first born…as processed crap was virtually absent from my school eats)

Another key aspect of my background was my abnormal GI system and how that played a role in my life.  Seeing as how poop wasn’t a common discussion point throughout my childhood years (shocking, I know), I had no idea what was and wasn’t “normal.”  However, I do remember one visit to the pediatrician’s office when I was ~13 years old in which I was complaining about frequent cramps and stomach upset and the doctor told me to not eat a few hours before or after I was going to exercise.  Excuse me?  What kind of advise is that!?!  Especially for someone who was playing multiple hours of soccer a day.  On weekends when I had several soccer games, what time slots does that leave me exactly?  3 AM and 10 PM?  Ph, ok.  Perfect.  Thanks Doc.

Sarcasm aside, I was really finding it difficult to keep my stomach calm when eating before/after soccer games.  And yet not eating wasn’t a realistic option given the energy that weekend long tournaments required.  Let’s just say, when eaten days on end, bananas and Gatorade can get real old.

Anyways, after I left home for college, I quit soccer and discovered a whole new world of dorm food.  For a while Lucky Charms replaced Raisin Bran and French Fries and Tater Tots were staples when late night munchies hit, but almost immediately after, I recognized how crappy and lethargic I felt.  These new and exciting eats were suddenly not as thrilling, and combined with my retirement from competitive soccer, this alteration in my diet started to take a toll on my health.  Not surprisingly, it was around this time that I began to notice changes in how my body responded to various foods.  I felt bloated and in pain a majority of the time and it got to the point where I was more than uncomfortable.  My GI system was actually inhibiting how I was living my life!

Since denial is my coping mechanism of choice, I pretty much ignored it as best I could (a fact I’m not so proud of).  “Grin and bear it” …with a bottle of Pepto-Bismol.

My Aha! moment (as Oprah would say) was when my mom was visiting me near the end of my freshman year of college and she noticed several bottles of mypink chalky side kick in the trash can and proceeded to ask several Qs…cut to a few months of GI appts (endoscopy, colonoscopy, etc.).  Long story short I discovered I was not only lactose intolerant, but I had IBS (with extreme colonic inertia).  Well.  Great.

I can’t even describe the way this affected me at first.  As a former poster child for milk consumption, I hardly knew where to begin.  Cheese wasn’t as hard to say goodbye to, but milk!  Geez.  Milk was something I wrestled with for a while before coming to terms with it.  Eventually, Lactaid came to my rescue and I slowly but surely worked out how to survive dairy-free.

After a while of living sans lait, it really wasn’t a big deal.  Turns out there are tons of lactose free items if you know how/where to shop.  Plus, my stomach was far less rebellious once I started to take care of what I put in it.  Uh, duh!?

After years of experimented with my body to see what it could and couldn’t handle, I have worked out a nice little system.  As you may have noticed, I occasionally have Greek yogurt (although less so lately), and sometimes I use whey protein powder (again, very sparingly).  Since I have now been living without dairy in my life for over a decade (wow, I’m old) I’ve pretty much worked out the kinks and I know when and where I can cut the corners and get away with it, and when I shouldn’t push it.

And then there’s the IBS.

Yes, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) is a tricky beast that deserves it’s own post entirely, but I will condense it for you.  There is no specific definition because the symptoms range with each individual, but for the most part IBS involves a combination of abdominal pain with alternating constipation and diarrhea (for me, it’s mostly just the former).  Often times it feels like my gastrointestinal tract is rebelling against food in general.  Without rhyme or reason.  Seriously.

After learning more about IBS from my GI MD, I began a quest to find the recipe for a less painful existence.  As I said before, the presence of GI issues was (unfortunately) fairly constant throughout my childhood, and something I was eager to reduce.  To combat these annoying and disruptive symptoms I tried (try) to eat things that are less irritating, which tends to be minimally-processed, wholesome, plant based foods.  Since I was never a big meat eater (I only ate chicken and fish), eliminating these components from my diet was surprisingly simple.  I’m not trying to dismiss or depreciate this step in my path toward veganism, but in all honesty, it wasn’t difficult for me.

I guess it all started with the discovery of Whole Foods towards the end of my time at UCLA.  The prepared foods section exposed me to a smorgasbord of meat/dairy free items.  Initially this consisted of soy alternatives, but gradually I learned how to prepare a few things (like tofu) on my own and reduced the amount of processed non-meats I was consuming.  When I moved to Philly for nursing school, I found that my life was more of a time crunch than I ever expected, but I still managed to use my full kitchen to my advantage.  I cooked 90% of my meals, packed all my lunches, and still fit in the time to get a nursing degree on the side.  It wasn’t until I moved to NYC that I got more adventurous with my kitchen trials.  Having tofu mastered, I began to attempt tempeh and seitan dishes, as well as various new grains.  Through it all fruit and vegetables remained a constant.  I can’t recall the last day I went without an apple.

Then I found the food blog community.

At this point I was eating both meat free and dairy free (with the occasional aforementioned exceptions) but still hadn’t made the full transition to veganism.  How often did I eat eggs?  Rarely.  But my stomach had no issues digesting eggs or egg products, so why eliminate them from my diet?

I don’t really care about labels, so identifying myself as “vegan” was never my intention in changing my diet.  My goal was (is) to eat in a healthy way that satisfies my taste buds while not angering the rest of my gastrointestinal tract.  I’d like to think that I have gotten pretty good at that.  Thanks to the food blog world, I am MUCH more mindful about what I put in my mouth, I am more open to try new things, and I am inspired by others who share similar goals in the way they eat.

Admittedly, I’m closer to being vegan now than I was when I first started this blog (and first wrote that “about me”), so if you read on a regular basis, you may think I am 100% vegan.  It’s rare that I eat eggs now, and even Greek yogurt has slipped off the radar, but it’s too confusing to go into all the specifics of my diet without writing an essay (see above).  If my stomach is ok with what goes in, I’m ok with it.  And that’s all it comes down to.  Sure, I still have flair ups (IBS is far from black & white), and I still eat crap when I crave it (are Balance bars vegan?), but for the most part, I try to keep my eats clean and my stomach is all the happier because of that.

As far as my vegan-ness outside the blog world, well, I’d rather tell a coworker straight up that I’m 100% vegan, than launch into all the loop holes.  Can you imagine trying to explain to a complete stranger exactly why I’m ok with a chocolate chip Clif bar, but don’t want a chocolate chip cookie?

Now, I will say, there is one other factor aside from IBS that has me sticking to my semi-vegan lifestyle and that is the “green” aspect of eating a plant based diet.  I grew up in the Bay Area, surrounded by people who were (are) proactive in spreading earth friendly practices.  On top of that, my wonderful hippie parents have always taught me about how my personal actions affect the environment.  All of this has helped instill in me a sense of responsibility for how my own behavior affects the future of the planet.  And if all it takes for me to decrease my carbon footprint is a few small changes (and if one of them – veganism – happens to be better for my health at the same time, so be it), it seems like a pretty obvious choice, right?

Anyways, I hope this was insightful.  I love learning about how others arrived at veganism, so there you have it.  My so called (vegan) life.

See it in the OG post here.

As a vegan, do you find that you have an overly carb heavy diet?  And since you eat so healthy, have you ever had a weight problem?  Have unwanted pounds snuck up on you?  What did you do about it?  Highs?  Lows?  What worked for you?

Initially I didn’t want to answer this question because it’s not really my place to give diet advice – I’m not qualified and it’s not what my blog is intended for.  Sharing my own personal day to day eats is far different from telling others what they should do in their own lives.  However, I am passionate about health and fitness, so I can see where the overlap occurs.  Please take what I’m about to write with a grain bag of salt.  Nutrition may be a subject I love, but I have no letters after my name to give me ANY kind of authority on the matter.

To start, I try to avoid breaking down foods by their chemical components – carbs shmarbs.  Fruits and veggies should never be counted, controlled, or eaten in moderation, period.  I mean, how could anything that grows from the ground be bad for you?  (well, I suppose there are a few substances…)  Anyways, to answer the question, yes, I have a predominantly carbo-centric diet.  But I also think that we (Americans) are lead to believe that carbs are bad (not true).  Additionally, for some reason people seem to think that we are supposed to be eating way more protein than we actually need (also, not true).  I’m not going to get all preachy on you, or start citing articles/books/etc. because we all know they exist.  Instead, I’ll address the weight issue.

For the most part, no matter what type of food you eat (carb, protein, fat), if you overeat, you’ll gain weight.  Duh, right?  Except, I happen to be of the opinion that apples and hummus are exempt from this.  But for the most part, it’s pretty cut and dry, if you eat more calories than you expend, you gain weight.  Simple math.  So (in theory) if I ate, say, 6 sweet potatoes in a day, as long as I’m burning off those calories, I won’t gain weight.  Now, although I’ve never kept track of my caloric intake, I know that my moderately active lifestyle gives me some leeway in the calorie department.  I try (key word: TRY) not to think about balancing what I eat with how much I have worked out because that’s a slippery slope that I DON’T want to go down.  Sometimes it’s impossible to completely avoid, and yes, unwanted pounds have definitely snuck up on me.  At the same time, I know my weight is inevitably going to fluctuate throughout my life, so as long as the highs and lows aren’t too drastic, I’m ok with it.  For the record, I don’t own a scale.  Hate ‘em.  Don’t want to have anything to do with them.  That said, I’m sure (based on how my clothes fit) that over the past year alone my weight has wavered solely based on my race schedule.  When I’m “training” (running slightly more than normal) I slim down a touch (nothing drastic) and when I return to my average amount of exercising, I gain it back.  I’m talking about 1-2 pounds probably, but I can tell there’s a difference.  Since I don’t alter how I eat based on how I exercise, it makes sense.  Bottom line: I want to live my life, eat how I eat, run how I run, and try to forget about trivial pounds.  However, let’s be real.  I’m a girl.  I’m human.  It’s only natural to have insecure moments (and then some),right?  Who doesn’thave days when they feel like crap?  (Anyone who denies this is lying).  I wouldn’t be normal if I said I was 100% happy with my body 100% of the time.

When I first went completely vegan I was chugging soy milk like it was my job, to the point of excess.  And I definitely gained a few extra pounds.  It wasn’t a big deal (mostly visible in my face), but crept up on me nonetheless.  I wasn’t being mindful with the amount of soy I was consuming and once I started educating myself more, I started to balance soy milk with Lactaid and other non-milk alternatives.  I don’t mean to hate on the soy (because I’m definitely a fan), I’m just saying there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing,” and if four soy lattes before 10 am isn’t it, then I’m not sure what is.  Moderation has never been my strong suit, especially when I discover new foods (hello, sweet potato rut).  If awareness was the first step, then continuing my education was the second.  The blog world helped with that, opening my eyes to almond milk, rice milk, and how to be vegan without processed soy supplements.  Losing weight was never a conscious decision/goal, but it came off naturally and because of that, I know it was meant to be.  If anything, for most of my life I have been underweight (according to BMI standards which don’t really account for muscular/athletic builds).  God bless my parents for their awesome genetics.  Without my fast metabolism, I may be singing a completely different tune.

Now, like I said before, I definitely have days where I feel nast, bloated, and generally crap-tastic.  So what works best for me is distraction.  Dwelling on how I feel will get me nowhere (said from way too much experience).  Usually I whine to Kyle (poor guy), and eventually I get over it.  Sometimes I treat myself to cool new running gear or sign up for a race to refocus my energy into a positive outlet, but in the back of my mind I always know that I’m in control of my body.  When I get down about skipping a workout and spending an entire day in my PJs, Kyle always tells me that my standards are insanely higher than the normal person’s.  And he’s right.  It’s a good thing I have him to remind me of such things.

Basically when all is said and done, what you see is what you get.  My blog is a reflection of me.  Not part of me, not a diluted version of me, and not just a sugar coated side of me.  I’ve ranted before about everything from my job woes to going weeks without running, and it’s amazing to have such sweet readers who respond to what I feel with such understanding and compassion.  I try to life a healthy balanced life and I hope that comes through.

See it in the OG post here.

The story of how/where me and my beau met.

Quite simply, Kyle and I met at our on-campus job at UCLA.  Not that I’m advocating inter-personnel relations, but dipping my pen in the company ink proved to be quite effective in my case 

He had already worked there before I was hired, so despite being younger than I was in school/age, he was my senior at “the office.”  I will never forget the first time I saw him at our job’s orientation.  He was hot and I was single…

We worked a few times together and since our job wasn’t exactly labor intensive (we set up and “managed” on campus events) there was serious down time that allowed us to get to know each other (while getting paid).  Multi-tasker that I am, I signed up for as many shifts with him as possible.  We flirted shamelessly and the hours flew by (money in the bank, boy candy for the eyes, man do I miss college).  I was always sad when work ended, so I started hanging out at the office FAR more than was necessary.  Unfortunately (and fortunately), our job was student run, and we were all really good friends so my increased hours of face time at the office wasn’t exactly the biggest hint to Kyle.  (BTW, if you’re jealous of this amazing job, you should be, the hiring was rigged, so our “staff” was actually just my group of friends)

Anyways, clearly we were both into each other, but being the “cougar” that I am, I made the first move.  That’s right ladies, at the ripe old age of 20, I had my sights set on my 19 year old future fiancé (that sounds so much more pervy when written).

I got his digits from the work directory (shaaaady) and called to ask him to a sorority date party.  I was so nervous I hardly remember, but I think the convo went something like this:

E:  Hi, Kyle?

K:  Yeah?

E:  This is Elise [long pause] from work?

K:  Oh!  Hi.

E:  Do you want to go to my sorority’s date party on Sat?

K:  This Saturday?

E:  Yeah.

K:  Ummm, ok.

E:  Great.  See you at work.  [click]  [SCREAM!!!!]

Another important thing to mention here is that I was in the middle of the street for this conversation and it was also nearly midnight.

I lived with 3 other girls (who had been urging me to call him forever) and I didn’t want them listening – so naturally the road was the next best option, right?  Right.

Immediately after calling I ran back inside and we all squealed like giddy teenagers.  I’d been gushing about him for weeks so they were ecstatic for me.

Cut to 6+ years later and we are now engaged.  It hardly seems real when I think back on it.  Our relationship has endured the stress of school, jobs, several moves (So Cal to Nor Cal, Nor Cal to Philly, Philly to NYC), several hair colors, and everything in between – and while we both value our jobs and pursue career advancement, putting each other first has been the recipe for success.  He’s my best friend and I can’t imagine my life without him.  He gives me unending support, while calling me out when I’m being a crazy hormonal female.  He inspires me to be the best person I can be, and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world that I get to spend the rest of my life with him.

See it in the OG post here.

What do you think is the best way to spend your money?

For me, the best way to spend my money is traveling.  I pretty much work and save up only to get enough dolla bills in the pot to get on a plane and see the world.  I studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain and travelled Europe extensively while I was there.  Since then I can’t get enough of it!  I’ve been to Spain (Barca, Madrid, Sevilla, San Sebastian/Basque country, Grenada, etc.), France (Paris), England (London), Italy (Milan, Rome, Venice, Florence), Amsterdam, Belgium, Bruges, Cayman Islands, Mexico, etc.  I want to travel everywhere though…so I have lots of saving to do!

What is one thing you couldn’t live without?

The first thing that comes to mind is Kyle (family, friends, etc.), but rather than go with the cheesy (and obvious) answer, I’ll take the question literally and answer with a “thing” not a “who.”  Additionally, I’d like to say that I try to live my life so I don’t have an answer to this question.  Now that I’ve given that disclaimer, the one thing I couldn’t live without would be music.  As a band geek (I played the French Horn), I have always loved music.  There’s just something about a good rhythm that moves me.  Side note: I wanted to be a conductor when I grew up and even asked for a baton one year for Christmas.  I stood on my bed with my stuffed animal orchestra and blasted recordings by the San Francisco Philharmonic.  I guess I grew out of that career move…but to this day, music is more than something I just enjoy, it is a true passion.  Whether I’m busting a move, performing a number in the shower, or just dozing off to sleep, I can tell you the soundtrack to my life would be very diverse, including everything from the Wicked soundtrack to the Beatles, from jailbird T.I. to myfuture 2nd husband Justin Timberlake.

What’s your dream job?

International hotel rater!  How cool to travel to new and exciting places, get wined and dined, and then get paid for it!  Unfortunately, that’s not at all within my scope of expertise, so I don’t see it being realized any time soon.  However, running a vineyard while having time to do some food blogging on the side would be a pretty sweet gig, and is actually a more realistic goal.  As I’ve alluded to before, my family owns a vineyard in Dry Creek Valley (Healdsburg, CA) and I hope to run it one day…for now though, I’m content to live life in the fast lane in NYC.  The go go go hustle and bustle of the big apple is such a unique environment to experience that I feel like I should soak it all up now while I’m young.  Can’t beat the 24/7 availability of anything and everything.

If you had $5 to spend in WF, what would you buy?

Gah!  This is a seriously hard question.  Rather than break it down and get staples like apples and hummus, I’d love to splurge and spend all on the hot bar; most likely on a dish I couldn’t make myself like seitan chimichurri, marinated tempeh or tofu.  If you’re in Whole Foods, the hot bar is hard to escape…

What is your fave alcoholic drink and how often to you imbibe?

This depends on what the occasion is, but the all encompassing answer is red wine.  However, to be honest, I rarely drink anymore.  Don’t get me wrong, I had my hay day (I think I remember less than 20% of my first year of college), but nowadays the grandma in me can’t hang I’m less able to recover from such heavy nights of drinking that they are few and far between.

My only “rule” (although I’m sure there are exceptions to this, too) is that I won’t drink the night before I work.  I typically drink wine when dining out, especially when it’s a nice restaurant with family or friends.  I think wine is the perfect accompaniment to a good meal.  That said, I also see no problem with enjoying a glass of wine when there’s a tv, a couch, and a snuggie involved, too.  It’s all about what I want in the moment and since my tolerance is embarrassingly low, I tend to taper off as bedtime approaches.  Going to bed with the spins is a pastime and I’d like to keep it in the past.

Now that I sound like a wine-drinking, silver-spoon-licking, country club snob, let me backpedal a bit and remind you all of my recent Washington D.C. bar time.  Bud Light is my football drinking partner.  B minus (B -), as I lovingly refer to it, has gotten me through all too many 49er losses and even more UCLA disappointments.  So you can betchur bottom dollar that if my a$$ is on a bar stool, there’s a B – nearby.

See it in the OG post here.

What is your favorite movie?

Yeah right, like I could choose just one!?  Here are a few I can think of off the top of my head: Pride & Prejudice, Love Actually, Clueless, Breakfast At Tiffany’s,Sound of Music, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Kill Bill, Sideways, Donnie Darko, Mean Girls, Little Miss Sunshine, Anchorman, and almost everything else with Will Ferrell

How tall are you?

I’m 5’4” (and a half)

What is one activity that you’re dying to try?

I would LOVE to get into rock climbing.  It’s one of those hobbies that I think I would fall for (pun intended) after my first try.  I’ve looked into it (briefly) but the $$$ is a bit of a deterrent.  Back in the day I tried rappelling and had a blast, so I definitely hope to give rock climbing a try.

Besides food what do you love to shop for?

BOOKS!  I could spend hours in Barnes & Noble.  My to-read list is probably the only thing longer than my to-make recipe list.  I also adore Nike running gear, but Dry-FIT spandex is a more expensive habit than paperbacks.

Do you have any favorite male/female celebrities?

Considering the obscene (and embarrassing) amount of time I spend on perezhilton.com I’m pretty jaded when it comes to celebrities.  I like people who stay out of the paparazzi spotlight and seem fairly normal (as if I could really know that with all the BS that’s reported).  For females, I like Natalie Portman and Tine Fey.  For males it’s a no brainer, as far as I’m concerned, Justin Timberlake can do no wrong.

Why do you live in New York when you are from the West Coast?

I often ask myself this exact question.  Ok, just kidding.  When I was in nursing school in Philly, Kyle was working in San Francisco.  When his group dissolved, he had the opportunity to join a new group in NYC, so we talked about it and decided it would be fun to live it up on the East Coast for a bit.  After I graduated, I moved in with Kyle in NYC and we’ve been living here ever since.  Now, over two years later, we are both getting pretty anxious to move back home.  More than anything, we miss our family, friends, and the nice weather!  Soon enough…soon enough.

See it in the OG post here.

What is (are) your favorite books?

This question may even be more difficult than the WFs question!  Hmmm.  It’s hard for me to remember all the books I’ve read, so I can hardly recall which of those were my favorites.  I’ll try (with the help of www.goodreads.com).  Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, and Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden are just a few…

How did you get such a darling sense of humor?  Were your parents funny?

I’m not sure if this was a real question, but it made my day month, so I’m including it!  Flattery will get you everywhere with me  I think Kyle brings out the witty entertaining sarcasm in me.  He’s the funniest person I know (but don’t tell him I said that).

How do your family/friends react to your lifestyle?  Any snide remarks?  Or are you unceasingly praised?  Both?

As you can see from my ode to my in-laws post, Kyle’s family is VERY accommodating – and they do give me way more credit than I deserve for inspiring them (so sweet!).  My family is equally supportive, since they know how I’ve struggled with my GI issues in the past.  My friends are also great about working with my vegan lifestyle, not that it’s a huge obstacle or anything, but still, they are fabulous.

If anything, it’s my coworkers that are less accepting.  For the most part this is due to a lack of education regarding veganism.  And for others, it’s a manifestation of their own personal insecurities.  Yes, there are exceptions – I have a few coworkers who I’m closer with, who know about how/why I am vegan.  But the rest aren’t very receptive to learning, so I try to avoid even bringing it up at work.  What’s the point.  I will gladly share with anyone who will listen (clearly…I have a blog about being vegan for crying out loud), but I hate defending my choices, and that’s generally where it ends up going (with a certain few).  When you act defensive, people assume there’s a reason for you to be.  So I refuse to go there.  I brought home-made hummus to our holiday pot-luck last year, and it was a big success, so I think I’m making progress, but there are definitely snide remarks every once in a while that I just have to ignore.  Some of my favorite comments: “how’s you coffee and lettuce diet going?”, or “we don’t have to live on nuts and berries to be green, Elise” (after I asked the doctor to save his clamps for me to use after he removed a chest tube).  Oh brother.  It takes ALL self control to not tell them to just check out the blog.  Knowledge may be power, but if people aren’t open to it, it’s just obnoxious.

See it in the OG post here.

How did you get so good at running?  Have you always been a runner?  What motivates you?  Have you ever done any other sports?

Awww…whoever asked that first question thanks for the compliment.  I’ll just chalk it up to good (read: athletic) genes and skip ahead to the real parts parts I can answer.

I guess I’ve been running as long as I can recall.  I did just about every sport imaginable as a kid (volleyball, track & field, softball, swim team, etc.) – and being generally athletic – running just came with the territory.  However, it was never my primary focus.

Soccer was my life.  I started playing on a competitive level at 8 years old (on the Under-10 team thanks to my weird birthday) and continued throughout my adolescence playing for multiple teams at once, including the Olympic Development Program.  I had hours and hour of practices daily (hours away from where I lived, too) as well as tournaments nearly every weekend (I’ve been to every square inch of CA…including some of the most remote cow towns that I swear aren’t even on maps).  Because of this time commitment, almost everything other sport was secondary (and a distant secondary at that).  So as you can see, running was always a part of my life, but never anything I put much energy into, because ALL my energy was invested in soccer.

When junior/senior year of high school came around I was faced with a pretty tough decision…to pursue soccer or academics (not that you can’t do both, but different schools were offering me different opportunities).  As hard as it was for me to hang up my cleats, I knew that in terms of lifetime goals the best career move would be to attend UCLA and focus on my studies.  It was probably one of the most difficult choices I’ve ever had to make.  I often think back on how different my life would be had I chosen the other path.  So strange how life happens.  Anyways.  Without soccer in my life, I had so much more time to spare.  Coupled with the start of college, I discovered a whole bunch of other activities (boys).  Kidding. The newfound freedom was fun at first, but I found myself a bit antsy.  Not only did I miss the team camaraderie and fun that goes along with team sports, but I missed exercise.

It wasn’t too long before I joined an intramural soccer team and was shocked at how out of shape I had gotten in just a few months.  How embarrassing!  I used to be such a stud on the turf and suddenly I was huffing and puffing after a few sprints.  Not cool.  To combat this, I started to run around campus (with the So Cal weather, you don’t need to belong to a gym) and improved my stamina greatly.

My moderate approach to running (as a hobby, nothing more) continued throughout my undergrad, but after graduation I had even more time to devote to it.  I slowly increased my mileage over days, months, and years, and haven’t stopped running since!  Now it’s been nearly a decade and I average 20-30 miles a week.

I love it.  I think what motivates me is the energy I feel after I work up a good sweat.  It puts a bounce in my step and a smile on my face.  You know that rumored “high” people get from endorphins?  Yeah, I’m addicted!  Sure, I miss soccer, but running is something you don’t need 10 other people to do.  Nor do you need fancy equipment, or machines, or a certain court/field/setting.  All you need is shoes.  That’s it.  Plus, you can go as fast or as slow as you want, or as near or as far as you want.  There are no requirements for your ability.  Anyone can do it.  After a crappy day, there’s really nothing that can restore my mood better than a good run.  And even on days that I’m feeling off, all I need is a good playlist and my sneakers, and I’ll be set – for miles and miles in my own little world.

Currently, I live in a city that gets frigid in the winter months, so I am forced to rely on my gym membership (and the treadmill) far more than I’d like to.  So although running outside is my preference, it’s kinda out of the question once the temp drops below freezing.  Also, with my 12 hour shifts at work, there is no way I can run on days I work.  It’s just not possible (believe me I tried – and the first few months of work were miserable because of it).  Now I’ve found a more balanced (read: less sleep deprived) way to juggle my nursing career with my running career.  I will only run on days I have off of work, and I get the best mileage out of those days as possible.  It seems to be working for me, and I’m having a blast entering races for fun every once in a while, so there you have it!

See it in the OG post here.

Why did you choose nursing?  How did you know you wanted to become an RN?  If you weren’t in nursing, what would your second career choice be?

Well, this kinda overlaps with the previous question about my dream job.  But I had SO many questions on my path to becoming a nurse that I think I’ll address that whole career move in more detail now.  It’s hard to imagine doing anything other than nursing now, but back when I started college I thought I wanted to be a doctor.  Yep, I was a bio/pre-med major at UCLA.  But before I get ahead of myself, I’ll back up a bit.

Growing up with a physician for a father, I always knew I wanted to do something in the medical field.  It wasn’t anything I was pressured into, I just loved it.  Biology was always my favorite subject in school, so it only seemed natural that I should follow that path.  Only problem was, being pre-med at UCLA was the most competitive, cut-throat, insane environment.  Ever.  Also, biology was only 1% of the major.  As you can imagine, the appeal in being pre-med was gone faster than LaLohan’s sense of smell.  Since I wasn’t exactly sure what that medical something I wanted to do was, I just forged ahead with the bio major knowing I would eventually figured it out.  I’d already killed my GPA with all the lower division O chem grunt work, so I figured I might as well get the letters and the diploma that goes along with it.

Sure enough, I graduated, and still wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do with my BS.  RN, PA, PT, how could I know without ever seeing what each did?  To pass the time, I got a job in a hospital (mammography).  My job had me doing a whole assortment of things, but BY FAR my favorite part was talking to patients.  While taking their history, I felt I was able to make them way more comfortable (which was hard to do given that they were about to get their boobs smashed in a vice-like apparatus).  This passion for making patients feel at ease and opening communication with them was my first clue that I wanted to go into nursing.  Obviously nursing requires more than just chilling with patients, but you know what I mean…Nurses are the ones who are the bridge in communication between patients and their doctors.  They explain things to the family, they are the advocate for the patient when he/she can’t be that person for himself, and they are the ones who the patient bonds with during what is often the most difficult time in a person’s life.

So, after doing some research, I decided to pursue nursing.  Since I already had a bachelors in bio, I discovered almost all of the prerequisite classes were taken care of, and I could apply for an accelerated nursing program.  Nowadays there are several such programs, but they weren’t as popular or well known when I was applying.  I continued to work at the hospital while I applied to a few schools, and ultimately, I decided on an 11 month program in Philly.

I loved it.  It was hard.  But I did well, graduated, moved to NYC, and found a job in the cardiac ICU.

Did you always know you wanted to be a cardiac nurse?  Do you think this job is forever?

No and probably not.

To be honest, I loved almost every clinical rotation I had in nursing school, so I had no clue what field I wanted to start in once I graduated.  The best thing about nursing though, is that you don’t necessarily have to choose one field and stick with it.  Unlike medicine, picking a specialty doesn’t mean you are stuck on a path of no return.  I’m hoping to eventually return to school (some time in the distant future), and get my N.P. (Nurse Practitioner).  Since the unit I currently work on is run by an NP, I am basically being trained for the job now.  I love being proactive in patient care, determining the problem before it happens, and taking action to eliminate (or at least minimize) it.  Being able to know how and what to do requires critical thinking, and that’s one of the best parts about my current position that I enjoy thrive on.  Looking at the clinical picture as a whole is way more than just following orders, and I love knowing enough to call the shots.  So, if I can bridge the role of the nurse (with the bedside manner and passion for putting the patient first) and the doctor (with the ability to diagnose and put pen to paper orders to scripts), I think I will have found my true calling.

See it in the OG post here.

What food would describe my personality best?

Hard question!  Maybe coffee?  Not that I’m addicting per se, but I do have a very addictive personality (as in creature of habit/month long food obsessions/find something I like and indulge and indulge until I completely OD on it…).  Also, I think I’m a pretty energetic person, so there’s the caffeine factor.

What’s your favorite kind of peanut butter?

To be honest, I would hardly consider myself a nut butter connoisseur.  I like all peanut butters, and I can’t really taste the difference enough to specify a favorite.  I’m a big fan of the grind-your-own from Whole Foods though.  And for anyone who knows me in real life, it HAS to be smooth.  I don’t like chunky because it reminds me of real actual nuts, which I detest (don’t ask, I’m a freak).  Recently, however (since I’ve been blogging), I’ve been working on trying to mature my taste buds and expand my foodie repertoire…which means, I’m incorporating more and more nuts into foods to try.  Because let’s be real – a food blogger who doesn’t like nuts is like Lady GaGa without makeup and a family of birds nesting in her hair – it just ‘aint right!?

What question do you hate to be asked?

Ok, I try to be as respectful of others’ opinions as possible.  So if a person asks me about my diet in a polite (non-confrontational way), I am more than willing to overlook whatever annoying or inaccurate assumptions they made in the actual content of the question.  It’s all about the WAY people inquire, ask opposed to the WHAT.  Plus, if they are asking, it means they are genuinely interested in educating themselves, right?  As I said before, “how do you get your protein?”  and “so you eat JUST vegetables?” are some of the most frequent (and frustrating) questions…but I try to go into detail about all the other foods aside from fruits and vegetables (nuts, grains, seeds, beans, etc.) that have sufficient vitamins and nutrients to help me live a healthy, wholesome, nutritious, balanced life.

How do you make apples and hummus look so good?

Trust me, they do that on their own!  YUM!

As a nurse working in a hospital, what are your feelings on universal healthcare?

Oh man.  This blog is not intended for political purposes, so I’m going to skip this question.  Plus, there is really no easy answer.  The issue is as complicated as the lack of solutions.

How would you bring about world peace?

I wish I knew the answer to this…something tells me it would involve lots of hummus.

How about inner peace?

Not that I am the authority on this subject (far from it), but I would say: find out what you love to do in life, and don’t let any obstacles prevent you from doing it.

Do you have any tips for new nurses?

Ask questions when you have them.  Don’t ever stop learning.  And always put the patient first.  Always.

Does your fiancé eat like you?  If not how do you guys handle a household with different food preferences?

Although Kyle is not vegan, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy vegan food.  He is not a big meat eater to begin with (maybe in part from hanging out with me for too long…) but regardless, he is open to trying nearly anything.  Plus, he loves my cooking, so when vegan meals are on my menu, he’s not one to turn them down.

More to come…