Tag Archives: VEGAN: vegan

I Chicken’d Out

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This morning I decided I wanted to take a new trail on my hike. Raven and I went one way and realized it led to my normal trail up to Robber Roust so I turned around and went back to take a new trail, Peralta Hills. I knew from when I walk inside the main park this was a tough trail, but I wanted to see what it was like from up top! This trail started out lovely with a nice lookout point and bench at the top. BUT as I kept proceeding, I realized that this was an extremely steep and rocky hill. Today was not the day to try it out.

I went down a portion on the very rocky steep path with about a 45% grade. Sheesh! I went maybe a couple of hundred feet down and proceeded to turn around. I got scared!!! When the trail is this steep and rocky I like to have someone with me, just in case. This is one trial I will do, but I want to do it with someone. This way if I fall, twist an ankle, or just can’t get my butt up that hill, I can have some help.

At first, I was bashing myself, inside of my head. Telling myself I was not accomplishing my goal, I am never going to be able to do it, I can’t climb this steep hill, etc. All the negative thoughts I have usually in my head about myself! But then I realized this was silly. Look at what I am doing. I am out on the trails. Even my back Dr. is amazed at what I am doing. I am exercising 4-5 days a week, I got my hind side out of bed this morning and even though my ankle was aching, I still got out to the trails. OK, Kristin, tomorrow I will attach this hill and master it!

The reason I am telling you all this? I want to help you realize it is ok to stop once in a while. It is ok to have fear. It is OK to turn around. The problems come when you repeatedly do it over and over and never go back to try it again. You never push yourself to perpetrate more, always telling yourself you’re a failure!. If I would have given up the very first time I took a hike on a steeper hill and never came back to it, where would I be today? Not stronger. Not healthier, Not having more endurance. And certainly not accomplished! Yes, accomplished. I may not be doing 25-mile hikes, but for my body, my size, my injuries, my handicap, I am accomplished. Should I, can I, will I do more? You bet!

So on those days where you have more aches and pains than a normal day, your body is screaming at you from the get-go, but you still head out to the gym, the trail, the walk around the block, it is OK to take it slower, to only do some, and if necessary to stop and turn around and head back. Just make sure you lace up those boots tomorrow and head back and NEVER give up entirely. Never tell yourself you are not able to accomplish whatever goal you set. And NEVER let the fear and negative self-talk take completely take over and rule your goals!

OCVegan Fest is Back

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This is a 360 view of the OCVegan Fest Use your mouse or fingers to view it in it’s entirety

Some of you may know that I am a pescatarian/vegetarian. I went from a meat-eater to a vegan right after Easter 2012. I was feeling bad all the time, always had an upset tummy, sluggish. I had done some research on different ways of eating to make my tummy feel better and decided since I was not a huge meat lover anyway, trying veganism couldn’t be that hard. Well, I was wrong, going from meat 3x a day to nothing was not an easy task. Not hard to stop eating meat, but hard to figure out what to cook.

Anyway, after about 2 months of trying to figure it out, reading, reading, and more reading, I decided to go more of a vegetarian lifestyle with eggs and cheese now and then. Plus I had to think of my family. All three of them were vigorous meat-eaters. Well, eventually, I decided to add fish back into my diet. I am a massive fish lover. I grew up eating squid, clams, trout, salmon, etc. I could eat it 24/7. Now I only eat it when we eat out or 1X a week at home. So that is, in a very brief nutshell, how I went from meat-eater to pescatarian/vegetarian and I feel my best when I stick to very little eggs, no milk, and a little cheese and lots of colorful vegetables with some fish 1 or 2 times a week. My tummy feels better too. And the best thing, my family (even though they won’t admit it) feels better too without all that meat! But this article is not supposed to be about my eating habits…LOL.

After a very long wait, the OCVegan Fest is back. They actually changed their location and it is better. And let’s not confuse this with the SoCal Veg Fest which is 10X the size and happens only 1x a year. This is a small hometown (Santa Ana) one time a month food fest that happens in a nearby town to where I live.

I am so grateful that they are back. The food is Out Of This World delicious. If you have never tried vegan food, you don’t know what you are missing. My husband and I decided to have the Franks. I never was a huge Hot Dog fan when I ate meat (except when we were really broke), but these sausage dogs are the absolute best. OMGsh! There were also tamales, tacos, fresh-squeezed flavored lemonades, faux chicken and burgers, of course, fries, salads, shoot, you name it, they had it. My only complaint about the whole thing is they had about 4 tables with a tent over it and the rest were in the direct sun. For next month I am hoping they will bring out more tents, at least until it cools down.

On the other side of the fair were several traders selling their wares. It is always fun to look at what people are selling. Some of the products were crystals, homemade clothing, tie-dyed T’s, Mexican wrestling masks, vegan purses, jewelry, and more. I do hope since they are back the vendors will start wanting to come and sell and that as time goes on, there will be more and more vendors selling their goodies! it is fun to look at all the handiwork and buy the stuff you don’t really need and sometimes really need! LOL

The other thing is this is very dog friendly. My only complaint, it is on blacktop and only one tent for shade. It was a bit too hot for my all-black coated pooch. While we were eating, I shoved her under the table with some water to keep her cool. That worked well, but my poor shoulders got a bit of a beating while we were listening to some great music and munching on our lunch.

Overall, I am so glad we went. We had a great lunch and spent a couple of hours looking around, eating, and then strolling some of the shopping on the main shopping street in Santa Ana. If you are in or around the area, I highly suggest you check out the links above or below for them and come visit next month. They hold it every month. Hope to see you there next month!

@ocveganfest #ocveganfest @socalvegfest #socalvegfest