Dok Choy

I'm Marty: Buddhist, Anarchist, Vegan, Straight Edge. I love China, Music, Anthropology, Birds, Tigers, and Tea. Peace!
"Happiness never decreases by being shared." - Buddha
"Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful." - Thich Nhat Hanh

My 80/10/10 experience so far

So, as some of you know, a month or two ago I expressed interest in trying out the 80/10/10 diet this summer.  For those of you that don’t know, this is a raw vegan diet in which 80% of your calories come from sweet fruit, 10% from protein rich foods, and 10% from high fat foods.  The premise behind this diet is that since our bodies and brain run on sugar (glucose) the best source to get this energy is directly from fruit.  Also, proponents claim that our closest ancestors (apes like chimpanzees and gorillas) eat a predominantly fruit and green leafy vegetable diet (which is true), then we should as well (which is debatable).  So basically a person on this diet eats mostly sweet fruits (bananas, dates, citrus, tropical fruits…etc) and then huge salads for dinner.

I started easing myself into this diet and now I eat maybe 75% or so this way, give or take the day and what I’m doing (working, hanging out with girlfriend, or at home doing nothing lol).  This is my diet basically:
When I wake up in the morning I always make a smoothie.  It used to be green smoothies but my blender at home sucks.  It’s a magic bullet and can’t blend up the greens well and I don’t like the texture.  So I usually do five frozen bananas, two oranges, and about two or so cups of water.  This fills up about two two quart containers.  I finish the first one by nine o’clock or so as I make them at six in the morning and bring them to work with me.  The second one is finished by maybe one or two o’clock.  That’s my “pre breakfast”.  At work I’ll make a breakfast fruit salad.  This week it has been two-three champagne mangoes, two bananas, and one orange.  For lunch at work I’ll eat a cooked meal.  It’s mostly been one or two pita breads with hot sauce and mustard or just hot sauce.  I know this isn’t the greatest but bread is one of my favorite foods and I’m trying to give it up.  When I get home from work I make a HUGE salad with about five+ cups of greens (kale, baby spinach, baby arugula [my fave], romaine lettuce, spring mix, or whatever else!), one pint of grape tomatoes, two or three celery stalks, green onions, one apple, and maybe some herbs like basil or mint or chives.  The dressing is lemon juice or none at all.  I had a huge salad last night with no dressing and I ate it all and it was delicious.  The apple is there to add crunch, contrast sweetness with the bitterness of the greens, and for a boost in calories.  After my smoothie is finished I drink filtered water.  At night after my huge salad I usually have a cup or two of green, white, or black tea.  Sometimes I add mint to it or ginger.  I LOVE tea and drink it often.

I started shopping at Sam’s Club because my girlfriend has a membership there and they have some good deals.  Bananas are cheap!  $1.30 for three pounds!  One pound containers of baby spinach and spring mix, both organic, for $4.50.  In a week or two the farmers markets by my girlfriend’s house start up and since I have every Saturday and half of Sunday off I plan on shopping there every weekend.  And of course, I still shop at Whole Foods for some things. 

All in all this diet has been a fun experience so far.  I’ve noticed that even though I drink the same smoothie every morning, have a fruit salad for breakfast, and the same salad almost every night, even with no dressing, I still love the food and don’t get bored of it.  I also noticed that I poop more and I went number two four times today!  That is a record for me.  I’ve been vegan for five years, and a health freak, and I’ve usually went twice a day.  Also, I’ve started running two months ago and do it fairly regularly now and I love that as well.  It feels great!  So far this diet is good.  When it gets more into Summer I plan on going more on this diet.

Thanks for listening everyone!  Namaste, peace, and blessings!

Ethiopia

This post is about my favorite cuisine, Ethiopian.  I got into this food when a friend from New Jersey came to Chicago to visit another friend.  I went to hang out with them and we went to Ras Dashen, an Ethiopian restaurant in Chicago.  It’s my favorite restaurant now!  I fell in love with the cuisine the first time I tried it, and now I go there at least once a month.

Ethiopia is a country located in the Horn of Africa, Eastern Africa.  82 million people live here.  So, it’s pretty big!  It’s composed of numerous ethnic groups.  Christianity is the largest religion, but Islam is big as well.  A small Jewish population is there and traditional African religions too.  The three Abraham faiths here are generally peaceful together.

Anyways, this post is about the cuisine so I’m gonna get into that.  You can do some reading online about the other aspects of Ethiopian culture.

The meal is eaten at a mesob, which is a table made out of straw and other materials.  It looks like traditional African baskets.  Before the meal, the top is covered until the food arrived.

The basis of the meal is a large, round, spongy, rubbery bread called Injera.  The bread is made out of teff flour, which is a really tiny gluten free grain native to the country.  It’s really nutritious too!  This bread is layed down and all the food is placed on top in sections.  Injera is served on the side and you rip off pieces of the bread and pick up the food and eat it, no utensils.  This is quite different than what most people are used to.  It’s a great experience and surprisingly not that messy.  One thing the Ethiopians do that many may find strange is that they take the bread, scoop up the food, and feed it to other people at the table.  This is considered good behavior.

I think the food is similar to Indian food.  Well, a lot of the ingredients are anyways.  Lentils, chickpeas, lamb, chicken, beef, are all commonly used.  Indians have a spice mixture called Garama Masala, and Ethiopians have a similar spice mixture (albeit more flavorful in my opinion) called Berbere.  It’s made with a bunch of aromatic spiced like ginger, cardamom, chili pepper…etc.  It’s so flavorful and is used in almost all dishes!  The national dish of Ethiopia is the Wat, which is basically a stew.  They have meat versions and vegetable versions with lentils.  Another common dish is sauteed meat and or vegetables called Tibs.  Nitter Kibbeh is often used in the cooking, which is a type of clarified butter. 

Do you love coffee?  Well, so do Ethiopians.  Some people believe that the coffee drink was first drunk here.  Whether or not that is actually true, it’s undeniable that coffee plays a big part in their culture.  It’s usually drunk after the meal.  They also have a drink called Ethio Chai (Shai) which is similar to chai in India except they don’t add milk to it.  It’s black tea and they add spiced to it like cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom.

Going to an Ethiopian restaurant is fun and is great for everyone.  Many restaurants have a large vegetarian/vegan sections.  I’ve only been to Ras Dashen so can only talk about them.  They have a section with all vegan dishes labeled.  When you order the food, you order a couple main dishes and a couple of sides (vegetable dishes) and they all come on a big platter on Injera and you spin the platter around to so the dishes rotate.  It’s a great place for groups to come and enjoy great food.

For those that are looking for a new experience and delicious food, I suggest looking into an Ethiopian restaurant.  These places are great for vegans and non-vegans alike and offer a great time.  If you love flavorful, healthy food, you’re sure to love Ethiopian!

Take care!

“This culture is based on converting living things (“raw materials” or “resources”) into the dead: products for profit. This is true of cell phones as it is of solar panels as it is of televisions as it is of cardboard as it is of F-16 aircraft. Raw materials always come from somewhere. And there are consequences in taking them. The primary consequences are not mainly paid by those who use these products, much less those who manufacture them. They are pushed onto those who are stolen from and exploited. The empire uses violence (or the threat of violence) to obtain whatever it requires, from the lives and labor of human or nonhuman slaves to coltan, bauxite, and oil. Indeed, the central purpose of empire is the extraction of raw materials and exploitation of resources, and the displacement of consequences onto others.” — Derrick Jensen, Resistance Against Empire

“This culture is based on converting living things (“raw materials” or “resources”) into the dead: products for profit. This is true of cell phones as it is of solar panels as it is of televisions as it is of cardboard as it is of F-16 aircraft. Raw materials always come from somewhere. And there are consequences in taking them.

The primary consequences are not mainly paid by those who use these products, much less those who manufacture them. They are pushed onto those who are stolen from and exploited. The empire uses violence (or the threat of violence) to obtain whatever it requires, from the lives and labor of human or nonhuman slaves to coltan, bauxite, and oil. Indeed, the central purpose of empire is the extraction of raw materials and exploitation of resources, and the displacement of consequences onto others.”

— Derrick Jensen, Resistance Against Empire

(via humanformat)

[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

imapervert:whyrod:

Two young black men, dressed like most young men (of every color) dress are followed around Publix by a white worker who seems to think they’re going to steal something. They purposely allow him to know he’s being recorded in hopes that it will stop, but he continues to follow them anyway all the way to the counter. They stopped him and asked him why he was following them and he said “I can go wherever I want.”

This is the standard bullshit every black man has to go through on occasion. They should have put the camera up close to the wall with his picture so the internet would know what his name was.

(Source: fuckyeahfamousblackboys, via humanformat)

byeproductivity: riannag: A seven-year-old has donated $140 to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC) because he doesn’t think it’s right for gay people not to be treated equally. The child, Malcolm, was given $140 by his parents to donate to the charity of his choice. He chose to split the money between the gay centre and the HRC. The cheque was accompanied by a hand written note that read: “I am sending you this money because I don’t think it’s fair that Gay people are not treated equally.” A note from the boy’s mother said: “To teach the importance of improving the world around him, Malcolm was given $140 to give away to the charity of his choice. After hearing a story on the radio about the mistreatment of gays and lesbians, Malcolm became both upset and curious about the issue…to help, he chose to split his money between the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.” Faith in humanity: restored.

byeproductivity:

riannag:

A seven-year-old has donated $140 to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC) because he doesn’t think it’s right for gay people not to be treated equally.

The child, Malcolm, was given $140 by his parents to donate to the charity of his choice. He chose to split the money between the gay centre and the HRC.

The cheque was accompanied by a hand written note that read: “I am sending you this money because I don’t think it’s fair that Gay people are not treated equally.”

A note from the boy’s mother said: “To teach the importance of improving the world around him, Malcolm was given $140 to give away to the charity of his choice. After hearing a story on the radio about the mistreatment of gays and lesbians, Malcolm became both upset and curious about the issue…to help, he chose to split his money between the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.”

Faith in humanity: restored.

(via reagan-was-a-horrible-president)