I have the SAME feelings/questions about seitan, even though I make my own and have never had a bad reaction to it…I don’t yet know what exactly I should think/do about it.

I only wear chapstick. My face is like 90% teeth so wearing lipstick is just not an option for me, hahaha. What was in that colorful juice you made?

i’m with you on the lipstick! i feel more self conscious with makeup on than without cuz im constantly worrying something has gone wrong with it! i stick to my tinted lip balm!

i tend to deal with wheat and soy in the same way: every once in a while isn’t terrible, but if there are choices besides them available i will chose the alternates to save the wheat and soy for a time when there are no other alternates. so like i’ll chose to make burgers out of black beans instead of eating soy based burgers to “save” my soy intake for my lattes at Starbucks :D and ill chose corn tortillas if available instead of flour so i can nosh on some yummy lavash bread another day ;) in my head it all works out haha. have a great evening!

My hair always gets into my lipstick so I stopped wearing it or anything that doesn’t COMPLETELY dry on my lips. Most of those end up drying my lips though so I only wear it occasionally.

I always use some of these products: https://store.drhauschka.com/b2c/ecom/ecomEnduser/items/items-3-S1-lV1SKIN-lV2DECO-lV3declips.aspx?store= , when I have put some make up on ;) but otherwise my daily cosmetics are just home-made soap and lip balm (I even tried to add some cocoa powder to get a nice shade of brown but you have to be careful cos too much could cause dry lips effect).

The lipstick thing… I’m with you! Every time I put some on I end up self-consciously rubbing it off as I’m leaving. I always feel like a clown, but then I’ll see someone really rocking a bold color and wonder how they do it!

I’m able to keep my lipstick in it’s place with lip liner. No not that disgusting pinched butt look, just a color that is almost the same as my lipstick. I wear pretty much 2 colors that are both very similar to the lip liner. It keeps it ON my lips and as it wears off there’s still a hint of the liner so it looks like I’m a bit made up. Keeping it off my teeth…not a clue!

These tips are great! Before I had a kid I did the multi-step lipstick routine, but now I just stick to a lip stain.

So glad you tried protein in your oatmeal first so that I don’t have to.

Oh, seitan – I miss it, but at the same time I’m glad I can’t have it since I was always worried about eating too much. It sort of freaks out the husband, and the only meat analogs Nina will eat are Field Roast apple sage sausages and TJ’s meatless meatballs, so I just monitor their intake of those items to once a week, twice if I’m feeling especially nice (or lazy). I always have gf cutlets in the fridge – they make great balls, too, btw – so we just stick to those most of the time.

Now tofu and tempeh – those are two items I have to make an effort to limit. Nina would eat uncooked tofu every day if I let her, and I’ve been craving mock quiche lately . . . thank goodness it’s soup season! That coconut cauliflower curry looks pretty amazing, may have to give that a whirl this weekend.

as for lipstick: you just wear it and don’t give a f*ck. it takes practice, but you can do it! plus, ladies ALWAYS tell you when you have it on your teeth. which isn’t a problem, just a quick swipe of the tongue and presto! it tastes like whole foods store!

As probably your only non-vegan reader (but I learn tons here), I’m thinking, “LIPSTICK! Finally something I know about.” (3 of my 4 parents were beauticians…Adoption, lol) Lipstick is easy…First, use a liner that is one shade darker than your lipstick…It will blend when you blot and make a gorgeous fade without that weird mouth-ring look you get when you go 3 or 4 shades darker. Liner keeps it from running outward, so there goes that worry. For the teeth thing, you’ll feel awesomely stupid doing this (totally part of the fun), but after you apply lipstick, put your finger in your mouth and close it around your finger like you would a straw. That transfers just about all the lipstick in teeth-jumping areas to your finger and then you have nothing to worry about! And don’t forget to blot, that removes a lot of excess, and its that excess that usually ends up somewhere you don’t want it. :) I never have lipstick problems with those steps and I always wear bright red! Hope that helps! ^.^

Ooh I forgot to post juice ingredients, whoops! It was carrot, celery, parsley, a few kale stems, and a whole lemon. Delicious!

I tend to have the same approach to wheat and soy as you (for now at least, haha). I need to get some of this tinted balm that everybody is talking baout!

Yes! hair on lips = little red tracks all over my face. I’m just such a lipstick FAIL, haha.

Thanks for the link!

YES! That’s exactly what I do – rub it off before I’m out the door. Every. Single. Time.

I think I need to work on lip liner plus blotting techniques, hmm . . .

Haha, always glad to be your test tube, m’dear! ;-)

I missed seitan a lot too, which is probably why I’ve been eating it more in these few weeks back on gluten. I actually didn’t eat it much at all before I went g-f!

Yup, once a week for me and once a week for Damian. Very necessary! I don’t always go out with someone. Actually I usually spend the time by myself – also very necessary! I like to hit the Whole Foods hot bar and eat my dinner while surfing their WiFi doing NOTHING IMPORTANT on the internet, haha.

Thanks for the tip! And you’re not alone, I actually think the great majority of my readers are non-vegan! =D

THANK YOU LADY! This is spectacular. What I have learned from all these comments:

1. give my finger a good time

2. invest in a lip stain!

Lovely photos! I love getting new ideas for meals. I am with you on the lipstick thing – looks so pretty but I am totally self conscious about it. I usually put it on, look in the mirror, become satisfied, look again, get nervous, get scared, wipe it off, then go out. :)

I think the wheat thing is a scare, nothing more. It’s “cool” to be against wheat, just like it’s cool to not eat soy, despite the fact that it’s safe to eat, especially in moderation. I wouldn’t worry so much. Too many other things more worth your time to worry about!

Ha ha! Meant to write #2…can you tell I was at the DMV at like 6am today?

From research I found when writing a paper on veganism and pregnancy for nursing school:

“The quality of proteins from plans vary. Protein quality is determined by the protein digestibility corrected amino acid score. Wheat protein eaten alone may be 50% less useable than animal protein, whereas isolated soy protein can meet protein needs as effectively as animal protein. Therefore, protein needs might be higher than the RDA in vegetarians whose dietary protein sources are mainly those that are less well digested like cereals and legumes.”

Source: Miller, K.G., & Penney, D.S. (2008). Nutritional counseling for vegetarians during pregnancy and lactation. Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health. 53(1), 37-44. doi: 10.1016/j.jmwh.2007.07.003

I know that’s not necessarily the evidence you want to hear because isolated soy proteins are often villified in vegan/health circles but there it is. Definitely something worth looking into further. I don’t think it means seitan is bad. It just means we don’t get as much protein from it as listed on the nutrition facts label. Still, the amount listed is so high that it’s still a great vegan source of protein. And it’s delicious.

I eat seitan the way I used to eat steak: on special occasions and mostly when eating out. First, prepared seitan is costly and I don’t really care to make it. Secondly, restaurants make it taste even better than I do. I’ve thought about giving up wheat mostly because it’s talked about so much. Never ever been diagnosed with any allergies and never can think of any problem I can link to wheat other than all the media talk it gets lately. It’s the latest demon, just like fat once was.

I think you can find something wrong with nearly any food or diet if you look hard enough. I don’t think veganism is the best nutrition-wise (although certainly better than the SAD). If it weren’t for animals, I wouldn’t do it. I don’t think the health claims a lot of vegans make are backed up by data. The ADA statement on vegetarian and vegan diets is based mostly on studies of lacto-ovo vegetarian diets. That’s why I was excited to look at what the data actually says about vegan diets. We need more research done on it! I think the claims of health are probably true but we need better evidence. We just do.

Seitan – I love it but I haven’t given it to my 2-year-old yet. She throws back tofu like it’s candy, and I’d like to vary her sources of concentrated protein….but I worry that it’ll be too much for her tiny system. Does Waits do ok with it, then?

Lipstick – I actually tried to find one the other day (I had given away the one I had to my mom because I decided it was stupid color on me – not that I ever wore it) but it was nearly impossible. Then when I tried them on I felt like a clown (I tried concealer for my tired toddler-mama under-eyes too, but that just made me look old and wrinkled). I am a makeup fail.