FAQ

*Disclaimer: I’m working on an updated FAQ page. This one hasn’t been updated in like… 2 years? Oops!*  

  

The questions on this page are based on questions I’ve received from other bloggers and readers in the past. If you have any other questions, just ask! I’ll either update this page to include your question or I’ll answer it in a comment.
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FAQ Categories
(ooh, look how organized I am!)  

• Health/Body
• Veganism
• Running/Exercise
• Blogging
• Other

 
Health/Body  

1. You are so tiny and cute! But you eat so much. How do you stay so little? Do you count calories? How tall are you?
I would actually welcome added pounds if they were so inclined to grace me with their presence; skinniness is in my genetics. I know people use this excuse all the time, but in some cases it really is true! 

For more about this topic, see: Hello from CCK . 

In fact, my mom, who is 5’7, got to 100 pounds for the first time when she was pregnant with me. So maybe I will gain some elusive pounds when little CCKs come along? Little CCKs?! Yikes! Next question please! As for height, I am 5’5. I have neither the patience nor the desire to count calories, but—out of curiosity—I did do an experiment where I tracked my calories for a week. At the time, I averaged around 3000 calories per day. 

2. Specific weight please!  

Sorry, I’m not going to list that, as I know some people get upset when they hear others’ weights. Weight is just a number, and what’s right for me isn’t necessarily right for someone else. Besides, no one’s weight stays the same all the time anyway (and honestly, I don’t weigh myself all too often, so I don’t know my exact weight at the moment).  

3. If you’re so skinny, why don’t you eat lots of cake, cookies, and other such foods to gain weight?   

I answer this question more fully here: Why I avoid a lot of sugar. 

When I started my first blog, last September, I was REALLY trying hard to gain weight. But, I was doing it by consuming tons of vegan junk food. If you read my early blog entries, you’ll find lots of posts about dessert, and even some posts that mention me having a snack of multiple pieces of cake. I was constantly consuming exorbitant amounts of vegan layer cake, brownies, cookies, and downing soy ice cream by the pint in an attempt to put some weight on. (Yes, I know I’m extremely thin. You don’t have to tell me.) However, there were two problems with this strategy: One problem was that I would feel so nauseous after stuffing all that junk into me that it would cause me to undereat later on (and thus, I didn’t see any lasting weight-gain). Two was that all the sugar I was consuming was really draining me of energy. So after a few months of eating like this, I had to seriously change my diet. Nowadays, I eat a high-calorie diet but it’s mostly made up of healthy foods, with very little sugar. I feel so much better this way. And I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m just not meant to be a curvy girl; I’ve learned to accept and love my body the way it is (for the most part!).  

4. You seem to eat very healthily. Do you ever eat processed foods?  

I try to make sure my meals are balanced, and I strive for variety—i.e. even though I’d be happy to live off of a diet comprised solely of chocolate, oatmeal, peanut butter, butternut fries, and broccoli, I don’t let myself do that! One thing I always do, however, is choose meal components that I’m going to be excited to eat. I try to never eat anything that doesn’t excite me. Life is short, so why waste it eating foods that are “boring”? With every morsel I put in my mouth, I want to be able to say, “Gosh, I wish this would last forever.” Luckily, the foods I crave are usually pretty healthy. But I don’t stay away from a certain food just because it’s processed or has more than 5 ingredients or whatever. Stressing out about eating the “perfect” diet seems more detrimental to one’s health. Or, one could eat a “perfect” diet, never allowing oneself any fun foods, and then get hit by a bus. Do you really want to look back on your life and say, “Gosh I wish I’d eaten more of my favorite foods and not been so restrictive with my diet”? Besides, with the volatility of science, who knows what “perfect” is anyway!  

For more on my food philosophy, see: My thoughts on Processed Foods.
 

5. Many of your recipes seem low-calorie. Why is that, if you’re so skinny?  

I know that a lot of the people who read my blog are trying to lose weight or can’t just eat as much as they want like I can. But I strive to make my recipes relevant for as many people as possible. Therefore, I try to give variations in my recipes so that everyone can make them. That’s why I say things like “Use sauteeing liquid of choice” instead of just calling for oil. That way people can make the recipe as high-fat or low-fat as they want. (It’s also why I try to include gluten-free options and options for different sweeteners or flours.)
 

6. Can you list the calorie counts for your recipes? Please?  

I won’t do this. See: What I think about Calorie-Counting. However, if you want to figure the stats out, it’s not too tricky: just add up the calories of all the individual ingredients then divide by the number of servings.  

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Veganism  

1. Why did you become a vegan?  

Here’s a post about My path to veganism  

2. Oh come on! Don’t you ever miss ice cream?  

Nope, never. Nowadays there are so many amazing non-dairy ice creams on the market that it’s easy to satisfy one’s ice-cream craving and live cruelty-free at the same time. Soy not your thing? No problem—you can buy ice cream made from a base of ricemilk, almond milk, oatmilk, or even coconut milk! And if you’re not big on the first brand you try, don’t give up; the tastes (and flavors) of these non-dairy ice creams are as varied as the customers who buy them. I did miss squirt whipped cream for the first few years after going vegan. But now, thanks to Soyatoo, we vegans can have our whipped cream and eat it too! Do I miss other non-vegetarian products? Honestly, the first month was hard. I had huge hamburger cravings! But you know the saying “28 days to break a habit”? It really seems to be true, because suddenly the thought of eating meat became revolting to me. Same thing with cheese after I’d been a vegan for about a month. Now I can’t even stand the smell of cheese.  

3. What if I don’t want to become a vegan but would still like to incorporate more vegan foods into my diet?  

Here’s a post I wrote about Omnivores and Veganism.  

Running/Exercise  

1. How far do you go when you run?  

I don’t have one of those nifty Garmin watch things, but I once plugged in a favorite route on mapmyrun.com and it told me that the route was a little over 8 miles. (On the rare occasion I run on a treadmill, that’s about the same distance the machine tells me I cover.)  

2. Do you really find running to be fun, or is it just something you make yourself do to be healthy?  

I really do think running is fun. If it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t do it; life’s too short! I once wrote about Ways to make Running FUN!  

3. Do you have knee problems from running? How do you take care of your knees as a runner?  

Answer here  

4. Do you run every day?  

I think rest days are really important. For more about this: Guilt and Exercise  

Blogging  
1. I remember your blog used to be called Chocolate Covered Vegan. Why the change?  

I changed the blog title to “Chocolate-Covered Katie” because I didn’t want to sound exclusive, especially since not everyone who reads my blog is a vegan. I didn’t want it to seem like my blog was only meant to be read by vegans. But I am still CCV! And I love being a vegan!  

2. How do you decide which blogs to comment on?  

I really, really, reeeeaaaally (that’s a lot of “reallys”) appreciate everyone who takes the time to leave a comment on my blog. Getting new comments makes me so happy! I used to try and comment back on every single blog of every single person who left me a comment, in an attempt to return the favor. But, especially as my blog traffic increased, I couldn’t keep up. With all the other things going on in my life, I just wasn’t able to comment on over 50 blogs per day. I had to cut back. I still try to leave comments when I get the chance, especially on the blogs of those who comment on every single one of my posts. But if you haven’t heard from me in a while, please know that it’s not because I’m ignoring you, and I AM still reading your posts even if I haven’t commented. That being said, if you leave a comment with a specific question, I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can. And even if I never respond, I definitely read EVERY SINGLE comment left on my blog.  

Other  

1. Why do you always eat with chopsticks?  

Answer here (Bonus: There’s also a picture of Brad Pitt on this page! Woo-hoo!)  

2. You mention that you’ve lived all over the world. Where exactly have you lived?  

Answer here (in scrapbook-page form!)  

3. Who are Molly and Henry?  

Answer here  

4. Who is Whole-Foods Boy?  

Answer here  

5. What is CCV?  

Not what, who . CCV is “Chocolate-Covered Vegan” a.k.a. me.