Like most Americans, I currently weigh more than I like. I feel like my adult life has been spent on one diet or another. You would think such obsession would have made a difference, but it didn't. I try to be "good", give in and be "bad" and ultimately my self-worth takes a hit each time. Which as many of you know, leads directly to ice cream.
So as a Mother's day gift to myself, I decided to take a new approach. I purchased The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. Despite having the word diet in the title, this is like nothing I have ever done before. First of all, despite being a vegan/macrobiotic way of eating, it's not about restriction. It's about finding the tastiest, most satisfying food and enjoying it everyday.
So what is the most tasty, satisfying food? Junk food, a steak or ice cream? I have found that junk food, dairy and meat isn't the tastiest, most satisfying food. Now, I'm not saying it's not delicious, but the meal includes a load of guilt over the treatment of the animals I'm eating and the effects on the planet, a heavy bloated feeling, maybe heartburn, maybe a headache, general malaise, potential weight gain, and frustration with myself for eating food that is not good for me. Tasty maybe, but not all that satisfying.
The difference? I'm eating in a way that is completely satisfying. It is beautiful to look at, a pleasure to create, delicious, good for the world and guilt free. It's about choosing the best thing possible to eat at every meal. A paradigm shift. I'm not saying no, I'm choosing something better.
I've been vegan before. The experience was so completely different that the only resemblance is some of the food. First, I wasn't choosing to be vegan for me. My mom had some health problems; my sister and and I decided it would be easier for her to switch if she had more support. We committed to do it for 1 year. It was a positive experience. My health did improve, weight was lost and after it was over, meat was never as prominent as it had been before. However, it was temporary. I never even considered reasons why I should have done it permanently. This was 11 years ago
Fast forward to the present. I'm in my 30's and tired of being tired. I see my hubby suffering from all sorts of general ills, heartburn, weight gain, fatigue. My children are familiar with heart burn too. I had been trying, we are whole grain eaters, no sodas, no hydrogenated oils etc. But it wasn't enough. We weren't feeling good. I began thinking, it's now or never.
I picked up Alicia's book in January. My husband and I had already been trying to look at local foods. We had concerns about animal welfare, but I wasn't sure I could get him, or myself, on board to do a vegan diet again, so I put it down and purchased Alice Waters book Simple Food. It's excellent. We reduced process food further and limited the amount of meat and dairy. Yet, no significant change. We were getting bored with the food and I was getting frustrated. It felt like limits and when we did eat out, the cravings were intense and we splurged. This left us feeling terrible, mentally & physically.
So, when hubby asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day; I said I wanted to feel better. I told him I wanted to make the change. He was hesitant but supportive. I purchased two books. Alicia's The Kind Diet and Terry Walters Clean Food. I read them both in a day and was blown away by Alicia's book. Not the facts, which are great but I mostly knew, but her attitude. That eating could be a joy without restrictions. That it could be totally satisfying, not just tasty.
I feel like I'm starting a new phase of my life. I want to record my journey, mainly for myself. So I can see the changes, but also so other people can see how happy and satisfying eating this way can be.
So here I am. I am a mostly vegan wife and mother of 2. I hope you enjoy my blog and feel like eating this way is possible for you too.
Just a note on the "mostly vegan" thing.
We have chickens, we call them The Nuggets. These are 9 of the most loved, spoiled Nuggets around. I can't imagine our lives without them. I get so much joy from watching them and cuddling with them. Yes, we cuddle our Nuggets. Our relationship with our Nuggets has been mutually beneficial. They are amazing composters. Scratching is what they love to do. We toss yummy, vegan scraps into our compost bin and they jump in and snack and work it in and it is the most amazing stuff for our garden.
Now, our Nuggets make eggs.
I know there are many vegans out there that would think the eating of these eggs is quite unacceptable, but for me I think that throwing them away is a great waste. My family enjoys the eggs, appreciates where they come from and there aren't too many. I don't feel it has the negative impact on our health that dairy does. I also don't believe the Nuggets are negatively impacted by the collecting of their eggs. I don't eat eggs out, I feel the treatment of the chickens in the general food supply is simply unacceptable.
My kids named them. Our Nuggets: Aphrodite, Venus, White Meat, Dark Meat, Artemis, Wintergreen, Spearmint, Goldie and Athena.
So as a Mother's day gift to myself, I decided to take a new approach. I purchased The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. Despite having the word diet in the title, this is like nothing I have ever done before. First of all, despite being a vegan/macrobiotic way of eating, it's not about restriction. It's about finding the tastiest, most satisfying food and enjoying it everyday.
So what is the most tasty, satisfying food? Junk food, a steak or ice cream? I have found that junk food, dairy and meat isn't the tastiest, most satisfying food. Now, I'm not saying it's not delicious, but the meal includes a load of guilt over the treatment of the animals I'm eating and the effects on the planet, a heavy bloated feeling, maybe heartburn, maybe a headache, general malaise, potential weight gain, and frustration with myself for eating food that is not good for me. Tasty maybe, but not all that satisfying.
The difference? I'm eating in a way that is completely satisfying. It is beautiful to look at, a pleasure to create, delicious, good for the world and guilt free. It's about choosing the best thing possible to eat at every meal. A paradigm shift. I'm not saying no, I'm choosing something better.
I've been vegan before. The experience was so completely different that the only resemblance is some of the food. First, I wasn't choosing to be vegan for me. My mom had some health problems; my sister and and I decided it would be easier for her to switch if she had more support. We committed to do it for 1 year. It was a positive experience. My health did improve, weight was lost and after it was over, meat was never as prominent as it had been before. However, it was temporary. I never even considered reasons why I should have done it permanently. This was 11 years ago
Fast forward to the present. I'm in my 30's and tired of being tired. I see my hubby suffering from all sorts of general ills, heartburn, weight gain, fatigue. My children are familiar with heart burn too. I had been trying, we are whole grain eaters, no sodas, no hydrogenated oils etc. But it wasn't enough. We weren't feeling good. I began thinking, it's now or never.
I picked up Alicia's book in January. My husband and I had already been trying to look at local foods. We had concerns about animal welfare, but I wasn't sure I could get him, or myself, on board to do a vegan diet again, so I put it down and purchased Alice Waters book Simple Food. It's excellent. We reduced process food further and limited the amount of meat and dairy. Yet, no significant change. We were getting bored with the food and I was getting frustrated. It felt like limits and when we did eat out, the cravings were intense and we splurged. This left us feeling terrible, mentally & physically.
So, when hubby asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day; I said I wanted to feel better. I told him I wanted to make the change. He was hesitant but supportive. I purchased two books. Alicia's The Kind Diet and Terry Walters Clean Food. I read them both in a day and was blown away by Alicia's book. Not the facts, which are great but I mostly knew, but her attitude. That eating could be a joy without restrictions. That it could be totally satisfying, not just tasty.
I feel like I'm starting a new phase of my life. I want to record my journey, mainly for myself. So I can see the changes, but also so other people can see how happy and satisfying eating this way can be.
So here I am. I am a mostly vegan wife and mother of 2. I hope you enjoy my blog and feel like eating this way is possible for you too.
Just a note on the "mostly vegan" thing.
We have chickens, we call them The Nuggets. These are 9 of the most loved, spoiled Nuggets around. I can't imagine our lives without them. I get so much joy from watching them and cuddling with them. Yes, we cuddle our Nuggets. Our relationship with our Nuggets has been mutually beneficial. They are amazing composters. Scratching is what they love to do. We toss yummy, vegan scraps into our compost bin and they jump in and snack and work it in and it is the most amazing stuff for our garden.
Now, our Nuggets make eggs.
I know there are many vegans out there that would think the eating of these eggs is quite unacceptable, but for me I think that throwing them away is a great waste. My family enjoys the eggs, appreciates where they come from and there aren't too many. I don't feel it has the negative impact on our health that dairy does. I also don't believe the Nuggets are negatively impacted by the collecting of their eggs. I don't eat eggs out, I feel the treatment of the chickens in the general food supply is simply unacceptable.
My kids named them. Our Nuggets: Aphrodite, Venus, White Meat, Dark Meat, Artemis, Wintergreen, Spearmint, Goldie and Athena.
- Goldie and Aphrodite
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