I’m looking at a vegan lifestyle. I watched Dr. Oz’s show about losing weight with a vegan diet of raw and cooked veggies (like 10 pounds in a week). The guest was Dr. Joel Fuhrman and his book, Eat to Live.
I also ordered Kathy Freston’s book The Lean, a 30 day weight loss diet in the vegan lifestyle. Her's takes an interesting plan of adding one new thing each day for a month while continuing to do the items from previous days, i.e. Day 1 drink two quarts of water a day, Day 2 drink your water plus each an apple each day, etc. It seems to “ease” your way into a vegan lifestyle without doing it “cold turkey”.
I’ve “played around” with being a vegetarian for a year or so now. It all started a year ago when I read The China Study, by Dr. T. Colin Campbell and read his comprehensive study of nutrition in China. Dr. Campbell advocates a vegan diet.
With the encouragement and advice of friends, Lory, Norah and NanC, I think I’m ready to commit to it. It just makes so much sense when you read the information in these books and the negative affects of animal products on your body.
So the other day I went to our local grocery store, Rainbow Groceries, and bought a whole bunch of veggies and fruits. Dr. Fuhrman recommends four fruits a day, so I’ve been enjoying eating a banana, strawberries and fresh pineapple for breakfast every morning and then an apple for a snack in the afternoon. Dr. Fuhrman also recommends eating a pound of raw veggies and a pound of cooked veggies every day. So I steamed together a bunch of different veggies into a medley with some Mrs. Dash and had that for dinner. For lunch I had some homemade Polish potato perogies that I bought at Red Rock Grocery in Blanca, Colorado. Oh, they were so good. I haven’t had perogies in such a long time. They are hard to make…well, time consuming I should say. Kind of like making tamales. And like tamales they are usually served at Christmas.
Jim has been so very supportive of my choice to live a vegan lifestyle. He is still my “meat and potatoes, peas, corn and bean” guy but he tries everything I cook…at least once. So far the veggie medley has been a hit with him, but not much else. I tried to get him to try some almond milk I bought, but the first sip is all he could get down. Oh, well, tonight he is grilling some St. Louis ribs for dinner with a camper family and I’m have to have a rib or two. Jim makes killer barbecue ribs and they are hard to resist. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll finish reading the books before starting in……am I quibbling already???
Remember, you are loved.
Good luck! I know there is no way I would last more than a day or two.
ReplyDeleteBobbie so glad you are giving it another try. We kinda went back to regular eating while Howie was so sick, but now we are slowing working our way back to veganism. I felt so good when we were completely vegan and now I feel pretty terrible again. We'll have to get together one of these days and have a vegan potluck.
ReplyDeleteBobbie, I highly recommend the Engine Two Diet (Engine Two being a group of firefighters in Austin, TX) by Rip Esselstyn (whose father worked with Colin Campbell and is mentioned prominently in The China Study). The vegan meat loaf is delicious, along with many other recipes. You can probably even Google it and find the recipe online. I make it in three of the little disposable alum. pans that people cook gift breads in - you get more crispy edge slices, my favorite. Leftovers make a GREAT sandwich. Many of the recipes in the book are quite simple, and we haven't had a bad one yet.
ReplyDeleteOdel and I followed his suggestion to eat "plant-strong vegan" (as opposed to junk food vegan) for 28 days. We both had increased energy, very enjoyable. I have added fish back into my diet; Odel grills a piece of steak or lambs chops from time to time and has the vegan side dishes.
Good luck to you on your vegan adventure. Don't think I could do it!
ReplyDeleteWow vegan is so intense, I could never follow the Vegan diet as I love fish too much. Good luck
ReplyDeleteI might add fish back into my diet as I love the trout up here in the mountains of Colorado and I don't think there is much mercury in them up here. Plus we will be going to Betty's RV Park in Abbeyville, LA next March and I want to eat the fresh shrimp and crawfish. Basically I prefer to leave out cheese and milk products. I'm very satisfied with almond milk and Earth Balance soy margarine.
DeleteYou have mentioned some good points about RV . Is there any place where I can book RV Park online ?
ReplyDeleteWe love our veggies and fruits, but I have to have enough red meat or I get too anemic too fast. I can tell when I am going "down" and have to take extra iron to keep up.
ReplyDeleteBut nothing wrong with a lot of veggies, fresh or steamed. And that Mrs. Dash is great stuff!
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Karen and Steve
(Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
Good Luck with your vegetarian style. I really do hope it works out well for you.
ReplyDeleteI'M all for eating healthy "But!"man must have fire cooked meat every now and then!.keep up the good work, (THE Berry's RV TRAVELS )Darren.
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