I've been pouring over articles and guidelines and suggestions on the best diet to prevent recurrence, and ..... I think I'm in trouble.
Here's what I'm finding:
1. A plant-based diet is best (ok, I can do that... although giving up bacon might be a problem)
2. Limit sugar... uh oh.
3. Limit salt.... ummmm....
4. Limit or omit caffeine and alcohol ..... yeah, I'm not sure about this one. Really? Omit COFFEE! Omit my coveted glass of wine? BOOOOO!
Anyway, it's not like I eat THAT awful. Of course, my diet could use some improvement. I think my biggest problem is a lack of cooking/preparing ideas. I've stood in the "leafy green" section of the grocery store a million times thinking to myself, "what is that and what the heck do I do with it?" I went to Pharmaca the other day to find a vegetarian cookbook and not only did I NOT find what I was looking for, I was talked into a $40 jar of freeze dried vegetables to scoop into a drink every day (and boy do they taste AWFUL!) I can't afford to buy this every month! Nor is it realistic to depend on a scoop for all my nutritional needs. I really enjoy cooking and eating and would like to changes on that level.
So, here I sit, scratching my head on how I'm going to realistically upgrade my nutrition in a way that will work with my crazy busy life and carb-lovin' kids.
The quest continues! If you know of any good vegetarian cookbooks or recipes (Amanda & Nate) please pass them my way.
Hey Susan --
ReplyDeleteIt's up to you, of course, whether to go whole non-hog, or just incorporate many more veg dishes. Nick & I have been part of a veg CSA and a meat CSA for a couple years now, and make many many more entirely vegetarian dishes and meals than we used to. One thing that's made this easier to do is a chest freezer, so we can preserve the bounty we get during growing season for the rest of the year. (And since we aren't full-on vegetarian, we also make a lot of yummy meat stocks for future use. But there are great veg stock recipes too, of course.)
We highly recommend:
Ruth Law, Indian Light Cooking (meat & seafood, but many veg recipes as well),
Kathleen DeVanna Fish, The Great Vegetarian Cookbook
Anything by Moosewood
and a series of tiny (but maybe out of print) books by Element press -- we've got Italian Vegetarian Cooking and French Vegetarian Cooking.
Also, our veg CSA has a lot of recipes, many of which contain no meats. http://www.riverlandfarm.com/recipes
Good luck -- we've really enjoyed eating well and more healthfully by figuring out what to do with whatever comes out of our farm share each week.
Thanks for grabbing me on FB and reminding me to come look at your blog! Sorry I'm such a blog slacker!
ReplyDeleteI've actually never been much of a recipe person- my mom is the best cook I know and she's an anti-recipe cook-from-the-heart kinda gal, so I kind of got that from her. People have given me many vegetarian cookbooks over the years and I wish I could pass some of them on to you, but they're all boxed up in my basement in Boulder and under lots of other boxes. We (maybe just Nate) will be passing through in February and can possibly uncover them then.
So for now I'd love to give you a subscription to Vegetarian Times. A friend gave it to me when I first became veggie as a teenager and it was very helpful, as it has recipes as well as articles on nutrition and lifestyle and such. It's the perfect starter-kit! They're also going to give you three free digital recipe books- healthy comfort food, farmer's market favorites, and quick and easy dinners. I think you're going to love it and you can always ask me questions anytime. I know how to cook just about anything plant-based.
Oh and I would recommend starting with soups. Soups are great and you can be really creative with them. And since winter is coming, it's the perfect time to implement a weekly veggie soup night (I do this every winter). You can have fun throwing different veggies and beans into the pot and seeing what you end up with. Split pea and lentil are easy ones to start with and let your imagination go wild from there. I use Knorr vegetarian vegetable bullion for my base, which has MSG in it. It's delicious, but only if you're OK with MSG.
Also, for the caffeine issue... I recommend slowly incorporating green tea- it's a win-win because you get some caffeine and lots of antioxidants.
And for the alcohol issue... I believe red wine is a health food. Instead of cutting out alcohol altogether, keeping it to only red wine should still make a big difference for your health.
And for the sugar and salt issues- while they still act like sugar and salt in your body, at least switching to unrefined sea and mineral salts and unrefined natural can sugar and/or agave keeps it all a bit healthier.
And I'm sure you know all about whole grains. Basically, white food is unhealthy, except maybe cauliflower ;)
I hope this helps and I hope you enjoy coming up with new family favorites!
xoxo
Amanda
Ms Susan,
ReplyDeleteWhen we finally connect I will bring by some of my favorite veggie recipes. Also, I LOVE veggie bacon. I know, you're thinking that I'm weird, which is true, but it really is yummy.
I'm supposed to be following a strict diet too. I actually have cut out caffeine for the last month+ and it is amazing. Other things like dairy, gluten and alcohol are definitely harder to stay away from... but like anything, a little bit here and there, as long as you can keep it at a little bit should be OK.... right? :)
:) -Little d.