So Much Fun Eating Only Veggies, Fruits & Whole Grains

Everything we eat changes our biochemistry and that, in turn, really does make us who we are. Food can have a big effect on mood, energy level, risk factors for a whole host of medical conditions, and in our social and family life. Food has a way of entering into our daily pattern, interactions, budget and sense of satisfaction. It makes a difference when we change eating habits, and even if it seems like a good change, making it work can be complicated.

When my husband declared, the morning after seeing the movie "Forks Over Knives"   (forksoverknives.com), that he wanted to “give it all up” and begin eating a meatless, diary free, no gluten, no oil, whole grain, vegetable based diet, I was delighted if incredulous. So, we took the plunge. From that moment on, we began talking about, planning around, buying, preparing, and sharing delicious whole grain, vegetable based meals. This blog will explore our experiences, my invented dishes with recipes, leftovers that make great meals, disasters, new ingredients, our upstate garden and whatever else happens. 

I invite you to try the recipes and let me know how it goes, what you did, how you changed things, and what you like best.  Perhaps I'll compile the recipes that come out best when tested by everyone else and make that available. I'll try to organize my key words so that you can find recipes for various parts of meals, to use specific ingredients, and so forth. Please let me know how this works for you or not, so that I can improve as we go along.

My way of making food is intuitive, using what I see and hardly ever measuring anything. I’ve estimated quantities, and encourage you to change ingredients depending upon what you have in the kitchen and what you like in the way of flavors and colors. I have been using a free program (chronometer.com) to get an idea of the nutritional values of the recipes and I assign serving sizes to see some measure of the protein, fats, carbohydrates and calories each meal contains. Giving up all dairy, meat and fish all at once made me curious about what all these vegetables and grains would provide, and I wanted some way to know if we ought to be taking some kind of nutritional supplements or not. 

So far, it looks like our meals are giving us just about all the nutrition we need, except for vitamin D and calcium, which we are taking as supplements. We've both lost a few pounds just naturally by eliminating oils, all processed foods and dairy and animals. 

Recipes and photos will follow! Let the deliciousness and fun begin!