In the beginning, my approach was to go without. I tried to eat whatever the family was having, minus foods to which I am allergic (gluten, soy, peanuts, papaya are the big ones). Next, I substituted and tried adding that in place of what the family was eating. If they had meatloaf (they like the way I make it with oatmeal and Worcestershire), I had a piece of chicken or fish instead. That was a reasonable approach and worked for a while. But then I decided I could do better. I could eat "cleaner" meals. We should all transition from packaged and processed foods anyway, to homemade meals and snacks and foods closer to their natural state. Several types of diets support this already, including the vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, the raw food diet, and the whole foods diet.
My youngest son, now 4, has never liked meat. For him, I have been a subscriber to Vegetarian Times for a few years now. I have found some amazing recipes in the magazines, and I just add meat for my carnivorous kin. What has been extremely helpful though, in helping me understand how to nourish my body, has been their articles and blurbs about individual foods and nutrients. Last month I adapted a recipe I found for quinoa patties, using ground turkey instead. Vegetarian Times issues steered me onto the road toward better health. I highly recommend subscribing.
Not that I was becoming a vegetarian, I did add much more fruit, vegetables and whole grains to my diet. That's a good idea for anyone. I never leave home without an apple and a nut and seed bar in my bag so I won't be tempted to eat junk while I'm out. Some time in December, a link from a link from a blog landed me on a raw foods page. I was intrigued and researched it. Oh my, how we kill our food when we cook it! And, oh my, what clever ways those raw foodists have of making ultra-nutritious food that is gluten-free!
The raw food diet is very clean, as I like to call it. It's made from foods purchased primarily in their original natural state. Ingredients get processed and blended and chopped into countless drinks, meals and desserts that are hard to believe. I watched a video of the making of a raw chocolate mousse cake, for which the filling was made mainly from avocados and cocoa powder. Impressed, I added some raw food "cookbooks" to my Christmas wish list, which the in laws were kind enough to pick up for me. Hearing me go on and on about how I could blend up nuts and seeds and make my own crackers, my husband bought a lovely Breville blender for me. I ruined its Kitchen Aid predecessor trying to process dates into a paste to make my own Larabars. I ruined two appliances on that endeavor, actually. Finally I figured out to just pulse the dates until they break apart, and then mash them with your fingers into a paste. Thank you Tim, I'm back in the blending game!
For several days after Christmas, I abused my fantastic Breville 800 BLXL Die-Cast Hemisphere blender, with all sorts of veggies and (soaked) dried fruits. I knew it was time to slow down when my family cowered at the sight of a cup in my hand, accompanied by "just try it, you'll like it." But in a weird twist, I picked up momentum!
Putting the ornaments away in the garage while my husband was gone (I should have been off my feet!), I remembered that about five years ago a woman from the vegetarian and sugar-free school where I worked had given me a juicer. We put it in the garage without ever looking at it. I remembered it to be extremely heavy the way she carried it to my car, and she said "you'll have to clean it up a bit but it works great." I pulled it out of the cabinet and it wasn't heavy at all! And it was clean. I rinsed off the parts, watched a quick YouTube video on how to assemble, use and clean my Champion Juicer. Wow this thing is amazing. I never cared for juicers, hearing they were a pain to setup and clean, and they were loud and messy. This juicer is none of those things. Another thing I highly recommend!
Back on the couch, I started watching Forks Over Knives on Netflix, with my husband next to me. He quickly became interested in the story. We watched it together and he immediately gave up meat. The next day we watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, which supported what we learned the night before plus had us singing the praises of our new amazing blender and juicer combo in the kitchen.
In the end, or this new beginning I should say, because of my food allergies, my whole family is on its way to being truly healthy and learning how to avoid lifestyle related illnesses, like diabetes and heart disease. We firmly believe in the benefits of making fruits, vegetables and whole grains the main focus of our meals. Most important is to try to buy food as close to it's natural state as possible, meaning apples instead of applesauce or apple juice.
Some of us are still eating meat as we learn more about the vegetarian lifestyle. I picked out a food dehydrator to add to the lineup next week and then I will be able to expand our diet to a whole new level! I have to say, I'm lucky enough to have the space for all of these appliances. We have a handy pantry just off the kitchen where my juicer lives on a shelf so I can get to it easily, and my dehydrator will soon join it.
We are finally figuring it out:
- I don't have to go without, and what's better is that we can all eat the foods that I can eat.
- Food is not just something you stuff in your mouth to get full.
- You are what you eat.
Here is a list of my favorite resources. I'm sure you'll be surprised at what they have to offer. Take your time and check these out thoroughly!
Videos (available streaming on Netflix):
Websites and blogs:
Sweetly Raw look around for her unbelievably decadent desserts!
Print:
Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking With an amazing brownie recipe! I used dark chocolate to avoid soy.
Further, get onto Twitter and find people who share your concerns and goals. Follow their posts and collect the articles, recipes and websites they post.
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