Tuesday, November 29, 2011

A Whole Foods and Plant Based Diet

So do you remember in my last post how I told you I just watched the documentary called Forks Over Knives? Well after watching it Scott and I had decided that we wanted to make a change in our diet.  First I must say that Scott and I try hard to eat healthy most of the time.  Our health is extremely important to us. Forks Over Knives shows you the facts about meat in our diets and how it is directly connected to a higher risk of heart disease, cancer and many other things.  It will really change your prospective on what you eat.





Scott and I love animals but have always been meat and dairy eaters.  We stuck to mostly chicken and fish because I am not a huge fan of red meat but don't get me wrong, a juicy fillet or lamb chop every once and a while did sound pretty good.  So making the change to a whole foods plant based diet aka a vegan diet was going to be a pretty big change for us. 

We just started this week! Yesterday to be exact. I love my veggies but Scott is pretty particular on his veggie intake.  Needles to say this is important to him so he is trying harder.  He even had udon noodle soup yesterday with tofu, seaweed and green onions!  I was super proud.


I bought 2 books that were recommended to help me get on the right track. I also made a menu of what we will be eating this week.  I still haven't figured out lunch for Scott yet so he is on his own in the city during lunch break.  He will either have to stick with soups or hunker down and order a salad :)

One of the perks to living in such a big city is that there are a lot of vegans and vegetarians so I was happily surprised when I was at the grocery store to find lots of things I could eat.


We have been good about eating oatmeal or cream of wheat made with Almond milk in the morning and for our first vegan dinner last night we had tostadas. I got the recipe from the book below and just made a couple of adjustments.  It was a delicious dinner followed by grahams and dark chocolate peanut butter (don't worry no dairy.)

Small corn tortillas baked in the oven until crispy
Refried beans
Spinach
Tomato
Avocado
Salsa
I started with 2 and then ate 2 more and some chips.
I eat a lot!



Here are the two books I bought.  Both so far have been very helpful. In the Becoming Vegan book it has a list of the most common questions that vegans are asked and the answers to respond! Very helpful!  And what I love about The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook is that it doesn't require any weird ingredents and all the recipes take around 15 mins to cook.  This is great since I like to only leave myself 30 mins to get dinner ready each night.



Because we are making a huge change in our diets we decided to easy into it and try our best.  Example, we are going to eat Mexican with some friends Friday night.  We may or may not have cheese on something :) We don't want to be difficult and we still want to enjoy going out to dinner with friends etc so we will continue to make the best decisions we can moving forward but not get too upset if there is a road bump.

This weeks dinner menu.
Tuesday- Creamy Spinach Fettuccine (made with silken tofu)
Wednesday- Polenta with Veggies
Thursday- Bowtie pasta with Bean sauce
Friday- Mexican dinner out
Saturday- Spicy Mongolian Noodles

For lunch today I am having a spinach and avocado salad with tempeh and tomatoes.

My workouts.
Yesterday I decided to do NOTHING!  It was great!
Today- Ran 8
Wed- 5-8
Thurs- 8
Friday- Xtrain
Sat 10-12

I am open to new recipes and ideas so if you have any good ones please share!!

XX
Sarah

PS Question: Where are you going to get your protein from???
      Answer:  Soyfoods, Whole Wheat Bread, White Bread, Oatmeal, Lentils, Soybeans, Black, Garbanzo, Kidney and Pinto Beans, and many many other whole food items that are in our new diet!

Oh and has anyone started their Christmas list yet??
I did... I really want a TREADMILL!!  Any recommendations on a good one? I managed to find a nice little spot in my apt where I can put it.

8 comments:

  1. As soon as I pop this baby out, I am definitely going to focus on a more vegan/vegetarian diet (my OB would kill me if I started doing this at 6 months pregnant).

    And you're like the 5th person to tell me about this movie. That's it! Watching it this weekend. And I'll be making those tostadas, too. Looks so good.

    Thanks!

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  2. You should also watch The Beautiful Truth -- another awesome documentary showcasing the atrocity. I commend you both for making the lifestyle change on your own -- my family and I are now raw/vegan/gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free, so hopefully as I post more (including recipes!) my blog will also be a help to you guys!

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  3. Wow that's awesome that you and your husband are doing that together. It will be nice to have the support from each other. I want a Gramin for Christmas. A treadmill will definitely be on my list someday too. I haven't found a spot to fit one in our little apt. yet, so I'll have to wait until we move. Good luck with your new Vegan diet! I limit dairy and meat, but I'm definitely not ready to give them up completely. I love eggs and cheese too much.

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  4. The first time I tried to work in a vegan diet it wasn't successful. It was because I kept trying to do mock meat recipes that tasted terrible. This is round two and I actually have my husband on board this time. We're not trying to replace our meat this time, but instead, just making stuff that happens to not have meat. It's working sooooo much better this go round.

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  5. I have been mostly vegan for almost two years now. It's a natural progression from vegetarianism. Way to go! We provide McDougall soups and oatmeal for free here at our office to keep us all healthy and happy :)

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  6. If money isn't an issue, I would recommend a True treadmill- they are the best.
    -maia

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  7. I applaud the ethics (or at least the ethical 'intent' of veganism) but you'll certainly damage your health on a vegan diet. Sure, if you were eating junk or the 'Standard American Diet' previously, a vegan diet is a big step up, but you'll still suffer because of it, and almost certainly shorten your life. Read The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith, an ex (20yr) vegan and still a staunch environmentalist and feminist. Amazing book, and an amazing, brave woman. But if you're determined to give veganism a go, do as Jenn above has done and PLEASE give up the grains (all grains - even pretend ones like quinoa) and soy products, as these unnatural foods are the true causes of the obesity epidemic and most of the 'diseases of civilisation' we battle with today.

    I'm an ex vegetarian, now paleo/slow-carb (grass-fed/pastured beef, chicken and dairy) and my health on all counts has never been better.

    Whichever way you go, I wish you all the best.
    matt

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