When I committed myself to weight loss and maintanence three years ago, it turned out that I also committed myself to being mostly vegan.
I didn't know I was committing to a mostly vegan lifestyle when I started, but the more I learned about what it takes to lose weight and keep it off, the more I realized that meat, fish,eggs and dairy had to take a distant second to fruits, vegetables and whole grains in my diet.
I have to confess that I don't do much vegan cooking, although I do make the effort from time to time. Most of my vegan eating comes from eating salads and fruit.
However, when I read articles like this one from the New York Times, I realize that I really should be making more of an effort to cook and eat vegan more then I have been: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/tasty-vegan-food-cupcakes-show-it-can-be-done/?scp=2&sq=vegan&st=cse
If a vegan chef can win a cupcake baking competition on the Food Network, you know that veganism does not mean putting your foodie instincts on the back-burner.
In our culture vegan food is always depicted as being icky, and processed crap as good. But, as the above article shows, that is really not true. A good cook or baker can make anything taste scrumptious no matter what the ingredients.
The reality is that adding a lot of fat, sugar and salt is just the lazy cook's way of making food taste good. A really good cook can take any set of ingredients and turn it into something fabulous.
I'm actually going to try one of Chef Chloe's cupcake recipes this weekend. Because my son is allergic to both wheat and dairy, vegan recipes are a god send because all I do is swap out the flour for spelt, and viola, I have something he can eat.
I followed a vegan diet for some years for health reasons -- but I never truly believed it was necessary. I felt okay, but not great. All my labs were within normal limits.
ReplyDeleteThen I added animal products to my diet. I felt much better than I had when following the vegan diet. Most surprisingly, my labs improved -- even my cholesterol dropped!
There was a short period of time when I was under a lot of stress and ate (a lot) more processed foods. During that period of time all of my labs were the worst they had ever been.
My diet is still plant-based, but I certainly don't aim for plants-only.