Plant Strong!

As I mentioned in a previous post, our family is transitioning to a plant-based diet. 

Some of that is not hard to do for us.  We were eating whole foods before, so our recipes can easily be adjusted to fit our new goals. The primary goal is that we choose foods that have the highest nutritional value per calorie.  That means we avoid foods like oils, dairy, animal products, sweeteners (aside from fruit), and processed foods, of course. We haven't eliminated those completely from our diet, but we purpose to serve them at a minimum and some things on very rare occasions.

This pyramid is our basic family meal plan now:

Here's a view of lunch at our house on a typical day.  Ranch beans with added mushrooms and greens, green leafy salad with shredded carrots and beets and other vegetables for topping or dipping on the side.  Peanut butter and raisins on celery, hummus, salsa, a small bit of yogurt dip for the children, sunflower seeds, and blue and white corn chips for the children.  We add the lunch trays for fun. :)

 

We've been trying A LOT of new recipes over the last couple of months. A LOT.  Most are pretty good, but a few have been hard to get down. I am keeping a binder to keep track of what we try, plan my weekly menus, and make notes on what to keep and what to pitch. I've moved from my paper meal planner to using one I've made online for easier changes and access. You can see this week's menu here.

 

One of the best things about all this is watching the children learn and change as much as we do.  Today Verity and Ruth spent quite a bit of time making "cakes" for me filled with all the new ingredients they hear me talk about.  They wanted the cakes to be extra special so they layered them with "kale" and "flax seed" and "frosting" sweetened only with fruit. Adorable, right??

 

 

I think Ruth got the itch to do some more cooking, because she came in and took on the task of making dessert for our meal tonight.  Out came her trusty kid's cookbook.  She altered the recipe a bit and came up with some mighty tasty apple tarts. 

 

 

The crust was made with garbanzo bean flour, applesauce, and water.  The filling is chopped apples mixed with cinnamon.  They were delicious and followed our meal nicely.

 

Introducing No-Meat Balls served over whole grain pasta and spinach, topped with low-salt marinara sauce with a side of green beans.

 

 

As you can see, it was a hit.

 

 

This meal goes down as a Keeper. :) 

 

I'll be honest and say that not everyone loves everything we try. I know I sure don't! But, everyone has been amazing about trying new things and doing their best to accustom their tastes to our new adventures in food. I sure wish I had been as brave as my children are when I was a child. 

 

It's paying off in big ways for us, too.  Not only are the children learning and developing healthier eating habits, but David and I are getting stronger and seeing the pounds come off. 

 

In the last 4 weeks, while David has been on his juice fast, he's lost 34 pounds and gone down 2 sizes!  In the past 6 weeks since starting to use the principles from Dr. Furhman's book, Eat to Life: End of Diabetes, I'm down 19 pounds. 

 

It's a wonderful blessing to see such progress for both of us in our health.

 

 

We're grateful for all we're learning. We're excited about how life is changing for us.  It's a lot of work, but so worth the effort. Knowing we have the energy to stay fit and active and enjoy this challenge together while being strong role models for our children is the best blessing of all.  

 

 

"'Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth." Jeremiah 33:6