I didn't work my way to the top of the food chain
to become a vegetarian.
Which is why it is strange I am writing this post.
-
But, a process began about five years ago that has led me to the drastic decisions I (with Ben's approval, which was not hard to get- since I do the cooking, he doesn't really care what he eats so long as he gets to eat) to completely alter the way that our family eats. I am not saying- by ANY stretch of the imaginiation- that this is how everybody should eat (I really don't care what everybody else eats), I am just saying that for our family we are now changing how we eat in two major ways.
-
Step 1:
Becoming more vegetarian.
-There. I said it. It was almost painful to write. We eat meat EVERY NIGHT- I kid you not. But, after reading books like Fast Food Nation and Omnivore's Dilemma and also studying more closely some of the church teachings (Word of Wisdom) in regards to food and the amazing promises given those who follow strictly the Word of Wisdom, I am making it a goal to try and get us to eating meat twice a week instead of 7 times a week. It's not perfect, but it is a start.
-
But, I would like to ask for your help. I am new to this, and so I do not have very many recipes. If you have any vegetarian recipes that are tried and true, or you know a cookbook or website with wonderful vegetarian recipes, please let me know! I will take all the help I can get in this regard!
-
Step 2:
Buying organic.
This is the expensive phase of our plan, but again- after reading study after study after study of how harmful the foods we eat are, we are beginning to go organic. Not on everything. HERE is a link to what is called "the dirty dozen"- the 12 foods with the most pesticides, which one should always buy organice- and the "clean 15"- the 15 foods with the least amount of pesticides, and one does not need to buy organic.
-
I read one study where they gave people non-organic foods and later organic foods. All food was washed and prepped as normal. After they ate the non-organic round of food, they found 21 different pesticides in their body! After they ate the organic, they found 2- which I find strange since it should be 0, but it is WAY better than 21!
-
We actually joined a CSA, which I am SOOOOOO super excited about! We are only having the fruits delivered to us (since we are a fruit addicted family), but I am really glad we joined- it is something we have talked about for a few years and finally decided to take the plunge and just do it! Maybe next year we will do both fruits and vegetables.
-
So this is our next grand adventure. I am excited about it- hopefully it will make us a healthier family. I need to stop reading about food, though- pretty soon I will be cutting chocolate out of our diet- oh, the horror!!!
We love the cookbook Vegetarian Planet. It has some awesome things like Dirty Rice and Tomato Soup and some complicated crazy things too. But we love to cook and experiment so we think it is fabulous. Learn to make an awesome marinara sauce from scratch and you will love all sorts of pasta dishes - which you can easily use to replace meat. Our go to recipe for that is from Giada DeLaurentis's book Everyday Italian (the whole book is fantastic). And lastly, Dave's friend is a Vegan cookbook writer and she has a new cookbook out called Viva Vegan which we are going to buy and try. I'll let you know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteYou will find your CSA SO worth it. We've been doing it for 2 years now and we love it because it forces you to try new things and helps with meal-planning. You need to have them deliver veggies too so you can try new stuff out! I've learned about so many veggies I was either too afraid to try or didn't know existed before. If we had the room, I'd start buying organic beef/chicken from one of those services too, but we don't have a big enough freezer for it at the moment.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to cut chocolate ALL THE WAY OUT. It has antioxidants in it. I'm not a fan of extremism, though, in eating. I will never cut ALL junk out because I enjoy the occasional splurge and I think as a human who has to endure life and its struggles, I deserve a treat now and then. I am just a big fan of making as much stuff totally from scratch as I can. Eliminating the HFCS is a huge deal and it forces you to make healthier choices since it's in everything. I once heard Dr. Oz (I think) say that there are two aisles in the grocery store that you should never even go down: the one with the chips/crackers/cookies and the one with the soda/juice/candy. It makes a huge difference.
I just looked at those articles you linked, neither of which mentioned bananas so I'm going to mention them.
ReplyDeleteBananas: buy organic. Apparently their skins are VERY porous and growers use lots of pesticides because they tend to be full of spiders/bugs. When I heard that when N was a baby it kind of freaked me out and I have not bought a non-organic banana since (you know how many bananas kids go through). THey are not that much more expensive organic.
Interesting lists, by the way, I'm going to have to bookmark that. (can you tell this is a subject I am interested in?) ;)
Every since we watched Food Inc. and I read Food Matters, I've been buying certain things organic, too. It is more $$ (esp dairy), but I don't regret it! Also, the Oprah special on Food Inc. was great.
ReplyDeleteI heard Veganomicon and Eat, Drink, Be Vegan (yes I know you said vegetarian, not vegan:) have good recipes, but I haven't tried them.
Black bean or veggie burgers are good. Use a lot of beans- cheap and filling! I also like tempeh and tofu you can use in so many ways. Good luck!
I very rarely buy meat - we only eat meat if we are out, and even then, I usually don't. I don't think it's a problem at all - we eat a lot of rice, beans, salads, veggies, and you can pretty much do any kind of casserole/lasagna/salad without meat! I don't even notice anymore. I just allrecipes to search for stuff and find good things. We also do organic veggies and fruit (from door to door organics - mostly because they deliver) and milk from a dairy (also organic) - and everything else, I decide later - processed is processed, organic or not! Good luck - you'll love it!
ReplyDeleteIt was Dave's friend that wrote Veganomicon - her new book is the one I listed Viva Vegan. Let me just say, that people have been around for a LONG time, and have adapted to all sorts of things. Everything is fine in moderation and although we need to be more responsible consumers, try not to go crazy on me. Really, I mean it. If you believe everything you read/see there is nothing you can eat - even organic.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to be healthy, but like Shells said, don't go crazy. I've also read a lot of studies that go the other way stating that if you don't let some pesticides in your body then you can be more susceptible to certain diseases and food allergies (including celiac disease, which is linked more and more to autism spectrum disorders) because your body won't build the immunity it needs.
ReplyDeleteWho knows how accurate those studies are, but my thought is that I agree eating healthy, meat in moderation, and avoiding HFCS is important, but I also think that we have to be careful about cutting everything that is "unhealthy" out of our diet.