Suzanne, Thanks for the idea of "Vegan Before 6". THAT is something I could live with. And, thanks for the link to the spices. That sounds wonderful.
Vegan does seem somewhat extreme to me. Probably a lot of that has to do with growing up in the country & in the south. We raised cattle to butcher & often had fresh eggs. We drank milk with every meal. We were (are) a meat & potatoes family. It's just such a drastic change than what I've known for the 40 years of my life.
I'm going to have to find a good farmers market to buy fresh produce.
For some vegetable ideas: Roasted asparagus with garlic, roasted leeks with fennel, & sauteed brusells sprouts with onions or garlic. I also saute a ton of onions, peppers and mushrooms.
I spent all weekend making candy & was proud of myself for very little tasting. I'm getting the majority of it out of my house tomorrow to take to work as gifts.
I haven't had caffeine or added salt in over a week. I've lost 7 1/2 pounds in the past week. I know the majority is water and just a good natural cleansing of my system. I don't expect it to continue.
All & all, it's been a good week and I'm glad I'm trying it out.
Vegan does seem somewhat extreme to me. Probably a lot of that has to do with growing up in the country & in the south. We raised cattle to butcher & often had fresh eggs. We drank milk with every meal. We were (are) a meat & potatoes family. It's just such a drastic change than what I've known for the 40 years of my life.
I wasn't raised with animals, but we did have animal products, especially meat, for every single meal. Breakfast was almost always eggs and sometime bacon. Lunch and dinner were always planned around the meat that was served. A meal without meat was not a real meal. It took a long time for me to get past that inner belief. This is why total 'vegan' would be a leap too far for me.
Today I've eaten quite well. Mostly veggies/salads and some rice and oats. I did make a dessert that was both simple and good. I took a bunch of frozen strawberries, thawed and slightly blended them, then put them in a half package of sugarless strawberry jello with some lemon zest. Very refreshing. But.. if you don't eat animal products, the gelatin would be out. And there was artificial sweetener.
I've been OFF PLAN for the past four or so days. My fiance's birthday is today and we had a pretty boozy party on Saturday night. I didn't drink a lot but I did eat a lot of crap (that I made!).
I can't tell you how awful I felt on Sunday. I felt hungover, GI problems like crazy. It's incredible what the body does when introduced to fried chips, brownies, queso dip, and other processed/nutrient poor junk after not having it for months.
Yesterday was mostly on track- big salad for lunch and dal for dinner. I did snack on leftover banana cake from the party which was insanely sugary and terrible for me.
Today I'm going to only have two types of salad (lettuce and diced peppers/tomatoes with balsamic and then my usual shredded red cabbage with mint/cilantro and rice wine dressing) and coffee. We're going out to dinner for my fiance's birthday so I'll order something sensible there (likely grilled fish) and hopefully be back on track.
It's not hard for me to eat a plant-based diet, I just didn't really care on Saturday what I ate and enjoyed the party. I don't mind having off days, but that was a bit too much. I shouldn't wake up the next morning and feel sick!
indi- I have fallen off the wagon the past few days as well...
drinking too much one night then we all made a trip to waffle house(where I did just have veggies in the form of hashbrowns! lol, no dairy or anything but still fried in oil!) then hosted a dinner for friends- I stayed vegan but it wasn't very plant strong so I think its just as bad. My dh doesn't seem to get that. I will say oh I feel bad I ate like crap and he says like what? you didn't eat anything you werent supposed to... He doesn't understand how much better I feel just eating veggies and no fats! Why can't I just stick with that 100% of the time?! oh well.. I do try most of the time. Yesterday and today were detoxing days. Just started off today with a veggie tofu scramble, made a big salad for lunch will use franks red hot as a dressing-yum. I will have a green monster after my run(first one since thanksgiving!!!!) and take a couple clementine cuties to work for snacks. I doubt I will have dinner since its my late night at work. Maybe another small salad when I get home.
I anticipate falling off the wagon a few times the next couple weeks as well, esp since I enjoy champagne and good company. Hopefully it won't be too bad. While I will try to keep things relatively in line, I always intend to fully enjoy the holidays, and food and drink is part of that for me. In the past, knowing that going in prevents the flood-gates from opening. No "Dang!! I ate that, I might as well eat some of that too..." As long as most non-celebration days are good, there shouldn't be too much harm done.
Today has turned into a cooking day. I was out of prepared foods and found a piece of ham in the freezer so I prepared an old family favorite - lima bean soup. Lima beans, carrots, celery, ham for flavoring, parsley, and this time added a half pound of chopped kale. No difference in flavor IMO. That should last a few days.
So, it was veggies and rice for breakfast, a salad w avocado for a late lunch, plus a small bowl of newly made soup. Nicely filling.
rdw I'm sorry you're going through a rough patch too. It sounds like though you are on the up-and-up with a few days of "detox"
jansan your soup sounds delicious!
Yesterday I was not OP but I wasn't terribly off. I had two salads for lunch. Made scones for our neighbor, ended up eating almost a whole one . Nibbles of a pie I made my fiance for his birthday. We went to dinner where I had a wonderful green salad and 4 huge prawns for dinner... which would have been good except I also nibbled on all the bread items that came before it.
Today should be better. I weighed myself and I'm up way too much. This evening I'm going to a happy hour, but drinks are never a temptation for me so I just have to navigate through the appetizers people order and then have salad for dinner at home.
Hi everyone!
I've been reading through all of your posts and on this thread and have found some great info.
I am interested in following a mostly plant-based diet - limiting my animal protein intake due to kidney disease. I am reading The Spectrum by Dr. Ornish - which I like because he has a realistic approach to making changes I think. I am also interested in Dr. Fuhrman. I started watching his PBS special last night and will finish the program tonight.
What have you all found to be the easiest and the most challenging parts of Dr. Fuhrman's plan? Do you think it is worth it to join his site or do you find the books are sufficient?
Do you think it is worth it to join his site or do you find the books are sufficient?
I jsut have a second to respond. Right now there is a free trial of the dr fuhrman boards. It was for 6 weeks, but I don't know how much time is left - at least till Jan 1. I think. Do a search. If you cant' find it, I'll be back later and can give you a link.
I don't know if it's worth it. But I am enjoying the reading there. I was glad to see over the wall, but am not sure if it's worth it to join. YMMV.
They are on the 'straight and narrow' over there. My impression.
Hi jubba, For me the easiest thing to do is to get in the fruits and nuts. The hardest for me is the lack of salt and no olive oil as he recommends. I'm trying to hold to that so finding seasonings that work is a hit or miss. I don't expect to continue the no salt/olive oil after the holidays. I'm really using this as a jump start. I also don't like brown rice, so I am using white rice, but limit that to about 1/2 cup a day when I eat it.
I roasted some asparagus the other night. I lightly sprayed it with Olive Oil Pam and added fresh ground pepper and garlic. It was really yummy. Will be buying more asparagus this weekend!
I am interested in following a mostly plant-based diet - limiting my animal protein intake due to kidney disease. I am reading The Spectrum by Dr. Ornish - which I like because he has a realistic approach to making changes I think. I am also interested in Dr. Fuhrman. I started watching his PBS special last night and will finish the program tonight.
What have you all found to be the easiest and the most challenging parts of Dr. Fuhrman's plan?
I started following Fuhrman after watching that pbs program. And then read the Eat to Live book a month or so afterwards. Got it from the library. But I also had watched some YouTube videos as well, and also read a great deal at his blog (which is free and has volumes of informaton). As mentioned, I don't follow it to the letter. And probably never will as long as the health benefits continue.
The easiest part for me has been adding great volumes of vegetables (and fruits) to my diet. I now eat them, cooked and/or raw for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I also had no trouble adding beans, onions and mushrooms. I never have eaten much salt, but I still do add a tiny amount to a few things. I had no problem eliminating cow dairy.
The most difficult part, besides eliminating most animal products, is eliminating oils such as olive, but I'm working on it. And not snacking.
I haven't actually ready Furhman's book- what I've learned from him I've pulled from the internet at YouTube videos.
I follow his plan very loosely. Eating enough veggies is easy. Like jansan, I am a volume eater and love being able to have a huge salad + 2 roasted beets + steamed broccoli for lunch... and then more veggies for dinner.
I don't really like most carbs anymore (I never thought I'd say that!), so I eat fewer grains than he recommends.
I don't find his plan challenging because the parts of it which are challenging for me I just modify . I add in an occasional sweet, coffee, and salt when I feel like it. I put skim milk in my coffee and have a piece of fish once a week or so. I've stopped trying to make my diet hard to follow
The hardest part for me was giving up "flour" foods- I still have them occasionally but usually it is in the form of something I have made like cornbread pancakes or dumplings in soup made of garbanzo flour. I have a BIG sensitivity to gluten so it hasn't been that hard, but I still was eating too much brown rice pasta, etc... I have put the grains on hold for a little while limiting them very much... I haven't eaten meat for over 6 years now but at first cheese was hard for me-milk I haven't drank in years either... however, after discovering how bad dairy makes me feel since not eating it for a few months I have totally stopped eating it. I may have a bit of goat cheese occasionally...
Really, just realizing I am truly doing this for my health has made the biggest difference. I listen to my body now more than ever-and it LOVES when I eat plant food
I had the same problem, rdw - is it Rikki? I can't pronounce rdw1 I only recently discovered that gluten was the cause of some of my problems and I've been gluten free since February. I don't think I realized just how much wheat I was consuming prior to that. Since giving up wheat, I've found that I eat much fewer other grains as well. I don't have them daily anymore and I eat smaller quantities. I love filling up on vegetables. I cut out dairy a while back, but I did just buy a blob of local goat cheese and it's soooooo good The good thing about something like goat cheese is a tiny bit goes a long way.
It's hard to find a good cookbook that focuses on vegetables without centering every recipe around grains. I have a copy of Carb Conscious Vegetarian and almost every recipe is grain free. I've had it for a couple of years and I don't know why it's just been sitting and collecting dust. I pulled it out a few days ago and have already made a grocery list. Everything is low calorie and pretty low fat as well.
That cookbook looks fantastic, Suzanne! I will have to pick up a copy when I'm in the US in the summer.
My two favorite cookbooks are How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and The Cook's Encyclopedia of Vegetarian Cooking. The former is a classic, and I use it more to learn basics about veggies or techniques than to experiment with new recipes. The second is a great collection of interesting vegetarian recipes for lunch and dinner. It uses a lot of less commonly used vegetables, lots of mushrooms, and good soups. I especially love it because every recipe is a full page in size with a huge, beautiful picture of the finished dish. I'm a visual person when it comes to cooking (I pick out new recipes from the way they look at tastespotting.com!) so this is a huge plus for me
I'm going to need to find a good veg cookbook. I'm not going to be able to eat only steamed veggies, soups and salads forever, especially when the weather gets hot again.
I'd never heard of Tastespotting.com before. Interesting place. I probably won't be able to spend too much time there however - it makes food look too good, lol.
ps, when I use cheese, I also try to only use goat cheese - the flavor is stronger so I get more flavor from less.
Feeling good!
. Nibbles of a pie I made my fiance for his birthday. We went to dinner where I had a wonderful green salad and 4 huge prawns for dinner... which would have been good except I also nibbled on all the bread items that came before it. 
Hello! Newbie to this thread
I only recently discovered that gluten was the cause of some of my problems and I've been gluten free since February. I don't think I realized just how much wheat I was consuming prior to that. Since giving up wheat, I've found that I eat much fewer other grains as well. I don't have them daily anymore and I eat smaller quantities. I love filling up on vegetables. I cut out dairy a while back, but I did just buy a blob of local goat cheese and it's soooooo good 
The good thing about something like goat cheese is a tiny bit goes a long way. 
