Continued Research

So, after I read the first book, it led me to T. Colin Campbell's book "The China Study".  This was very interesting because this man that grew up on a dairy farm is advocating the whole grain, plant based diet.   So I really started to research what is a whole grain, plant based diet?  I downloaded a book to my kindle that walks you step by step through it:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition by Julieanna Hever M.S., R.D., C.P.T.

It is pretty much what it sounds like--lots of fruits and veggies and whole grains.  In addition, no added oil.  I decided that I would not start it until January 1, 2012.  There was no reason over the holidays to set myself up to fail.

So, on January 1 I stopped eating any meat or dairy products and I don't eat any added oil.  It has been quite a challenge because even cooking with meat and dairy products,  my kitchen hates me. I have stabbed myself in the thumb with a fork trying to prick a potato and I have had numerous cuts and burns.  My husband has teased me since very early in our relationship that the smoke detectors in the house are my oven timer! I guess something needs to alert me when I forgot what was in the oven and black smoke is pouring out:)  With this in mind, I have decided to make the new diet as simple as possible for now.  I go shopping every weekend.  I buy lots of fresh fruits and veggies and cut them up and put them in my fridge in containers I can take to work.

My husband laments that I did not show a picture of his little food shelf in this picture (My family is not following this diet although my girls seem interested in eating a little healthier).  I also eat a lot of brown rice, whole grain pasta, baked potatoes with salsa on them.  I also found a no oil vegan bread which is really pretty good.  I make my own hummus because store bought hummus has a lot of oil in it.  With the hummus, I use it as a base for a balsamic vinaigrette no oil dressing. Tomorrow I'll post the recipes.