IT’S FOOD TIME HERE AT HEALTHY FAMILY HEALTHY YOU!
I admit that sometimes I know I sound like a crazy person. Who says dairy products are unhealthy for kids or unnecessary for someone with osteoporosis? Who says (in front of their friend the butcher) that lean turkey is unhealthy? Well…I do! The question is why. Enough people have asked me that I thought I would explain. Not because you should care about what I think, but because I do want to spread healthy nutrition information around and share my resources with others. And, again…because you keep asking!
I’m flattered, that even though people are puzzled by my conclusions, they still ask me for resources and advice for making healthy meals for their families.
First, some nutritional information and resources…
My belief in a vegan diet began with reading Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman and then solidified by The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-term Health by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II. The latter will also answer the common questions I get about why the government would tell us to eat food that isn’t good for us.
Then I moved on to Eat for Health and Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right by Dr. Fuhrman. Dr. Fuhrman’s website has a number of resources, like daily recipes and articles about various ailments and how they can be helped with a superior diet. I haven’t yet read his new books, Super Immunity and The End of Diabetes. Thank goodness I only need the immunity book!
Speaking of diabetes, I recently gave a friend Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven Recipe for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs. I’m also currently involved in a Migraine study at Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (of which Dr. Neil Barnard is the head) and I was so pleased to bring my friend to an educational night there. Right now I’m in the first portion of the study where we receive a supplement. In the next portion, starting June 12, I’ll be 100% vegan, instead of the 75% or so I currently am. I can’t wait. Nothing like making a promise to someone else to succeed in the commitment you’re trying to make to yourself!
They encourage participants to bring friends and family who are interested to the vegan classes. Judging by the interest so far, we may need to caravan!
As I said, my vegan portion of the study begins June 12. More importantly, it ends the first or second week of October. That includes all the fall holidays! For Rosh Hashanah I will be eating eating vegan. For break fast (usually a very dairy-filled meal) I will be eating vegan. For Succot, I will be eating vegan. And I thought it was a challenge to go through the holidays vegetarian!
That’s okay, if I have to I’ll just bring my own food everywhere! Or offer to make a one pot dish that I can also eat. And I have already perfected a few vegan desserts that have passed the test of some serious meat eaters! (Not that they usually have meat in their desserts, but you know what I mean…) So I will be happy to bring those too, everywhere I go. And if I have you over, I promise to provide you with the animal products you find necessary to celebrate a holiday. I’m sure many vegetarians/vegans would not agree with that approach. However, I do recognize that many Jews legitimately believe that eating meat and fish is necessary to celebrate a holiday and I don’t feel like it’s my place to refuse that request (especially because I can always just purchase the meat and don’t have to cook it myself!).
Stay tuned for plenty of healthy (and probably vegan) recipes and resources!
