What was your influence?

vchuchman

My wife and I are both teachers and blew off a lot of steam the night of our final day of school for this past year. Needless to say, the next day we both ended up on the couch watching Netflix. We each had summer goals of losing weight and getting healthier, so we watched a few documentaries. The first was "Hungry for Change". We never thought we would consider a drastic change in lifestyle, but then we watched "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" and "Forks over Knives". That finally did it for us.

We decided to start our summer with a 5 day juice detox to get off of highly processed foods and refined sugars. We'd see where we were after that and go from there. We shut ourselves in our house because we knew it would be hard to be in "society" while we got the monkey off our backs. After the 5 days, we committed to a "plant strong, whole food" diet. We cleaned out the cabinets (donating the food to a food pantry), got some new cookbooks (Forks over Knives is one) and started our new life style. We're not 100% clean eating, as we allow ourselves an occasional treat (For example, I had a small piece of cake at a birthday party yesterday) but we have not been to a fast food place all summer (we used to go 3-4 times a week) and I estimate us at 90% vegetarian and 75% vegan (cheese...) We are at the 8 week mark and we have shed pounds and feel so much better than we ever have before! There is no better proof for me than how I feel, so we feel that after 8 weeks we can call the lifestyle change a success!

So what's your story?

FlaxMilk

I've been vegetarian/vegan for a very long time just for ethical reasons. I feel my best physically and emotionally when I stick to a cleaner diet. I have more energy, fewer cravings, better mood, and more strength.

Romey5

vchuchman - I have scrolled past those 2 documentaries on Netflix countless times. After hearing your story I think it is time to stop and watch them! My hubby and I have strived toward clean eating, but we have a long ways to go. Long work days, kid pick-ups/drop-offs, after school/work activities have always seemed to put a wrench in the ability to always eat clean. This year should be easier as I just became a full time teleworker. More time to plan and prep good food!

Thanks for your story and great job this summer!

vchuchman

Romey5-

I think we were most successful when we cleaned out, then restocked the pantry (lots of different beans, and grains as well as alternative natural sweeteners and flours) and then just focused on a few easy recipes that had a little extra so that we had some leftovers in the fridge. We are also lucky because less than 10 minutes away from our house we have a warehouse farmer's market that is open to the public. They have an excellent selection of produce at great prices.

For the mornings I make a smoothie with vegan protein powder and my wife juices (Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead hooked her on juicing). For lunch I was doing a variety of things with hummus. I make what I call "Greek Tostadas" which is hummus on mini whole wheat pitas (whole foods) topped with a chopped salad of greens, tomato, cucumber, and red onion tossed with a homemade greek dressing, calamata olives, and feta cheese) or I do a hummus/veggie wrap. I was buying hummus, but I found it to be really easy to make. For dinner we have a few favorites from various cookbooks that are pretty simple. My 3 go-to cookbooks are the Forks over Knives, Jamie's Food Revolution (Jamie Oliver) and Power Foods (from whole living magazines).

I understand that it can be difficult with a busy lifestyle (now I am up at 5 and in bed by 9 with teaching 150 16 year-olds in between), but once you get yourself in the habit it can be no more work than what you are used to...unless you order take-out every night! Some things I do to save time are make batches of things on a weekend day and refrigerate or freeze most of it. Brown rice, dry beans, hummus, salad dressings, granola bars/snacks...even pre-slicing (and even freezing) fruits and veggies can save time! Of course, we allow ourselves treat meals once in awhile, but even when we do that we tend to eat healthier than our old lifestyle because we don't want to undo everything that we had worked for!

Good luck to you and if you have questions or need encouragement, please don't hesitate!

Romey5

Great start cleaning out the cupboard! I'll do that this weekend. The boys (Hubby and my son) may rebel a little when I clean out the snack/carb stash... wonder how that will go...

We have been on a smoothie kick for about 6 months. We make them fresh every morning for breakfast, no preservatives and add as many ingredients from our garden as we can. We each take a full Nalgene container of smoothie to work every morning which lasts for hours! Haven't tried juicing yet, we are more into blending at the moment, but sounds delicious ;-)

I have tried making hummus, with mixed results. My Hubby does not like the texture of home-made (compared to what we get at the store). Haven't figured that out yet, but I may need to use some better equipment. I make a lot of food myself; hamburger buns, pizza, vanilla extract, kim chee, sun-dried tomatoes, pickles, tomato sauces... I grow and dry stevia as a natural sweetener, and grow my own onions and garlic. Our chickens give us more eggs than we can give away. Nice that you have a local farmers market (with good prices). Our FM is small and expensive. Not at all cheaper than the grocery, which is surprising given we live in prime ag country.

I think we are on the right track with real food, just need to reign in those busy work nights and not go astray into "just pick something up on the way home" mentality. I like how you batch food. I'll start doing that. And will check out those cook-books, thanks for the suggestions! Good luck with the 16 year-olds... you are a Saint! If you can point me toward a good hummus recipe I would appreciate it!!!

vchuchman

Wow...amazing job growing your own food and having chickens for eggs! We live in the city and our house has a lot of shade (good to have in Florida), so I made tiered garden boxes and mounted them to the side of the garage where we do have some sun. Our growing season starts in Sept/October so I am going to start growing then. I'm up way past my bedtime, so I'll post my hummus recipe tomorrow. I have noticed a difference in texture between dry chickpeas and canned. Your husband might like the canned better...it seems to come out smoother.

Romey5

Shade... a vegetable gardeners worst enemy, but worth the sacrifice when the utility bill comes around! Lucky you! I am in full blazing sun in California's central valley, good for agriculture, but tough to live in 100+ temps during the summer ;-(

I started making lots of my own food after I became an avid label reader. In general the first few ingredients were the good stuff, followed by a big ol list of additives and preservatives so that they could have a long shelf life. I can cut out a chunk of the bad stuff by making some foods, but it takes an awful lot of time to be proficient at it.

Looking forward to that hummus recipe! Thanks!

kristafb

I was home sick from work for a week in July & watched a lot of Netflix and watched Fat,sick & nearly dead after a guy I work with mentioned it. That lead to Forks over Knives & then The Engine 2 diet. It was an eye opener for sure but I wasn't sure I could give up dairy or eggs, but knew if I was going to do this I was going to go full in or not at all. So last sunday I tried to eat a plant based diet for the day, no problem. Monday I thought, well its Meatless Monday, might as well carry on. When I got up Tuesday I was feeling so energenic and clear headed I continued. So here I am 1 week in & I'm down 5 lbs and feel truly amazing. Sinus issues I've had for years seems to have cleared up, bloating & discomfort in my belly is gone, my eyes look brighter and people have even commented on my good mood. I won't be going back to my old way of eating This just works for me.

ppatick

I am a Type 1 diabetic, both husband and I are self employed and had to give up our health insurance 2 years ago, when it became prohibitively expensive. Logically, it seemed if you are healthier you would need less medication and interventions that cost big $ for the uninsured middle class. We decided we are too "poor" to be sick and we needed a big change.

"Forks Over Knives" did it for us. Also there was an episode of Morgan Spurlock's reality series "30 Days" (on Netflix I believe) where a meat eater lived with a Peta member and vegan for a month. There was an eye opening scene of factory farming that never left me. I only bought "humanely raised" poultry after that.

June of 2012 began a 3 month commitment/experiment of going totally animal product free. The thought of giving up dairy was traumatizing, but I rationalized that it was only 3 months....I had a sheaf of blood tests to take for my endocrinologist in October, so this was the time to be a guinea pig! I was a zealot, a food "nazi" my daughter said, but we stuck to it. I didn't care what my girls (18 & 22) ate outside the house, but I was not buying anything animal related. They grumbled but actually liked what I was making each night for dinner.

Results: after 14 months I have shed 33 pounds, am using about 1/2 the daily insulin I used to. Husband has lost 20 lbs, off his cholesterol and BP medications, and lost the dubious title of "pre-diabetic". The 18 year old has slimmed down 37 lbs, embraced being a vegan and is in college now aiming for a career in health/nutrition. (The 22 yr old is a lost cause, but we still love her!)

kristafb

I am a Type 1 diabetic, both husband and I are self employed and had to give up our health insurance 2 years ago, when it became prohibitively expensive. Logically, it seemed if you are healthier you would need less medication and interventions that cost big $ for the uninsured middle class. We decided we are too "poor" to be sick and we needed a big change.

"Forks Over Knives" did it for us. Also there was an episode of Morgan Spurlock's reality series "30 Days" (on Netflix I believe) where a meat eater lived with a Peta member and vegan for a month. There was an eye opening scene of factory farming that never left me. I only bought "humanely raised" poultry after that.

June of 2012 began a 3 month commitment/experiment of going totally animal product free. The thought of giving up dairy was traumatizing, but I rationalized that it was only 3 months....I had a sheaf of blood tests to take for my endocrinologist in October, so this was the time to be a guinea pig! I was a zealot, a food "nazi" my daughter said, but we stuck to it. I didn't care what my girls (18 & 22) ate outside the house, but I was not buying anything animal related. They grumbled but actually liked what I was making each night for dinner.

Results: after 14 months I have shed 33 pounds, am using about 1/2 the daily insulin I used to. Husband has lost 20 lbs, off his cholesterol and BP medications, and lost the dubious title of "pre-diabetic". The 18 year old has slimmed down 37 lbs, embraced being a vegan and is in college now aiming for a career in health/nutrition. (The 22 yr old is a lost cause, but we still love her!)

If that isn't a good enough reason to stop eating animal products I don't know what is! Good for you and your family, well except the 22yr old, but I'm sure they're still a lovely person. :laugh: