With full disclosure, I share a deep intention to eat plant based meals.
It is difficult for me to fully let go of eating delicious fish and eggs, using fish sauce, and the occasional chicken. I was reared eating mostly meat in my diet. I am not exactly sure it has served me well. However, I do wish to share that I am currently eating a mostly plant-based diet.
I have let go of cheese for the most part.
I do consume cow’s milk regularly.
I do try with eating. I really do.
Maybe you are the same. Incorporating more vegetables in your diet. Additions of more seasonal foods. Meatless Mondays. Every effort is worthwhile, as your health and wellness will improve with eating more plants in your diet.
Photo Credit: Angela Rosoff
Why is plant based eating healthy?
Seasonal vegetables improve the good bacteria we cultivate in our biomes. Our gut health thanks us when we eat colorful foods with good fiber. The cleansing and beautification happens inside our digestive tract and helps to create restored tissues. Healthy and vital digestive tissues help to create healthy blood, which creates health tissues throughout the body. That’s the biggest reason to eat more plant-based foods free of unhealthy fats and hard to digest ingredients like red meat.
To help me unravel half a century of being an omnivore, I took a course from the wonderful Kim Benson, PhD in Natural Medicine. We were colleagues in a business program we took at the same time. I was immediately intrigued with her passion to help her clients to move away from eating animal products.
As a yoga teacher, I understand the physical benefits of eating simple, nutritious, and plant-based meals. I went to Kim Inner Healing Academy to explore this topic for myself and re-educate myself about WHY I may want to go vegan. Enrolling in her course: Go Vegan Successfully, was a fantastic decision and I am so glad I did this. I learned so much and am applying the principles to my daily life. You can learn more about my background in this podcast interview after I took this course.
Now, I eat mostly plant-based foods.
How I stick with mostly plant based meals.
As a culinary artist, I have been trained in the skill of butchery. I can fabricate most animals that are on fine dining menus. I have also been trained in the skills of cleaning fish and cheesemaking. With all honesty, it is hard for me to lose these particular skills.
With all of this knowledge about working with animal products, how do I stick with mostly plant based meals? The truth is, as I mentioned, I do continue to use cow’s milk. However, we do stick with mostly plant based meals because it is healthier and I understand the digestive health benefits from my expertise in Ayurveda (still in training, here, too).
The nature of working with plants help us to connect our bodies with the environment. What do this mean exactly?
Our bodies carry the natural elements of our environment inside of is. These encompass the elements of: air, fire, water, earth, and ether and when combined in our body, we can better understand our dominant dosha. Like the seasons, our elements also change or are impacted by the seasonal changes.
To help our bodies adapt with the seasons, eating the freshest seasonal foods, help us to balance our elements. This is a complicated discipline, but for the most part, sticking with seasonal produce as the primary source of your diet will improve your immunity overall and empower your body’s biome and microbiomes to be vital and resilient to seasonal change, viruses, and other diseases. PLANTS do this.
Photo Credit: @sculptedkitchen
Organic farmed produce is the highest quality of produce you can eat. With soil nourishment being depleted in so many commercial farmed foods, the potency of the produce can be poor. Again, the variables around this are complex. So for the nature of this post, let’s stick with simple action of eating fresh produce.
Why minimize animal products in my diet?
Animals carry the elemental energies that I described above. However, animals have the capability to produce hormones and we eat these along with the animal products. The energetic elements of the life and death of the animal products we eat become part of our nature. There is little control in knowing the quality of the animal products. This is the biggest reason I want to minimize animal products in my diet.
What we eat becomes us. It isn’t possible to purchase food from purveyors and stores and know the quality of the animal we are eating. If you know the farmer, have visited the farm, and understand the process in which the animal is treated, milked, pastured, fished, and even harvested to be served as meat or to be sourced for products like milk, yogurt, and ice cream — then you have some input into what you are eating.
In my current lifestyle, it isn’t possible for me to be this connected with animal products I consume. It hasn’t been a priority for me to develop this kind of a relationship with a local meat farmer. I do, however, have a fisherman who I can purchase fish from. Although, the inconvenience of driving 30 minutes away to pick it up when he is available a few days a month has also not been a big priority.
It is this level of knowledge that helps us to have an informed decision about what we are about to become as we eat it. I don’t have time to make myself available for sourcing animal products this way for home consumption. Therefore, we focus most of our diet on plant based foods.
How is this going for me and my family?
As a family, we have been doing this for about 9 months. Here are things I notice about our eating behavior:
- I see more interest in the family to stick with this new way of eating.
- I curiosity in my family members to learn about which vegetables are high in protein.
- My family members are getting more connected to when they are hungry and eating only then.
- The interest in over-indulging in dinner foods is waning.
- Fewer colds and headaches in the younger family members.
- I do see a few family members who “crave” red meat or chicken from time to time.
- We do eat fresh fish 1-2 times weekly. This is the animal product I indulge in. However, I am concerned about he oceans and the health influence of tainted sea life.
I notice that we are all a bit lighter. We’ve lost the pandemic paunch that a few us were carrying around. Switching up my personal animal product favorites of butter and ice cream to include cultured vegan butter and alternative milk ice creams have particularly been a lightness of being that I enjoy. When I eat the cow’s version of butter and ice cream,
I notice the shift in my energy. I also notice the energy channels getting blocked on a spiritual level. I think I will save this topic for next week’s blog post! It’s quite interesting and deserving of its own post.
The biggest thing that I have been working on is ensuring we have whole food based nutrition support to help all of us tick the boxes that we are covered daily. This is in a supplement form that comes from fruits and vegetables. That is all. I love this product and the science that supports the efficacy for our bodies.
The research I am particularly intrigued by the antioxidant protection oxidation of lipids and proteins. As we get older, this can be an enhancement that is powerful.
I have purchased vitamins in the past and truly feel the connection of this whole food based supplement that evens out the days that I do intermittent fasting while energizing my body in a unique way. I don’t take coffee daily anymore!
Pro tip: Keep recipes circulating.
I love following chefs who embrace plant-based eating. Here are some of my favorite folks to follow. Check them to be inspired:
I also have a recipe-driven Insta account @wellpantry where you can follow my journey as I re-establish my pantry this fall! Cleansing the pantry means that I am cleansing the kitchen of the stagnant energy (and junk food) that is halfway eaten and mixed into our tiny San Francisco kitchen cupboard.
Beginning the last week of September, find cleansing recipes to nurture your body with the Fall transition. I will completely clear space for new nourishing dried goods, oils, and herbs, join me as we establish a new ritual inside my kitchen!
Enjoy this cleansing process alongside me and learn more about the energetics of the foods and drinks we dine on. It’s going to be super fun!
