Having my daughter has been the healthiest thing I have done in my life! I have been doing a lot of research on diet and nutrition since her birth and I have have never before been so motivated to make sure our family is eating correctly. I now see this as my most important job.
So you know where I am coming from, let me step back and give you a (long) glimpse into how food was viewed while I was growing up. On my mothers side I come from a line of boxed processed food, soda pop, fast food and everything down the sweet and salty snack isles. On my fathers side, I saw the opposite end of the spectrum, growing up on a farm rubbed off on him; it was whole fruits and vegetables and meats from the butcher shop (that was taken there by him to be butchered!). Surprisingly, my dad and mom both stayed with their preferred ways of eating throughout their marriage. Funny, I never really gave a thought to my dads way of eating. Why would you want almonds off the tree when you could get a can of sweetened roasted salted almonds from the store! And "really, you want a sandwich with mayonaise and bacon bits?" to which I replied "YEAH."
I was truly my mothers daughter in the food area! I did not have my first food Aha moment until the end of college. I was living in an apartment with a roommate and I went to the store to stock up on soda because there was a super sale. As a college kid with little pocket money - this was a BIG deal. I was in the isle lining up the bottles and cans in my cart, filling it to the brim. I was so excited because I was getting such a good deal and I would have enough to last almost a month before buying more! I am not sure what made me do it, but I became aware of the other carts around me. No one else was stopping or appeared to be taking advantage of the mega deal. What was wrong with them, I thought to myself.
That night at dinner I remember talking to my roommate pointing out my super deal sleuthing powers and pointing out how the store had plenty left, and that I didn't see the people at the store stocking up. Come to find out my roomie grew up on drinking water and that the soda slurping in large liter-at-a- time cups was new. Water, eh? Funny, however, that a year after that conversation with funds pinched to the brim I finally decided if most people drink water (free!) then I would give it a try. Armed with a Brita filter (college town water for the most part does not taste good!) I jumped on the water band wagon. And that was it, the conversion from soda to water had happened. And while through my twenties an occasional soda would find its way into my hand, it was only when I was offered at conventions, parties etc. Over time, as I started to come back from my own financial brink, my taste for soda had changed.
For the majority of my life I had been vegetarian (without knowing it had a name). I guess it stems from making friends with the pig that all of a sudden became pork chops on the table. Thus, meat was not my friend. Until I met my husband. He was huge into all things meat and cheese. Slowly the need to have meat in the house and sometimes cook meat (ugh) came to be a normal ocurrance. However, slowly the all-things-meat guy switched over to my side. But he left behind a lady who now enjoys an occasional burger, or filet migion. I have added a touch of meat to my diet and every once in a great while even crave a burger.
So, that left lots of fruit and vegetables, right? Not hardly! Up until four years ago I had a very bread, and dairy heavy diet with nuances of veggies and fruits and with fast food as at least three times a week.
Then came Bee. Since she was born she has been a mostly organic, mostly vegan, mostly no-refined sugar, mostly no processed food infant,baby,toddler and preschooler. At the beginning it was easy to still eat the way we did with no changes. We knew the importance of healthy food on small bodies and wanted to give Bee the right start. But, as Bee got older it was clear that we would have to walk the walk as well. Having started with Bee it was easy to see next steps occurring without trying I would eat more fruits and veggies because that is what I remembered to buy at the store for Bee's meals.
Then in 2009 came the hubby's Aha moment. A friend recommended a book called "The China Study." Where they have a long term study of people in asia they followed and correlated animal product with heart disease and cancer. My hubby did some extra research and determined that the conclusion was reasonable and acceptable and subscribed to the theory that animal products in the level we as americans eat them today is not good for our bodies. Then and there, he cut out everything meat and dairy. I read the book as well, but I was too attached to butter, cheese and milk to make that switch. It was here we switched out cow milk for soy milk for things like cereal. But, not for me. cow milk was essential for hot cocoa and soy was just not a substitute.
Then in 2010, I watched the utube video "The Bitter Truth." It was eye-opening enough to decide that my box of hot tamales in the cupboard had to go. I know there are criticisms to this video but for simplification sake, I understand where the author was going and why. You cannot imagine how excited I was that I had given up the soda-aholic phase of my life a decade earlier! This video and the subsequent knowledge seeking that followed had the outcome of being first thing that really caused me to take note of my own diet and for no other reason than my own health. Now, I will be the first to confess, I have a sweet tooth a mile wide. Yet, after about six months I was able to really cut it down. It must take you to get to your thirties before you discover you are responsible for your own health! I think the candy companies started to suffer a loss after I made this switch! However it was not just candy and sweets for sweet sake, but processed food. The aftershock of this was the decrease in processed food (again only for the adults) as the hidden sweeteners lurking.
As I was on my way to outing the lurking sugars from our food, I found some sources that pointed to carcinogens in processed food preservatives and ingredients and while I scanned every ingredient of Bee's food I was less careful with my own, until this point. And, it was this that really did a number on the stuff in the pantry. Where stuffing mix, and regular ketchup, numerous types of crackers and chips had residence before, were slowly transitioned to cases of vegetable broth, dried beans, dried fruits, a very few cereals that passed our test, and the occasional cracker with few ingredients and 1% or less sugar. This alone was quite a change.
And in 2011 it is time for Bee and me to start switching away from dairy. One day I was reading a story to Bee about how cheese is made. For some reason that really stuck in my mind. All of a sudden I was caught with the question "why do we as humans drink cow milk?" Is it necessary? Is there a reason that milk is necessary. In the end my reasoning was that it is not necessary. And so there should be no reason for us to be drinking it. Then concerned with my morning cocoa again, discovered coconut milk. Now used almost exclusively in our household in places where dairy is called for in smoothies, and baked goods. This happened very quickly. One day I was downing two cups of milk in my morning cocoa and the the next no cow milk at all. For Bee, the change has not been as sudden (an enthusiastic milk drinker) but I have noticed that without handing her a glass of milk with every meal as a part of preparing a meal (and not seeing me reach for milk), she herself, has decreased the amount of milk she drinks; from 12 ounces a day (without fail because we wanted to make sure she was not getting too much) to now 0-4 ounces a day over the course of a month.
It really amazes me the evolution of diet and nutrition for our family. What I wanted to stress is that we do not come by this almost vegan lifestyle by upbringing, but through learning and adjusting over the course of our own lives. I never really gave much of a thought to what I ate (even when I thought I did) until I had Bee. And since then my own quest for knowledge has led the way. So, yes, they may have covered all this in high school, but I was not listening.
So if there is anyone still reading to this point. I say all of this to give you the knowledge that changing diet does NOT happen over night. The path to liking kale has taken two decades! When I thought even at point-of-gun I would never be caught without at least four pounds of different cheeses in my refrigerator, not only was I wrong, but I never imagined I would willingly make the switch of my own free will.
The recipes you will find here are mostly vegetarian, not-quite vegan and very, very low added sugar.
