More Veggie Talk, Among Other Things.

Instead of responding in comments where stuff tends to get lost, I'll answer a couple of things here.

Linda - I was exactly like you. I really couldn't imagine giving up meat, eggs and dairy, and thought I'd be too hungry/cranky/miss them too much. I decided to experiment with eating this way because, as I said, self-employment and crappy insurance led to researching ways to keep my heart healthy and my blood pressure low, and it seemed that every serious self-help road I investigated led in various ways toward a vegan diet. Hell, even President "Jog to McDonald's" himself, Bill Clinton, has gone vegan after a couple of heart scares. I don't want to follow the family road toward heart disease at 60, so I figured WTH, I'll give it a try. I was sick of eating the same old things anyway. It's been about a month, and aside from a small handful of incidental meals someone else prepared (which actually didn't seem like treats or sit too well on my stomach), I haven't found it hard to adjust at all.

My biggest surprise was breakfast, but it did involve a mental adjustment away from "But THIS is not appropriate breakfast food!" I was never able to make it through a morning on cereal and milk; I'd be so starved I was ready to gnaw on my shoes by 9:30. So, for the last year, when I had my own schedule, I was eating eggs for breakfast just about every day. Now I'm wondering if they were the trigger for my knee pain - the only way to know would be to start eating them again and see if the pain comes back, and I'm not THAT curious. So, I already knew that I can't survive on cereal even with non-dairy milk, and eggs were out, so I had to rethink breakfast. Right now, my favorite breakfast is a veggie-cheese and tomato and sprout sandwich on toasted whole grain bread. I know it's not "American Breakfast Food!" but it tastes good and fills me up all morning. The veggie cream cheese substitutes are very good too, especially on those Bagel Thins. That and a piece of fruit and I'm honestly good until lunch - no mid-morning hungries.

Vegan cookbooks are like every other cookbook - some recipes are kind of "eh" and others are great. I've had fun testing recipes, but I'll freely admit there were a few duds that I will either tweak and revisit, or just not bother with again. If you just cooked something plant-based and served it without fanfare, would your husband immediately sit up and ask "Where's the meat?" There are some really good and very filling pasta and bean dishes that don't scream VEGAN!! but are just classic Italian cooking. Maybe you can sneak in a few meals and see how he reacts.

Dr. Barnard has a new book, and I liked the cookbook so much I had to get it. 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart: Boost Metabolism, Lower Cholesterol, and Dramatically Improve Your Health

I started reading this after returning from my week in FL, where I suddenly realized that I had spent 9 hours each way behind the wheel and slept on an air mattress for 6 nights, and had plenty of energy and didn't feel sore at all, and actually wondered what had happened. It was in this book that I read that arthritis and other joint pain can be fixed by giving up meat and dairy, etc. This is also one of the least preachy and easiest to read books on the plant-based diet ever.

He does touch on the issues of hormones and antibiotics in foods Charlotte, but not in that "We are here to scare and disgust you into obeying our rules," way some authors do. Skinny Beeyotches, I'm lookin' at you here. I just finished the SB book on my Kindle (at Firestone while getting Baby serviced today), and if I'd read it FIRST I'd have been so put off by their approach I'd never have tried this. If you really want to read the story of the meat and dairy industry and all the crap in our food supply, they do lay it out. It was their tone of "Oh, if you want to be a Skinny Bitch and super healthy like US, you must SACRIFICE!" that put me off, because by the time I read their book, I'd already been eating 97.5% vegan and didn't find it a huge, brave sacrifice. While they did do their research and cite lots of studies and say a lot of the same things Dr. Barnard says, he manages to do it without being so damn tiresome. He just talks about the effect of diet on health, and is pleasant and encouraging and makes changing your diet feel like an adventure in being healthy. And the recipes ARE good. I'd never heard of him until stumbling across him while searching Amazon, and now I am a shameless groupie.

In other news, GD2 is going to be here sometime in the next 20 days. The wedding plans are coming together nicely - today we nailed down the rehearsal dinner menu. It is not vegan, but there will be enough vegetables and such to put together at least a very tasty vegetarian plate, and eating a little cheese will not keep me up at night.