Day 28

The Happy Herbivore's 28 Day Live Better Challenge is over. I've lost 5 pounds, took many walks, cleaned out a bag of old clothes for charity, and accomplished other things, big and small. It was such a good experience I don't want it to end, and apparently a lot of people feel the same way, because Lindsay is expanding it to an e-book and workbook format. She's definitely onto something here. I intend to continue on this path, and yup, I'll buy the e-book.

I did a terrible job of blogging about the experience because job and couldn't-face-another-computer-after-brain-strain all day, but I really did get a lot out of it, and don't want it to end. Especially the weight loss part - I lost a steady, healthy pound and a quarter a week, and I never felt like I was dieting at all.

In addition to her cookbooks, there's a plant based meal plan program where she'll give you a grocery list and menus, including guidance on prepping ingredients on Sunday afternoons to throw together fast meals during the work week, but you don't have to do the meal plan to get the benefits of the challenge. I did find myself making many recipes from her cookbooks, and really liked them. Yesterday I made an eggless spinach and artichoke frittata, and it was delicious, easy, and very low in calories.

I am eating foods that were never part of my normal menu rotation, too - stuff like hearts of palm in salads? I never used it before. Ditto cooking a few small red potatoes and keeping them cold in the fridge, to cut up and add to a big green salad. It simply never would have occurred to me to try that. And that's why this gal has become my guru of wellness - she has so many very simple, very good ideas that shook me out of a diet rut, and a mental rut, too.

So I'm sitting here wearing the jeans that had become too tight and now fit again, plotting the giant salad I'm making for lunch. I have a can of hearts of palm and some pre-cooked small red potatoes chillin' in the fridge, and I'll whip up a Dijon vinaigrette dressing, and feel full and satisfied. I WILL be down 10 pounds by the time my daughter walks in her graduation at the end of June!

Oh, and why I'm one of her fans: this blog post. That's why I say Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) instead of vegan. There's a reason the world views vegans as a bunch of irritatingly holier-than-thou nutballs - so many of them ARE.

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