Intro to Plant-based Living

Good Afternoon!

This is my first blog entry on “A Healthy Herbivore," so I hope you enjoy the forthcoming tips and tricks I have learned living as a veggie thus far!  A few quick notes about me, I have basically been a vegetarian since I was young and learned that chickens = Chicken Nuggets.  Over the years and through many dairy-addicted struggles, I have adopted a vegan* and more recently, a plant-based diet*.  I have discovered more ways and reasons to rid animal products, processed food, and other unnatural additives from my daily life.

What has inspired me to live and promote this kind of lifestyle is the crazy benefits that eating whole foods* has had on me personally and everything I have learned along the way.  For example, Dr. Campbell’s “The China Study,” was one of the most influential books I have ever read.  I really appreciated it because the research was so well documented, the book was very publicly shown to have no major industries or special interests funding it, and was based on the most substantial nutrition study ever conducted.  If you are interested in not only being your fittest self, but also warding off “diseases of affluence”* then I highly recommend picking up a copy!  Always keep in mind, we were designed to live into our later years, still fully functional and mentally alert ... if we practice this healthy nutrition stuff and maintain an active lifestyle.

Aside from reading The China Study, I would also suggest taking a gander at these documentaries available online on Hulu (some for free), YouTube movies (some for free), iTunes, netflix, and at your rental stores: “Forks Over Knives,” “Vegucated,” “Food, Inc.,” and “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.”  I promise these very well done films will not bore and perhaps may trigger the urge for you to research healthy nutrition for yourself.

Some of the topics I hope to cover in the next few weeks include a discussion on blending, an in-depth look at The China Study, micronutrients and the key to weight management, the importance of exercise, scary dairy, chemical-free house, and what's in your make-up.  Stay tuned!

Happy Thoughts from Your Healthy Herbivore,

S
"Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food." - Hippocrates

*Vegan – is a diet where all animal products are avoided including meat, poultry, fish, dairy, and eggs. Veganism refers to the practice of abstaining from animal products in all aspects of your life including the use of fur and leather. Vegans typically reject animal products based on health, allergies, animal cruelty, and environmental practices for sustainable farming.

*Plant-based Diet – or PBD as I like to call it, typically refers to a way of eating based on foods that come from plants and avoiding animal products, processed and refined foods. Basically trying to eat foods that come directly from nature to your plate and are not stripped of their original packaging. A whole-food, plant-based diet includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

*Whole foods – are simply foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or minimally so, before being consumed. Whole foods do not contain added ingredients and they provide greater nutrition due to a great source of micronutrients, essential dietary fiber, and naturally occurring protective substances like phytochemicals to prevent cancer and disease.

*Diseases of affluence – are chronic diseases common in Western societies like the U.S., which are largely non-existent elsewhere.  These are mostly non-communicable diseases including type 2 diabetes, asthma, heart disease, dementia, Alzheimer’s, autoimmune diseases, obesity, hypertension, cancer, and some allergies. These ailments are believed to be largely caused by diet and lifestyle.

PBD Recipe (1):

Please enjoy the first PBD (plant-based diet) blog recipe, I hope you like enchiladas!

Ingredients:
1 small green bell pepper, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
1 cup vegetarian chili (I like Amy's black bean chili or medium chili, both vegan)
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
4 whole wheat tortillas
1 (8-ounce) can no-salt-added tomato sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground chili powder

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Heat a medium pot over medium-high heat until hot. Add pepper and onion and cook, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1/3 cup water and cook 3 minutes longer or until vegetables are very tender. Stir in chili, cooked rice and nutritional yeast. Place about 3/4 cup of the chili mixture on each tortilla and gently roll up. Place filled tortillas on prepared baking sheet, seam-side down.

In a small bowl, combine tomato sauce and chili powder and spoon over enchiladas. Bake 10 minutes or until heated through.

*Note, when sauteing the pepper and onion, after 3 minutes I also added in some zucchini, tomato, and a handful of cut up spinach. Add in whatever veggies you like the would taste great in a burrito, the more veggies the better!

Recipe courtesy of Whole Foods Market - http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/3253