Friday, March 01, 2013

Health kick vs. kicking old habits


My husband has always been the steak lover in the family. Recently he’s switched to chicken and turkey. Then, last week, he suggested we watch a documentary on Netflix about how a vegan diet can apparently reverse and prevent all sorts of serious ailments such as heart disease and cancer.

The show, Forks Over Knives, even advocates swearing off dairy. Kind of a scary notion for folks entering the osteoporosis years.

Now we’re discussing what to do. The kids are grown, so we don’t have to deal with their tastes and preferences. But can a meat-loving guy really learn to love lentils and sprouts?

As for me, I’d be happy to eat mostly plant-based foods. I don’t promise to swear off eggs, cheese and seafood, or the occasional Chinese dish involving chicken or beef. Still, I’m a longtime fan of soups (not my husband’s favorites), beans, etc. Plus Swiss chard grows like crazy in my garden, even in winter, and it’s easy to fix like spinach. Note: I live in Southern California, so winter lows stay above freezing.

What do you think? Have you tried a vegan diet? Any suggestions?

Back to books! March means the release of The Baby Jackpot, which is number 10 in the Safe Harbor Medical miniseries. Each book stands alone, so if you’re new to the series, you can still enjoy it.

I’ve also revised and updated my offbeat time-travel romance One Husband Too Many. For the month of March only, it’s sale-priced at 99 cents on Amazon and BarnesandNoble.

Thanks for reading!

5 comments:

linda s said...

There are two vegan's in our family. I had to turn down invites to Christmas dinner... tofu Turkey... couldn't do that.

Coyote Quilts said...

I went from a meat heavy diet to vegan with dairy and did just fine. I worried about having enough protein in my diet, but did not have any problems. I changed my diet because of gallstones and didn't want to have surgery. I then found I liked it much better. My husband also went from a very high protein diet to the vegan and survived just fine. It has been 1 1/2 years since the change and my gall bladder doesn't hurt everyday any more and I eat some meats when I want. The hardest thing about going vegan is that you realize that most resturants meals revolve around some type of meat and the only thing that you can order is salads.... Good luck on your new diet!

Kaelee said...

I don't think we could ever go completely vegan. We do meatless Monday, tuna Tuesday and fish Friday now as part of our healthier meal planning. Also we have cut back the amount of meat/protein (usually only one meal a day) we eat daily. We have started to eat quinoa, and some other alternative grains. We live in a part of Canada that gets winter so we have to rely on warmer places for our fresh vegetables and fruit. I suggest you really read a few basic books about what you need to do to replace your protein if you are planning on going meatless.

Linda Henderson said...

I'm not a big meat eater so giving up meats would not be a problem for me. My big issue is I don't like chicken, turkey or seafood so I can't substitute any of those for red meat. I do enjoy a lot of fruits and veggies and the fresher the better.

Amanda Renee said...

I'm a former vegan, now I'm mainly eat fish, some chicken and NEVER any red meat. The main problem I experienced when I was vegan was I wasn't getting enough protein in my diet and began to lose my hair. Not a nice side effect.

I did learn that most restaurants will prepare a vegan meal for you if one isn't listed on the menu.

There are some great Vegan cookbooks out there and they can be very creative in their meals. But some of the diary substitutes left a lot to be desired. Especially the cheese.

It's definitely a big decision and one people tend to be very vocal against. I met with mind blowing oppostion, but they eventually got over it.

On another note - I am totally looking forward to reading One Husband Too Many. I love time travel books :)