Plant based eating – six months later

Next week, I get my cholesterol levels checked again. I’m feeling a little nervous about this. I’m hoping the numbers improve from January. At the start of the year, I gave up eating meat. I did this with the intention of lowering my cholesterol levels. I was frustrated. I eat healthy food, I exercise, but genetics being what they are, my bad cholesterol kept going up. Thanks dad! ha ha ha

I know that bad cholesterol is only one indicator of cardiovascular health. In my case, my LDL (bad cholesterol) levels just kept climbing. Menopause has not helped matters. All other numbers are good. But, my doctor was making noise about putting me on meds. Nope. Not happening. I want to show her that I can control this.

What’s it been like to give up meat?

Well, a lot easier than I had thought. I’m having a lot of fun discovering and even creating new recipes. For the most part, I don’t miss eating meat. Well, that’s not quite true. I sometimes miss eating chorizo! Maybe it’s because I associate chorizo with childhood recipes. Or, maybe it’s because it’s so GOOD! So, I have had a few bites of chorizo since January. I figure that won’t make a huge difference.

How did my body react to eating plant based foods? Just fine. I did not gain or lose weight. I wasn’t trying to lose weight, but I was concerned that I’d gain some since you need to eat more vegetable protein to get the same amount of nutrients as you do from meat. I watch my portions, but I never deny myself food. If I’m hungry, I eat. Simple as that. As for my digestion (yes, I’m going there!) it was and is absolutely normal. I found that if I ate a lot of pulses (legumes, beans, etc) in a short time, then, my gut would rumble. Apart from that, nothing changed when I gave up meat. I guess it helped that I was already eating a lot of healthy, high fiber food so my body was used to it.

This week, I’ve been at a friend’s cottage. Before coming up,I told her that I’d given up meat and she asked me to bring some of the recipes I had tried because she wanted to try a week of plant based eating. Her reaction has been heartwarming. She’s loving the meals we’ve prepared and has said that she’s planning to make these new recipes once she gets home. It’s been fun to share these recipes with her.

A typical day of plant based foods:

• Breakfast: overnight oatmeal, coffee with 2% milk
• Morning snack: plain Greek yogurt (2% fat) with a couple of tablespoons of homemade granola, and a sprinkling of chia seeds, hemp hearts and flaxseed, glass of water
• Lunch: quinoa with roasted veggies (broccoli, kale, sweet potatoes and chickpeas), 2 servings of fruit, water
• Afternoon snack: some crackers with hummus
• Dinner: curried lentils and chickpeas, brown rice, steamed cauliflower

I drink a lot of water during the day. Some nights, I’ll have a glass of wine, but I try to limit my wine consumption to weekends.

Where do I find recipes? Some are from cookbooks, others from friends. My good friend Louise gave me “Oh she glows every day” cookbook. Although I’m not vegan, I really like these recipes. They are full of flavour, have lots of texture and colour. I also go online for inspiration. Some of my favourite recipe websites:

http://www.ilovevegan.com/

http://ohsheglows.com/categories/recipes-2/

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/category/special-diets/vegetarian/

Fingers crossed for those blood test results. I’ve decided that even if my numbers don’t improve significantly, I won’t go back to eating meat. The more I think about eating meat, the less inclined I am to do so. It breaks my heart to see a truck full of animals heading to the slaughter house. Why do animals need to die so I can eat?