My Beau and I have always thought ourselves health conscious and physically active people. We eat our fruits and veggies, enjoy our red and white meats, and exercise somewhat often through hiking. Recently, however, we have been noticing a decline in our health and energy levels. As I'm typing right now all I can think about is taking a nap. The fact of the matter is- we haven't been eating well, recently, at all and we go hiking about once a month. With our lifestyles becoming busier and as we start getting older a dietary change (as well as fitness regimen) needs to be put in place. I have started to lean towards and am likely going to pursue a career in holistic medicine which brought me to a book, "The Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods" by James A. Duke, PhD. In this book Dr. Duke sheds light on the vegetarian diet and its great influence on a person's health. He also points out that as a species we are meat eaters too, so to go strictly vegetarian, while ultimately very healthy, could pose a challenge for most and lead to some needed repentance later on. In lue of the vegetarian or vegan diet Dr. Duke recommends doing as President Jefferson did- use meat to flavor the dish or to garnish instead of as the main course. The easiest way to accomplish this is to stick to his 3 S's: Salads, Stews, and Soups. It is easy to make a taco salad with a splash of ground hamburger or make a chicken or beef soup loaded with vegetables.
Having read about this diet (and by diet I don't mean Atkins or south beach styled diets- I mean diet in the sense of food consumption) we both decided it was time to make a lifestyle change. The Jeffersonian Vegetarian diet doesn't seem to hard and you aren't really sacrificing anything because you still get the taste of the meat, but blended with gobs of veggies. I'm sold! For historical purposes I want to note that as of today, 4/20/2010- I weigh 160 pounds and am 5'5". What I hope to gain from this experiment is a healthier lifestyle, regardless of how much I weigh in the end, and a more balanced diet. I am also going to cut as much processed foods out of my diet as possible such as white rice, white noodles, or white bread. Exercise is also going to be important and to start my Beau and I plan on doing crunches and push ups before we go to bed at night as well as pull ups (if we can manage.)
It really is time for a change. If we can get ourselves into a healthy lifestyle now it will be easy to teach our children to do the same which will in turn lead them down the right path to a lifetime of fitness and healthy choices.
Hi, my name is Birdie, and I am a Jeffersonian Vegetarian.
I love this! I try so hard to have both Jerry and I eat healthy. I do really well for a few weeks and then fall back into the usual routine. It doesn't help that he has no interest what so ever in eating healthy and makes me buy the junk food when all I want to do is eat veggies and fruits. Don't get me wrong, these eating habbits have no effect on him, except for that obviously, he isn't being healthy. Which is, in fact, most important, right? It would be easier for me if the temptations weren't in the house. Anyway, thanks for this blog, it gives me hope. :) And very interesting diet, makes me want to make soup tomorrow night.
ReplyDeleteDanielle,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are finding this interesting. That was one of this big things dr. Duke mentions in the book. The easiest way to start a healthy habbit is to rid your house of the unhealthy ones. I'm sorry Jerry isn't down with the health plan- maybe you could designate a special place in the kitchen for just your ealthy food and maybe be able to hide his unhealthy food away in a special cupboard. Perhaps the out of sight out of mind trick might work? It really is hard when only one is on the health train though- my Beau and I finally synced up and are on the same page. Still, there is his mom's amazing apple crisp in our fridge taunting me and while we had a salad with meatloaf leftovers crumbled on top- sticking to our new plan- he grabbed a piece and gobbled it up- I have been strong enough to resist. Maybe run the meat and salad/soup idea past Jerry? On that note- I have a new recipe book dedicated to soup and stew- I cannot wait to try them out. When I find a recipe or two I like I'll be sure to share them on my blog. :) we can start a soup and salad revolution!