At the beginning of 2017 I decided I was tired of being fat. I had the usual symptoms of being over weight; lots of brain fog and lack of energy. I wasn't feeling good and my life seemed fairly bleak. That wasn't who I wanted to be or how I wanted to live. I certainly don't want to have a heart attack or diabetes! I decided to make a change. First thing I did was cut my sugar and artificial sweetener intake. Then, as chance would have it, I happened upon information and videos about whole foods plant based eating. The information clicked in my head. It made perfect sense to me. Just like it sounds, whole foods plant based eating consists of eating a ton of veggies and then some, plus whole grains. My excess weight started melting off and I haven't looked back. I even found my mojo in the kitchen, something that had been missing for nearly 10 years.
Weekends are made for fun in the kitchen being creative and experimenting with foods. I'll try new recipes, new foods and food combinations. The salad in the photo has a mixture of different greens, radicchio, cucumbers, onions, carrot and tomato. Radicchio (Chicory) was a new vegetable I worked into this meal. It's bitter. I'm not a huge fan, but if I purchase a small head and use it sparingly it adds beautiful color to the salad and more importantly it's nutritious and assists in weight loss.
Also, for the most part, I'm SOS (sugar, oil and salt) Free which means most condiments and dressings need to be made from scratch. Many commercial dressings and condiments are highly processed and contain far to much sugar, oil and salt to realistically be considered a good thing (healthy). I have a a bit of a sweet tooth and have always purchased sweeter dressings. Mango is a long time favorite, so I scored finding this recipe for Mango-Hemp Dressing. It's currently my favorite having a slightly sweet flavor with a creamy texture. It's the dressing I used on the salad shown in the photo above. I hope you enjoy it as well.
Good to hear you made some positive progress in your health.I also had gone through similar situation. What I did was to increase the amount of green leafy vegetables and seasonal fruits. In addition, I did exercise like walking for an hour and some muscle trainings. It worked well for me. I still eat whole grains everyday.
There just doesn't seem to be a lot of room for vegetables in the standard american diet anymore when so much is based on meat and dairy. I always thought I was good at eating my veggies. Now, I realize how very wrong I was. Trying for 2 pounds or more a day now!
Love your food post here @somegirlupnorth what do you think about my homecooked meals?
Thanks. I haven't seen any of your posts. I'll check them out.
Thank you and enjoy @somegirlupnorth