I'm turning 40 in just a few days and since New Years, I have done some sould searching and I have looked back and to the future, and I have come to the conclusion that I want to live until I'm 100 years old!
But I want to be a healthy and well 100 year old lady, and I believe that our health is strongly connected to what we eat and how much we exercise, our mental state and family relations.
The last three factors have been fine, but I had to admit that I eat too much, too much fatty foods, too much salt, too much potato chips, chocolate...you name it. So I did a 100 percent turnaround and went vegetarian and it has been an interesting few months. (Let me add, I only eat vegetarian at home and at restaurants. When people invite me over to their house, I eat what they serve because I have come to this: When people are kind enough to cook for me and invite me into their home, it's not my place to tell them what to cook.)
I've never felt better, though I have to say, a lot of the vegetarian food out there is just as unhealthy as anything else. Many restaurants will load vegetarian dishes with salt and cheese, and I could just as well have eaten butter fried bacon with salt on top!
I have used mostly beans and lentils instead of meat and fish, but I also like Quorn (made from mushrooms). I have tried to stay away from mock meat, even though I have to admit I do have soy meatballs in my freezer for those nights when I come home late from work, too tired to cook and starving. (Spagetti with meatballs can be prepared in 10 minutes flat).
I have tried a lot of new recipes - a few from here - and some have been great, others have been nasty (none of the nasty ones came from you people!). But all in all, I really like my new lifestyle. I feel better, and I stocked up on a few vegetarian cookbooks which I can't wait to start cooking from.
I don't know if I will stay vegetarian forever, but whatever happens in the future, I have learned to cook a lot of new dishes and I have learned how to incorporate more vegetables into my diet.
The real big challenge has been to cook for both me and DH, who is a hard core meat eater. Most of the time, he'll eat my dish as a side dish. But my DH is a great sport and he'll eat vegetarian dishes on nights when I don't have the time or energy to cook for both of us. He's been such a great support.
But I want to be a healthy and well 100 year old lady, and I believe that our health is strongly connected to what we eat and how much we exercise, our mental state and family relations.
The last three factors have been fine, but I had to admit that I eat too much, too much fatty foods, too much salt, too much potato chips, chocolate...you name it. So I did a 100 percent turnaround and went vegetarian and it has been an interesting few months. (Let me add, I only eat vegetarian at home and at restaurants. When people invite me over to their house, I eat what they serve because I have come to this: When people are kind enough to cook for me and invite me into their home, it's not my place to tell them what to cook.)
I've never felt better, though I have to say, a lot of the vegetarian food out there is just as unhealthy as anything else. Many restaurants will load vegetarian dishes with salt and cheese, and I could just as well have eaten butter fried bacon with salt on top!
I have used mostly beans and lentils instead of meat and fish, but I also like Quorn (made from mushrooms). I have tried to stay away from mock meat, even though I have to admit I do have soy meatballs in my freezer for those nights when I come home late from work, too tired to cook and starving. (Spagetti with meatballs can be prepared in 10 minutes flat).
I have tried a lot of new recipes - a few from here - and some have been great, others have been nasty (none of the nasty ones came from you people!). But all in all, I really like my new lifestyle. I feel better, and I stocked up on a few vegetarian cookbooks which I can't wait to start cooking from.
I don't know if I will stay vegetarian forever, but whatever happens in the future, I have learned to cook a lot of new dishes and I have learned how to incorporate more vegetables into my diet.
The real big challenge has been to cook for both me and DH, who is a hard core meat eater. Most of the time, he'll eat my dish as a side dish. But my DH is a great sport and he'll eat vegetarian dishes on nights when I don't have the time or energy to cook for both of us. He's been such a great support.