Well, it’s been a few days since my last post. I made it through the weekend still on track and finished reading The Kind Diet, by Alicia Silverstone. If you want food nutrition summed up for you, read that book! She’s a crazy vegan. I’ve been aware of the animal-cruelty reason for being vegan, as well as the arguable nutritional benefits, but I never knew all of the harmful effects that meat has on your body! It’s ridiculous! Also, she definitely convinced me that dairy is, at the very least, not a nutritional requirement of the human body, and very possibly harmful. Since she has tons of references to studies on the topic and seems to have really done her research, I’m going to call her the Food Princess. The only area that her suggested diet and Michael Pollan’s Food Rules conflict is in the area of meat or dairy substitutes. Of course, vegans love their tofu and mock cheeses, Michael Pollan says to avoid foods that are pretending to be other foods. Of course, in every other area, his food suggestions are much less rigid than that of a vegan. So, unfortunately, I did not buy any rice milk “ice cream” sandwiches that Alicia raves about, because they have guar gum and other crazy binders (which seems to contradict her own diet, since those are just chemical parts of whole plants and she says to try to eat foods in their most complete, natural state.) However, I did find a super yummy looking dark chocolate bar and some yummy cookies made from quinoa. Am I going vegan? Not completely, but the information I’ve heard about dairy products has made me decide to eliminate dairy from my diet. GASP! Yes, even cheese. And, since I don’t consume crazy binding ingredients, I’m not eating processed cheese substitutes, either. Yikes! I’m going to try this out for 30 days and see if it helps my allergies and the little bit of asthma that has been creeping up on me.
I have so much to say, but I’ve spent the whole day working on my diet by reading, planning, shopping, and cooking that I’m just exhausted!
