Healthy or not?

There are going to be a lot of people who object to the subtitle of this blog, mainly the “extreme healthy eating” part.  There are many theories out there as to what the best eating plan is for the general population. According to Canada’s recommended food guide there are the four food groups: vegetables and fruit, grain products, milk and alternatives, meat and alternatives. The American food pyramid is basically the same thing, but with just the fruits and vegetables separated from each other, and the addition of a little group called “oils”.

In general, a person who struggles with weight, and has gone through the process of losing weight a few times, would tend to know quite a bit about healthy eating and exercise.  Sometimes I feel like I should hold a degree in nutrition when you consider all of the time and research I’ve done on the subject. Just going through the Weight Watchers program should qualify me for some kind of post-secondary certificate.

Bottom line, I know what a healthy diet is.  The number one word that will come up is: balanced.  A vegan diet doesn’t seem like it could be balanced because you’re basically cutting out two of the four food groups.  In Skinny Bitch they cite many reasons why you don’t need dairy and meat and how you can get all the nutrients you need elsewhere.  I believe that.  I’ve known a few vegetarians (even fewer vegans) in my day and they claim that to be true.

They spout off a lot of information and cite 226 references in Skinny Bitch, however, for the most part what they’re saying goes against everything I’ve learned since I began this Fat Fight about 20 years ago. So do I believe everything they say?  No.  Do I believe that Canada’s Recommended Food Guide is 100% infallible and should be followed to the letter?  Double no.

Sidenote: I DO believe you can prove anything you want and find gobs of research to back up your claims. I’m sure if I tried hard enough I could prove that eating nothing but marmalade and marshmallows (I’m going to call it “The Great MarMar Cuisine Regime”) will add five years to your life and give your hair that lustrous sheen you’ve always desired.  I bet there would be at least 10 studies out there to support my claims.

The best line in Skinny Bitch actually comes in the introduction. “You just need to smarten up and use your head.” I agree.

In subtitle to this blog, I also call myself lazy-in-the-kitchen. For most of my adult life, meals have consisted of taking something out of a box and either putting it in the microwave or oven, or boiling it in a pot.  I enjoy cooking, but I never have time and I usually save meal preparation for special occasions, like Christmas. Generally my daily vegetable servings consist of what comes in my Subway sandwich.

To me, being a vegan means fresh produce, whole grains and special meal preparation. Lots of new foods with which I’m not yet familiar. Basically it’s bye-bye pre-packaged and highly processed food and hello to fresh and healthy. Throughout the course of my journey into vegan (da da DA) I will be figuring out the right types of food combinations in order for me not to have any deficiencies.  If I need supplements, I will take them.  I may know about healthy eating the old-fashioned way, but vegan is something new and completely different for me.  I look forward to finding out more, and I’ll share on this blog as I go.

So compared to what I’ve been doing, I actually think that vegan is an “extreme healthy” choice for me.  I will have to shake off that lazy-in-the-kitchen moniker I’ve given myself, suck it up and start chopping veggies. 

There I go, smartening up and using my head.