So often I heard I don’t like vegetables from my clients. OK, well how can one change that? It’s called experimentation. Honestly, I look at all these salad bowls online arranged so pretty and I groan. Why? Because it simply doesn’t appeal to me. Yep, you read it right. I grew up with meat and potatoes, then vegetables. I’m a carnivore. Also when I eat a bowl of lettuce with just vegetables I am ready to eat again in about 2 hours-exactly the amount of time it takes your stomach to empty into your small intestine. I end up so hungry I don’t function well.
If you read my book then you will know I speak about eating for your needs and listening to your body. Being plant based doesn’t mean just eating plants. It means having a diet that is heavy on plants. I’m not a vegan or vegetarian. I’ve tried both several times in my life and it’s not for me. I know someone who was a devout vegan for almost 20 years. When asked why they switched back to being a carnivore after so long the reply was simple, “ I was hungry for all those years”. Personally, I don’t know how they functioned! For others, they feel best with a vegetarian diet. There is no right and wrong, just what works best for you.
So equally important to eating your vegetables and hydration is making sure you find foods you enjoy. Now if your bowel is an issue then you do absolutely need to be careful. Fruit and vegetables are super important to good health and I would be remiss to lead you to believe otherwise. If you look at my recipes you will see I’m a fan of cannellini beans. They work in my body. Don’t like them? Change the type of bean. Make chili and add lots of vegetables at the end so they don’t over cook. This is the experimentation I’m talking about. Drop your fear and have fun.
Be creative and find ways to take the foods you like and make them work for you. Need help? Message me and tell me what you’d like to eat and I will find a way to change it for you. Then I will post it in the blog and/or on social media. There are so many options. Just keep trying new things until you find a few you really enjoy and feel good in your body. Make those your rotation then keep adding until you have a roster of healthy foods you enjoy! That will make feeling good a pleasure instead of a chore. When we don’t enjoy what we are doing we give up. Experiment, pay attention to how food feels in your body and make sure it’s organic or grown in a clean manner to insure you are not ingesting chemicals that disrupt how your body functions!
Let’s take garlic. Not my best food but great for you on so many levels. So I marinate it in citrus which makes it tolerable for me. Play around, have fun. Sometimes you might say “oh my god that’s disgusting” and that is ok too. I’ve had a few of those.
Small steps = miles! Don’t give up! Find foods you enjoy so you can feel better and fuel the life you desire instead of living in misery because of the choices you make and your resistance to change.