Clean eating gets me so stoked. It's hard to really explain the feeling unless you are also on a super clean plant-based diet. It's like vibrant energy combined with knowing that you're not contributing to the killing or abuse of animals. It also might be the fact that meat and dairy products contribute to cancer and ill health. They are void of any sort of vibrating life energy force.
In fact...
"A protein structure is not useable by the body, as such, and must be broken down into its simplest compounds, called amino acids before the body can use it at all. This process requires energy instead of yielding energy." -- Dr. Robert Morse, N.D., D.Sc., I.D., M.H.
By the way, no judgement here (seriously none); I know how hard it is to get serious about following a plant-based diet (or any diet or lifestyle change for that matter) and I know it's not for everybody right here and right now. Not only that but there are conflicting studies and the paleo diet has helped a lot of my friends lose weight. I get it. I know the appeal of a diet that quickly helps you lose weight in a time when you're not at your perfect weight.
Everybody has their own journey (my 8 year old is obsessed with meat and milk and I let him experience that journey and hope he comes to a fork in the road at some point. But I believe in letting people find health through experience not lectures or force). Once you commit to a plant-based diet, you'll see that the meal options are endless as well as the health benefits. At first it's like "aaaaah, what do I eat for breakfast? Oh no, what do I eat for lunch? I can't have parm in my pesto? Or sour cream on my tacos?" But chill out because it's really not that hard once you're used to it. And baby steps if need be. OR cold "turkey" so to speak, haha, if that works better for you. That works best for me.
"You've got to get over this out-date way of thinking that meats are essential to your health. Nothing could be farther from the truth. That belief is the source of all your health problems." -- Doug Hines
Even if you're not 100% off the dairy or meat, it's always a good idea to explore other options and culinary tricks. Today I'm sharing a simple ice cream free of cream and milk. It's a sorbet combined with a creamy coconut milk base. The vanilla gives you the feeling of eating Dreyer's Vanilla bean ice cream.
"The first [thing I have learned] is our reverence for animal protein. Our society believes so passionately in the health value of milk and meat that it is hard for us to conceive that we might be wrong - that these foods might, in fact, be very unhealthy. It is too far outside of what we have been taught for decades for us to believe it easily, no matter how true it may be." -- T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.
More than ever I have felt the desire to share my diet choices with the world; it was something I have wanted to do in the past but didn't want to come off dogmatic, because I'm not. I've gone back and forth for years and years (fish, eggs and dairy were my thing). I don't want to be judged just as much as you don't. I'm doing my best to just be my best (both mentally and physically). But I'm human and I mess up and I'm sometimes wrong about my beliefs. But that's the beauty of it all. A "healthy" discussion is something I've always loved and respected. It's what makes the world go round and us better understand those that are not like us.
A good quote/lesson from the Dalai Lama:
"We've spoken about the fact that ultimate happiness depends on eliminating our negative behaviors and mental states -- through proper training we can gradually reduce our negative emotions and increase positive states of mind such as love, compassion, and forgiveness!"
I love this. Maybe it's that lately I have been trying SO SO hard to find some kind of enlightenment and deep rooted happiness that lingers at all time. Like the Buddha that is always smiling (haha). It's taken me almost two years and lot of change; a lot of transition; and a lot of work. At some point in that time it dawned on me that I can't truly find that happiness while eating animal products. I just couldn't. It just didn't go hand-in-hand.
However, I have seen people use red meat as a great source of iron supplementation when sick and in dire need of serious nutrients. But for a perfectly healthy person I see no need for meat and in fact serious health benefits from making this change.
There is a big difference between that grateful way of consuming meat and eating meat and dairy every meal, all the time, like without a second thought or knowing what you're contributing to (ill health and animal cruelty and money greed). There is a freedom in knowing I am not apart of that industry anymore and that I'm treating my body so well. I feel so clean; that's the best way to describe my present state of health.
At a recent Herbalife Symposium, the experts (doctors and scientists from schools like UCLA) shared some amazing statistics about how our bodies can easily adapt and our unhealthy cells can regenerate quickly when we switch to a plant-based diet. We can go from sick to healthy in a matter of weeks just by making these small changes. The studies are there, you guys. We also discussed child obesity and how we still don't know what to do or how to cure and solve it.
But all I could think about was that I've never seen a plant-based obese child. Genetics or not. Read this cool study and story if you want more info on that: click here.
And I'm sorry if it turns you off, or if you don't feel like listening. I will stop here; but it's my path and my journey and if it helps one person discover a new way or lifestyle that they love, then I did my job. So please, don't be mad at me (hugs) and instead write something in the comments about your diet and your path to optimal health. I'd love to hear your story and your thoughts (nicely and respectfully put).
CANTALOUPE ICE CREAM RECIPE
yields: 10 scoops
INGREDIENTS
4 cups chopped cantaloupe (skin and seeds removed) about 1 small cantaloupe
1 can coconut milk (refrigerated overnight and the watery juice discarded)
2-3 tablespoon honey or agave nectar
¼ cup coconut sugar
1 teaspoon madagascar vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
DIRECTIONS
+ Open the can of coconut milk and you'll notice that there is a thick coconut cream in one end of the can and water/liquid in the other. Use only the thick cream.
+ Combine everything into a high speed blender container.
+ Blend on high until completely mixed.
+ Put into an ice cream maker.
+ Eat immediately and store the rest in the freezer.
My kids enjoyed this recipe. We put a few scoops in a cone and enjoyed. This kind of ice cream is so enjoyable and yet I also feel like it's a healthy meal. Win-win.
Follow me on instagram and feel free to share your healthy ice cream ideas with me. Either hashtag #puremamas or @julinovotny in your photos. I'd love it.
Also, please check out my interview with Plant Based Doctor Lindsey Mcilvena who treats all her patients first by putting them on a plant-based diet. And then going from there.
Carly Zuffinetti
Might need to invest in an ice cream maker just to make this!!!
Juli Novotny
haha! you can make it w/o one but it's just a tad icier than it should be. but still tastes good. 😉
Julie
I'm constantly going back and forth. Raw vegan, vegan and then "plant-based," which I feel gives me the freedom to eat what I feel would be best for me in any present moment. Sometimes that's a big, raw salad with tahini hemp dressing and goji berries and sometimes it's salmon and kale salad or an egg and avocado. It has helped me a lot by freeing me from the anxiety over what I "should" eat or from doing something "bad" or "wrong." I don't know why eating gets so screwy for me, but I've noticed I need to be gentle with myself before food consumes me instead. That being said, I love reading your take and still believe plant-based vegan is the way to go. And maybe I'll be there again (to stay) one day.
Juli Novotny
you're so not alone. i SO SO agree with this which is why for 15 years i have been eating eggs and dairy. i always wanted to "cover my bases" just in case - due to so many conflicting studies. i decided, after talking with a few plant-based MDs recently that i just wanted to totally be free of all animals products and trust in what i have been believing and hoping to be true all these years: that i didn't "need" an egg to get my iron or whatnot, that it truly is possible to get it "all" via plants. i'm not dogmatic so when i go out to restaurants, i ask for no cheese but i don't ask for every ingredient and totally freak if there's butter. i like to be social and not stress. but it feels so good everyday to know my energy and my source of food didn't come from that industry. but again, if i was dying and a bloody steak might have some life saving benefits for me, great! i just don't want to rely on that industry, like i said and it feels so good. like i'm contributing to something great. so that makes me happy. that's all. i totally get it and i get the wavering and the covering the bases. and some people can't seem to be grounded when they don't eat animal products. so HEALTH is most important and we need to make sure we feel good and are getting the nutrients we need.
Lisa Marie Bennett
YummY! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, non-judgement and information on plant-based diet.
Juli Novotny
Thank you for the comment. I appreciate it 😉
xoxo,
Juli
xiomara
loved this article ! I needed this as I feel I am being pulled to the other side. I heard a podcast by Daniel Vitalis it was called "why I am not vegan" and it left me with a lot of mixed emotions. mostly about raising vegan children my son was strict vegan till the age of four and in the past year we've added eggs and small amounts of grassfed organic cheese (mostly bc he loves it) and fish sparingly (only fresh we live next to the ocean) but now he seems interested in meat not terribly but I feel like the older he gets the more curious he becomes. but anyway back to the podcast Vitalis was talking about cognitive brain function and childrens developing bodies and how studies have proven they need meat and I felt incredibly guilty. it can all get so confusing. it was a relief to read about your son and how you let him have his own experiences. that advice I will take with me and remind myself of it daily. I would love to read more post regarding kids meals and snacks. that would be cool 😊
Juli Novotny
I wouldn't feel guilty. That's one opinion. There are so many MDs and nutritionists that don't feel the same way. Studies are on both sides. Meat is super acidic and and acidic body is where disease thrives. So many opinions. My kids eat as clean as they can at home. We gets lots of protein and amino acids. Just check your sons iron and b-12 levels. Make sure he gets lots of fats. But the GUILT will kill you. Some kids grown up on McDonalds and are fine today. Do you think their parents feel guilty now? Probably not. So if your child is smart and sleeps well and seems to be thriving, you're doing a great job. NO kid eats amazingly. The ONLY reasons I'm ok with my kids having some dairy and/or eggs is because they don't sit and chow down salads and they can't think about "nutrition" the way we can. Meat and Dairy do have some vitamins in them that are sometimes otherwise difficult to get our children to consume. But milk - I don't believe they need dairy. I do think raw milk is great for them while they are young. But past age 4 I really don't think they need that at all. I am not strict with them; I don't want them to feel left out or deprived. I was them to be sick of candy after high school NOT just starting to try it. I truly think they need to make their own decision and we need to support them and talk to them about it constantly. Without instilling guilt in them either. You know? Ok, well, you can email me if you need some more help puremamas @ gmail . com 😉
xiomara
thank you ! 🙂