Eating Your 5 a Day, or It’s Windy in Here.
The first day I arrived back in the SF Bay Area my Step-Dad suggested we watch a movie. As it had been a long day, I was definitely looking forward to a good movie. As many of you know, I love documentaries so when he suggested that we watch Forks Over Knives, I was looking forward to it. The documentary basically advocates a vegan diet, showing evidence that links animal proteins to cancer, heart disease and other health issues. It was agreed upon in the household that, while no one wanted to go completely vegan (I would die without cheese!), there may be something to trying to cut down on animal proteins. I hopped on board with the enthusiasm one only experiences when embarking on such life changes.
A Patch to Die For
Making the change has been fairly easy since they have a fruit and vegetable garden and, well, I don’t do the grocery shopping. I have been enjoying going into the garden and picking my strawberries for breakfast or choosing which apple I want off of the tree. While we seem to be at the end of the summer berries, the tomatoes are just ripening as summer was a little slow to come to this area and we ate our first winter squash today. In addition, the chanterelle mushrooms made their debut with a bang! (Mushroom disclaimer: my step-dad knows what he is doing and has been picking mushrooms for years. I don’t recommend it unless you know what you are doing as some mushrooms can be highly poisonous or lethal.)
The Most Recent Harvest
Mushroom Madness
It has become very common for me to have something from this garden in every meal of the day. The change in diet has left me feeling light and refreshed. However, there have been a few unwelcome side effects. As you may or may not know, when one consumes a lot of fruit and vegetables they have a tendency to make one’s tummy a little rumbley. I knew this, but always seem to conveniently forget when I increase the amount of fruits and vegetables in my diet. I brought this up with my Mom and we had a good laugh over it, after she promptly showed me to the medicine cabinet where I could find some much needed relief. So, you have been warned, if you are going to go down this route, I recommend purchasing something prior to starting the change that will alleviate the inevitable discomfort that is coming your way.
Now that I have been here for a month, I am starting to think that the leisurely viewing of the documentary was not a spontaneous idea. I can’t help but giggle a little bit when I think back to the night, “Oh, hey, have you seen this? It looks really interesting!” I should’ve known, it was nice and queued up, ready to stream. Well played, step-dad, well played!
sfmba 