Satiety

Satiety. n. the state of being or feeling satiated. — to an extent beyond what is desired.

For those of you wondering about the cryptic opening, it’s my way of summing up the ‘food as medicine’ journey my husband and I embarked upon back in December. I’ve struggled with doing an update because I realize how divisive the topic is of how a person eats, particularly if it doesn’t follow the norm of the North American culture. I’ll keep it as short as I can.

As I mentioned in my last post, we have chosen to leave the standard American diet behind and fully embrace being 100% plant-based, which means no meat, dairy, eggs, and also no processed foods. Well, it’s gone far better than we had anticipated and there is no question we are in it for the long haul. It’s quite refreshing to be perfectly honest.

To summarize what we’re doing, we are eating a vast world of whole plant foods full of a huge range of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Some are raw, some are cooked and all are loaded with antioxidants and phytonutrients. There’s no calorie counting and no portion control. There is so much fibre in what we now eat, portion control isn’t necessary. We eat what we want until we’re full. Both of us have been losing weight. In fact, I’m still losing weight. I’m down nearly two sizes! My husband’s belt will soon need some new holes punched. But that’s not the best part. That’s simply the visual.

For me, my type 2 diabetes reversed, so has my eczema. So, with no longer having type 2 diabetes, my risk of another stroke is drastically reduced. But the other positive for me is the complete disappearance / regression of the nerve pain I had in my legs. It was so debilitating, I was having difficulty walking. But now, I can walk anywhere, any distance, at any speed and I don’t as much as have a flinch. Nothing. I’m sure there are other benefits but that’s pretty darn impressive to me. My husband’s IBS has nearly disappeared. He had one mild flare up one day a couple weeks ago (but to be honest we had been out to friends for dinner and there was dairy in most of the dishes). So we assume that must have attributed to the flare up. Oh and the strangest change that I notice is that he has not been waking me up each night because of the gasping attempts to breathe due to sleep apnea. In fact, he’s not snoring anymore either.

I feel so much better and, that alone, is reason enough to embrace being whole food, plant-based.

The first couple weeks was a huge adjustment simply in knowing what to make and how to make it. So I relied on recipes a lot. But after the second week, I was getting into a rhythm and even getting back to coming up with ideas on my own. I still rely on some recipes but don’t go into oblivion if I don’t have a recipe ready or planned. I can just wing it and we’re eating some really delicious meals again. We’ve even had people over for dinner and I’ve served plant-based meals. We have a dinner party coming up with a group we’ve been part of for several years. I plan to serve a plant-based meal BUT I will have some meat for those who are carnivores. It’s all working out quite nicely.

One more significant benefit I should have mentioned off the top: Our grocery bill has drastically reduced! Yes, we’re buying considerably more fresh produce but we’re not buying any meat or dairy and that has really shown in our bank account.

To bring this to a close the one thing that I’ve found incredibly useful is to do some pre-planning or preparation. I pick one day in the week when I know I’ll be home and spend a morning or afternoon preparing a number of things that will make meals easy for the coming week. For instance I’ll pre-make items such as: a batch of beans, a batch of grains (it could be barley, quinoa, rice, etc), roast a tray of vegetables (handy for quick bowls or sometimes turned into a sauce), a jar of dressing, and often some homemade granola.

This past weekend I made some fresh granola, a jar of pickled red onions, fermented sauerkraut, cashew milk, quinoa, a tray of roast beets, and a double batch of hummus.

It’s an understatement to say I’m happy we made the transition to 100% plant based. Food truly has become our medicine and, my gosh, we are satiated beyond what we expected.

Cookbook Recommendations: Yeung Man Cooking by Will Yeung (100% plant based, all ethnic, lots of Asian dishes, bursting with flavour) || Vegan Cooking for Two by America’s Test Kitchen (an absolute encyclopedia of vegan recipes, stocking the pantry, making substitutes, and more || The Deerholme Vegetable Cookbook by Bill Jones (practically a neighbour; not vegan but so many really creative ways to serve all sorts of vegetables including as desserts.

As always, I appreciate every one of you who stops by. I’m grateful for the time you take and for your interest.

---

If you enjoyed this why not share it with a friend or post about it on social media. Thank you for reading and sharing your time with me. — Diane