In reply to Nicole's comment: How to get started

Yay! I love it when people comment and it gets my wheels turning! I love talking about food, so I am happy when people have questions about it. My cousin Nicole had some awesome questions and I am more than happy to give her my opinion.

Q#1: I LOVE fruit snacks. They are my favorite treat. Is there anything I can do to replace them, or should I just give them up?

A#1: Haha, this one made me laugh. First off I HATE fruit snacks (gummy snacks). Mainly because they are HORRIBLE for your teeth, and even worse for little growing teeth in the children that we feed them to; not to mention that they are pure sugar and most contain gelatin. But I am a 80-20 girl, meaning I try to eat really good 80% of the time. However, everyone has their vices (ie. fruit snacks) and so I think you should give yourself a break and eat "bad" every once in a while. We, as mentioned before, like to eat out-that's our vice (here is a list of veggi places we like to go to).

Now of course the lower the bad number is the better, and I think you should never eat more than 20% of "bad" food. You actually see this a lot with Vegetarians and Vegans. There are lots of foods (or food like substances) that are Vegan, such as french fries, Oreo cookies, sugar sugar sugar....Vegan "food" can be crap too. That's why I actually hate defining myself as a Vegetarian, but I'd rather say that we are a WHOLE FOOD-PLANT BASED family. I feel that really describes us better. And when you do eat that way, at least for me, I found myself reaching for the bad stuff less and less.

Q#2:Where do I start?? I am so interested in cutting out meats and other animal products, but I just don't know where to start! I mean, I attempt to not cook with meat very often, but you had some valid points of how many other animal products we are consuming. So where do I start?

A#2: Love this question! There are multiple answers, or steps really, so here it goes!

1. Go cold turkey (pun intended?) But really, set a goal for you and your whole family, such as we are going to eat Veggi 4 times a week (and maybe even say, one of those days will be Vegan), and then do it AND stick to it. For me, I made up my mind mentally that this was a life-style change that I wanted to stick to, and the next day I stopped eating meat, and it has been 6 years and I haven't looked back. But in full discloser it is a lot harder mentally than it has ever been physically. You literally have to change the way you think about food. The foods that you have been used to your whole life, you can't really eat anymore, or at least not in the same way. Foods that you associate with holidays (hello Thanksgiving turkey) have to be modified. And it's OK! And it's really for the better, it just takes a little shifting. Once you can get over that hump it really is so easy! (Here is a sample of our Thanksgiving menu)
2. Read labels: a lot of food contains hidden animal products, but if you read the label, you usually can find a version that does not. For example Cesar dressing contains anchovies unless you buy Kraft Low-fat Cesar.
   
3. Stock your pantry. Of course it's expensive to go buy everything at once, so if the recipe calls for beans, we just buy extra, and then eventually the pantry is stocked. This may sound silly, but there are just some essentials that you need if you want to eat plant based:

• Canned foods (make sure to get no salt added and rinse well before using): Canned beans (black beans, chickpeas/garbonzo beans, kidney beans...) and Canned tomatoes.
• Grains and Legumes (dried, I buy in bulk): Rice, Lentils, Barley, Bulgar, Couscous, Pasta, Split peas, Quinoa*, Kasha [Buckwheat groats].* (*Quinoa, and Kasha are the only grains that contain all 8 amino-acids, making them a complete protein).
• Olive Oil
• Frozen veggis. I like to buy fresh, but buying veggis out of season can be expensive. Frozen vegetables have nearly the same nutrition value as fresh vegetables. I never buy canned vegetables....never!
• Protein sources (other than eggs and cheese, beans and nuts): Seitan, Tempeh, Tofu, and "fake meats." I prefer seitan, tempeh and tofu over the processed fake meats because they are essentially whole foods (wheat gluten, fermented soy beans, and soy bean curd respectively). However depending where you live you may have difficulty finding them. Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Sunflower Market are always safe bets; but we have found all three at Kroger's (Smith's). All of these protein sources freeze really well, so if you can find them buy extra and freeze for later use. I really don't like the "fake meats," but we do eat them occasionally. I prefer Quorn products to replace poultry, Morningstar Farms Italian style sausage is really good, and Boca Patty's are always an easy way to enjoy a BBQ with carnivores! However these "fake meats" (better known as transitional foods) should really be eaten sparingly because they are processed and so they contain a lot of the same junk you find in other processed foods.

Q#3: What is/are your favorite cookbook(s) and/or blog(s) to help incorporate a wider variety of vegetables and legumes?

A#3: The first book I read about the health benefits of a plant based diet was, "The New Four Food Groups" by Neil Barnard. We wrote a blog a while ago about the books that have changed how we eat. Here are some ideas of a food menu as well. I love this book, because it lists every food you can imagine, how to cook it, and how it is beneficial. As far as cook books go "The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet" is a good starter cook book because the recipes are really easy and don't require any fancy ingredients. "One-Dish Vegetarian Meals", and "Vegan Lunch Box" are also good. We eat a lot of ethnic foods, so specific Indian, Asian, and Italian cook books are helpful as well. There are the links at the side of our page that list helpful resources, but I also like the website VegWeb (which I was having trouble accessing) and Compassionate Cooks.

I hope this helps! Keep the questions and comments coming!