Just a follow up to February Forum. Helen Webb has kindly given consent to publish her handout here.
My Goals Were To:
- Increase my health and wellbeing
- Stop taking medication for acid reflux
- Be able to prepare vegetarian meals that provided well balanced nutrition and were tasty / enjoyable / interesting
- Work towards achieving an earth friendly / climate friendly diet by:
- Eating ‘real’ or ‘whole’ food
- Eating mostly foods of plant origin and choosing locally grown, chemical free and grass fed or free range if eating meat
- Choosing food produced without or with minimal human made chemicals
- Choosing local food (locally grown / sold by locally owned vendors or distributors)
- Minimising food waste
- Minimising packaging / minimising plastic absorption into food
- Growing our own food or sharing with others the work of growing food
- Use renewable energy for storing, preparing and cooking food.
What Did I Do?
- Attended a health retreat and gleaned as much information as I could re what I needed to do to change my diet in a healthy way eg went through their pantry and wrote out a list of what was in it
- Read widely and spent time thinking, learning, planning, practicing, doing ….
- Got tested for food sensitivities / allergies
- Completed a TAFE course in hospitality and the first year of the commercial cookery course
- Re-stocked the pantry and practiced, practiced, practiced….
- Purchased 2 solar ovens, a pressure cooker, a few good knives and chopping boards
- Husband built a solar food dryer
- Practiced more growing our own food
What Did I Learn?
- That my digestive system is intolerant to gluten, the onion family and oranges
- That I prefer whole grain foods to flour based foods (bread & pasta)
- Lots of ideas from the Misty Mountain Retreat Cookbook for preparing tasty (gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian) food
- Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, dinner like a pauper
- Eat more foods that are alkaline producing and more raw foods
- That protein and oil help to make a meal satisfying and sustaining
- Drink 2 litres of water a day, but not at meal times
- That its OK to have salt when you are drinking 2 litres of water per day and eating whole foods, prepared at home
- How and where to shop for wholefoods
- That wholefoods are often better value for money
- How to use a variety of legumes with vegetables and herbs and spices in my cooking
- To remember to soak beans the night before and plan ahead (somewhat) for meals
- That doing it properly takes time, but once you learn how, there are short cuts
- How to cook with solar ovens and pressure cookers and use a hot box
- That we are strongly influenced in what we eat by the images of food that surround us eg supermarket advertising
- A lot about the comparitive nutritive value of food, medicinal qualities of various foods, and how our food is produced, where it comes from and who controls the distribution
- That what humans choose and do, think and say is important and can make a difference in the world
Did I Achieve My Goals?
| Improved health and wellbeing | Identified allergies and eliminated those foods from my dietStopped taking medicationDrink mostly water, up to 2 L/dayGenerally feel healthier, more energy | yes |
| Prepare tasty / enjoyable / interesting vegetarian meals that provide well balanced nutrition | Breakfast of fruit, nuts, a cooked GF grain and proteinTry to have big lunch – legume, GF grain, vegetables, salad, and an EARLY light dinner | yes |
| Work towards achieving a climate friendly diet by | Eating ‘real’ or ‘whole’ food | Yes |
| Eating mostly foods of plant origin | Mostly | |
| Choosing food produced without or with a minimum application of human made chemicals | Sometimes | |
| Choosing local food (locally grown / sold by locally owned vendors or distributors) | Often | |
| Minimising food waste | Mostly | |
| Minimising packaging | Sort of | |
| Growing our own food or sharing with others the work of growing food | Some | |
| Use renewable energy for storing, preparing and cooking food. | Often for cooking,Sometimes for drying / preserving, no for fridge |
Calendar subscribe
