What the Health?

Another Wednesday of stroller strides followed by park play.  I forgot my almond milk chai tea so I had to wait until nearly noon to drink it.  C’est la vie.  The kids have so much fun playing at the park with my workout buddies’ kids that I am willing to stay as long as they want so their positive attitude about stroller strides remains.

How to fit all the kids on the swings at once…?

Good times 🙂

Since I had so little that morning, I ate a massive lunch.  This is meant to be 6 servings of salad I
(it’s a HUUUGE tupperware) but I’m special like that.  Plus avo.

Snoozy snooze.

The kids had black beans with nooch for lunch (and melon, etc).  I got an email question last week about my thoughts on the “What the Health” movie.  I haven’t seen it yet, but am definitely interested.  It’s gotten very mixed reviews (vegan propaganda/bad science), so I’m curious enough to tune in and judge for myself.  I read The China Study and watched Forks Over Knives and Food, Inc, and many other similar documentaries, but it’s always good to keep your mind open and keep learning.  The same email also asked about my transition away from veganism. A long time ago (ok, 3 years, so not that long) I started a draft about this very topic.  But it was so convoluted and I couldn’t get my thoughts properly organized…it was like a thesis paper exploding onto my blog…and I didn’t really like it.  But I’m happy to discuss our family’s dietary journey because, after all, this is a food blog and I go into great detail about everything else I’m going through with my own gut.

Have any of you guys seen What the Health?  What did you think?

After naps we were supposed to meet friends at the train station but first we JUST HAD TO do an art project. Remember the Nutcracker obsession?  The one that I was barely able to cut off in April?  Yeah, that’s back in action.  Pattycakes found the Nutcracker book at the library and really wanted to get it, so I said fine, and now here we are in August, reenacting the ballet and doing Christmas themed arts and crafts.

We still met our friends…with colored Clara paper dolls in tow.

Kyle was gone for dinner, but I had promised the kids that I’d get them the same Indian dish (chicken tikka masala) from Farmer’s Market that I got last week (they tried some and looooved it).  I got enough for the whole family and brought it home to eat.  It’s from Kathmandu Kitchen and they LOVED it!  Since I knew in advance that we were getting chicken for dinner, I made sure to give the kids (and myself) a plant based lunch.  There’s a lot that you’d never know from reading the blog (it’s a crazy maze of lists and tallies and whatnot inside my head), but when it comes to meat, I’m very conscientious about how much we eat. I’m hopeful that I can raise kids who have a wide range of food preferences, while understanding the meaning of their choices…for now, we eat animals and plants.

As far as the transition away from veganism goes…if you’ve been reading for a while you probably know this story already.  Just in case, here are some bullet points:

  • I like plant based food.  I like avocados and nuts & seeds and kale and hummus and could probably live off carrots…you get the point.  Back in 2011 (?) or so I discovered the low fodmap diet and that was revolutionary for me.  I implemented it as best I could while still avoiding meat and it was working for me.
  • Then I had a child with food allergies.  Six, to be exact.  To mostly plant based foods.  Peanuts, tree nuts, soy, gluten, sesame, and dairy.  That was really really hard.  It’s not something everyone can relate to, and for a while I felt a great deal of backlash here on the blog, but I didn’t really have a choice about what I fed him, so I did what I think anyone would do and fed him the best diet to keep him healthy.  I was also working as the sole provider for the family back then, while Kyle started his business, which comes with a whole other set of stressors. So the idea of cooking different meals for us all seemed completely insane and impossible.  I was terrified of having anything in the house that could lead to cross contamination and so we all adopted his diet.  There were ways to modify things while still keeping his meals allergy free, but for the most part I transitioned to a peanut/tree nut/dairy/soy/gluten free diet for a while.  Luckily, over time, he “outgrew” some of his allergies, and one by one, we were able to eat things like hummus and wheat bread again, and that made plant based eating easier.
  • Nowadays, we have the luxury of eating ALMOST ANYTHING we want.  He has graduated milk OIT and is slowly working through peanut desensitization, so our options are basically back to where they were before we found out about pacman’s allergies.  So will we go back to a veggie lifestyle?  I often think about it, but for now the answer is I don’t know.  I’ve lived with restrictions for so long now, it feels amazing to have the freedom we have.  But is that the right reason to consume animals?  Is that the best diet for us?  If you ask my son what his favorite food is, he will tell you “bacon” in under 1 second.  The funny thing is, he gets bacon once a month or less.  But it’s a taste you can’t undo.  Same with “meatballs” and “burgers”.  He has now had vegetarian versions of both and doesn’t dislike them, but definitely doesn’t love them the way he loves animal protein.  But 2 and 4 years old is kinda young to delve into the flaws of our food system and factory farming and slaughterhouses.  He knows where his food comes from and we are as transparent as possible, but he is only four, so, you know.  With time he can learn more and then make his own decisions.

How’s that?

I had a kombucha after dinner and then some leftovers from yesterday’s dinner on the late night because I was feeling slightly hungry again but didn’t want sweets (!).

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Comments (12)

  1. Junghwa

    I know what you mean by freedom of eating.. i was vegan for 10 years and slowly transitioned back to pescatarian. My opinion is that everyone is different and if your body craves certain food, you shouldn’t have to restrict yourself! I was craving fish in my dreams the last two years of being vegan. I thought perhaps it was protein that I wasn’t lacking but no, because I was getting enough protein from nuts, soy, plant based protein powder, etc. So currently I try not to “label” myself and eat mostly plants and eggs/fish in moderation. It works for me as I feel more satisfied!

  2. Junghwa

    Forgot to mention my opinion on What the Health..
    It really made me feel judged for my food choices. I think that it’s important to know where our food comes from but one diet doesn’t work for every body… I feel like too much of any one food is bad. So it’s not the meat, eggs, sugar or carbs that cause cancer but too much of any one of those would lead to a disease (balance is the key!).

  3. Christine

    Hi Elise,

    Do the kids eat dessert and if they do, what do they eat?

  4. Caroline @ Broccoli Hut

    I’ve been asked about What the Health quite a bit too, so I started watching it…I only made it about an hour through. Suffice it to say I wasn’t impressed!

  5. Elise (Post author)

    Nope. They don’t know what dessert is. If they eat all their dinner and they’re still hungry I give them seconds or fruit or both 🙂

  6. Elise (Post author)

    Totally agreed. Everything in moderation.

  7. Elise (Post author)

    Yes! Awesome for you. No labels and listening to your body but still being reasonable 🙂

  8. Ttrockwood

    I haven’t seen what the health and i don’t think i will…. I’m a longtime (lactose intolerant) vegetarian , well more vegan than vegetarian but whatever, and i find those films very upsetting.
    Everyone needs to find their own way of eating that works for their lifestyle, beliefs, preferences and body – i think it’s very different and unique for every individual. Cooking for a family vs as a single or couple complicates things a lot ontop of it!
    Obviously your kids-and hubby- are happy and healthy and enjoy a huge variety of veggies and whole foods which is something you should be proud of and take ALL of the credit for! 😉

  9. Lesq

    I was raised plant based and ate plant based for most of my life. I ate fish–salmon and Dover sole period. I started to feel very weak and added some animal protein only once per day into my heavily plant based diet when I had children. My children both eat everything in moderation. This is amazing because my son like yours had food allergies as a younger child so believe me when I say I understand the intense anxiety and emotional exhaustion and now the relief and enjoyment in watching him enjoy a little food freedom. I feel your joy girl!! I would have never thought to control their food direction by pushing them fully into one diet style. I fed them healthy without being controlling and they always had good food to chose from. They grew up healthy and thin and active and are to this day. The most important thing is to not make food an obsession that orthorexia develops which is so rampant now or an eating disorder. Food is meant to nourish and enjoy not overtake and rule our daily lives. I so agree with your choices and the journey you have chosen–which is what works for your family in the NOW!! Tomorrow might be different you’ll decide it as it comes. It’s your business only and your journey to navigate. Just remember, it’s the journey that counts. The means are so much mor important and enjoyable then the end.

  10. Lisa

    Elise – your journey over the last few years probably mimics more people’s journeys than anyone realizes. If only everyone could think of it as a journey – and journeys sometimes turn and curve and bend and go straight at times. But it’s an individual journey. I love eating a vegan diet, and do it as often as I possibly can. But I don’t judge myself or others for the food choices we make. We all do our best in the environments we live in. I used to get mad when a vegan would judge me for eating eggs, or having fresh fish for a meal. Now I just get sad that they have lost their sense of compassion for their fellow human animals. I applaud your ability to teach your kids how to eat healthy, and for the diversity and strong nutrition of the diet you feed them. I have used many of your recipes over the years, and even made some of the animal protein dishes for my omnivores.

    Just wanted to say thank for sharing your journey, and to say that for every person that “constructively criticizes” your choices, there are dozens of other people that are in a very similar space as you – but maybe we just don’t share it as often.

  11. Heather

    I’ve followed you for years (thanks to a mutual friend of ours, Alene) and never once felt like I wanted to judge your eating choices. You do you, and eat what’s best for you and your family. 🙂

    My husband and I watched What the Health, and I kind of felt like there was a ton of bad science in it, and I agree that I felt shamed about my eating choices (I eat pretty much everything). Two things really stood out to me though…it keeps trying to claim that just 2 weeks on a vegan diet will pretty much cure you — he has one woman who is barely able to walk and on something like 20 medications a day, and then does a vegan diet for 2 weeks and now can walk no problem and doesn’t take medications. Seems like bull. I’m not saying that you can’t fix or help medical issues with diet, but the 2 weeks thing seemed like a stretch. I did the Whole 30 for 2 months last year, but even 2 months didn’t fix everything that it was claimed it would help with. That said, my husband is currently almost a week into a 2 week vegan trial to see what impact it will have on his blood pressure and blood sugar and weight.

    My other problem I had with What the Health was that the guy comes off like a d-bag, and I’m sure I would have been more positive about the message without him. When he’s calling places like the American Diabetes Association and accuses the poor person who answers the phone of intentionally trying to mislead the public by not posting some medical study on their website, he lost me.

  12. Laura

    Just came here to say that I’m sorry others have judged you for what you put in your body and what you feed your family. Those are choices that should be up to the individual. I am thankful to see you being so transparent about your food choice changes, uncertainties, and other food-related thoughts. You mirror what most of us are thinking on a regular basis. Thanks for being real!

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