Discernment....

First, I must share with you my yummy food from today! My salad at lunch time was the bomb! (For some reason, my photo below keeps inserting sideways.  No idea why!  So tilt your head when you look at it!)  I ran out of fresh spinach (boo!), but I had Kale & Collard Greens.  These are very hearty greens, and a tad bitter eaten raw.  But it's what I had, so I went with it.  Instead of tearing the lettuce into bite size pieces, I stacked the leaves and rolled them up, then I sliced them - so I ended up with what looked like shredded greens.  Really liked it that way!  I added fresh tomatoes, red onion, green & orange pepper, shredded carrots and then my sprouts!  Mung bean, broccoli (harvested just today!), quinoa & garbanzo (also harvested today!).  I then drizzled my homemade olive oil- avocado dressing.  I loved it!  (See pix below).  For dinner I made stuffed acorn squash and brussel sprouts.  I made it for the whole family.  I don't think any of them LOVED it like I did, but they were very sweet and finished it :)  They're so supportive!

Stuffed Acorn Squash & Brussel Sprouts

My Yummy Kale/ Sprout salad and some of my leftover white chili.

Here's the thing, the more I learn, the more I want to change what they're eating too.  Cancer scares me - and I'm convinced that IT IS PREVENTABLE in most cases.  I have personal experience with a precious kiddo who couldn't have prevented it.  But research is clear that what we eat, and the way things are now processed and the chemicals used in our food is killing us! Heart disease is another scary but very real example!  But I have a 42 year old husband, 17 year old son, 15 year old daughter & 12 year old son.  I've participated in their addiction to SAD (standard american diet).  I can't MAKE THEM CHANGE at this stage of the game.  But in small doses, and through my example, hopefully some change will come.

So.. let's talk about discernment.  I need more of it!  And I'm praying daily for it.  I am not a scientist, or a dietitian, or nutrition coach!  So weeding through the many, many options, theories, and research (much of which is like a foreign language to me!) is tricky.  So I'm not making any solid judgements yet - but I want to recommend a movie to you.  Forks over Knives.  I found it on hulu and amazon.  It is a 90 minute documentary outlining some very significant studies on consuming animal products.  It looks closely at the effects of consuming animal products vs consuming plant based foods.  It was really good, and again, got me thinking and reeling!

I previously recommended a book called "Why We're Fat & What to do About it".  This book concludes the opposite, in terms of fat and weight, stating that the fattiest meats will not make us fat - grains will.  I can say with certainty that cutting out most grains has made a big difference in how my gut feels and my weight loss.  So, maybe the meat won't make me fat - but could it still be increases my risk of serious disease?   I think in order to make an educated decision,  it's good and important to look at these issues from every angle, especially if I'm going to make life changes because of it!  This study made sense to me. If you can find 90 minutes, please watch it!  I'll look forward to hearing what your thoughts are!

Have a great day - Eat more veggies! :)