Going Green to Get Lean

Just recently I registered to do the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart. I'm happy to say that I am now on day four and really enjoying the variety. I've been trying very hard to keep up with a Vegan/Vegetarian diet for sometime now. This site was interesting to me because it offered a menu planning feature. So it is like taking all the guess work out of that famous question, "what's for dinner?" The nice thing I've noticed about the site is it outlines the menu items, gives you the option of printing a handy shopping list for the week and the recipes are only a mouse click away. Doesn't get any easier than that.

I've even managed to try something new. This week I bought couscous. This is one of the easiest things on the planet to make. OMG! Pour the box in a large bowl, add two cups of boiling water, stir, cover and in 5 minutes it is done to perfection! WOW! Where have I been all this time? The recipe for the Couscous Confetti Salad was great! I made enough of this stuff that I even took it for lunch today. I will admit, I made a couple of alterations. I used chopped red onion in place of the green onion, and green bell pepper instead of the red (that was really a price factor thing - why are red bell peppers ALWAYS twice as much as the green ones?) and I used Craisins instead of raisins. But it was still very good.

As a matter of fact when I came home last night my husband was like, "please no more vegetables!" I think he is almost Veganed-out, poor guy. But he loved what we had for dinner (he always does) and ate it down like a champ with no complaints. We made the Southern Beans and Greens with a side of the Coucous Confetti Salad and threw in some homemade Vegan-friendly cornbread muffins.It really was a terrific meal.

The more I explore eating Vegan/Vegetarian the more I am convinced I'm doing something really good for my body. After years of processed foods loaded with preservatives and things I can't even pronounce, it is nice to see the solution was always there in front of me. It is all about eating a balanced diet. About going back to our upbringing when once upon a time families actually sat around the dinner table and ate REAL food. Not just something that was nuked on high for 3 minutes and thrown in a bowl to woof down sitting in front of the television set. It's about actually going to the produce section in the grocery store and exploring all those fabulous fresh fruits and vegetables just waiting to be crafted into the latest piece of edible table art for your family's nutritional enjoyment. Okay, Martha Stewart I'm not - but I could probably do a mean Rachel Ray with my EVVO in hand!

I have people email me all the time wanting to know what is the best diet plan I can recommend. It is easy and no big secret...a BALANCED diet! If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you have to eat properly and exercise daily. This means eating a diet that has lean healthy proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats and getting a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise everyday.  You may not lose it quickly, but trust me the weight will come off and you will begin to feel so much better. Besides, it isn't about how quickly you get there - it's about developing lifelong habits to help you stay there! I know I'm not breaking record strides in going from fat to fabulous, but I'm okay just knowing I'm moving closer to healthy and keeping the weight off. Slow and steady really does win the race.