PLANT BASED DIETING - I'LL BE GOLDEN

I've mentioned before how The Old Girl and I while not being vegetarians, don't eat much meat. Our cooking is usually dominated by the use of vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes and beans with fish and meat as a side rather than the main feature.

On average we use meat or fish about once every third meal. The meat we use is predominately chicken and the fish salmon for her and snapper or terakahi for me. If we do cook with red meat it is lamb either as mince, shanks or fillets. I guess that this would only be about one meal in a dozen at most. We have been gradually reducing use of meat including chicken for a while now but this has been accelerated after watching the food documentary series on Netflix - 'You are what you eat'.

After this we have cut out all processed meats from our diet - ham, bacon, salami, sausages etc. and accelerated our weaning off from beef, lamb and even chicken. Since using soy and oat milk products for some years now, our dairy intake is limited but we still might look to reduce our cheese usage even though it isn't that high. The challenge will be in sourcing viable and tasty alternatives. The final outcome might be, while not vegan, having a plant based diet with the occasional use of meat and dairy.

A plant-based diet focuses on foods primarily from plants. This includes not only fruits and vegetables, but also nuts, seeds, oils, whole grains, legumes, and beans. It doesn't mean that we will be vegetarian or vegan as we will still eat some meat and dairy. Rather, we are increasingly choosing more from plant sources. 

The benefits of a plant-based diet are:

Health Benefits.

Heart Health: Plant-based diets have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease.
Weight Management: People following a plant-based diet tend to have a lower body mass index (BMI).
Diabetes Prevention and Control: Plant-based diets can improve blood sugar control and can sometimes even reverse type 2 diabetes.
Cancer Risk: Certain plant-based diet components can reduce the risk of developing cancer.
Gut Health: High-fibre foods prevalent in plant-based diets can promote gut health.

Environmental Benefits

Reduced Carbon Footprint: Plant-based diets generally require less energy from fossil fuels, less land, and less water to produce.
Biodiversity: Reducing meat consumption can decrease the demand for land used for meat production, thus lowering the impact on biodiversity.

Nutritional Considerations

Protein: It's a common concern, but plenty of plant foods are rich in protein (e.g., beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, and quinoa).
Vitamins and Minerals: Certain nutrients, like Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, and calcium, may be more challenging to obtain in a plant-based diet and might require supplementation or careful planning.
Fibre: Plant-based diets are high in fibre, which is beneficial for digestive health and can help prevent various diseases.

The Netflix series we watched was set in USA which, while being so far behind New Zealand in food standards and environmental controls, with hideous factory-based meat and dairy production still, with such a large population in cities has developed affordable, nutritious and flavoursome alternatives to meat, milks, cheeses, breads and even eggs. Unfortunately, in New Zealand the alternatives are either tasteless and crap or hellishly expensive. Our primary industries of meat and dairy production being so dominant, don't as yet allow successful alternative experimentation and production to effectively reach supermarket shelves - certainly not outside of the major cities where we live.

For some years now I make my own bread (several loaves a week) and purchase my ingredients from Bin Inn which is a bulk provider of wholefoods and specialty groceries like flours, grains, nuts, cereals and 'healthy' foods. In addition to the bread mixes I often buy dried fruits and nuts and other things for the pantry - herbs and spices, breakfast cereals and mueslis, for example. I'm waiting for Bin Inn to expand into cheese alternatives, and  vegetarian meat alternatives.

We are quite a long way down this road, certainly ahead of some but still need to learn how to create or find products that while healthy are also nutritious and tasty. We need to plan ahead more to make sure we're getting a balanced diet. Living a bit out in the country doesn't help as I tend to do one shop a week in town so buy all of my fresh fruit and vegetables in one go. This is a challenge in summer in keeping them fresh. I will need to build new planters and grow fresh and perishable salad vegetables.

I really can only see the upside for us as we rarely eat takeaway food, seldom eat out and, as I said don't eat that much meat to the point where, if we stopped completely it wouldn't be a biggie. It would be good though, if soon we were able to make or buy wholefood plant based products that replicated the things we're used to like cheese, 'hamburger' patties and chicken. We will continue to eat fish though until such time, if ever, our seafood producers hit the rock bottom (pun intended) that overseas producers have.

Heigh ho heigh ho - in the words of Joni Mitchell it's "back to the garden".

I'll be able to wear those new gumboots that Richard likes so much.