building a healthy meal plan

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Neal Barnard likes to talk about cheese addiction. I used to like cheese and mayonnaise. I don't miss them after a year of WFPB. Give it time.


Any Whole Wheat flour is healthy. The main difference between brands is texture. Try different bands to see which one you like.
I bake this No-Knead Bread.
What do you bake your bread in? Do you have an oven in a minivan?


That is fast. Even 1 pound per week is considered fast. Slow and consistent is more sustainable.


Do you have a refrigerator?

Sounds like you have really turned you diet around and are reaping the benefits. Nothing affects quality of life more than good health. Good to hear you are doing so well.

thanks for the link! I will try listening to his lecture while I do my meal prep today.

I havn't started doing it but bought the ingredients a few weeks ago. Right now im living in an apartment again. I have a small dog and was finding it to difficult to live vanlife, make enough money to pay my bills and my debt.. I'm still not in much better shape.. but for now I feel like I have an opportunity to take a step back, expand and plan for my next van life move with much more knowledge that I gained over the year I lived it. I adored minivan life, but im not sure if I want to hit the road with my dog again or wait until she passes.. she is as healthy as can be and I do want to make sure she has fun so maybe small trips could be a great balance for now... but spending the summer in texas heat with my dog alone was really eye-opening. It's one thing when your alone living in a minivan and can spend the heat of the day in a mall or a public library vs when your at a rest area and you oversleep and it's 10AM and getting warm out and you gotta potty and you feel so guilty for sitting on the potty and enjoying the AC while your dog is out in the minivan in 80 degree temp with the sum growing higher and higher by the second...

I'm not sure I want to re-live that just yet, perhaps I can learn new skills to make such situations less stressful and risky... but for now I feel like im where I need to be..

I do have a fridge in the minivan an Alpicool 23 Quart fridge. 200watts on roof and 100ah battery. I still use it to hold my lunch when I work and I take my lunch breaks out in the minivanRV. I took out the bed to put in my apartment but I still have some blankets and I can charge up my phone and watch videos and enjoy my lunch. :ROFLMAO: I absolutely love it! So much more relaxing than the typical breakroom.

but back to topic, I have a butane stove (I don't use it anymore) I'm not sure how I would cook bread in a minivan efficiently yet. I don't know if I want to upgrade to propane in a minivan, I think if I got a full-size van I could easily switch to propane. Still... I would say I never really "cooked" anything beyond eggs, everything that I "cooked" was mostly just warming food up... I guess except for pasta too. I think anything over 10min of cooking time has seemed like to much fule consumption time. Perhaps a solar oven might be somthing I would cook bread using. Ideally I would be cooking a weeks worth of break and storing it so I would have the flexibility of what day and time I would set aside to cook it..

I have been noticing that as well, quality of life is so much better with being so much more active with my gym workouts. I deffently like the idea of van life with a gym membership to take advantage of daily workouts and showers... Van life is going to awesome when I can experience it again in a different method.. until then I will love my doggie the best I can and ensure she has the best possible quality of life and enjoy these days while I still can.. Cheers!
 
What I'm doing is the Mediterranean Diet. It's followed by the longest living, healthiest people and it's working great for me. Basically I eat fish, beans, rice, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, and olive oil. I limit eggs to 2 to 4 a week and have chicken every blue moon. I eat 2 or 3 times a day and limit higher carb foods to before 1 pm.

I tried WFPB - which is a vegan, low-fat diet - and it wasn't for me. It was too high in carbs and too low in protein and fats. Vegan diets also require a lot of supplementation to not develop nutritional deficiencies. Moderation is my go too.
olive oil is such a healthy food, I seen so many older people in great healthy swear by it as well. I do think having meat can be part of a healthy diet if that meat is not from a factory farm industry that is pumping out food at cheaper prices and lower quality. The american diet really normalized meat as the main course when infact it should be more of a sidedish. I keep going back and forth on the idea over the years as to vegan or meat eater. I think people who eat meat in moderation from quality sources will have a diet that is of relateable health of a vegan diet. Maybe slightly worse maybe slightly better im not sure.
 
olive oil is such a healthy food, I seen so many older people in great healthy swear by it as well. I do think having meat can be part of a healthy diet if that meat is not from a factory farm industry that is pumping out food at cheaper prices and lower quality. The american diet really normalized meat as the main course when infact it should be more of a sidedish. I keep going back and forth on the idea over the years as to vegan or meat eater. I think people who eat meat in moderation from quality sources will have a diet that is of relateable health of a vegan diet. Maybe slightly worse maybe slightly better im not sure.
No study has ever shown a vegan diet to be healthier than a diet that includes some meat or animal products. Even the diet that reversed heart disease for some of the participants, not all of them, included dairy. Extreme diets just haven't proven themselves as far as lengthening life span so I'm sticking to what had been proven to work for the longest living, healthiest people. A Mediterranean diet. Fasting has shown promise in some animal studies so I'm looking into that also.
 
I'm currently taking a break from Minivan life from after a year, but I have been working to build a healthy meal plan diet that I can take back into the minivan for when I'm ready to hit the road again..

So far I have been meal prepping my lunches twice a week I cook brown rice, frozen broccoli, and boil chicken and make 3 meals each time. (7th-day I'm thinking I'll have rice, eggs, and tomatoes :p )

one snack is an apple, the other snack I have been blending frozen berries and frozen bananas I freeze

I'm also wanting to get into juicing carrots and maybe cucumbers too and making my own healthy juices adding ginger sounds delicious oh and maybe beets too cause I like the taste of them in my juices... Just don't want to pay the 7 bucks for a small bottle they charge at health stores!

I have been trying to have a salad for dinner mixed greens with olive oil and vinegar on top for dressing but I have been having a hard time making that habit stick.

Plus my breakfast I think I want to have 2 hard-boiled eggs, maybe oatmeal with a few berries and milk too? I typically drink a lot of coffee for breakfast since I work overnights right now..

Not sure how else I can improve my diet on the cheap... any advice would be greatly apricated!

I want to build a solid diet that I can fit into minivan life when I hit the road. weekly or every other week grocery trips are ideal. I think since I only have a minivan weekly trips would be best. I love whole milk with my coffee and just get the flavored coffee (like hazelnut coffee bags) and I don't add anything else to them. Since I don't have healthcare and I'm in my mid 30's it's critical I develop a diet that is super healthy so I don't increase my chance of health-related issues more than I ready have...

If there is anyone who lives a very healthy diet any information would be helpful. I have found that since I have been improving my diet I am better able to control my eating portions and I feel much better too! I never learned about a healthy diet before so I feel as if I'm learning this for the first time. Granted I have a bachelors degree and I learned about healthy eating but I never learned about what a REAL complete diet looks like. I mean sure eat your veggies but that's just one puzzle piece to a complete diet. What is the whole puzzle look like? What is a complete diet of healthy eating like? :huh:

I wonder if other people struggle to understand this as well, or maybe it's just me..

Plus, it needs to be realistic to be able to fit into a minivan lifestyle. I think I could meal prep my lunches from inside my minivan, or cook at the park during warmer days and prepair those 3 lunch meals there twice a week. Juicing and blending can be USB devices ( I have a usb blender that works ok long as the berries have time to dethaw) but if I could also prep said smoothies and juices on the same lunch meal prep days then that might mean it's even more realistic to make it all fit? :)

Does anyone else in Minivan life, or even van life relate to trying to eat super healthy while living the lifestyle? When I lived minivan life I didn't eat healthy at all.. I'm hoping next time will be different.
.
We have it easy... we manifested the perfect gig...
.
Almost four years ago, we landed a workkamp opportunity at a small organic teaching farm near the outskirts of Eugene, Oregon.
.
You mention 'mini-van', our interior is 7w x 12 l x 7h, about 700cf... so it might be on the verge of qualifying.
Supplementing our induction hot-plates, we use electric pressure-cookers.
.
My hx:
* Physical Therapist with an emphasis on nutrition.

We are **** Paleo Primal... fruit limited to one serving daily because of the sugar loading the liver (aka 'fatty liver disease'), vegetables increased to twelve servings daily, palm-size serving of animal protein with each meal.
Plenty of healthy organic olive oil, organic non-refined coconut oil with its wonderful lauric acid, organic avocados.
Zero seed oils... no soy, no safflower, no sunflower, none of the other inflammatory oils.
Zero grains, zero dairy, zero Hostess/Little Debby/HotPockets, zero pizza/donuts.
We also avoid nightshade poisons -- potato, tomato, eggplant, the pepper family.
I said it above, I will repeat it -- no soy, no rape (aka 'canola'), no toe-foo.
.
One of our staples is gut-soothing organic bone-broth in the pressure-cookers.
Occasionally, we add a mirepoix, but plain with a dash of smoked sea salt is delicious for sipping.
.
Yes, we experiment with smoking -- salts, salads, boiled eggs, pheasant/elk/trout, pretty much anything goes in the smokers.
.
Once a week, we make a rich curry beef stew... with BACON.
Our curry is loaded with turmeric... consequently, everything we own has a yellow tint.
(This week, for the fun of it, we experimented with corned beef spices in our curry stew...)
.
As an example, this morning, I had:
* a fig
* a bowl of stew.
* a handful of sprouted-seed crackers (we 'cook' the 'flat-bread' in the dehydrator).
.
Supper:
* I simmered a cast-iron skillet of broth, added left-over veggies, BACON, and cracked three eggs in to poach.
.
Our windshield is a semi-permanent mobile green-house.
A eye-opener for me was the boating book from the 1970s -- SAILING THE FARM.
A full-time live-aboard, he grew pounds of fresh sprouts to supplement his foraged sea-vegetables, coastal mussels and clams and crabs, plus his constantly revolving fish and calamari treats.
.
I probably ought to offer a disclaimer:
* I owned a restaurant business for ten years.
Nobody goes hungry around me.
 
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One of the things Mark Twain wrote about in the "Gilded Age" 1890's was that modern men were trapped in the Industrial Revolution with the seniority system and wouldn't have a time where they could step back for awhile and get a new "perspective" (on life) to gain new understandings and to update themselves on the world around them. Unless something really game changing happens.....where they can. Covid has done this for many. We are now hearing about nutrition and mental health like never before. And learning that the two are linked.

Understanding Nutrition whould begin with realizing that the digestive system ("gut") and brain are connected directly by the "Vagus Nerve". For good health the large & small intestine both need to have proper food cultures in them. The Vagas nerve has sensors that work thru the intestinal wall. (imagine the engine of your van with it's many sensors that report to the computer to keep every thing running correctly....like the Vagus nerve does with the gut and brain) The example is very similar.

So it is a matter of knowing what the body needs to assure good health & performance. Right ?

Foods that we eat may contain the nutrients we need beyond what we realize. Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium, Zinc, Folate acid, and women may need slightly different things than men need for their health and well being. And this also extends to the our mental/emotional outlook.

More than just looking at "food items" that are "healthy" the nutrients the body needs should be given consideration first. Then look for the best foods that would contain these. Vitamins, Proteins, Carbohydrates, minerals, water, and fats are among the most important nutrients. One's diet/plan can begin to be structured around a daily allocation of each of these. There are websites one can search for that will help for suggestions for the best foods for each of those catagories. Facebook (if you do Facebook) has groups for Nutrition you could associate with that will provide insights and some of these are the projects of Doctors & Nutritionist.

Salads & Dressings for them are a good way of getting fresh vegetables.
There are four common types of dressings. Oil based, Mayonnaise based, Fresh Yogurt based, Fresh Cream based. Because these contain elements of oil and vinegar (and Mayonnaise is mostly oil) they can make good marinades for meat also.

I would also mention grains such as Quinoa which can be used in soups & stews. It contains 9 of the most essential Amino Acids.

When speaking of any fruits, nothing beats fresh. But dried fruits and nuts (almonds, walnuts, pisthacios, pepitas, pecans, Brazil nuts--but don't eat more of 3 of these a day) should be considered in your diet. Apricots, pineapple, papaya, cherries, blueberries, figs, and dates all in dried form are healthy and easily transportable. The are readily available and reasonable in price if you eat small amounts each day. The papaya, pineapple, and figs are good digestive aids. But there are still numerous others.

Producing juices is a good healthy practice but the pulp of many of those fruits is also healthy. It can be made into candies, fruit leathers, jello salads. Yogurt & cottage cheese can work with these byproducts of juicing too.

On the subject of hard boiled eggs. Add a teaspoon of baking soda and a bit of salt to the water you boil the eggs in. The shells will come off much easier. Also use a marking pen to write an "H" on these eggs when they are removed from the hot water and dry. That way you will know your hard cooked eggs from your fresh eggs.

On practicing good nutrition and health practices it will pay of in advancing years. Remember cafine & nichotine are the two most addictive out there and are best avoided all together. One nutritionist I've talked with explained to drink you coffee in the morning and try to limit it to three cups a day. Then drink herbal teas thru the day as they can actually be healthy.
 
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there is a major difference between pre-diabetic and actual diabetic.
Now I understand what you mean.
It's complicated, but this 2-hour video explains it well:

Reversing Diabetes with Cyrus Khambatta and Robby Barbaro.

A scientist interviews the authors of the book "Mastering Diabetes: The Revolutionary Method to Reverse Insulin Resistance Permanently in Type 1, Type 1.5, Type 2, Prediabetes, and Gestational Diabetes"

I hope you're doing well.
 
.
We have it easy... we manifested the perfect gig...
.
Almost four years ago, we landed a workkamp opportunity at a small organic teaching farm near the outskirts of Eugene, Oregon.
.
You mention 'mini-van', our interior is 7w x 12 l x 7h, about 700cf... so it might be on the verge of qualifying.
Supplementing our induction hot-plates, we use electric pressure-cookers.
.
My hx:
* Physical Therapist with an emphasis on nutrition.

We are **** Paleo Primal... fruit limited to one serving daily because of the sugar loading the liver (aka 'fatty liver disease'), vegetables increased to twelve servings daily, palm-size serving of animal protein with each meal.
Plenty of healthy organic olive oil, organic non-refined coconut oil with its wonderful lauric acid, organic avocados.
Zero seed oils... no soy, no safflower, no sunflower, none of the other inflammatory oils.
Zero grains, zero dairy, zero Hostess/Little Debby/HotPockets, zero pizza/donuts.
We also avoid nightshade poisons -- potato, tomato, eggplant, the pepper family.
I said it above, I will repeat it -- no soy, no rape (aka 'canola'), no toe-foo.
.
One of our staples is gut-soothing organic bone-broth in the pressure-cookers.
Occasionally, we add a mirepoix, but plain with a dash of smoked sea salt is delicious for sipping.
.
Yes, we experiment with smoking -- salts, salads, boiled eggs, pheasant/elk/trout, pretty much anything goes in the smokers.
.
Once a week, we make a rich curry beef stew... with BACON.
Our curry is loaded with turmeric... consequently, everything we own has a yellow tint.
(This week, for the fun of it, we experimented with corned beef spices in our curry stew...)
.
As an example, this morning, I had:
* a fig
* a bowl of stew.
* a handful of sprouted-seed crackers (we 'cook' the 'flat-bread' in the dehydrator).
.
Supper:
* I simmered a cast-iron skillet of broth, added left-over veggies, BACON, and cracked three eggs in to poach.
.
Our windshield is a semi-permanent mobile green-house.
A eye-opener for me was the boating book from the 1970s -- SAILING THE FARM.
A full-time live-aboard, he grew pounds of fresh sprouts to supplement his foraged sea-vegetables, coastal mussels and clams and crabs, plus his constantly revolving fish and calamari treats.
.
I probably ought to offer a disclaimer:
* I owned a restaurant business for ten years.
Nobody goes hungry around me.
I would love to learn more about how you manage your mobile greenhouse-- this sounds fantastic!

Perri
 
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Perri,
On our 1996 Ford CF8000 commercial truck converted to our concept of an ExpeditionVehicle, our cab is separate from our quarters.
By parking facing the sun, we automatically create a green-house.
.
Our sprouts sit anyplace approximately horizontal.
We regulate temperature and humidity by opening the windows more or less.
.
SAILING THE FARM is available used for close to a hundred fedbux, or as a free download:
https://we.riseup.net › sailfarmPDF
Sailing The Farm
 
Been working on this concept today, trying to rework the dietary plan. I tend to eat a lot of veggies, nuts, less on the fruits and grains, not a whole lot of meat. So today I did a couple of batches of beans in the Instant Pot, and another of buckwheat groats. About three cups cooked of each. Overnight I'll do a batch of yogurt.
Breakfast can be yogurt with oats and fruit, bacon and eggs, or a protein shake and a banana.
I usually don't eat much for lunch, but leftovers from the night before are fine with me.
In the evening I'll do some veggies in the cast iron, wilt some greens, and add to the beans and buckwheat, Buddha-bowl style. Enough variety of veggies and beans to not get boring, and there are plenty of dressing recipes to change up the flavors, too.
So maybe one or two batch cooking days a week, and minimal dishes to use/wash during the week.
 
Since November ‘21 I have been following Dr. Livingood (yes that’s his real name) and he seems to be right on point. I found him on Facebook. Just like you, I am my own physician and I eat more veggies, some fruits, nuts, a little meat (grass fed- you are what you eat-ate) and few grains like quinoa. You need to learn the dirty dozen which helps. It sounds like you are doing fabulous. Keep up the great work! Remember, you are not following a diet, it is a lifestyle.
 
I follow a ketogenic way of eating. I have reversed pre-diabetes and high blood pressure, and eliminated Rheumatoid Arthritis symptoms eating this way (so hold off on the criticisms). Ways of eating can sometimes feel like religions... especially if we are enthusiastic about it because it literally saved our life and improved our health and quality of life.

A typical day for me goes something like this:

limit - 20g carbs
goal - 70-90 grams protein
lever - However much fat to fuel the day's activities, usually around 50 grams. Fat is a lever, it can go up or down, depending on fuel needed. If I am less active, I skip those ounces of Cream here and there.

I track everything on Cronometer.

Breakfast: 9am
1/4-1/2 c Plain Yogurt
1/2 c Berries
8 almonds
1oz Real Cream

1 c coffee
1 scoop protein powder
Real Cream to taste (around 1/2 oz)

Lunch: 12pm
Salad -
1-2 c chopped greens (usually spinach or kale)
2-3 boiled eggs - chopped
2-3 mushrooms
1 carrot (or 3-4 minis)
Any other veggie on hand - chopped
1 oz hard natural cheese (usually cheddar or feta) - shredded/crumbled
Dressing -
1/4 c Plain Yogurt
1 Tbsp Ranch Mix Powder
1 oz Real Cream

Afternoon Snack: 3pm (any one of the following, or sometimes skipped)
Nuts
2-4 pieces bacon
1/2 Avocado
Hummus w/sliced veggies and/or bacon "chips"
Chia pudding
Brunschweiger
Chocolate pudding (chocolate protein powder & Real Cream)
other this-n-that that I cannot remember

Dinner: 6pm
A Meat: Salmon filet, Chicken quarter, 1/2 lb ground beef, 1-2 pork chops, 1/2 lb roast (beef or pork) - portion size is determined by protein grams, not weight or size
A Cooked Veggie: (2 cups) sauteed greens, squash, or zucchini; steamed broccoli; seared brussells sprouts, etc - in butter with onions, garlic and mushrooms

if I need to add fat grams (to fuel extra activity) I'll sometimes turn the above dinner into a cream soup. I don't do fat bombs.

Nite Snack: 9pm
2 oz Dark Chocolate
Supplements: Magnesium, Fish Oil/Omega 3, anything I missed during the day.

-------------------
Keeping:
- the bacon, I cook immediately and keep wrapped in paper towels in a ziploc bag
- I haven't figured out a car solution for the fresh veggies and meat - I have an office fridge. If I had a car fridge, I'd use that and just remove/compost the wilted veggies as they occur - same as I do now.
- I have an electrolyte drink that I make myself, because a **** diet is so low in sodium and potassium. It is 16oz water, 1/2-1 tsp sole water (google it), 1/2-1 tsp cream of tartar, juice from 1/2 lemon. I drink that during a hot day, followed by 16oz fresh filtered water. Or I drink it for the Nite Snack, if I didn't get enough electrolytes during the day, as a supplement.

It looks complicated, but it's super easy to follow and keep track of.
 
Now I understand what you mean.
It's complicated, but this 2-hour video explains it well:

Reversing Diabetes with Cyrus Khambatta and Robby Barbaro.

A scientist interviews the authors of the book "Mastering Diabetes: The Revolutionary Method to Reverse Insulin Resistance Permanently in Type 1, Type 1.5, Type 2, Prediabetes, and Gestational Diabetes"

I hope you're doing well.

My daughter's sweetie swears by this book. He has halted his disease process and no longer needs the insulin his doc prescribed.
 
Perri,
On our 1996 Ford CF8000 commercial truck converted to our concept of an ExpeditionVehicle, our cab is separate from our quarters.
By parking facing the sun, we automatically create a green-house.
.
Our sprouts sit anyplace approximately horizontal.
We regulate temperature and humidity by opening the windows more or less.
.
SAILING THE FARM is available used for close to a hundred fedbux, or as a free download:
https://we.riseup.net › sailfarmPDF
Sailing The Farm
I went to the site, registered, and searched for this in Pages, couldn't find it...
 
I follow a ketogenic way of eating. I have reversed pre-diabetes and high blood pressure, and eliminated Rheumatoid Arthritis symptoms eating this way (so hold off on the criticisms). Ways of eating can sometimes feel like religions... especially if we are enthusiastic about it because it literally saved our life and improved our health and quality of life.

A typical day for me goes something like this:

limit - 20g carbs
goal - 70-90 grams protein
lever - However much fat to fuel the day's activities, usually around 50 grams. Fat is a lever, it can go up or down, depending on fuel needed. If I am less active, I skip those ounces of Cream here and there.

I track everything on Cronometer.

Breakfast: 9am
1/4-1/2 c Plain Yogurt
1/2 c Berries
8 almonds
1oz Real Cream

1 c coffee
1 scoop protein powder
Real Cream to taste (around 1/2 oz)

Lunch: 12pm
Salad -
1-2 c chopped greens (usually spinach or kale)
2-3 boiled eggs - chopped
2-3 mushrooms
1 carrot (or 3-4 minis)
Any other veggie on hand - chopped
1 oz hard natural cheese (usually cheddar or feta) - shredded/crumbled
Dressing -
1/4 c Plain Yogurt
1 Tbsp Ranch Mix Powder
1 oz Real Cream

Afternoon Snack: 3pm (any one of the following, or sometimes skipped)
Nuts
2-4 pieces bacon
1/2 Avocado
Hummus w/sliced veggies and/or bacon "chips"
Chia pudding
Brunschweiger
Chocolate pudding (chocolate protein powder & Real Cream)
other this-n-that that I cannot remember

Dinner: 6pm
A Meat: Salmon filet, Chicken quarter, 1/2 lb ground beef, 1-2 pork chops, 1/2 lb roast (beef or pork) - portion size is determined by protein grams, not weight or size
A Cooked Veggie: (2 cups) sauteed greens, squash, or zucchini; steamed broccoli; seared brussells sprouts, etc - in butter with onions, garlic and mushrooms

if I need to add fat grams (to fuel extra activity) I'll sometimes turn the above dinner into a cream soup. I don't do fat bombs.

Nite Snack: 9pm
2 oz Dark Chocolate
Supplements: Magnesium, Fish Oil/Omega 3, anything I missed during the day.

-------------------
Keeping:
- the bacon, I cook immediately and keep wrapped in paper towels in a ziploc bag
- I haven't figured out a car solution for the fresh veggies and meat - I have an office fridge. If I had a car fridge, I'd use that and just remove/compost the wilted veggies as they occur - same as I do now.
- I have an electrolyte drink that I make myself, because a **** diet is so low in sodium and potassium. It is 16oz water, 1/2-1 tsp sole water (google it), 1/2-1 tsp cream of tartar, juice from 1/2 lemon. I drink that during a hot day, followed by 16oz fresh filtered water. Or I drink it for the Nite Snack, if I didn't get enough electrolytes during the day, as a supplement.

It looks complicated, but it's super easy to follow and keep track of.
Can't see anything wrong with that. I tried, 'cause I seem to have a negative sense of what **** is, although I, too, reversed pre-diabetes years ago with a very low carb diet. At that time, I couldn't stay on it long-term because my weight stayed too low. (Not an issue now.) Maybe I should learn more about this approach.
 
I went to the site, registered, and searched for this in Pages, couldn't find it...
When clicking the link, I got the same registration page. Closed that, put "sailing the farm pdf" in search, and it popped right up.
 
I aimed for the Mediterranean diet, but then kinda fell in love with Michael Pollan’s books and “Cooked” 4 part documentary. In fact, that was the catalyst for my sourdough baking. His food rules that I follow are “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” So I do that and don’t make anything totally off limits— just put the things that aren’t real, whole foods and aren’t plants in categories in my head such as occasionally, rarely, once in a blue moon, and it feels like the end of the world today. That last category is when I eat not-food Cheetos and cookies and cake all in one day 😂

About the not too much part— I used my bread making scale for a couple of weeks to teach myself what a real serving size is. That was a real wake-up call!

In the past two years, I lost a lot of weight and all of my prescription drugs. I’m healthier and stronger than I was two decades ago. Yay! Thank you, Michael Pollan 😊
 
After reading all these posts, my choice will now be the Mediterranean diet.
 
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It is true most doctors don't know anything about diet. Only about 30% of them have ever had a single nutrition class.

Diabetics have special needs to keep their blood sugar and A1-C with in acceptable ranges. What works for others doesn't work for them almost always.

Regardless of any diagnosis you may have related to your health the most important thing you can do to start living healthier is to avoid ALL processed foods. Stick with fresh foods, frozen if no additives, fresh protein sources (meat, cheese & nuts are my personal choices).

Most grains are GMO which are resulting in more people having dietary issues, health issues, allergies, etc. Many diseases of unknown origin start with GMO foods and processed foods including fast foods which are mostly processed and shipped to their respective businesses.

The current diet recommendations as grains and breads at the base of a pyramid is a farce and way to destroy your health. The diet recommendations used when we were fighting WWII and continued into the 50's & 60's, maybe longer was three meats/day, dairy (included eggs), vegetables were divided into two groups, fruit, (seams there was a group for nuts and such, not positive) and grains. There were 7 food groups and everyone was to get at least one serving per day from each food group and 2-3 per meal of the different vegetable groups. People were thin then and healthier, and more active. Over weight people were few, gross over weight almost non existent. It was rare you heard of people with cancer, diabetics, and things like Lupus, MS, and so many more diseases were unknown then. The food industry is NOT our friend.
 
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