Vegan before 6pm and no processed foods ever - The Kids Aprove Our New "Yogurt" and "Cheese"

Transitioning the family to vegan before 6pm is a process for sure. This week I think we may have experienced some success in the "Breakfast Roadblock" and the "Cheese Addict" departments.

• My kids eat large quantities of yogurt for breakfast. It is the defining part of the meal. I was waivering whether to let them continue in the pattern. Call it a "vegan waiver" if you will. Now that I'm on page 157 of The China Study and the latest heath reports that 1:5 young people have high blood pressure, I've chosen to take on the transition battle with yogurt.  We've had success with So Delicious Coconut Milk yogurt! My son, very particular about and attached to his yogurt, has eaten it two days in a row and declared that he approves. My 1-year-old isn't ready for coconut yet. I'm gearing up to have her try it soon. The yogurt is more processed than the goat milk version they've been nuts about, but I figure one step at a time. My next step is to start introducing different hot breakfast cereals with many toppings and see where that leads.
• My son is a cheese addict. I don't use that word lightly. (I also sympathize. I haven't met a truffle pecorino that hasn't made me go weak in the knees.) It has been well documented that casein, the protein component of cow's milk, breaks down to opiod compounds when we digest them.  My son would demand cheese upon waking and then at regular intervals throughout the day. A refused request for cheese was usually met with a tantrum of some sort. Upon eating cheese, or any dairy for that matter, he immediately became congested and spaced-out. He also had acid indigestion and threw up several times a week for the first 4 years of his life. Asserting strength of will to withstand the meltdowns was tough, even with allergy testing results in hand. My husband and I explained to him why we were going to take a break from dairy and he acquiesced. We transitioned him to goat milk dairy with great success. The "addictive" behavior stopped, the vomiting stopped. Success. Now making the transition from goat milk dairy to no-dairy is the challenge.  The only non-dairy "cheese" he likes is the Rice Vegan American Slices. He loves Kraft American slices, so I figured I might be able to sneak the vegan alternative in. It worked! He thought it was his beloved Kraft and asked for a second cheese sandwich! (Thankfully, Kraft American is not really cheese, but I digress...)

Cooking When No One is Hungry

I love to cook when no one is hungry and it can be a wonderful exercise in mindfulness meditation; being present with the herbs releasing their aromatic oils to the air as I am separating the individual leaves by hand, rinsing, and ripping, Cilantro. Mint. Basil. Kitchen aromatherapy.

Tonight I took a few hours preparing an Asian-inspired meal with a sweet dessert treat. Mark Bittman is fast becoming one of my favorite recipe authors. His recipes are simple, easy to follow, and most importantly - they WORK (unlike those of Martha Stewart, but I digress... .) Tonight I tried out Thai Beef Salad and paired it with Noodles with Mushrooms . Fantastic! Thankfully I had my husband around to cook the steak to medium rare. Having spent from ages 12 to 29 as a vegetarian, I never learned to cook meat. I can now cook chicken consistently, however beef is still in many ways a mystery to me. The meal was light, flavorful, and satisfying. This would be great with a beautiful chardonnay or a plum wine.

For dessert I prepared the Coconut Nut Chews. So delicious. I cut the nuts to 1 cup and added 1/2 cup of rice milk chocolate chips. I was surprised at how easy these were to make. Twenty five minutes to prepare and bake and 30 minutes to cool. I do recommend transferring the chews on the parchment paper onto the rack to cool rather than transferring them by spatula. The chews were kid approved!

Now, the real question, did the kid eat the dinner? I had low expectations going in that my son would embrace the meal. I reserved some of the pasta for him and topped it with marinara sauce from a jar. I also set aside some steak for him and he was quite happy to dip it in ketchup. He was quite happy with his adapted version.

Are You Eating Peanut Butter or Imitation Peanut Butter Spread?

Just in case you were wondering... side-by-side comparison of Skippy (or as I call it imitation peanut butter spread) and Peanut Butter (in this case, the Organic Creamy Peanut Butter from Trader Joe's.)

SKIPPY
190 calories (140 calories from fat), 16 grams fat, 150 milligrams sodium, 7grams carbohydrate, 7 grams protein.
Ingredients: Rosted Peanuts, Sugar, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Cottonseed, Soybean, and Rapeseed), Salt.

PEANUT BUTTER
200 calories (140 calories from fat), 15 grams fat, 45 mg sodium, 7 grams carbohydrate, 9 grams protein.
Ingredients: Organic Peanuts, Salt.

Let's just say all calories aren't created equal. Neither are peanut butters. But you already knew that.

Vegan before 6pm and no processed foods ever - Can our family survive?

For numerous reasons - which will soon be discussed - I am a lapsed vegan on the comeback trail and I'm bringing my family with me. I don't know if we'll ever get to a pure vegan lifestyle, but the journey will be well worth the effort on the road to being a mindful family.

Food Matters, by Mark Bittman, outlines such a common, non-dogmatic approach to eating more mindfully that I'm taking it on and rooting for my family to join me. No animal products before 6pm and no processed foods. Sounds easy enough, right? 

Roadblock #1 - Breakfast. Both my children (ages 1 and 5) eat goat's milk yogurt for breakfast every morning. To say they are obsessed would be an understatement. Both will consume it to the point of, well, I need go no further, do I? And they  have both done it. More than once. What should I swap in to at least start us on the road to decreasing this dairy food? It is now obvious to me that I will need to do some research which will be followed by much trial and error.

Roadblock #2 - It turns out that I am addicted to junk food. This was a little shocking to me to realize and humbling to admit to myself (and now you.) I think of myself as being a "healthy eater." However it turns out that upon closer examination, in spite of being a lover and connoisseour of fruits and veggies, I have a wicked junk food jag which is usually satisfied with something highly processed on a daily basis. I wouldn't call myself a "heavy user." However processed foods do seem to occupy a very important roll as emotional crutch for me. Today I managed to partially satiate this craving with 1/2 roasted sweet potato with a teaspoon of organic brown sugar. I'm assuming that the cravings will decrease over time. In the meantime I keep reminding myself one of the major reasons I'm making this shift. Quite simply, sugar and processed foods are killing all of us and I don't want me or my children (which have a 1:3 chance of developing type 2 diabetes in their lifetime if they follow the conventional American diet and lifestyle) to be a statistic.

Off to check my kombucha which is brewing on my counter ... natural carbonated beverage!