What's In Your Diet?

Our daily dose of vitamins

Having a ‘health nut” primary physician can really have an impact to people like us who have “eat, drink, and be merry” attitude. While my husband and I are not planning to be a pure vegetarian, the change in our diet is benefiting us significantly.

The last time my husband went for his routine checkup, his doctor made a comment that if all his patients will do what my husband does, he will be out of work. He was so happy that all the tests came normal, including my husband’s blood sugar level. He has a type 2 diabetes.

How did we do it? We never tried to starve ourselves nor take away the foods we love. For some reason, when we try restricting ourselves, we meet all kinds of resistance from within. It feels like punishment! 

Instead of taking away, we added more. We incorporated vegetables in everything we eat. We also started eating fish more.

For breakfast, we eat vegetable smoothie. I talked about it in my previous post. The doctor did not advise fruit juicing because of my husband’s diabetes. It would be like injecting sugar directly into his viens. 

For lunch, we usually eat light snacks. We go back to our heavy meat diet for dinner.

As we eat more vegetables and fish, we noticed that it changed our appetite. Our cravings for meat became less and less. We realized it when my husband grilled hamburgers for dinner one afternoon. When we started eating, we could not swallow it. We lost our appetite for it. We ate salad instead.

Our meat consumption now is very minimal. We do not buy expensive steaks and pork chops anymore which in turn, saves us money. 

From carnivores to...wait, what?

Kale became a vital part of our everyday diet.

During the flu season in 2012, my husband and I caught the virus. We got hit so bad I thought we were going to die. Even when we recovered from it, it took us a few months before we totally gained our strength back.

That experience made us reconsider our eating habits. We both love meat. We can eat steak everyday. When we were newlyweds, we ate steak almost everyday until we got so sick of it.

My husband hardly ate vegetables. I do like vegetables but I like meat better. We were a family of carnivores until my husband's primary doctor persuaded him to eat more vegetables and less meat if not at all.

It was hard in the beginning. My husband does not like cooked vegetables and munching on carrots and celery can get boring. 

One morning, my husband suggested, maybe if we would make a smoothie out of different vegetables, we will be able to eat it.

It took a few experiments before we finally perfected the right combination. It is a mixture of banana, blueberries, tomatoes, carrots, celery, kale, spinach, cucumber, chia seeds and flax seeds. I know, it does not sound appetizing but believe me, it is good and it works. We eat it everyday for breakfast.

Another flu season had passed and thougn we were always surrounded by sick people, we did not get sick at all. We even stopped buying and taking vitamins and other supplements. We get all the nutrients we need from fresh vegetables and fruits.

Eating healthy can save you money in the long run. You will not be spending it on doctors, medications and hospitals. 

A Savory Saving

We love herbs. Every time we cook, it will not be complete until we put some fresh herbs on it. Our favorites are basil, oregano, parsley, rosemary, thyme, and lemon grass. If you buy those, a small pack would cost $3 to $4 each. We try to save the leftovers but most of the times, they end up in the trash can.

I always feel bad everytime I throw away the wilted or dried herbs. It is like throwing money in the trash can. 

Since we only like using fresh herbs, I decided to plant my own to eliminate waste. I bought two large pots and planted basil and parsley on one, and oregano and thyme on the other. I planted the rosemary and lemon grass on the ground. 

The ones that I planted on the pots are the ones that cannot stand very cold temperature. During winter, I move them to a protected area or inside the house. I even transfer some in a smaller pot and place it on the kitchen counter. In that way, I would have an endless supply of herbs. 

If you live in an apartment and do not have a yard, you can always plant your favorite herbs on small pots and have a little herb garden in your kitchen.

I let the herbs flowers and produce seeds, then let the seeds fall in the pot and grow. They reproduce themselves pretty well. It has been three years since I planted my herbs and I have not yet had to buy any new seeds.

Not only the herb adds beauty to the landscape, it also provides soothing aroma. What a way to save!