FAQ

Questions we often get asked by our friends and family ~


Q - Are you vegetarian?  Are you vegan?

A - Although we do not eat many animal products, we are not completely vegan nor completely vegetarian. Instead, we strive to a diet of mostly whole plant foods, with our emphasis on the "big five" (fruits, vegetables, nuts & seeds, beans & lentils, and whole grains).


Q - What DO you eat? 

A - We eat delicious meals that are strikingly similar to the meals we ate before we changed our diet, but with less meat, dairy, and processed foods.  Now, our daily menu looks like this:

      Breakfast:   oatmeal with walnuts & fresh fruit
                          or, just a banana and walnuts

      Lunch:         a big salad topped with a healthy salad dressing and beans
                          plus a green smoothie

      Dinner:        a main dish such as black bean chili, tofu burgers, or vegetable enchiladas
                          plus steamed vegetables, fruit, and so on

    
Q - Do you snack?

A - For the most part, we do not snack between meals.  Before finding this way of eating, we ate several small meals a day as the "experts" recommended.  Now, however, we no longer get blood sugar drops and spikes in between meals, so we don't get hungry between meals.  This allows for the body to digest the food after meals and then get back to its important work of healing and maintaining a healthy body.

Q - Do you use olive oil?  Isn't it a healthy oil?

A - Yes and no.   We do use olive oil occasionally but only a small fraction as often as we used to use it in recipes and salad dressings.   The studies that show olive oil to be healthy for you generally compare olive oil with saturated fats like butter, shortening, and so on.  So, although olive oil is healthier than butter, it's better to consume fats in their whole, unprocessed form.  Processing olive oil, even cold processing, loses much of the natural nutrients found in olives.   On the other hand, eating whole, raw nuts like walnuts or whole, raw seeds like sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and so on, gives you not only the healthy fats but also the natural fiber and nutrients that come packaged together.   Plus, 1 cup of olives has nearly 2,000 calories.

Q - Do you use salt?

A - We are not salt free yet, but we try to use less salt in our recipes.  Instead, we use other seasonings, so that our foods are still very flavorful.