July 2020 - We've all heard it before because it's a simple formula. You can eat less, move more, or - ideally - you can do those two things in tandem. As I inch towards fifty (yes! I turned forty-seven this year), I am definitely trying to be better about all of this. However, instead of 'eat less,' because that is exceptionally challenging as a food writer, I am making my mantra: eat better, move more. In this case, Jake and I are looking at eating more plants.
On the eating side, I'm bad with diets. Over the past few years, we've dipped our toes into gluten-free eating; we tried Whole30 for a month. We've detoxed from sugar for a month; we've removed dairy from our meals for a month. And while I object to 'diets', Jake is still adamant that he wants a meal plan that will help him shed some unwanted pounds and keep him healthy for the long haul. As we creep into our mid to late 40s, I know he's right. Besides, I like him. So, I want to keep him around and heart disease runs in his family.
We don't have the metabolisms we did when we were 20. We lament the loss of those six-pack abs we were both sporting when we met two decades ago. Not sure we'll ever get those back, but we can certainly strive to be more healthy.
After he half-jokingly accused me of 'fattening him up for the kill,' I realized that he was serious. He wanted a plan that wasn't a diet so much as a lifestyle change. So, I'm researching the Blue Zones Diet. Again, I object to the word 'diet'. I hate diets. Clearly. But I can get behind a well-thought out eating plan. Stay tuned for this adventure! It's more plants, less meat (or in Jake's case, no meat), less sugar, less dairy, more beans, and more cruciferous.
This page will be a work in progress, but I'll start slowly. Really slowly. Still one foot in front of the other is still better than sitting on the couch, right?! One thing we've committed to doing as a family: walks during the week and longer hikes on the weekend. And our trail guru is brutal. But, really, when we're spending time together, who cares if it's hard?
Jake and I are going to be more mindful of what we put into our bodies and eat to exercise instead of exercising to eat. Well, it's a journey. Follow along! This is the book that's been inspiring me recently: The Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100 by Dan Buettner.*
*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more, but it helps support my culinary adventures in a small way. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.
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