This morning after everyone got back to school and work, I headed off to the gym. I got my weight circuit done and 30 minutes on the elliptical and then headed home. I have a lot to do today to catch up with all the things that got put off last week with everyone home. The bathrooms are especially filthy!
Char asked how do my husband and three teenage boys cope with the fact that I eat a mainly vegan diet, and I wanted to share the answer: it's all about being flexible. First of all, if we go out to eat (about 2-3 times a month) everyone can choose whatever they want, and they do often choose something with meat (although my husband often buys the vegetarian lunch at work). At home, I mainly cook vegetarian meals (which will sometimes include dairy or eggs for them) that I know they like, or I cook a meal that includes a vegetarian option and a meat or fish option (we have access to good quality organic meat, which makes me feel a bit better about serving it); this I do about once or twice a week. We also don't use large amounts of meat in a meal - I think Mark Bittman is right when he says meat should be an accent to a meal, not the centerpiece. I always try to make veggies the centerpiece, and buy no more than 100 grams of meat per person for a meal.
For example, yesterday I made Indian food, which was a lentil-pumpkin curry, a chickpea-spinach curry, a chicken tikka masala, brown rice, and sliced oranges. My oldest son and husband eat a little of everything, my middle son eats only chicken and rice, and my youngest eats mainly chicken and rice with a little bit of lentils. And I very happily eat the veggie options (am looking forward to the leftovers for my lunch in little while)!
My biggest challenge is my middle son, who is very picky about what he eats. I try to save meals that are less appealing to him for the days when he eats a warm meal at school at lunchtime, and stick to the vegetarian meals I know he enjoys on the other days. Examples of things he likes are my vegetarian lasagna, veggie "meat" balls in tomato sauce, a tofu stew with potatoes and carrots (I serve it in little puff pastry cups which they love), and my seitan-macaroni sautee. It's just a question of being flexible, offering a variety of different foods and not forcing them. Which wouldn't work with teenagers anyway!
They all know the reasons why I am so passionate about eating a plant-strong diet, and with cancer in several family members on both sides of our extended family, I hope that as they get older they will keep in mind how important diet and lifestyle is in lowering their risk. I guess my main goal is to be a good example for them, and at the same time, reduce my own personal health risks, and contribute in a small way to saving the environment and reducing the suffering of animals in the food industry and people in developing countries where food isn't as abundant as it is here.