Adventures in a Plant Based Diet and New Way of Living

Onto the next adventure!  A Plant Based Diet!  We stumbled upon this, after watching "Forks Over Knives," "FoodMatters," and "Food, Inc."  It will open your eyes to our "quick and convenient" (and unhealthy) society!

These are the types of diets we learned:
Omnivorous - An omnivorous diet is one in which both animal and vegetable foods are eaten.
Carnivorous - A carnivorous diet is one that contains animal flesh—that is, meat.
Lacto-ovo-vegetarian - This is the most common of the vegetarian diets, one that does not include animal flesh but does use the by-products of the chicken and/or cow—eggs and milk products (vegans, or strict vegetarians, do not eat these foods).
Lacto-vegetarian diets - exclude meat, fish, poultry and eggs, as well as foods that contain them. Dairy products, such as milk, cheese, yogurt and butter, are allowed in a lacto-vegetarian diet.
Vegan - This is the strict, or pure, form of vegetarianism. No animal products are consumed, including meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy products — and foods that contain these products.  This diet is only fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds. This means No eggs, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, butter, or other milk products are eaten.
Macrobiotic - A macrobiotic diet consists almost exclusively of cooked foods. Raw foods are felt to be difficult to digest and too cooling for our system. Thus, it is primarily a vegetarian, almost vegan, diet, but it seems to contain more protein and nutrients than the standard vegetarian cuisine.
Raw Foods - It basically consists of uncooked whole foods. Foods are eaten in their uncooked, most potentially nutritious state, with the vital elements of nature still contained in them.

The thought of not eating meat is almost like a drug addict not getting his fix!  However, it was a lot easier than originally thought!  We have now made Vegetarian Chili, Lasagna, "Burgers", Tacos, etc. just to name a few!  And lo' and behold - no one is dying of lack of (what they thought) protein!  There is soooo much out there you CAN eat (and actually more of!) that doesn't have the huge amounts of fat, calories, sodium, etc.  Quantity and Quality!!

In all actuality, Dairy has been more difficult to 'get' around and substitute.  But, one thing at a time!  We'll work on that soon.  For now it's

NO:

Meat

Fried Foods

Boxed/Prepared Foods

YES:

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Legumes

As always, everything is Fat Free or Low Fat and always seasoned with Sea Salt and Pepper.  If you're using Celery or Celery Salt, you may not want to use the Salt, as Celery has a natural "saltiness" flavor to it.