Continuing from Part I of my final analysis of the "Great Food Reboot Experiment"
- Being gluten-free vegan or raw is much easier when you go food shopping at Whole Foods, shop at farmer's markets and cook at home. Once you have to eat out, it's a whole other ball game. Eating out was a much bigger challenge than I realized, and it makes you really see just how much we Americans eat dairy, eggs, meat, and wheat. It's almost everything. I realized too, just how much I am spoiled living in the Bay Area. My folks live 70 miles away in a suburb and it would be an utter painful and time-consuming experience to try and be gluten-free vegan where they live. Seriously, I had a really hard time trying to find foods to eat that were gluten-free, vegan, and quick to make. At home, not a problem. In the suburbs, fu-git-about-it.
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Because I’m Asian, I went seeking for vegan Asian cookbooks and found very few. I did not find any raw Asian cookbooks. If anyone knows of either, please let me know. As far as Filipino food, I only found a handful of vegan friendly recipes and most of them were about eggplant. Tofu and soy are not widely used in the Philippines. And culturally, those who eat meat and seafood are viewed as well-off because meats tend to be expensive. If you only eat rice, veggies and fruits, it is assumed you are poor, so by association, people eat as much meat as possible to show that they are doing well in life. This is the case in many countries that are not as abundant as the US. So, I wonder how US vegans deal with this kind of situation when they visit foreign countries where meats & seafood are seen as a delicacy and special food. For example, it could take someone a whole week of work to afford just one chicken, but they spend the money to make you a special dish because they view you as an honored guest. Do you refuse to eat this dish and explain to them your moral issues around animals even though you know they spent a week’s worth of pay to make this just for you, or do you eat the dish because it is better to honor the respect they are showing you and avoid the risk of offending and hurting their feelings? Personally, I would eat the chicken dish because it’s far more important to me to see these people happy and show them I am extremely appreciative of the sacrifice they made for my eating pleasure. I’ve been to countries before and eaten things I have no idea what it was but ate it anyway because I knew the dinner was a special event for the host. I know it's tricky, so I'm curious how others have handled that type of situation.
- One of the most exciting things about this experiment is that I saw a
whole slew of new food product opportunities. My creative brain just
got rolling on ideas of new things to make that are gluten-free, vegan
friendly, and tasty because what I found was okay but not much. That just means there's room for more.
- In less than 2 weeks, I noticed a significant difference in how my body felt. I'm definitely less bloated and gassy. My palate has also become quite particular to the fresh and organic foods. I'm telling you that once you start cleaning up your eating, you can't go back. You really feel just how sick those processed foods, and artificial additives make you feel.
- Going forward, I'm going to continue to go dairy and egg free until the end of the month to see how much better (or not) I feel. I'm also going to limit my gluten intake to only 2-3 meals a week. I'm definitely excited to be eating the meats and seafood again. I can see the moral and spiritual reasons to avoid meat, but for me, I see no physical health reason to not eat meat. Overall, the meats I normally eat are high quality like grass fed beef, free range chicken, and wild seafood. I also don't really eat that much meat as a whole. The meats and seafood are also the best source of protein for me because of allergies I cannot eat any beans in the Lima, Pinto, and Kidney family, nor do I like to eat soy. I'll eat some, but not often and definitely not a lot. The other veg protein sources are just not enough for my body. I tried before including this time and it just does not make me feel good especially on days when I workout. Also, I cannot go to my Filipino occasions and not eat the dishes which all have some form of meat or seafood, or use chicken stock.
In conclusion, doing this experiment was really fun, and highly educational. I'd recommend it to anyone who's thinking about doing it. The more I learn about vegan and raw foods, the more I am impressed with how creative these folks are when it comes to veggies and fruits.
When you start eating more "alive" veggies and fruits, and whole grains, and legumes, your palate really adapts pretty quickly and you feel the good feelings right away. I've even learned how steaming your veggies two less minutes can even change the taste of them. There is no need to cover it with sauces and dressings to get some flavor.
Now, I'm wondering what other food experiments I could do. If you got any ideas or have done any yourself, please let me know!
