My Dietary Guidelines

So, I've been doing lots of research for my 30-day challenge of consuming a whole-foods, plant-based diet.. And I've decided I want to make some modifications to a few of the recommendations. As a Registered Dietitian, I think I have that right..  :)

1) The doctors in Forks over Knives promote a practically vegan diet, including no added oils or fats, including nuts and avocado. I am not going to follow this recommendation. I, for one, do not feel it is necessary to avoid all fat and I'd like to avoid fatty acid deficiency, which I thought I had freshman year of college. (I didn't--it was just dry skin from the cold Utah weather.. I also thought I had scurvy the following year. Sigh.. I'm crazy. That's what nutrition classes do to you!) I will stick to my canola oil, olive oil, and butter (if necessary). I will consume nuts if they are present in a dish. Since Graham is allergic to tree nuts, I doubt I'll be eating them much.

2) No dairy products are allowed on this diet. I don't drink milk and I don't eat yogurt hardly ever, so that's not a big problem. The bigger issues are butter, cream cheese, and cheese. What I'm going to do is avoid the fatty cheeses like cheddar, and stick to small amounts of parmesan, if needed.

3) Nothing with a face or mother. I am going to avoid all meats and meat products. No eggs, bacon, chicken, nothin.. However, I do have chicken and beef stock that I may use, in the sake of not going broke buying vegetable stock.

4) Nothing artificial, like Diet Coke, Pam spray, etc. If you know me, you know that I must have my diet soda in the morning. Therefore, I am not giving it up.

5) Whole grains without added fat or sugar. This is where it may get tricky. As with #1, I may just have to ignore the "no added fat" recommendation. The no added sugar also rubs me the wrong way. I think I'll just ignore this for now, and just avoid added sugars when possible.

As you may or may not know, I get free food at the hospital I work at.. which means I will probably have to bring in some food to work. Seriously, the only fruits they have every day are apples, oranges, grapes, and bananas. Boy am I freaking sick of apples and I can't stand bananas.

I received a panicked call from my sister today about my "vegan" challenge. She was concerned about my plan for Thanksgiving. Don't worry.. I will consume some turkey that day in the name of tradition. I also clarified my dietary goals..

I'm going to follow the Word of Wisdom (WoW). Now, for you that aren't LDS (Mormon), we have guidelines on how to take care of your body, i.e. no alcohol, coffee or tea, drugs, tobacco, etc. There is also a recommendation to "eat meat sparingly". I'm going to go off on a little tangent right now. Not to knock some people (ok maybe I will..), but some LDS people are so strict about the WoW that they believe caffeine is of the devil because it is in coffee/tea. I cannot say for sure why we have been asked not to drink those items, but for me, it doesn't mean caffeine. But, these same people who avoid all sources of caffeine willingly eat meat every day, possibly even every meal. Is this "sparingly"? I doubt it. It's a bit ironic don't you think? Where are all of the Mormon vegetarian supporters huh??

So, that's my plan in a nutshell. We'll see how it goes!