I believe that, from a health perspective, what you put into your body is just as important as what you don't. The same goes for what you put on your body. I know a lot of people want to ‘eat healthier‘, just go to 43Things to see how many people have listed this as their goal. So one of the reasons I've put together this site to try to help people achieve that goal.
I'm aware that everyone is starting at a different place, and ‘eat healthier' is relative to where you are now. So I will have a variety of recipes – delicious recipes that are healthier than the average diet. Recipes that include fish because it's a good source of protein and essential oils. And because I know I've lost count of the number of people I've met who, on finding out that I'm vegetarian tell me that they were vegetarian once too, but aren't now. When I ask for how long, in all cases but one the answer was the same, “five years”. I find this interesting because after being a strict vegetarian for five years I started eating fish because I felt I needed something. Everyone else I have spoken to about this broke their vegetarian ‘fast' by going to McDonalds (in most cases), by eating red meat. Which made them all sick, as it would, after 5 years of your stomach not producing the enzymes to digest red meat it needs a little more preparation before tackling a job as energy-intensive as that. I'd gone through the same thing, except in my case I never liked red meat or pork, and I thought I'd be too squeamish to pick the flesh off a chicken wing, but I had enjoyed fish. In fact I used to enjoy fishing as a kid, and part of the deal was I had to clean my own catch. I went to a restaurant and ordered fish and listened to hear what my body had to say about eating fish. Turns out it was good. Digested better than bread – I was much later to find out I had a wheat allergy. But I don't have recipes any other type of meat of this site mostly because I became a vegetarian before I learned to cook meat, and not being a meat eater I couldn't really say if something is good-tasting or not. I also firmly believe that most most sold is raised and obtained under cruel circumstances and is saturated with so many chemicals, antibotics and hormones, that I can't really include it on my list of healthy food options.
I know that I'm probably going to get some comments that some of the things on this site are not ‘healthy'. Strict vegetarians can argue that fish isn't healthy. Vegans can argue that dairy and eggs aren't healthy. Raw foodists can argue that anything cooked is dead and not healthy. I could go on… but I'm sure you get the idea, so I'll spare you.
I'll just say here, firstly if you are one of these vegetarians or vegans, or whatever type of healthy eater – good for you! As long as you are eating sensibly you are eating healthier than most of the population on planet Earth! But secondly, and just as important – chill out… everyone has to start somewhere and if they've made a decision to eat healthier their choices are relative to the place they're starting from. Just ignore the recipes that you deem too un-healthy for you, please. Someone starting from a meat-heavy, deep fried, refined sugary snacks and soft-drink diet were to suddenly only eat vegan raw food their body would probably rebel, with the result that most of them would revert back to their unhealthy dietary habits. I want to give everyone with a desire to eat better some recipes and knowledge to do so. Start where you are, and do what you can. Don't beat yourself up, but just keep striving to improve. Keep coming back (or subscribe to the RSS feed), and keep learning. It will make a positive difference.
Remember… as the Zen saying goes, “The journey is the destination”.
One of the problems with eating healthier is that while it's obvious that a salad is going to be healthier than deep fried chicken from KFC, what's often not so obvious to many of us is what invisible harmful chemicals might be lurking in our otherwise healthy food choices. For that reason you'll also find a lot of articles where I rant on about organic food as opposed to commercially grown food. I know for many of us it can be more difficult to buy organic, maybe it's not something you even want to think about right now because your still trying to make that transition from KFC to stir-fry vegetables and brown rice. But the articles are there when you are ready for them.
Having a wheat allergy myself I'm aware that for many people eating healthy means avoiding certain foods… depending on what you are allergic to it can seem like your food choices have diminished. Allergies to common foods means that you have to be much more knowledgable and organized in order to feed yourself well, you can't just ‘grab a quick bite to eat' by popping into a shop or cafe. I've built this site to make it easy for those with common food allergies in mind. I love it when I go into a restaurant that has a ‘V' next to every vegetarian item on the menu – that make it so easy for me. I've used catetgories in a similar way. If you've got a gluten allergy for instance, you can just browse the recipes and articles in the ‘gluten-free' category for recipes you can use without adjusting them or having to sort through a bunch of recipes to see which might be suitable for you.
I've been on the journey a long time… and, after a few decades one of the things I've noticed is that most of the time I'm going around in circles. Big circles, you might even call them life cycles. I haven't eaten red meat or pork since 1975-76. I'm a vegetarian, but sometimes I eat fish (that would technically make me a pescatarian). I spent 2 years where I fasted for 3 days every month. I've also spent time adhering to a vegan diet, a raw food diet, and throughout I've eaten organic… and not. One thing I know for sure is that I'm healthier (and look younger) than most people my age. Have I had a perfectly healthy diet for all that time? No. But I do know that the healthier choices that I have, and do make in my diet have most definitely made a difference.
I also know that what you put into your body is not just what you put in your mouth and swallow. It's affected by what you put on your skin and it's also affected by what you put into your brain, your thoughts. So even though these last two items don't strictly fall under ‘healthy eating' like the name of this site says, I'm sure I'll have something to say on them as well.
I'll leave you with this, because it's probably the most important concept for you to understand:
The journey is the destination
Now get moving!