The root of the blog (see what I did there)

Am I an expert in plant-based eating? NO! Not even close. I want to take you on my journey to explore healthy new plant-based meals free from most allergens. How did I get here you might ask? It’s quite a story so here it goes….

My husband was a former marine and played college football. He was used to being in shape and years of working a sales job and not having the time or energy to eat right took its toll. Through all of it he continued to work out, but it is very clear that diet is critical for overall well-being. Four years ago, he decided to dedicate himself to losing weight and getting healthy for our daughter (she is almost 7 now) and of course himself. He started eating egg white omelets and eating better while at home. Nothing seemed to be working for him.

I was also used to being in shape. I grew up dancing and was generally always very active. I always had a good metabolism so at maximum I would gain a few lbs. here and there. I am only 5’ tall so any weight adds up. After having my daughter, I lost weight and weighed less than prior to being pregnant with her which was amazing. The moment I stopped breastfeeding I started packing on the pounds. I would find exercise groups and stick with them but my diet was becoming more about convenience working full-time with a small child is exhausting.

Then when I hit 40 in 2019 my metabolism seemed to hit a brick wall. I started gaining even more weight that I have yet to get control of. I was tested for thyroid issues which actually showed that I was closer to the end of the spectrum that would have me losing weight faster. There were no answers except the food I was putting in my body just wasn't cutting it any longer.

We both knew how to work out (finding the time to do so wasn’t always so easy) but working out wasn’t our issue. Eating was. We work full-time and convenience overrode health a lot of times. We never eat fast food, but we started eating out way too often and even then, trying to be healthy I would finish the bread my daughter wanted or share her desserts (you get the picture)! In addition, we both love wine. We live in a great town with lots of incredible restaurants so walking to dinner is easy which makes drinking multiple glasses of wine easy too!

At the advice of a friend we went to a doctor who specialized in nutrition and would do blood work for us to determine if our bodies were sensitive to anything. What are we sensitive to? We were shocked!

Keith is allergic to gluten, lactose, eggs (especially the egg whites – that’s right remember what he was eating to be healthy), soy, tomatoes, corn and bananas!

I am sensitive to gluten, lactose (slightly), eggs and bananas.

It turns out what we thought was helping us was causing serious inflammation, weight gain and fatique!

Keith’s doctor also suggested he eliminate meat and even chicken from his diet. He suggested he read “Eat to Live” by Doctor Joel Fuhrman which honestly changed his life. He hasn’t touched red meat since he heard that form the nutritionist and if you knew my husband before you would know that’s a big deal. He has since eliminated chicken as well.

He embraced these changes early on and continued for almost 2 years of eating primarily pescatarian meals focusing on trying to eat primarily plant-based and still mostly does but has fallen off track a bit mostly due to boredom.

I on the other hand never fully embraced these changes. I LOVE bread and I LOVE cheese. Needing an extra push - I have decided to start putting some effort into this and being supportive of him while improving my own health. It's also become clear to me that since the first attempt at this type of lifestyle there are a number of new foods, resources and general support around a vegan lifestyle.

We live in the northeast so keeping fish in his diet makes this new lifestyle a bit easier and the reason we will not go strictly plant-based at all times (although the end goal is more of our meals will be plant-based). Since we are both sensitive to gluten and dairy finding meals without meat that are gluten-free and dairy free had me searching “gluten free vegan meals” to eliminate the dairy as well…Easy right? Most still have corn and tomatoes but we are trying to make it work. Recently we made the decision to start getting creative with meals again.

Eating this way doesn’t have to be boring. Don’t get me wrong…he eats fish and I eat fish and meat but we are both trying to eat plant-based meals that work for us regularly. Oh and did I mention my daughter has never eaten meat? In fact she refuses to eat it…not for any reason except she simply does not like it. So here’s hoping we can all start eating family meals again that are less processed and generally keeping us fitter and healthier as we get older.

Look for our family adventures into cooking exciting plant-based foods! Join us as we try to make plant-based eating fun for us.