Really!- 'Yuk' to the "Mediterranean diet"?! : Just because it includes the word diet, doesn't make it a sad and yucky thing! No need to deny yourself Any pleasures. Just be Moderate- maybe Extramoderate with meat-and use excellent quality ingredients when you can get them: Dietary guidelines all sound yucky and limiting, but Italian and Spanish is some of the best the world has to offer- so look up some recipes online. Barbeques of cut up peppers, onions and eggplant on skewers are beautiful and add flavor to everything, as well as an amazing scent in the air. Mushrooms cooked up slowly in a tablespoon of olive oil in a cast iron pan, with a small squeeze of garlic, ditto.
Add to rice, add to scrambled egg...

Grated Reggiano Parmesan may cost almost as much as gold , chunk for chunk- but even a small amount grated and sprinkled on just about Anything makes it delicious( and calciumrich).

Beans are amazingly satisfying, if you buy them dry, and soak them in a bowl of water in your fridge overnight ( pour in enough water to cover the beans plus a couple of inches over). Then cook them in a pot stovetop for an hour or two the next day. Look up veggie chili recipes, look up white bean soup, etc.. Cold ( but cooked) white beans in good olive oil are Delicious and filling, and wonderful on rosemary crackers you can buy.

Nuts are another amazingly satisfying food. If you put them in your tiarer pan for a few minutes, it releases their flavour and makes them hold their crunch, if you add them to salads or to rice. (I recently have been low energy and nauseous due to cancer treatments, so eat Amy's frozen rice macaroni and cheese from the supermarket, microwaved- but add a huge handful of toasted walnuts, which makes an amazing five minute preptime meal. The other standby is Amy's Mac and Chili bowl- veggie- but I microwave frozen spinach and mix half a packet of that in, which is a delicious mess.Not what every doctor would order- and any /every "foodie" out there would be sure to say"Yuk"-but at least I'm Eating!- and it's quite nutritious, meat-free, and takes six minutes to prepare! Lets me get to sleep which is major).

Anyway point is, you will not be denying yourself, but finding new riches, if you just look for a few simple additions to your more familiar "diet", that suit your own taste buds. And it will begin to satisfy you surprisingly, as meat does, over time.

Jump to this post