Blissful Bites (2 page)
I love food. Actually, I am downright crazy about it. But I also love to feel healthy. Sometimes the two can create a tough balance ⦠especially as a vegan.
A decade ago, I was living on junk and fast foods. Even though I enjoyed every bite, the reality of eating that junk for so many years began to catch up with me. I couldn't figure out why I was constantly feeling like crap. So I started to explore the possible causes, and finally some research on my health issues led me to the disturbing finding that these ailments might be a product of what I was eating. It all became clear when I discovered the concept of healing through food. I thought it sounded crazy at first, but I decided to give it a try. After all, what did I have to lose? To my amazement, I started to get better. Then I started to feel better than I had in years, all thanks to foodâthe right food, that is. After about a year of refining my diet, I decided to study holistic nutrition and share what worked for me with anyone who would listen. The light bulb went off in my head and my mission was born: Help as many people as possible change the way they eat. Thus, the
Skinny Bitch
series was born.
I first met Christy in late summer of 2009 for a blind “lunch date” at Seed Café in Venice Beach, California. We both knew prior to the lunch that we had a lot in common. We're both crazy about food and passionate about helping people get healthy. In getting to know Christy, I learned about the path that brought her to where she is today and how her own discoveries of the healing powers of foods led her to be a powerhouse in the kitchen and a true educator through her cooking classes, instructional videos, and role as a blogger. I became one of the fortunate who have experienced first-hand just how amazing her dishes are, after she came to my house and worked her magic in my kitchen. (Note to parents reading this book: even my then 3-year-old son loved every bite.)
Christy has an immense knowledge of good food and the health benefits it provides the body. This cookbookâsure to set your mouth wateringâproves that when knowledge is paired with tried and true experience in the kitchen, the results are dishes that not only taste amazing, but are some of the healthiest recipes on the block.
In this cookbook, Christy takes you by the hand and eases you into her world by teaching you how to stock your pantry and the best kitchenware for your needs, how to cook in sync with the seasons, and integrate fresh, natural, unprocessed and unrefined foods into every meal. These elements, as Christy explains, are responsible for the nourishment of your mind, body, and spirit.
Who knew that healthy eating could taste so delicious! Diving into the world of vegan cooking may seem daunting at first, but Christy's passion for bringing this cuisine into everyone's kitchen makes it seem like a breeze.
I often hear people complain that they simply don't have much time to cook. They also have this idea that cooking a plant-based diet is too time-consuming. The reality is that it's no different than cooking any other kind of foodâit just takes some preparation in the beginning and an open mind. Let Christy guide you through the wonderful world of plant-based cooking, and you will reap all of the benefits it has to offer. You might just find it was the lifestyle you've been looking for all along.
âKim Barnouin, co-author of
Skinny Bitch
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.”
â Joseph Campbell
finding your bliss
Can eating healthy lead us to bliss?
To feel bliss is to experience great happiness or spiritual joy. If our diets are filled with junk, we don't feel vibrant, sexy, and aliveâwe aren't experiencing true bliss. What we eat has a powerful and profound effect on our entire life. The food that we take in becomes every cell in our body, making up our physical, psychological, and spiritual health. Who knew that such a simple act, which we do at least three times a day, is possibly
the
answer to all our problems?
Our health is in a state of crisis. It continues to decline as we are bombarded with fad diets and advertisements for the next quick fix. Our food is sprayed with chemicals and genetically modified; corporations don't look out for our best interests; and cheap, unhealthy fast food continues to be more affordable than healthful meals that nourish us. Since you were drawn to this book, you are probably seeking a change.
Maybe you feel disconnected from your friends, coworkers, and family. Maybe you don't have enough energy to play with your kids. Or perhaps you are sick of the diet rollercoaster and are ready to get off and try something more effective. Do you feel blissful on a daily basis? When you wake up in the morning, do you jump out of bed feeling energetic and ready for anything? If not, then it's time to make a change!
Eating seasonal, local, plant-based foods is the key. The nutrient-rich dishes made from such foods can help you feel radiant, alive, and in tune with your body as well as with the surrounding environment. In a phrase: It lets you find your bliss.
What is bliss? Bliss is being so comfortable in your own skin that you feel tapped into the greater universe. I know it sounds trippy, but hear me out.
After years of study, I have found my bliss. On a daily basis I experience deep contentment. It's my hope that in sharing this message with you, I'll introduce you to the best food you've ever tasted, while connecting you to the greater scheme of life. Through this cookbook, let me take you on a culinary journey that will enlighten your taste buds and put some pep in your step.
I'm not a traditional chef. I didn't go to a traditional culinary school. My focus is on your health. The food you'll find in this cookbook is real foodâmeaning it is in its natural state, pure and simple, unadulterated and completely whole. The dishes here complement a mix of traditional plant-based dietsâvegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, low-fat, and raw foodsâso whichever diet you follow (or are ready to start following), you'll be able to whip up dozens of dishes to suit your needs. What you won't find in these pages is chemical-laden, preservative-filled fake food. This cookbook has recipes that support your health while never leaving you feeling deprived.
Seek guidance from your doctor when starting a new eating plan, but rememberâyou know your body better than anyone. Trust your intuition. Switching to a plant-based diet may feel strange at first. Some people will be able to eliminate animal foods and processed sugary foods all together. But if that is too difficult for you, start by adding more whole grains and green leafy vegetables to your meals, making the transition gradually.
If you eat a diet rich in whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, you can greatly enhance the disease-resisting abilities of your body.
As you start to transform your diet and health, you'll begin to see the bigger picture staring back at you from your dinner plate: you will look at food as fuel for your body and mind, not something purely to satisfy a sensory craving.
You've probably heard the word
vegetarian
; it means a diet that excludes animal meats. The vegan diet expands its view of animals by cutting out all animal products, including dairy, eggs, and even honey. Most vegans also do not wear clothing, shoes, and accessories made from animals or buy products that were tested on animals.
Donald Watson came up with the word
vegan
in 1944 by combining the first three and last two letters of
vegetarian
. Today, a new term,
flexitarian
, is used to describe someone who eats mostly vegetarian meals but still eats animal foods on occasionâthey haven't made the full jump to vegetarianism or veganism.
If that's you, that's okay. You aren't being judged here. I just want you to dip your toe in and feel your bliss start to skyrocket. What I have found is that when I eat a sustainable, plant-based diet I can connect to my bliss. That means I eat an array of plant foods in balance with my surrounding environment that can truly nourish me.
The food in this cookbook will take you on a journey toward bliss. Every recipe in this cookbook is plant-based and vegan, meaning there is absolutely no call for animal products. So not only does this diet improve your health and happiness, but it helps you be kind to our animal friends, too.
This isn't a book about dieting. I don't like the word
diet
that is associated with restricted calories and negative thoughts about ourselves. You may have tried a few of these diets but gained the weight back and felt defeated. The only way to lose weight and keep it off is to change your eating habits and lifestyle for good. If one of your goals is to lose weight, yet not sacrifice taste or joy, this cookbook will make that easier, because eating a whole-food, plant-based diet can help you lose weight in a way that enhances your overall health.
Maybe you don't need to lose weight and you don't have a serious health condition. You can still benefit from the principles in this book, because prevention is the best medicine. If you eat a diet rich in whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, you can greatly enhance the disease-resisting abilities of your body. If your heart is healthy and your immune system is strong, you will have a decreased incidence of the common cold, flu, headaches, allergies, and even such conditions as cancer, heart disease, asthma, arthritis, and diabetesâas well as almost every other disease affecting us today.
Moderation is key when transitioning to a plant-based diet. A teacher of mine taught me to use the “good, better, best” policy when it comes to choosing food. Ask yourself, “Is this the best choice I have at the moment?”
Choose minimally processed and less packaged food. Processed food is junk that contains little nutritional value and is usually high in fat with poor-quality salt and sugar. It's not real food. More energy goes into producing this food than what it actually provides, and the waste from the packaging produces more trash to haul to the landfills, wasting precious resources simply for our convenience of a packaged meal. (Don't even get me started on individually wrapped junk food!)
If your local grocery store has bulk bins, check those out for snack food. You can bring a reusable bag and load up on nuts, dried fruit, granola, sesame sticks, and whatever else is available. Or you can have an apple instead of packaged food. Eating fruit creates very little waste, and the waste it does make is biodegradable.
blissful trick
: When you go grocery shopping, stick to the perimeter or outside aisles of the store. The junk food tends to be on the inside aisles.
The benefits of switching to a plant-based diet are immense, almost immeasurable. Wonderful things happen for nearly everyone who takes the plunge: clear and radiant skin, weight loss, more energy, better sleep, better sex, less stress and anxiety, better digestion, and the greatest gift of all, feeling a deeper connection to the world around you. Eating this way does less harm to the earth than a meat-centered diet that uses precious water, land, and resources. Are you open to the idea that your diet can influence every ounce of your existence?
Eating a plant-based diet is what sets you down a path of bliss. But let's take our plant-based diet a step further by eating local, seasonal, organic foods when possible. With local farmers markets, natural food stores, and online suppliers just a click away, it's never been easier to eat a healthy, organic vegan diet.
When using the “good, better, best” policy, there are some foods that would be good to limit because they are harsh on our organs and damaging to our mental state. These include meat, dairy, eggs, alcohol, caffeine, and junk food with additives and hydrogenated oil. Sugar and alcohol demineralize the body, weakening the immune system, which causes deficiencies and overly acidic blood. If you continue to eat sugar and drink alcohol after giving up animal foods, you will not reap the complete benefits of a healthy plant-based diet. Remember, it's not just about the food you put in your mouth, but rather about embodying a holistic lifestyle that supports and nourishes you in every way.
Along my path to bliss, I studied macrobiotics as part of my holistic nutrition training. Macrobiotics is about creating balance in your body, on your plate, and in your mind and heart. It's about eating whole foods and knowing what your body wants and needs. Studying macrobiotic principles gave me a foundation for optimal health that I couldn't experience just by being vegan. In fact, because a macrobiotic diet is known to improve overall health, many people with chronic illnesses turn to this way of eating.
The macrobiotic diet is not a one-size-fits-all regimen. By practicing a macrobiotic lifestyle, you have the freedom to make conscious decisions for your individual mind, body, and spirit. But first you have to get clean to be able to hear the right messages.
One thing that you'll notice in this cookbook is that most of the recipes do not include members of the garlic or onion family, or when they do, that it's an optional ingredient. If you are already vegetarian or vegan, consider decreasing the onion and garlic family (scallions, leeks, shallots, chives, etc.) in your diet. This will help you feel lighter and more energetic. Garlic is a medicinal herb used to kill bacteria and is not like the food-grade herbs that can be taken daily or in larger amounts. If you eat a plant-based diet, eating onion and garlic is like taking antibiotics when you don't need it. Onions and garlic also are known to have heavy energy, or qi, that can weigh you down and be taxing on your digestive system. Why would you want to eat something that makes you cry like a baby when you chop it, makes your breath and body smell funky, and makes you pass gas? This is your body telling you to stop eating it, so listen more closely to its message. If you look at many Eastern spiritual traditions, onion and garlic are excluded from the diet because it stimulates passion, lust, anxiety, and rage. It's hard to feel bliss and think clearly if you are consumed by all these emotions.
This change may be a hard challenge for many, because onion and garlic have become staples of the American diet, especially the vegetarian, vegan, and macrobiotic diets. You are more than welcome to add onions and garlic to any recipe in this book, but I encourage you to try as an experiment for a week to go sans allium family to see the difference in how you feel. It will be hard to avoid onion and garlic if you eat packaged foods or at restaurants often, but it
is
possible to reduce the amount you are consuming, and to eliminate it completely from your own cooking. Read food labels at the grocery store, and when ordering food at restaurants, ask the waiter or chef what is best to order, or just ask that the onion and garlic be left out of your meal.
What I mean by “clean” is to give up sugar, coffee, simple carbs (such as white bread, pasta, and processed foods, alcohol, animal foods, and other unnecessary items) anywhere from three to six months. This will allow your body to discharge and detox the junk that has been stored up from eating a meat-centered diet. During this time, substitute those subtracted things with natural, organic, plant-based, whole foods. Most likely after your detox period you won't want to add the not-so-clean stuff back into your diet because you'll be feeling so good!
Whether you are on a budget, need to lose weight, have a busy life, or need to heal from an illness or injury, this cookbook and its teachings will help you get back in balance.
You will be amazed at the difference in how you feel on this lighter diet. You will feel healthier and begin to understand what your body wants and needs. A little bit of bliss will call out to you, urging you to continue down a path that makes you feel good.
Whether you are on a budget, need to lose weight, have a busy life, or need to heal from an illness or injury, this cookbook and its teachings can help you get back in balance. The cookbook combines philosophies that I have found to workâfor myself, and for countless other people. It can give you the freedom to make conscious decisions that allow you to nourish yourself and help you connect to your bliss.