Meatless Monday Adventures

As we embark on our delightful and delicious journey of joyful health and wild plant adventures together, I hope you’ll consider incorporating Meatless Monday into your week.

Really any day is fine, but I always enjoyed the levity and reset after a (sometimes overindulgent) weekend. It’s one self-care day to eat lighter, healthier, and cheaper! If this concept has not hit your radar yet, now is your time to dive in, and be adventurous! Embrace the opportunity to challenge yourself and give something new a try!

There was a time when I literally could not comprehend a meal without meat, or cheese, for that matter and that made me a part of the mainstream norm here in the good ol’ USA! Born and raised in Northern Wisconsin, I’m a bona fide Green Bay Packer “Cheesehead” from birth and ate the hearty midwestern diet that my beautiful Mom and powerhouse of a grandmother cooked day in and day out. We were a food-driven family and cycled repeatedly, through the recipes of our ancestors, like spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and roasted chicken, alternating those “tried and true” dishes with exciting new recipes cut from our daily newspaper and Good Housekeeping. Sporadically, we were peppered with TV dinners, canned spaghetti rings and boxes of mac and cheese. Every kid’s dream!

I digress.

Fast forward to my mid-50’s, I found myself in need of a new “recipe” for my eating passion, but one that would allow me to embrace my health and live with the wild, youthful gusto I desire! The day I found out that I was super unhealthy was a turning point for me. High cholesterol, high blood
pressure, fatty liver, pre-diabetic, obese, sluggish, fatigued, debilitating migraines, achy joints, I was a mess and had no idea how dire my condition really was, until I was sitting in a paper gown on the edge of a clammy vinyl table in stark fluorescent lighting, feeling all fabulous about myself. Ha! Not exactly.

I was suddenly motivated to figure out what I could do that did not have me scurrying to Walgreen’s for one of those plastic “Monday through Sunday” pill holder thingy’s so I could keep all my prescriptions organized! That was a visual of my life that I just could not embrace and had to draw the line! Miraculously, plant-based eating landed on my radar as I searched the interwebs for how to regain my paltry health and I spied a breadcrumb that led me to a path that one step at a time, eventually saved my life! One small change here, one Meatless Monday there, and the door burst open, and bright light streamed in, reflecting a rainbow of vibrant health and good nutrition that’s created in nature and found in all plant foods. The colors are incredible, and the taste is indulgently delicious.

This story brings me to the introduction of my new weekly blog series, Wild Meatless Monday Adventures to show how we can minimize our meat consumption, one day a week, and maximize our health goals and fuel our future wild adventures! This has nothing to do with weight, although weight loss will probably be a happy side effect, and has everything to do with what’s happening “on the inside”! That’s the part we don’t find out about until it’s later than we’d prefer, and the part that means everything to our longevity, vitality, and ability to pounce on our happy years with the gusto we desire!

Thankfully, as I’ve found in my own life, it’s never too late!

Mine was a slow journey of discovery that began at 55, but following that delicious breadcrumb, was the kind of momentum that little by little got me moving in the right direction to eventually regain my health and lose 60 pounds. Now it’s my turn to make that journey easier for you! You can superbly enjoy every morsel of food that crosses your lips, (one of my main motivating requirements for optimal life pleasure and survival), not succumb to daily exercise exhaustion, (unless that’s your thing), and travel the free and easy road trip in your mind to good health, with a stop at a few wineries along the way! Deal? Let’s GO!

Wild Adventure Challenge:
Click here for a Meatless Monday dish that will warm your belly or make one of your favorite dishes but replace the meat with mushrooms, chickpeas or lentils, all great substitutes and loaded with vitamins, minerals and fiber! Spoiler alert, “fiber” is my favorite F-word and will be the subject of another health-promoting post very soon!

Love + Lentils,