Cooking-Food-Nutrition

  
I love to cook.  I'm not bad at it either.  I don't tend to be the most creative chef, and I personally like fairly plain, simple food.  I don't measure a lot of things, I just go by eye, taste, and smell, and judging by the way folks rave about my cooking apparently that seems to work out okay! 

I gave up eating beef back at the beginning of January 2009 in an effort to help lower my cholesterol and start on a path to healthier eating.  This had an unexpected effect on my body.  I am someone that has struggled with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome my entire life and suddenly within six months of ceasing to eat beef, I noticed a significant lessening of my PCOS symptoms and established a regular, normal, ovulation and menstrual cycle for the first time in my life.  I'm not pointing fingers at the beef industry, but I sincerely believe that the growth hormones in commercially produced beef exacerbated my condition.

Fast forward to the beginning of June 2010- I made the leap to being a full ovo-lacto vegetarian with a leaning towards organic, low sodium, whole grain, healthy foods.

I'm enjoying my vegetarian switch.  And in this past year I have lost well over 100lbs.  I'm not entirely sure how much weight I've lost overall, our scale only goes to 300lbs and I know I pegged it out for quite a while.  I'm currently at 225lbs and still losing.  And I have gone from wearing a tight ladies size 24 to a ladies size 14.  I have all but eliminated my migraines and I just feel good.  It's hard to explain.

I listen to my body now.  I eat when I'm hungry, not because the clock tells me I should.  I eat fruit and drink coffee and tea and bread and anything else I get a hankering for.  But in moderation.  And if I find myself craving something that's not so good for me (plain salty nacho chips anyone?) I give in and have a portion of whatever it is that I'm craving.

I'm not looking to be skinny, although, hey that's a nice side effect.  I just want to be reasonably healthy and have an energized mind, body, and spirit.

Below are some of the recipes I like- try'em out and let me know what you think - or if you have awesome variations to share!

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Broiled Portobella with Curried Pilaf

Vegetarian New England Boiled Dinner

Glopinapot Version 1.0 (Vegetarian)