Making Space For A New Way Of Eating

When Jon decided to change the way he eats to be healthier and lose weight, I thought it a great idea.  What I didn’t know was how much I would get into this new way of eating too.

Jon signed up with the Mayo Clinic and there we found some recipes that we both found appealing.  Our favorites are salads and stir-frys with lots of veggies chopped up with barley or quinoa, or other grains or brown rice. They suggested some sauces we’d never tried before, like Hoysen and I added some of my own flavors like cilantro and fresh ginger.

We mix the veggies and grains up with tuna, crab meat, chicken or tofu.  We eat some hot and some as a cold salad.

The strange part for me is that I’m helping Jon with the shopping and the cooking and I’m enjoying it for the first time.

I love having a fridge full of fresh vegetables to choose from when making dinner or making a hummus or turkey wrap for lunch.   I’ve always liked cutting up fruits and vegetables, I’m not sure why, but there is something very satisfying about it. And Jon does the mixing and cooking and usually the dishes too.

I know part of the joy I get from making our meals with Jon is knowing that we’re eating so well.  But the other part is that the meals we’re making are easy and quick.  We even came up with a vegetable soup with rice noodles that only took about 15 minutes to make.

I think that’s the other part.  We got a basic idea from the Mayo Clinic’s recipes, but then we make our own variations of them. So it’s more creative than just following a recipe.

And since we started eating differently, with Jon making smoothies and cooking more rice and oats, I took some time today to rearrange our kitchen.

I went through the cabinets and got rid of the things, like pasta,  that we’re no longer eating.  And since our kitchen is small with very limited counter space, I got rid of the microwave that we rarely use.  It was so big it took up one whole countertop and I was able to replace it with the blender, rice cooker, and electric teapot.  That freed up another countertop for me to have more room for my chopping.

Getting rid of the food we’re no longer eating and making space for the appliances we use every day, not only makes it easier to cook, but it feels like we’re making even more of a commitment to this new way of eating.