This is a food blog updated by a couple, Greg & Kristen, living in Chicago Arcata, California, who are just a little obsessed with eating well and living well in very simple ways.
We’ve been reading a lot of books on nutrition, food studies, and illnesses to determine the best ways to eat, and this blog is that on-going investigation and its results. Take a look at our book recommendations.
how casual?
When we started this blog we were very much “Casual Vegans,” but admittedly, the casual nature of our veganism took a more serious turn, and with the minor interruption of Kristen’s pregnancy, we’ve been pretty much “Serious Vegans” for awhile now. However, the idea of Casual Vegan is solid — without it, it seems unlikely that we would’ve been so successful at becoming vegans at all. Our gradual changes over a long period of time were easier to integrate into our lives in a permanent way than had they been radical changes. We didn’t pressure ourselves, we just let the process unfold as we ate and read and started to feel amazing.
We’re healthy, young people, but we care about our future and the future of people we care about. We aren’t eating well because we find ourselves with health complications, we’re eating well to try and avoid illness as we grow older together. We’re eating well to feel good physically, with the added bonus of feeling good about where our food comes from: plants.
Plant Based Diet
To put it more simply than vegan, we’re whole-food, plant-based eaters. To put it even more simply, we eat plants. In most respects, we follow a vegan diet, because that’s the way in which we are able to eat a wholesome, nutrient-rich diet and avoid animal proteins, which have been linked to conditions such as cancer and heart disease.
To be more specific, we eat whole grains of all kinds (as long as it’s got the germ and bran!), beans, vegetables, nuts, fruits, and nutritional yeast.
Our favorite foods are oatmeal, ground flax, whole wheat spaghetti, home-soaked and cooked beans, bean sprouts, hummus, tomato sauce cooked with extra veggies and garlic, roasted garlic, roasted broccoli and cauliflower tossed with lemon and olive oil, baked kale chips, green tea, roasted barley tea, quinoa, salads, warm strawberries, frozen cherries… mmmm. I could go on and on!
beyond veganism
Our nutritional concerns go beyond the principles of veganism and refraining from consuming animal products: We avoid refined grains, processed foods, salt, sugar, and bad oils. We’re whole-food, plant-based eaters.
reading the blog
The goal on this blog is to take what sounds like either a really dreary diet to those of you that love white bread and sugar, or a labor-intensive diet for those of you with busy lives, and show you that neither of those ideas are true! Greg is our resident exercise expert, and Kristen is interested in issues of womens’ health. We’re both interested in reusability and reducing waste too, so stay tuned!
Comments About How We Eat
// 3 comments so far.
Ben Covington // June 30th 2010
I had to make the change to vegetarian all at once (also gave up coffee, soda, and processed foods) and then to Vegan, I still on rare occasion have a non-vegan cookie with my kids or a bite of their yogurt… I guess you could say I’m 98% Vegan?
Greg // June 30th 2010
I too gave up coffee, soda, and processed foods. Although after a year or two of no caffeine I started drinking loose leaf green teas again, and I’ll occasionally have soy decaf lattes. It’s certainly hard to be 100% vegan all the time in a culture of toxic food. That’s why I call myself a casual vegan. I don’t worry if I’ve eaten something derived from an animal. I just do my best to avoid animal foods.
It helps that after changing the way we eat, many animal foods are really, really difficult for me to eat. I just have to make “no cheese” a ritual whenever I order anything in a restaurant. Although I do attempt to take PETA’s advice and not make a fuss if I get something in a restaurant with some animal products in it.
Reading John Robbins’ Food Revolution really did change my life. It completely changed the way I think about factory farmed yogurt, dairy, and butter.
Kirsten Bergen // July 20th 2010
I liked your description of who you are and what you do.
Until last week, I was just a normal ‘toxic’ eater – although I buy mostly organic fruit, vegetable and dairy, plus ‘happier’ animal proteins. Last week I decided to do a condensed version of a 6 week detox I’d done over lent, but this time with no animal protein. That means, no refined products, no conventional sugars (only honey and maple syrup), no alcohol, no additives, little – if any – dairy and now also no animal stuff.
I’m at the end of the second day of the pure vegan part and, although I admit to peckishness (but that’s simply from lack of planning today), I am noticing the detox effects: lethargy, blemishes, slight headache … but know that by Thursday (my last day) I’ll be feeling much better.
This has led me to decide to live an at least 50% vegan life and the other 50% is at least 30% vegetarian.
I’ll be exploring your site more in the coming days.
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