What’s for lunch?

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That’s one of our two cats, who turns around for tummy rubs like my dog.

Well at least she doesn’t need to bother, her nibbly meals are the same – breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Last two weeks daily of Ayurveda Panchakarma treatments, a detoxification and rejuvenation program, allowed me some extra time to contemplate once again what shall I eat.  A question brewing and simmering slowly since reading Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, which he recommends in an extremely well-argued and convincing manner that less meat, more vegetables is better for us and better for nature as well.

Taking my Ayurveda doctor as an example, I made the decision to maintain a vegetarian diet throughout the two weeks which was initially rather frustrating and challenging in the first days as I was often stumped in the kitchen.  Vegetarian food was clearly not in my  cooking repertoire.  The first initial thoughts always began with a sense of dullness but my stubborn steadfastness helped me stick to my decision.

After several days, preparing meals became easier.  Soon there were pasta with roasted vegetables, a Japanese rice meal with eggplant Dengaku-style and tofu with konbu, Indian-inspired cabbage with mustard seeds and till today, the menu at home is almost strictly vegetarian  and an occasional fish with much more ease.  Though I don’t see myself as a vegetarian as I do eat the occasional fish, seafood and dairy, it is more of a decision to reduce on meat with more information I’m learning about large scale livestock farming methods and the paranoia of all those hormones and medicines they pump into the livestock present in my own body – a paranoia thanks to the kind of work I’m doing.

So they say, birds of a feather flock together.  In these weeks, I have met several friends who are also going down the same path.  And they too had no struggles or frustrations at all, it was simply just effortless to stay on vegetables whilst the urge to eat meat simply diminishes.

Besides, they too reported similar benefits that I had been noticing since the diet change.  Top of the list for everyone was clarity in the mind – something rather abstract to describe but it’s the difference between a grey, cloudy sky and a clear, blue one.  If that made any sense at all.  The other difference we all noted was a change in energy levels.  Previously, the energy levels would take a nose-dive in the afternoon or an hour after a meal.  Now the energy level remains more constant throughout the entire day which in turn banishes the need to a quick in-between meal sugar high.

During digestion, the body takes far less energy to digest fruits and vegetables compared to poultry, meat and other animal-based food therefore it explains the constant energy levels when less meat is consumed.  You surely would have noticed after a heavy meal of chicken or roast pork rice, you would feel sleepy and drowsy.  In my old life on a desk, those afternoons were the least productive ones!

So is this a big callout for you to do the same?  Food don’t play only the role of nourishing our bodies, albeit it is a very important one.  The joy and interaction from sharing a meal together with friends and family are as important too.  Some days if a plate of roast brings me together with a dear friend, why not share a bite too?

For delicious-looking vegetarian meals, 101cookbooks.com and mahanandi, which has a great collection of Indian vegetarian recipes are among my favourites for inspirations.  Also the book, Harumi’s Japanese Home Cooking has lovely Japanese recipes for vegetables.