Simply Homemaking
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Using up last year's harvest...
Monday, January 29, 2024
Winter bits from the garden...
A simple needle book...
Saturday, January 27, 2024
More on our plant based lifestyle...
Dietary advice is one of those things that often causes people's eyes to "glaze over." Of course diet is not the only subject that will cause us to harden our hearts, but it's certainly one of them. My husband and I have been eating the Whole Food Plant Based (no oil) way of eating for nearly 4 years now. As I mentioned before, his angina is gone. My eyesight has been restored. I have so much more energy.
In April of last year (2023) I ended up spending two nights in the hospital. I was experiencing some dizziness and my daughters were all concerned that I might have had a stroke. As it turned out, it was caused by those little crystals that can form in your inner ear and sometimes get lodged in the wrong place. Anyway... I had, I think, about every scan and test known to man! I joked that they took enough blood to sell. After all of that, I found out I am in excellent health. My cholesterol, which used to be 280, is now 140. My heart output, measured by an echocardiogram, which is considered normal at 50%, was 65 - 70%.
I am now 75 years old. I take no medications at all. I weigh less now than I did when we got married in 1971. (In case you're curious, I am 5' 4" tall and weigh 122 pounds.) This is without going hungry. I never have to go hungry. I never have to "diet". I do go out and walk for about 45 minutes in the woods up and down hills most days, with our two dogs. I do a little weight lifting, as at my age, it surely is true that if you don't use it you lose it!
Please... I urge you to look into it. Be curious. Do what is the very best for your own health. When I began this, I told my husband, "I am going to do this for ME. There is no pressure for you to join me. I will cook for both of us. And so, that's what I did for about 3 weeks and then he said he'd join me. I think he saw what it was doing for me and also he didn't want me to have to work so hard. He's so good to me.
Read The Starch Solution by Dr. John McDougall. Also, go over to YouTube and watch "Forks over Knives." You can watch that for free.
It's simple, it's easy to do if you want to do it, and it will SAVE YOU LOTS OF MONEY. Honestly, for the two of us, I spend less than $60 a week on food. Truly. The food can be simple and be perfectly healthy. If you want to, you can cook fancy also, but the health results are the same. For my recent birthday, one of our daughters bought me a copy of Be a Plant Based Woman Warrior by Jane and Ann Esselstyn. It is great! There is a whole world of cookbooks out there for plant based eating. Just be sure you don't eat added oils. Don't eat processed foods. Eat whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and if your weight is normal, you can have some nuts and seeds, but avoid those if you need to trim down. Same with avocados. They are good for you, but avoid them if you need to lose weight.
If you have any questions, you know where to find me.
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
The Survival Gardener post about our garden
I hope you enjoy this post from David the Good about our garden.
https://www.thesurvivalgardener.com/yolandas-2000-lbs-garden-yield/#comment-648357
Incidentally, the picture with the chicken is our granddaughter with her favorite chicken. The woodland scene is where I take my walks in our woods.
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Me and the corn 2023
Here is a photo of me and this year's corn. I am standing in front of our patch of "Bloody Butcher" flour corn. We estimate it is more than 12 feet tall! Over on the right you can see the bi-color sweet corn, which we are currently enjoying. The Bloody Butcher corn is what I use for cornmeal now. It's very good to eat and if nothing else, it's amazing to grow! No one has ever said anything to us about it, but I really wonder what the neighbors think. :) To my right is "Sammy", our sweet old Staffordshire terrier. In front of me are the sweet potato vines. The garden is a jungle right now. I love this time of year.
Thursday, June 8, 2023
Swiss Chard
Have you ever grown Swiss Chard? It is a variety of beet that I grow. You don't eat the root. You eat the leaves. They are very similar to spinach in flavor, and the nice thing is that they do not "bolt" when the weather warms up. You can eat them all season and into the fall. With some protection, they can even stand through the winter and you can eat them next year! Of course, next year they will go to seed, but if you don't want that to happen, just keep cutting off the seed stalks. Like spinach, they have oxalates, so you don't want to eat these greens in large amounts every day. Here is an excellent article all about them: Swiss Chard: Nutrition, Health Benefits, and How to Cook It (healthline.com)
In the picture above you, can see our row of Swiss chard. It will get much bigger than this, too, as the summer advances. To the right you see turnip greens, which are wonderful, also.
My favorite way to cook Swiss chard, other than just putting it in soup, chop it up with some sliced green onion, a few sliced mushrooms and some cubed tofu. I sauté all of this in a little fat-free vegetable broth and then serve it on it's own next to some sort of starch... rice, lentil loaf, potatoes, whatever I have. I put Bragg's Liquid Aminos on mine.