Eat Like a Pauper...

... is KIND of how the saying goes. It actually is "Eat Breakfast like a King. Lunch like a Prince. Dinner like a pauper". 

The main concept of this saying is that we should eat our calories earlier in the day. Studies have shown that people who consume the same amount of calories, but eat them earlier in the day actually lose weight compared to people who eat later. The clip is from our friend Dr. Michael Greger, of his nutritionalfacts.org site: https://youtu.be/9zNRcgsagrs?si=k4Ro5f2mb7m1EfLM   

Give that video a watch. I enjoy Dr. Greger and have read his books, the 'How Not to ..." series of books are deep, encouraging, and gives you a game plan, and a WHY for eating a plant based diet. 

Back to "Eat Like a Pauper".  Especially in this economic environment where food is JUST expensive, how can we have nutritious food, good tasting food, food that promotes our health and longevity, AND won't break the bank? A very simple plan would be to eat LESS of the American style of eating: the more meat the better diet, and more of a Mediterranean diet (small amount of animal protein, typically fish), or even a vegetarian diet if even for a couple of days a week. 

As of this writing in September of 2024, the Federal Reserve shows us https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000703112 that a pound of ground beef is nearly $5.60. Some of you may be wishing for that price. I really only eat ground beef when I am at a BBQ so I am going on what the Fed says. Typically this is almost always eaten in one sitting for a family. What are the health concerns with eating red meat? From the NIH, National Institute of Health we get this article, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10577092/, in which the conclusion states "The evidence is strong for the association between red meat and breast cancer and most gastric cancers."

Do your research and determine for yourself what the risks are for making red meat a big part of your diet. Don't go on just what I say, or from that one link. But you will be amazed to find the correlations between health disorders and the consumption of red meat. 

On the other hand, a pound of potatoes is approximately 93 cents: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0400712112.  Oddly, we usually purchase 5 pounds of potatoes at a time and for most of us, they sprout on their own in our cupboards because we have them for so long. 

The toughest thing for me when I went to a "Plant Forward" eating was to make it interesting and not dull. So I had to learn how to cook with herbs and spices. Growing up in rural upstate New York, my main spices were mild chicken wing sauce, and whatever they put into Hamburger Helper. I am not kidding on that one. My Mom was not a bad cook by any means, but we didn't gastronomically stray too far into the spice racks. 

What the rest of the world considers typical spices and herbs to use, we in America just don't put them into play often, unless we go out to dinner, or like me, start to look for more, better tastes. 

I started by reading recipes. Actually Googling "easy vegetarian recipes", and making a list, shopping, and making the dishes. What I found was that I was spending less money, learning some very cool recipes, pushing myself out of my culinary boundaries, and eating some VERY cool dishes. 

I started purchasing cumin, curry, and coriander have become staples in my cooking. Not only do they add GREAT tastes to dishes, but they are just GREAT for you! Cumin: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/9-benefits-of-cumin Curry: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/curry-benefits Coriander: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/coriander-benefits

A two time guest on the Empire Longevity podcast, and someone I follow as a foodie is Vegan Michele (https://www.veganmichele.com/) who, when I asked her in a spur of the moment "Give me a spice I should try that you know I haven't" and she said without a delay "Berbere" (burr-burrie). I tried to find it in my local grocery and had to look it up and make it myself. It is pretty easy, and much less expensive if you make it yourself: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/236741/berbere-ethiopian-spice/  It is an Ethiopian (yeah, I know!) spice that has a bunch of other spices in it that I already like. 

So let's wrap this up for you. This is the perfect time to take a step out of your usual eating, to try new foods, new spices, new recipes and to entertain your palate while you also save money. 

Yes, eating a Plant Forward plan is a part of Empire Longevity, not the only eating plan, but one that can have substantial health benefits and be easy on your pocket book. 

If you have any questions - always feel free to contact me: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.