Three Things: How To Make Plant Based Eating Easier + Perfect Vegetable Stock/Broth

Eating. What a personal and emotional thing. It’s something that every single one of us must do, yet there are endless ways of how to go about doing it.

Get cozy, today’s fuckery is filled with awesome nuggets aplenty.

Last week I found a sweet deal on organic blueberries. They were $1.98 a box instead of their usual $5.99 a box. Blueberries are one of the healthiest foods on the planet because of their antioxidant count, so I quickly swooped up 6 boxes and placed them in my grocery cart.

As soon as I got home from the store, I got to work putting my groceries away. As I placed my blueberries in the fridge, a short burst of panic set in.

What will happen when I run out of blueberries? This sale isn’t going to last forever, what if the sale is over by the time I run out? Blueberries are so healthy and my body needs those antioxidants, damn it!

This went on for about 15 seconds, until the thought crossed my mind:

Fuck. Are you really going to eat like this for the rest of your life and have freak out moments about running out of blueberries?

I paused. Then the pragmatic grounded part of myself took over:

Hold on tiger, let’s cool our shit. When you run out of blueberries you can eat a fucking apple.

Light bulb. Got it. I continued putting away my groceries, no longer worrying about the future of my blueberry situation.

First off, you have head conversations with yourself too, right?

Second, changing your diet and eating really healthy is daunting at first. Shit, even if you’ve been in the healthy eating game for a while, there are clearly moments of panic and confusion – ahem.

It gets overwhelming and confusing because there are so many different ways to eat and so much information out there about what we should and shouldn’t eat. Throw in the emotional connection we have with food, and shit can hit the fan faster than a staunch vegan can get to a Peta demonstration.

The next time you find yourself panicked, overwhelmed, uncertain or stressed about what to eat and what not to eat, I want you to remember these three simple things.

1) Eat More Whole Plant Foods and Less of Everything Else.

When put this way it doesn’t seem so daunting, does it?
Let’s put this to practice.

The next time you reach for a snack, ask yourself: Hey good lookin’, is that a whole plant food that you’re about to put into that gorgeous mouth of yours?

If the answer is no, swap it out for something that doesn’t have an ingredient label on it.

Let’s go skinny dipping into another example.

When deciding on lunch and your option is either a big green salad topped with garbanzo beans, veggies, fresh herbs and some almond slices or a couple of slices of cheese pizza, ask yourself: Hey baby, which of these is going to nourish your amazing bod with the most whole plant foods?

Sorry pizza, we’ll see you another time.

Here’s where this fuckery is going. I want you to get into the habit of thinking about food in one of two ways.

ONE: Whole Plant Food (beans, legumes, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. On their own and dishes made from a combination of these foods)

TWO: Other (meat, dairy, processed food, including processed sugar and oil)

Eat more of the first category and less and less of the second category and you’ll be well on your way to experiencing all the benefits that eating a plant based diet provides.

More energy, better sleep, clear skin, an optimistic point of view, weight loss, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, better sex (seriously), better breath, protection from certain types of cancers and type 2 diabetes, a kick ass immune system and all the rest of the glittery magic that happens when the diet revolves around mostly whole plant foods.

2) Don’t Mind Fuck Yourself  With Details

It’s human nature to get in our own way of success.

One of the reasons for this is because as humans, we are wired to attract consistency. Consistency means survival and surviving is what we’re built to do.

When we push past our comfort zone things tend to get unpredictable, and unpredictability means change, the opposite of consistency.

Even if the change is positive and for the better, our ancient brains hold on to our comfort zone for dear life.

One of the things we do to get in our own way of success and stay in our comfort zone of eating crappy food is to obsess over healthy food details until we’re frozen and we don’t do a damn thing, except revert to our old ways and habits.

Hello cheeseburger.

The next time you feel overwhelmed, take a deep breath, and don’t worry about whether every single thing you put in your mouth is organic, if kale is healthier than chard, whether green juices or green smoothies are healthier, whether eating a piece of bread will ruin your entire day of healthy eating, what you’re going to do when you run out of blueberries or what to pick; flax, chia or hemp.

Just put one foot in front of the other, have the next thing you put in your mouth be a whole plant food (Hello blueberries), and keep in mind that it’s the combination of all the nutrients and fiber in whole plant foods, working together in your body that makes the magic happen – not single nutrients working alone from a single source.

As long as you’re mainly eating unprocessed whole plant foods, you’re golden.

3) Go Easy on Yourself

Or as my mom has told me on countless occasions, “Molly, don’t shit on yourself”. It’s true, most people are really fucking hard on themselves.

The truth is, this healthy eating business doesn’t happen overnight and there’s a definite learning curve involved. Give yourself time to learn about it, to make mistakes, to incorporate some good shit, and to eat some bad shit without giving yourself a black eye, Brad Pitt / Fight Club style.

Buddha said it best:

“You, yourself, as much as anybody in
the entire universe, deserves your love and affection”.

Close your eyes and let that sink in.

I guarantee, grasping that is far more important than whether or not green juices are healthier than green smoothies.

I want to send you off with one more nugget to ponder.

Easing into a plant based diet isn’t starting a diet at all, it’s a mental, emotional and physical reset of your entire relationship with food. It takes patience, practice and a good teacher.

Thank you for being a part of my community and allowing me on your journey – wherever you are in the process.

Next week I’m giving you simple tactical steps to easily incorporate more whole plant foods into your life.

Today’s recipe will save you cash money in the bank and it will take your soups, stews, risotto, and grains to the next level.

Making your own vegetable stock is one the of the easiest things you can do, and after today, there’s no reason to buy it from the grocery store ever again.

Perfect Homemade Vegetable Stock - Whole Food Plant Based

Makes 1 1/2 quarts.

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Author: Molly Patrick

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Ingredients

• ▢ 2 yellow onions cut into quarters - leave the skin on
• ▢ 4 or 5 celery stalks chopped
• ▢ 4 or 5 small carrots don't bother peeling the carrots, chopped
• ▢ 4 garlic cloves smashed, peel left on
• ▢ a small handful of fresh parsley
• ▢ a few sprigs of fresh thyme
• ▢ 1 bay leaf
• ▢ 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• ▢ ½ teaspoon sea salt optional, of course
• ▢ 10 cups of water 2.35 liters

Instructions

• This is really easy. All you do is place the veggies in a large pot, add the water and bring to a boil.
• Turn the heat to low and simmer for one hour, uncovered.
• Take out the veggies with a slotted spoon and strain the stock through a fine sieve.
• Let cool and then refrigerate or freeze (or do a combination of the two). If refrigerating, use within a week.

Here are some helpful notes and tips about homemade veggie stocks.

• You can add pretty much whatever veg you like to your stock. A handy thing to do is to keep a container in your freezer specifically for cooking scraps. Just throw in whatever veggie scraps you have and when the container is full, make a stock out of those veggies.
• The only veggies to avoid are too many cruciferous veggies (brussels, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, etc..) because they tend to make the stock bitter. Also, if you use starchy veggies like corn or potatoes, expect a cloudy stock.
• Do not boil your stock during the cooking process. Once it initially reaches a boil, turn that bad boy down to a simmer for the rest of the cooking time. Boiling the stock will make it bitter.
• Don’t cook it longer than an hour, it’s not necessary.
• Don’t stir it while it’s simmering, this can lead to a cloudy bitter stock.
• You don’t have to leave the skin on the onion, but this makes the stock dark brown, which I like.
• Once you take out your cooked veggies, the majority of the nutrients will be in the stock, so I just toss the veggies into my compost. If you don’t want to waste the fiber, you can blend the veggies, keep the mixture in the freezer and use it another time as a thickener in soups and stews.

Who the fuck knew there were so many tips about veggie stock? I suggest starting out with my recipe and then experiment on your own once you have the basic recipe down.

I hope you have a happy weekend. May it be filled with you loving up on you.