8 Ways to Help Teens Transition to a Healthier, Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet

In December, 2011, after watching the documentary, Forks Over Knives, our family decided to make a radical change to our way of eating.  Well, okay… my husband and I made the decision, and dragged our four meat, dairy, junk food-loving teenagers, kicking and screaming, into this new, plant-based lifestyle!  When we began, we didn’t know how far we would take it, or how long we’d stick to it.  Our goal was simply to give it a fair shot, and then try and figure out how much we wanted to incorporate it into our daily lives.

Using the Engine 2 Diet book as a guide, we quickly began to eliminate all meats, dairy, processed foods, and fats from our diet, and replace them with heart-healthy, disease-fighting whole foods, including vegetables, whole grains, fruit, beans, seeds and nuts.   Two of our four children were immediately on board with it.  Another one was reluctant, but willing to give it a try.  The fourth was adamantly against it, and flat out refused to go along with the program.   The biggest challenge was finding recipes that looked and tasted good – foods that satisfied that discerning teenage palate!  It was not easy, but, we persevered.

Now, all four of our teens are consuming far more healthier, whole foods than ever before, don’t crave sugar and junk foods like they used to, and are learning that food is for fueling our bodies, not for satisfying our taste cravings, and that living a life void of the typical American diet can be done!

Here are eight ways we’ve helped our teen kids transition to a healthier, whole-food, plant-based diet:

1.  Stick with what they know and tweak what’s familiar.  I read, somewhere, that the average family rotates through about 6 to 7 meals per month.  I thought about our own food habits and found that to be true.  The majority of our monthly meals typically consist of a lot of Mexican faire: burritos, tacos, enchiladas, and the sort.  How easy it has been to re-make our favorite meals using beans instead of beef, brown rice, instead of white rice, salsa or grilled onions instead of cheese, and corn tortillas instead of flour ones.  As I steadily grow in my knowledge of  plant-based cooking, I have learned how to make a non-dairy “cheese” sauce to top our enchiladas, substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth when making spanish rice, and saute garlic and onions in a little bit of water, instead of oil for an even healthier version of all of our favorite dishes.  When we first started this journey, I thought I needed to completely start over in the kitchen.  I checked out every vegan cookbook from the library that I could get my hands on and scoured the internet for as many different vegan recipes as I could find.   Unfortunately, I didn’t find many recipes that rated high in the taste category.  In fact, the majority of them tasted horrible!  I literally had to make a different dessert recipe to go along with every meal and say, “just hurry up and eat the vegetable stuff, so that we can enjoy the dessert!”  I quickly learned that, in order for the kids to like it,  they needed to eat something that they were already familiar with.  So, I utilized all of the vegan cookbooks and recipes for learning new cooking techniques and food substitutions, and then applied that knowledge to making simple adjustments to the several “go-to” meals that we were already familiar with, instead of trying to completely change up the menu.  Once I did that, there were a lot fewer protests at the dinner table!
2. Have a good, plant-based dessert ready as a reward for finishing the meal.  I sort-of already covered this in tip #1, but I thought it was worth repeating for those of you who are trying to make the transition, or are just trying to get your picky eaters to make it through any meal.  The internet is full of wonderful, plant-based dessert recipes — it is truly a place where plant-based cooking excels!  Now, I’m not into bribing.  It’s always been a rule in our home that mom’s responsibility is to make the food, and everyone else’s responsibility  to eat it.  However, I’m the first person to admit that the learning curve for a plant-based diet is kinda steep, at first, and dishes may not always turn out as good as we hope they will; so, having a totally awesome, plant-based dessert sitting on the table is a great motivator (even to us parents) to clear our plates, whether we like the main dish, or not !  As an added bonus, I don’t have to worry about feeding these types of desserts to my family because I know that they are just as healthy as the main dish I am serving.   My all-time, favorite “healthy dessert” site is Chocolate-Covered Katie.com.  Her stuff is fabulous — definitely something you’ll want to have waiting on your dinner table for after dinner, whether you are into whole-food,  plant-based eating or not!
3. Compromise, a little:  Eating at home = plant-based eating, eating outside of home = eater’s choice.  One of the lessons that we took away from the Forks Over Knives movie was that by limiting animal proteins to 5% , or less, of our diet, we have the ability to keep cancer cells from “turning on”, plaque from building up inside of our arteries, and a host of other chronic diseases from taking a foothold in our bodies.  So, we decided to stop bringing animal products, processed foods, and fats  into our home  so that, at home, we’d be eating a 100% plant-based diet.   However, on the occasions when we eat out, or eat at another friend or family member’s home, everyone is free to “go crazy”, and eat anything their little hearts desire.  My husband and I feel this is a good compromise, for our family, and that by consuming only “healthy” foods at home, we can better ensure that the amount of “junk” entering our kids’ bodies is kept to the 5%, or less that we are aiming for, overall.  I’m happy to report that our kids have done very well with this rule.  Although they still enjoy ordering a chicken burrito, or grilled steak fajitas occasionally, when we eat out, they do so in moderation and make much healthier choices, overall, when left to make their own food decisions, now.  In fact, our oldest daughter has completely embraced the plant-based lifestyle and sticks with it, now, wherever she goes!  Her friend’s parent’s even graciously accommodate her new eating habits whenever she is with them.  Is that cool, or what?
4. Answer every question that they ask with the goal of educating, not arguing.  Inevitably, whenever one makes drastic changes, those who don’t want to change ask questions: “Why are we doing this?”  “How come we can’t eat xyz anymore?”  “Don’t you know we’re all going to die, anyway?”  Believe me, when we first started this diet, we were bombarded with questions and confronted with a ton of argumentative statements from our kids.  As parents, we had to discern between questions that were honestly seeking out information, and those that were simply picking a fight.  We learned to ask first, before we answered,  “Are you truly coming because you want to learn something, or are you just coming to argue?”  My husband and I were ready, armed with a boatload of information, to answer any questions our kids had that genuinely sought to discover the reasons behind our change.  We were also wise enough to withhold that information when we knew it would fall on deaf ears.   Over time, as our kids have honestly and eagerly sought out answers to their questions, they’ve come to understand the reasons for the choices that we’ve made and learned to trust our decisions and that we have their best in mind.
5. Involve them in the menu creation/ shopping list/ shopping process, and allow them to give input on what plant-based foods they’d like to have at home.  As time has progressed, and our kids have realized that this new way of eating is not just a “phase” that we’re going through but, truly,  a new way of life, they’ve also  joined in on the process of food selection.  My youngest son has discovered that he really loves mushrooms.  He asks me to buy more of them every time I go to the grocery store.  My youngest daughter (the one who wanted nothing to do with this diet when we first began) has started requesting more frozen fruit for making smoothies, and my eldest daughter always makes sure I have pears on the shopping list for the week.  Involving them in the food selection process is a great way to get them involved and allow them to become willing participants in this process.
6. Let them cook for themselves.  This is how we, finally, got our youngest daughter to start eating our way.  Up until that point, she refused to eat anything — hoping we’d give in and go back to our old ways of eating.  Instead of letting the emotions of the moment dictate our response, we patiently kept pressing on, talking about and praying for a solution to our dilemma.  After about a month, we decided to make another compromise:  If you don’t like what mom cooks, you are free to make your own meal.  You are responsible for all cooking and clean up, and you must eat at the same time as the rest of the family.  Wow!  What a difference this one, simple, change has made.  Now, instead of food being a source of contention, at home, it is (for the most part) a non-issue.  My daughter is learning how to prepare her own food (something she’s going to need to do in the future anyway, right?), getting creative with her cooking, and enjoying her new found freedom.  My husband and I are satisfied, knowing that she only has access to the foods that we approve of and that we no longer have to argue over what we eat…as much.
7. Don’t give up!  You are the parent, they are the child.   If you truly believe in what you are doing, and desire to impress it upon your child, then don’t give up!  It has been proven that it takes about 21 days to form a habit.  I can tell you that the first two weeks of the Engine 2, 28-day Challenge were tough – for all of us!  As your body transitions to a new way of eating, you feel tired, sluggish, even sick, at times, as your body detoxes and adjusts to a cleaner lifestyle (this is what I experienced, anyway).  Once we got to the third week, things started getting a little easier, and by the end of the 28 days, we found out that we really could do it, that it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be, and that we had now formed a new habit.  As with any new habit you’re trying to establish, the bigger the conviction, the better chance you have of achieving your desired results.  After watching Forks Over Knives, my husband and I were greatly convicted about our eating habits and had a huge desire to start consuming foods that would promote health, and not disease — not so that we might live longer, but so that, no matter how many days God has determined for us to live, we will be able to love and serve Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength because we have taken care of our bodies.  This is what we impress upon our children, and it’s why we didn’t give up.
8. Invite their friends over and cook a good plant-based meal for them…if they try it, and like it, peer pressure will probably win out!  We did this, early on in our 28-day challenge.  We had our kids invite some of their friends over for a pizza party.  Pizza is a perfect gateway for introducing teens to a plant-based diet.  I don’t know many teens who ever say “no” to pizza!  I made individual, handmade pizza crusts for each of them to create their own pizzas on.  For toppings, we provided a homemade pizza sauce, lots of veggies, and nutritional yeast (since it was early on in the challenge, we also provided mozzarella and cheddar cheese for toppings).  It was such a fun experience and everyone enjoyed the pizzas that they created.  They didn’t even complain about, or miss not having pepperonis, sausage, ham, or bacon, or whatever other meat that they were used to (at least they never said anything…such good kids!) When our kids saw that their friends were having fun and enjoying the food, they jumped right it and chowed down with them.  Good ol’ peer pressure!

These are 8 ways that we’ve found to help our teens transition to a whole food, plant-based diet.  It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been worth it.    It’s fun to see how far we’ve come in such a short time, and I’m pleased with the new habits that we’ve established.  By providing familiar foods, making a few compromises (while sticking to our guns), allowing our children to participate in the process, and involving their friends in the transition, too, we’ve been able to help them see that a whole food, plant-based diet is doable and that you can survive and even thrive on a non-typical American diet.

How do you help your family members  eat more healthy foods?

Strawberry, Lime Basil-Flavored Water

I thought I’d treat myself to something a little more exciting than plain ice water, today, as I worked out in the garden.

All it took to build this concoction was…

• Ice cubes
• A handful of fresh strawberries
• 10 leaves of lime basil
•  filtered water

I simply tossed all of the ingredients into my favorite plastic tumbler (after crushing the basil leaves in my hand, a little, to release the oils), sloshed it around a little,  and I was done!

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the flavor from the berries and basil kept right on infusing any extra water that I added throughout the day.

 I must say, it was quite fabulous!

I don’t think I’ll ever drink plain water when I’m working out in the garden again.

So, the next time you’re looking for a quick, flavorful, and thirst-quenching drink to make, why not infuse some water of your own with a little fruit and herbs?  What flavor combinations do you think would work well together?

How We Keep Moving Forward Through Job Loss

When Donald Trump says it, it can sound kinda funny.  When you’re the one on the receiving end, not so much.  There’s nothing fun or funny about those two, little words, “You’re fired!”   When you hear them, it’s like getting a kick in the gut, having a rug pulled out from underneath you, experiencing a sudden loss in the wind of your sails; when you hear those words, life immediately comes to a complete standstill, and all you can ask is, “Now what?”  In fact,  when you are the one who gets the news,  it’s no fun at all.

I can’t tell you how many times my husband’s been on the receiving end of those two horrible words.  And, it just happened…again.

So, what’s a family of six that loses it’s sole source of income to do when it gets that kind of news?  Keep on moving forward.  How do we do it?  I’m glad you asked!

Here are the ways that we keep moving forward through job loss:

1. Pray and seek God.  It’s easy, when we’re emotionally stressed, to start looking, in all of the wrong places, for answers and solutions to our problems.  We’ve learned, the hard way, that clinging to the saying, “God helps those who help themselves” is not the best place to start our recovery efforts.  In contrast, the Bible tells us, in James 4:6, that “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble”.  So, instead of dusting ourselves off and pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, we fall on our faces before a God who knows all things, is in control of all things, and loves us beyond all measure, seeking His will and direction for our lives, acknowledging that we can do nothing apart from Him.  This is the first thing we do, now.  It puts the breaks on insanity.  What is the first place you turn when you get this kind of news?
2. Start Living off of an emergency savings fund.  In Proverbs, chapter thirty, verse twenty-five, we learn that “Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer”.  We’ve learned (again, the hard way) that it is critical to have a full emergency fund set aside so that we are prepared to deal with loss of income.  One of our favorite money gurus, Dave Ramsey, recommends setting aside three to six months of expenses in a money market savings account as an insurance to pay yourself during times of job loss.  Years ago, when we first learned this, we asked ourselves, “What would it take for us to live for three to six months if Matt lost his income?”  Then, we began diligently working to create a full emergency fund that answered that question.  There were months when we were only able to add $10 to the account, but we persevered, and never gave up.  Now that it is fully funded, we have some financial breathing room as we move forward in pursuit of God’s plan for our lives.  We are not in panic mode, wondering where our next meal, or house payment will be coming from.  That gives us peace as we wait out this storm.  Do you have a fully funded emergency fund?
3. Only make necessary purchases. We’re used to living on a tight budget, and we know where every dollar gets spent.  But, in times like this we must be even more prudent.  That means not much eating out, no special “treats” from the grocery store, no new clothes, etc.  If it’s not absolutely necessary, it stays at the store (or internet site).  This is the toughest part of my husband’s unemployment, and it can become a real downer, if we let it.  There’s a whole lot that we have to say “no” to, and not a lot of areas where we can say, “yes”.  There’s a whole lot of focus on self-control and discipline, and not a lot of freedom to be impulsive or self-indulgent.  Yet, it is also a great opportunity to be creative, work together as a family, and grow in our contentment of simple living — and sim-ply living.  When the money stops “rolling” in (hehe), we’ve learned to put on our special glasses and really look closely at the difference between “need” and “want” in our lives.  Have you ever stopped to look at the difference between the two?
4. Enjoy the present time, instead of spending every minute worrying about the future.  This ties
   into number one.  If we truly believe that God is in control of the past, present, and future, then we do not need to worry about what tomorrow holds.   The first time my husband lost his job, we spent hours, days, and weeks, fretting over all of the things that we couldn’t control.  Hours, days, and weeks that could have been spent simply enjoying each other’s company, having fun as a family, and creating good memories were lost to all of the worries and cares of the day.  That’s time that we can never get back.  These days, instead of wasting time worrying (which cannot add an hour to our lives, according to Scripture), we strive to  “redeem the time” by acknowledging that God has a purpose and plan for it, and that He has graciously given us more time together, as a family, to grow closer to Him and each other.  What do you need to do to enjoy the present time more fully?
5. Start taking steps towards the future.  This does not negate number one.  While we acknowledge that God is in control of this entire situation, we also recognize that this does not mean that we get to sit back, and do nothing. As Bill Blankschaen says, in his blog post, “5 Ways to Keep Moving Forward When You Hit a Wall”, “If you find you can move forward where you are, don’t hesitate to start small. But do start.”  For us, that means updating my husband’s resume, contacting job placement agencies, letting friends and family know that he is looking for another job, and scouring the internet for vacant job positions.  It means taking a trip to the library and/or internet to learn more about how to write a better resume and ways to better market yourself.  At times, these steps don’t seem like they amount to much;  there are plenty of days when the pedals seem like they are spinning, but never engaging.  Yet, we know that if there is something that can be done to keep us moving forward in the right direction, then we must do it, and right away.  This is what keeps the downward spiral of depression from ever taking a foothold while we wait.  What steps, no matter how small, might you take towards moving forward towards your future today?
6. Allow ourselves to dream.  Again, I’m going to steal from Bill Blankschaen’s post:  “Let your imagination work backwards to see if other solutions present themselves…As Thomas Edison famously said, “There’s always another way.”  Unemployment poses great opportunities!  What?  You heard me right.  When you’re unencumbered by working for someone else, you are free to work for yourself, free to imagine what your life might look like if money were no object.  In times past, when my husband has not been able to find outside work, we’ve created jobs for ourselves:  once incorporating our own non-profit, 501c3, to provide low and no-cost sports and recreational opportunities for low-income individuals and families, and another time opening our own for-profit retail sporting goods store.  We did not generate a lot of income from these businesses (in fact, the retail store got us into a huge amount of debt), but we learned to think outside of the box, and gained an incredible amount of knowledge about ourselves and what it takes to run a business.  As I write, we’ve got several different irons in the fire, and we actually have the time, now, to pursue some of these ideas and dreams to see if any of them might become an income generator for us.   Who knows?  Perhaps we’re on the brink of a great, new idea or career that will provide an income for us!  What are your goals and dreams, and what is keeping you from pursuing them?

No one wants to hear the words, “You’re fired!”  They’re tough to take, no matter how many times you’ve heard them.  When it happens, you’ve got two choices, you can lay down and die, or you can keep on pressing on.  We’ve chosen to keep moving forward, on toward the goal that God has called us toward.  We may not know exactly what our future holds, but we know that God holds the future (I know it’s cliche, but it’s true!).  In the meantime, as we pray and seek after God, draw upon our savings, closely monitor our spending, enjoy the time that we have “daddy” at home with us, take necessary steps towards employment, and start fleshing out our own personal dreams and goals, we can laugh at the words, “You’re fired!” because we have an internal peace that comes from knowing God is in control of this entire situation, that He will continue to provide for all of our needs while we are waiting, and that, no matter what happens, we will grow into a deeper relationship with Him and each other as we keep on trudging this road of life, refusing to be stopped by those two, powerless words.

If you are facing unemployment, I hope that you have been encouraged.  If you know someone who is unemployed, perhaps you can share these words of hope with them.  Whether employed or unemployed, if you’d like to know what this peace is that surpasses all understanding, that comes from having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,  I’d love to share this good news with you!

Yet Another Tomato Cage Project

So, I accidentally put the cart before the horse.  I planted some of  my tomatoes in the ground without giving them any support.  Now, they are flopping and sprawling all over the ground — not good.

No matter.  I found a solution.

As my husband was trimming all of the dead tree limbs off of some of the trees on our property, last week, I asked him to save them for me so that I could fashion more tomato cages out of them.

Cages are my favorite way to support indeterminate tomatoes (the vining type that continue to grow until the first frost).  They are easy to construct,  provide a lot of room for the plants to grow, give sturdy support, make it easy to harvest the fruits when they come into season, and can be used again and again, saving our family a lot of money over the long haul.

I fashioned these in the same way that I made my grape stake cages, using four – six-foot long tree limb, and twelve  – two and a half foot long branch sections.  The cross bars are wired to the uprights, and the bottoms are buried about three inches in the ground.

I was debating whether to prune the tomatoes, once they get to the top of the cages, or let them sprawl over the tops.  After reading a Fine Gardening article , I think I have my answer.  According to the author, Frank Ferrandino, “About 30 days before the first frost…the plants must be topped. The fruit that has set must be given every opportunity to mature.”  Why?  He says that, “Removing all the growing tips directs all sugar produced by the plant to the fruit.”  Yet,  he admits (and I heartily agree), “This can be hard to do, as every gardener is reluctant to admit the season is coming to an end.” (Uh, yeah!)  He fully captured my attention, though, with his final statement, when he said, “This final pruning can make all the difference between hard, green fruits, hurriedly picked before frost, which later rot in a paper bag, and ripe, home-grown tomatoes in your Thanksgiving salad” — Oh, man!  I know exactly what he’s talking about — been there, done that!  So, I guess I will heed his admonishment, “Be tough, fight [my] nurturing instincts, and top those plants” this year!

How about you?  Do you grow determinate or indeterminate tomato varieties?  What system do you use for support?  Do you top your tomatoes at the end of the season, or let them continue to grow?