The course I took was called "Plant-Based Cooking" and it focused on a plant-based diet: no meat (including fish), no eggs, no dairy. In the beginning of the course they explained why they use the term plant-based rather than vegan: "vegan" has political and ethical implications to it, while "plant-based" refers only to the food and culinary skills. They also refer many times to the Standard American Diet (SAD) which is meat- and dairy-centric and high in processed foods, because that's what we in this country have to let go of in order to eat more healthily.
One of the things they linked early on in the course was a video of a man named Dr. Michael Greger, an American physician, author, and public speaker, who explained how the top 15 causes of death in America as of 2012 when this video was made (except accidental injuries) can all be prevented and sometimes reversed by adopting a plant-based diet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30gEiweaAVQ It's a 55-minute-long video but it's well worth the time.
And I just found four shorter videos on YouTube which are titled "Why doctors don't recommend veganism". They're so good!
- With Dr. Greger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajhX5jWmlL0
- With Dr. Barnard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLeee0HRyHM&spfreload=5
- With Dr. McDougall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuOa3avtdNA
- And with Dr. Goldhamer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ef16V_6Vvo
What I loved about the course is that the demonstration videos were excellent and they showed me how to do the various cooking methods--- boiling, simmering, steaming, roasting, sauteing, etc. It gave me the knowledge of how to cook so that I could later focus on what to cook.
The kids were surprisingly open-minded and willing to try what I made for them. Little One has a new-found love of couscous and the course's recipe for "power cookies", and Baby Girl tried a lot of new vegetables. We've switched to Almondmilk which the kids like and Mc thinks it's okay, too (I actually don't like the taste so I've basically stopped eating cereal altogether). We don't eat meat anymore for the most part, and we've been eating a lot more vegetables.
One of the first things the course covers is where you will get your nutrients now that you're not eating meat or dairy. Dairy actually isn't a very good source of calcium, but it's one of the most popular sources in Standard American Diet; and meat is an easy source of complete proteins and iron, so you have to eat different combinations of other food to make complete proteins. Here are where you can get the nutrients you need on a plant-based diet:
- Protein: legumes (beans, lentils), nuts, seeds, whole grains, and vegetables
- Calcium: green vegetables, beans, fruit, and some seeds
- Iron: spinach and other leafy greens, quinoa, pumpkin seeds, lentils, white beans, etc.
During the course I did do the plant-based diet and I lost about 8 pounds. As I cut out sugar from my diet I've been able to taste the natural sugars and sweetness levels among various fruits and even vegetables. And it's hard to describe, but my body felt cleaner inside. Since the course ended I've gone back to just a vegetarian diet but I've eaten processed food and sugary snacks a bit more and so my weight has leveled out again. Because I am overweight and because I have a family history of diabetes, I need to lose about 80 lbs. to be at my ideal weight. My goal is to get back to the strictly plant-based diet so that my whole family will be healthy and so I can start to lose weight again.
This was an excellent course. The demonstration videos, the explanations, the motivation pages, all of it was excellently done. If you come across one of the monopoly coupon codes for a free cooking course with Rouxbe, take it! You won't regret it!
