{"id":34528,"date":"2018-09-11T11:46:08","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T15:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nomeatathlete.s1.cdadev.com\/?p=34528"},"modified":"2019-10-29T16:24:24","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T20:24:24","slug":"most-important-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/most-important-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Important Food Lesson I’ve Learned in a Decade of No Meat Athlete"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first started on this journey, nearly ten years ago (!), it was the advice in Michael Pollan’s classic In Defense of Food<\/em><\/a> that really called out to me, and still does today:<\/p>\n

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.\u201d<\/p>\n

In time, that became synonymous with the simpler advice to \u201cjust eat whole plants.” On a whole-food, plant-based diet, the “not too much” part becomes almost redundant.<\/p>\n

As advice goes, it’s hard to improve on that.<\/p>\n

But last night, as I was chopping some broccoli to make dinner for myself and my kids (my wife, Erin, is away visiting family), I was reminded once again of another distinction I’ve learned along the way, a crucial one that made it all click.<\/p>\n

While \u201ceat whole plants\u201d is the what<\/em> to eat, what I had to discover for myself was the how. <\/em><\/h3>\n

It’s what removes almost every last bit of stress from the process of eating and planning meals, and, for me, makes Pollan’s advice sustainable.<\/p>\n

Last night, broccoli was a main course, and it was simple. It was what we had in the fridge, so I just steamed until just slightly crunchy, and served with a little whole-wheat pasta (no sauce) and some chickpeas on the side.<\/p>\n

Until writing this blog post, it didn\u2019t occur to me that what I served and ate was a grain, a green, and a bean<\/a>, my favorite formula for a quick, healthy meal.<\/p>\n

Actually, it barely occurred to me to call this a “meal.”<\/p>\n

What did occur to me was that those were foods we had on hand \u2014 and that this \u201cmeal\u201d was something I could throw together fast, fast enough to get a fantasy football lineup in before the Sunday night game started.<\/p>\n

I still feel a tinge of guilt about meals like this (not the gambling, though!). More so when I serve them to the kids. It’s not that they don’t taste good — honestly, my kids much prefer simple flavors and textures like these to complex meals with rich sauces and lots of spice. (And if you\u2019re a parent, I don\u2019t need to tell you that less stress at meal time = win. Trust me, food being interesting for me is the least of my concerns.)<\/p>\n

So why the guilt?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that I still forget what I discovered back in 2013, driving across the country on my DIY book tour<\/a> for No Meat Athlete.<\/p>\n

And that is this:<\/p>\n

Those times when it feels like you’re punting on a meal \u2014 when you\u2019re not really cooking at all, but rather assembling, just throwing a few ingredients on a plate because it gets the job done \u2014 this is actually the way you should<\/em> eat, most of the time. Not the opposite.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And in 10 years of thinking about healthy food being how I earn a living, my most important lesson is just two words long:<\/p>\n

Eat. Simply.<\/h3>\n

Like I said, I discovered this when I was on the two-month tour I did for my first book, No Meat Athlete<\/a> <\/em>(a revised edition of which is coming out later this month!).<\/p>\n

That coast-to-coast tour took me through stretches where vegan restaurants aren\u2019t a thing. Not even close, and without the usual next-best-things like Chipotle or Subway. (Once in Wisconsin I did Taco Bell \u2014 yes, it\u2019s possible<\/a>!)<\/p>\n

But most dependable, what saved me on these stretches, was just stopping at a grocery store to load up my backseat with fruits, vegetables, hummus, and trail mix.<\/p>\n

As long as I had a way to keep some of it (somewhat) cold, I could eat that way for days on end, even without stopping.<\/p>\n

At first, I felt guilty about eating this way for several meals (then days) in a row: these weren\u2019t square meals; there was nothing comforting or hearty about them. They didn\u2019t have much of that satisfying saltiness or fattiness that provides the illusion (these days) of nourishment at the end of a day, and it felt like surely I was missing out on something.<\/p>\n

But after a few weeks went by and I got used to eating so simply \u2014 free of the rituals and constraints that come with our normal, cultural concept of a meal \u2014 I realized that I was eating exactly (and almost exclusively) the foods I always strived to eat more of.<\/p>\n

Fruits, raw veggies, beans, nuts, and seeds. And sometimes, if the grocery store happened to have a good bakery, whole grains.<\/p>\n

Assembling vs. Cooking<\/h3>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love cooking a meal. Health-wise, it\u2019s a huge<\/em> leap forward from eating processed food, and the first step for so many in turning their health around.<\/p>\n

Plus, it\u2019s fun. Recently I’ve enjoyed a renewed interest in cooking \u2014 mostly classic, regional Italian dishes, spending extra hours to make pasta and dumplings by hand (often with the help of my kids), and soups and sauces that simmer all day long.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s a hobby;<\/em> I do it under ideal conditions. Not when work gets busy or life is stressful. And certainly not under the guise of healthy eating. (Healthier than a standard American diet, sure, but that “standard” is a pretty low one.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s food as entertainment \u2014 and now and then, I find it really entertaining.<\/p>\n

And truth be told, most of the meals we eat at home aren\u2019t as simple as broccoli, chickpeas, and whole-wheat pasta. Even for a family that eats as simply as we do, that would get boring.<\/p>\n

So sometimes it’s burritos. Or \u201cmac and broc,\u201d a spin-off of this dish<\/a> that\u2019s become a staple for us. Or stir-fry.<\/p>\n

But, for as many meals as possible, we try to assemble, rather than cook. A good day looks like:<\/p>\n