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Superheroes Getting Started
trying to be a superhero

trying to be a superhero

Started by pancake on March 5, 2011

6 Comments

pancake said #1 Mar 5, 2011 at 3:15am

Hi everyone,

I live in Germany and due to that the book is not available in book stores yet. I ordered TKD and will get it in about 3-4 weeks though. I'm vegan since July 2010 and I feel healthier than ever, but I think NOW is the time to start an even healthier life. my main problem is sugar! I don't use sugar when I bake (I love baking!!!) but always put a bit of agave nectar into it. and I eat vegan sweets. I don't eat any gummybears or so but I LOVE chocolate. I always eat the dark one or one with peppermint creme in it (a bit like "after eight") and I eat lots of fruit, esp apples. I tried to cut down on non-local fruit recently. (just finishing off the left-overs) I only finish the soy left-overs off as well. I don't like tofu in any way but I like one sort of soy-rice-milk and yofu. are other plant-based milks ok? I like almond milk and spelt milk quite a lot too, are they "better" for the superhero-diet?

I will move to Iceland this year and most of the foods are imported. How do I eat the most "local"-way? I will cut out soy completely. but what about fruit? I'm not sure I can cut them out as much as "required", because I really love fruit. I understand that eating mainly local-grown fruit is better, but there's not much local grown in Iceland...

during the last few days I always had one grain for 3 meals during one day, then another grain the next day. in the morning I seem to need something sweet so I had grains with cinnamon, fruit and yofu, for lunch and dinner I had grains+ different vegetables and beans. I felt satisfied most of the day but I needed a sweet-fix in the afternoon :( how do I get rid off this? and is it ok to eat that way? do any of you weigh the grains and beans before cooking them? if so: how much do you use for one person? I cook only for me so I usually use 300g grains and 100g legumes per day plus fruit, veg and (atm) yofu, soy-rice-milk. I also use different nuts and seeds in pretty much every meal.

pancake said #2 Mar 5, 2011 at 3:31am

part 2:

I also love olives! are they superhero? I bought an avocado for the very first time, but didn't eat it yet, since I thought it would be very healthy and I wanted to give it a try but now I found out that they aren't superhero.. well one avocado won't be too bad, right? I don't have to have it again, I might not even like it..

I'm a bit confused regarding nightshades .. I rarely eat them, and when I do it's usually tomatos, red peppers and very occasionally potatoes (probably once a month, maybe even less). my body doesn't respond too good towards red peppers (I feel bloated), so cutting them out wouldn't be such a problem, but I love tomatos and like tomato-based soups and sauces. from what I understood you should eat them only occasionally. but how often is occasionally? once a week? once a month? and what about sweet-potatoes. are they nightshades as well?

I'm sorry for all those, probably stupid, questions. I hope the book will answer a lot of them, but I'd like to start ASAP. atm I try to have at least 1-2 superhero-meals a day. breakfast is not really superhero yet.. :( I think I need a lot of ideas for that! are dried dates superhero? I'd say no, since they aren't grown locally, but what do you guys think? and can I consider a meal 80% superhero when I have everything totally superhero (whole grain, veg, legumes) but have a small tomato with it? is oat-cream superhero? I love mushrooms in oat-cream with parsley.. I actually planned that for today.. and I love hot-spiced food. should I cut back on that? or is there a way to balance out certain foods?

I hope for your help!!!

pancake said #3 Mar 10, 2011 at 9:46am

thanks for the advice Tania!

I really noticed during the last days, that I eat WAY more nightshades than I thought. I didn't even notice before, but checking my diet I found out that there's tomato in at least 1 meal a day.

I think I have to read TKD before I can make further decisions.. I'm not sure the superhero-thing is something for me.. I might go with "whole food vegan" I love fruit and tomatoes just way too much and the avocado I had was SO delicious..

well we'll see but thank you so much again for the advice!

pancake said #4 Mar 27, 2011 at 6:05am

hi,

I have a question: I did pretty good at avoiding any sweetener, BUT I found a recipe for so called "energy balls" and now I want to know if they are superhero or not, cause they are basicly THE BEST sweets I ever had:

200g of dried fruit, puréed (might need to be soaked in water) (I used prunes and dates so far, but you can use any other sort as well)

200g of ground almonds (I'm sure you can use any other ground nuts as well)

stir well, make small balls and roll in soft oats, let them "dry" over nightthey are really really tasty, quick and easy to prepare and way healthier than sweets. so are they superhero?
as for the rest of my questions before: I got TKD and I'm still reading it, so far I think I'll be more of a part-time whole food vegan + part-time superhero, esp. avoiding sugars and peppers more consequently, I don't eat eggplants anyway and potatoes really more occasionally, I love tomatoes as well as avocados, so I kinda don't wanna cut them out.I can't find all those "superfoods" anywhere. are they really necessary or can I be a part-time superhero without them?

Hazel said #5 Mar 27, 2011 at 8:41am

What is your purpose in wanting to be superhero?

Superhero limits the fruit you eat, so the raw balls might be okay occasionally, but not often. It's focus is on local, in season food. So fruit is viewed as a treat, as are nuts in a way, and the fruit is best if it' s fresh and local. Superhero is loosely based on macrobiotics. I would reread that section for more clarity.

Personally, I would say to stick to whole food vegan as much as possible in the beginning, and when you feel ready to delve more into superhero, reread that section and maybe even look into information on macrobiotics. A good basic book is Modern Day Macrobiotics. Otherwise, it may all become very overwhelming to try and do it all at once when you haven't even finished the book yet. The most important thing at the beginning is simply to eat a variety of whole foods. And raw balls are certainly much healthier than most other things you could be eating - including vegan things like cookies and ice cream.

pancake said #6 Mar 28, 2011 at 9:53am

Thanks for your reply, Hazel,

I want to eat even healthier and more in balance with seasons, I'm vegan since July 2010, and pretty much "whole food" the whole time except for a few slip-ups and christmas brought quite a sugar-rollercoaster but I managed to get off that again :) the fruit and veg I eat is about 80% "local" at least as much as it can be, considering that I live in a big city, I eat a lot of different wholegrains and beans and chickpeas so I'm really used to eating whole food vegan. another important thing is, that I've been very ill and I'm still recovering, I'm a runner and I have final exams soon so I need a lot of energy and nutrition. I feel like I need an extra bunch of vitamins, but I don't want to take supplements if I can get the same vitamins from fruit n veg.

those raw balls are great in a long studying- session when I need a treat, a break and something to keep my brain working :) or right before a run if I don't have enough time to have a proper meal, during longer runs they should be perfect as a snack

I read on a macrobiotics website, that you are supposed to consider as well where your family comes from. my mum is german, which is easy to please nutrtion-wise as we live here and I can just eat as local as possible, but my dad is turkish. so should I eat a bit of mediterranian foods as well? that website said that macrobiotics is different for every single person, since everyone has different backgrounds and health-levels and that sounds right to me

why is avocado not superhero? because it's most probably not local or because of the contained persin? I assume that fruit is limited due to the sugar, is that correct? is flaxseed superhero?

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