Two years ago today, on October 31, 2012, www.BeTheHealthyU.com was born, and I'm very grateful to Ellis, Mark, Jan, and Peter for challenging me on October 30, 2012 to launch my new website within 24 hours! Otherwise, who knows when (or if) it would have ever happened.

I wanted to launch a website and talked about doing it for a long time. Other than purchasing the domain name, I hadn't done anything about it other than talk. That's because it felt overwhelming since I wasn't sure how to do it or what to do next. So much content to write. Hosting, what's that? A website builder? Hmmm. Do I need to know HTML? Where do I start? Yikes!

Sitting around the table on that fateful day, after I mentioned for the umpteenth time that I would "work on" starting my website, Ellis told me that he started several websites in a matter of only a few hours, and that 24 hours would be more than enough time for me to get my website going. 

What?!?! 24 hours?!?! Have a website up and running?!?! No way! Way!

Ellis explained that since I already had the domain name, all I would need is a host and a simple website builder. I could even find those together in one place. And no, I did not need to know HTML. He made it sound so easy.

The rest of the group chimed in with suggestions, ideas, and words of encouragement, and then cheered me on for the task at hand.

After checking out and comparing hosting sites and website builders, I chose namecheap.com to host my website. And I chose a new, very simple, easy to use, drag and drop website builder called Weebly (www.weebly.com). 

I wrote a few short pieces and created a first draft of my logo, selected a theme, created a few pages, then dragged and dropped my content, logo, and some pictures into those pages, clicked on the "publish" button, and voila: I had a website! It was THAT easy!

I published my website within 24 hours of the challenge! And I was even quite proud of it!

Over the past two years, I've added over 200 posts, several photos, some videos, and a teleseminar. Plus, I morphed my logo into its final form. I've had a lot of fun along the way and am excited to be going on 104,000 pageviews! 

I'm telling you this because you might be dragging your feet about starting your own website like I was two years ago, and if so, I want to encourage you to just do it! It's so much easier than you may think! And it's even easier than it was two years ago. So go for it!

Wet cooking methods are just that – wet. They involve cooking in or with water.

Do you know the difference between blanching, par-boiling, boiling, and simmering? All five methods involve cooking veggies by submerging them in boiling water. Steaming, another method, involves using the steam from boiling water to cook the veggies without submerging them in the boiling water. When done properly, these methods intensify the color of the veggies while retaining a crunchy texture. It's a matter of how much time the veggie is in the boiling water, and therefore how much it gets cooked.

Blanching. Very quick! The veggies are placed in boiling water and removed after matter of seconds. Only the very outside of the veggies get cooked while most of the inside remains uncooked.

Blanched veggies are a little softer to bite into than raw veggies, retain most of their crunch, and have vibrant color. The broccoli I prepared shown in the upper left was blanched and is mostly uncooked on the inside (light green) while only the very outside is cooked and is bright, vibrant green.

Blanching is great for veggies that go into salads, are served with dip, or to pre-cook the veggies to shorten the cooking time in a recipe. Blanched collard greens make excellent wraps because blanching makes the large, sturdy leaves very pliable so they can hold your favorite fillings without tearing.

Par-boiling. Quick. The veggies are placed in boiling water and removed after a fairly short time, maybe 1-2 minutes or so, depending on the thickness of the veggies. More of the edges of the veggie get cooked while less the center remains uncooked compared to blanching.

Par-boiled veggies are softer to bite into than blanched veggies, yet still retain some of their crisp, crunchiness, due to the uncooked center, and also retain all of their vibrant color. The broccoli I prepared in the center of the photo is par-boiled and less of the center remains uncooked (light green) while more of the edges are cooked (brighter, darker green).

Par-boiling is a great way to prepare veggies to serve as part of a meal or on their own. Like blanching, par-boiling is also great for veggies that go into salads, are served with dip, or to pre-cook the veggies to shorten the cooking time in a recipe.

Boiling. The veggies are placed in boiling water and remain for several minutes until they are tender and completely cooked through. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the veggies.

Properly boiled veggies are soft, but not mushy, and retain their vibrant color. The broccoli I prepared in the lower right of the photo is boiled and no light green color remains.

Boiling is great for veggies such as sweet potatoes, yams, potatoes, carrots, beets, and butternut squash (root veggies and winter squash). It’s always best to cut these veggies into similarly-sized cubes so that they cook evenly and in the same amount of time. Boiled veggies make great salads and are excellent in other dishes, soups, or served on their own.

Simmering. Very similar to boiling, except that the temperature is reduced so that the liquid boils gently. Simmering is a good method to soften harder veggies such as root veggies like carrots, potatoes, or winter squash, as well as beans and whole grains. Simmering is also good for blending flavors.

Steaming. The veggies are placed on a perforated rack (typically bamboo or stainless steel) and the rack is placed inside of a covered pot that has an inch or two of boiling water at the bottom of the pot. To steam properly, the rack is always placed above the boiling water (never touching the water) and the veggies are cooked by the steam that rises from the boiling water.

Properly steamed veggies are tender and crisp, and the only way to get it right is to taste them for doneness or do a knife test (see below). Most veggies retain their vibrant color when steamed. The carrots in the photo were steamed until just tender and retained their bright, vibrant orange color.

A caveat is that the color of green veggies may turn dull or slightly brown when steamed because chlorophyll is sensitive to acids, and acids naturally in those veggies boil off, condense on the inside of the cover, then drip back onto the veggies.

The secret to great-tasting veggies regardless of the method is to not over-cook them! Overcooked veggies are mushy and turn a brownish color, losing their vibrant color.

Always test for doneness by biting into the veggies to test for crispness (blanching, par-boiling, and steaming (green veggies)) or by inserting a knife (boiling or steaming root veggies and winter squash). Root veggies and winter squash are properly cooked when the knife easily slides in to the center of the cubes and the veggie does not immediately slide off when the knife is pulled out.

Try any of these methods and season lightly with a little sea salt, fresh lemon or lime juice, and some of your favorite herbs and you will be amazed by how fresh and delicious these veggies taste! Or finish by lightly sautéing with caramelized onions, garlic, and other spices using vegetable broth or a very tiny amount of oil.

These aren't your mother’s veggies!

What are some of your favorite seasonings for veggies?

Today is a huge milestone - I've now reached over 100,000 pageviews here on my website!!! Thank you so much for visiting! 

I hope that while you're here, you stay and check it out, and maybe learn something helpful! Please share my website with your friends, family, coworkers, or anyone you think will find it helpful!

And please, don't to forget to leave comments!

Thank You and To Your Excellent Health!
Terri

I was recently asked this question because I consume only whole, plant-based foods. I think the real question was: “How do you NOT eat any meat, poultry, fish, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, eggs, or any other animal-based foods?”.

Because I’ve been plant-based for nearly three years and eating only whole plant-based foods is now a habit, I hadn’t really thought about it until I was asked the question. And it made me realize a few things.

While eating whole plant-based foods may be considered being on a diet, I consider it more of a lifestyle than a diet. A lifestyle encompasses food habits (the diet that you normally consume) as well as exercise, work, recreational, spiritual, educational, and financial habits. I think of food habits as the foods we default to – those foods that we consume automatically for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Those are the foods that make up the diet that is our lifestyle.

Many lifestyles include foods typical of the Standard American diet such as animal-based foods and highly processed and refined foods that are loaded with salt, sugar, and fat. The same foods that are responsible for obesity and many chronic degenerative diseases related to obesity.

My lifestyle prior to reading “The China Study” by T. Colin Campbell included a low-sugar version of the Standard American Diet. After reading the hard, scientific and clinical evidence presented in “The China Study” clearly showing that animal-based foods trigger many cancers and other chronic degenerative diseases, it suddenly became easy for me to not eat meat, poultry, fish, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, eggs, or any other animal-based foods. That’s because in my mind, they suddenly became “non-foods”. 

It’s pretty easy not to eat “non-foods”. If you were served a piece of wood or a sponge on a plate, you wouldn’t think: “boy, that piece of wood sure looks good, maybe I’ll just have a little bit”, or “I hope there’s more sponge because I don’t think one will be enough”. The thought of eating those things would never even cross your mind because they’re not food!

The evidence presented in “The China Study” and other work published by the likes of Dean Ornish, MD, Caldwell Esselstyn, MD, John McDougall, MD, Michael Greger, MD, and many others have consistently shown over and over again that animal-based foods are the main cause of the epidemic of obesity and poor health we’re experiencing.

So, to me, animal-based foods have become non-foods. Sure, they may smell good, but so does perfume, and I don't eat that. I look at a piece of meat or a piece of cheese (or any other animal-based food) and see something that to me is inedible. And if it’s inedible, I won’t eat it. Period.

So what does that leave? You guessed it – whole plant-based foods. Loads and loads of amazing whole, plant-based foods! It was certainly an adjustment that I did one meal at a time to create new habits that have become my lifestyle. And my body has rewarded me handsomely by dropping weight, giving me more energy, eliminating back pain, eliminating all GI problems, eliminating asthma, rarely getting colds or flus, keeping my cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and blood pressure in check, and overall making me feel great! Plus my body quickly eliminated cravings for animal-based foods, which to me is a sign that my body doesn't really even need those foods.

This is not a diet that I will ever go off of. This is a lifestyle that I will never change.

How do you stick to your diet?