The Abascal Way

Image: Fresh fruit and vegies at a farmer's stall
on the road in Nicaragua;
Check out that papaya on the right

This started as a grocery story. The story goes a bit like this.

The weekend was long and we had a lot of fun but we had not gone to get groceries. We got the boys to bed on Sunday and realized we had groceries to get. I volunteered to go do the groceries since my wife was tired and had done a lot that day.

So I took her list and did not really check it. I shopped for a long time and the grocery cart was overflowing.

When I got to the cash I got the Spanish Inquisition about my full grocery cart.

Cashier: "Wow that is a lot of groceries!"
Me: "I have growing boys."
Cashier: "Wow, how many?"
Me: "Two"
Cashier: "Boy, they sure are hungry."
...
more comments about the number of fruits and vegetables.
Me: "Well, we eat 2/3 vegetables and 1/3 everything else."
Cashier: "Wow, seriously?"

Ya, seriously. That is our goal and we do very well with it most days.

So, why do we eat so many vegetables? A couple reasons but if it is related to a diet in any way, then I guess we can trace some of that back to The Abascal Way book. The book was one of the 2 books that our Doctor recommended we read and then form our own opinion and diet from those books. The other book was Grain Brain.

I read Grain Brain and my wife read The Abascal Way. From that we came up with our current eating regime. Which is less regime than it is, 2/3 vegetables to 1/3  everything else.

Here are some articles on each:

• The Vashon Island Diet - about The Abascal Way.
• Kathy Abascal Diet Is Aimed At Wellness
• This Is Your Brain On Gluten - about Grain Brain
• Do Carbs Kill Your Brain - I am in a bit of agreement with this article, I think that the science is intriguing but I need to see more studies backing this one up to buy in fully. 

From both of the books, we got the message again that overdoing carbs is not good. Overdoing calories is not good is what it comes down too I think. That said we did cut back on our bread yet again and for bread we have gone gluten free (most of the time).

But really, this stuff boils down to calories in vs calories out. If you choose to eat 2/3 vegetables (which are lower calorie than other common options) then you are bulking up your meals with lower calories.

So, by following these a bit, and continuing to cook at home the majority of the time, it sure does make our grocery cart look crazy to most people we meet.

That reminds me, the other one I get is, "Gosh, gee, really?" when I explain to the cashier that we buy so many groceries since we cook our food. Fresh. You know, like a restaurant, but at home. They never believe me ;-)

Cooking at home, ya right! Next you'll tell me Yogurt comes from an animal.