When we (my Zumbalina friend, Kanani and I) planned our end of 6 week challenge celebration potluck at her beautiful home in Hilo, we had NO IDEA whatsoever how incredible it would be. There was MORE food than any of us could eat (which meant we had lots of leftovers and I am still enjoying them), smart ones took mini portions of everything. Others have to learn how to portion control in order to try everything (that's me). There was such great variety that everyone just could not believe their eyes!
Lessons learned:
- Lots of great recipes can be found online and all you have to know is how to substitute (i.e., applesauce instead of oil for baking desserts)
- different ethnic groups provide a welcome spice to life!
- You just have to TRY new dishes and go with your intuition on how to put it all together!
- Eating with friends is always fun
- Everyone has a story to share. I wish I could share them all with you here
- Eating as a nutritarian is healthy and a viable way of living!
Here are a couple of great stories from our challengers:
One person suffered painfully from coffee withdrawals even though she only drank 1-2 cups of coffee a day. She likened it to her chemo treatments 8 years ago. Someone thought that because all of those chemicals may still be in her body after all these years, she had an extreme reaction to the coffee detox. I, for one, am so happy to have this challenger eat a plant strong diet since I know that this will help prevent a recurrence of cancer invaders to her body!!
One attendee works in a doctor's office and knows the importance of living a plant strong life. But with patients (diabetes in particular), it's hard for them to even fathom how they can spend their lifetime without meat or dairy or sugar and oil. Coming to a potluck like ours can show them how WONDERFUL the food can be. It's a huge paradigm shift but totally 'ono!
Challengers got some great tips from our Laos and Thai attendees. We, in Hilo, love Asian cuisine!
Being on the challenge opens your eyes to a new way of living. In addition to changing your eating habits, you notice the increase in energy, the changes in your body, the beauty of farmer's markets, the necessity of reading labels, and the eating habits of obese people vs. skinny people. It's eye opening to say the least.
Over the course of the next couple of months I'll be posting recipes of our delectables. But for now I'll leave you with photos of our Saturday afternoon party.
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| vegetarian red curry |
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| Obviously a HUGE hit |
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| Women preppring their dishes |
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| I ended up calling this chocolate muffin drops (I forgot the oats) |
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| Soontaree and her two friends, Lakanah and Ubon |
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| Papaya Salad |
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| A Southwestern Salad |
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| Red Quinoa Salad |
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| One of four food areas |
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| Another food area against the wall |
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| Summer Rolls |
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| Michelle is a challenger extraordinaire! |
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| Dessert table |
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| mis soup with extras! |
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| More delicious summer rolls |
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| Round 1 |
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| Stuff pumpkin (mushroom gravy on the side) |
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| Watercress soba salad w/ bittermelon |
Great pictures. I'm with you - I ate like a pig and felt like you do after Thanksgiving dinner! Must learn portion control! But it was all so delicious.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the leftovers too. I hope we can do this again!
So glad we could talk food and not feel guilty about it. Big Spazz and I have recipes to try and we just loved the variety! Thank you to the Honda and Desa families for a wonderful evening. I'll have to look for nutritarian mocktail recipes for next time so we can have a tapas mocktail party and show off our small plate dishes. I was stuffed and I didn't even get around to everything. Looking at the pics, I have regrets on the things I didn't even get to taste.
ReplyDeleteHey a nutritarian mocktail party sounds like fun! Pupus and drinks! Your house, Cathy?
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