A Diet for Recovery

"Recovery from what?" you may ask. "Of a couple things simultaneously," I answer. Here are a few modest, reasonable, and non-traumatic dietary changes I've made recently in my own life which I hope will increase my chances of personal recovery from disease and addiction. Others might want to consider them also, because these kinds of changes (not these exact changes necessarily), if adopted by large numbers of Americans, might ease some of the pressure of human demands on Mother Earth.

I've cut the number of eggs I consume in half -- eggs and toast for breakfast every other day. Raisin bran with two percent milk is the alternative.

No more butter; hummus instead.

Cheese and bread a couple times a week rather than every day. Mayonnaise is out, replaced by a health food store product called Vegenaise, which tastes wonderful and is exactly what it sounds like. Pizza, which used to be the default meal, and is now banished from the table.

No beef, no pork. Chicken and fish are okay, but I find myself eating each of those about once a week at this point.

For years I've been vitamin deficient from not eating enough produce and avoiding raw food altogether. I'm eating more cooked produce now, and one of the most important items in the new diet is the daily orange.

Approximately four nights a week I have brown rice cooked with a combination of three or four of any of the following: pinto beans, broccoli, bean sprouts, spinach, cashews, mushrooms, carrots, frozen peas, seaweed, celery, or lentils. Top with soy sauce and chow mein noodles, or skip the noodles if you're a gluten-free person.

Yogurt for dessert.

Others adopting such a regimen may feel differently, but for some reason I don't feel like this involves any sacrifice on my part. Maybe that's because the most important and least healthful item in my diet is still my Big Enchilada, joy, crutch, and ever-faithful true love: big, strong, bolshy tasses of hot black coffee.

Ah.