NO COOKING IN THE KITCHEN

My Vegan cousin Audrey has a sign on her refrigerator that says "COOKING IS POISON"  She never eats anything from animals or fish.

Audrey has the most beautiful circular kitchen in her lovely home. Instead of the usual toaster, broiler, and canisters on the counter, she has vials, droppers, scale, and small jars.

On my last visit to her home, I watched with amazement her preparing lunch and dinner in her million dollar looking kitchen. It took a couple of hours mixing several berries, seeds, nuts, fruit and several other items too numerous to mention. She prepared her smoothie in her elaborate blender insisting it made her full all day. She snacks on almonds, that were washed and soaked for days.

Whole Foods is her source for shopping most foods. She carefully selects her organic fruits and veggies.  She places them on a  $150 wood square block like a trivit..  Audrey says it energizes the food on it. She also has  a large magnet under her bottle of purified water to give that energy as well.

Audrey is a health food guru among her peers.  She devotes her entire life reading, attending lectures and preaching about healthy eating.  Although too overwhelming for me to digest all the information given to me, she does not get insulted if I change the subject. Truthfully, I must say, at times I am slowly starting to listen.  I take it very gradually and try to eat with substitute foods.  I am trying Stevia, the safe sugar substitute. "Never consume any soy products" she warned. I was flabbergasted at the horror of soy.  I will tell you what my friend researched in my next issue.

At first, listening to my fanatic cousin, I thought she was crazy. But I realized she made a lot of sense in the foods we eat. She explained milk is harmful after infancy. "How can we live without milk? I love milk and cookies before bed time" But why does my stomach slightly feel weird, and my mouth has a sour taste every time I drink it?

While watching her prepare her smoothie, she gave me a taste of coconut milk, almond milk, and another kind of milk. I loved the almond milk. It was a little creamy and sweet. Great for my coffee. So I am now weaning myself gradually away from milk and  am purchasing almond milk at Whole Foods.. It tastes better anyway. I wont be a vegan any time soon, but I will gradually become more aware of some of the poisons in food and look for an alternative.

The advice my cousin gives makes a lot of sense. However at my age, it is too difficult to change my eating habits.  Audrey says, "take it one day at a time.  A little knowledge is better than none"