Buffets - Food everywhere but nothing good to eat!

We went out to a buffet last night for dinner. It’s been a REAL long time since we’ve done that. As a matter of fact, the last time we did that was when we evacuated for the hurricanes in 2004. And now I remember WHY it has been so long since we’ve gone out to a buffet. Last night we abandoned the camper in freezing weather for the comfort of a heated hotel room. Since it was a little difficult to cook in a hotel room, we decided (on the advice of the friendly hotel clerk) to try a buffet for our dinner meal. We thought it would be fast, easy and convenient and would give us a good selection of fruits, vegetables and salads. Boy – were we ever wrong. There was indeed a wide variety of salad items and cooked vegetables – but nothing was what I would call good. All of the salad toppings were loaded with fat and cholesterol. And, after sampling most of the vegetable selection I now know why most people can’t understand how I can base my entire diet around fruits, vegetables and grains. All of the vegetables were completely overcooked and soggy – and if there was any flavoring added it was in the form of chopped meat or cheese products. Although my dinner was really quite horrible – I am very grateful for the experience for several reasons. It really opened my eyes to the struggles that most people face when making the transition to a plant-based diet. I can’t imagine eating a plant-based diet if it tasted like the foods I tried on the buffet. But there is hope! Vegetables don’t really taste like that! A few quick recipes, seasonings, and proper techniques and a plant-based, whole food diet is WONDERFUL! That is what my website is all about – empowering people to eat and truly ENJOY whole foods. Sampling the foods at the buffet also helped me see how easy it is for most people to inadvertently overeat. When we are hungry, what our body really wants is some high quality nutrients it can use for fuel. We will continue to eat and eat and eat to find those high nutrient dense foods. If none are available and all we have available is low nutrient, highly processed foods, our bodies will continue to search for a good fuel source. Junk foods and processed foods may be satisfying to our mouths, but not to our bodies. I sampled so many foods at the buffet trying desperately to find something satisfying that I felt totally stuffed when I left – yet not satisfied at all. That is also what my website is about. Whole foods are INCREDIBLY satisfying and appealing to our tastebuds and mouth – if we just give them a proper try.