My Wholefood Plant-Based Diet: A Bump in the Road

Storm Isha lashed the West of Ireland last weekend, and the power to our home was lost. Since last night, we thankfully have our electricity back, but then came the dreaded frozen food audit.

For anyone wondering why this should be an issue on a plant- based diet, it is all in the batch cooking…and freezing! I’m the only plant-based person in our household, so when I cook, I batch cook and then freeze.

It makes life easier than having two fresh meals on the go at the same time each night. Jac isn’t plant-based, and that’s fine. So we work it out to make life easier and the ‘batch and freeze’ method is the best way. It also saves me from having to cook daily.

With a large freezer full of prepared wholefood plant-based meals and only one camping stove ring to cook on, boil water for washing and making hot drinks, we had a challenge on our hands. Do I open the freezer and risk losing the lot if we are without power for several days, or do we eat out?

We chose the latter as each day was a fragile promise that the engineers may repair our broken power line to the home — or they may not. All we could do was stare at a closed freezer and pray my precious plant-based meals didn’t spoil.

We hunted for a generator, but all appeared to be sold out. On the back of storm Isha, Jocelyn roared in and prevented the crews from working on our power supply again.

By the fourth day, we found the last generator in town and despite it being very expensive; we needed it badly, and we let the bank account take a big hit.

As Jac fired the generator up and plugged the freezer in, it lit up and registered -18C on the display panel. I couldn’t find the manual to check if this was the set temperature or the actual internal temp. However, after 5 hours on charge, the contents were revealed and thankfully still fully frozen solid.

Living in rural West of Ireland, the options are limited for where to eat good plant-based food. Many restaurants have one option, but I’m gluten free and ‘no added oil’ free too, so I’m limited for choices. I had to make some sacrifices, as we were low on gas canisters to cook at home and, as it’s winter, the camping shops were out of replacements.

Last night when the magical lights, heating and tv startled us with suddenly booting up, we appeared back to our normal. Except I was bloated with water retention and all the added flavours of takeaway food left me craving non compliant foods again.

I feel 3kg heavier and probably I am. I will weigh soon…perhaps.

The worst part about having to stray from my wholefood, plant-based no added oil diet has been the fatigue that crept in. Whereas, previously, I felt energised.

I’m almost back on track. I’ve a minor craving for chocolate, which I am resisting, and tomorrow I hope to feel back on track.

Next time, we are prepared. The generator is here to stay and Isha and Jocelyn have left the building.

Before the power cut, I had lost 17.2 kg and felt very well. I want that back fast!

More progress blogs HERE

My Recipes HERE

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