Planeat: The Movie

Wednesday we went to the Baltimore showing of the movie “Planeat” at The Charles Theater (pictured above). The movie was sponsored by Whole Foods and was part of a multi-film series.

This movie covered both the health and environmental impact of dietary choices. Like the movie “Forks Over Knives” it focused on Doctors T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell B. Esselstyn. However one of the big differences (in my mind) between the two movies was the time spent talking to vegan chefs and showing them preparing food. Now I will be the first to admit that when they were using agave and oil I was cringing because that isn’t healthy, but we all have to start someone. It was nice that they showed that vegan food can be delicious, complex and flavorful.

Dan and I talked about the film after it was over and both decided that we thought “Forks Over Knives” was more compelling in terms of demonstrating to omnivores that there is huge health upside to them personally from making the shift. However “Planeat” does a better job of making vegan food look delicious. Additionally the environment impact of switching to a vegan diet is a big part of "Planeat" and that is a bonus. We both thought the film work was better in “Forks ...”. In the end I think we thought it was basically a draw in terms of which film we liked better with a slight nod to “Forks...”. Either way I would encourage you to see both films. When they are available on DVD I will be buying them both to have in my lending library.

I linked to the movie above and at that site you will find a trailer of the film as well as other clips and recipes that you might want to check out. I watched and enjoyed them.

Sandal Road Test:

Knowing that we were going out on Wednesday I was a bit worried about what shoes I was going to wear given the whole toe situation. I tried on many different sandals and found 4 pair that didn’t bother my foot much. Sadly the most comfortable pair was also the ugliest which meant that I didn’t wear them (crocs sandals). I decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood to see how my toe was holding up. Fortunately it was fine, a little tender but not too bad.

This was also my first walk in a long time without my IPod. I decided that I didn’t want my mind cluttered with noise but instead wanted to listen to the birds and try to clear my mind. My goal was to have a sort of walking meditation and it seemed to work. I was able to notice things that I had not seen previously and I think it was because I wasn’t distracted by the noise of my IPod.
I took these pictures while I was out for my walk. I enjoyed the blooms and thought you might too. Here is the neighborhood now that things are starting to bud and to bloom.

(It is really starting to look much more green here now..must be all the rain.) 

(I love stairs and gates leading into gardens.) 

(Are you starting to notice that I like gates?) 

(This little urban garden made me smile.) 

Dinner Out:

The movie was over about 8:20pm which gave us time to get to the restaurant for dinner before the kitchen was cleaning up at 9:00. Without Ian, Will or Dani working I was on my own in terms of what we were eating. As I have said before the restaurant isn’t vegan but they will make things that I make up, or will come up with things for us if we give them notice.  Jenn helped me come up with ideas for dinner since I haven't had to do this much lately because the guys have us very spoiled.  ;-)

We started with iced green tea with fresh orange juice that Emily made for us. Knowing how much I like fruit in my tea this was perfect. Thanks Emily!

Next we had gazpacho which was on the menu last night topped with crab. It was simple to ask them to leave off the crab making the soup vegan.

We next had the antipasti that is on the menu but had them leave off the meat and cheese and add additional veggies. This was another easy vegan modification but also a filling and tasty dish that is one of my favorites.

Knowing how much Dan loves to get pizza when we are out I am sure you aren’t surprised to hear the last dish was a small whole wheat pizza topped with marinara and roasted veggies. After it came out of the oven it was topped with baby arugula, balsamic glaze and an artichoke “rose”. I think the artichoke was my favorite part because it was unexpected.  We never get tired of pizza variations.  Funny we have eaten them without cheese for so long now that I can't imagine why I ever thought I needed fake vegan cheese.  Who said that? LOL

After dinner I had a few minutes to chat to Emily and told her about “The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse”. Since she is interested I will be lending her my copy once I get through all 21 days. By the way, I liked this book from the library enoughthat I ordered my own copy from Amazon and it arrived today.  Once I get through all 21 days I will post a review for you.
Happy thoughts:

• It was nice to have my hubby home from work early enough Wednesday to make a 7pm movie. I like have a date during the week.  Having plans mid-week also made the week go by a little more quickly I think.

• I was fortunate to find 4 pairs of sandals that I can wear even with my toe still messed up. I am very happy to be getting out and about again. Thursday night when Dan got home from work we went for a walk before dinner. It is good to be mobile once again as I was getting very antsy without my favorite morning walk through the neighborhood.

• Everything is green, lush and blooming here now and is extremely pretty. I love spring since it is a time of renewal. With my dramatic change in diet came the unexpected benefit of the disappearance of my seasonal allergies. Now I am able to enjoy the blooms with sniffling or sneezing which makes spring much more pleasant.

• I also enjoyed my “walking meditation” in the neighborhood. In fact it was so nice that I am going to leave my IPod at home for a while and see if I can use my time outside every morning to appreciate nature and clear my mind of thoughts. Wish me luck, I am going to need it since I am always thinking ... much to my own detriment. ;-)

• The upside of being stuck in the house (because of the toe) is that I am a reading machine lately. I have had time to read four books this week which I have enjoyed. I read both “Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor” and “Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips”. Given the subject matter I did not expect to laugh through the books but they were very funny in parts. I can’t say that I agree with everything contained within them but overall I thought they were both good reads.

• I am grateful that the nasty weather system that spawned all the tornadoes in the south didn’t cause any real damage here. We had some hard driving rain and high winds but nothing compared to what happened in the south yesterday. When we had the first tornado warning Thursday morning I got out the cat's travel bags so that they wouldn’t run when they saw them. I was getting prepared to grab felines and get them into their carriers so I could take them to the basement. You never can be too prepared when it comes to things like this.  NO OCD here, LOL.

Signing Out:

Wednesday time got away from me. I had expected to have time to write a post after the movie but since we went out to dinner time just disappeared. However we had a nice mid-week date and that is always a good thing right?

Tomorrow I plan to discuss a book that I read recently. I have started something new and am taking notes when I read each book and keeping them in a binder by topic and book. On the books that I get out of the library I am doing this to record the source of nutrition information that I gather since I won’t have the actual book as reference. Not to mention I am hoping this will make writing reviews a little easier. We will see how that goes.

I am very happy that tomorrow is Friday. *woo hoo* We are supposed to have nice weather which may mean a nice bike ride with my sweetie. At least that is what I have in mind so hopefully Dan doesn’t need to work this weekend. *fingers crossed*

Talk to you tomorrow. I hope your week has been good.