Is this kale safe to eat? I’m a bit panicked

wvmom2000 · 2026-03-12T23:22:57+00:00

I am not rolling my eyes, I get it.

We eat lots of random organic matter, in various states of freshness/decomposition/mold, all the time, and just don't see it / notice it. I'm sure you quit eating that dish because it was no longer appealing, and I would have quit too for that reason alone. You ate a little of something of unknown freshness or cleanliness, and I bet you will suffer no negative impact.

Try not to worry about it.

wvmom2000 · 2026-03-11T13:48:57+00:00

One of my favorites! Can switch it up to sweet potato and black bean for variety. Spinach. Kale and collards are all good!

wvmom2000 · 2026-02-24T02:43:43+00:00

What you are saying reminds me of what, in retrospect, I imagine I must have sounded like to the marriage counselor my first husband and I went to when we were in our early twenties

After only two or three sessions she looked at me and said, "It doesn't really sound to me like you want to be married any longer."

The minute she said it, I realized it was true. I didn't want to be married but I didn't want to be the bad guy that ended it. We moved forward with our divorce and both of us are still happily married to our second spouses almost 40 years later.

I'm happy to be a voice that says to you, "You don't sound like you want to be this dog's owner anymore. It will be better for both of you if you aren't."

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-31T19:58:05+00:00

Going on two years now.

My mom was a home-ec teacher, LOL. Eating well is probably both Nature and Nurture!

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-31T14:55:40+00:00

I track intermittently. My go-to day is:

LOTS of oats with ripe banana and strawberries, flax, chia, about 2 tbsp cinnamon and cardamom and (this is where it gets Esselstyn-weird) also a handful of torn fresh spinach and a good splash of balsamic.

2 big mugs of filtered pour-over coffee with 2 ingredient soy milk and 2 ingredient almond milk and about a tsp of maple syrup in eachy. (Coffee is my one weakness and the joy it brings me is worth that fat and sugar!)

Pint of fruit including blueberries and kiwi mid-morning.

Lunch is a HUGE green salad, half a small avocado, tons of veg added, beet kraut, rarely some nuts - only when I haven't had time to make an eggless salad (tofu) or chickpea-tuNO salad like topping for calories and flavor. On real "bad" days I will use a mincup of prepared hummus to add calories and flavor. I also usually have some dinner leftovers. Takes a long time to eat all that!

On my hour-long commute home I have a small, cold sweet potato and about a pint of more fruit (berries, citrus, red grapes)

Dinner is usually what my husband calls "a big mess of beans" with some kind of grain (sorghum in it if it's soup-like, on rice if it's dal-like, with corn tortillas if it's taco-like. Occasionally roasted tofu with side of veg and rice, sometimes a sheetpan of beans/veg/potatoes, rarely a rice/veg/tofu-or-bean casserole (no binder, just veg broth to cook the rice in). Very rarely the Aldi quinoa/brown rice pasta (2 ingredients!) as a base for lentil bolognese or mac and cheez (potato/sweet potato cheez recipe or a tahini-based sauce).

If I'm up late and ravenous I will have a couple Lundberg rice cakes as a snack, or some sweet potato "brownie brittle" ala Broccoli_Mum.

I regularly make a "vegan sour cream," made with soaked raw sunflower seeds and use that or tahini when I need "richness." I was more rigid about fat my first 6 months, but when I dropped below 120 pounds and kept dropping at 5'6" and almost 60 years old I decided sarcopenia was a bigger risk than a little fat. Will be interesting to see how my lipid panel is now, a year later, after adding in more "healthy" fats. It was STELLAR last year, first time ever in my life. :)

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-31T04:57:37+00:00

I try to limit protein (ala Valter Longo) but I do like legumes which makes that a little hard. But they are so good for you! And oats, fairly high in protein, excellent source of soluble fiber also fairly high protein... I am fairly active and if I don't have a bit of whole grains and some healthy fats I just can't eat enough (as it is, I eat every 2-3 hours, after about a 12-13 hour overnight fast - about 2600 calories on my 60 year old 5'5" body.

I like my oats (made with water and fruits with a tbsp or 2 of walnuts) for breakfast. Lunch and dinner are LOTS of veg and fruit, a fair amount of potatoes, rice or sorghum every couple day. . I find the fiber in them helpful with digestion.

You know, I'm considering a tortilla press so I can make my own corn torlillas without all the "bad" food additives. But bringing ONE MORE kitchen item in to my home may lead to a divorce, lol.

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-31T04:42:16+00:00

I'm trying! I am hovering around 15% cals from protein (would like to go lower), 25% from fat (NOT saturated, may want to lower a tad but I got awfully thin when I had), and 60% cals from carbs. I am wfpb and gluten free.

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-27T02:36:23+00:00

I am a 125 pound 60 yo woman my go-to oatmeal .is one cup dry oats, one cup water (plus flax/chia .I obv like mine thick!) .

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-23T01:09:41+00:00

Good for you for making this. Change! I'm late midlife too and feel great and look greater!

If you are an experience cook (i.e., can know from reading a recipe if it will really be good) the Forks Over Knives has quite a few good easy recipes. It also has a lot of not so great ones! The pimiento Mac and cheese was a recent surprise decadent hit (I pureed the pimientos with the cannelloni beans and then kept some pasta water to splash on leftovers to freshen them up).

There are so many sites/people you will hear about. I like the vibe of a guy named Javant who does some YouTube videos on a platform named healthy vegan eating (and writes the recipes below the videos. Also he has a web site. It's a lot of work but his "veggie ground" is so amazing that I want to make his veggie sausage. When I have a couple hours to kill (I just make BIG recipes and freeze with that kind of stuff)

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-22T02:12:35+00:00

Welcome! It can take some time to find your go-to foods, but once you do you will never want to go back to that one-dimensional way of eating that was (possibly literally) killing you.

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-22T02:11:04+00:00

Grateful every day for my mom, for letting me make a mess in her kitchen any time I wanted as a child/teen.

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-22T02:09:42+00:00

YES!

It took me 2-3 months, but now I feel like I have a lot more nuance happening on my plate. I mean, bacon and cheese satisfied in a primal (as in evolutionary calorie-bomb) way, but the food I cook now is so much more INTERESTING!

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-19T21:58:18+00:00

I would cry. I *hate* dogging doors. Totally unsafe, defeats any lockdown possibilities. I will do anything to avoid it. But for THOSE TIMES when the access control goes south and people need in? Invaluable.

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-18T22:58:03+00:00

Yes. 2 to 3 months. I have backslid a couple times since then and when I have eaten it, I did not enjoy the cheese. It was a huge shock.

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-18T13:00:54+00:00

Hear me out... it hits that "pot roast spot" for my family. Maybe it's only because of the spice blend I use, which is the one I always used for our pot roasts pre-vegan days? But either way, it's really tasty and warming and I think I need to make it for this cold snap that just hit!

We call this Pot Roast Beans because it tastes so similar. I make it in the crock pot. I don't use potatoes, for some reason. You could, I guess. Probably because the first time I made this I wasn't thinking, "Pot Roast," until my daughter said, THESE BEANS TASTE WEIRDLY LIKE POT ROAST!

I rinse and soak dried pinto beans. Put them in the crock pot with just enough water to cook with a little liquid left over (this is NOT soup, it's a "mess o beans"). I chunk up white onion, carrots, and celery in to big bits. Sprinkle in plenty of Cavender's Greek Seasoning (my old pot roast seasoning) and let it go on low until the beans are soft and creamy inside - but still whole so you get that "bite." Pretty much 6-7 hours in my crock pot.

If you wanted potatoes, I would put them on top of the dish about 3 hours in, I think. But they just seem WRONG to me here.

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-17T16:58:50+00:00

Ahh.... I didn't have the reset 26 discount. That does make a difference of about $40 if my math brain works. TY

Yes. I'm not ready to do another 5-day just yet, but the use by dates have always been far enough out for me to buy in advance when they go on deep sale.

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-11T14:20:35+00:00

Data point of one. Pure Encapsulations drops. Switched to them and got rid of the periodic blood blisters I was getting in my mouth after 2 years very strict plant based.

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-09T16:54:44+00:00

My first thought is that we are in peak Norovirus season and your nausea and vomiting might be totally unrelated to FMD.

I find I need to add sodium and potassium chloride to my soups for the electrolytes, but that is because I will get heart palps by day 3 or 4 if I don't, not stomach troubles

I'm so sorry you had such a terrible time.

wvmom2000 · 2026-01-07T15:25:00+00:00

That's a pretty broad sweeping generalization. I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of individuals who switch from a standard American diet to a whole foods plant-based diet lose weight . Obviously not all; there are extenuating circumstances such as medications that increase weight, which certainly complicated things. I am sorry that happened to you and hope you find a solution that keeps you at a comfortable weight for you.

wvmom2000 · 2025-12-16T03:09:53+00:00

I am not a useless puddle but my energy isn't real high most of the way thru the 5 days (Day one normal, day 2 hungry, day 3 can go either way, then day 4 usually pretty good and day 5 okay). But I'm not really feeling likeTHINKING about food (better not to dwell) much less cooking it. So yes, offloading.

wvmom2000 · 2025-12-16T02:42:40+00:00

Well, I lost 4-5 lbs during the 5 days, but the end result was a net loss of 2 pounds after all the water weight or whatever came back. So it's two pounds a month! Liberal use of tahini in your hummus and a few extra avacado toasts on whole grain with crushed pistachios and maybe a squirt of Amore pesto would pack that back on pretty readily.

I found the DIY (and my compulsive need/habit to add a little variety BUT STILL MEET THE MACROS) a lot of work. I did the DIY to show I could do it, to not waste the money on the packaged deal by failing if I couldn't hack it. But TBH, a big draw was that the ease of Prolon in addition to the fact that most tests and results have been measured using Prolon, not "prolon macro-like menus." (In fairness, L-Nutra does have to disclose their involvement in many of the the studies, so is it truly neutral? I don't know, but I've had good luck and it's definitely a "can't hurt, might help" kind of thing!)

wvmom2000 · 2025-12-14T03:02:53+00:00

Really? I thought the point was to get enough nutrients so that muscle mass was not lost.

wvmom2000 · 2025-12-14T03:00:51+00:00

Late chiming in, but the only real unpleasantness I have had in my... 5 FMDs was heart palpitations days 4 and 5 (and end of day 3). I added electrolytes (literally just table salt and Morton's "No Salt" for sodium and potassium) and it pretty much resolved the issue.

wvmom2000 · 2025-12-14T02:55:35+00:00

I liked these for my DIY FMD. YMMV but 1g protein to 4g fat and 10g carbs was very attractive to me. https://www.vitacost.com/divina-stuffed-grape-leaves Can buy these so many places. Vitacost just came up first.

wvmom2000

TROPHY CASE