Eat Vegan Before 6
Happy Meatless Monday
As you know, Meatless Monday is the jump start to every week, to encourage all of us to ordain this day every week to choose to be animal-free in our meal choices. The 
idea is to resolve to eat meatless, beginning with the first day and perhaps carrying through each subsequent day of the week as well. This international campaign is an inspiration around the globe and is for many I encounter in my role in “demo” at a grocery store, a well known grassroots movement.
For the other days of the week, some of us continue to eat plant-based, others are vegetarian, some return to being omnivores while others may sprinkle in a little of each. All of us are food interested and willing to incorporate the joy and healthful aspects of being Meatless for some or all of our choices. I read about an interesting approach to the rest of the days of the week for those dancing with being more plant-based. It’s the recent book by Mark Bittman, called VB6 EatVegan Before 6.
In VB6 Bittman advocates eating a plant-based diet before 6pm and then eating whatever you choose for dinner. Bittman described in this recent interview with the Huffington Post, that he wanted to find a way to lose weight and become healthier through food choices. He was overweight, pre-diabetic and had high cholesterol. The doctor wanted him to put him on medication and it didn’t feel right to him. Instead, he consulted another physician, who he described as being older and non-traditional. This doctor advised him to choose a plant-based diet and this would reverse his conditions.
Bittman wasn’t fully prepared to abandon his omnivorous diet and decided that a hybrid option could work for him….and according to his results, 6 years later, it has proven to be true. He follows a plan to eat vegan before 6pm every day and then, allows himself to eat anything he wants afterward. Over the years he found that his after 6pm habits have also adjusted, but when eating out with others or celebrating as we so often do for dinners, he doesn’t refrain from any food choices.
I love hearing about ways others have found to bring more vegan food to their plates. I think this is a great option for the “other 6 days” of the week, as a wonderful complement to Meatless Monday. If you are considering inviting more plant-based foods into your family’s regular routine, maybe try to eat vegan before 6 and then have the usual dinners your family knows and expects. This is a perfect entree into finding a healthier lifestyle without compromising certain foods that not everyone is ready to leave behind.
It sounds to me as though VB6 is another inviting approach for meeting people where they are when it comes to change. We are all on our own journeys while we look for ways to stay healthier, enjoy life and be more gentle on the environment. I haven’t read the book yet, but often follow Bittman’s articles in the New York Times (he is their lead food writer). I appreciate his educated approach to discussing food and look forward to checking out VB6 for myself.
If you have an imaginative way to add more plant-based foods into your family’s meals each week, please share. Or if you have read Bittman’s book, please chime in here and let us know what you thought. I found the book on Amazon here: VB6.
Have a delicious day.
Tags: compassionate eating, Mark Bittman, Meatless Monday, plant based diet, trying vegan, VB6. Eat Vegan Before 6, vegan wannabe
