mulberryshoots

Do you remember that children’s story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears? When she tried out the furniture in the house, one chair was too big, another was too small and the third one was “just right.” That’s how my quest for an ideal way to eat has gone: first, the Paleo diet with high protein and vegetables by Mark Hyman was “too big” because it allowed lots of luxury foodie type foods. Then, Joel Fuhrman’s strict diet of a vegan, all vegetables and no animal protein was, well, “too small” in the sense that it was so austere, it soon became hard to stick with. Plus, I noticed that the glossy sheen of my hair had disappeared and looked dry and dull instead after only a week of no eggs and butter.

What to do? I decided to add back a little protein especially since I missed farm fresh organic eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast. Fresh caught grey or dover sole may be my favorite dinner so I added that back in. I haven’t really craved other meats like beef, lamb or veal nor even chicken of late. Fresh fish and organic eggs plus some nice sliced prosciutto or ham for lunch was enough savory protein to balance out a high vegetable content diet. This past week, eating like this felt “just right.”

Imagine my surprise when I searched online how to reconcile the Hyman Paleo and Fuhrman Vegan diets, only to find articles about a “Pegan” diet! Yep, it’s a combo of a little protein combined with a primarily vegetarian approach to food with the addbacks of eggs and fish.

So, without knowing it, this compromise between a rather rich diet (Paleo) with the very rigid diet (Vegan,) it seems that the old adage, “the best of both worlds” has now been blessed by the diet gurus. Meanwhile, I kind of groped my way here because of how my hair had dulled and my preference for a high protein breakfast rather than a fruit one. I’m not really sure how much fruit is really allowed anyhow when trying to lower one’s blood glucose level. A handful of fresh blueberries after dinner seems like a middle-of-the-road way to go between the two extremes.

Settling into a routine of smaller portions overall and drawing from a prudent combo of eggs, butter, fish (animal protein) plus cruciferous (broccoli) and green leafy vegetables (kale, chard, spinach, collard greens) with small helpings of berries, nuts and seeds might be a “pegan” approach to eating healthy for us. I guess the only thing to do is to wait and see.