VB6 Review

VB6 stands for vegan before 6 (pm), and not 6am like my number 2 son so excitedly thought. After all, he is my vegetable hater and he thought for sure he could do this diet. He just would not eat from dinner until after 6 am. Yeah  right, good try.

I was looking forward to this cookbook because Mark Bittman is a New York Times food writer as well as an author of the Cook Everything cookbooks.

I think the concept makes sense for me right now, even if I probably will not lose weight on it. After all, the last time my husband and I really tried the vegan lifestyle change, we did well. It is just difficult to maintain. However, I don't like to eat meat at every meal anymore and do not see it as a necessity. It is not about the weight, it is more about how my body reacts to foods as I get older.

I don't have a gall bladder so I really have a hard time with oil, fats, heavy dairy, certain fish.

This in concept sounds good to me. I like the idea of whole foods, lots of vegetables and fruits, whole grains. Breakfast and lunch was the easiest part of the Eat to Live, whole foods diet. Dinner was hardest even now because I cook for my family. I think once I can get rid of the whole eating leftovers for lunch idea and pack a huge salad, I can be successful just at packing food and prepping better.

But here is my review of this cookbook. Bittman is a New York times food person. That means that he can cook. That also means that in this cookbook, there is too much cooking. These are not easy fixes. These are labor intensive make for the week kind of recipes and I could not pull many recipes that I think I could make.

I realize that this is a cooking blog. However, I am a lazy cook with very little patience for waiting. It is why I tried making tangerine butter last night and came to the conclusion that I am horrible at tempering eggs. No patience. I love my instant pot because I like the mindless meditation of cutting up vegetables and food prep. However, I hate standing over a stove. Putting the Instant Pot on and walking away is the best invention since the microwave.

What I will do instead is take the concepts behind VB6 but use my tried and true Eat To Live recipes. It also helps that I can eat the same thing day after day. Boring for most but the boredom allows me to be more cognizant of my bodyʻs reaction to hunger.

Perhaps this cookbook is not for me, but the intention behind it sounds like a 2019 goal.