My Dirty Little Secret

Mai's WFPB Journey, Part 1

Since here at Mai Time in the Kitchen I will focus primarily on sharing whole-food, plant-based recipes, links, etc., it only feels right to tell you about how I happened upon this journey. For a lot of folks who find themselves making monumental dietary changes in their lives, it comes from a health scare or mounting physical ailments that finally force their hand into shifting their old habits. But my story is a bit different.

Shortly after giving birth to my sixth (and final) babe, I found myself sinking into the murky waters of postpartum depression. I’d had it once before with the birth of my second child. Unfortunately, that time I suffered with it for over a year, letting it go untreated until the symptoms slowly began to lessen on their own. Still, it was a hellish experience, leaving me fearful that after any future pregnancies it could suck me down again. But when my subsequent babies came unaccompanied by that harrowing swamp of sadness, I figured it was a “one-off”.

When I got pregnant with our sixth baby, I desperately wanted a girl. Maybe it was my need for a gender balanced line-up (we had 3 boys and 2 girls before she came along) or just that I wanted one last chance to adorn a baby in flowers and bows, but either way, my heart felt that one more girl would complete our little nest. So, when she arrived on a sultry August evening, everything in the world felt right to me. On our way home, the green of the tobacco fields we passed and the blue of the cloudless sky looked more vibrant, more electric with life than ever before. The whole world looked new and full of hope.

Yes, I anticipated the dips and lifts that my mood always experienced when my hormones were balancing out after giving birth. But soon I noticed that the dips never lifted. They descended lower and lower till I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. I walked around with pink-rimmed eyes, throbbing and water-logged from my constant crying. I lived in a suffocating quick sand of hopelessness.

I knew there was medication that could help, but I also knew my body. I have a bit of a prima donna constitution. Caffeine makes me feel like I have the flu, alcohol makes my legs ache, and once when I was prescribed a steroid for an allergic reaction, my body launched into such manic hyperactivity that I didn’t sleep for days and Shawn came moments away from tying a leash around my neck to keep me from crawling the walls. Aside from the occasional dose of Tylenol for a headache, medication and I don’t really jive.

So I went on the hunt for alternative treatments. That’s when I stumbled upon a story of another woman whose postpartum history was similar to my own. She suffered with depression after her 2^nd and 4^th babies. While she tried medication for the first, she decided to try a natural method for the second. And what did she do? She switched to a WFPB diet and started to do yoga and meditation.

Now let me pause right here. Having never attained my medical degree or done extensive research into the benefits of a WFPB diet on postpartum depression, please know that this little testimonial is in no way prescriptive. It is simply my story. The only thing I know is that when I changed my diet and began incorporating daily exercise into my life, the swampy ground of postpartum depression dried up under my feet and for the first time in months I felt like I was standing on solid ground.

This, however, is only the very beginning of my story, but I will pause in the telling for now so that I have the chance to share with you a recipe that was incredibly helpful to me once I started down this unknown path. One of the guides that helped me in those early days was Rip Esslestyn. I was introduced to his work with WFPB eating through the documentary “Forks over Knives”. As I listened to his encouragements and read through his book My Beef With Meat, I found his tone reassuring and his recipes attainable. One of the first recipes that I incorporated into my diet was Rips’s Big Bowl, which you can check out here. Over the years I’ve tweaked his recipe into what I like to call Mai’s Compost Muesli. No, maybe it’s not the most appealing title ever given to a recipe, but if you carry unreasonable amounts of guilt about throwing away that last lonely layer at the bottom of your cereal boxes, you’ll thank me in the end.

Mai’s Compost Muesli

Ingredients:

Grape Nuts Cereal (no worries—you will not be asked to eat this on its own; I would never do that to you)

Old-fashioned Rolled Oats

Shredded Wheat (no, not Frosted Mini Wheats--we’ll be talking about sugar in the coming weeks but until then just trust me on this; also, make sure you steer clear of the brands that add BHT as a preservative—yes, Nabisco, I’m looking at you)

Uncle Sam’s Cereal (This cereal was a bugger to find when I first started making this, so if you can’t get it at your grocery, don’t stress about it; you can leave it out and just add a bit more of everything else—but it’s definitely worth trying if and when you find it)

A bag of chopped walnuts (Why walnuts, you ask? Walnuts are so beneficial on a WFPB diet because they provide plant-based Omega-3 for your body. Omega-3 is an essential nutrient that your body can’t produce enough of on its own so you have to eat foods that will supply it for you.)

A canister or large jar

Instructions:

Take your canister and fill it 1/5^th full with the Grape Nuts. Keep layering by fifths with the oats, Shredded Wheat, Uncle Sam’s, and walnuts. Once you have all the ingredients in your container, close the lid and give it a good shake. Maybe work in some of your Zumba moves here; make it a mini cardio workout. After everything has been mingled to your satisfaction, the muesli is at your service. Put a scoop or two in your breakfast bowl, add whatever fruit you’ve got in the fridge (right now peaches are in season here and taste divine with this concoction), perhaps add a chopped date or two if you’ve got a sweet tooth like me, and then pour some plant milk over the whole beautiful mess.

But wait, we aren’t done yet. This is where things get funky.

The compost part of this recipe comes in as your family works through the boxes of their own cereal. Or maybe you live alone and you still have your old favorites that you always keep in the cupboard for a bedtime snack. Everyone knows that the last measly bits at the bottom of the box aren’t worth bothering with, right?

Wrong.

At least not in my eyes. I have a hate-hate relationship with waste so even that rag-tag offering sliding around in the recesses of the Cheerios bag calls out to me. “Don’t throw me away,” it cries, “I must be good for something!”

“Yes, indeed, Little O’s, you are,” I coo, then I pour those unwanted remainders into my canister and give it a fresh Zumba shake.

The only no-budge rule is that “sugar cereal” may not join in Mai’s Compost Muesli. If the box has a cartoon character on it or the cereal itself sports any fluorescent colors, it’s a safe bet that it does not belong in the canister. I will happily let the dregs of those cereals go in the trash can. Call it prejudice or playing favorites or whatever else you will, but I won’t be swayed. Sugar cereal is a hard-no for me. Most everything else, though, is fair game. At any point in time, my canister of muesli could contain all the of above ingredients as well as Rice Krispies, Cheerios, Bran Flakes, Kix, Cinnamon Harvest...the list could go on for a very, very long time because we are BIG cereal eaters in our household.

If the composting piece of this makes your skin crawl or gives you the dry heaves, please, just skip it. I know it might be too much for some. I debated whether or not to add this part, but I said from the beginning of this Substack venture that imperfection is welcome here, and if it feels to you like I just let you in on a dirty little secret of mine, well, I did. But it doesn’t have to be yours too if you don’t want it to be. The base concoction at the beginning of the recipe is a wonderful and tasty way to start any day. Whatever makes sense to you and your taste buds, roll with it. And feel free to air your judgments in the comments below. No worries—I have thick skin.

Until next time, friends!