For many of us summer is a time to let go, to celebrate summer, being free for a while from our daily obligations and routines. It is also the time where we often indulge ourselves with bbq’s, cold beers, fresh rosé, ice creams etc.. This “letting go” has an important function. It recharges your “battery”, renews your motivation to exercise, to eat healthy, to work or study hard, etc.

And today it is the first day of September, in many ways the start of a new beginning. Maybe even more so than January. In September the summer comes to, a too soon, an end, we get back to our jobs (do I hear a light moan?) and children go back to school again (I definitely hear a soft cheer there!!). So life returns to its usual form again. For many of us it is also the start of a new membership at the gym, a fitness centre, yoga classes etc.. To tempt us even more, many of these institutions offer memberships for free during the month of September.

But there is so much more you can do to get (back) in shape, eating plant based food is one of them. Plant based food helps to get your health in shape, to feel fitter then ever and also helps you to get rid of those extra kilo’s.

Now I had a conversation the other day with someone about our summer holiday experiences. She also told me she wanted to go back to plant based food as soon as the summer was over and she asked me if I did manage to keep up the plant based lifestyle during this summer. I was somewhat surprised by this question, of course I kept it up. To me plant based eating is not a diet for a short period, to me it is a lifestyle I embraced some years ago. It gradually made me feel better, it made me enjoy cooking more, it made me enjoy eating more. It made me aware of the fact that our food industry does not act in our best interest (that is putting it very mildly). It also caused me losing weight, which I had been trying to lose ever since my fourth child was born. ( he turns ten next month!)

This same person told me that she loves vegetables, but she felt that eating plant based food means lots of cutting vegetables, which means lots of preparation time. Again I was surprised. I do not see the difference in work between eating meat with vegetables, or eating just the vegetables. Either way you have to prepare vegetables and maybe some more, but you save time by not preparing meat. Nonetheless her remark made it clear to me that there is more work to be done.

I started sharing my plant based cooking last year and my main goal was to create awareness. To show as many people as possible that plant based eating is actually very easy, does not take more time then traditional cooking and is absolutely not more expensive either! The only thing you need to do is stock your larder with different items, that takes a few weeks or so. And then let your body and your tastebuds adapt to the new type of food. It takes a month (guaranteed!), to stop the feeling of not being “full” after dinner. (If you suffer from cravings, you can eat a small handful of nuts or seeds or drink water)

You may wonder why I want as many people as possible to get familiar with plant based eating. Not because I want to preach or tell people what to eat. I also do not make any money out of it. I just strongly believe in the benefits of plant based food and wholeheartedly wish for everyone to experience the wonderful transformation I and many others have experienced.

And I am convinced that, as a side effect, if more people change their lifestyle to a plantbased one, it will not be solely for their own good but for the entire planet!

So, to celebrate this new season,, this new beginning, I prepared this Salted Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake, completely plant based of course! I will share the recipe with you later, first I am going to indulge myself with a well deserved piece of this delicous cake.

Enjoy the season!