While waiting for Godot...

While waiting for Godot a woman's got to eat! But what do I eat?

I have started to read the introductory pages of Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet, and having been bombarded with so many nasty facts about meat, fish and dairy it's hard to find something in my fridge that is edible!

But again, a woman's got to eat and, while I start to navigate myself around in vegetable and bean land, I will have to include fish and meat in my diet.

And, actually, I have been kind of good today. I had smoothie and oatmeal with honey and nuts for breakfast, and now I'm eating tuna with a green bean salad. Basically, if it hadn't been for the tuna I would probably be branded a "superhero" by Alicia who uses the term on those who live solely on plant-based food.

So, what is so bad about my tuna? Although Alicia comes across as a bit of a fanatic when it comes to her relationship with animals, I have no reason to doubt her facts.

She says that fish contain mercury, which is bad for the brain, kidneys and lungs, and is particularly dangerous for pregnant women.

Having been pregnant twice, I have also been told twice by the Swedish health authorities not to eat fish from the Baltic Sea as the species that live there contain too much mercury. It's really sad that people cannot eat fish from an entire ocean but what's even sadder is that oceans are being fished out. And, according to Alicia, fish farming is no solution to the problem as it "takes 2 to 5 pounds of small fish to produce 1 pound of farmed salmon."

But where will I get my omega 3s if I stop eating fish? Alicia says that I can find omega-3 fatty acids in lots of different plant-based foods, such as soybeans and walnuts. She also argues that the plant-based oils are much better because they contain antioxidants and have none of the industrial toxins that you'll find in fish oils. Interestingly, she adds that "fish make their omega-3s from the plants they eat" which is why, she believes, we should too.

Maybe she is right and I have decided to find out for myself if there's some truth to it. Until next time, live green!