What to expect from the Recipe Hippie!
Welcome to Recipe Hippie, a free-spirited approach toward Mediterranean diet recipes and lifestyle. My goal here is to inspire you to enjoy Mediterranean-style recipes, and to help give you the skills and education to be able to cook a variety of healthy meals with the ingredients that you have on hand.
I am SO thrilled to meet you! My name is Liz, and food blogging is my passion. I started back in 2020 right when the pandemic started, and haven’t looked back since! I have a background in physical therapy, and thoroughly enjoy the science behind how the foods we eat affect our bodies and our minds.
Since just about all fruits and vegetables are considered healthy, we’ve opened up the pantry doors to include a wide range of ingredients, not just those native to the Mediterranean. My philosophy is to limit processed foods and to eat locally and in season, when possible. This is not only sustainable for the environment, but it also ensures that you benefit from a wide variety of micronutrients!
When it comes to creating a meal from the recipes on this blog, you have options. Try to make half of your plate consist of fruits and vegetables (its’ okay to make swaps and use what you have on hand!), a little over 1/4 of your plate healthy whole grains and legumes, and a little under half of your plate a healthy protein source.
My goal is to inspire you to live a healthier lifestyle while eating wonderful food that you will enjoy making!
Why I Started Eating A Mostly Mediterranean Diet
Why I Started Eating A Mediterranean Diet:
After the birth of my child, Madison, I started to notice a huge drop in energy and concentration. Brain fog would be putting it lightly, it was more like a whiteout. With my background in healthcare, I knew that my diet could be influencing how my brain and body were functioning and decided to hit the books and figure out what I needed to change.
Lo and behold, the Mediterranean Diet was voted the “Best Overall Diet” in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022 by US News and World Report. Interesting!
I also found a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that showed that the Mediterranean diet had the potential to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death related to heart problems by 30%. That was very significant.
But I didn’t want to be on a diet. I knew that diet culture is generally negative, and I did not want to fall into those restrictive eating patterns. Luckily, I found out that the Mediterranean diet isn’t really a diet in that sense.
In a nutshell, the Mediterranean diet is just enjoying the foods that people in the Mediterranean enjoy. It’s eating their diet.
And when I looked at the foods that they enjoy, I also enjoyed them! The concept of eating more fruits and vegetables and exercising for 30 minutes a day really resonated with me, and I dove right in.
Since then, I have been enjoying a ‘mostly’ Mediterranean Diet, and I am loving the freedom it has given me to experiment and create delicious and healthy meals for my family and for you!
And my concentration and energy have also greatly improved. So it’s a win-win!
On Recipe Hippie, you will find recipes that showcase Mediterranean-style dishes, with more of an American twist. Not all of my dishes are the perfect ‘Mediterranean Diet Plate’, but they will give you a basis of which to work off of. For example, if I have a greek yogurt and hummus chicken breast recipe, it will be up to you to add the vegetables and grain!
But that’s why this is Recipe Hippie! I don’t believe in rigid recipes and give you the education and freedom to make your own creative decisions in your own kitchen. No rules, I’m a cool mom!
Peace & Love,
-Liz
