I am Big Spoon! Big Spoon is me! So happy to meet you! I am a Licensed Professional Geologist, husband, father, camp cook, and lover of the outdoors.

I was gifted the nickname “Big Spoon” by some of the students at a geology field camp where I was teaching (and cooking!) for a few summers. It takes a big spoon to feed 40+ students and faculty! I took the task of making sure they were well fed and not just eating beans and hotdogs for three weeks very seriously. They seemed to really appreciate my efforts. Like trail names, good field camp names are given, never chosen, and I’ve worn that name with pride ever since!

As a part of my job, I’ve spent a good amount of time doing physical things. You’ve got to hike to get to the good rocks! Because of this, I had considered myself to be fairly healthy, even as I was gaining in weight each year. I knew I was still capable of putting in a day on the trail, so I must be relatively fit, right?

Then came April of 2018 and the news from my doctor that my blood sugar numbers were considerably higher than they should be. He told me that I would likely have to consider myself diabetic for the rest of my life, which may not be as long as I’d like, if I didn’t make some dramatic changes in my lifestyle.

This was an eye-opener for me. I started to reevaluate everything about my life and specifically my notion that I was healthy just because my job got me out in the field with a little regularity and my family enjoyed occasional hiking trips. On introspection, I realized that I wasn’t getting out and being active nearly enough. I was also eating the diet of an irresponsible 20-year-old or someone who was running daily marathons. If I was going to be around long-term for Little Spoon and our Assorted Flatware (4 sons), I was going to have to be honest with myself about my situation and about the changes I would need to make to slow or reverse the effects of my years long neglect of the Body Spoon.

Over the course of the next year, I did a lot of research and made a lot of trips to the library to see what options were out there for me. Is there a way to slow or even reverse this disease caused by my own choices? I tried many changes to my diet and activity that first year, with a good amount of success. I dropped some weight and my blood work was looking better, if still on the edge of the dangerous range.

Then I was introduced to a Whole Food Plant Based diet. I had been vegetarian and vegan for periods of my life. This, however, was a different way of approaching plant based eating: limiting or eliminating processed foods and limiting or eliminating added salt, oils, and sugar. I started seeing the possibility of something that could help me to slow or even reverse my health problems that might be doable for me.

I am very lucky to have a supportive family and for the fact that 3 out of the 4 current residents of our house (excluding dogs and a cat) were on board with trying a new way of eating. One of my sons was having doubts about the morality and logic of eating animals all on his own, and the other, while still an “omnivore,” doesn’t resist plant based food as long as he likes the taste of it. As a semi-professional cook, that’s something I felt like I could do for him!

So here we are today! I am a full-fledged believer in the idea that combining regular activity and clean but flavorful meals is the way for all of us to live longer, healthier, and happier! I may not have reached all my goals yet (having kept a lot of processed vegan convenience foods in the house “for our teenager”), but I’m on the right path and can see the trail blazes just ahead! I plan to share what I know with you here and hopefully we will all benefit!

Until next time, remember… camp, hike, eat well, repeat!

Big Spoon