Eating Healthy

I've been reading Dr. Joel Furhman's Eat to Live. I can't do diets, but I feel like maybe I can do this. And it makes so much sense. I'm really enjoying the book.
My dad and I chatted and decided that after he gets back from Indonesia and I get back from Japan next month we'll start the intense, six-week introduction to our lifestyle change. To prepare for this, I've been experimenting with recipes, making things that are healthy but have one or two cheat ingredients. These dishes are decidedly less delicious-looking than what I've been cooking lately, so I've been reluctant to post them. On the other hand, they're chock-full of healthy goodness, and they're a blend of Japanese and American health. I've been making these recipes up, which is also kind of a first.
First, we have some bean soup.
I used one of those bags of 13 types of beans, some tomatoes, barley, shiitake, kale, celery, carrots, TVP, onions, and a mushroom called kikurage. For the broth, I used dashi, soy sauce, some mushroom bullion, and garlic. It looked all right, and I felt slightly vindicated when my husband tasted it and declared it "not bad" and even "edible," which was not what he said the last time I made bean soup. He's not a big fan of American soups.
The cheater ingredient in this is the shredded cheddar cheese. What? I don't want to waste it.


Today I made a simmered salmon and bean dish. The salmon was my cheater ingredient today, as was some agave nectar I've been using instead of sugar. Today's meal has shiitake, shimeji, enoki, lotus root, TVP, bamboo shoots, kale, carrots, black-eyed peas, kikurage, and konbu. I made the broth out of dashi, soy sauce, agave nectar, garlic and ginger. It's not bad--but we'll see what my husband says when he gets home. I think the kale will be a deal-breaker in this for him.