Day 45--Starch Strong

The starch life is a much better one. Food is tasty, satisfying, and I am not starving to death. Here is a simple little rice and veggie dish I recently made:

I simply sauteed the veggies, beans, and spices in some veggie broth, and then added them to cooked brown rice. I heated the chopped potato chunks in the microwave for three minutes first, before adding them to the pan. 

This dish included the following: 

Russet potatoes, 3 small, peeled and chopped

Zucchini squash, 1 large, chopped

Red Bell Pepper, 1 medium, chopped

Crimini Mushrooms, ~1/2 cup, sliced

Spinach, ~2 cups

~ 1/4 cup Sundried Tomatoes (comes in a bag, no oil)

Garbanzo Beans, 1 15-ounce can, drained and rinsed

1 15-ounce can Roasted, Diced Tomatoes

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

2 teaspoons dried parsley

Vegetable broth to cover bottom of pan

Brown rice (short grain was used in this dish)

There is usually enough for five or six meals, which comes in handy when I need something quick. I can just pop the leftovers in the microwave and wah la! It also makes packing meals to take to work easy, too. 

This next photo is toast with hummus and red kidney beans. I have read from a few different sources that beans on toast is part of a traditional English breakfast, and I wanted to give it a shot. I added the hummus to give the beans something to stick to. I am still using the low fat hummus I buy from Whole Foods Market. The ingredients are just garbanzo beans, lemon powder, garlic powder, and citric acid. It has a nice lemony tang which gives a nice flavor. I eat it as a snack, but it could definitely be eaten as part of a meal. I have also used Pinto beans which were equally tasty and filling. 

I recently decided to branch out after reading through Dr. McDougall's lists of store bought foods, and I bought some sprouted whole wheat bread by Alvarado Street Bakery. Although I still like the Ezekiel bread I was eating before, this bread is quite tasty as well. Each piece is a little bigger, probably more like the standard bread everyone is used to buying, and it is fluffier.

This was last night's dinner: Salad, a baked sweet potato, and brown rice with some parsley flakes and Bragg Liquid Aminos. I probably would have enjoyed some more rice, but this was all I had leftover. I did not add a single thing to the potato. I heated it in the microwave for 5 minutes to cook it a bit faster, and then I set it in the oven at 400 degrees fahrenheit for about 10-15 minutes to get the skin crispy. The sweet potato is so moist and flavorful as is, and so I cannot imagine any good topping for it. I used to add a buttery spread, but that just adds fat to my waist, and again, the sweet potato is already so moist and delicious on its own.  

The salad was made up of Romaine lettuce, cucumber slices, carrot slices, cherry tomatoes, and raw beet slices to which I add Annie's Naturals Fat Free Mango dressing. 

 

On with Day 45....

Days Thirty-five Through Thirty-seven: Becoming A Starchivore

Three days ago, I picked up a copy of John McDougall's book, The Starch Solution from the library and devoured it. Meaning, I read through it in two days. If I did not have to go to work, I would have read it in one day. Along with sound nutritional information and an explanation as to how eating fish, meat, and dairy is killing the planet, McDougall says we should all center our meals around starchy food and add nonstarchy vegetables and fruits to complement. Starchy foods include potatoes (white and sweet), corn, legumes (beans and peas), and grains. They are filling foods, they are comforting (think "comfort food"), and they give us the energy we need to live. It does not get better than this! I salivated looking through the menu plan and the recipes at the end of this book. 

When I first started my vegan diet a little over a month ago, I was starving from being on the processed-food diet by Nutrisystem. The first day of eating the vegan way, I unintentionally ate a lot of starch--I had some with every meal. I was only consciously trying to avoid animal products, to eat whole foods, and to omit adding any extra fats in the form of oils, fake butters, nuts, seeds, avocados and olives. I do not think nuts, seeds, avocados or olives are bad, but I do know that if one is trying to lose weight--which I am--it is best to limit or avoid them altogether. 

So, the first few days were pretty great. I was eating way more food (good tasting, real food), and yet, I was losing an average of a pound a day. My skin was clearing up, I had energy, and I was euphoric. I gave all of the credit to the mere absence of animal products from my diet. 

Then, I started to read Dr. Fuhrman's book, Eat To Live, and I incorporated a lot more nonstarchy vegetables into my diet. That is not horrible in and of itself, but I was starting to feel a little less energetic and euphoric, the weight loss stalled, and junk foods were starting to tempt me. Also, my skin started to break out again, which was frustrating as I was gorging on salads full of high-nutrient vegetables. 

Never was I tempted by animal products, but fat was looking more and more appealing. Tired of washing pounds of nonstarchy vegetables day after day, I started to eat the more-convenient sandwiches made with Tofurky Deli Slices and Vegenaise spread. I piled on the lettuce thinking that would make it okay, but apparently it did not. My fingers found their way into my husband's greasy potato chip bag a few days in a row, and I started snacking here-and-there on raw walnuts and almonds. My weight started to go back up.

In McDougall's The Starch Solution, he warns against eating over processed soy products, saying they are as bad if not worse than eating their animal equivalents. In fact, they have isolated soy protein in them which has shown to be as aggressive at feeding cancer as eating animal proteins (be aware, it is a common ingredient in protein bars and shakes as well). So that did it! No more Tofurky for me! Plus, I should not be eating the vegan mayonnaise, Vegenaise, anyway. It may not contain animal fat, but it does contain fat. And as Dr. McDougall says, "A fat is a fat is a fat."

Today is the third day in a row of following Dr. McDougall's food plan, and I have lost two pounds! BUT... even better than that, I am loving the food, feeling very satisfied, eating way more than I thought I could to be still losing weight, my skin is getting clear again (most noticeable today), and my mood has been very upbeat.   

Another very interesting thing I learned from Dr. McDougall is that sugar is not bad. He even says that adding a little simple sugar, like brown sugar or maple syrup, to food is not a horrible thing, so long as it is used as a flavoring and not the main ingredient. He suggests adding it to food at the table in small amounts so that it is not cooked into the food. We need to be able to taste it. Our tongues are designed to seek out sweet and salty foods so that we will eat and remain alive. (So yes, a little salt added to a dish is not going to kill anyone either). 

Our saliva "produces six to eight times more of the starch-digesting enzyme amylase" compared to "lesser" primates. We are designed by nature to eat starch! It is not evil or fattening like the meat and dairy producers who make billions of dollars would have us believe.

The day after borrowing the book, I decided to test Dr. McDougall's claims, and I put some agave nectar on my morning oatmeal--about 2 teaspoons worth. I thought for sure it would show up on the scale or sabotage me in some way. I also ate until I was full--not watching portion sizes, eating lots of brown rice for lunch and dinner, snacking on sprouted wheat tortillas, wheat bread, and even pretzels. I have eaten potatoes each of these last three days, corn, and green peas. But alas, I have lost weight and I feel amazing! I am convinced that Dr. McDougall is spot on, and I am officially eating like a starchivore as nature intended. 

I highly recommend to anyone looking to improve their health and the health of the planet to go to his website and learn all you can. Buy or borrow his books, check out videos of his lectures on youtube, and look at the free program on his website. He actually wants to heal people, not make a buck (or a billion).

It is dinnertime... 

   

Day Thirty-four, Differing Opinions

Okay, so there are three doctors with diet plans who are big in the healthy vegan diet world: Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. John McDougall, and Dr. Joel Fuhrman. They all seem to agree that a plant-based diet is the key to health and that keeping the fats very low are equally important. However, how much of each food group (fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes) each doctor thinks a person should eat is a different story.

Each of the doctors would be in favor of a person eating a huge green salad with a fat free dressing. In fact, Dr. Fuhrman would be particularly in agreement with this choice. His recommended food plan is probably the toughest for me. Do not get me wrong, I am a huge fan of salads and vegetables in general, but he really wants you to eat a ton of them. As I have mentioned in prior blog posts, he suggests making it a goal to eat one pound of raw non-starchy vegetables and one pound of cooked non-starchy vegetables a day (Eat To Live). 

I have not been able to consume nearly that much produce in a day (think of how lightweight lettuce is), and contrary to his claims, even a high quantity of non-starchy vegetables does not keep me full. Sure right after eating a huge salad and a big serving of cooked vegetables I feel full, but it does not last until the next mealtime. I completely respect Dr. Fuhrman and the science he provides to back up his recommendations, however, I find my hunger is better satisfied by starches and grains. 

Dr. Barnard and Dr. McDougall are probably very similar. Unlike Dr. Fuhrman who recommends a mere one cup serving daily of grains/ starchy vegetables, they suggest eating them throughout the day. I have not yet read one of McDougall's books (picking up The Starch Solution from the library today), but I have looked at the free program posted on his website. Aside from the elimination of caffeine, this program is looking pretty good and doable. 

One thing I love about amazon.com is that I can peruse the inside of some books, and I was able to read a little from McDougall's book, The McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss. Two chapters I clicked on and read from were, "Women Are Slow Losers," and "Alcohol, Coffee, and Your Weight." Bottom line, women can efficiently lose weight on his program and coffee is not good for weight loss. McDougall says people tend to overeat with caffeine in the stomach in an effort to absorb the acid burning which many mistake as hunger. 

I have not read all of Dr. Barnard's books, so I cannot say where he stands on my morning friend, coffee. His plan is also accessible for free online: 21-Day Vegan Kickstart. He does not list coffee as something one should be drinking, but I have not seen him say to avoid it. Animal-based products seem to be the only things he would place in the "avoid" category, next to added oils and fats. 

I am navigating my way, trying to find the right balance for my body between the food groups. Here are the doctors' recommendations summed up: Barnard recommends 8 servings of grains, 3 servings of legumes, at least 4 servings of vegetables, and "aim for" 3 servings of fruit; Fuhrman says to eat an unlimited amount of non-starchy vegetables, fruits, and legumes, one cup from the starchy vegetables and grain group, 1 ounce maximum serving of unprocessed, raw seeds and nuts, 2 ounces maximum of avocado, 2 tablespoons max per day of dried fruit, and 1 tablespoon max of ground flaxseeds; and McDougall says starchy foods should be the center of a meal (included in this group are starchy vegetables, grains, and legumes), non-starchy vegetables can be eaten in unlimited quantities, and fruits should be kept at 3 servings a day. He also warns to go light on soybeans as they are high in fat and do not qualify for the legume serving suggestion, which may be unlimited, I am not certain. 

As promised, here are photos of Dr. Barnard's recipe for Italian Greens and Beans that I made from his book, The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook (recipe follows):   

I put this deliciousness over plain brown rice and gobbled it up. 

Italian Beans and Greens

makes 4 servings

1/4 cup vegetable broth

1 small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

6 cups baby arugula, washed

2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained, or 2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Pinch of sugar

Kosher or sea salt to taste

Freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Heat the broth in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute for 3 minutes. Add the arugula and lower heat to medium-low. Cook until the arugula is almost wilted. 

2. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, oregano, basil, sugar, salt, and black pepper. Cover and cook for 5 minutes until all ingredients are cooked through.

I have to add that I did not drain my can of diced tomatoes, and it was lovely. I also used the white part of green onions instead of a regular yellow onion simply because I needed to use them before they go bad. They seemed to work just as well. 

And now on to live day Thirty-four of my vegan diet...

Day Thirty

As of today, I have been following a vegan diet for an entire month. My conscience is clear, and I am feeling wonderful. 

The weight loss has slowed a bit in the last week or so, but I know that all of the good I am doing for my body and the planet is paying off. Also, in reading some testimonies from various patients of Joel Fuhrman, M.D. and Neal Barnard, M.D., I got the message that although the weight may come off more slowly for some of us, it does continue to come off if one sticks to a healthy, whole foods vegan diet. I am only around ten pounds over what I was in high school, and so really, I am okay if it takes longer than it might on some crazy crash diet to lose the last ten or so pounds. I must also admit that I have slowed down on the exercise a bit. (It's just not my favorite thing in the world to do!).

I finally watched the feature film Forks Over Knives yesterday with my mom. Wow. Not that I needed any more convincing, but this film has me ready to raise my right hand and take an oath swearing to never eat any animal products ever again. Mom is ready to try a plant based diet as well! As T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. shows us, if you want to feed cancer, eat animal protein. Period. If you want to increase your chances of having a heart attack, eat animal products. 

If you want to see cancers diminish or even go away, heal your arteries, improve or reverse diabetes, lower your cholesterol, get off poisonous medications, lose weight, increase your energy--basically, completely improve your health--then eat a plant based diet (vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains). 

T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. has the science, and Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. has the clinical evidence  to back this up, and they explain it all quite simply in the film. Both men were born into families that owned and profited from the meat and dairy industry, but they could not deny their findings. They gave up animal products and are both well into their seventies, practicing what they preach.

So let's talk about food!

I washed and peeled a sweet potato the other day, and as I sliced it, I somehow sliced the pieces fairly thin like potato chips. I was living in the moment, if you will, and I did not have a plan for the potato, so I went with the flow. Homemade potato chips sounded great, so I gave it a shot. 

I heated the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit, covered a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper, and spread the potato slices evenly over the surface. Then, I lightly sprayed a thin coat of Trader Joe's fat free olive oil spray over the potato slices, and sprinkled garlic powder, paprika, parsley flakes, and onion powder over each piece. I considered tossing the slices in a bowl, wetted with water, with the spices to avoid using the olive oil spray, but honestly, I could not stand the idea of washing another dish. 

The thinner slices burned to a crisp, but the thicker, more evenly cut pieces looked like this:

They were in the oven a little over twenty minutes. Abby, our five-year-old Abyssinian cat had come to sit on my lap while they were baking. As she is not much of a lap cat, it was such a treat that I did not dare get up to check the potato like I should have. The next time I make this, I will probably check it in ten minute increments and pull out the thinner slices before they turn black. Very tasty though, even without salt and tons of fat like the store-bought variety. 

This salad consisted of romaine lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, cucumber, raw beet slices, and a little carrot. Boring as I can be, I am still using Annie's Naturals Fat Free Mango Vinaigrette. Delicious! Looked so vital and alive that I had to take a picture of it.

Believe it or not, these are red split lentils. Dry, they are a light coral red, but once cooked they lose their color and turn greenish-yellow. They cook up very quickly, which I love. (By the way, I had considered calling this blog, "The Lazy Vegan," but that title was already taken). 

I cooked the green onion, garlic, mushroom, and carrot in some vegetable broth for about five to ten minutes prior to adding ~3 cups of broth and 1 cup of lentils. I used my usual favorite spices: garlic powder, parsley, and poultry seasoning (maybe some thyme, too--cannot remember). After the broth heated through and cooked the lentils for about ten minutes, I then added about five big handfuls of spinach and wilted it before stirring everything together. The lentils soaked up the liquid quickly, and so to avoid burning them, I turned off the heat, covered them, and let them sit before serving. I had company over, so I let them sit for fifteen to twenty minutes prior to serving, but I probably would have filled up a bowl sooner if I had been alone. 

The plan is to branch out a little more this week. I bought some arugula and plan to follow the Italian Beans and Greens recipe in Neal Barnard, M.D.'s book, The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook. I made it a few years back, and although I am not normally a fan of the spicy arugula, I did like this recipe. The diced tomatoes and chickpeas seem to tame this leafy green. Photos coming soon. 

In addition to my usual favorites, I also purchased an eggplant today. Not sure what I am going to do with it yet, but I feel confident that it will be something good. 

And now on to month two... 

Day Twenty-seven, Eating to Live

My view on what is and is not food is going through an epic transformation thanks to books by Neal Barnard, M.D., and Eat To Live by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. 

Of course, both doctors know (and probably their publishers, too) that to get people's attention they need to advertise weight loss on the covers of their books. That is all good and fine, but regardless of weight loss, the fundamental nutrition information they both offer up in their books has me realizing that I have not been eating real food for some forty odd years. 

OK, I have been enjoying vegetables and fruits for quite a while now, so I have not been completely deprived of nutrition. But, I have percentage-wise definitely consumed a lot more non-food, as I am now calling it. The nutrition information is so smack-your-forehead simple and intuitive, it is a wonder we ever got off track and into eating all of the processed garbage we now call food. He also offers up nutritional information that is not so readily available to the public. Or at least, it is not plastered to billboards or predominant in television advertisements. Those are held available for the disease causing, mega-rich "food" companies. 

If you are a die-hard meat eater, Dr. Fuhrman does not admonish you in his book, nor does he push or guilt you into giving it up. He offers the same advice to all, which is to make at least 90% of your daily intake of food fresh produce. He does bring up the harmful effects of eating animal products, but he says that if you focus most of your calories on fresh produce, you are better off than any person, vegetarian or meat eater, who eats mainly processed foods. 

Personally, I am sticking with the no animal products way of eating, but I think his book is good for everybody. He even includes two meal plans--one for vegetarians and one for meat eaters. I would rather see the meat eaters of the world greatly reduce their animal product foods over following a low-carb diet any day. A little bit of meat is a huge improvement over the colon cancer inducing amount many Americans consume these days. 

My diet contains some processed foods--I am not claiming perfection. I have, however, reduced my intake of them by using water in place of soymilk to make my morning oatmeal. I only use it in my coffee and enjoy the occasional chocolate soymilk as a treat. I have also continued to allow Tofurky deli slices in my diet. They are tasty and quick when I need to make a sandwich in a hurry. 

In trying to follow Dr. Fuhrman's produce guidelines, I have found that I do not have the time or energy to eat non-foods. He actually recommends eating an entire head of lettuce daily! I am doing my best to eat mainly vegetables and four or more fruits daily, but it is a lot of food! I am not quite there and may not be for many months to come, but I am greatly increasing my vegetable intake with a concentrated focus on leafy greens. If you read his book, you may also become fanatical about eating your leafy greens. 

Smoothies are an easy and tasty way to get a lot of leafy greens without a ton of chewing. I should just use water, but I will admit that I use orange juice mixed with water as my liquid base. Eventually I will just use water, but for now, I am going to enjoy my smoothies with a little more sweetness than just adding whole fruits provides.  

The above photo shows some vegetables I cooked up in vegetable broth and added to cooked quinoa. Like Dr. Barnard, Dr. Fuhrman advocates staying away from added oils. I cooked the chopped onion, garlic, and mushroom first. Then, I added cauliflower, zucchini, red bell pepper, and spinach. The spices I used were poultry seasoning, parsley, and garlic powder. The cauliflower crumbled into much smaller pieces on its own once it was cooked through. 

This is some amazing green lentil soup I made. I bought the green lentils from Trader Joe's. Lentils are great because you do not have to soak them before cooking them, and they cook up fast. I first cooked the onions, garlic, and mushroom pieces in a bit of vegetable broth* for about five minutes (*enough broth to cover the bottom of the pot and to keep the vegetables from burning). Then, I added more broth (~48 ounces), cauliflower, carrot, some garlic powder, dried parsley, and one cup of green lentils and cooked everything on medium-high heat for forty minutes. In the remaining five or so minutes, I added a few big handfuls of raw spinach and covered the pot so as to wilt it before stirring it in with the rest of the ingredients. I was surprised at how well it turned out. I think my palate is adjusted to real food now and does not need a ton of added seasonings to be satisfied.

I am still quite happy and plan to continue on with my vegan diet. Sorry for the gap in blog posts. More on that in a couple of days.

And now on with day twenty-seven...

Days Sixteen- Eighteen

Raisins are a high concentration of sugar, and if you put on weight easily with sugar like I do, go lightly with the dried fruits. I was just adding a tablespoon or so to my oatmeal, which was fine, but then earlier in the week I must admit the sugar cravings got me. I snacked a bit too freely on some raisins, and my weight went up. Once I stopped eating them (because I ran out!), my weight went back down. 

OK, so I was not being entirely truthful when I said the numbers on the scale did not mean as much as the feeling of eating healthier. I do want to be healthy, and being overweight does not feel healthy to me. The numbers went up mid-week (thanks a lot, raisins!), and I did start to freak out. After all, I was not eating cookies, candy, fried foods, or anything "fun." I mean, hey, if I am going to gain weight, I want to have at least enjoyed some french fries or a candy bar, not raisins! 

After an honest look at what I was eating and a video ("How to Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind") featuring Dr. Lisle from the McDougall Program, I realized my vegetable consumption had gone down a little in favor of what Dr. Lisle calls "concentrated" foods. I was eating more grains and legumes (and raisins), which are not bad foods, but for a body like mine (curvy/burly, not naturally thin), I need to eat more fiber and water rich foods to fill up my stomach and shed those pounds.

I realized that I was no longer eating a salad every day, and in fact I had gone many days without one. So, I am back on the salad train, and my weight is going down again. I love salads, but I will admit that I can get lazy when it comes to washing and chopping so many vegetables--for salads or cooking. 

Dr. Lisle explains in the video that as animals we are naturally wired to seek pleasure and to conserve energy. And it seems to me that many foods, sadly not watery, fiber-rich vegetables, can be highly addictive even when they are not chalked full of preservatives or harmful chemicals. I would gladly take a toasted slice of Ezekiel bread with apple butter over the washing and chopping of just about any vegetable any day. The bread is oil and sugar free, simply made from sprouted grains, yet it is more appealing to my brain than a cold, wet salad. Unfortunately, the calories from the toast and apple butter add up faster. 

My diet is a work in progress. Eating vegan is as easy as breathing air for me, but always eating healthy is the work part. There are tons of non-animal foods to eat, the problem is that even something as natural as a walnut can be too rich if eaten in too large quantity. 

Now on to Day Nineteen....