How I Got Derailed

Here's what happened. Beverly and I went to visit a senior sister missionary. She lives next to a dining area in our building. When we got to the dining area, a large group of Spanish members--some of whom are our friends--were having a party. They insisted that we try some of their dessert. I said "no" until Beverly whispered in my ear that we can't offend them. Of course I didn't want to offend them or disappoint Beverly or make a big scene, so I agreed to try some.

So they gave us some honey-bread dessert. After that, they insisted that we try some of their cake-type dessert. After that, they insisted we try some of their pudding-type stuff.

By the time we got out of there, I had eaten three desserts. None was a large helping but, taken as a whole, they made up the most amount of sugar I had eaten in one sitting since I started the whole-food plant-based nutritional program. The next morning, my weight was up 1.8 pounds. :(

So here's what I learned from this experience: I have to be on guard and have a plan. Here's my plan for when this type of thing happens again.

1. I will sincerely thank the people for their kindness, but tell them that I'm not hungry and that I'm trying to cut back on desserts because of health issues. Then I'll walk away.
2. If that doesn't work, and they continue to insist or seem overly disappointed (and if they are people who I think would be offended otherwise), I'll say, "Okay, I'd love to try some, but only a tiny amount."
3. I will then accept the smallest possible piece of dessert without offending them. I'll try to tell or show them the size that I'm willing to accept.
4. I'll eat very slowly and try not to eat all of the dessert.
5. I'll then thank them profusely and tell them how delicious it was and how full I am.
6. I'll get back on my NP as fast as possible.

How does that sound?

My first week of whole foods

Last Sunday, a week ago today, I made the decision to implement the whole food diet. Cutting out meat was no big deal since I don't like it anyway. Cutting out dairy was difficult, but cutting out sugar was my biggest obstacle.

Here are some foods that I ate this week (Excuse the poor photographs. Taking pictures of food is harder than I expected!):

One staple that I didn't expect to like so much was a big container of baby spinach leaves. I bought it at costco for about $6. I thought it would probably go bad, but I have used it in some way or another almost every day.

Today I had the spinach for lunch in this salad. It contains chopped up red apples, craisins, and sunflower nuts. I also had a serving of fried up potatoes. The potatoes were left over from a previous baked potato night. I sprayed my pan with Pam, and then just fried them up. I sprinkled a small amount of Season Salt and Garlic Powder. Nate dipped his in ketchup and I ate mine plain.

I used the spinach in a salad with mangos, blackberries, and almonds. No dressing needed!

I also used the spinach to make a smoothy. Surprisingly, you really can't taste it!

This smoothy, which contained strawberries, blackberries, a frozen banana, spinach, and orange juice (Costco sells orange juice without any added sugars and not from concentrate), turned out to be great! Some of the other smoothies I tried were less successful.

Even though I loved the smoothy, which I had as my breakfast, nobody else would drink it. Babies!

My favorite meal was the Mexican dish I made for dinner and then ate for lunch and dinner on another day. I made black beans in my slow cooker (one cup of beans, filled the slow cooker with water and cooked for about 6 hours and then drained the water out).

I made guacamole (two avocados, one tomato, a small amount of onion, lemon juice, and garlic powder, and a dash of salt)

Added salsa (this was store bought, but in the future I'd like to make my own. Then I piled this baby with lettuce, wrapped it up, and had a delicious meal!

The other key to my successful week was stocking my refrigerator with lots of foods I like that I can eat when I'm hungry or when I need a snack. I had oranges, apples, red pears, mangos, strawberries, blackberries, baby carrots, etc.

I found some apple sauce at Macey's with apples as the only ingredient and I switched to almond milk. I also had a large container of nuts for when I need a quick, on-the-road snack.

I also ate whole grain pasta (Brent's Marathon Pasta, to be exact) and lots of whole wheat bread with peanut butter made only from peanuts (no added oils or anything).

I tried some things that were big flops too. Nobody liked my stir fry on brown rice! Luckily, I asked Teresa Liu to teach me how to make it properly and she agreed! I am excited to learn how to make some vegitable dishes that people will like.

This was the Halloween candy in my house this week. Prior to implementing this diet, I would have told myself not to eat the candy, and then failed miserably. Candy is my drug! Surprisingly, I was very satisfied with the food I ate and wasn't tempted, but a few times, to eat this candy. One night early this week, Nate brought home Wendy's fries for dinner and I had to leave the room because the smell was very tempting. However, last night after Grace's dance recital everyone went to Wendy's and I wasn't tempted at all to cheat. I chatted and had a fun night, and then ate my own food once I got home. No big deal!

I'm looking forward to trying some new things this coming week and will report how it goes.

Unexplained Weight-Loss Plateau

Take a look at this chart, which plots my weight each day over the past three months.

As you can see, the loss was more or less steady, except for a three-week period from 25-Sep-12 to 16-Oct-12, marked by the red box. During that period, my weight went up and down and stayed flat, and at the end of the period, I hadn't lost any weight. This happened even though I was eating essentially the same as I did before and after that period. I believe that my caloric intake was about the same. The interesting thing is that, during that period of no weight loss, I had to cinch my belt in another notch and felt and looked lighter.

How do you explain this three-week period? Was I losing fat but retaining water? Was my body adjusting to the new weight by adding glycogen (and accompanying water) to my muscles and liver? Was my metabolic rate temporary slowed way down? I haven't a clue.

Anyway, the take-home lesson is this: As we try to lose weight, we will experience ups and downs and stalled weight loss periods from time to time. It's part of the complexity of trying to lose weight.

Layered Tex-Mex Lasagna

Last night I made my first recipe from the Forks over Knives book I have. Below is the original recipe, but I think it needed some alterations so I listed them below. You may want to take my changes into consideration before making this yourself.

Layered Tex-Mex Lasagna

by Mary McDougall

Serves 6 to 8

Tomato Sauce:

• Two 8-oz cans tomato sauce
• 3 cups water
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons chile powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion power
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

You will also need:

• 4 cups mashed cooked pinto beans
• 1 cup chopped green onions
• 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
• One 2 1/4 can sliced black olives, drained (optional)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped green chiles (optional)
• 10 to 12 corn tortillas

Optional toppings: salsa, tofu sour cream, salad greens, chopped tomato, guacamole, etc. 

To make sauce: Pull all ingredients for the sauce into a saucepan. Mix well with a whisk until well combined. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Taste and add more chile powder if desired. Set aside. 
  
To assemble the casserole: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the beans, green onions, corn, olives and green chiles into a large bowl and mix gently until well combined.

Spread 1 1/2 cups of the sauce over the bottom of an oblong non-stick baking dish. Place 3 to 4 corn tortillas in the bottom of the dish. Spread half of the bean mixture evenly over the tortillas. Place another 3 to 4 tortillas over the bean mixture, then spread the remaining bean mixture on top. Cover with 3 to 4 more tortillas, and then pour the remaining sauce over the tortillas. Cover the baking dish with parchment paper, then cover with aluminum foil, crimping the edges over the baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes.

Remove the baking dish from the oven and let the lasagna rest for about 15 minutes before cutting. Serve with desired toppings.

* * *

I give this recipe, as it stands, a 3 out of 5 stars. It was edible, not gross, but quite tasteless, despite the chile powder. I should mention that I didn't use green chiles in mine because I don't like them.

So...here are the complaints I heard and what I did/suggest to fix them (to make it a 4 out of 5 star recipe).

1. Too much tomato sauce. I followed the recipe but it made about twice the tomato sauce I ended up using. If you follow the recipe, your dish will be drowning in sauce. I spread just enough to cover the bottom of the pan in the beginning and just enough to cover the tortillas on the top. I suggest cutting the tomoto sauce portion of the recipe in half unless you like a very wet lasagna.

2. Too much corn. My kids complained there was too much corn. The recipe calls for a cup and a half. Next time I'm only going to use a cup. This is personal taste, of course, but I have to admit, it was heavy on the corn.

3. Needed Salt. Okay, let's face it. No salt in a recipe?? BLAND. Unless you simply cannot or will not use salt, I'd suggest adding a teaspoon or so. I added mine to the the kids' servings, simply sprinkling it over the top so I could still eat it salt free. This is where the extra toppings come in to play. Even with the salt, my kids needed salsa for flavor (and they aren't usually fans of the stuff) before they'd eat it. I loaded mine (and Len's) down with lots of lettuce and medium, chunky salsa, and then it was good. If I'd had non-dairy sour cream (like tofu sour cream) I would have used it. The olives added a nice sweetness to the recipe, so even though I don't usually cook with them, I'm glad I added them.

4. Parchment? Okay, I don't have parchment paper for cooking. So, I used waxed paper, then covered that with foil and it worked out well. My assumption is that this is used to keep in the moisture, and so waxed paper worked fine. 

5. Cutting corners. I used canned pinto beans because I was short on time and planning. I mashed them with a potato masher, but left them chunky...you don't want to make it a paste or it's too hard to spread across the tortillas. Also, canned corn would work if you don't have frozen. I know this might sound dumb but I was confused at first...wondering if the corn tortillas were supposed to be the hard, crisp kind or the soft ones. Yeah...soft. Use the soft ones. 

Once I put a good helping of lettuce and salsa on top, Len and I enjoyed it. Gehrig liked his with salt, but not enough to want seconds. Xavier took one bite and said he wanted to go to McDonalds for a cheeseburger. Davion refused to even try it. So...if I make this again, I will make a 1/2 pan to avoid throwing away left overs.

Happy Whole-Foods Thanksgiving

This holiday season, I'm looking for WFPB (whole-foods, plant-based) recipes I can make for my family that we'll love and will keep us (okay, me) from feeling that I'm either cheating on my nutrition plan or cheating myself out of yummy foods. 

Two great resources for WFPB recipes are these books: 

Forks over Knives" The Plant Based Way to Health, by Gene Stone, which contains 125 recipes  

Forks over Knives: The Cookbook, by Del Sroufe, which contains over 300 recipes. Both can be found on Amazon.

Also, be sure to check out Forks over Knives website for recipes as well. They have some good pumpkin recipes for the Thanksgiving season, including this one:

 

Almost Instant Pumpkin Pudding
Makes 4 servings 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 2 cups pumpkin (not pie filling)
• 1 banana
• 2/3 cups pitted dates
• 1 tablespoon alcohol free vanilla
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 6 tablespoons chia seeds

Instructions:

Place all ingredients in blender except for chia seeds and blend until smooth.

Add seeds and blend again, adding more milk if necessary to achieve a vortex.

Pour into 4 bowls and cover with Saran, chill several hours or overnight.

Dust with cinnamon before serving.

 

I try to avoid the term 'vegan' when referring to our whole-foods plant-based nutrition plan, but when searching for good recipes that work for our needs, using the term 'vegan' in your search can sometimes help by narrowing down your options. You'll want to read through any vegan recipes carefully, as some call for sugar and oils...and make changes whenever possible or choose a more fitting recipe.

Here  is a link to yummly.com's vegan pumpkin recipes. I've never tried them, but plan to try a few with the upcoming Thanksgiving celebration. If you try any of them, be sure to post your results (and opinions) as well as any changes you made to make the recipes fit into a whole-foods, plant based nutrition plan.

Other WFPB and vegan recipes can be found on the following blogs and websites, which were listed as the TOP 10 blogs for whole food and vegan recipes in a recent Google article. I read through all the readers' comments, too, and added popular sites that readers wished the list had included. These are not listed in any particular order, but my personal favorite is the Happy Herbivore, which seems to be more WFPB than some of the others so less substitutions or alterations need to be made.
 
1. Vegan Dad

2. Meet The Shannons

3. Oh She Glows

4. Vegan Menu

5. Happy Herbivore

6. Vegan Home Cooking

7. Chef Chloe

8. Post Punk Kitchen

9. veganyumyum.com 

10. 101cookbooks.com

11. fat free vegan kitchen

12. c'est la vegan

13. Manifest Vegan

14. Mollie Katzen


Let me know what you find!!

The Whole-Food Plant-Based Nutriational Program

Here's my version of the WFPBNP, adapted from  The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas m. Campbell.

The Unlimited foods are those that we can eat in any amount. The Minimize foods are those that are allowed but only rarely or only in very small amounts. The Avoid foods are those that are forbidden, which I never (or very rarely) eat. The Supplements are required daily vitamins that are naturally (in our modern times) low in an all-plant-based nutritional program.

The Whole-Food Plant-Base Nutritional Program

GENERAL CATEGORY	SPECIFIC EXAMPLES
Unlimited
Fruits	orange, okra, kiwi, red pepper, apple cucumber, tomato, avocado (minimize for weight loss), zucchini, blueberries, strawberries, green peppers, raspberries, butternut squash, pumpkin, blackberries, mangoes, eggplant, tomato, pear, watermelon, cranberries, acorn squash, papaya, grapefruit, peach
Vegetable: Flowers	broccoli, cauliflower (Not many of the huge variety of edible flowers are commonly eaten.)
Vegetable: Stems and Leaves	Spinach, artichokes, kale, lettuce (all varieties; iceberg­—minimize), cabbage, Swiss chard, collard greens, celery, asparagus, mustard greens, Brussels sprouts, turnip greens, beet greens, bok choi, arugula, Belgian endive, basil, cilantro, parsley, rhubarb, seaweed
Vegetable: Legumes	green beans, soybeans, peas, peanuts, adzuki beans, black beans, black-eye peas, cannellini beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), kidney beans, lentils, pinto beans, white beans
Vegetable: Mushrooms	white button, baby bella, cremini, Portobello, shiitake, oyster
Vegetable: Nuts (minimize for weight loss)	walnuts, almonds, macadamia, pecans, cashew, hazelnut, pistachio
Whole grains (in breads, pastas, etc.)	wheat, rice corn, millet, sorghum, rye, oats, barley, buckweat, amaranth, quinoa, kamut, spelt
Minimize
Refined carbohydrates	pastas (except whole-grain varieties), white bread, crackers, sugars, and most cakes and pastries
Added salt	table salt, sea salt, onion salt, garlic salt, soy sauce
Added vegetable oils	corn oil, peanut oil, olive oil
Fish	salmon, tuna, cod
Fruit juices	orange juice, grape juice, apple juice
Avoid
Meat	steak, hamburger, lard
Poultry	chicken, turkey
Dairy	cheese, milk, yogurt
Eggs	egg and products with high egg content (e.g., mayonnaise)
Supplements
Vitamins (daily)	B12 and D

Dr. Cambell: “My advice is to try to eliminate all animal-based products from your diet, but not obsess over it. If a tasty vegetable soup has a chicken stock base, or if a hearty loaf of whole wheat bread includes a tiny amount of egg, don’t worry about it. These quantities, very likely, are nutritionally unimportant. Even more importantly, the ability to relax about very minor quantities of animal-based foods makes applying this diet much easier— especially when eating out or buying already-prepared foods.”

This WFPBNP has been successful in helping me feel healthier, have more energy, and lose weight.