Kicking it up a Notch

Wow, it's been nearly a month since I've posted. It's been pretty busy around here catching up with household projects and fun family events.

As far as diet, I've kicked it up a notch. I've realized that as much as I love delicious vegan foods like this:

Kale Cafe Veggie Burger

Stir-Fry Veggies in Chile Sauce over Pasta, Billy's Tap Room, Ormond Beach

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower

Italian White Bean and Sausage Soup

Apple Crisp

Siam Tofu with Thai Chili Sauce leftovers, Thai Erawan, Ormond Beach

I do much better if I eat like this:

Steamed Collard Greens and Roasted Potatoes

Roasted Potatoes and Steamed Spinach

Weekly Produce Delivery from Front Porch Pickings

Steamed Kale and Chipotle-Kissed Red Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

Baked Seasoned "Fries"

Fresh Collard Greens ready for steaming

Raw Cauliflower

Baked Sweet Potato with Steamed Greens

The difference between the two styles of eating: The second group of food has no added oil and is unprocessed.  No bread. No pasta. No faux meats. Just plain food, as close to Mother Nature intended as possible.

This week I've been listening to lectures by Chef AJ and turning back to my McDougall books, experimenting with recipes and observing what happens with my body when I eat more "cleanly." What I've discovered, time and time again, is that when I eliminate the processed foods, breads and oils, I feel better. My food cravings subside. And I lose weight. I'm down 2 pounds since Monday. It may seem extreme to some, but if I'm every going to reach goal weight and achieve optimum health, I have to do what works for me, for my particular chemistry. It's not easy, and I'm not 100% compliant. While the bread and frozen "meat" products are relatively easy to eliminate, I'm not willing to give up my morning coffee with non-dairy creamer, or, frankly, my wine! I understand that these are issues for some people and maybe down the line I'll change my mind, but for now I think I can still enjoy an occasional happy hour and my one cup of java per day.

So, that's where I am right now. I'd love to hear thoughts, opinions from those of you who have tried this way of eating, I can use all of the inspiration I can get!

Michele~

Sunday Feb 16: The Week in Review

Despite my best intentions and planning, the week did not turn out as expected. Chip's work schedule was super-wacky so I was eating alone several nights, relying on whatever we had in the house. I mostly lived on potato soup, roasted potatoes, veggie burger and salads.



I ate dinner out a couple of times, too. One particular night I met my friend Susan at a Thai restaurant. I had perused the menu ahead of time, noted that though they had no tofu on the menu (strange!), they did have several vegetable dishes. I had my heart set on the Vegetable Curry until I learned that they put fish sauce in theirs. Darn it! I'm glad I inquired, but I settled for a plain bowl of brown rice & steamed veggies. I poured on a little soy sauce just for flavor. Ugh! Glad the company was wonderful because the food definitely left something to be desired.



Then, of course, there was Valentine's Day. I didn't go crazy, but there were a couple glasses of wine and a tiny bowl of vegan ice cream. Saturday we met up with some friends for happy hour where I enjoyed my weekly french fry fix and shared a Bruschetta with Chip. Our friend Rob (in the foreground) works at this restaurant so he personally spoke to the cook to ensure that our appetizer was 100% vegan. So sweet of him!

 

Back to "normal" today, made a pot of chili for dinner. This is another McDougall recipe, delicious blending of traditional flavors with some Moroccan spices thrown in. Super-yummy! I didn't include the peanut butter because I didn't want the added fat, but imagine it would've added a nice flavor to the dish.
 

Chili with Yams 

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I have been using a lot of red lentils lately because they cook quickly and thicken soups and stews very nicely.  I am also very fond of yams and they go together very well in this dish. This is delicious served with fresh, warm corn tortillas or pita bread.

Preparation Time:  20 minutes
Cooking time:  55 minutes
Servings:  6-8

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 ¾ cups water
• 3 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 4 cups peeled and chopped yams
• 1 cup red lentils
• 2 15 ounce cans diced tomatoes
• 1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed (I used my own pressure-cooked beans)
• 2 tablespoon peanut butter (optional)
• 2 tablespoons lime juice (optional)

1. Place ¼ cup of the water in a large soup pot.  Add onion, celery and garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the chili powder, paprika, cumin, cinnamon and crushed pepper.  
2. Mix well, then add the remaining water, yams, lentils, tomatoes, and beans.  Stir to combine, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the peanut butter, one tablespoon at a time, if using.  Season with lime juice and a bit of sea salt, if desired.

Per Serving (based on 6 servings, including peanut butter): 394 Calories; 4g Fat (8.5% calories from fat); 21g Protein; 73g Carbohydrate; 23g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 535mg Sodium. 

Note: I cooked this in the slow cooker for about 6 hours on High, turned down to warm until ready to serve. 

Source: McDougall newsletter, April 2007

Hope everyone had a beauty-full weekend!

Michele~

Hot Dish: Comforting Potato Soup

While it's still warm & sunny here in Florida, I understand that many of my northern neighbors are gearing up for yet another blizzard. I hope everyone is warm & cozy and have plenty of food to last through the storm. I'll be thinking of you while I enjoy some nice comforting potato soup, wish I could share it with you all!

         

Potato Soup

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•   6               cups  vegetable broth, ready-to-serve
•   1             medium  onion -- chopped
•   1             cloves  garlic -- minced (1 to 2)
•   6             medium  russet potatoes -- peeled and chopped
•   2             medium  carrots -- chopped
•   2             stalks  celery -- chopped
•   1             medium  zucchini -- chopped
•      1/2           cup  fresh parsley -- chopped
•   1           teaspoon  dried dill weed
•      1/2      teaspoon  freshly ground pepper
•   1               dash  salt

1. Place a small amount of the vegetable broth in a large soup pot.  Add the onion and garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.
2. Add the remaining ingredients, mix well, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, until vegetables are tender and potatoes have started to break apart.
3. Serve with some fresh bread to dunk into the flavorful broth.

Source:
  "the McDougall newsletter."
Start to Finish Time:
  "1:00"
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Makes 6 to 8 Servings; Per Serving (based upon 6 servings): 107 Calories; 1g Fat (10.0% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 23g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 1074mg Sodium.  

Chip and I both loved this soup! Great flavors, savory and filling, perfect for a winter's night. I am definitely adding this to my tried-and-true recipe file, will be making this one again.

Hope everyone is toasty warm, stay safe!

Michele~

Weekly Weigh-in

 I had to change my weigh-in day back to Thursday because there are no WW meetings on Wednesday morning.  Since I missed last week's meeting, I was very anxious to see the official number on the scale, and very pleased to report that I'm down 3 pounds! I really think the Simply Filling plan is responsible; I feel more full, and even though I'm (mostly) eating from a limited food list, I feel less restricted.  If I find myself hungry in the afternoon, I'll have some brown rice & beans which are always present in my refrigerator.  I am jokingly calling this the "potato diet" because I'm eating a lot of them! Roasted potatoes (with 1 tsp of olive oil) every day for breakfast, baked potatoes with veggies for lunches &dinner, etc.  I feel like what Dr. McDougall calls a "Starchivore!" Though I am eating my share of carbs, I'm focusing on the whole-grain, brown variety.  What I have not been eating: white flour.

Yes, I've said it before and I still believe it to be true - for me, bread, at least the fluffy white variety, does evil things to my body! When I remove it from my diet, I lose weight, no longer feel bloated, and don't have the crazy food cravings.  The only "bread" I've had this week is whole grain Sandwich and/or Bagel Thins a couple of days, and Ezekiel Sprouted grain. No fluffy Italian bread, no giant bagels, no white pasta.  It's been much easier than I thought, and the number on the scale is proof that it works!

Hope you're having a beauty-full day,

Michele~

Well, here we are at the end of Week One. I've been following my program about 80% of the time, had a couple of PMS-related Oreo episodes and a glass too many of vino at a certain happy hour, but otherwise I've been doing pretty well.  I guess the scale agrees because I am down 1.8 pounds! Not bad, but I know I can do better. 

I've been thinking back to the last time I lost weight, when I was following Jenny, and pondering what it was about that program that worked so well for me.  Well, duh, it was a no-brainer: Go to meeting. Weigh-in. Buy food. Eat food. Repeat.  I had little to think about, I just heated up the meals, ate the food, and the weight came off.  Though I certainly don't want to go back to that way of eating, and honestly I missed my own cooking, I can't beat the convenience.  So, how to implement that into the way I live & eat now?

I started out by planning my weekly menu, as I've been doing, preparing my meals as usual.  Then, after dinner, I portion out the leftovers into individual containers and label them.  These become lunches for the next couple of days. If there's more left over than I can safely store in the fridge, or if I'm tired of a particular meal (that rarely happens, I don't mind repetition), I freeze those portions instead.  Same thing with breakfast, have a few containers of Tofu Scramble stacked in there.  I also have a big tub of Vegetable Soup to accompany meals or even as a mid-day snack.  Speaking of snacks, I took a cucumber & a head of broccoli,chopped & divided them up into little ziploc bags and labeled each one with the contents and weight so that logging into Sparkpeople would be a breeze.  These went into a handy-dandy Snaptight container (on sale this week at Publix, if you're in my neck of the woods), so easy to grab & go!




Lastly, I mixed up a batch of hummus and divided it into tiny tubs.  Now, when the snack attack hits, I can open my fridge, grab a bag of veggies and a pot of hummus, I'm good to go! You can see there's also a big bin of crunchy apples there, and a fruit bowl of bananas sits on the counter, nearby, perfectly portable health food.  I also have some cooked chickpeas and pink beans in there, easy to toss onto a salad or into a soup for added protein.





Also this week, I baked several sweet potatoes in the oven, used two of them for the Sweet Potato Beginnings breakfasts..



the other I mixed in with my Spicy Vegetarian Chili. So delicious, filled with fiber and nutrients. Dr. McDougall would be proud.




So, that just about wraps up Week One.  I have a simple pasta dish on the menu for tonight, will share that tomorrow so hope to see you then!

Have a beauty-full day,

Michele~

Hello Out There!

I've been gone so long, I hope you haven't forgotten me!

Since going "vegan" in March, I've been doing tons & tons of research, reading everything I can get my hands on regarding a plant-based diet, watching documentaries, experimenting with recipes, etc. etc. It's been all consuming, honestly, but I've enjoyed every minute of it.

I still have a lot to learn, but so far what I've realized is this: You can be a fat, unhealthy vegan. You can fill your body with processed non-meat garbage the same as your omnivore friends.  There is an abundance of vegan junk food out there, and while consuming it may be ethically good for the animals and the planet overall, it's not necessarily good for you.


Being a lapsed vegetarian, I thought I knew what I was doing and hopped on the vegan bandwagon with both feet.  I gathered up faux sour cream, mozzarella "cheese," vegan burgers and sausage like it was going out of style. I was ever so proud of myself for making this change in my diet/lifestyle, and I felt really good both physically and emotionally.  However, my new eating plan did nothing to make the scale move.  So I went back to logging my food into Weight Watchers, counting food POINTS and earning extra by walking.  Still no loss, and I was beginning to feel deprived and frustrated.  Though WW is an awesome program and I recommend it whole heartedly, I do not think it's a good option for vegans.  Yes, they do promote vegetable consumption and that's awesome, but they also have that dairy requirement and very few of their recipes (and none of their own foods) are veg-friendly.  I have some other issues but for now I'm going to leave it at that, at least until I show some success with another eating plan.

So, after countless hours in front of the tv watching documentaries, browsing websites and downloading books onto my Kindle, I have come to the conclusion that for a plant-based weight loss program, Dr. John McDougall has the right program for me.  His plan consists of unlimited veggies, whole foods, good starches, and a generous amount of fruit.  What he doesn't allow is fat, oil, animal products of any kind, and processed food is seriously discouraged.  This sounds strict, I know, but I'm going to give it a go and see what happens. Honestly, I started the "diet" yesterday and have already lost half a pound. 

Now, you all know me. There are a couple of things I really enjoy that I'm not willing to give up: coffee and my beloved chardonnay. I'm hoping I can still achieve success with these small "cheats." We shall see.

Thanks for bearing with me as I muddle through this stuff, would love to hear input from you all, especially if you're, or ever have been,  a McDougaller.

Have a Beautiful Day,

Rapunzel