My Blood on Spuds

I know the challenge ended last week but the holidays made it near impossible to get these thoughts together.  I had my blood drawn last Monday.  I had one arm extended, my fist balled up bracing for the needle (have I mentioned that I hate needles?).  A banana in the other hand.  As soon as the blood filled the vials I ate the best banana of my life!  Then off to the Juice Bar for a Sweet Greens juice and a Superfood acai smoothie bowl.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  So good!

I know you are anxious to get your questions answered on blood sugar, protein and calcium on spuds.  A little explanation first:

The “before” blood work is what my blood looks like on a clean, whole food plant based diet.  There were a few vegan desserts prior to the challenge since we knew we were going to be depriving ourselves of these options as soon as the next day dawned.  That would explain my triglycerides…although they weren’t awful.  Also since our skin doesn’t see much sunlight in the winter, we started supplementing vitamin D on the Spud diet.

I decided to throw in the results from the last Raw food challenge so everyone can see them side by side.  For a full description of the Raw food results see this blog. 

	Normal Range	WFPB diet	Spuds only	Raw Food Diet
Cholesterol	100-199	169	147	162
HDL (happy cholesterol)	>39	40	39	35
LDL (lousy cholesterol)	0-99	98	90	107
Triglycerides (fat floating in the blood)	0-149	156	88	102
Hemoglobin	11.1-15.9	12.1	12.1	12.2
Hematocrit	34-46.6	38.3	38.6	38.7
Glucose (blood sugar)	65-99	59	84	Didn’t check
Sodium	136-144	140	140	141
Potassium	3.5-5.2	4.3	4.6	4.2
Calcium	8.7-10.2	8.7	9.2	8.7
Protein	6.0-8.5	6.9	6.8	7.2
Iron, serum (iron in the blood)	27-159	89	51	35
Iron, saturation (iron stores)	15-55	21%	12%	9%
Vitamin B12	211-946	614	611	968
Folate (folic acid)	>3.0	11.7	13.7	7.4
Vitamin D	30-100	16.7	26.7	Didn’t check

So, what does all this tell us?  A whole food plant based diet, supplementing Vitamin D and B12 can give you excellent cholesterol numbers, great blood sugar, normal potassium, calcium and protein.  If you are a female you need to watch your iron.  Or at least I do.  So if you are to try the spud diet, add in spinach or beans.  On a normal clean WFPB diet my iron is fine.  Beans, greens, edamame and Grape Nuts take care of it.  I do, however, need to watch my fat intake.  This shows in the triglycerides which is the fat floating around in the blood.  So junk food vegans likely do not have great numbers with respect to their triglycerides.   And even with a clean diet, if the intake of high fat foods or desserts is increased it will show up..

This also tells us that if you have food addictions, bad habits and need a break from "food" you can sustain yourself very well on potatoes while you try to figure it out.  It was a great time for us to reflect on our relationship with food and remember that going to parties and church events can be all about the people and not all about the food.  And it can give someone a way to lose weight safely with easy to follow rules and not alot of confusion.  Guys like that.  (Cliff's blood work is coming and just to put some of you guys mind at ease, his iron was perfect.  Everything was perfect)

Now what?  Well, many of you have joined the Journey to Incredible Health group on Facebook where we have been sharing great recipes and tips for getting through the holidays.  Starting on 1/9 we will begin our very first Journey to Incredible Health Challenge.  There will be one each quarter of the new year lasting 3 months each.  A chance of winning some great prizes will be awareded to those who complete the challenge and you can join more than one!  We will be addressing the physical as well as the psychological side to food and health.  It’s not all about weight loss.  It’s about gaining a healthy body and mind. 

How do you begin?  Search on Facebook for the group “Journey to Incredible Health” and ask to join.  Once accepted you will have access to the support and accountability that goes with the challenge.  I will be posting this weekend the details of the challenge on this blog as well as the Facebook group page.  I hope you join us and make 2017 your year to start your journey to a BETTER YOU!

Spud happy recipes

Whether you are looking to do the Spud Challenge or just get some new plant based potato recipes these are some great choices.

We kept things simple most of the time but we did branch out and use some recipes to snazzy up the spuds throughout the challenge.  Some of these I have tried and some I have not yet but they are definitely on the list!

Sauces/Dips

Ridiculously good Nacho cheese (topping for a baked potato or dip for baked fries)

Recipe found here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dibaKi-RN48

Sweet Potato Cheese dip (can go with sweet or white potato fries or can be made with white potato if you don’t want a hint of sweet)

1 large sweet potato, baked and peel removed
1.5 cups plant milk
2/3 c nutritional yeast
1 tsp garlic
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 TB Mike’s seasoning or Lawry’s salt
1 tsp sweet curry

Blend in blender and warm in microwave or on the stove.  Can also use with home baked tortilla chips.

Mushroom Onion Potato gravy

8 dry shitake mushrooms
1.5 cups of water
1 vegan beef broth cube (like No-beef broth sold at Whole Foods)
2 TB nutritional yeast (also found at Whole Foods)
¼ c cooked white potato with peel

Soak the mushrooms in 1 cup of water for several hours.  Reserve ½ cup of water for later.  Combine all the rest of the ingredients in a blender, including the mushrooms with soaking water.  Blend until smooth.  Pour into a skillet.  Use the last ½ cup water to rinse out the blender and pour into skillet.  Heat until it thickens and serve on top your favorite spud!

FRIES and Hash Puppies  (I hope I'm the one that made up that word)

Quite possibly the best fries ever

Recipe found here:  http://www.brandnewvegan.com/recipes/crispy-oven-baked-fat-free-french-fries

Potato Wedges

Take some precooked and cooled potatoes and cut into wedges.  Water down some mustard and add a dash of hot sauce.  Toss the wedges and bake in oven on 400 degrees until crisp

Baked Hash Puppies

Take a baked potato and smash in some spices of choice.  This can be done with sweet or white and use any seasonings you wish.  Use the cinnamon and nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice on sweet potatoes or savory spices on white.  Just Roll the ball, roll in raw shredded potato and bake in the oven on 400 until crispy and golden brown.

Leftover mashed Hash Puppies

Take any of your favorite mashed potatoes to a new level by adding a little potato starch or potato flour until they are stiff then form into balls and bake on silpat or baking stone on 400 until crispy

What about the peeling?  Can I make fries with that?  Why, yes you can:

Take the peeling and throw it on a pan or dish and sprinkle with paprika and cumin and roast for crispy fries

Other Potato dishes

Herbed Scalloped potatoes (skip the oil)

http://littlemissveg.blogspot.com/2012/05/herbed-scalloped-potatoes.html?m=1

Greek Lemon Potatoes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFoZWMSK4jY&app=desktop

Oven Roasted Baked Potatoes

https://cookingwithplants.com/recipe/oven-roasted-baked-potatoes/

Sweet Treats

Sweet Potato ice cream…  

Peel and roast one sweet potato on 375 until tender.  Let cool in fridge overnight.  Mix with 2 cups of almond milk in blender with 1/8 cup maple syrup.  Add cinnamon and nutmeg if desired.  Pour into a loaf pan and freeze for 12 hours then cut into squares! 

Sweet Potato Chocolate Mousse (from Spudfit book)

Sweet potatoes
Maple syrup (pure, not maple flavored sugar)
Pure vanilla extract
Cacao (or alternatively nutmeg or cinnamon)

Peel and boil a few potatoes.  Combine the maple syrup and a few drops of vanilla extract in a blender and whizz until smooth.  Then add cacao or other spices and blend.  Taste and adjust the ingredients to taste.  (A little annoying how the recipe is so vague but it was tasty!)

Quick start guide to Spud Living

Many of you have asked a lot of questions about how to follow the Spud challenge and what it looks like on a daily basis.  Here is a collection of pointers from Shelly as well as a few things I have learned.  Recipes to come in the next blog.  This will get you by until then!

Do NOT:

• ·         Eat any potatoes with green on them.  They will make you sick
• ·         Go hungry!  Always have a plan and a spud on the go.
• ·         Don’t forget to supplement your Vitamin B12.  Grab a bottle from the store or get this.  Your brain will thank you!

Tips on Taters

• ·         The smaller the sweet potato the sweeter it is
• ·         The Japanese sweet potato is worth fighting over.  Cliff and I did this morning.  It was unpleasant but I won… I felt bad about it.  After I ate it.  They taste like cake.  I plan to add fruit to them when the 21 days is up and pretend it’s pound cake J
• ·         I plan to do a blog very soon on the nutrients and answer many questions people have on the health of the potatoes so hang in there.  Until then just mix it up.  Make sure there are sweet and white potatoes in the mix.  Sweet potatoes are great for the vitamin A and white potatoes are higher in protein.  Both rock in fiber so the digestive system is happy which makes you happy.

“On the go” and Travel Tips

• ·         If you have an instant pot or crock pot, pack em.  All you need is a plug.  If you use them both at the same time you will blow a fuse… likely.
• ·         Restaurants that are spud friendly in most cities:  Wendy’s, Jason’s Deli, Huddle House, any steak house and Waffle House if they are willing to cook hash browns with little to no oil.  Bring your own sauce or just use the salt and pepper to death.  I took cocktail sauce today to Wendy’s and it made me happy!  Don’t be afraid to order two…or three if needed.
• ·         Pack some cooked spuds in a cooler for the road.  The sweet potatoes (especially Japanese) work best since they need nothing.
• ·         Some grocery stores also sell potatoes ready to steam in the microwave.  Publix has a bag of 5 sweet potatoes that are small and really sweet that steam up in 8 minutes.

Quick (sometimes) and easy ways to cook a spud

•  Microwave on the potato setting (poke holes)
• Bake in the oven (poke holes)
•  Instant pot for 12-15 minutes, depending on size (poke holes)
•  Cut into fries and bake on a baking stone or parchment paper with spices.  No oil needed.  There are some mats and such you can use to crisp them up This one from Bed Bath and Beyond.  Also this one from Amazon.
• Skillet hash browns – you need a non-stick skillet or you can put a little oil on the skillet and wipe it out good before adding the potatoes.
• Potato cakes – recipes to come

Spud toppings for baked potatoes, baked fries or mashed potatoes

• ·         Sauces with no oil or high fructose corn syrup – Barbeque sauce, cocktail sauce, most any mustard, ketchup with no HFCS, salsa, vegan cheese dips (recipe to come), sweet chili sauce, sriracha
• ·         Season salt, garlic powder, onion powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, any other spice or herb you want
• ·         Garlic – roasted, minced, whatever
• ·         Nutritional yeast – this is a deactivated yeast that comes in the form of flakes that has a nutty, cheesy flavor.  It’s also packed with Vitamin B12!  Think vegan parm cheese.
• ·         A drizzle of maple syrup on sweet or white potatoes.  Don’t go overboard.
• ·         Use a little plant based milk or veggie broth to mash up potatoes then add your spices.
• ·         This is what I do since non-dairy milk is allowed.  Not sure if it’s legal -  Non-dairy plain yogurt in place of sour cream.  With a little salt and pepper you have a yummy and simple baked potato.  Go ahead and have two!

A Day in the Life (for me)

Breakfast – one to two sweet potatoes depending on size and hunger level.  Mashed with some cinnamon and nutmeg.  A little maple syrup if the potato is not sweet enough.
Coffee with plant milk and half a truvia

Snack if needed – small Japanese sweet potato, whole as is

Lunch if home – cut up a large white potato into fries on the baking stone with season salt

Snack if needed – small Japanese sweet potato, whole as is
Kombucha

Dinner – mashed or baked potato with spices/salsa/yogurt/vegan cheese dip

Notes
My appetite has shrunk considerably so the the snacks are not really needed anymore.  Or I will have one with me and eat half when I’m hungry and the other half later.  I pushed through the dread of eating potatoes and now it’s just normal.  We have the hang of it and are feeling great!  So days 1-6 are the hardest.  Adjustment period to eating one food and adjustment to losing the cravings.  Keep the questions coming so I can get the answers and help others!  

Success Spud Story - Shelly Jernigan (Her secret is OUT!)

“If I have to eat another potato I might vomit”.  That’s what I was saying last night as I made myself eat a bowl of mashed potatoes leftover from Sunday.  The too salty mashed potatoes that were made slightly better with some vegan nacho cheese I made from my No Meat Athlete book.  Earlier that day as I was getting dinner ready I realized I had waited too long to eat and was starving…I caved and cheated.  I ate a banana!  I know, shock and horror!  It was the best tasting banana I ever had.  So why am I doing this again?  Oh yea, reset my taste buds, show myself potatoes are not evil sugar monsters, and maybe lose some weight at the holidays.  I talked to my friend and mentor, Shelly Jernigan today and felt better.  She has been here.  Apparently I pep talked her into riding it out during her first month but I don’t remember being nearly as effective in my encouragement as she was.  She has been on the Spud Road for 3 months as of yesterday.  She has lost … wait for it… 35 pounds in 3 months!  Impressive right?  Here’s her story.

Shelly Jernigan lives in Virginia with her 3 daughters and husband Steve.  Prior to the Spud Fit Challenge she was a junk food vegetarian with a really big sweet tooth.  She had already been researching the starch strong plant based diet by following Dr John McDougall and reading his book TheStarch Solution and following the Potato Strong Youtube channel.  She knew potatoes were good for her and saw how others thrived in health and weight loss with a plant based diet including a lot of potatoes.  So when she came across an interview with Andrew Taylor in her facebook news feed she was intrigued.  Andrew was starting a Spudtember Challengehelping others follow a month on potatoes.  She showed it to her husband and right away he said “let’s do it”. 

As she came off of her junk food diet, she experienced the worst symptoms on day 2 with severe headaches and light headedness.  Once she ate potatoes she felt better.  Going into the challenge her goals were to reset her taste buds, get rid of her cravings for sugar and lose some weight.  She has accomplished all three but the biggest surprise so far has been that within 2-3 weeks of eating only potatoes she has no desire or cravings for other foods.  She is not bored with potatoes.  She doesn’t necessarily crave them but she does look forward to eating them every day.  Something she couldn’t say the first week.  (Glad to hear that..)

What keeps her motivated?  How about the weight falling off every week?  And she feels so much better and has much more energy than before she started.  She gets her recipes from the Spud fit ebook and the Spudtember facebook group where others post recipes.  She has shared many with me and I will be sharing those with you soon.  Her plan is to continue with the potatoes through the end of the year and follow it up with the Starch Solution diet with a plant based lifestyle, oil free and high carb. 

As a recovering sugar addict she has joined my facebook group “Journey to Incredible Health” so we can work together to make sweets that are both legal and won’t make us trigger happy.  If you want to keep in the loop on such goodness look it up and request membership.  I won’t turn you down!

Big kudos 👊👏 to Shelly for her amazing journey!  Feel free to facebook her with congrats now that her secret is out!  And as always, thanks for hanging in there with me!

Epiphanies and BIG commitments!

The first weekend on spuds is complete.  It was both easy and hard.  Easy in that we knew what to eat.  Hard in that it’s really hard for me to just eat one food.  I know, why am I still doing this if it’s so painful? 

I’m learning a lot about myself already.  It’s like I can see some things more clearly when I step back away from food and just eat to sustain life.  Physically I’m not craving anything but fruits and veggies.  I’m craving the variety from my plant based diet.  I want to crunch on a salad and eat a banana something fierce!  I’m taking this as a good sign. 

What have I learned about me and moderation?

For someone with food issues, moderation is very difficult.  Moderation is no issue to my skinny friends who don’t really care about eating nor attach any emotion to it.  They can eat the one cupcake and be satisfied.  For others, it triggers a sweet tooth and opens a whole world of “possibilities”.  The story I tell myself is that “it’s in moderation, I’m not eating the whole plate of cookies or the whole gallon of ice cream”.  Some people do that and the fact that I don’t means I’m not that bad right?  I’m not a true food addict right?  I’m not sure of the answer to that question but I do know that food is a drug used at times to deal with stuff.  My stuff is just not big enough to need a whole gallon of ice cream.  OK, so what does that mean?  The trigger is still the same.  The emotion causes a reaction.  The reaction makes you reach for something to soothe the emotion.  If you don’t drink or smoke or take medicine the obvious choice is food.  It’s the comfort in cold weather, when you have a cold, when you are depressed, when you come in from school, when you need a hug, when you are broken up with your favorite someone.  It’s the celebration at every get together from birthdays to ball games.  There is a food for everyone’s problem.  It’s what you deserve after a good weigh in, after a hard week at work, after a marathon.  And the foods that we turn to only fuel addiction.  The types of foods that are addicting have three things:  sugar, fat and salt.  (Did you know that this is why they coat the fries at McDonalds in sugar before they put them in the fryer?  Is it any wonder they are addicting?  Nope.  They planned it that way).  So there are physical reasons we are addicted to the bad food and mental cues all around us that make it almost impossible to NOT fall in the emotional eating trap.  The food industry spends billions to make sure you do.

So what now?  You can’t just never eat an Oreo again or swear off potato chips for life can you?  Well, if you are an alcoholic would you seriously think you would be asking yourself that question about your favorite drink?  The answer is YES you can.  Will it be hard?  Yes!  And if you are on the side of the fence where you have not broken the physical addiction then this may sound impossible.  If you have no support group in your life to help you even want to stay on the straight and narrow it would seem unrealistic to think you could.  But I’m proclaiming today in front of my two readers that I will be here for you.  If you want to say no to the triggers in your food world I will take a stand in front of you and show you how it’s done.  I don’t want to be a slave to food anymore.  I will make an alternative that is low in sugar, fat and salt to everything I love and enjoy food on my terms.  I will share these recipes with you and give you the mental tools as I learn them to continue on this journey to incredible health. 

What I have learned so far...

1. To start you have to reset your taste buds.  You can do it with juices or spuds or any other cleanse you might want to try.  There are some things I learned that are critical in that process.  Take a B12 supplement, maybe vitamin D if you don’t get much sun and take a Probiotic.  This is an affordable one if you need an option:  Physiq Probio.  You would take the probiotic to bring in good bacteria.  As I have said before in an earlier blog , the gut determines what you crave and health of your organs.  Very important to have a good gut biome!
2. As you are cleansing, learn how to eat better.  I have an earlier blog that also gives a list of instructions if you want to choose the plant based lifestyle.  .
3. Get support.  I’m just started a closed group on facebook called “Journey to Incredible Health”.  If you want to join you can search and find it and request membership.  I want to support those who want to eat better and I will post recipes and inspiration on this page.  I would love to hear what motivates you and what struggles you are having and maybe as a group we can all join in to help.  Or maybe you want to just sit back and be a silent participant.  That’s ok too. 

OK that’s enough for tonight.  I did not expect to say all that but the words started flowing through my fingertips and before I knew it I was committing to stuff J   Thanks for journeying along!  I have a testimonial from another Spud Fit veteran coming next week AND I have blood work from the start of the challenge.  I know everyone loves to see bloodwork – the proof is in the blood!  More later!

Day 1 & 2 Spud.riffic..

So we are coming to the close of day 2.  I would love to paint flowers and blue skies but I gotta say...it's an adjustment.  Several times I have gone to grab a banana or grapes and had to stop myself.  Crazy feeling on so many levels.  I have never in my lifetime committed to eating only one thing every single day.  I'm sure it will get better.  Taste buds adjust and you find your happy place.  Right??

How are we feeling?
Day 1 all day was heartburn and indigestion.  Overall not draggy feeling though and with some Rolaids I managed.  Day 2 I feel much better.  As for Cliff day 1 he felt great and today he's getting the headaches.  Anytime he comes down off sugar this happens so it's normal.   The people I have talked to about this say the headaches and fatigue are normal for the 2nd day.

What are we eating?  Um betcha never guess..
This bag below is at Publix for $2.29 with 5 sweet potatoes that you microwave in the oven.  They somehow taste better than our regular sweet potatoes.  Highly convenient.  I took 3 of these to have as snack and part early lunch while on the road this morning.
The rest of the pictures below show my fries that I LOVE using my Mike's Seasoning.  Sweet potato with cinnamon and regular potato with chile sauce and himalayan salt.

Still enjoying my coffee in the morning with Silk creamer and my Kombucha (:-)

I'm thinking over the course of this 21 days I will learn more about my relationship with food.  Physically I will gain control over cravings and knowing how to address the emotional side to food will be easier.  All you have to do is own it and address it right?  Like an addict are you not allowed anything in moderation because addicts don't do moderation?  Are there some things I will NEVER be able to have again?  Am I ok with that?  I guess time will tell.  A lot to consider in just 21 days...

Thanks for joining us on our journey!