The Best of Week 1 - Sharing Recipes

I have had many requests for some of the recipes we used for our Week 1 as raw foodies.  I'm sharing some of our favorite recipes below.  I have also been asked about what tools we use.

Ninja blender - the top of the line kind that also has the food processor that comes with it.  Get it at Bed, Bath and Beyond with a 20% off coupon.  This way, if anything ever happens to it you can return it easily for a new one.

Jack LaLanne juicer - there are other options.  The Breville is a good brand but pricier than Jack's.  We have had ours for a long time and have never had any trouble.

Most of these recipes come from The Fully Raw Diet Cookbook and some of her recipes can be found on her website but only one of them did we use last week.  It's linked below:

When you eat a LARGE amount of salad you HAVE to have a good dressing.  There are a couple that we really enjoyed this week:

SALAD STUFF

Orange Sesame Ginger Dressing
http://www.fullyraw.com/recipes/fullyraw-orange-ginger-sesame-salad-dressing/

Hail to the Kale Salad (from Chef AJ Unprocessed cookbook)

Salad:
2 large heads of curly kale
Chopped almonds

Dressing: (INCREDIBLE)
1 cup raw almond butter (unsweetened and unsalted)
1 cup coconut water (or regular water)
¼ cup fresh lime juice (about 2) and zest
2 cloves garlic
Fresh, peeled ginger (1 or ½ of an oz)
2 TB low sodium tamari
4 pitted dates (soaked in water if not soft)
½ tsp red pepper flakes (if you want a little bite)

Method:
In a high-powered blender, combine all dressing ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy.   Remove the thick, larger stems from the kale.  Place the kale leaves in a large bowl.  Pour 2 cups of the dressing over the kale and, using the Ulu blade, massage the dressing into the kale while finely chopping the kale (or massage with your fingers).  Sprinkle with seeds or nuts before serving, if desired.  Refrigerate any unused dressing.

Fully Raw Rainbow salad

2 large heads or bunches of greens
1 quart of dressing…(gotta enjoy the dressing to eat this much!)
1 ½ quarts (6 cups) chopped fruits and veggies of your choice
¼ to 1 c of toppings (nuts, seeds, herbs)

An hour later you will be done eating it.  Must have a raw dressing you enjoy!

JUICES
just run through the juicer

Beetle Juice 

2 small beets, including leaves and stems
2 large romaine leaves
3-4 apples (about 2 lb), preferably fuji, gala or honeycrisp (peel seeds and all)
3 celery stalks with leaves

Sunburst Juice 

3 kale leaves
3 apples
½ large pineapple, leaves and rind removed
3 oranges
2 TB lime juice

Soulshine Juice

½ head romaine
Leaves from 1 bunch of kale, including stems
6 apples (honeycrisp or pink lady)
6 celery stalks
1 unwaxed cucumber
juice of 2 lemons or 4 limes (1/2 cup)

SMOOTHIES

Banana Celery (this was a happy surprise)

7 bananas, frozen in chunks
3 celery stalks, cut in chunks

Super Sweet Pink

2-3 cups coconut water
½ pineapple
2-3 oranges
2 c fresh strawberries, with greens (strawberry leaves are good for you!)

Totally Tropical

2 large mangoes, in chunks
3 bananas, frozen in chunks
¼ pineapple chunks
2-3 kale leaves, tough stems removed
1 c coconut water

Dessert or Meal:

Banana Berry Nice Cream (makes 2 servings)

8 very ripe bananas, frozen (peel before freezing) and in chunks
pinch of ground cinnamon
Seeds scraped from ½ vanilla bean
1 c fresh raspberries
1 c. fresh strawberries, greens removed

Blend bananas, cinnamon and vanilla seeds until smooth.  May need to add a little water or coconut water but not too much.  Put the nice cream in two bowls.  Rinse the blender then add the raspberries and strawberries and blend until smooth.  Pour over the banana cream and swirl to make a delicious dessert or meal if you want to feel like you are cheating J  If you are using this for dessert you can easily get 4 servings and share with your family.  If you want…

We also did a Banana Blueberry Nice Cream

6 frozen bananas

1 to 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

Seeds scraped out of a 1/2 vanilla bean

1/2 cup water or coconut water (or nut milk)

Blend and serve!

More to share next week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Week 1 Results as a Raw Foodie

We are coming to a close of day 6.  I recorded my results on day 5 because for some reason weighing in seems to be what you do on Friday.  I'll get to that in a minute.

How does it feel?  Is it feasible for the average person to do this daily and what have we learned?  My goal is to help you learn from our mistakes should you wish to follow suit.

It feels great most of the time.  The morning juices give me good energy and I almost make it to lunch time.  I carry a banana with me at all times just in case.  I'm thinking this will get easier in the coming weeks as my body adjusts.  I had been used to eating a little every 3 hours so I'm getting acclimated.  I find that when I do get hungry it's just hunger pains that, if ignored, go away and I feel fine again.  So the symptoms are not faint headed and irritability like they used to be, which is good..for all around me.  There are times I feel a little light headed about 30 minutes after some of the smoothies.  And after the 9 clementines.  Some wondered about the acid in the oranges hitting my stomach and that turned out not to be a problem.  I'm thinking I will change up the mono meal choice of fruit/veggie to less acidic.

Feasibility?  I'm still working on making this easier.  So far I send ALOT of time in the kitchen chopping, juicing, blending and more chopping.  The evenings are too hectic most week nights so I need to have things done ahead of time.  That is my goal for next week's meals.  Otherwise I'm cleaning the kitchen until 10 and that is not good...for all around me.  

All of the juices and smoothies have been very yummy.  All recipes are taken from "The Fully Raw Diet" book.  I have learned that the key to a good salad is a great dressing.  THEN I can force down the many many cups of veggies.  I'm even getting used to stretching my stomach for the bigger salads.  It doesn't stay full long and the amount of food holds me until the next meal.  We tried the Mango Gazpacho soup today to change things up.  It's a blend of mango, red bell pepper and green onions topped with chopped cherry tomatoes and cilantro.  I cringed at the first bite praying that it would taste good.  I didn't throw up.  Woohoo!  I was so hungry that I think a piece of plywood would have been delicious.  So the soup started out really good.  Then I wasn't hungry anymore and I had half a bowl to finish.  It got really hard at the end.  I'm sure in a couple of weeks when my tastes have adjusted this will all taste great.  I'm already starting to crave a "beet juice" so there's hope.

The cool news is that the bacteria in my gut is changing and the good bacteria in our gut LOVES plants.  The bacteria in our gut directs our cravings.  When we eat crap we crave more crap.  When we eat good food our body craves good food.  It's all in the gut.  It's only mental if you emotionally tie yourself to the food.  And let's face it.  We all tie at least a few emotions to our food.  We have the special meals we get at various celebrations in our lives..but does that have to happen daily?  This challenge has been the best way for me to break the cycle and change my cravings.  It's not the easiest thing but if I want things to change I have to be willing to sacrifice.  

So what were the results?  I'm weighing in on Fridays and recording my measurements every other week.  Here are the first week results:

From Monday morning - Friday morning:

Weight loss 4.4 pounds 

Inches lost 5.5

Not bad for 4 days...

Cliff lost 10 pounds.  Yea he's a guy, what are you gonna do?  Happy for him.  He's happy, I'm happy.  I feel less "puffy" and cleaner.  Yes my digestive system is getting a good cleansing so I know that is part of the reason but my mind feels sharper.  The energy level is getting better (as long as I don't wake up from a nightmare at 4:30 like I did this morning..)  Yes, on a saturday.

Tune in next week as we hit week 2!  Don't forget to follow us on snapchat, facebook and instagram.  Great pics :)  

Day 1 and 2 - In the bag!

Monday was quite possibly the hardest day of the week to start a fully raw diet but we managed to muddle through it.  For those of you on snapchat you can follow cliffa74 to get a glimpse of what it was like.

Menu for Day 1:

Lemon water - 32 oz drink first thing

Breakfast:  Orange juice - 32 oz of orange juice from the juicer 

Lunch: Banana "nice cream" with raspberry&strawberry puree

Dinner:  appetizer of 3 mangos and 1/2 a pineapple

Salad was 2 pounds of greens (kale and romaine) and a quart and a half of this mix: yellow and red bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, purple cabbage and an avocado.  Dressing was avocado, orange juice and fresh herbs

The water first thing in the morning felt great!  Surprisingly the orange juice lasted until 11ish.  I didn't think it would make it that long.  I did a work out that morning of 30 minutes strength training and felt great throughout.  The kids wanted to have a picnic for lunch so it was crazy getting their lunch ready and blending 7 frozen bananas and raspberries and strawberries into a puree.  Half way through I realized the recipe was for 2 people so I had to split it before I blended Cliff's portion.  My mind started racing thinking "did I do that for all of the recipes?  Did I just buy double what I needed for the week?"  Wouldn't that be a happy mistake but no, only for this recipe.  Maybe a few others but whatever.  Now I know how to read a recipe.  Moving on.  It made for a delicious lunch and I felt like I was cheating :)

Worked out again at 5 on the Arc trainer.  Had enough "juice" to get through it but not with mighty power.  Really didn't want to be late for dinner...

Speaking of dinner.  It was a complete disaster.  I started chopping at 6:30.  Cliff got home at 6:45 and immediately started helping.  Between kids asking for juice, dinner, play with me, read me a book it was 7:30 before we finished making the salads and appetizers.  It took an hour to eat it.  Seriously an hour!  Now it's 8:30, I have already thrown in the towel.  No way I can finish that salad.  I ate the appetizer and 1/3 of the salad.  Cliff was still chewing at 8:50 when I had to start getting the kids ready for bed.  The kitchen looked like Iron Chef had just finished a competition.  I still had to juice the breakfast for the next morning.  Noah and Adelyn helped after they got jammies on.  Then Cliff threw in the towel.  He had put salad dressing all over his so we had to throw his leftovers out :(.  10:30 I was finally done cleaning the kitchen.  Bear in mind most of this has to be hand washed since you use it again in the morning.  

So how did it feel?  All in all the meals were very filling and lasted until the next meal.  No cravings so far.  Missed coffee but not for the caffeine.  I have been off caffeine for a while now.  I just missed the warm cup in the morning.

Day 2 - today was already better.  Lessons learned and all.

Menu:
Lemon Cucumber water

Breakfast:  Soulshine juice - romaine, cucumber, celery, kale, honeycrisp apples

Lunch:  Asian salad (my leftover salad from last night + spinach, romaine, snap peas and broccoli) with Orange ginger dressing (orange juice, ginger, pistachios, sesame seeds)

Dinner:  appetizer of 2 mangos and Banana Celery smoothie (yep just banana and celery)

I know the juice does not sound good.  I have had versions of this juice that did not end well however the honeycrisp apples in this blend was really good!  The flavor was strong enough to overcome the celery enough to where you knew it was there but only by a hint.  And it felt great!  I did my workout at home this morning and powered through it.  Was ready for lunch at 11:30.  I took the left over salad from last night and split it with Cliff then added spinach, broccoli, snap peas and a head of romaine.  Yes it was still a large salad but not near as big as last night.  The best part?  The dressing was AMAZING!  I love the ginger dressing at japanese steak houses and this one was JUST LIKE IT!  But raw and legal for my 21 day challenge!!!  I was singing the "I'm so happy" song in my head when I tasted it.  Since I go to work (at my desk) at noon I was able to sit long enough to finish the WHOLE thing!  Yes it took an hour.  Good news is that it lasted through until 6:30 for dinner.  

You would THINK that a Banana Celery smoothie would be nasty and that's kinda what I was thinking but it was surprisingly delicious.  Lots of bananas in this so it hides the celery well.  

What I have learned so far:

1. Read the recipes really well before you shop
2. Chop everything once for 3 days worth of salads at a time (or whenever you have the most time in your schedule) and store them in large quart sized mason jars.  More pics to come on facebook.
3. Juice everything you can for a 2 day period at once so you are only cleaning the juicer once.  Read ahead in your recipes as some calls for fresh orange juice...
4. Move the meals around on your schedule until it works for you.  For me a salad at night with all that is involved is not going to work for me.  Too much to do.  Smoothie at night is great.  Problem solved!
5. Get as much as you can in bulk from the Farmer's market and Costco/Sams.  Go to the grocery store for the small batch items that doesn't make sense to bulk up on.  I'm considering tweaking the menu to only include things I can buy in bulk for cheaper.  I'll figure all that out for week 2 so stay tuned.
6. DON'T QUIT!  If it's not working well find out what it is and tweak.  If you have a strong enough reason for doing this you will keep with it.  If you don't, you will cave easily.  If you spent over $200 on fruits and veggies then you at least owe it to yourself and your budget to finish the week out...

And if you are wondering, my system is getting a good cleansing.  Olaf says it best:  "all good things, all good things".  If you have ever considered going raw temporarily or full time just hang in with me and I'll pave the way so you will know what to expect.  I'm posting on facebook and instagram and Cliff is posting on snapchat.  I might too if I ever figure out how to work the dumb thing!

21 day FullyRaw challenge!

That's right!  21 days of eating raw food only!  Why would anyone do that?

Back track a little... when I started  this journey on this blog two years ago I posted about how amazing I felt.  I was coming from a diet higher in chicken, cheese, processed foods.  Switching over to whole foods and plants was a huge relief to my body and flooded me with nutrients that made me want to run without stopping.  Over the last two years the new wore off a little and compromises were made from time to time.  Don't get me wrong I still don't feel as bad as I did on animal products but I KNOW I can feel better.  I have been there and I want it back.  I was not fully raw when I started but it was definitely more than it is now.  I have found incredible recipes, some I have shared here and some on facebook.  I'm not abandoning cooked food forever.  I'm curious, however, to know how this challenge will affect me.  Will I still have this annoying pain in my knee?  How sore will my neck and back be at night after my workouts?   How much more energy will I have?  And the best question of all:  can I seriously DO this?

The plan we will follow comes from FullyRaw Kristina.  I have seen her off an on through this process and learned more about her on the Rich Roll podcast.  You can listen here.  Her story has inspired many to change their lives and get healthy.  She went from spending $25k a year in medical bills, because she was so sick, to $0 in a year.  She needed so much produce a week to continue this lifestyle that she made deals with local grocery stores to buy by the box but the amount she would need to get for the deal was so outrageous that she called on friends to help split the boxes with her.  From there she launched the largest co-op in the nation and continues to inspire others with her youtube videos and new book The Fully Raw Diet.

What will I be eating?  Lots of juices, smoothies and salads.  There's even a plan for chili at the end of the week!  I have reservations about juicing...what about all that fiber you lose?  I know.  I will get it back in the smoothies but why juice at all?  The juice is scheduled for breakfast which is good for a couple of reasons:  it's better for hydrating, cleansing, gives you a rush of energy and drains quickly from the stomach.  My workouts are typically in the morning so this should work in my favor.  The smoothie comes at lunch and is giant!  The dinner of salad and appetizer fruit plate looks like way more food than I'm going to be able to eat but I'll give it a whirl.  I'll post pics of course ;)

How much did it cost?  Shockingly less than I expected.  I took her advice in the book and went to the local farmer's market to buy in bulk.  When you need 86 small oranges you don't want to have to go to Publix!  26 mangoes, 36 bananas, 32 apples and so on...  I got a giant box of oranges for $20.  When we got home we realized we should have gone through the box first (3 had to be tossed) but all in all satisfied with my purchase.  I was able to get mangoes for as low as $.77 a piece!  I did end up at Publix for a few things and they are pricier than Walmart much better quality.  I spent $172 at Publix and $107 at the farmer's market.  So $279 for a week's worth of food for me and Cliff.  Is that more than we are used to spending?  Of course but I was scared it was going to be more...  I will get this number down as we go because I will be learning more through this process.  I haven't priced at Costco and if I had gone to the farmer's market first this would probably have been less.  Either way, I will continue to get it down lower so I can share my money tips with you all.

So for now, that is the why, the what, the how much.  It's an adventure!  I will try to post daily on here or facebook/instagram so check in when you can!  If you snapchat Cliff is posting there under cliffa74.  The kids get involved so you don't want to miss that!

Your guide to a Whole Food Plant based diet

It’s important to start out by saying this is a journey.  Most people do not go all in WFPB overnight.  Those who have serious health concerns do when they see the science.  Others test the waters to see if they can do this.  They try new recipes, look at alternatives to their favorite animal protein and migrate over time.  Wherever you are in your journey I am here for you. 

If you are brand new to this lifestyle there are a few things you will want to do:

·                      Start educating yourself:

·         Watch “Forks over Knives” to understand the health benefits and why to shield yourself from animal protein as best you can.  This documentary can be found on Netflix or you can buy it off Amazon for less than $20 (including shipping).  Also "What the Health" so you can understand why you don't hear enough about this lifestyle and "Eating you Alive" (Brenda Cobb appears in this one)

·         Watch “PlantPure Nation” to see how Nelson Campbell took this lifestyle to a small town in NC putting groups on a 21 day jumpstart where the participants saw dramatic results. This may be available on Hulu by now.

·         Watch “Cowspiracy” also found on Netflix to see how the animal agriculture is crippling our natural resources and how migrating to a WFPB lifestyle can make a difference
-    Watch "Game Changers".  EXCELLENT!!

·         If you like listening to Podcasts a great one is the Rich Roll Podcast.  He has an app for the podcast on the iphone or you can download the podcast app and subscribe to his podcast.  Both apps are free.  They are packed full of great information as he interviews the best of the best in this area.  Start with the podcasts with Dr Garth Davis (there are 2 - start with #1).  It will answer all the questions you have about your health on a WFPB lifestyle.

·         Great books to read:

o   Proteinaholic by Dr Garth Davis
    Finding Ultra by Rich Roll

o   Eat to Live by Dr Joel Fuhrman

o   How Not to Die by Dr Michael Gregor

·         www.nutritionfacts.org is a website by Dr Michael Gregor as he uncovers the studies no one is talking about because they are not funded by the meat, dairy and egg industry.  He strives to get to the truth of the studies and explain complicated studies very simply.

·                       Start feeding yourself the right foods:

1.       A Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle consists of:  vegetables, fruits, legumes, seeds, nuts and whole grains.  Limiting oil, sugar and salt.  A raw living food lifestyle would exclude the whole grains and use only seeds and nuts to make crackers, etc as well as sprouting the beans and peas to increase their nutritional value.

2.       Here are some great websites and cookbooks to get great recipes:

o   www.happyherbivore.com, www.ohsheglows.com, www.plantpurenation.com, www.minimalistbaker.com, www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com

o   Any Happy Herbivore cookbook you can find

o   PlantPure Nation cookbook

o   The Plant Power Way by Rick Roll and Julie Piatt

o   No Meat Athlete (the latest one)

3.       There are some good alternatives to your animal protein:

o   “Beyond Beef” brand of both chicken and beef – best option we have tried for ground beef

o   Morningstar farms has some great things to try.  Our faves – Riblets, buffalo bites, sausage patties, spicy chickn patty, black bean burgers and other burgers
-  Gardein and Quorn make good beef and chicken options

4.       Options for eating out fast food:

o   Wendys – baked potato (grab some salsa at nearby gas station to load on), veggie burger (in some locations)

o   Panera – Edamame blend bowl, black bean soup or garden vegetable soup with classic salad, oatmeal

o   Starbucks – Decaf soy latte and oatmeal.  Some locations have coconut milk to add to coffee as creamer

o   Taco Bell – bean burrito fresco style, spicy potato tacos fresco style (fresco style will eliminate the sour cream and cheese and add salsa)

o   Bojangles – Pinto beans, dirty rice (pick out chunks of meat), green beans

o   Burger King – Impossible whopper 😍, veggie burger and side of apple slices

o   Chicfila – kale salad, market salad (hold the chicken and cheese) and fruit cup
o   McDonalds – oatmeal (that's it!)
- Subway - some have veggie burgers.  If not load up the veggies on a sub and add vinagrette

       

Get support

o   Head to www.plantpurepods.com and get your free login to access their site for meetings in your area promoting the WFPB lifestyle through health education, screenings of documentaries, veg fests, potlucks and lots of networking for the best resources out there to encourage and motivate!  

Journey to Incredible Health facebook group - I run this to provide tips and tricks to people wanting to eat better.  Feel free to join us!

Looking back and moving forward

It's really hard to write the first blog when you know it has been months since the last one.  I guess that's why the procrastination.  I need to have some kind of explanation about where I've been right?  Then I decided - no, all the people who read this are pulling it from Facebook and I still post stuff on Facebook so it's not like I've been hiding out.

Food = Medicine conference
Anyway, I was hoping my husband would write a blog about the Food=Medicine conference we went to and he might just yet.  He's a Physician Assistant and I know that people look at that as if they should know more than the lay person about food for health.  Sad thing is, they are not taught Nutrition AT ALL in school which is ludicrous.  Does anyone really grasp the seriousness of this issue?  The food we eat directly affects our health either good or bad.  It is the fuel for our engine and they learn nothing about how to use it for better health.  The top 15 diseases that we die of in the US can be helped, avoided and even reversed by the foods we eat!  And that's not my opinion.  That is the science that we saw over and over again at the Food=Medicine conference by world renown doctors like Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. Michael Gregor of nutritionfacts.org.  You can see Dr Esselstyn on the Forks over Knives documentary, available on Netflix, as he shows the results from his patients switching to a Whole Food Plant Based diet:  heart disease reversed, cancer gone.  At the conference he showed us slide after slide of arteries restricted with the standard american diet, people who had no chance of a stint because it would cause other arteries to block completely.  He put them on a WFPB diet and within months their arteries are clear and larger than before.  All in changing what they fed their body and taking out animal protein, dairy, oil and sugar.

Looking back
I took a second to go over my blogs from the beginning of this journey.  I was unsure about what incredible health looked like and I realize that I have come a long way.  Searching for the truth led me to this point where I am convinced that the WFPB diet is the path to incredible health.  I have seen athletes running faster on plants than those who fuel from animal products.  I have seen body builders build massive muscle without animal protein.  I have seen evidence of how milk from animals cause an acid imbalance so our body has to pull calcium from our bones to neutralize it.  Even the slogan "milk does a body good" had to be pulled after evidence came out that it actually didn't.  I have seen where the casein in dairy turns on our cancer cells if intake is over 5% daily.  I have seen doctors blown away by the results that such a simple change can make.

The evidence is there.  But how do you live it?  How do you co-exist in today's society when you are the minority?  I don't like being the odd man out, contrary to what people might think.  I actually DO care about what people think of me but I care more about your health so I'm putting myself out there and taking you along in my quest for the truth.  Everyone is at their own phase of the journey.  You may not care at all.  You may be playing around with it but lack the belief that you can make it work in your life.  You may be struggling because you see it and desperately want to follow but internally you have always lost the battle when it came to food.  I hear you.  I have been in every phase (only I can't remember when the first phase was - maybe elementary school?)

Moving Forward
So here is what I'm going to do.  I'm going to post a guide to the WFPB diet with as many resources as I can remember today (and will add more as I get them).  Then I'm going to do a separate post on the mental side to this journey.  It's critical to realize that very few people go all in from day one and never miss a beat.  There will be times when the temptation is too great, there's no food choices where you are going, you are still battling with food addiction, your self esteem pulls you down.  Progress not perfection!  Feedback not failure!  I will give you the feedback from all my failures and hopefully it will help you to arm yourself as you go.  If you keep moving you will be much better off than if you quit entirely.  "There is no try.  There is DO and DO NOT."

Greatness

"We had such a wonderful time that we couldn't bear to go back to our regular lives, and so we decided we just wouldn't. 
And then all the GREATNESS began…"

This is the quote from the bathroom wall at the Joi Café of Westlake Village, CA.  I went there a year ago October 2014 while on a trip to LA/Long Beach.  I was there in hopes of meeting Rich Roll, famous vegan ultra-man athlete.  I had started my journey to finding incredible health that year and his book "Finding Ultra" had played a pivotal role in my decision.  I read in his book that at the beginning of his transformation from a junk food addict to whole food, plant based vegan he felt so good he decided to go out for a "jog" and ended up running 26 miles without stopping.  I wanted that energy.  I wanted to know what the clean eating could do to my endurance.  I had been eating clean for 5 months and I had never felt better in my life.  And I was in my 40s!  Seeing that quote resonated with me.  I didn't want to turn back to my regular life.  I wanted to see greatness.  I wanted to know what it felt like and how it played out in one's life.  I went home from CA inspired to move mountains..   I just didn't know what mountains to move.  I was lost for months trying to figure out what to do and it took me a year to discover that the mountain that had to be moved was ME.  Now granted there were external struggles pulling me back from my journey to incredible health.  There were decisions, BIG decisions I had to make when I got home that stressed me out and apparently I can't focus on healthy when I'm stressed.  Then 3 months later I was in a car accident that kept me from training for pretty much anything.  Apparently I don't eat healthy when I'm depressed.  Who knew? 

But what does greatness call for?  What does it demand?  To DO IT ANYWAY!  Find a way.  Do what you are capable of and don't play the victim.  Greatness calls you to make up your mind and not look back.  Greatness requires you to listen to God (some people call it your gut, your heart, your soul) and let that call to action be enough to take you to the next level. 

What did the ME Mountain say?  "You aren't used to succeeding, you are used to dreaming", "you don't actually DO anything, you just start them and quit", "of course something is going to happen to make this the hardest thing you have ever done, it always does.  Just wait for it".  Horrible things were said on that mountain.  BUT if you keep pushing for the truth it will come up.  If you are willing to listen to something other than the sabotaging thoughts in your mind you can start to hear God again, calling you to greatness.  Then instead of looking through the eyes of doubt you can start to look through the eyes of FAITH.  Whew, what a view that is!  God has given me a passion for health and wellness.  He is even giving me an outlet, a path to freely explore this passion and the ability to change lives.  One of those outlets is Incredible Health Farms, an aquaponics farm that my dad and I are building starting this year.  This started out as a vision that my dad had of finding a way to make money while mingling and preaching the truth to any community that God puts on your heart to live in.  An aquaponics farm starts by growing fish and using the nutrients from the fish to feed the plants.  You get to sell the fish and the produce and it's 100% organic (if you of course, jump through all the hoops to verify it).  Everything is grown in greenhouses and the nutrients pass through a water system.  I could talk at length about the sustainability factor in growing 450,000 lbs of produce a year on 5 acres but that's not what this blog is about.  (Pretty cool though, right?)  I can just leave it as a farm that provides produce to our community.  What the produce gets to do is feed MANY people the very best foods available for their bodies and that's great.  Or I can go a step further and help transform people's lives with this farm.  Do what I set out to do with this blog, this journey of mine to incredible health.  Those who are dying from food related illnesses can be healed by these beautiful plants that God gave us to reproduce year after year after year.  People's lives are going to change, including mine.  God is going to send us the sick and we are going to help them.  Through the eyes of faith I see this.  Part of me is scared to even post this because then it's out there.  I have to walk the walk and talk the talk for a greater purpose.  I have to find a way to be healthy when I'm stressed because others out there will need to know how to as well.  That's what greatness calls for.  The leap of faith and the determination to see it through no matter what the obstacles.  There are other mountains, smaller mountains that will get moved throughout this process but they won't be as big as this one.  It's time to follow my heart to GREATNESS!  What is your call to greatness?

The Misinformation about Soy

I finally have an article I can share that gives the clear information about soy.  For a while I was confused about whether it was good or bad and why.  This article gives good science based explanations and introduces the reason we are all confused.  I don't believe everything I read anymore but if it can give me science to back up the findings and a good explanation as to why I have been told wrong I can get behind it.  And it helps to know that the writer is getting nothing financially from the deal.  I know that because it has already passed the desk of Dr. Garth Davis who checks all the statistics for me.

Now I can feel good about the soymilk I give my kids on their cereal and the tofu that I'm trying desperately to enjoy :)  More to come on that.

http://freefromharm.org/health-nutrition/vegan-doctor-addresses-soy-myths-and-misinformation/

I'm toying with the idea of going RAW vegan for 21 days.  There's a challenge I have been looking into and information out there on the benefits.  I don't know that I want to completely convert to raw but I'm interested in knowing how it will make me feel.  More to come on that too!

Thanks for your continued support,
Denise

Experts debunking the Protein Myth

No I'm not the expert.  No one would see me as one which is why I have WANTED to talk about this myself but KNOW that no one would see me as an expert and therefore would not listen to me.  I have, however, been reading and learning and researching this for some time.  I now have a couple of really good, solid resources that you can go to if you are interested in learning the truth about protein.  Rather than go into what I know, I'm going to share with you those who have more experience and labels behind their name.

Disclaimer:  I am not interested in debating and arguing about meat, dairy and protein sources.  If you listen to these and you have further questions I will point you to other resources.  My goal with this blog is not to condemn but to inform those who are interested in learning more about a whole food plant based diet.  Enjoy!

FIRST and easiest thing is to read this article.  http://www.forksoverknives.com/slaying-protein-myth/.  If it leaves you with questions and you are saying "but what about all this other stuff I'm hearing about??" go immediately to step 2.



About the Author

A graduate of Stanford University and Cornell Law School, Rich Roll is an author, world-renowned ultra-endurance athlete, a wellness advocate, husband, and father, and an inspiration to people worldwide as an example of courageous and healthy living. He is the first of two people to complete five Ironman triathlons on five Hawaiian islands in under a week. Visit RichRoll.com to receive updates and learn more about his book, Finding Ultra.

SECOND:  listen to an interview that Rich did with Dr. Garth Davis out of Houston, TX.

This is a little introduction about Dr Garth that Rich has on his site introducing the podcast.  You can listen to the podcast by clicking this link:  http://bit.ly/1S4y0VZ

“…that’s what medical school does – it teaches you to treat symptoms; it doesn’t teach you to treat a larger cause; it doesn’t teach food as medicine.”
Garth Davis, MD

---

This week marks the return of Garth Davis, MD — a veteran weight loss surgeon who took it upon himself to determine exactly why so many people are plagued by obesity. A quest that led him down a deep research hole to identify the ultimate human diet to maximize and maintain weight loss; optimize human health; and prevent (and even reverse) lifestyle disease — both for himself and his patients (tune in to RRP 50 for our first conversation).  (the first interview blew my mind so if you have time listen to both)
About 7 years ago, the good doctor became his own patient. At the time, he was suffering from high cholesterol, high blood pressure and a fatty liver. In other words, he was downright sick; headed towards a future plagued by obesity and chronic illness. Ironic, yes. But not surprising given the demanding hours of the surgeon lifestyle, lack of exercise, a preference for salty, fatty foods, and the convenience of fast food options in the hospital cafeteria. In fact, there was a Wendy’s in the University of Michigan hospital where Garth did his internship and residency, resulting in a daily dose of  double cheeseburgers — a habit he maintained for years.
Let’s just say I can relate.
Current conventional wisdom in his field is that overweight patients should adopt a very low carb, low to no fruit, high protein diet — hop on board the ketosis bandwagon. Like many, and without inquiring further, Garth simply bought into this idea as truth. He even wrote a book in 2007 advocating this approach to food, called The Experts Guide To Weight Loss Surgery.
The only problem? This approach to diet failed him and many other friends, colleagues and patients. He knew there had to be a better solution. And his patients needed help beyond knee-jerk surgery. Finally ready for a personal change, he took it upon himself to research — truly research — nutrition for the first time.
His study became an obsession. The more he delved into the peer reviewed work, the more convinced he became that there is absolutely no legitimate science to back the long-term health claims surrounding the strongly held belief that if we want to be thin and healthy we should eat a high protein low carbohydrate diet.
What did he find? If we want to prevent obesity and disease; attain and maintain ideal weight management; and achieve true optimal health and long-term wellness, we need to embrace our inner herbivore.
Sound far-fetched? Before you balk, understand that (much like me) adopting a plant-based lifestyle absolutely revolutionized Garth’s health beyond what he could have imagined. Not only did he drop the weight that plagued him for years, all of his blood markers suddenly and quite magically normalized. His allergies vanished. His sleep improved, his energy levels skyrocketed and he got off his statin medications. In short, he finally began to walk his talk. As his life began to turn around, he wanted to be an example to his patients. For the first time in his life, he began exercising.
Then he did the extraordinary. Despite never having been an athlete, in 2011 he completed Ironman Texas in 12 hours and 6 minutes.
His personal results nothing short of extraordinary, Garth has become a crusader intent on teaching people real nutrition. I encourage you to peruse his Facebook page for a litany of highly entertaining and informative rants on how the internet pseudo-experts are manipulating the science to push high protein diet and how to parse fact from fiction in the scientific literature. Come October, you can get the full unabridged Garth in his new book, Proteinaholic: How Our Obsession With Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It.
Let’s face it. Most doctors are kind of boring. What really distinguishes Garth from the fray is his acute talent for effectively communicating his knowledge with passion and charisma in a way that catalyzes positive long lasting change — and that my friends is rare.
This is an in depth exploration of all the questions that profoundly confuse the mainstream. Subjects I get asked about everyday, such as:

• the scientific truth behind low carb, high fat diets;
• the health implications of the ketosis lifestyle;
• the pitfalls of reductionist food science;
• the impact of politicized regulatory bodies and lobbyists on medicine;
• the nutritional benefits of a plant-based lifestyle;
• the relationship between meat intake and diabetes
• what’s the deal with gluten? (his opinion on this might surprise you);
• plant-based versus paleo;
• the relationship between saturated fat, dietary cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes; and of course
• the differences between animal and plant protein and the impact on muscle protein synthesis

Counting Calor... Nutrients!

You can't get too much of a good thing right?  Well, technically when it comes to food even if you are eating all the right things you can still eat too much of it to actually lose any weight so I decided to start tracking my food again on My Fitness Pal a couple of weeks ago.  I LOVE My Fitness Pal.  It's so easy to use AND now they have a page that tracks your nutrients to show how you are doing throughout the day.  Here's what you can track:

Micronutrients:  Iron, Calcium, Potassium, Vitamin A, C
Macronutrients:  Fat, Protein and Carbohydrates. 

I decided to focus only on the micronutrients to see what it would look like.  I found that when I look mostly at those numbers and make sure I'm eating foods that get me to 100%, the fat is low, the carbohydrates come from healthy sources and the protein works itself out.  I don't usually get the system's recommended number on protein but I get the minimum required for me which is 30 grams (more about that below).  I'm not going to get on my soap box about protein in this blog but does anyone even know what the word is for protein deficiency?  NO!  WHY?  Because it doesn't happen in America unless you are not EATING enough food... period.  OK enough of that for now. 

Also when I focus on the micronutrients I am full at every meal, it lasts until the next meal AND I stay within my calorie budget.  Have I found the mystery to satisfying healthy eating???  It's pretty awesome!  If you want to connect with me on My Fitness Pal I'm listed as Drarceneaux.  I share my journal with my friends so you can see what I'm eating.  Here's an example of a day and the results:

Breakfast	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Grape nuts - Grape Nuts, 0.5 cup	210	44	1	8	290	5
Silk soymilk - Soymilk, 0.5 cup	50	5	2	3	50	4
Craisins - Dried Cranberries, 0.06 of a cup	29	7	0	0	0	6
Coffee w trivia, 1 serving(s)	42	6	2	0	25	6
	331	62	5	11	365	21
Lunch
Broccoli - Broccoli Steamed, 1.25 cup	38	5	0	3	38	2
Black Beans - Black Beans, 1 cup	144	26	0	10	608	2
Carrot - Medium, 2 medium carrot (61g)	50	12	0	1	84	6
Cucumber - With peel, raw, 0.5 cup slices	8	2	0	0	1	1
Balsamic Vinegar - Balsamic Vinegar, 0.5 tbsp	7	1	0	0	2	1
Watermelon - Raw, 0.25 cup, balls	12	3	0	0	0	2
	258	49	1	15	733	14
Dinner
Curried Chic Peas With Apples, 1 serving(s)	237	40	6	8	309	8
Dole - Bananas, 1 banana	100	27	0	1	1	14
	337	67	6	9	310	22
Snacks
Coco Polo - 70% Dark Chocolate Sweetened With Stevia With Tart Montmorency Cherries, 20 g	85	11	7	1	5	3
Watermelon - Raw, 1.5 cup, balls	69	17	0	1	2	14
	154	28	7	2	7	17
Totals	1,081	206	20	37	1,415	75
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	119	-56	20	22	885	-29
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

Here's what the Micronutrients looked like that day:

Potassium - 3091 consumed, 3500 recommended
Vitamin A - over by 491%
Vitamin C - over by 174%
Calcium - 45%, should have used my remaining calories on a cup of coconut milk
Iron - over by 48%

Cholesterol - 0

5 shocking things I learned when staring only at micronutrients: 

1. 1/2 cup of Grape Nuts has 90% of your iron!  
2. Watermelon, which I LOVE is an excellent source of Potassium, Vitamin A and C 
3. Black Beans are a great source of protein, potassium and iron
4. Most important:  Dark chocolate cherries has IRON!
5. A big pan of broccoli will fill you up immensely and give you protein, potassium AND 168% of your Vitamin C! 

When you are eating mostly plants you get a bigger "bang for your calories", you get to rack up the micronutrients and here it is...  EAT MORE FOOD!  When you throw in the meat for protein purposes your whopping number of calories also get you more fat and cholesterol that you DON'T need just to get more protein that you really aren't deficient in.  The recommendation is 10-25% of your calories in protein.  So if my calorie intake is 1200 and each gram of protein equals 4 calories then my minimum should be 30 grams.  I am usually over the minimum every day.  If I'm working out I may use my exercise calories for additional plant protein.  It's not that big of a deal.  I don't need the meat for the protein or the iron.  The only other nutrient I need to make sure I get is B12.  Most plant powered people supplement.  I have found a great supplement that works on multiple levels and gives me 100% of my B12.  You can see the information here.  If you want to try it I can get it for you. 

So before doing this I was trusting that I was getting everything I needed from plants but now I know I'm covered.  That's a great feeling!

Coming CLEAN

So it's been a while since I have "come clean" with how I'm doing on this journey.  Partly because I wasn't sure the 4 followers I still have even care and partly because I wasn't really sure where I was.  This has been a struggle of a journey in some respects.  But too I think that looking back and seeing the big picture I find that I am completely normal.

I started out with a strong desire to find perfect, incredible health.  That "oneness" with your body that comes from eating clean and being consciously aware of what you are putting in your body.  I believe I felt that on some level and stayed there for a little while.  The better I ate the better I felt, the more obstacles I overcame the more confident I was that I could do this.  It became habit and some of those habits still remain.  There are some people who can do perfect 100% of the time.  Or maybe we have the illusion that they do.  I will never know.  I know that for someone who has struggled MY WHOLE LIFE - it's hard to be all in 100% of the time.  I also know I am not alone in this and it is THOSE people I want to reach in this blog.  The perfect people are not reading this blog.  They are reading blogs from the greats like Rich Roll and Matt Frazier.  And those guys are reading blogs from their greats.  We are all trying to better ourselves and I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else.  I do know that I have a passion for health and wellness.  I have a strong desire to motivate and inspire others to better health.  To do that I have to be real with you.  And I have to be real with myself. 

So you read about my struggles around my birthday.  I pulled myself out of it occasionally and then went on a trip to LA for a conference.  I went a couple of days early to see the sights.  I was by myself and on a seriously tight budget.  I brought my shakes with me so I could add water and get lots of nutrients when needed.  I found TONS of restaurants that catered to my hippie foodstyle (I think I just made that up because I hate the word "diet").  Mentally I felt great!  My energy was the most positive it has ever been and if I were not rooted in God and His purpose for my life I would have thought moving to California would help me "find myself".  But I don't need to do that.  When I got back from my trip it was evident to those in my daily life that I had changed.  My energy was different.  I had no idea what that meant or what to do with it all and I FREAKED!  In an odd way I shut down.  I didn't know what to do next.  I didn't know how to bring home all that positive energy and make something with it.  I couldn't be alone with my thoughts because they didn't make sense.  In time I may figure it out but for the time being I have learned to live with it.  I know that was a major kill of the climax to my story but that's all I can say right now.  No major resolutions except to say I believe God has a plan so much bigger than me and little by little He is helping me along.

So the holidays took it's toll because my head was not in the game.  Overall not that bad but sweets played a bigger role than I had hoped.  A majority of the time I have eaten really well but old habits die hard.  Mexican habits die harder.  SOOOO I suffered through another cleanse.   Just ended yesterday.  It jump started the weight loss but the best part was it helped me find that happy place where I'm treating my body to the good things.  I'm drinking the happy shakes that make me feel like I just got up from a good nap within 10 minutes.  And the best part about it is:  I'm not starting over.  I'm not "getting back on the wagon" because I refuse to look at this as something I can't do.  I think we do that all too often.  We make ourselves feel like everything we have done is for naught because we weren't perfect for a while.  We learn a lot about ourselves, our plan, our self talk during that time.

I know what to expect this time.  I know the pitfalls both emotionally and physically and I know I can either choose to allow it or choose to fight.  I hope I choose to fight this time because this feeling is so worth it.  I will be blogging more often so hopefully the 4 of you will have something to read a couple of times a week.  Thank you for sticking with me.  If the journey to better health is a struggle for you just know you are not alone.  You are completely normal.  The question is:  are you willing to come clean and fight?

Tasty food

Tasty food - even if it doesn't look it...  

I wanted to share a few favorites that I have taken pictures of recently.  There are many other great things I have eaten and fixed but failed to take pictures. 

A Few Favorites

OH WAIT!  This isn't healthy!  These are the striped cookies that are a favorite of mine and get fixed for me every time I visit the inlaws.  One of the many reasons I'm proud to be an Arceneaux...

Oatmeal with apples and craisins.  The secret is to add the chopped apple and craisins to the oats and water before you cook it.  Then the apples cook down and the craisins get fat and juicy and it's like a delicious apple cobbler!  I start with old fashioned oats (or steel cut) and follow the directions on the package.  Add 1/2 chopped apple and craisins.  Microwave as directed.  I usually go a little longer so it's not runny.  Add chopped pecans or almonds and 1 TB chia seeds for added crunch.  Drizzle a little honey and a splash of vanilla soy creamer and OH MY DEAR...

This was a happy holiday find.  We got these in a gift basket.  The ingredients didn't sound so bad and since they were thin there weren't many calories.  We cut a banana and drizzled a little honey and OH MY DEAR again...

This was Christmas dinner.  Lima beans, corn, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes and the not so healthy fried okra and sis schuberts yeast roll.  It was Christmas..   I find that my "go to" method for balanced meal consists of veggies, beans, potato or brown rice and fruit for dessert.  Then I know I have enough protein and the good nutrients.

This WAS a caesar salad from Christmas Eve.  What I liked about this was the dressing.  Delicious and EASY to make.  I got the recipe from the first Rich Roll cookbook (Jai seed cookbook).  It's available as an ebook from www.richroll.com.   Toss together:
3 tbsp Vegenaise
1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
Juice of half a medium lemon
1/8 cup olive oil
black pepper
dash of cayenne pepper - optional

This was leftover night.  And it turned out to be yummy!  Leftover roasted veggies on the side and a bowl of quinoa, black eyed peas and green beans.  Got my protein grain (quinoa), beans and veggies!

This was my home made black bean hummus with a sprinkle of paprika.  Use it with pita triangles or veggies.  Recipe below.  I skipped the olives...uck!

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic 1 (15 ounce) can black beans; drain and reserve liquid 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon paprika 10 Greek olives

Directions:

1.

Mince garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Add black beans, 2 tablespoons reserved liquid, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, tahini, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper; process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Add additional seasoning and liquid to taste. Garnish with paprika and Greek olives.

This turned out to be incredible!  I know it doesn't look it to most people BUT it was super tasty.  Cliff made it so I have to find out where he got the recipe if you want it.  It had sweet potatoes, sauteed kale, onions and garlic sauteed in veggie broth some some seasonings.

The great thing about not eating meat is that you don't have to PREPARE it!  You don't have to thaw it out in the microwave (because you forgot to put it out the night before in the fridge), you don't have to have a separate cutting board and be careful not to touch anything before washing your hands.  You don't have to wait for it to cook.  It's just so much easier.   You can sautee up anything in some veggie broth or chop and roast in the oven, add some quinoa or brown rice and you're done.  We cook up a bunch of quinoa or brown rice for the week to keep it simple.  I like to sautee up some broccoli and carrots, add some brown rice and a little teriyaki and toss in some nuts and I have chinese food packed with protein.  Now that I have been on the way a little longer I see that it's really not that hard or expensive and it doesn't take up that much time.  It's just a change in the lifestyle.  And change takes time.  It takes practice. 

We have been on this journey for longer than this blog.  We started several years ago and although some people convert and are all in, that wasn't us.  I feel like we are still learning.  We went through a phase just recently (and are still pulling out of it) where we were eating more "vegan" than "whole food plant based".  There are similarities and there is a difference.  Being vegan is more about what you don't eat.  Being WFPB is about what you DO it.  You can eat vegan and gain weight.  Vegan doesn't guarantee you are healthy.  Eating a WFPB diet does.  I'll probably talk more on that later but this blog is getting really long.  I hope you enjoy the options.  I will try to do better at keeping em coming!

Healthy mind

It's the close of the first day of the year 2015.  The beginning of a new year always fills me with hope.  We make our list of new year resolutions.  We put behind us the fears, failures and regrets (if there are any) of the last year and believe that the slate is clean and we can not only envision but bring to pass all that we dream in the new year.  Why not?  Everyone else is doing it.

It's true that anything you do to change or better yourself is 90% mental and 10% logistics.  You can put a list of goals in place and set the steps for getting there but if your head isn't in it you will not get anywhere.  Your brain controls a HUGE part of the process.  And the coolest thing is...your brain can be rewired.  You can form a new pattern in your thoughts and by doing that you leave the other path dormant.  For example, let's say you have the belief that you can't run.  Let's say 3 years ago you decided to run a race and you started day one to try to run as far as you could.  You couldn't even go a quarter of a mile.  So you decide that running isn't for you because you can't even run a mile!  Let's say a trainer comes along and challenges your belief.  What training program did you have in place?  None, I was just going to start running.  It worked for Forrest Gump.  What small goals did you put in place?  Um to run.  OK so the plan was not realistic.  You can't truly say you can't run when you barely tried.  So the trainer starts to work with you on a program with small attainable goals to chart the path.  The only way you are going to be successful in even TRYING is to change your thought pattern.  There is a very strong 3 year old pattern of thinking that you just can't run.  Now that you are working with someone who has been there you have a little hope.  You rely on their belief in you and your belief in their system until you can truly say "I can run with proper trainiing".  You reach your small goals and your belief gets stronger.  If you say to yourself every morning "I can run with proper training" and never say again "I can't run" you will start a new pattern in the brain and the old pattern will be gone.  Just like that!

So any new year resolution you list needs to have proper goals set with them.  Start by learning how others are doing it.  Look for the professionals or the experts on the subject and take their advice on how to start.  Then set small attainable goals that you can realistically achieve.  If you do not put goals in place with your resolution nothing will change.  If you don't change your thought process the 10% of what you are trying to achieve will be swallowed up by the 90% powered by the brain.  Things CAN change!  Things don't have to remain the same every year!  You have to start with belief and then change the voice in your head.  Ask God to help you.  He instructs us to establish our ways. Pro 4:26-27 "Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.  Turn not to the right hand nor to the left".  He wants us to be better, feel better, be extraordinary.  Not flip back and forth.  I know we are humans who make mistakes, who have good intentions, who try and fail at times.  But try!  Keep trying!  The great thing about new year resolutions is we challenge ourselves.  We attempt to change the voice in our head and we succeed when the right voice, the voice of hope gets louder than the voice of fear.  Fear that we will fail again.  Fear that we will be disappointed.  When you realize it's all in the head then it's all in your control.  Just change your mind!  All day long, change your mind.  When the voice of fear trys to speak, yell with the voice of hope!  Eventually the pattern will change and 90% of the battle is won!