Second Year Anniversary and Giving Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving and it just happens to fall on my second anniversary of being a VNO, vegan-no-oil.  I read Dr. Esselstyn's book, How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, and wrote to him about a question I had about not taking statin drugs. (I have tried 5 and have an adverse reaction to all even in a 1/2 dose). It was just after Thanksgiving, two years ago. I was going to start but I had a lot of holiday and traveling on my schedule before I was going to try the plan out.  That would get me to May when I probably would have forgotten my resolve and still been waiting without defense for the 3rd stroke. 

The phone call that changed my life and health.

Dr. Esselstyn called on the morning of November 28th. We talked for a 1/2 hour. (I now call him My Doctor) I got off the phone and realized that tomorrow was probably not the best time to start: today was. Yeah!  

I am not into depravation. Actually for some reason, I fear depravation. 

I have learned to I.D. the triggers 

Eating out at a restaurant where I could not call ahead is difficult. 

Solution: bring emergency spices and even sauces for salads or steamed veggies.

Eat before I go. 

Fix something at home that I know I like to eat when I return after the restaurant.

Invitations to parties. 

I didn't want to alter a host's menu. I felt at first like a burden to mention My problem and My needs. Hello.... That attitude contributed to my poor health. 

Solution: if someone is inviting me to their party, it's not all about the food. I call ahead and we talk about the menu and I ask if I can bring something I can eat. I choose something that will blend in. 

If it is a PotLuck, I bring my lucky dish and make sure that there is a lot because my   

contribution looks dramatic and lots of people want to try it. 

                     

Missing my favorites.  

Well this is a day I could dwell on the Thanksgivings of the past, which like ole Scrooge, can come to haunt me and my healthy new day. 

I see myself looking over a great pit hearing  an echo calling, "come back, come back." Nope.

Solution:  I do not leave that hole of lost foods. I think it is dangerous to leave a void. 

I believe in replacement therapy. I jump into finding a delicious recipe, a new fruit 

or veggie to feel the adventure.  The sites on the side bar will keep you continually 

delighted and informed. 

                       

Going down the deprivation spiral with negative thoughts and conversations.

Solution. Reframe my word choices. I am not on a diet (trigger word for me) I am on a 

eating plan. I choose not to eat something instead of saying, I can't have that.  I will say, it's not on my eating plan.  I remind myself that I ate myself sick and now I am eating myself well. 

Isolation. No one is going through what I am. 

Solution: Dah,  The pity party was over the minute I started to read sites, books and blogs from people ahead of me on the health path. Again. Lots of sites on the     

sidebar. 

I need a tribe. Silly but an honest solution. I was lucky. My husband and friends

supported me from the first meal. They helped me realize that this could work.

It is hard if you are alone or if your family is not supportive. Look for vegetarian

meet-ups in your town.  This one is weird, but the Overeaters Anonymous fits quite well with anyone who hasn't developed an advocate voice for themselves.  Meeting are easy to find. They're free and anonymous. 

Lastly. The blog.  I write this blog for me, too. I am so grateful that there are so many viewers and appreciate your following.  This year I managed to write more than (12) entries so far and I still have December. 

So write your own story even if it is just for you. Your road. 

Happy Happy Thanksgiving. Blessings and health to all of us. 

Elin 

                    

Trip to Washington, DC and Engine 2 with Rip Esselstyn

Posted: 09 Sep 2013 06:37 AM PDT

Dear Heavenly Bodies, Hello from Washington, DC where we are celebrating my husband's birthday with a destination tour of our capital. The architecture style is in proportional relationship to the human in that the buildings in the central area are no more than 6 or 7 stories high. That makes one feel that the city is made for them unlike New York where I at least feel like an ant.  Also buildings are not chock-a-bloc allowing for space and green areas around as well as parks and of course The Mall. We are being total tourists, taking the Hop-on-hop-off bus to all the major sites one can see in two days. Then it's the Metro, buses and feet.

Food..... So as always then it's about the fuel. How do we get the food and mainly the protein in our tanks to keep going?

I can always get a salad but that can just get boring so a rundown on some of the wonderful choices available to us so far.
Travel Suggestions. Be prepared...... Take care of yourself.  Traveling is stressful but adding to it the uncertainty of "our food" being readily available is a recipe for defeat, putting me at least in a anxious place.....  That food deprivation area....    Nope, not interested.

Airplane food....  No meal selection for vegetarians not to mention no cheese vegans on our flight. The flight attendant didn't offer one thing that was on my eating plan.... My PLAN BEAUTIFUL kicked in and I was satisfied with My Happy Meal of fruit, mint, seeds, cranberries, raisins and baby spinach. Yum.  Lots of seeds and raisins left over for munching.  All packed at home.

First night in DC. After getting up at 3:30am at home and arriving in DC at 5pm, throwing our bags in the room and heading to the Mall to see the sights, I was really hungry. Right next to the hotel was a pizza parlor called Pizza Pi  (the symbol) cute.  Went in expecting a salad. With my card, I discussed my choices... Pay dirt.... I did have a small salad but also a thin-no-oil crusted pizza with tomato sauce, plant based sausage, dry sautéed mushrooms and garlic.  Left full and happy.

Special restaurant recommendations. Before we came to DC, I put out the word that we would love suggestions of special favorites our friends could offer.  A couple who lived in DC told us of a restaurant they enjoyed which turned out to be a block away from our hotel.

The importance of calling ahead.
I called about 3pm to discuss the possibility of dishes I could have relative to my eating plan. With a bit of on-hold and clarifying, we made reservations for 7pm with the suggestion that I make myself known at the desk.  I also gave my what-i-can-&-do not eat card with emphases on the No Oil to my server.  All went so well that we went back another night especially for the special care and treatment at the beautiful hands of Chef Karen who came out at the end of my 4 course meal to see if all was well. Wow  Hope the pictures come out of food and Chef Karen who told us that she doesn't eat any refined sugar. Amazing the stories and lifestyle others are living!  None of this would ever have happened to me pre-stroke and lifestyle change.  The night was delightful and memorable. I have met so many wonderful food angels on this journey.

We have also scored at the many Smithsonian gallery restaurants with well stocked salad bars some even with tofu and all with many choices of protein rich beans and spinach.
Dinner at vegetarian choices from VegDC blog were great and one meal in the room with an edamame, spinach, broccoli, seeds and fruit salad with soy yogurt dressing from the grocery store along with whole grain roll from the bakery.  Nobody's starving here.

It helps to have a hotel room with a frig and microwave.

Breakfast is always oats and fruit. Easy to find most places.

GREAT FIND....
Rip, son of Dr and Anne Esselstyn, is a fire fighter and tri athlete who has an interesting blog called Engine 2 Diet.  I will put this on the resources page. (Note about Rip...he does include some nuts and avocados in his recipes. ) hey, we know how to adjust, right?

This is a current article by Natalae on his blog. http://engine2diet.com/the-daily-beet/emotional-eating/
EMOTIONAL EATING?  THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU.

BY NATALAE2
August 09, 2013
I always had this belief, I was an “emotional eater”. I was told this by various “experts”, TV show doctors, magazines and Oprah. And I believed it. It seemed to make sense, every time I got upset, I would eat, and make some bad choices.

But I looked around, I had thin friends that would go through a breakup, or have some other bad thing happen in their life. They would eat, lets say a pint or 2 of Ben and Jerry’s, or eat an entire box of oreos. They were thin, but I saw them doing the same thing I was doing in response to stress.

And if I was honest, I wasn’t just overeating when I was sad or angry, I was overeating on a pleasant, Tuesday afternoon or a nice dinner out, or, well really anytime.

It occurred to me that weight gain does not take much, if you have the right genes (high fat stores) to make it happen. It takes 120 excess calories per day of oil to gain 100 pounds in 8 years. That’s it. Spread throughout your day – 120 calories excess of empty calories. We’re not talking 3 pints of ice-cream or a bucket of fried chicken. We’re talking about a drizzle of salad dressing, or a few cookies, or a few potato chips.

This is the trouble when you have high fat stores. You store fat, very well. It was a great thing back in the day, it is why you survived. But in todays modern society, food is abundant, we can get it 24/7 without having to chase it, dig it, or catch it. We do not have to put an ounce of effort into getting food, unlike our ancestors who had to do a lot to not starve, not starving was a full time job back then.

When I started to really look into the reasons why we eat,I started to see the problem as one that is much more simple, yet far more complex at the same time. We overeat because we’re supposed to, we’re built that way, we have a unique wiring that says “get as much calorically dense food in me, or I might starve”. And we haven’t had that much food abundance, for that long to see any significant changes to our biology.

Same with working out. Your ancestors did not work out. They were active out of necessity, and the conserved energy, that was how they survived. Unless they were being chased by a lion, they didn’t run. So our modern brains are still catching up, if you aren’t being chased by a lion, why the heck are you running? If you have the opportunity to eat a donut that is deep fried, why wouldn’t you? Do you know how long that would last you if you were starving for the next few weeks?

So I started to examine what happens when we eat, for what seems to be emotional reasons. First, our brains sense there is something wrong. This is a great instinct, it means danger, trouble, and it probably meant that something bad was about to go down in the village, and that you might not be eating for a while. Our brains say “time to ramp up!” and we eat. We eat for a very normal, reasonable solution to a problem that took many centuries to develop.

There is nothing wrong with you.

Let me repeat that, and if you have to say it out loud, print it, put it everywhere. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU.

You are a normal human being, with a normal desire to survive.

You are not broken. You might feel like it. I felt like I was a big broken mess for years. I tortured myself over thinking there was something fundamentally wrong with me as a person, with my character, with my brain, with who I was. When there was nothing wrong with me at all. The response to eat and overeat can be traced back for as long as their have been humans on this planet. The difference is that now we have food available all the time, and then we did not.

That’s it. A simple yet complex problem.

So what is the answer?

The reason why this way of eating works for people who tend to have higher fat stores, and people who tend to eat more than others, is because of the amount of food you can eat. What we want to aim for is filling up your stomach, triggering your stretch receptors and telling your brain that you are indeed satisfied, and that you will not starve in the jungle.

It is why it is very important to make sure that you eat as many foods as you can that are lower on the caloric density scale. Eating a tbs of oil is NOT going to tell your brain that your stomach is full.

So this is what I do:

Start with a huge salad or a huge vegetable soup at EACH meal.
Try not to eat “compacted” food. By this I mean, things like crackers, breads, of course things like oil, potato chips, cookies/brownies. The more volume to your food the better off you are going to be. Let me state, for the record, there are people who can eat compacted plant-strong food just fine, and have absolutely no problem at all. I’m not addressing those people. I’m addressing people who identify with me as far as the amount of food they can eat or if they feel they eat A LOT more food during stressful times, and if they are trying to combat a health issue.
Try eating more intact whole grains (for the reason above). Things like oats, brown rice, quinoa. Also starches like potatoes/squash/sweet potatoes.
Drink water.
Do not drink your calories. I can’t stress this enough. Juices/smoothies are not going to help you when it comes to weight loss (especially long term weight loss). It also causes a spike in sugar, which causes a greater release of insulin, which then causes insulin resistance. For some people the occasional juice or smoothie is just fine, and for some as a treat they are just fine. But if you are overweight, or if you have T2 diabetes/pre-diabetes/insulin resistance, drinking food is not the best option for you. Disrupting fiber of food like that is not the way we were intended to eat food. Chewing is an important part to digestion and to satiety. Don’t believe me? The next time you drink your food, test your blood sugar 1 & 2 hours after you eat. The next day instead of blending and drinking all of your food,  put the same food in a bowl and eat/chew it, and then test your blood sugar 1&2 hours after you eat.
Eat whole fruits/vegetables when you can. I’m all for the occasional fruit sorbet, but for weight loss, stick to whole when possible. Frozen fruit (whole) is great!
Working out is great, but it will not make up for unhealthy choices. Workout because it is good for your muscles, bones, mental health. It’s not a great weight loss tool. So before you think “I can work it off” think again.
When you are facing a tough emotional stress in your life, have a plan.Map out how your day is going to go. Prepare the food for the week, get groceries delivered (Safeway, Giant, Instacart). Take a different route to work if you know that a certain fast food place is tempting for you. Do not keep bad stuff in your house, and if your family has the bad stuff, talk to them, or label their food, as a visual reminder.
Do not deprive yourself of healthy food. Eat until you are comfortably full. If that is 1 plate of healthy food, great. If that is 3 plates of healthy food, that is just fine. Just be sure to fill your plate up with 1/2 vegetables, and then the rest whole intact grains/beans, and make your first course a huge salad or soup.
Get moving. Doug Lisle, PhD talked about this in his interview on E2X a few months back. To combat depression the best thing you can possibly do is move. Even if it is only for a few minutes a day. The important thing is to do SOMETHING. Make sure that you plan your day to include moving – walk, dance, skip, go to the gym, swim, punch a punching bag, activity is key for combatting depression/anxiety/anger.
Get support. That could be something you start in your own town, your workplace, with your family. It could be a facebook group, or hanging out on our facebook page. We also have an amazing support community, Engine 2 Extra with live chat, and help almost any hour of the day, if that is something you are looking got.
Stay away from goals that set you up for traps. There are no goals, there is a healthy, long life. So if your weight goes up one week, it is ok, if your blood sugar is a little higher one day over the next, it is ok. The important thing is the overall pattern, over several years.
Know that each bite of non-plant strong food has the potential of triggering pleasure traps (like addiction). It’s like a smoker who goes a long time without smoking and then has one cigarette. They are more likely to go back into the habit, because their brain remembers all of the pleasure they had experienced from smoking before.
Your tastes WILL change, give it time. Have a plan, know what you are going to be eating, when you’ll be working out, and what you’ll do when you feel the urge to survive eat unhealthy food.
Most importantly, know that there is nothing wrong with you, or how your brain works. I wish I could wave a magic wand and rid all people of the guilt they feel for what comes down to, being a completely normal human being with the desire to survive. The only difference now, is that we live in a calorically abundant world, and so we have to make a few adjustments to overcome that fairly new issue to us.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Natala is the director of communications for Engine 2 Diet, she is also one of our coaches on our support site, Engine 2 Extra. A few years ago, Natala was at the end of her rope. She was on almost 15 medications daily, had out of control Type 2 Diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, issues with nerve damage, and was morbidly obese. She was just over 30 years old. She decided to take her life back by becoming plant-strong. She has lost over 200 pounds, got off of all of her medications and now has great health numbers. Natala plays the violin and studied music therapy. She became passionate about plant-strong nutrition, received her Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition through Cornell University, a certificate in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and is currently pursuing a degree in nutritional sciences.
We have a few more days but I know we will do fine.

Blessings and happy eating, happy life.   Elin

Mushroom, Sun-Dried tomato Risotto with oats.

Dear Heavenly Bodies,

I am on a hunt for new recipes because I need variety.  I do like some of my staples but it seems I have gone to them too much lately and I need something new and exciting.  The Mushroom, sun-dried tomato oat risotto looks like a great start.  It is from Fat Free Vegan

http://fatfreevegan.com/blog/2013/03/08/mushroom-sun-dried-tomato-oat-risotto/

It's great not to have to substitute anything in a recipe.  I do however dry-sauté my mushrooms allowing them to release their own liquor. They are 100% better than in water or the old me... Lots of oil. I do believe I had never tasted the wonderful beauty of a mushroom before for I used them as a sponge for the olive oil shame, shame.  Corrected now, yeah... 

 Enjoy and best of the day to you.   Elin. 

Another recipe from Healthy Slow Cooking. My new books, The Great Vegan Bean Book and Vegan Slow Cooking for Two or Just You, are available for pre-order now.

The more I cook with oats the more I find they have an endless amount of uses. Savory oats are my latest obsession. These steel cut oats retain an al dente quality to them just like arborio rice does in a risotto.

Mushroom Sun-dried Tomato Oat Risotto

serves 4

1 to 2 tablespoons water or veggie broth
½ small onion, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup minced mushrooms
¼ cup minced green bell pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried marjoram
⅛ teaspoon ground rosemary or 1/4 teaspoon regular rosemary
1 cup Roland© Steel-cut Oats
2 tablespoons minced sun-dried tomatoes
4 to 5 cups water (as needed – see instructions)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
salt and pepper, to taste

Water saute the onions over medium heat, cook until translucent then add the garlic, mushrooms, bell pepper and herbs. Saute for 5 to 20 minutes, until the mushrooms have browned and released their juices.

Add in the oats and stir to prevent them from burning. Cook until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.

Add the sun dried tomatoes and 1 cup of water. Simmer over medium heat stirring often to keep the mixture from burning on the bottom.

Once the first cup of water has been absorbed by the oats add a second cup of water and keep stirring. Add the third cup of water once the second is absorbed and keep stirring (isn’t risotto fun?).

Once the third cup is absorbed add one more cup water (the forth) and after it’s absorbed try a piece of the oats to see if it’s cooked through. You want it to be al dente so tender but a little chewy.

If it’s not tender yet add an additional cup of water to insure the oats are cooked through. They should still have a chewy texture and not be mushy.

Right before serving add the nutritional yeast, salt and pepper.

Don’t forget you can use the same technique to make a clean out the fridge oat risotto!

Health Angels and Chia is not just for pets.

Dear Heavenly Bodies,

A comment about ads......
Thank you for reading this blog.  We have had over 2,000 viewers.  I am hoping that some of those viewers passed on the site to people who need a support system. It is bad enough when most TV programs are selling horrible food at the commercials and the Food Network and Travel Channels feature programs that applaud over eating and poor eating.  I watch a lot of PBS but when I want to see a program with commercials, I tape it.  I can zip through the ads and get back to the program that interested me.  I also noticed that there are a lot of food commercials late at night.  If I gave into eating then it would compete with my sleep and no one wins.  As for a support team, my best team members are my husband first then my daughter, then family and friends and then those who seem to show up in my life as health angels.   When I first started on Dr. Esselstyn's plan, I could not see myself being true to the program if I left the security of my home.  Then the first house invitation. I talked with the host and we made it happen and in a very relaxed and supportive way.  Then the first restaurant invite.  Called the restaurant ahead of time and got someone who told me that, "the chef doesn't do special orders.".  The days were getting close to meeting our friends and I just gave it another shot at calling the restaurant.  I spoke to Melelia who actually asked the chef.  He said, "No problem. When you come, just order the Chef's Special and I will know.".  Those are health angels. With gratitude I thank them all.

Chia is not just for pets.
 Found  this wonderful recipe that is gluten-sugar-oil-soy and nut free.
Check out this site.   Part of a new eating plan is exploring.  I would rather have a new adventure than try to eat fake meat, cheese, turkey, or mayonnaise. I know what the real food tasted like and I don't want a poor substitute.  That's how I found this recipe for Chia Crackers.   Happy fixing and eating.  Elin.

Endurance Crackers from "Oh She Glows"

http://ohsheglows.com/2012/01/31/endurance-crackers/

280 COMMENTS

Remember the chia seed crackers that we ate at Chocolatree Café just before hiking up 0.6 miles of rocky mountainside?

Here they are in all their glory.

We kicked some major mountain booty that day and I’d like to think the chia seed crackers had something to do with it. After all, the Aztecs and Mayans used chia seeds (known as a “running food”) for hundreds of years to fuel their long journeys!  (source)

As soon as I got home, I knew I had to bust out a version of these in my own kitchen. I was “running” on 3 hours of sleep thanks to a 4am wake-up call and the chocolate I was inhaling wasn’t making me feel any better. The chia crackers came to my rescue!

Endurance Crackers

These Endurance Crackers are extremely light and crispy while providing long-lasting energy. They are also vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, sugar-free, and oil-free to boot! Feel free to change up the seasonings and spices as you wish. Nutritional info follows.

Print this recipe

Inspired by Chocolatree Café.

Yield: 22 large crackers

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chia seeds*
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup pepita seeds (or pumpkin seeds)
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1 cup water
• 1 large garlic clove, finely grated
• 1 tsp grated sweet onion
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• Herbamare & kelp granules, to taste (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix the seeds together. In a small bowl, mix the water, grated garlic, and grated onion. Whisk well. Pour the water mixture onto the seeds and stir until thick and combined. Season with salt, and optional Herbamare and Kelp granules, to taste. Add spices or fresh herbs if you wish.

3. Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet with the back of a spoon until it’s less than 1/4 inch thick. Not to worry if a couple parts become too thin, you can just patch them up.

4. Bake at 325F for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, slice into crackers, carefully flip onto other side with a spatula. Bake for another 30 minutes, watching closely after about 25 minutes. The bottoms will be lightly golden in colour. Allow to cool completely on the pan. Store in a container or plastic baggy.

Note: See the bottom of this post for where you can purchase chia seeds.

Nutritional Info: (per cracker, makes 22 large crackers): 77 kcals, 6 grams fat, 4 grams carbs, 0 grams sugar, 3 grams fibre, 3 gram protein.

The nutritional stats are impressive, eh?

As I reached for my garlic powder, I thought why not use fresh garlic instead? My mom recently shared a trick with me for mincing garlic: just use a fine grater instead of chopping it. I used my Microplane and it was the perfect consistency for these crackers. Just be careful you don’t saw off the end of your nail like I almost did.

10 seconds flat for fresh garlic!

I also used the same method with the sweet onion.

After grating, I whisked the garlic and onion in a glass with the water (note: I ended up using a full cup of water instead of the 1/2 cup shown here).

Pour the water mixture into the seed mixture and stir well. It will be thick and gel-like in consistency.

Now season as you wish.

I used a mixture of Herbamare, kelp granules, and kosher salt for maximum flavour, but you can really play around with the seasonings any way you like! Add some spices too if you wish. Taste and adjust if necessary.

This picture hates me, clearly.

Spread onto your baking sheet lined with parchment (or a non-stick mat, but you will have to bake them a bit longer). You want to spread the mixture as thin as possible.

After baking for 30 minutes at 325F, remove from the oven and slice crackers with a pizza slicer.

I did a large diamond shape. You can do any size and shape you want, depending on how much ninja power you are looking for!

With a spatula, carefully flip the crackers and bake for another 30 minutes until toasty and golden on the bottom. Mmm.

My new favourite cracker, easily.

Not only are they vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, soy-free, nut-free, and sugar free, but they can be made raw if you dehydrate them.

After cooling, they are crispy, chewy, and basically mind blowing ninja fuel perfect for dipping into hummus. Eric said they taste better than the ones at Chocolatree, but he may be biased. I couldn’t get over how light and crispy they are!

The question is: Whose butt do you want to kick this week?

Your boss, tough assignment, killer workout, or midterm exam?

Go make a list of things to butt kick.

Eat these crackers.

Kick some butt, ninja style.

Read more: http://ohsheglows.com/2012/01/31/endurance-crackers/#ixzz2bnfQs9Ff