Monday, January 23, 2012

OK....Some Meat

In my first blog I said "no meat". Dr Fuhrman  prefers no meat but after the first six weeks he does allow up to 12 ozs a week . This is what Kenny and I have been doing. Usually we save our meat until the week end. The only red meat I eat is filet.  I know it is best to have no red meat but sometimes I just want a good steak.  We have grilled fish and grilled chicken in 4 oz servings. That is 3 times a week. Some weeks I haven't even eaten the whole 12 ounces. Eating less meat has been a lot easier than I ever thought it would be.   Dr. Furhman says to think of meat as a condiment.

Portabella Mushrooms are a wonderful substitute for meat.  I spray them with grape seed oil and sprinkle with salt free steak seasoning and cook on the grill or on my George Foreman grill.   Grape seed oil is a healthier choice than olive oil.  I have a spray container I picked up at a kitchen store that I can put my own oil in.   Grape seed oil is very light.

I feel like I am a test kitchen. Today I made up a recipe.  It turned out pretty good. Kenny liked them. He even passed on his chocolate ice cream tonight.
I don't know what to name them. Give me suggestions.

Recipe of the Day

No Name Mini Muffins

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
6 dates
1 large apple
1 tbs. Cocoa
1  tsp. vanilla

Puree dates and apple with milk in blender. Add vanilla and cocoa. In bowl mix other ingredients. Add liquid and stir. Spray and fill mini muffin pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.   Makes 24 mini muffins.

I patted the mixture in the pan level full.  

Food for Thought

"Instead of searching for weight loss gimmicks and tricks, adopt a resolution to be healthy. Focusing on your health, not on your weight , will eventually result in long term weight loss.  Eating a healthy diet, one rich in an assortment of natural plant fibers, will help you crave less and feel satisfied without overeating."  (Dr. Fuhrman - Eat to Live)

Friday, January 20, 2012

My New Best Friend


Legumes are my new best friend.  These are delicious and keep me very full.  My whole dieting life I have stayed away from beans.  I thought they were a starch and would cause weight gain.  Now I find out that they can actually help me lose weight. and are my best source for protein.  Lentils are my favorite.  They are the fastest to cook and you can add many different things to them.  There are so many different kinds of legumes that you can never get bored eating them.  I usually buy dry beans and soak them.  When you purchase canned products they are full of sodium.  

My daughter suggests Chick peas as a snack.  Chick peas just rinsed and eaten taste a lot like boiled peanuts.  They make a very heathy snack.  Eat all you want.  There are no limits on Legumes.

Recipe of the Day     

Italian Lentils  (My Recipe)

1 bag of lentils
1 large can of organic low sodium chopped tomatoes
1 large green pepper (cut chunky)
1 large onion (cut chunky)
2 cloves of garlic
Salt free Italian seasoning
Organic Vegetable Broth

Cook until tender.


Coming soon....White Bean Chili

Food for thought:

"Maybe if high blood pressure medications had never been invented, doctors would have been forced to teach healthful living and nutritional disease causation to their patients.  It is possible that maybe more lives  could have been saved."  (Dr. Fuhrman - Eat to Live)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

My Doctor's Visit

My appointment with my doctor yesterday went very well.  She was very pleased that I had lost 17 pounds.  She said that she doesn't usually see a weight loss in January.  :)  I made it through the holidays.  Now I hope to lose 17 more pounds in the next three months.  She was also all smiles about my blood work.  Here are my numbers before becoming a nutritarian and now.

January 2012                                    June 2011                             Normal Range

CHOL  199                                       225                                         100 - 200

TRIG      90                                       118                                           0 - 150

HDL       65 (Good Cholesterol)             87                                           35 - 60

LDL      110                                       115                                          80 - 130 

These numbers are after three months of improved eating.  I go pack in June and she said she is anxious to repeat my blood test.

I must admit I wish the weight would come off a little faster.  I have always been very slow to lose and very fast to gain.  :)  My weakness is exercise.  I know the numbers would be much better if I could just get into the habit of exercising.  I seem to have settled into eating this way very well,  now I need to develop the habit of exercise.

No matter how much I lose I know that I am healthier and that should be the real goal.  



Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Some Negatives But Focus on the Positives

I have never been a big fan of breakfast.  Most days I just wouldn't eat anything.   On this program I drink a green smoothie every morning which is great.  They vary in what I have in them.  I like to make big batches then freeze them so all I have to do is thaw them out to have one.  I always have spinach and romaine in them.   When I can remember to buy it I add Kale.  That is a good healthy dose of greens to start the day off.  I mix in different fruits.  2 , 3 or as many as 6,  just whatever I have on hand at the time.  Pears are great at covering up any of the green taste.  The smoothie I had this morning was spinach, romaine, cranberries, pineapple and apples.    Add a tablespoon of flax seed.  Very tasty. 

There is also no caffeine, Dr. Fhurman doesn't even like caffeine free coffee.  I know there are a lot of coffee lovers out here right now trembling thinking they could never give up coffee or caffeine.  Fortunately  for me I have never been dependent on either.  If i had a strong dose of caffeine I honestly believe it would kill me.  My body wouldn't know what to do.  I never thought Kenny would give up coffee but when he was sick he didn't drink any so as he got better and we were on this plan he didn't go back to drinking it.  I am very proud of him.  That is a hard habit to break.

I will alternate something positive with something that most would think is a negative.  Coffee was  the negative, here is the positive.  I have never been hungry, not even once.  The first six weeks he asks that you only eat the three meals, nothing in between.  As I stated yesterday, no big deal for me because I don't eat many snacks anyway.  I can't even eat all that he wants me to eat so I can't possibly get hungry. 

No diet sodas or artificial sweeteners.  Basically all I drink is water and some herb tea.  He doesn't promote any sugar, natural or otherwise.  I use dates to sweeten anything I have sweet now.  My big cheat is that I usually add some honey to my herb tea.

A friend said there was no way she could eat this way with all the Legumes.  Too much gas.....Actually NO GAS.  I was going to the doctor in two weeks when I started the plan to see if my acid reflux was better.  If not, she was going to order a test.  After eating the new way only two weeks, all my acid reflux was gone and I have had NO problems with gas.  (A little too much information for my comfort but this is something people are concerned about.

Today I have a physical and I can't wait to see my numbers.  The last time she checked my blood, I had only been on the plan two weeks and my cholesterol had dropped 27 points. 

Recipe of the Day


Chocolate Ice Cream  (Mine is more like a chocolate milk shake.)  Makes two

2 bananas  (frozen)
5 dates (Pitted)
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon of cocoa

Blend  ( I have a vitamix but a regular blender would work)

Mine are usually milkshakes because most of the time my bananas aren't frozen so I add ice.  The good  thing with that, is it makes more.  :)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Wow, I Would Have Never Thought

Wow, I never would have thought I would have something that I felt strongly enough to blog about.  I am in my fifties and overweight, but fairly healthy.  A few months back while my husband was in the hospital my daughter suggested a book for me to read.  Since I had the time, I started to read Eat to Live by Dr. Furhman.  I couldn't put it down and it changed the way I have always looked at food.  I laugh and tell everyone it must have hypnotized me because otherwise I would have put the book down and said he is crazy to think that I could eat that way.  Seeing my husband in intensive care also made me think I never want to end up in a a place like that.  That isn't why he was there, but I could see that the way I eat could be the reason I would end up there.

So, three months and 17lbs ago, I took a step to change the way I eat.  I have tried different diets my entire life.  I have done them all.  They work for a little while and I would lose weight only to put it back on and more each time.  I have never loved green vegetables, but I loved the starchy ones and, of course, I had to have some kind of meat at every meal.  I have never been one to snack or eat very large quantities so I couldn't understand why I have always had a weight problem.  It wasn't how much but what I was eating.

I am really enjoying cooking, and I do cook just about everything from scratch on Dr. Furhman's diet.  Everything already prepared has too much salt or they always have to slip in some sugar.  I like playing with recipes to make them fit the nutritarian diet.

To explain nutritarian diet:  Not vegan, not vegetarian, but nutritarian.

I don't really want to start with what I can't have because that sounds negative so this is what I can have.  Lots of raw or cooked vegetable.  Every fruit you can think of, which has totally helped me drop all sweets.  Legumes and nuts.

Now what I no longer need in my diet....Dairy, Flour, Sugar, Salt, and drum roll please -  the shock of all shocks....Meat.

This is enough  for today.  I will be posting recipes and telling more of my story later.