Wednesday, September 30, 2009

fasting

Dr. Fuhrman recommends occasional fasting to maintain health. The break from digestion allows the body to detoxify and repair cells and tissues. I'm normally too active to want to rest all day, as fasting requires. I'm on a 2-day road trip with a companion so I thought, maybe this is a good opportunity to try a fast. I'm also hoping maybe it will help me get rid of this cough that has lingered since I got my cold almost 2 weeks ago.

So I fasted today. It went fine. I napped while companion drove, and that rested me enough for when I drove. I got hungry at dinner time but I'm not hungry anymore, which is a surprise. I was tired walking up the stairs with my suitcase, but I'm fine just sitting here playing on the computer. I wonder if I'll make it through tomorrow. I have to do some work tomorrow which is just mental, but that might be affected by the fast. Plus I might get hungry and not have the will to continue the fast. I'm not good at suffering through things. We'll see. I definitely have to break the fast on Friday because I have to socialize with strangers all day and go out to breakfast, lunch and dinner, and give a talk.

Fasting certainly made the travel preparation easier. I could see doing this on airplane trips, where you are also just sitting around and there is no good food to be had anyway.

refrigerator soup

This is the soup you make when you are leaving town and don't want your veggies to go to waste so you throw them all into a pot. It was really good. Of course, it will vary, depending on what you have.

Ingredients:
whatever is in your fridge and pantry. I used:
2 patty pan squash
3 carrots
2 small eggplants
1/2 sweet potato
1 cup green beans
1 head broccoli
1 head cauliflower---cut into about 4 big pieces, not small
a bunch of tomatoes (1-2 lbs?)
a couple green bell peppers
2 cups dried white beans--soaked over night and cooked in pressure cooker for 10 minutes
(or cook 3-4 hours on stove, or 2 cans of beans already cooked)
juice of 1 lemon
herbs from the garden: parsley, basil, chives, cilantro
corn (optional)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup hemp seeds

First I cooked up the beans and let them cool (I was doing other things). Then I cooked up the vegetables in the bean juice in the pressure cooker. It just turned into a soup. I took out the big cauliflower pieces, put them in the blender with 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds and 1/4 cup hemp seeds. Then added that back to the soup. That made it a nice a creamy soup. It seemed to need something else so I added a little less than 1/4 cup nutritional yeast. I chopped up the herbs and added that. Then it was really good. I froze it in big bowls (below). I look forward to eating it when I return home. I will probably eat it with greens. Note, I would have added frozen corn to it and it would have been a nice "chowder", but I have been getting tummy aches lately when I eat corn (I always overeat corn so that's probably why). Our corn is so sweet, you probably wouldn't need the nutritional yeast flavoring--or maybe it would be good too.


Monday, September 28, 2009

sept. 28

I am super busy with work and preparing a trip on Wed. so may not blog much this week.

Today I had the same old sort of thing: smoothie for brekky,

lunch was kale with sweet potato sauce. two lessons learned here: 1) the local sweet potatoes haven't been that good. they are kind of tasteless. Usually, the local stuff is way better. and 2), I don't like sesame seeds in the sauce. I thought since my zucchini and rutabaga sauce is good with sesame seeds, this would be too. But it's not. Maybe it needed onion. I don't know.

dinner was a big ole' salad with mango dressing. very yummy. and an apple.






mango dressing #4

I didn't realize I have 3 other mango dressings already until now. This is similar. I got this one from Darryl, and modified slightly. Scale ingredients according to how much mango you have.

Ingredients:
1/2 avocado or 1 oz cashews
1 oz pecans
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (vary to desired consistency)
1 bag frozen mangos (or 2 cups fresh)
1-2 Tbsp Riesling raisin vinegar (Darryl uses 3 Tbsp on a smaller batch!)

blend it all up in the blender. the vinegar and pecans are a nice touch. yummmmmmmm!

beans and greens

Here's a basic meal:











I cooked up a ton of collard greens with an onion in the pressure cooker for 4 minutes (on high). Added some pomegranate juice and fig vinegar.
The beans are from this recipe: 2 cups red beans, an onion, about 5 cups carrot and beet juice. oh I should have added part of a lime and some herbs but I didn't think of it.
It was a satisfying meal.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

fun with smoothies

Today I made extra special smoothies. I made 6 servings (about 16 oz I think) to freeze. I used 12 oz of spinach divided into three batches of 2 smoothies. They had their usual supplements too. And for a treat I used raw cashews instead of my usual seeds (1/3-1/2 cup for batch). Here were the variations; that is, along with the spinach and raw cashews, here are the fruit additions to each one:

1. fresh pineapple, mango, pear, and orange juice. Extremely delicious and a pretty lime green.















2: fresh figs, fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice, fresh pear, and 2 bags of frozen blueberries. I added 1 Tbsp date sugar. I forgot to take a picture but as you can guess, it was blue.

3: fresh pomegranate juice and orange juice (totaling 1 cup), 2 bags of frozen sweet cherries. I added 1 Tbsp of date sugar and wished I hadn't. It was already plenty sweet!

Here it is when I'm all done. You can see my mangled vita-mix plunger from one time when I forgot to use the rubber top to stop the plunger from hitting the blades. I need to order a new one. You can also see the mess at the end of the job.
















These are in the freezer covered with foil, to eat over the next few days.

Sept. 26

late brekky: smoothie. this one was the other half of the mango-blueberry (spinach) smoothie I made a few days ago. This was really good. I was at a 4-hour meeting at a restaurant that specializes in cupcakes. I thought I might eat something from the menu but there weren't many vegan options and nothing jumped out at me. I wondered if I was going to eat a cupcake (they had vegan strawberry ones). I enjoyed looking at them but didn't want to eat one (surprisingly). I think that's because I got sick last time I ate them.

late lunch: I was grocery shopping and I got a banana and fresh-ground peanut butter. This seems to be one of my favorite treats these days. Let's see, then when I got home, I had some fresh figs, some raw cashews (didn't need those after the peanut butter), a kohlrabi and a carrot.

Dinner: mashed baked sweet potato with a little date sugar and fresh pineapple cut up. another kohlrabi and carrot. then snacked on smoothies while making them. I ate a lot. each smoothie had a little extra I had to eat up. oops. mmm.

I'm eating too many sweets and not enough beans and greens. I have to admit I'm having fun with it. maybe I'll stop tomorrow. I'm enjoying my favorite foods before going out of town next week.

cherry walnut ice cream

This is really simple and really good.

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen cherries
1/4 cup raw walnuts or cashews
1/2 cup pomegranate juice or orange juice (fresh squeezed preferable!)

Blend in a high powered blender. If you think ahead of time, put your bowl in the freezer 15 minutes before preparing. then the ice cream doesn't melt as fast. Super sweet and good with no added sugar!

sept. 25

brekky: smoothie

lunch: veggies and black bean hummus. This is the best hummus in the world. I've made the same with chickpeas and it's not as good. My collaborator loves this too. He's starting to come over every day to get lunch along with working. The working is very productive too. I still keep overcooking the veggies in the pressure cooker. I cooked up whatever was in the fridge: eggplant, zucchini, potato, sweet potato, broccoli. I cut them into longer dipping strips. After cooking the potato and sweet potato, I put them in the oven at 350 F for 10 minutes, dusted in a little date sugar, to dry them out a bit. Everything was great, just a little too well-done for dipping. Next time I need to use the low setting in the pressure cooker. and cook for 1 minute. I'll try to remember.

dinner: small bowl of lentils and greens. Then I made the same salad I've been making lately: lettuce, orange bell pepper, tomatoes, avocado, D'Angou pear vinegar. Here's a picture:


















It was outstanding. Then I should have stopped but I made some cherry ice cream. I have been having fun with the pomegranate juice so was looking for things to make with it. I ate the whole thing. I got too full. It was fantastic though.

sept. 24 food

It's two days later but I think I can remember:

brekky: smoothie

lunch: made my usual salad of late from fresh local stuff: lettuce, orange bell pepper, tomatoes. oh, the dressing was fresh squeeze pomegranate juice mixed with ground walnuts. That was sooooo good. I heated up some veggie pot with sweet corn for housemate. This was the last of the veggie pot. I ate some frozen sweet corn myself, and then got a tummy ache. I'm wondering if it's the sweet corn. It's really sweet and I didn't cook it before freezing. I'll have to monitor.

dinner: I was at a meeting, then went grocery shopping. I ate a banana and some fresh-ground peanut butter at the co-op. yum. then came home and made smoothies--these had fresh pom/grape juice in them, fresh pineapple, and frozen blueberries, and strawberries. I'm having fun throwing fresh fruit into the smoothies. I nibbled a lot on the pineapple and grapes. no regrets there, yum.

fresh-squeezed pomegranate/grape juice

I invested in a hand-crank citrus juicer and it's the best I've ever used--faster and easier to use. You can juice a pomagranate same way as an orange. First, cut it in half:















Then put it in the juicer and smash with the crank:






















I also tried some concord grapes for fun:






















It was a little more messy. I tasted this and it was yummy. I added the rest to a smoothie. mmmm.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

sept. 23

late brekky at the co-op: 1/2 small dal (yellow) watermelon--though it was bigger than usual. then my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I had gotten a peach and some blackberries and pistachio nuts too. I ate the peach and some nuts. Definitely didn't need that!

late lunch: smoothie with mango & blueberries. very creamy and good. used a fresh mango (then froze overnight). ate the blackberries I got at brekky. and 2 small apples. and more nuts. okay, now I was really full. I'm eating way too much fruit today.

early dinner: okay, not hungry but I have a meeting tonight. ate some veggie pot with fresh frozen sweet corn. and then kept eating the sweet corn.

today I ate way too many sweets and have a tummy ache as a result. my body is pretty good at telling me when I'm overdoing it. Now I just have to listen to it!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Sept. 22

brekky: smoothie from the freezer (thawed overnight). then I made more for the next few days and froze them. I nibbled while making them, on the pumpkin and sunflower seeds too.

lunch: Veggies and Sweet Potato Sauce: This was really good and I whipped it together in 30 minutes total: For me I cooked up brussels sprouts, and a very small eggplant for 1 minute in the pressure cooker (PC). For housemate I cooked up potatoes in the other PC for 1 minute. Then to mine I added yellow summer squash, sweet potatoes and frozen sweet corn and cooked for another minute. To housemate's I added frozen corn and peas and cooked for another minute. Then I took out the sweet potatoes from my PC, put them in the blender with walnuts and fresh pomegranate juice (I just cut a pom. into pieces and smashed it with my hand-crank juicer) and made the sauce--oh, I should have added some blueberry vinegar. I poured that over our veggies into two big bowls which we shared with a visitor working with me today. He loved it.

Dinner: I ate it backwards but liked it this way. Started off with a ripe peach (dessert). Then had a bowl of lentils from yesterday. Then a salad from lettuce, tomatoes, orange bell pepper, and green bell pepper. All the ingredients were from a local farm or my garden so it was really good and didn't need dressing. I just added some d'angou pear vinegar. I actually like ending with a salad. When I end with fruit, I just want more. It's opposite to what Dr. Fuhrman recommends which is to start with a big salad, the idea being to fill up on that, and eat less of the more high-caloric food.

I didn't exercise today so I didn't get very hungry. I had coughing fit last night and couldn't get to sleep. I hope I sleep better tonight. The cold is almost gone except for the cough.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Lentils and greens soup

This is easy and flexible with amounts.

Ingredients:
~2 cups red lentils (other color is fine too).
1-2 onions
2-4 cups carrot and/or beet or celery juice
Then add water as needed
a bunch of collard greens and/or kale, chopped in a food processor so you can squeeze even more in.
juice of 1/2 lemon
a little cilantro or other herb (e.g., chives)
1-2 tsp curry powder if you like it (I prefer without)
1-2 tsp cumin powder if you like it

Cook up everything except the lemon and fresh herbs for an hour or so, until tender. add the chopped herbs and lemon at the end. If you are using dried herbs, add them add the beginning instead of the end.

sept. 21

Late brekky after yoga and grocery shopping: fresh mango and blueberries. yum! I also had 3 carrots.
Of course, I wasn't very hungry for lunch an hour later. I had a small baked sweet potato and was nibbling on housemate's lunch while preparing. For her I made veggies (romanesco broccoli, carrots, peas & corn) cooked in pressure cooker and the topped with yesterday's tomato soup. It was really good. Wowsa. That soup is even better on vegetables. She had the leftovers for dinner tonight.

then I nibbled while making lentil/collard green soup. I started snacking about 4 pm. That is bad, because I just keep eating. I had an apple. then a peach. Then some soup. then some pineapple. then some more soup. Then it was about 6 pm and I said, okay, that was dinner.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Creamy Tomato soup

This is a recipe from Chef AJ. You can find the original recipe on this website, scroll down to the "Cream of Tomato Soup."

Here are the ingredients Chef AJ calls for:
1 lb Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 red bell peppers, chopped
1 clove garlic
6-8 large basil leaves
Juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato powder
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1 cup shelled hemp seeds.

Here's what I used:
1.5 lb fresh garden tomatoes, cut into chunks
~1 cup fresh carrot juice
1 large clove garlic
7 basil leaves
Juice of one lime
ground up sun-dried tomatoes
1/8 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 cup shelled hemp seeds (raw cashews would work too)

I didn't have any red bell peppers so I thought, what flavor does that add? sweetness. so maybe carrot juice would be okay. but that might be too liquidy so add some more tomatoes. I didn't have a lemon so used a lime. You just put all the ingredients into the blender. Chef AJ says, leave out the hemp seeds and let it blend until it gets warm, then add the hemp seeds. I just blended it all and then heated it on the stove some more. It has a unique flavor. Housemate really liked it. She'll have the leftovers for dinner tomorrow night. I should have taken a picture.

sept. 20

I didn't eat brekky because I wasn't hungry before church. Afterwards I went grocery shopping, and got some brazil nuts and ate those on the way home, about 11:30 am.

Today was the last day of corn at the corn stand. I can finally say I'm tired of corn. We kinda went overboard eating it every day and it does squeeze other things out of the diet. Plus it hasn't been as good lately as it was during the peak. It's not as tender. The sweetness varies depending on whether they picked too early--the bigger corns are sweeter. So for lunch we had 2 corn on the cobs, and a salad made from fresh salad greens, tomatoes from the garden, avocado, chopped walnuts, and orange vinegar. When we have fresh garden tomatoes, I have no desire for salad dressing because the tomatoes are sooooo flavorful.

I got some local carrots at the co-op today that I think are the best carrots I've ever tasted. So I snacked on those before dinner. Boy were they good. For dinner I made this creamy tomato soup. This had a really nice flavor. We had that with our last piece of corn on the cob. I also made smoothies for housemate which I nibbled from because there was extra. I also ate a small raw kohlrabi while preparing dinner. I also snacked on the tomato soup while heating it up--taste testing. I definitely eat too much while preparing dinner!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

sept. 18 & 19

I went on a kayaking trip this weekend, left yesterday afternoon so no time to blog before I left.

Yesterday for brekky I had a smoothie. I put in some concord grapes, blueberries, cherries and orange juice, along with the spinach, for a more sweet treat than usual. The grapes were delicious but the seeds gave it a crunchy texture, not sure how much I liked that. But I could probably get used to it. Hmm, I overate at lunch, I wonder if it was the sweetness of this that triggered it. I had a peach after the smoothie and didn't need that.

At lunch I had 2 ears of corn, and collard greens and tomatoes and onion and garlic cooked in the pressure cooker. I added the black fig vinegar and ground hemp seed. I didn't like the fig vinegar as much as the riesling raisin--oh, but I think the main reason is that I added basil. I don't think it mixed well. So I should give the fig vinegar another try. This was followed by another peach. Later in the afternoon I had 2 bananas and walnuts---unnecessary, because I wasn't hungry.

Dinner was leftover collards followed by a peach at the campground.

Brekky today at the campground was a delicious salad made from a lot of garden salad I cut yesterday, a mango, a small box of blueberries, small box of blackberries, and chopped walnuts. Fantastic.

Lunch was veggie pot. I took it out of the freezer yesterday, added some frozen corn, let it thaw in the ice chest overnight, let it heat up a bit in the kayak today, and it was still cool but tasted good at lunch. Also two small fresh local apples.

Dinner was 2 small apples, and a can of Dr. Fuhrman's VitaBeanaVegamin soup. Then when I got home I had an orange and some sunflower and pumpkin seeds (too many...).

It was a good kayaking trip.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

sept. 17

Today I had a smoothie again for brekky. I'm enjoying these right now. Today's was blueberry and mango, and fresh lettuce from the garden. Yum.

I knew we were having lunch at Chipotle's so after brekky I cooked up some brussels sprouts and leek from the fridge (in the pressure cooker for 3 minutes)---the only veggies in my fridge. So what to do with this...well, how about adding some chopped walnuts (small handful). What else? well, I had another half of a musk melon from last night. It wasn't the sweetest melon in the world so I have no great desire to relish it by eating it alone. Let's cut up and add that; and some riesling raisin vinegar. And a small apple for dessert. Well, I wasn't expecting much, but when I ate it at lunch, it was really good! The nuts added a great crunch and flavor, and the musk melon added nice texture and flavor too. I thought it was way better than what everyone else was eating. yes, I am weird.

Dinner: Fortunately I've got some veggie pot in the freezer that I took out last night. I added frozen sweet corn to it and warmed it up. That was really good too. There was some flavor that mixed nicely with the corn and made it taste like clam chowder. I'm not sure what it was, the blended hemp and almonds and relatively small amount of tomatoes? or the eggplant?

I had stopped at the grocery store for a few things and got some watermelon, so had some of that for dessert. It was great. I love watermelon and the season is probably coming to an end soon, so I relished that. Tomorrow I'll have the rest.

It was a delicious day of eating, considering I didn't work hard at it. Freezing food definitely comes in handy later.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

sept. 16

I woke up hungry and alert at 5 am, which I took as a good sign that I'm recovering from my cold. Then I went back to sleep until almost 8 am, which is late for me, so probably a sign that I still need rest.

Brekky was same smoothie as yesterday, with strawberries instead of raspberries, juice from 2 oranges (1 for each smoothie), and garden lettuce mixed in with garden spinach. It was yummy.

Lunch was a big pot of greens, same as a few days ago but what a difference the vinegar makes. I seem to not like the spicy pecan flavor from a few days ago, but liked the riesling raisin today. I picked a kitchen sink-full of kale from the garden, washed and ripped into pieces, and added it to my big pot on top of a chopped onion. I topped that with some chopped tomatoes from the garden and chopped garlic. Here it is before cooking. It almost fills the pot.


















I cooked for 4 minutes in the pressure cooker:



















Quite a smaller volume after cooking! (Sorry the lighting isn't the same for these shots. It wasn't that much darker after cooking.) I added a Tbsp of hemp seed, ground up, to give me some healthy fat and thicken the juice a bit. I ate about 40% at lunch at 60% at dinner. It was good, nothing fancy but I liked it. I also had a couple of carrots and an apple at lunch. At dinner I also had half a musk melon (like a cantaloupe) and an orange.

My cold is getting better, but I sure don't have much energy. Sitting at my desk I feel fine though, so I got lots of work done tonight. But I went to campus today and just was dragging.

quote

Laurie on the Fuhrman forums said the following:
If your friends and co-workers don't think the diet you eat is pretty darned weird, you're probably eating an unhealthy diet.
It's sad in the sense that 99.9% of Americans are eating an unhealthy diet. Those of us who are eating healthy are so far from the mainstream that we are considered totally weird, and our biggest struggle is the social stigma, not the food prep and eating. This healthy food is fantastic tasting. But you can't find it in restaurants, so I bring my own food, and yep, I am totally weird for that. But I refuse to compromise anymore for the sake of not offending others. What goes into my body is a sacred choice.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

sept 15

just groovin' along with my cold.

had a smoothie for brekky. It makes enough for 2 so I shared with housemate. Normally I make hers differently but we were out of bananas and oranges. She liked this one so I may continue to make these for both of us. They are better freshly made than frozen and thawed. This one just had 2 Tbsp flaxseeds, 1 bag (frozen) blueberries, 1 bag raspberries, 1/2 bag cherries, water, and spinach from the garden. I liked it. I will probably add a little maple syrup to housemate's portion to satisfy her sweet tooth.

Lunch: the corn stand was out, so we had some corn. It wasn't the greatest though. We each had 2 ears, and some sliced tomatoes. I also had a peach.

Dinner: an apple for appetizer; brussels sprouts, leek, carrots cooked in pressure cooker, topped with riesling raisin vinegar; orange.

I'm still not eating a lot but I'm also still sedentary. Every day I'm eating more so I'm progressing. I can't say I feel better than yesterday so don't know if I've bottomed out yet. The cough bothers me the most. I have to try not to talk too much.

Monday, September 14, 2009

sept. 14 food

I still have my cold, but I did get hungry at lunchtime so that's probably a good sign.

For brekky I had a veggie juice from the freezer. As I stated yesterday, this was not a particularly good batch, so it's perfect for when you have a cold (can't taste it as well).

Lunch was yummy cherry tomatoes from the garden. I also cooked up some kale and tomatoes from the garden, with garlic and spicy pecan vinegar. I think I don't like that spicy pecan vinegar. Or maybe I just haven't got used to it yet. I had a small bowl at lunch and then a big bowl at dinner.

Normally this amount of food would leave me hungry but I'm not the least bit hungry. Dr. Fuhrman says the body doesn't want much food when you are sick so it can put it's energies toward fighting the illness. Plus I was completely sedentary today so the body didn't need much fuel.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

sept. 13 food

Today I have a cold so I'm taking it easy. I was supposed to go to the Packer-Bear (NFL football) game tonight! This may be the only chance in my life, but someone else who is a lifelong fan used my ticket so I actually think that's better. I'm watching it on TV with my blanket and tea.

I haven't been hungry today, and plus I don't have much food, having just arrived back in town yesterday. So I drank one of my frozen (thawed) veggie juices. That was perfect because with my cold I don't taste much, and I don't particularly like the taste of this juice (it will not be made again). Then we have a bunch of beautifully ripe garden tomatoes so I had a few small ones. And I drank lots of herbal tea. If I feel more hungry and energetic tomorrow, I'll go after the kale and collards in the garden with tomatoes and garlic.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

sept. 12 food

Today I travelled home.

Before leaving, we had a brekky of blueberries and mango. Even though I wasn't hungry, it was really yummy. I agree with Gail that it is a fantastic brekky. I'm going to try this out at home. Maybe the mangos at my co-op are good this time of year. I might have got the wrong impression by buying them in winter, when they are shipped from South America.

Then Gail supplied me with a bunch of nuts that I didn't need because I wasn't hungry, and yet I still ate them. Oh yeah, I ate some date nut pop'ems that she sent with me too. oops.

When I got home I went to the corn stand and got a baker's dozen of corn, a musk melon and a peach. I ate all three--well, just 2 of the corns. But then I scraped the others to freeze and ate a bunch of it while scraping.

Dinner: some frozen corn right out of the bag. I wasn't hungry then either but I couldn't resist.

I've caught a cold and lost my appetite so I think I'd better stop eating and let my body heal itself.

sept. 11 food

Still on travel in a hotel, but I had food in the fridge at the office from yesterday's grocery shopping so I was set with food:

Brekky: banana and nuts (cashews, walnuts), some fruit at the continental breakfast at the office: grapes, pineapple, cantaloup, melon. a few carrots.

Lunch: huge salad made from lettuce greens, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, chickpeas, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and orange vinegar. I was full after this!

snack: ooops, Gail picked me up for our final bike ride and brought some of the dessert from a few days ago. I wasn't hungry but it was too good to resist.

After the bike ride: some carrots, half a banana, some brazil nuts. then dinner. We cooked a couple of Fuhrman recipes: Sweet and Sour Fancy Cabbage Salad. This was easy and really good. And Dr. Fuhrman's Acorn Squash Supreme. We used a fresh pineapple instead of canned--blended some to make the "juice", and cooked the squash in the pressure cooker to speed it up. I overcooked it. It was still good, just really mushy.

Then after all that, we finished off the Super Fruit Tart from a few days ago.

So as usual, I overate! Good thing I've been so active this week (ran 3 miles this morning, mountain biked in the evening), but still, this is too much food!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

sept. 10 food

I moved to a hotel last night for 2 nights for a 2-day meeting. I brought some fruit and nuts with me. The hotel has a decent buffet breakfast with oatmeal and fruit. But I wasn't hungry. At the start of the meeting, we had a continental breakfast. By then I was hungry, so had a banana and some walnuts, and some of the fruit provided by my hosts: grapes, melon, cantaloupe, strawberries, pineapple. Like most meetings, there was constant food available: breakfast, morning break, lunch, afternoon break, and dinner. I am not immune to everyone eating constantly so I ate at the breaks too. I had carrots at the morning break.

At lunchtime, a friend took me to a grocery store so I got my supplies for the next 2 days. I made a salad with greens, nuts, apple, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. It was very good. I forgot my orange vinegar--left in the hotel room. During the afternoon break, I ate some nuts and carrots, even though I wasn't the least bit hungry and didn't need it.

For dinner I brought a big salad made with greens, nuts (raw cashews and brazil nuts), chickpeas, banana, apple, and this time I remembered the orange vinegar. Dessert was an orange. I was overfull after eating all this, because I ate too many nuts today. My companions at dinner thought I was totally weird. The dinner was provided by our company and included free drinks. Most people at my table chose the steak, mashed potatoes and green beans and lots of beer and wine, followed by coffee and dessert. I have to admit, the food looked good. I have no desire to eat meat but I do recall enjoying it. The only attraction I felt to the alcohol was that it was free but it still tugged just a bit. The chocolate cake and coffee looked good. A good friend sitting next to me was stunned at my extreme eating habits and lack of drinking. I think he's worried that I've gone mad. This is where being a nutritarian can be difficult---having your friends think you are weird. I didn't really want the food though. It's too salty for me now. But it's not as much fun socializing in these situations anymore. People are uncomfortable with someone being different. Maybe over time I'll get better at making others comfortable. Also, since I don't drink anymore, I'm not all that interested in sitting around watching others drink. Overall, I didn't really want their food and alcohol and didn't feel deprived and still don't, but I did feel a little uncomfortable and a little bored, which makes me a little sad. Am I becoming boring? In these situations, I think maybe yes.

sept. 9 food

I'm still visiting my friend Gail today.

For brekky we had her favorite breakfast and I can see why: it's blueberries and mango. It was so good we had a second helping. so we each had a box of blueberries and and entire mango. yum! and I think we ate some nuts too. and a banana. Then we went on a very strenuous bike ride so I'm glad we had a big brekky. I described the ride on my biking blog. I never could have done this ride if I hadn't changed my diet a few years ago. This is the most stress I've had aerobically in a few years because of the altitude and constant steep climb, but since my arteries are all cleared up, I was able to get enough oxygen for the entire climb.

Lunch was late and we were starved. We made a salad with lots of nuts and apples and raisins and orange-sesame dressing. It was fantastic.

Dinner was Quick Bean and Vegetable Chili, from the Fuhrman recipe site. Dessert was also from the Fuhrman member site but it's not in the recipe site. It was called "Super Fruit Tart" and Gail found it on the "Custom Daily Menu" link in the "High Activity and Muscle Building Plan." It was fantastic. It had this ground nut/oat/date crust, a blended dried apricot (boiled) compote, and fresh berries and coconut flakes. I'm going to experiment with this recipe some more, trying dried mango instead of apricot. I love it. Here was the pie before we cut into it. The dish is about 9 inches in diameter so a reasonably big pie.


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

sept. 8

Today I flew to Denver for a meeting but am visiting with a friend first. Well, she is a follower of Dr. Fuhrman's diet also, so I've had fabulous food!

On the airplane (brekky), I had some carrot and celery and red bell pepper sticks, and a handful of pumpkin and sunflower seeds.

Then we we got to Gail's house, she made black bean hummus and had a plate of cut veggies to dip in it. It was great!

For dinner, Gail made asian stir fry (from the Fuhrman forums). It was fabulous! Here's the dish:















Here are Gail and Todd ready to dig in:
















We'll probably make banana walnut ice cream for dessert.

sept. 7

Today I was good and didn't overeat. I decided to wait until I was hungry to eat and not worry about the 3 meals a day with no snacking business.

So at 10:30 am I had my morning smoothie.

Then we went off for biking and kayaking. Fortunately I brought some lunch because we were out much longer than we planned. I brought a bowl of the collards, onion, beet dish from yesterday, to which I added 1/2 cup edamame. And some carrots and celery sticks. I ate this about 3 pm after the bike ride.

Then the kayaking trip lasted about twice as long as expected (it was fun!), and we got home about 8 pm and ate corn on the cob with avocado butter, and the rest of the collards with edamame added again. Also ate some sliced fresh tomatoes, and red bell pepper.

It was a great day and I am so amazed at how easy it is for me to do strenuous physical activities. I'm in better shape at age 49 than since I was a teenager. This is due to diet. I realize I'm considered extreme in my diet, but it really is true that this radical diet produces radical results. I don't mind being radical.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

sept. 06

brekky: smoothie, some frozen sweet corn

lunch: 2 ears of corn +avocado butter, black bean & corn salad, collard greens+onion+beets steamed in pressure cooker (good).

snacked while making housemate's smoothies and juicing some collard greens+beets+carrots+spinach+salad+celery+lemon+apples---basically veggies left in fridge before going out of town. This juicing was time consuming and didn't produce a very delicious result. I only like to eat stuff if it's delicious. I don't think I'll get into juicing veggies. I liked the cooked collard greens much better. and I would have rather eaten the apples then have them in this juice. I froze the juice into 12 oz bottles. They'll come in handy when I'm in a hurry. Like next weekend when I'm only home for 24 hours. hmm, I wonder if they could make a decent soup broth. oh, I snacked on some frozen bananas while making the smoothies.

dinner: black blean salad and the collards from lunch. then ate frozen sweet corn for dessert. I ate way too much of the frozen sweet corn! it's like a popsicle. I have been overeating way too much lately. it's strange that I haven't gained weight. I think it just goes out the other end, but it's not healthy and it wastes food and money. I need to change my approach and wait until I'm hungry to eat. Ever since I've been trying this regular meals with no snacking, it makes me behave strangely. When I ate the Standard American Diet, I never really overate. I was overweight due to what I was eating, but I didn't pig out like I do now. It's weird that now I'm inclined to pig out and I'm still thin. Okay, tomorrow I'll try to just eat when I'm hungry...

Saturday, September 5, 2009

feeling like a kid again

Last night I went out with some friends and we went to a restaurant with outdoor seating. The purpose was to eat, drink, listen to live music, and be with friends. Well, I ate before we went, and didn't want to drink alcohol, so I just drank water, listened to the music, tipped the waiter and musicians, and had fun with my friends. They think I'm weird but they like weird people. I'm sure they look at my eating habits deprivation. But, I don't. And I don't find their food appealing.

Then today I got up (with no hangover, and no desire for coffee), ran 5 miles, then this afternoon, went on an easy 9 mile bike ride with a friend, and then went on an hour and a half kayak ride. What a great and fun day. I feel like a kid again. This is the kind of thing I enjoy most, getting outside and playing. Like when I was a kid, I'm exhausted by my day's activities by 10 pm and am ready for bed--but I wake up early than I did when I was a kid, I'm not sure if that is good or bad. And I'm like a kid in that I don't drink alcohol or caffeine. It's funny how in our society, most kids don't drink alcohol and caffeine, but when people come of age, most people start consuming these drugs. I did the same thing for years. And then you start feeling like an adult with no time for play. I'm enjoying feeling like a kid again--at 49 years of age!

sept. 5 food

brekky: smoothie, a bunch of frozen corn (it's like candy corn only better!). small handful of pumpkin seeds.

lunch: carrots and celery sticks, apple. was out during lunch and figured I could wait and have a big dinner.

dinner: 1.5 boiled ears of corn with avocado butter. lots of black bean and corn salad. I ate a lot but was very active today, so hopefully it's no big deal.

think I'm eating enough corn?

sept. 4 food

brekky: 1/2 small musk melon. about 1 cup of frozen sweet corn. yummy.

lunch: smoothie, carrot and celery sticks, peach, probably another cup of corn while scraping 13 ears to freeze.

dinner: veggie pot + corn (makes it even better!), piece of watermelon.

yes, I'm eating lots of corn. 3 more days of corn season...

Thursday, September 3, 2009

sliced frozen banana & chopped walnuts

the title says it all. When my bananas get ripe, I peel them, break them up into pieces, and put into a plastic bag in the freezer. Well, it turns out they make a really good frozen treat either on their own or with chopped walnuts. just slice them, add the chopped walnuts, and eat them. yum!

sept 3

brekky: smoothie; edamame & corn. I knew lunch would be late so had a bigger breakfast. worked out well.

late lunch: corn on the cob & avocado butter, some veggie pot.

early dinner: veggie juice, some carrots, frozen banana pieces

later dinner (oops): 2 peaches, rest of the veggie pot + corn, sliced frozen banana & chopped walnuts.

yep I ate more than enough again. but I enjoyed my banana & walnuts dessert. And I'm afraid I ate a lot more than one banana.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

sept. 2 food

brekky: veggie juice. peach. couple of carrots.

lunch: scraped fresh corn to freeze, ate a bunch while scraping (oops), ate a boiled ear with avocado butter, and some brussels sprouts cooked in the pressure cooker with spicy pecan vinegar. I ate too much of that delicious corn while scraping and got a wee bit of a tummy ache.

dinner: smoothie, carrots and celery, rest of the brussels sprouts. oh, then got home and had to make orange juice for house mate and there was a half of an orange left over so ate that. well, then I decided to have a fresh fig, and then an apple.

I ate more than enough today. I didn't eat any beans. I ate too much other stuff.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

sept. 1 food

brekky: veggie juice. small carton of blackberries. a few fresh figs (yum).

lunch: sweet corn with avocado butter, and a delicious quick salad made from salad greens, tomato, cucumber, red bell pepper, small pepper, and D'Angou pear vinegar. Everything was from a local farm or our garden except the vinegar. Boy was it good. Then I scraped a bunch of corn to freeze. This time I measured it. 8 ears of corn produced 5 lbs. It is so sweet and good. I didn't get everything off the ears with the scraper, so I scraped the rest off into my mouth which was yummy. I also had a couple of carrots and celery, and a few more figs.

dinner: beans & veggie dish with frozen sweet corn added to it. Plus I couldn't resist eating some more out of the bag. 1 small musk melon, local and fresh and ripe and very good. I'm overeating the corn but I don't care. Only 6 more days left of corn season.