Unexpectedly Delicious

The end of the month is upon us, which means we're trying to use up the food we have.  The less we have to move to the new house, the better.  Plus, our Bridge benefits for the month are used up until July 3.  So yesterday I was hunting for something healthy I could make for breakfast and I stumbled on this:

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Banana Wraps

6 leaves of lettuce (romaine or similar)
1 banana, thinly sliced
nut butter (I used almond butter on some and peanut butter on others, since my almond butter was nearly gone)

Spread a thin layer of nut butter on the inside spine of each lettuce leaf, place banana pieces on top of the nut butter, then wrap up the leaf.

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I found this to be surprisingly satisfying and yummy.

Where Have I Been?

Packing.

Give it a couple of weeks.  Sorry.

Eggplant Hummus

This morning I made a yummy hummus with eggplant :)  First I cut an eggplant in half, then baked it at 350 for 45 minutes.  After it cooled, I peeled it and popped it into the blender with all the other regular hummus ingredients:  chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and onion.  I've discovered I like the taste of baked eggplant quite a lot.  So far the only real difference between this and regular hummus is that it seems to be more solid after being stored in the refrigerator for several hours.  I might have to add just a hint of NuSalt or something, though -- it seems to lack just the hint of saltiness I've grown used to in my veggie dips.

Carly sick today.  Went to sleep on the couch right after dinner, and when I carried her to her room just now she was burning up.  I'm going to check on her now.

Weekend at the Curtis's

Went to the inlaws for the weekend.  Nutritarian eating is not impossible there, since they are vegan, but their diet is slightly more grain-heavy than what I've been following at home.  I've been trying to eat no more than 2 servings of whole grains per day, whereas Todd's parents usually have about that much per meal.  With that much heavy calorie-dense food in the stomach, there isn't as much room for vegetables, which have so much more nutrients.

At lunch today I helped Juanita by making the salad... I just used all the lettuce and vegetables she laid out for me.  Here's what our conversation was like....

Juanita:  "Do you think that will be enough salad?  We're having about 12 people for lunch today."

Me:  "Hmm, maybe I'm not the best judge of that.  This is about what I normally eat by myself!"

Juanita:  "How about we put this one out for everyone else and then you make another one just for you?!"

So I did.  Afterwards I had a small bowl of chili that Tami's friend brought over and some strawberries for dessert.

Not much to report

Well, the car wouldn't start today.  Our next-door neighbor was just coming home from the night shift as Todd was leaving for work, so he gave him a lift.  Have no idea what's the matter with it.  Hope we can get it fixed tomorrow, or the whole campmeeting weekend at the in-laws' house will have to be cancelled.  And Carly's been sooooo looking forward to it.

For breakfast today I had a cup of carrot juice, a small yellow mango (so yummy), and a slice of whole-wheat bread with almond butter and jam.  I don't toast my bread anymore, after reading what Dr. Fuhrman said about burnt/browned foods being carcinogens. 

Lunch was another big bowl of vegetable stew, a huge salad with tahini dressing, and lots and lots of watermelon.  The tahini dressing called for a very odd combination of ingredients, but it turned out surprisingly good.  Let's see if I can remember them all.  Tahini, of course, and lemon juice and garlic (so far, no surprises).  1/2 a banana, 7 dates.  Tahini is naturally a bit salty, and I've never known garlic to go well with sweet things like bananas and dates.  I think there may have been another ingredient or two, but it's escaping me now.  Anyway, it's delicious.

Cinnamon Soup?

A quick run-down of what I've had to eat today:

Breakfast:  A big glass of fresh green juice and a bowl of red grapes.

Lunch:  A big Supersalad with some tahini dressing, a whole-grain tortilla wrap spread with leftover bean dip and stuffed with lettuce, tomato and cucumber, and a kiwi.

Dinner:  Another large Supersalad, about 1/6 of a watermelon (lots, in other words), and a bowl of some new vegetable bean soup I made this afternoon.  It's really good, but a little odd, because one of the ingredients is cinnamon.  An entire tablespoon of it.  And yes, you can definately taste it in the finished product.  It's not bad, just different.  Actually, I like it quite a lot.  The soup is full of cruciferous vegetables, like cauliflower and broccoli, also beets, which I have bad memories of being forced to eat as a child (but surprise, I don't mind them so much now), and kale, of all things.  Carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, onions, garlic, etc.  Some legumes too -- lentils and split peas.  Of course, because of the beets and tomatoes, it ends up being somewhat red in color.  Once the ingredients had all stewed together for a good long time, I took about a quarter of it out of the pot and blended it up with some softened cashews to make a kind of creamy broth, then added it back in.  As I said, it ended up being pretty yummy, but I still can't get over the cinnamon. 

Veggie Lasagna

I just spent the last hour and a half slaving over a vegetable lasagna.  I like cooking, but I don't enjoy having to clean up afterwards and now there's a stiffness in my shoulders!

This lasagna uses a tofu mixture rather than ricotta cheese, which sounds gross but I think it'll be pretty good.  And I put a few layers of steam-softened vegetables like bell peppers, mushrooms, and broccoli in there too.  I'm a bit confused about the SIZE of the thing, though.  I used the exact quantity of ingredients recommended in Dr. Fuhrman's book, but it turned out to be enough for 2 lasagnas.  Supposedly, that's 8 servings?  It looks to me like 24 at the very least!

I'm getting used to leaving the table feeling stuffed.  I'm eating almost entirely vegetables and fruit, a few beans, some nuts and seeds, maybe 1 or 2 servings of whole grains a day, and virtually no oil or dairy products.  Supposedly this kind of food is supposed to go through you rather quickly, so I keep expecting to be hungry more often and have a hard time filling up.  I mean, when I was eating raw I was hungry all the time.  But the salads I'm eating are enormous (though mostly greens -- imagine filling up a big punch bowl with spinach and then sprinkling a few raw vegetables, beans, and nuts on the very top).  And the soups are FILLING.  I mean, when I make my family's favorite potato soup, we all have several bowls, and still have room for other things.  But one bowl of vegetable/bean soup fills you right up.  Not store-bought vegetable soup, though!  I could eat 2 cans of that stuff and still be hungry.

So for lunch today I had a half serving of salad (which is still a LOT) and 2 bowls of soup (because I was trying to use it up) and I am still quite full, 3 hours later.

Carrot Slaw

Made this today; but haven't gotten to eat it yet.  I mean, I tasted it for flavor, but I was so full at lunch after my green salad and soup and cherries, I couldn't eat another bite.

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Carrot Slaw (not strictly vegan)
grate 4 carrots
peel and dice 1 1/2 apples
add 1/3 cup raisins, 1/3 cup sliced almonds, 1/3 cup low-salt mayo, and 1 tsp lemon juice
I also added 1/4 tsp Nu-Salt
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Soooo full.

Bean Dip

This morning I made a simple bean dip for raw vegetables or as a spread on wraps.

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Quick Bean Dip (makes about 4 servings)
Puree in a blender:
1 can beans, any type (but soft pintos or red beans will probably puree more easily).  Drain the beans first and keep the liquid.
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Mrs. Dash

Start by adding about 1/2 of the bean liquid, then a little more as you continue pureeing, until dip is the desired consistency and purees easily.  You may even have to add water 1 Tbsp at a time if there wasn't much liquid in the beans.

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For breakfast this morning I had oatmeal with fresh raspberries and raisins, 1/2 a pear and a little honeydew melon.

For lunch I had some raw veggies (cherry tomatoes, baby carrots and sugar snap peas) with this bean dip, some leftover sweet potato pudding, 1/2 a peach, and a weird concoction made from chopping up some portobello mushrooms and sauteeing them with the leftover stuffing mixture from Friday and some pasta sauce.  It looked like burger (tasted a bit like it too).  Come to think of it, it would make a pretty good sloppy-joe mixture.  Mostly I was just trying to use up the leftovers in the fridge, as I plan to go shopping tomorrow.

Last night I made this smoothie for Todd and Carly and I:

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Strawberry Pineapple Smoothie
1 lb frozen strawberries
1 cup fresh strawberries
1/2 - 1 cup soymilk
1/2 a can of pineapple chunks, including liquid
5 pitted dates

Puree in a blender until smooth.
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Seriously good news about my seriously old pants...

So I have avoided the scale since the end of my juice fast.  It only makes sense that once I started eating again, some of the weight I lost will have come back.  I just haven't wanted to start second-guessing my nutritarian diet if that ends up being more weight than I expected.  I truly believe that once I master this new diet style, my weight will start to go down again, but I don't know how long that will take and I don't want to get discouraged just when I'm getting my sea legs.

Keeping this in mind, when I was getting dressed for church this morning, I went to put on the slacks I wore last time I went to church (which was a few weeks ago), and they were WAY too big.  So I went rifling through my closet, looking for some pants that might be smaller, and I came across these beautiful pin-stripe pants I had bought as part of my teaching uniform the summer before I got pregnant with Carly, when I had lost 30 pounds on raw food.  And they fit.  I mean, I haven't worn these pants in five years!  What a happy day!

The stuffed vegetables have been a big hit, even with Todd, and that's saying something!  It's too bad they take such a long time to make.

First non-vegan dish

Tonight I made Dijon Chicken for dinner -- my first non-vegan dish since February.  I'm going to keep animal products to 2 servings per week.  This one was delicious -- even the girls ate it right up.  Basically, it's chicken breast marinaded in lime juice, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic.

busy Friday

Tami, Steve and their two boys came over for lunch today.  They're signing papers on the house this afternoon!

For lunch I made Garden Stuffed Vegetables, basically stuffed peppers, zucchini and portobello mushrooms with a filling of lentils, quinoa, raisins and a whole lot of diced and sauteed vegetables, and a little pasta sauce on the top.  They were very good!  Everybody enjoyed them, even the kids.  Carly herself nearly finished an entire portobello.  I also made a large salad, steamed peas, and some Spanish rice.  The only downside is that it took me about 2 hours to make this lunch!

Eventually I will have time to post the recipe for the stuffed vegetables.... Probably not today, though.  It took me over an hour just to clean up the kitchen after lunch, and now Tara's nearly done with her nap, and when Todd gets home from work, he wants to go to the zoo...and I still have to make the sweet potato pudding for tomorrow's lunch... the potatoes are in the oven right now.  And I'm currently watching Nathan and Matthew while their parents are at the real estate offices.  I popped in a SuperWhy video for them and they're being pretty quiet.  Oh, and I need to do some more laundry.  Yikes!

Simple Meal Planner

So I've decided to put together a few ideas for a simple meal plan -- what you can do that requires little or no cooking, and still be healthy. 

Tips:

• Make a double-portion of salad (without dressing) when you eat at home -- then save the leftovers in a plastic container (empty Mixed Greens packages work well) for eating when you're out.
• Make a very large pot of soup on the weekends -- if your pot is big enough, you can make enough to last the whole week.
• Aim to eat 3 servings of fruit at breakfast and one more at lunch and dinner each.
• For convenience' sake, I have assigned Lunch as the "eating out" meal and Dinner as the "eating at home" meal, but of course it doesn't have to be that way.  If you eat two meals out some days, you can have two "lunches."  Why not?
• This Meal Planner includes one Dinner option that is not vegetarian.  A strict vegetarian substitute could be pre-packedged stir-fry vegetables, sauteed in a little low-sodium soy sauce and olive oil, served on instant brown rice instead.  However, the nutritarian lifestyle does allow 2 servings of animal products a week.
• Feel free to use store-bought salad dressings, hummus, or guacamole, but try to find ones that have less than 200mg of sodium per serving.
• If you find you're stll hungry after one of these meals, make bigger salads!

Okay, so here are 3 Sample Menu days -- feel free to rotate through them or mix them up.

Day 1
Breakfast: Quick Oats cooked with dried fruit or berries
                 2 fresh fruits
Lunch (out): Cut-up raw vegetables with hummus or guacamole
                    Lettuce Wraps*
                    Fresh fruit
Dinner (home): Supersalad*
                        Steamed frozen vegetable
                        Fresh fruit

Day 2
Breakfast: 100% fruit juice
                 Whole-grain bread with nut butter and 100% fruit jam
                 Fresh fruit
Lunch (out): Easy Soup*
                   Supersalad*
                   Fresh fruit
Dinner (home): Cut-up raw vegetables with hummus or guacamole
                        Easy Chicken* on instant brown rice
                        Fresh fruit

Day 3
Breakfast: V-8 or similar 100% vegetable juice
                 Easy Fruit Salad*
                 1/4 cup nuts or seeds
Lunch (out): Whole grain tortilla spread with hummus and stuffed with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber
                    Supersalad*
                    Fresh fruit
Dinner (home): Green salad with cut-up fruit, dried fruit, nuts or seeds, and a fruit vinegarette
                        Easy Soup*
                        Steamed frozen vegetable

Recipes:
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Lettuce Wraps
Mash canned beans and avocado together with a fork.  Mix in chopped vegetables such as bell pepper, green onion and tomato, a little lemon juice and garlic powder.  Place about 1/4 cup of this filling in the center of each romaine lettuce leaf and roll up like a tortilla. 
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Supersalad
Choose two leafy green lettuces:  spinach, romaine, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, mixed greens, etc.
Add two of the following chopped vegetables: tomato, cucumber, red cabbage, bell pepper, sprouts, etc.
Add one type of canned bean:  chickpeas, black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, etc.
Add one healthy fat:  avocado, almonds, walnuts, cashews, pecans, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, etc.
Top with a healthy dressing!
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Easy Soup
In a very large soup pot, combine 2 pounds of frozen vegetables (any types), 1/2 a cup frozen onions, 8 oz frozen chopped spinach or fresh spinach, 4 cups carrot juice or V-8, 1 cup of water, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can of beans (any type), 1 tsp garlic powder, and 1 Tbsp Mrs. Dash.  Cover and simmer for 1 hour.  Add a little more water if you want a thinner soup.
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Easy Chicken
Sautee 1 chicken breast in a little olive oil, sprinkling on a dash of pepper and lemon juice, or a dash of garlic powder and balsamic vinegar.
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Easy Fruit Salad
Mix 3 cut-up fruits with a dash of cinnamon and a drizzle of honey.
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Another salad dressing

So today I tried another salad dressing -- with some trepidation, I might add, because I've never been a big fan of ginger or anything peanut-flavored.  Surprisingly, I love this one.  It's fantastic.


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Orange Peanut Dressing


In a blender, puree together:


1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp almost butter
1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp ginger (powder; you can use the fresh stuff, but that seemed like too much trouble)
1/4 tsp garlic


It takes all of 30 seconds to put this together, and it makes, oh, probably a cup of dressing.


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For dinner tonight I had a huge helping of salad with this dressing, another large bowl of leftover soup, and an apple.  I'm always stuffed at the end of meals these days.  Rachelle, darling, you have no idea how large these salads are.  I'm definately not depriving myself!

Chard recipe

Okay, so here's what I made yesterday -- it's a kind of seasoned vegetable dish.


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Chard and Vegetable Medley


Place the following ingredients in a large soup pot with 1/4 cup water:


4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 Tbsp no-salt seasoning (I used Mrs. Dash's onion and garlic)
1 tsp Nu-Salt (or similar)
4 yellow squash, 1/2" slices


Simmer about 3 minutes.


Add the following ingredients, along with another 1/4 cup water:


2 bunches Swiss chard, red and green parts, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half


Cover and simmer about 12 minutes.  Drain the liquid into a smaller pot.  Add 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar to the cooking liquid and boil together until thick and syrupy.  I think that took 10-15 minutes.  Poor syrupy liquid over vegetables.


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My mother-in-law is always looking for new ways to cook greens, since Todd's dad doesn't particularly like them!  This was very delicious.

What's a girl gotta do to get a few comments?

Todd's parents came over yesterday for lunch, and spent the night, so Todd and I could drive to Detroit and watch a couple of international soccer games.  The second one was U.S. vs Canada.... sooo much fun.  We won, 2 to 0.  I haven't had such a great time in ages!  Got home at 12:30am and slept on the living room couch -- we had offered up our room in exchange for free babysitting, but honestly, it was so hot upstairs that I think we got the better deal :)


For breakfast I had some pineapple and honeydew melon.  For lunch I made a wrap -- I got out a whole-grain tortilla, mixed up some of my homemade guacamole with hummus for the spread, then filled it with lettuce, tomato and cucumber.  Very yummy.  For Todd and Carly I added a slice of cheese each.  Then I had a bunch of leftover salad with a little steamed corn on top, with the last of the orange-cashew dressing. 


 I'm a little frustrated about my inability to eat as much salad as I think I should -- I make the "proper" size salad described in Eat for Health, and it takes me at least 2 meals to finish it!  The same goes for the soups.  That bean/vegetable soup I made last week was supposed to be 10 servings; so far, with help from Todd's parents yesterday, we've gone through 8 "servings" and I'd say there's about 8 more servings still in the freezer.  I keep telling myself that if I could just get through enough soup/salad, I would be able to avoid those late afternoon/early evening cravings for unhealthy food that always hit me.


Yesterday I made something very yummy with Swiss chard.  I should remember to post the recipe later.

"Don't change a thing!"

This morning for breakfast I had oatmeal with soymilk and fruit.

For lunch I had the remains of last night's salad, some leftover soup, and a peach.  That soup is VERY filling!  I can't figure out why -- it's mostly vegetables.  Todd had some after work last night.  Our conversation went something like this:

(Todd) This soup is good!  It's really spicy, though.

(Me) Yeah, I know.  I think I'll use less spice when I make it next time.

(Todd) No!  Don't change a thing!  It's perfect!

So, now, instead of having made enough soup to last me 2 weeks, it'll probably last 3 days, since Todd adores it.  Here's the recipe I used:

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Speedy Vegetables and Beans Soup (Serves 10 very hungry people who don't plan to eat anything else)

1 pound frozen stir fry vegetables
1 pound frozen broccoli
1 pound frozen mixed vegetables
1 pound frozen spinach
2 cups frozen corn
1 cup frozen onions
7 cups carrot juice (I actually had only 6 1/2 cups of carrot juice, so I added an extra half cup of water)
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups sun-dried tomatoes, cut in half
1 cup canned black-eyed peas, with a little bean liquid
1 cup canned red beans, with a little bean liquid
3 cups cooked lentils (you can use canned lentils if you find them; I couldn't, so I just made my own)
4 cloves garlic, diced
1/4 cup no-salt seasoning (I used Mrs. Dash's table blend, and regardless of what Todd said, I will probably cut this down to 3 Tbsp next time)
1 Tbsp Nu-Salt
2 tsp chili powder

Put everything in a large pot (I had to use 2 large pots, actually) and simmer 1 hour.  This soup is quite thick, so if you like a thinner soup, add extra water half-way through the cooking time (I didn't).

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The orange cashew dressing is very good, but as I guessed yesterady, you really can use 1/2 a cup at a time, because it's so mild.  It's a good thing I like the taste of greens since my juice fast, because otherwise this dressing would not go far enough to disguise the taste of the salad (which I think is the real purpose of most commercial salad dressings)

Tonight for dinner I think I'll have the leftover kale I made yesterday, and a large green salad with fruit in it, instead of vegetables.

Good news, cashews

Today I wanted to try a couple of recipes that call for cashews to be whipped up in a "high powered blender."  For the uninitiated, this means a VitaMix, or similar, which costs something like $350.  We can't afford that, and Todd probably wouldn't allow it even if we could.  Now, I think it would be alright to use cashew butter in place of the cashews in the recipe, but a) I wouldn't be certain of the proper amount of cashew butter to use and b) Our supermarket doesn't carry cashew butter anyway, just almond butter.  Now in a pinch I suppose almond butter would do, but the taste would definately be off, so I tried something else first, which worked marvelously.  I soaked the cashews overnight in a bowl of water.  Eureka!  My standard, $30 blender pureed the softened nuts just fine.

Okay, so what is up with these Fuhrman recipes?  "Serves 2", "Serves 4", etc.  Is he crazy?  I've found those serving sizes to be waaaaay too big.  I mean, I made some Garbanzo Guacamole this morning, supposedly 2 servings, but I swear "Serves 20" would be closer to accurate.  I'm not joking.  On the other hand, I wasn't crazy about it.  I think it was the green onions; I'd probably try to use 1/3 of the recommended onions next time.  It was just too spicy.  If I ever manage to get the recipe to my liking, I'll post it here.

One thing that was to my liking was the kale.  Considering that kale is probably the healthiest food on the planet, it's nice to know a tasty way to prepare it.

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California Creamed Kale Serves 4 (or possibly 14 -- well, just kidding)

2 bunches kale, leaves cut off the stems, chopped, and steamed 15-20 minutes until soft (you wil need a BIG pot)

Sauce:
1 cup cashews, 1 cup soymilk, 1/4 cup onion flakes, 1 Tbsp no-salt seasoning (I used Mrs. Dash's onion and garlic)

Blend the sauce ingredients together in a blender.  After steaming the kale, press it with a paper towel in a colander to squeeze out excess water.  In a serving bowl, mix the kale and sauce together.

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So, for lunch today I had lots of raw veggies (cucumber, baby carrots, red bell pepper) with the guacamole I mentioned earlier, some creamed kale, and a peach.  Very full now -- not painfully so, but yeah, I'm definately not hungry.

Tonight for dinner I'm going to make a very, very large bowl of soup, a very, very large salad, and some Cashew Orange Dressing.  Actually, I made the dressing this morning.  It tasted good, but a bit mild to me, and I haven't tried it in salad yet.  Also, the book said "4 servings," but those would have to be servings of perhaps 1/2 cup each!  But, like I said, it is mild, so perhaps that's how much you would use?  It was a piece of cake to make.

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Orange Cashew Dressing Serves 4 (if all 4 people are eating gigantic salads, and love this dressing)

Puree together in a blender: 2 oranges, 1/3 cup cashews, 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, and 1/2 tsp lemon juice

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I'm finding I have completely overestimated the amount of food I will be eating.  It's not just that my stomach is small; (honestly, I think it's not that small anymore; I'm eating a lot) it's just that I had no idea how big these portions are.  And Note To Self: when you're eating raw veggies as a side, you don't need a whole cucumber, a whole bell pepper, and a huge handful of baby carrots!  :)  Half of that would be plenty.

PBS Special, and an enormous salad

Saw Dr. Fuhrman's 1-hour special on PBS today.  It was so inspiring!  Some of the information was familiar, of course, but it still did me good to hear it again.  I also learned a few new tips, such as a list of the most powerful Superfoods for disease prevention (a couple of them really surprised me!): greens, onions, mushrooms, beans, berries and seeds.

It did me good to remind myself that if I'm getting hungry between meals, it is because I have not satisfied my body's micronutrient need.  I don't need to eat more calories or more calorie-rich foods like the things I still make for my family (today: a cheesy, white-sauce lasagna!).  Once I have satisfied my body's need for micronutriends, I will feel NOTHING between meals.  Yes, right now my stomach is still a little on the small side (although I know I'm stretching it, and it won't be long before it's back to normal), so I'm trying to get myself to the next mealtime with green juice instead of snacks.  I don't even want to eat healthy snacks, like fruits or vegetables, because I really want to be hungry still at meal-time -- I'm getting addicted to how great vegetables taste when I'm truly hungry!

This morning I made some green juice (which I drank between breakfast and lunch) and a large fruit salad of nectarines, fresh pineapple, strawberries, blackberries and a banana.  Mixed in a drizzle of honey and a dash of cinnamon for flavor.  The girls and I only ate about half of it, so I poured in a capful of lemon juice and saved it for lunch.

At lunch I had, oh, maybe 1/4 cup of steamed mixed vegetables (with a very small shake of Mrs. Dash for flavor, yum).  Then I made an absolutely HUGE salad with 8 oz of spinach and mixed greens.  That's a LOT.  I mixed in a few other things -- 1 shredded carrot, a small handful of broccoli sprouts, 1/2 cup rinsed pinto beans, and 1/4 cup chopped pecans.  The extras were almost "cosmetic" because the greens were still 90% of the salad.  For comparison, imagine a normal "dinner" salad at a steakhouse (not a side salad, but a regular "this is my meal" salad) then triple it.  I really didn't have much hope of finishing it, and in truth I did not; but surprisingly, I was able to eat about 2/3 of it.  I haven't gotten around to making any of Dr. Fuhrman's healthy dressings yet -- I think I'll try one tomorrow -- so I found some vegan Vidallia Onion dressing in the fridge that was fairly low sodium (115mg per serving), even though it had corn syrup in it.  I found I didn't need to use as much dressing as I normally would have; for one thing, I'm actually enjoying the taste of greens, not disguising them, and for another, my taste buds are still quite sensitive.  So, the total calories in my enormous salad were around 350.  For dessert I had some of the leftover fruit salad from breakfast -- proably no more than 1/2 cup after my family had finished with it!

After eating this meal, I feel just great.  I'm pleasantly full, and actually.... happy.  It makes me feel good to do something that is so good for my body, and to actually enjoy eating it as much as I did.  I didn't even touch the lasagna I made for everyone else, and I don't feel in the slightest sorry for myself or deprived!

I've decided I really need to eat big salads at most meals -- I just feel sooo fantastic after eating them!  They really fill me up and lessen my cravings for unhealthy foods.  Also, I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I ENJOY eating salad when I'm really hungry.

I'm doing better at refusing to snack while I cook as well.  That is a BIG pitfall for me, because if I eat even a bite or two while cooking, it's likely to be of the calorie-rich stuff I'm making for my family, which drives me to crave it MORE and enjoy my healthy food less.  Also, it takes the edge off my hunger, which in turn takes the edge off my enjoyment of my vegetable-rich meal.  I've been finding the meals that I enjoy the most, eat the healthiest, and feel the greatest afterwards are the ones where I didn't snack AT ALL while cooking.

Oh me, oh my -- broccoli!

For breakfast I had 1/4 of a canteloupe and a tall glass of water.  It doesn't sound like much, I know, but my stomach is still really small and that's enough to fill me up.

For lunch, Todd took us to Logans, his restaurant.  I had some green juice that I had made this morning, a handful of peanuts (peanuts at Logans are like tortilla chips at a mexican joint) a few bites of Carly's broccoli, a grilled vegetable kabob (a few pices of mushroom, onion, tomato, and zucchini basted in Italian dressing) and a salad of romaine, tomato, craisins, chopped walnuts and balsamic dressing.  I ate very slowly and didn't start to feel full until the very end.  The food was exquisite -- especially the broccoli.  Plain, steamed broccoli.  My taste buds are very sensitive since the juice fast, and vegetables taste sooooo good to me when I'm hungry.  I did get hungry before lunch but amazingly, it didn't cause me to panic.  I knew we were going to Logans and I knew I would enjoy the food more if I were hungry.

Todd ate a steak, both girls had macaroni and cheese and white rolls with butter, and those things didn't even tempt me!  I really, really enjoyed the mostly-vegetable lunch I had, and now I feel full and satisfied.  And happy. 

For dinner tonight, I plan on eating some cherry tomatoes, steamed corn, and some fruit.  Oh, I also made some pineapple juice that I can have at dinner time.

Transition day 2 -- or Where's the Hummus?

Had soaked raisins, a peach, and a banana for breakfast.

Fruit salad and steamed vegetables for lunch.

Craving hummus like mad.  Talked about it with Vicki, and thought that perhaps my body is needing a couple of amino acids that are missing from my standard juice veggies.  It's not that I haven't been getting enough protein; it might be that the protein source (the same 8 or 9 vegetables every day) is not a complete one, and I haven't been eating nuts/seeds/beans/grains to complement it.

Could also be a salt thing, but I hope not.  I really don't want to go down that road again.  After 3 months of very, very low sodium, I was hoping not to have to battle the salt addiction as I implement a nutritarian diet.  Basically, the idea is to never eat anything that has more than 200mg of sodium per serving.  I believe the hummus in our fridge has.... 170mg.  Which is fine, unless I eat the whole tub in a day!  Wish I could say that's not possible, but the way I've been feeling about hummus lately -- it's indescribable.  I'm not hungry AT ALL, and yet my mouth is watering as I'm sitting here at the computer, just thinking about hummus.

So, in a nutshell, here are a few of the guidelines of a nutritarian diet:

• 90% of my calories should come from vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains, with the emphasis on vegetables, vegetables and more vegetables.
• A daily menu should include at least 5 servings of fruits, 1 or 2 enormous salads, 1 or 2 servings of beans, at least one pound of raw vegetables (in salads or eaten by themselves), and 1 serving of whole grains.
• As much as possible, I should move away from oils and towards natural fats such as nuts, seeds, and avacados.
• The taboo foods are: butter, cheese, added salt, red meat, processed meat, white sugar and white flour.  These should be excluded completely or eaten very, very rarely (i.e. once a year!)
• I should stop eating when I'm about 80% full; satisfied but not uncomforable.
• If I'm not hungry at mealtime, I should skip it.  If this happens regularly, I must learn to eat less at meals.  Hunger before meals is a thing to be desired.  It makes vegetables taste so much better!
• I should never add salt to any of my foods when cooking; and I should avoid eating processed/canned foods with more than 200mg of sodium per serving.

There are probably more principles I've forgotten, but this gives a good overview.

First day of the transition

Today is the first day of eating since, well, February!  I'm starting slow....This morning for breakfast I ate some raisins that had soaked all night in a bowl of water - very soft, and easy to digest.  I had, oh, probably a quarter cup of them, and felt full.

I'm still juicing, of course, it's just that drinking the juice is more like an event now, rather than a continuous transfusion.  I'm trying to get back to the "mealtime" mentality; gauging my hunger and estimating how much I need to consume to fill up.  I know my stomach has shrunk to the size of a pea during this juice fast -- but the last thing I need is to start snacking every waking minute now that I'm going back to food.

I need to change my relationship to hunger.  It is no cause for panic.  It is good.  Acheiving hunger before a meal makes food taste better -- even plain vegetables!  And it means I didn't overeat at the last meal! 

By lunchtime I was hungry again, so I had some more raisins with my juice.  Then, since I was serving fresh cherries to my family, I ate a few.  Probably no more than 10.  That's all it took to feel full.

No indigestion yet, no stomach cramps.  My stomach feels heavy, though -- well, what can I expect after 3 months of nothing but juice?  It's not as uncomfortable as I expected.  I'm a little sleepy.