Are You Interested or Committed?

The distinction between interest and commitment is what I believe separates people who are able to reach their health goals and those who do not. I have avoided talking about this for a while because I knew that those who haven’t yet made it to commitment may find my comments to be upsetting. Since I don’t like to upset people I avoided this topic. However it occurred to me yesterday that by avoiding this topic I was doing exactly what frustrates me when other people do it. How many times have you heard me get upset by doctors who won’t advocate a diet like ours to their patients because they knew the patients wouldn’t do it? Well isn’t my avoiding this topic similar to what those doctors don't do? *sigh* Oh well at least I figured it out eventually.

When you read this please try to do so with an open mind. Ask yourself are you interested or are you committed.  If you fall into the interested category starting thinking about what you can do to move toward commitment. I will be giving you concrete ideas for that during the month of January. However I wanted to introduce the concept now so that we can all be thinking about it for a few days before my “31 Days to Better Health” starts January 1st. *woo hoo*

People often tell me that they would “love to be able to do what we have done” as if relates to our health. They seem to be genuinely interested in our weight loss, Dan’s dramatic drop in cholesterol and blood pressure, and the fact that neither of us seems to pick up colds or flu now. But often in the next breath they usually tell me why they can’t do what we do themselves. It usually goes something like this: “My husband would never eat like you and Dan, I don’t have time to cook, my kids would revolt, and my personal favorite I need to entertain clients for work.” Are all of these true? On some level I am sure they are true. However these are also problems which have solutions. The difference between their life and mine literally comes down to this, they are interested in better health but they are not committed to better health. Let me explain what I mean.

For years I wanted to lose weight and to feel like I did when I was in my 20’s but I had every excuse in the book why it didn’t happen. I would try a new diet at least once a year, frequently more often. As long as I was enjoying the results of this new diet I stuck with it, after all who doesn’t like results? However if I hit a weight plateau I dropped the diet like a hot potato and always returned to my old habits and in short order and my weight was back where it was before I began the diet. The reason I was so quick to go back to my old habits is that I was interested in losing weight, but I was not committed to improving my health. Back in the day I thought that weight loss was synonymous with better health. Isn’t it amazing how far I have come? LOL

However a funny thing happened when I decided that my focus was my health not my weight. Now I had something much bigger in mind. Instead of being interested in a short term result (like weight loss) I saw the big picture and I was committed to achieving the best health that was possible now. Do you see the difference? The things that I do now are just part of my life rather than temporary changes until I reach some arbitrary number on the scale.

Now when I encounter a challenging situation, like going out to dinner with Dan I know that isn’t going to derail my healthy behavior. I have a very simple rule that I follow. I make the best choice that I can in that moment and this changes based on what is available, who I am with and my mood. Let’s look at dinner on Monday night as an example so you see what I mean.

Dan wanted to go out to dinner and having the night off from kitchen duty sounded very appealing to me so we went out to eat. While I love Asian food (particularly veggie sushi) but I also know that comes with white rice and too much sodium. However I also know that we both enjoy it and that getting pleasure in life is good for the soul. I gently encouraged my hubby to order a veggie dish of napa cabbage, carrots and mushrooms with brown rice which would have been much healthier than the faux duck which was what he really wanted. In the end we went with the faux duck which at least came with a variety of veggies. Since the faux duck in tofu based, and not fried, it wasn’t a bad choice just not the optimal one from a nutritional perspective. However the faux duck made Dan happy and this is also important. In the end our dinner was healthier than what I was seeing people around us order, we both enjoyed it and we left the restaurant feeling satisfied but not stuffed since we split our entree entrée.

Now I am sure some of you are thinking that it is much easier for me to eat this way since my husband goes along with it and yours won’t. I will agree with you that it does make my life a little easier, but I also have a solution to that challenge. If my husband insisted on eating meat I would make dishes that would work for both of us. For example I would make veggie lo mein and add some shrimp or chicken to his portion. What about pasta with tomato veggie sauce for you with meatballs and/or cheese added to his plate? Do you see how that could work? The same things could apply to your children. Another plan would be to find veggie dishes that the entire family likes and work those into your meal rotation. Coexisting with meat eaters doesn’t have to mean two entirely different meals. However you will need to be a little creative until this way of cooking becomes second nature to you. Please know that in a few short weeks you will get the hang of making meals that can be both vegan and omni with a few tweaks. If you need suggestions feel free to ask, I am happy to help.

What about the "I don’t have time to cook problem"? If you aren’t willing to make time to cook what that tells me is that you aren’t committed to your health. We all have to eat, it isn’t an optional activity. When we buy packaged food or take out all the time we have given the task of feeding us over to someone whose motivation is to make money. These people are not interested in our health they are interested in their profits. They prepare what sells, and what sells is food that is harming all of us. As you can tell I really don’t think anyone can be optimally healthy unless they are willing to get into the kitchen and prepare the vast majority of their meals. Sure if you have a big pile of money you can hire a personal chef, eat a lot of salads with the dressing on the side, or spend a lot of time at your local juice bar. But for most people that is going to be cost prohibitive and other than the personal chef it is going to be more time consuming than getting into the kitchen to cook.

You may think that I spend a lot of time cooking but I actually don’t. Every other day I pressure cook 2 cups of dried beans. Those beans are used to make soup and some of them are saved to add to salads. While the beans are cooking I typically make some sort of whole grain to either add to the soup, salad or to serve under cooked veggies for a main dish. While the beans and whole grains are cooking I am often roasting mushrooms and onions to add to our salads since mushrooms and onions are so healthy. We either have green smoothies or oatmeal for breakfast, a soup or veggie and grain entrée for lunch, and frequently a salad for dinner. I spend on average 30 minutes cooking per day or less. Can’t we all find 30 minutes to spend in the kitchen cooking healthy food for ourselves and our families?

In my mind the difference between being interested and committing comes down to “would you like to be healthy, or are you going to be healthy”. Dan and I don’t want to be as healthy as we can be; we are going to be as healthy as we can be! The difference between interest and commitment is literally all in our minds and our attitudes. Any of us can achieve our best health possible if that is what we decide is most important. So, are you ready to commit to having your healthiest year ever? I hope so! :-)

Tuesday:

Today we were back to our usual routine. *sigh* My morning was spent making breakfast for Dan (a big chocolate cherry and kale smoothie), packing his lunch (split pea soup, salad, roasted seaweed, Brazil nuts, and dried Asian pears), and making green tea with grapefruit and cinnamon for us both.

I had planned to get outside early in the morning to get my cardio in before the rain started but the weather people were wrong. It was raining by a little after 9am so cardio had to be inside affair today. I really prefer exercising outside, even when it is cold, but cold rain is enough to keep my inside. Thank goodness we have exercise equipment at home so I don’t need to run to the gym on days like this.

Once Dan left for work I did my morning reading in “The Book of Awakening”, checked in with some friends by text and started cleaning. Wow … do I have a lot of cleaning to do. Things really get backed up when you just skim the surface for a month. I don’t know why my cats aren’t bald given all the cat hair I have to clean up. ;-) I am not sure that I am going to be finished by Friday afternoon but that is still my goal.

I started another batch of pizza nuts in the dehydrator. This time I added ground flaxseed to the mix to see what that does to the texture of the finished nuts. I know it will add nutrition so I am hoping we like what it is does to the coating. *fingers crossed*

It became very clear to me that I had too much dinner Monday night when I didn’t get hungry for breakfast until almost 11am. I made a pot of quinoa (some for my breakfast and leftovers for tomorrow) and topped that with a Mexican-spiced red bean and tomato soup. After breakfast it was back to cleaning. This is the going to be the story of my life this week.

I also made time to listen to some audio recordings on nutrition and health while I cleaned. You probably guessed that I am prone to multitasking didn’t you? ;-)

So that I wasn’t wasting time I also starting soaking some dried mushrooms during the afternoon so that they would be ready to make a nice mushroom sauce as part of dinner tonight. Dried mushrooms are very handy to have because they are easy to rehydrate and don’t require any attention while they are doing so. I love low maintenance food. While I haven’t mentioned it recently I do make it a point to consume mushrooms often, and preferably every day. Mushrooms are not only delicious and low in calories but they help to stimulate the immune system. Also they are wonderful cooked and added cold to salad, or incorporated into hot dishes.

Our friend Louis bought us some wonderful fresh Italian truffles for Christmas. Louis knows that I adore truffles and since they are available this time of you he splurges in the spirit of the holiday season. For dinner I made a mushroom sauce of the dried mushrooms, the mushroom soaking liquid, ground walnuts, onions, nutritional yeast and just enough arrowroot to tighten the sauce. I served this over cauliflower and a little quinoa and topped it with shavings of fresh truffle. Heaven! Thanks Louis. :-)

After dinner Dan wanted to watch a movie which is why I didn’t get this post up last night. It was probably for the best since having extra time is the reason that I added the section on interested or committed to this post.

Happy Thoughts:

Life Tuesday was very odd with the all day rain and being home by myself for the first time in a month. The house was beyond very quiet. However being by myself also meant that I was able to focus on getting some things accomplished which makes me happy.

• It was nice to have some time to check in on my friends by text. A few of my friends aren’t feeling well so I wanted to make certain that they knew I cared. It is always good to let those you are important to you know that. As my grandmother used to say if you want more love in your life you need to be more loving to others. My grandmother was a wise woman wasn’t she? ;-)

• I am very excited to see how my revised pizza nuts turn out with the addition of ground flaxseeds. I am hopeful that this nutritionally improved version will be just as good as the original. *fingers crossed*

• Today I have been thinking a lot about my intentions for 2012. I have a number of areas that I want to improve next year. I prefer to think of my plans as intentions rather than resolutions since those never seem to come to pass. I have some exciting plans for the year (well I think they are exciting) which I will be sharing with you. :-) Have you starting thinking about your plans for next year?

• I believe in coincidence/premonition. Out of the blue I decided to check my library account to make certain the dozen items I returned Monday night were off my account and for the first time ever one of them was still there. I called the library right away; they located the item, apologized and removed it from my account. What made me confirm the books were all properly recorded as returned I have no idea. It wasn’t as though this had ever happened before. Isn’t it odd how these little coincidences creep into our lives? I wish I knew how and why they happened. But it is a good reminder to me that life isn’t always just the things we see and understand. ;-)

• We had a delicious dinner at home last night with fresh truffles which was such a treat. Since we don’t have truffles at home often I really relish them when we have them. You are the best Louis. :-)

• After dinner we watched an older movie “Big Night” which is about two Italian brothers who come to America to open a restaurant. If you know about Italian culture you will enjoy this movie. When one of the brothers calls a customer a criminal for ordering risotto with a side of pasta I could not stop laughing. We thought it was a good movie, but we also understood why most people wouldn’t enjoy it.

• I am very excited about my “31 Days to Better Health” which will start January first. I have been working on the topics for a few days and I think it is going to be a great month for all of us. I hope many of you will be in the mood to join me in making some healthy changes next month. We will be working on defining success, setting goals, changing our attitudes about food and other fun things. Of course there will also be healthy food in our month too.

Signing out:

What a great Wednesday so far! I have been very productive so far today which always feels wonderful. While I miss having my hubby at home I am also enjoying crossing items off my to-do list. I have really been enjoying working on my month of posts for January which I am going to get back to now. I hope your week is going well and that you are looking forward to another long holiday weekend. Let’s all make 2012 our happiest and healthiest year yet. :-)  If you have any suggestions on areas we should work on next month please either comment here or send me an email. Talk with you again tomorrow!

Healthy Chocolate and Peanut Butter Spread….Oh My!

So that the title of this post and the accompanying picture coincide I thought I would start of telling you about my latest “creation”. It seems like an oxymoron to say that chocolate and peanut butter could be healthy doesn’t it? If I hadn’t made it myself I would be skeptical too. But I promise you this isn’t bad for and it is also tasty.

December was a tough month emotionally. Even I am not immune to feeling down on occasion. When bad things happen which I can’t immediately figure out how to deal I often crave comfort foods, I am after all only human. However what is different about this for me now is that while I crave these unhealthy foods I also recognize what is happening and then I start trying to figure out how to satisfy my emotional need without doing something that I will regret later.

Since I have been experimenting with a lot of hummus variations, both sweet and savory lately, that was part of the inspiration for this recipe. I took the concept of sweet hummus and married it with the concept of black bean brownies and added peanut butter to the mix and voila, a healthy chocolate and peanut butter flavored spread.

I made this once, not long after surgery, and didn’t measure. However I wanted to introduce the idea of it now before I forget what I did. This isn’t something that requires a recipe though the next time I make it I will measure so I can share the details. All you need to do is cook black beans until they are very soft. Place the hot drained beans in your food processor or Vitamix machine (I used my Vitamix). Add enough of the bean cooking liquid to make a creamy base. Now add some peanut butter (I used my homemade reduced-fat peanut butter) to the processor and mix to combine. Add cocoa powder and stevia to taste. That is all there is too this. If you can make hummus you can make this.

The dish pictured above is cucumber slices with the chocolate peanut black bean spread and little reduced-fat peanut butter on the side, because you really never can have too much peanut butter in my opinion. Not to mention that I liked the look of the two colors together. LOL

Our Last Day of Togetherness in December:

Boo hoo, today (Monday) is the last day of 24/7 togetherness for Dan and I this month. Tomorrow Dan returns to work and I return to my usual routine. Can you tell that a big part of me isn’t looking forward to this? ;-) We decided to take it easy today and rest up for the return to “normal life”.

As usual I started my morning reading the current passage in “The Book of Awakenings”. This passage was very meaningful for me today so I wanted to share the concept with you to give you an idea of what types of things are in the book. Here is a sample of the passage:

“Our crucial task when in pain or despair is not to let the sour feelings spill into everything, so that they stain our sense of the world….Our inner work is often most demanding when we are sad and afraid, for we can so easily be overwhelmed by the power of these emotions that we can start to believe that world less possible or ourselves diminished.”

When I read this I was immediately struck by a conversation that I had with a friend on Christmas Eve. My friend hurt her back and was in pain. Her husband was working and she was alone and miserable. She told me multiple times that this was the worst Christmas ever and that she couldn’t imagine it being any worse. I tried to get her to look at what was right in her world so that she didn’t concentrate on what was wrong and make herself feel worse. I reminded her that her husband loved her, and that her condition was temporary. However my friend told me that she wanted to wallow and feel sorry for herself so in the end I backed off.

I believe that everything which happens in life does so for a reason. Experiences are here to teach us things if we are open to the lessons they bring. How we process what happens to us in life has more to do with our outlook on life than the situation itself. Take my life for example. It would be very easy to focus on what is wrong and ignore the good. Most people don’t see the bright side of cancer, but it is there if only you look for it.

If it had not been for cancer neither of us (Dan or myself) would have been as willing to make such dramatic lifestyle changes. Also had it not been for the cancer I would not have embarked on a journey to learn everything that I could about what we could do to be as healthy as possible. Once I “knew” the truth about nutrition and health it became my passion and something that I felt like I needed to share with others so that hopefully they could avoid the same situation that we have had to deal with. In the end cancer was not all bad for us. Don’t get me wrong I would never say that I am glad that cancer entered our life, but what I am saying is that if I can find something positive about cancer I feel like any situation has some gift to share with us if we are open to it.

What about you, how do you deal with problems in your life? When something terrible happens how do you react? My immediate reaction to problems now is to jump in and learn everything that can about the issue at hand. Once I feel like I know the basics then I feel like I can make a positive impact on the situation which gives me the feeling of some level of control. If I had hurt my back and been discharged from the hospital while my husband was at another hospital working I would have taken the opportunity to do some research into my situation. By the time my husband came home I would have taught myself the basics of the situation and would have tons of questions for him. Would you have approached the situation like that or would you have done something else?

When bad things happen to you how do you pull yourself out depression or isn’t that an issue for you? I find that when I am researching topics (like cancer) it allows me to think of it (the cancer) in the abstract. By thinking of the disease in general I frequently forget that it is more personal than that. Also my “sense” of control over the situation means that I am more optimistic. Did you know that there are many studies that indicate that a patient’s attitude is correlated with better health outcomes? This was something that I knew nothing about until I embarked on my research project (which is what my husband calls my health and nutrition obsession).

Okay enough questions about life let’s get back to the food. ;-)

Breakfast this morning was a simple bowl of steel cut oats, sliced banana, homemade almond milk and a little homemade no-oil, no-sugar granola on top for crunch and nutrition. Dan loves oatmeal for breakfast so I like to oblige when I have time to make it. I wish that he would eat savory oatmeal (since it is much higher in nutrition) for breakfast, but I guess I shouldn’t complain since his diet is SO much healthier than the average American male. Sometimes I need to remind myself of how good he is when it comes to his food habits. ;-)

Lunch was a bowl of split pea and barley soup that I made quickly in the pressure cooker. I use my pressure cooker almost exclusively now when I am preparing beans. It is hard for me to believe that I used to be afraid of pressure cookers. Fortunately I worked up the courage to use mine. Now I am not sure I could eat like we do without it. If you eat a lot of beans and you don’t have a pressure cooker I highly recommend them. I think you will be very pleased by how simple and safe they are to use now. Today’s pressure cookers are nothing like the ones our mothers and grandmothers used. If you need any suggestions on what to look for when buying one please ask. I am happy to share what I have learned using mine.

After lunch it was time to run errands. Like usual we had things to do which we had been putting off all week. After a quick trip to the library to return books we headed to Hunt Valley because Dan wanted to stop at Wegman’s. Since I love grocery shopping (because I am weird like that) I was all for it. I picked up some dried organic beans (you can never have too many IMO), organic low-sugar unsulfured dried fruit, organic raw cashews, cauliflower (love my cruciferous veggies) and argan oil for my hair.

While we were standing in line I couldn’t help but notice what was on the convey belt behind us. *sigh* This young couple (okay not really young but younger than us which isn’t saying much) had the following items: cream cheese, port wine cheese spread, a block of something that looked like cheddar, cocktail sausages, water crackers, Diet Dr. Pepper and chocolates. As I looked at their food I could not help but notice that not only was there no nutrition in their cart but everything was literally toxic. I find it so depressing that people seem to be oblivious to the healthfulness or lack of healthfulness in the food they are consuming. In my perfect world everyone would at least understand the ramifications of their choices on their health. Who knows maybe one day our educational system will actually teach nutrition and not the BS that is currently taught based on studies funded by the dairy council, pork producers, etc. *ugh*

When we were leaving Wegman’s Dan decided that we should stop at Jesse Wong’s for a little veggie sushi. He said it would be more relaxing for me since they would be no prep or kitchen clean up. I protested his idea for at least half a second and then gave in. After all who really likes to clean up the kitchen after dinner? No me that is for sure.

We started our meal with a pot of green tea because you really can never have too much of that stuff in my opinion. Dinner was two orders of veggie sushi (shitake and asparagus) and edamame (which I forgot to photograph). How long have I been blogging? LOL

As you all know Dan’s loves the faux duck at Jesse Wong’s so he really wanted to order that for dinner. I tried to convince him to try something new but he likes what he likes if you know what I mean. It is a guy thing I have decided. He did agree to try the faux duck with mixed vegetables instead of the Hunan faux duck in the interest of being adventurous. ;-) We asked them make the faux duck with mixed vegetables spicy and that was a good decision for extra flavor. If you make it to Jesse Wong’s don’t forget to order your entrée with brown rice. Frequently we forget and have to change that after our entrée has come to the table. However they are always good natured about making the change.

The fur children were all waiting at the front door when we arrived at home. They insist on “investi- cat-ing” all the packages that we bring into the door. I am not sure why they feel the need to check out everything we do. However Dan and I both joke around that it is because they know that they are smarter than we are and therefore they are protecting us from ourselves. With our three little Einstein felines this is not as farfetched as it sounds. ;-)

Happy Thoughts:

December has been a rough month for us but things have definitely turned around. We had a good Christmas and many things to be thankful for such as:

• The weather today was very pleasant. The air was a little crisp but with a light coat and gloves it was a nice day to be outside at the mall. Being outside when there is a little snap in the air always reminds me of being a child and who wouldn’t love that?

• Dinner out this evening was a nice surprise. I always enjoy veggie sushi and spending a little less time on kitchen clean up duty. ;-) Not to mention it was delicious and a very relaxing way to spend the evening.

• I wore my new red sweater and Levi’s tonight for dinner and both of them fit great. Dan did a wonderful job picking clothes out for me. I even had on some of my new jewelry this evening. Somehow wearing a new outfit always makes me smile.

• I was thrilled to find organic argan oil at Wegman’s this evening for my hair. Go Wegman’s! Sometimes it is the little things in life that make me happy.

• Dan told me this evening that he will also be off next Monday. *woo hoo* Don’t you just love four day weeks? I will have to start thinking now of something fun for us to do with his day off. I think a day trip may be in order for us. Now the only question is where to go. Decisions, decisions. ;-)

• Spending every morning reading “The Book of Awakenings” has definitely become a habit for me. I really enjoy that book and it nice to have a little time to myself each morning to get myself in a good frame of mind for my day. If you haven’t seen the book please see if your local library has it. I first found it at my library and enjoyed it so much that I ordered a copy for myself.

• I have been very touched by all the welcome back messages that I have received the last few days. Thank you all so much for your kindness. It really means a lot to me that I was missed. Hugs to you all!

Signing Out:

Tomorrow we get back to the regular grind. *sigh* Dan will be returning to work and it is my job to try to get the house back into some semblance of order. Clearly after taking a month off on the house front I definitely have my work cut out for me. With a little luck the homestead will be presentable by Friday afternoon. *fingers crossed* I wonder if I can convince the fur children to lend me a hand. LOL, fat chance, but it amused me to "say it" out loud.

Talk with you again tomorrow. I hope the holidays are treating you well. :-)

Relaxing Christmas

Nicco says Merry Christmas! Hard to believe has a warning on his medical record at the vet isn’t it? He is 6 pounds of danger kitty that little one. LOL

This is Luca and Massimo that I shot with my new lens. They aren’t thrilled but were more cooperative than normal which was a nice Christmas present for mommy (me).

People often ask us what Christmas is like at our house without little ones. What, fur children don’t count? (just kidding, sort of) This morning I woke up to one of the fur children bouncing in the bed as though they were excited about Christmas. Whose cats act like this? Oh yeah … mine do. LOL

After my “daughter cat” decided to do the tango on my bladder decided it was time to get out of bed and have some quiet time before Dan was awake and moving about. I like to get up first so that I can have a little alone time. Early mornings are my time to enjoy the colors of the sunset, read a little (specifically the daily passage from “The Book of Awakenings) and get my mind in the right frame for a good day. Christmas shouldn’t be any different now should it?

Since the surgeon gave the all clear for exercise we have been starting our day with a quick three miles to get the blood pumping and set the right healthy tone for the day. Today being Christmas that didn’t give us a pass on our healthy habits. However since it was 39 degrees in the morning we did opt to wait until after breakfast to head outside. We didn’t get a white Christmas as you can see, but the neighborhood is still looking festive even without the snow I think.  :-)

Christmas breakfast was a bowl of steel cut oats, topped with homemade almond milk, a little homemade no-sugar and no-oil added granola, and a few dried cherries to our breakfast for nutrition as well as intense flavor.

Our current favorite hot tea is a combination of green and white tea (a double mug) with the juice of 1/8th of the grapefruit squeezed in and a pinch of cinnamon. Both Dan and I really like this combination. I came up with it one morning while considering making us baked grapefruit with cinnamon which turned into tea instead.

I received a few “blog presents” this year for Christmas. The first was a new portrait lens for my camera since I take a lot of close ups of food as you know. I am not sure if you can see the difference but the photo of breakfast was taken with the new lens and I think it worked well. ;-)  Now I have no excuse to use my cell phone camera to take pictures for the blog. Let’s see how long that lasts.

My sweet husband also bought me Dragon Professional to give me more time. Woo hoo I am excited that there will be a lot less typing in my future. You have no idea how happy that makes me. My typing skills are not the best so less typing means more output. LOL

Every year the hubby and I buy each other at least one new Christmas ornament for the tree. This year I got a beautiful crystal train. I always wanted a train set as a child but never got one, now I have my train and it is beautiful and sparkly.

I bought Dan a crystal angel ornament because he is my angel. Sorry, I know we can be a bit much to take for a lot of people. But we really are like this all the time. ;-)  As crazy as it sounds I really do love my husband more today than I did 25 years ago when we met.

In keeping with my obsession with health Dan also bought me a book on anatomy which you know I will be pouring over. I also received jewelry (in addition to the three-stone ring I told you about yesterday), cookbooks, books on health, Dr. Greger’s latest DVD, and Dr. Fuhrman’s Immersion Excursion boxed set of 10 disks. There was also a lovely Shun santoku knife under the tree. It is my first Shun knife so I am thrilled to have it. I received some glassware for taking blog worthy photos, a new tea pot just like they use are our favorite Asian restaurant, green and white tea, scented candles, a calendar based on the Tao, 4 new sweaters, and a few other things. Are you starting to see that there are definite themes to my life? ;-) I guess you would say I am fairly single-minded. LOL

Lunch for us was a big salad which I am sure is no surprise to anyone. This one contained cooked red beans, arugula, salsa, marinated mushrooms, roasted red peppers, artichokes, and raw pumpkin seeds.

Later I made Dan a double smoothie for dinner. I wasn’t hungry but Dan needed the calories. As usual he requested his recent favorite smoothie which includes: frozen banana, frozen cherries, kale, walnuts, cinnamon, cocoa powder, ground flaxseeds, water and a little stevia to taste. This actually tastes like a chocolate cherry shake, no wonder he likes it.

We had stayed up so late Christmas Eve that neither of us got enough rest the yesterday. Instead of trying to push ourselves today we opted to take it easy and turn in early. This really is one of the benefits of being on our own.

Making Dietary Changes:

You will probably not be surprised to hear that this is a frequent topic of conversation between Dan and me. Most of the time I initiate this conversation but Dan is more than willing to discuss it since it has had such a profound impact on his life too.

Going out to dinner is always eye-opening for me. I realize that our diet is different from most Americans but I am always a little surprised when I see how absolutely unhealthy people eat in this country. I tend to look around when we go out to eat because I am always trying to learn how people approach food. My thoughts are the more I know the better my chances are to help people. One person caught my eye last night and really made me think.

When we started on this “crazy whole food plant-based diet” (which is how I referred to it back then) we were just “trying it on for size”. Like many of you who are currently omnivores I really didn’t believe that this diet was sustainable for us. Sure other people could do it, but they didn’t love food the way we did, nor did they have a chef friend who made them delicious and decedent food anytime. How could we possibly keep this up long term? Yes I really did believe that less than a decade ago. However I also knew that things were out of control for us in terms of health and that we needed to try every possible approach. The notion of “moderation” had very obviously not worked. Dan was on medication for his high blood pressure and his doctor was worried about his cholesterol and we both needed to lose weight. We were just going try this “healthy vegan approach” for a little while to see what happened. Secretly I was hoping it would be a bust so I could get back to life as usual.

Okay fast forward to the first week and I have no idea why my husband didn’t kill me. Seriously I was a miserable human being and I wasn’t quiet about my unhappiness. I had no idea what to cook, I missed my traditional foods, I felt horrible and I just wanted to experiment to fail so I could be back to life as I knew it.

By the second week I was starting to figure out what to cook and eat so while I was still unhappy at least I wasn’t floundering around trying to decide what to do. Life was still not great but at least it was getting easier.

However by the end of the first month things had really taken a turn for the positive. Once we had both lost our desire for unhealthy food this “crazy lifestyle” was actually becoming easy. I still wasn’t “in love” with the food but we had both lost weight, Dan’s cholesterol and blood pressure were dramatically down (below normal in fact and he was off medication) and my seasonal allergies had literally disappeared.

It took a few more months before we both lost all cravings for our favorite unhealthy fare but they did ultimately disappear. Thank goodness!

Why am I telling you this? I know that many of you who read my blog are omnivores who want to improve your health based on the email that I receive. It hasn’t been that long since I was one of you. I very plainly remember what it was like to be in your shoes. My addicted brain was convinced that I could not give up meat, cheese, olive oil, sugar, etc. I was absolutely positive that those items had to be “available” or I could not survive. Yes, I really can be that dramatic some time.

Today one of my good friends is flirting with the idea of trying out a vegan diet. However she is worried that she can’t do because she will miss her “favorite foods.” While I realize that this is her addiction talking she doesn’t though hopefully she will eventually. I am not sure how to explain to her that these foods are not her friends and that they are ruining her health and most likely shortening her life. I want to assure any of you who are considering a dramatic dietary change that while it is difficult in the beginning it does get much easier and in the end it will become your new normal but you won’t want to go back to your old way of eating.

This evening Dan and I were talking about people asking him if he missed steak or prime rib and that they seem to be bewildered when he says that he doesn’t. Can you tell these are questions from men? I have to say that I don’t miss animal based food either. The foods that we used to eat just aren’t appealing to either us any longer. We enjoyed them when we used to eat them, but neither of us would eat them now. I never thought I would be someone who could say that and mean it but now I am which I hope shows you what is possible for you too. This lifestyle will become easier and you will feel so incredible that just a few short months that going back to the SAD (standard American diet) won’t be any option.

For those of you who are worried about getting together with friends please don’t be. Dan and I go out to eat probably more often than we should. There is almost always something on the menu that we can eat as is. When there isn’t there is always something that I can see is easy to modify for us. Whenever either of us has asked for a modified menu item (even from chefs that we didn’t know) the kitchen has always been more than happy to accommodate us. Please know that changing your diet doesn’t have to mean that you are stuck at home with no social life. Granted what you make at home will be much healthier for you, but I think we all need social interaction in order to have a healthy, happy and full life.  Man can't live by food alone.

If any of you have also made the change to a diet similar to ours I would love to hear from you. What prompted you to change your diet? Did you jump right in or ease into it? What are some tips or tricks you can share with others to make the transition easier for them. Let’s work together to help others make the change to a health promoting diet.

Happy Thoughts:

It has been a very nice but also a laid back Christmas. This is the first time in the last 30 years (other than when my mother-in-law passed) that I didn’t make a big dinner. I am very surprised by how nice it was to be able to relax on Christmas. If you haven’t tried it I highly recommend it. This might become a new family tradition.

• Dan and I had a nice day together just the two of us (plus the fur children). We watched “A Christmas Story”, talked a lot, got some exercise and fresh air, and just generally goofed out. Overall it was a great day!

• Tomorrow is our last day of 24/7 togetherness and I am already feeling a little sad. I love spending time with my sweetie. Too bad he has to work for living. ;-) On the bright side that will be give more time to get back to my usual routine. My first order of business is to figure out how to use Dragon to facilitate the writing process. I am really looking forward to that. If you know how bad of typist I am you would understand why. LOL

• Both Dan and I are pretty much in love with our current hot tea with pink grapefruit juice and cinnamon. If you aren’t on any medications that interact with grapefruit juice please give it a try. It is very tasty if I do say so myself. Don’t forget that the citrus increases your absorption of the EGCG in the tea, and the cinnamon contains antioxidants. Not only is this delicious but it is good for you too. Love that!  :-)

• So far I am really enjoying the new lens that my sweetie got me for my camera. Considering that I am the photographer in the family he did a wonderful job. I will need to find out which camera store he went to so that I start frequenting the shop. They clearly pointed Dan in the right direction.

Signing out:

Given the inadequate amount of sleep we both got last night we are trying to turn it much earlier tonight. Depending on what we get it into tomorrow you may see a post from or my next one may be Tuesday. However I am trying to get back on a regular schedule with my posts.

I hope you had a fabulous holiday. Talk with you again very soon. I am very curious to hear from those of you who have made the transition to a diet like ours.

Merry Christmas!

 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season so far. Ours has been pretty good so far but very hectic since the medical stuff had us behind before the holiday season really began. However you know us we are choosing to focus on the positive side of life. Being bummed out our wallowing in what was wrong never made us feel any better so we don’t. ;-)

The post surgical appointment was a few days ago and that went well. Life is definitely going to be getting back to “normal” around here very soon. I will need to write a number of posts to fill you in on the highlights. Overall everything is going well and for that we are both very grateful.

Here are few random pictures from our life this month. You will notice there have been many salads, bean soups and a few meals eaten out. If you want any more details on the food items pictured, like what is in them, let me know.

Those of you who are local really should try the faux shrimp at Jesse Wong's in Hunt Valley.  It is frighteningly shrimp-like.  ;-)

Happy thoughts:

I have much to be thankful for this month and here is small sample of it:

• Any surgery you can walk away from is a good one and this was no exception. We are both very pleased with the care at Johns Hopkins and particularly with our surgeon. It is always nice to meet an MD who is not only talented but obviously very caring.

• Additionally we are very fortunate to have the best bunch of friends anyone could ask for. They kept in touch during the process and made sure that we knew how much they care. In the end does anything matter in life more than love? Nothing even comes close in my book.

• It has been wonderful to spend almost a month with my sweetie. We both have loved being together 24/7. Now that the surgeon has given the go ahead to get back to exercising you know how we are spending our mornings don’t you? ;-)  Too bad it was only 45 degrees this morning when we headed out to knock out three miles.  However the chilly air did make our hot tea that much nicer once we got home.  Our new favorite is white tea with a little fresh squeezed grapefruit juice and cinnamon. Delicious!  :-)

• We were able to spend the day with our precious Aimee, and her fiancé Michael, on her 25th birthday. We all had a great time in DC at the museums and then dinner at Jaleo.

• Christmas Eve was spent with the gang at the restaurant. They were doing an Italian Feast of the seven fishes but they made us a spicy garam masala encrusted tofu and veggies and it was delicious as always. It was nice to spend a little time with our other adopted family since Christmas Eve should be spent with family. We picked up a little something for Ian and he seemed to enjoy it which made us happy.

• We heard this evening that Aimee has New Year’s Eve off so we will be seeing her and Michael for dinner and maybe watching the midnight fireworks from the boat. Sounds like a great way to ring in the New Year doesn’t it? Hopefully I can get a few good pictures to share.

• The weather has been very nice this month. It has been nice to have days in the upper 60’s in December. It looks like we are going to have a mild winter. Let’s hope this continues since warmer weather this winter means more sailing time. :-)

• A certain precious husband got me a past, present and future three-stone ring for Christmas which I received at midnight on Christmas Eve. Is it any wonder that I love him? I am one lucky lady. One of the smartest things I ever did was to marry my husband. I think I will keep him. ;-)

• This entire year has gone by so quickly. We have had so many wonderful things happen to us this year. Sometimes it is easy to forget all the good things that happen in life. I hope I can continue to focus on the things that really matter. My life is full of people whom I care for that also cares for me. If that isn’t the definition of a successful life I don’t know what is.

• In the spirit of the holidays I have picked up a few of my favorite things to give away on the blog. I will be telling you about one of them very soon. I think you will enjoy them as much as I do.

Signing out:

I hope you are spending the holidays with people that mean a lot to you. I hope you all enjoy your friends and family now. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow so we should all make the most of every day that we have with those we love.

Happy Holidays and I will talk with you again very soon.

Lemony White Bean and Kale Soup

I haven’t been posting many recipes lately so I thought I should get one on the blog today. Here is the soup that I made for dinner on Saturday.

Lemony White Bean and Kale Soup
Serves 6 – as an entrée

Ingredients:

2 cups dried great northern beans
8 ½ cups water
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, minced (or substitute ¾ tablespoon dried)
approximately ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (depending on how much heat you want)
1 red onion, peeled and finely diced
no-salt seasoning to taste (I used about ½ tablespoon)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ - ¾ cups whole grain soup pasta (I used ½ cup of pasta)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 bunch kale, finely shredded (approximately 6 cups shredded)
2 lemons, zested and juiced

Directions:

Combine the sorted and rinsed dried beans with the water and bay leaves. Pressure cook on high for 25 minutes. Allow the pressure to reduce naturally then add the rosemary, crushed red pepper, red onion, no-salt seasoning and cook until the onion is soft. Now add the pasta and garlic to the soup and cook until the pasta is al dente (mine took 8 minutes). You may need to add more water to the pot before you add the pasta depending on how much evaporated. Turn off the heat and add the kale and stir it into the soup. Add the lemon zest and juice to each serving.

Friday:

Now that the obligatory recipe is out the way let me fill you in on what we have been up to lately. Friday morning started with a quick trip to Tuesday Morning to pick up a space heater for Dan’s man cave, otherwise known as his third floor home office. We don’t normally venture out on Black Friday but a very similar heater to the one we bought for the boat was on sale for 60% of list price so we had to go pick it up.

While we were there a 5 cup rice cooker happened to jump into the cart on us. I picked it up for the boat to facilitate cooking when we are there. As soon as we got home I made some quinoa in the rice cooker to test it out and all systems were a go. Rice cookers can be used to cook not only rice but quinoa, bulgur, millet, steel cut oats, soup or to steam veggies. Not bad for such a compact appliance I thought.

We ended up having a salad for breakfast. I know that is a bit unorthodox but it is filling and nutrient dense so why not?

After a few other errands (which included new glasses for me which I will show up as soon as I get a picture that I like) we stopped to see Ian and the gang for lunch. Fortunately we had made reservations because there were still people waiting to be seated at 2pm. According to Ian to say lunch was busy was an understatement.

Janine knows us well so she started us a pot of green tea before she asked what we wanted to drink. The only question was hot or cold tea not what beverage. Are we predictable or what? ;-)

We ordered a cup and bowl of black bean and tomato soup which I know from experience is always vegan here, and it was. This is my cup of soup.

We had a big salad for breakfast (yes we do often eat salad for breakfast) so we weren’t terribly hungry after the soup. We asked the guys to make us a salad of mixed greens, fruit (they used grapefruit, orange, granny smith apple and pear), drizzle with balsamic glaze and finish with nuts (they used walnuts). Dan and I split this and we were completely content.

Next we went to the marina to get started winterizing the boat. I was nothing more than moral support during this process. I made us hot tea, took pictures of the beautiful day, made notes in the boat maintenance log and changed the music CDs. Dan knows from experience that I am anti-mechanical so he only lets me hand him tools.

By the time we arrived at home it was late (almost 10pm) and I was ravenous. Since there wasn’t much cooked in the refrigerator I decided to make us salad for dinner. This is my idea of fast food which took me literally less than 5 minutes. This salad included: arugula, baby spinach, cooked quinoa from the frig, salsa, marinated mushrooms, roasted peppers and onions from the frig, avocado and no-salt seasoning. Simple, easy, tasty and ready to eat in mere minutes. These are the sorts of things I make when I am ravenous and don’t have much in the way of intentional leftovers.

Happy Thoughts:

I have had a few people ask me why I include the happy thoughts section on the blog and the reason is very simple. It is too easy to focus on the guy who cut you off in traffic, the rude person in the store, or things that are going wrong. However if we focus on the positive things that happen every day it reminds us that life isn’t all bad. I hope by reading my happy thoughts it reminds you to reflect on what went right in your life.

• The weather this weekend was been nothing short of magnificent. Friday we reached 72 degrees and people were eating outside. Saturday and Sunday it was also over 70 degrees. How often does that happen after Thanksgiving?

• My father is healing nicely and now feels comfortable going up and down steps though I am trying to encourage him not to do that much. But he is a man so I am sure you can imagine what has been happening. ;-)

• We were able to get the first Christmas tree up and lit.  This 9 foot spiral topiary tree is old but I still love it. It still needs to be decorated but since the lights take the longest I feel like we made good progress.

• It took three long days to winterize the sailboat but that is done now. Needless to say we are both relieved to have that crossed off our list. It is always good to have one last thing to worry about.

• While we weren’t able to cross off everything on our to-do list we did knock off the critical items. The remaining items can wait until next weekend or beyond.

Signing out:

After a day on the liquid diet I am looking forward to the end of today. If you have time please keep us in your thoughts tomorrow morning. We both appreciate all the prayers, love, light or anything else positive you believe in. I will be back as soon as I can but probably not before this coming weekend. Talk with you again soon. *fingers crossed*