Getting bored with Eat To Live.
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Theendup
Posts: 5
September 25, 2014 ... I stepped on the scales at my doctors office. I'm a 53 year old 5'11", male, stocky my whole life, but fairly active up until I turned 40. The scale read 297. My blood pressure was 188 over 103. I have kidney disease, IGA nephritis. My family and I ate what was considered a "healthy" diet. Lots of whole grains, olive oils, coconut oils, low sugar, and good, clean food. And every one of us was overweight.
I came home and tried to reason things out. I googled "most sucessfull weight loss program" and noted that ETL got a mention. Sometime during that week, Dr. Furhman was on our local public television station, so I bit and ordered a book. Long story short, my wife has dropped 35 lbs, both kids about 25, and myself, 70. Oh yeah, my blood pressure is down to 97 over 63 and my doctor has reduced the Losarten HTCZ dose I was taking from 100/25 milligrams down to just a 25 milligram dose of Losartin.
The diet is great, from a wieght loss standpoint. And blood pressure. We don't have the bucks that it would take to buy things from his website--I home can lots of beans, buy fruits and veggies in bulk to can and freeze. I found the Chef AJ and the Dietician videos, and have incorporated them, but I'm craving salty foods! Bad! I want crispy, crunchy whole wheat toast. And crackers. And chips. I made brownies and fudge from beans and dates and prunes, for when the ladies of the house need chocolate--but they don't crave home made baked tortilla chips and guacamole! The salt substitutes, the acidic juices and vinegars are such a hollow substitute for the salty crunch i crave! Help! Please! I don't want to fall off of the wagon, but food is losing its joy for me.
Breakfast is a smoothie when the days are hot, and steel cut oats when it is cold. I usually throw an apple in the Vitamix with a cinnamon stick, some fresh ginger, fresh ground nutmeg, and some fresh tumeric and water--then that is what I cook the steel cut oats in.
We do a home made brown rice, ahi tuna or shrimp sushi once a week for vitamin b12 and for the iodine. The growing teen 14 year old boy still gets cheese or yogurt three times a week, and the 17 daughter twice a week. The rest of the times we use home made nut milks. Is there a free recipe website focusing on low grain vegan recipes? Most vegan sites are big on oils and whole grains.
We are good on sweets, good on breakfasts, but really needs some rib sticking comfort foods that don't use salt. Life without salt is like watching tv in black and white with the sound turned off!
I came home and tried to reason things out. I googled "most sucessfull weight loss program" and noted that ETL got a mention. Sometime during that week, Dr. Furhman was on our local public television station, so I bit and ordered a book. Long story short, my wife has dropped 35 lbs, both kids about 25, and myself, 70. Oh yeah, my blood pressure is down to 97 over 63 and my doctor has reduced the Losarten HTCZ dose I was taking from 100/25 milligrams down to just a 25 milligram dose of Losartin.
The diet is great, from a wieght loss standpoint. And blood pressure. We don't have the bucks that it would take to buy things from his website--I home can lots of beans, buy fruits and veggies in bulk to can and freeze. I found the Chef AJ and the Dietician videos, and have incorporated them, but I'm craving salty foods! Bad! I want crispy, crunchy whole wheat toast. And crackers. And chips. I made brownies and fudge from beans and dates and prunes, for when the ladies of the house need chocolate--but they don't crave home made baked tortilla chips and guacamole! The salt substitutes, the acidic juices and vinegars are such a hollow substitute for the salty crunch i crave! Help! Please! I don't want to fall off of the wagon, but food is losing its joy for me.
Breakfast is a smoothie when the days are hot, and steel cut oats when it is cold. I usually throw an apple in the Vitamix with a cinnamon stick, some fresh ginger, fresh ground nutmeg, and some fresh tumeric and water--then that is what I cook the steel cut oats in.
We do a home made brown rice, ahi tuna or shrimp sushi once a week for vitamin b12 and for the iodine. The growing teen 14 year old boy still gets cheese or yogurt three times a week, and the 17 daughter twice a week. The rest of the times we use home made nut milks. Is there a free recipe website focusing on low grain vegan recipes? Most vegan sites are big on oils and whole grains.
We are good on sweets, good on breakfasts, but really needs some rib sticking comfort foods that don't use salt. Life without salt is like watching tv in black and white with the sound turned off!
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Hello there, welcome! Congrats to you and your family on your great success with ETL… very impressive! I depend on soups and stews for comfort food. Lentil, split pea, black bean, etc. Some favorite websites for recipes:
plantpoweredkitchen.com/
blog.fatfreevegan.com/ (she has ETL recipes tagged)
lowfatveganchef.com/category/cooked-vegan-recipes/
healthygirlskitchen.com/p/healthy-recipes.html
ohsheglows.com/
Nothing wrong with grains and starchy veggies either. During the weight loss phase Dr. F recommends no more than one serving per day, but I usually eat oatmeal for breakfast and have another grain and/or a starchy veg in the evening. I do avoid grains at lunch because I seem to get more tired in the afternoon if I eat starchy food then.
Also, for a crunchy snack google roasted chickpea recipes. There are tons of them, but this is a good one: plantpoweredkitchen.com/recipes/recipe-tamari-roasted-chickpeas/ You can leave off the oil and salt or use a salt substitute. If you like kale chips they are a crunchy snack. Personally I think they are awful and a waste of good kale, but lots of people love them so I don’t discount them completely. I’m still waiting to see if they grow on me.
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Thank you! I will research them all. It's almost funny how food is more important now than it used to be. When you eat even a healthy version of the SAD, you don't give cooking much thought. But now, cooking is an obsession. I have been using the chickpea/oat flour tortillas and rice flour spring roll wrappers for a salad holder, and have brought lunch to bay, but dinner is still tough. The good thing, with hamburger closing in on $4.50 a pound and chicken hovering around $3.00 per pound, those squash and veggies don't look too bad in price comparison.0
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Congratulations on improving your health and that of your entire family! That's awesome!
I am so impressed!
I haven't gotten bored with ETL but then I don't follow it strictly either. I am actually so excited about creating new foods that I am having a ball and never getting bored.
For some reasonably healthy, filling and nutritarian dinners you might try some of these that we like.
Black bean burgers (all kinds of recipes online), we like ours heavy on the cumin
fast and easy vegetarian tacos....1 bag frozen peas, 1 bag frozen corn, 1 onion chopped up, 1 red pepper chopped up, lots of chopped cilantro, a lot of chopped red cabbage, 1 can of black beans...add lots of cumin for flavor.....mix it all in a bowl in the morning, put in fridge, will thaw by dinner and just scoop it onto tortillas with some siracha mayonnaise or spread avocado on the tortilla. You can substitute any veggie in the mix too.....we have made it with broccoli, avocado.
Last night I made yam pancakes....very simple...boil a bunch of yams until soft, drain and mash like mashed potatoes. Add a chopped onion into the mix. Add whatever spices you might enjoy....we use a toasted spice rub from Napa Valley that is PERFECT for yams....add an egg (or not)....add some ground flax seed (optional, but helps it hold together, can use other flour substitute). Form into patties and fry on both sides until browned. Serve with greek yogurt on top or some alternative to that....YUMMY!
Spaghetti squash with veggies in a tomato sauce is another very very filling dinner.
And for a salty snack...you could do popcorn or do a search for popcorn cauliflower....I haven't made that yet, but people say it's really good!
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oh and my diary is open is you want to look around....I use a lot of cumin, curry and turmeric in our meals for seasoning instead of salt.0
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here is another one you might enjoy.....lentil, corn, green onions, tomato with curry/cumin on romaine lettuce leafs.....we add siracha mayo, which we make with light mayonnaise mixed with garlic chili sauce made by Huy Fong....you could skip the mayo and make an avocado mixed with the chili sauce for the dressing...
http://www.yummi.co/garlic-chili-sauce-s?gclid=CITKr9iowcMCFYVafgodFJYABg
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and since you like sushi you might like this version....it's riced cauliflower as the rice (google riced cauliflower), I put a little rice vinegar in the cauliflower rice so it would stick ...I didn't cook the cauliflower so it would add more texture......then wrap with avocado, red cabbage, salmon, and a little cream cheese. topped with toasted seasme seeds....it was yummy! My first time making sushi too!
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Those are some great looking dishes! Just what I needed to get the imagination flowing!0
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I tinker with all recipes. I omit the salt and oil. I water-sautee almost everything. I don't buy any of Dr. Fuhrman's products except his vitamins. I make some great bean soups that are perfect comfort on a cold day. I use recipes out of Forks Over Knives, Dr. F's cookbook (highly recommend this one), his ETL recipes on-line and in his Eat To Live book and his Eat For Health book. There are still so many veggies I haven't learned to cook yet, but I've already expanded my veggies 3-fold since I started, almost 3 years ago now. I do lots of crock pot recipes, all modified to fit ETL. I've learned to be a pretty efficient cook, too. I pay more attention to seasonal veggies now, as they are tastiest when in season. Vegetarian Times has lots of recipes that can easily be made without oil/salt/sugar. Even Weight Watchers recipes are easy to modify. Bean soups, veggie shepherd's pies, squashes and casseroles are all, at least for me, solid comfort foods. Lots of different beans out there; I had no idea before.
Also on Dr. F's website there are hundreds more recipes.
Post some of your recipes!0 -
coueswhitetail wrote: »And for a salty snack...you could do popcorn or do a search for popcorn cauliflower....I haven't made that yet, but people say it's really good!
Popcorn cauliflower? Sounds like something I need to try. I just discovered cauliflower mashed like potatoes.
Also there's lime-cumin sweet potatoes (love this one): Cut cubes of 2 sweet potato into a big bowl. Add 1 coarsely chopped onion. Squeeze on some lime juice. Sprinkle (liberally) with cumin and not quite as much paprika. I like a lot of cumin. Spread on a cookie sheet with sides on it. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Take a spatula and turn 'em all as best you can. Bake anther 15-20 minutes. Bring them out and sprinkle a bit more lime juice and some finely chopped cilantro (optional). It's delicious! If you like it crispier, you could rub a tiny bit of oil on the outside before cubing the sweet potatoes. I don't. I've heard if you leave off the lime juice until after they're cooked they'll be crispier. Haven't tried that. This is a great side dish or a very filling main course. It's a wonderful cold winter meal.0 -
I tinker with all recipes. I omit the salt and oil. I water-sautee almost everything. I don't buy any of Dr. Fuhrman's products except his vitamins. I make some great bean soups that are perfect comfort on a cold day. I use recipes out of Forks Over Knives, Dr. F's cookbook (highly recommend this one), his ETL recipes on-line and in his Eat To Live book and his Eat For Health book. There are still so many veggies I haven't learned to cook yet, but I've already expanded my veggies 3-fold since I started, almost 3 years ago now. I do lots of crock pot recipes, all modified to fit ETL. I've learned to be a pretty efficient cook, too. I pay more attention to seasonal veggies now, as they are tastiest when in season. Vegetarian Times has lots of recipes that can easily be made without oil/salt/sugar. Even Weight Watchers recipes are easy to modify. Bean soups, veggie shepherd's pies, squashes and casseroles are all, at least for me, solid comfort foods. Lots of different beans out there; I had no idea before.
Also on Dr. F's website there are hundreds more recipes.
Post some of your recipes!
Three years? Impressive!0 -
Here's one I came up with this morning--pumpkin pancakes! I found Besan flour( a more finely ground garbanzo bean flour than I can do in my Vitamix) in the Indian section of my local Grocery store. I started by taking a home canned pint of salt free pumpkin cubes then drained and puréed them in the Vitamix, leaving a cup of wet puree. I took 3 tbl. flax seed and ground, then added three tablespoons water to soak. In the coffee grinder, I took half stick Ceylon cinnamon, two cloves, 1/2 tsp, fresh nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp powdered ginger. Grind till fine. Place 1 cup warm water in blender, add 10 small dates, 2 tsp vanilla and 3/4 tsp baking soda. Blend, add pumkin and spice, blend again, ad flax and add one cup Besan flour and mix in. Gradually add dribbles of more water until thicker than crepes, but thinner than pancakes. Rest for five minutes. Heat a griddle. I use well seasoned cast iron which requires very minimal oiling--just a swipe with an oiled rag. Use a lower heat than you would for Pancakes--I had my gas burners just above the lowest setting. The first cakes I poured stuck before I could flip them, so I made them much smaller, about two inches across, and they were perfect!0
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Ok, thanks for more ideas. The sweet potatos sound amazing. Tonight i wanted starch. Potatos . . . So, I made a shepherds pie. Cauliflower steamed then riced, then set to drain. Green beans steamed with two finely cubed sweet potato and one white potato finely cubed. While that was steaming, I sauted an onion, a head of garlic, and a half pound of mushrooms, one pint of home canned white beans and added two tsp sweet Italian seasoning and some smoked paprika. It was juicy, and I wanted gravy, dammit, so I thickened the sauce with a tablespoon of rice flour. I stirred in a third cup almond flour, some nutmeg and smoked paprika (for color) to the cauliflower, layered the veggies in a 9X13 pan and topped with the cauliflower mixture. Popped it in a 350 degree convection oven, and........I think I'm good for another week. It was crispy savory, with a bit of sweet from the sweet potato. It had enough starch from the single potato and the rice flour to give the creamy fullness I craved, yet not so much starch that I felt like a cheater. This was served over a bed of baby spinach.
The almond flour and the rice and potato starch made this a little more calorie dense, but it really wasn't as bad as falling of the bandwagon and buying a burger and fries! LOL0 -
I was going to jump in with menu ideas, but everyone else has done such a nice job. I am not bored with ETL, but this thread makes me even more excited about eating this way.
When I ate SAD, my cholesterol was near 300 with terrible ratios. There is heart disease and strokes on my dad's side of the family. Now my lipids are normal, which even in college, I never saw before. It's 158 with normal ratios. I am a 50 year old woman and still have about 40lbs to lose, so I expect the numbers to continue to improve.
Theendup: I am so glad you reached out. This is a great lifestyle and really supportive community!0 -
You're story is very inspiring but I need to understand something because I have not read Fuhrman's book.
You use no salt whatsoever in cooking? I can understand cutting out highly refined sugars and oils but salt is an essential nutrient. I understand whole foods contain natural sodium, some more than others, but what is the harm in adding a little salt to recipes as long as you keep your daily salt intake to less than 2300mg or 1500mg if medically required?0 -
We all follow ETL to varying degrees. So if you have strong feelings about salt, and do not feel that you have any health issues that are worsened by this, then salt away.
Reading Dr. F's books are great, but not necessary to get the gist of the program. Essentially, I see it as a lifestyle that focuses on whole food and always strives to capture the most micro nutrients in food choices. For some here, that means vegan (I am not vegan, but really minimize animal food sources and adore cooking vegan dishes), but Dr. F does not require that. I am probably not doing this justice though and would recommend a quick google search of what others have written in summaries and reviews.
Your path is your own, and that exactly as it should be. For me, I find this merry group of MFP ETLers to be a warm and supportive bunch of folk (no matter how or what I am eating at any time).0 -
Hi Jacqui, what Elena said. We're pretty open minded in this group! I love this from Susan Voisin's blog... it fits my philosophy very well. blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/12/my-get-healthy-plan-to-kisss-in-the-new-year.html She does say that she considers salt a necessary evil in some things. I avoid added salt, but I don't get too worked up about it otherwise.0
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@JacquiH73 it is my understanding that Dr. Fuhrman's reasons for no salt is that it's bad for your kidneys, and he recommends no more than 200mg of ADDED salt a day, and that we only really need 500mg per day in total. Many other health sources give that same number.You're story is very inspiring but I need to understand something because I have not read Fuhrman's book.
You use no salt whatsoever in cooking? I can understand cutting out highly refined sugars and oils but salt is an essential nutrient. I understand whole foods contain natural sodium, some more than others, but what is the harm in adding a little salt to recipes as long as you keep your daily salt intake to less than 2300mg or 1500mg if medically required?
Now for me, knowing all that, I still choose to use a small amount of salt in cooking etc because I can't get past the reality that salt brings out the flavour in pretty much every dish. Maybe some day I'll be 95% added-salt free, but I'm not going to sweat it.
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Thank you everyone for your responses. I'm finding this past couple weeks eating a meat and dairy free whole food diet that its very difficult to keep sodium down. Fortunately I don't have high blood pressure or hypertension. I imagine though that before this new diet I was probably consuming 4 to 5 times as much sodium as I am now on a daily basis. So it is an improvement. But if I stopped using salt in my cooking all together I think I'd grow rather bored with the food after a while myself.0
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EIEIElenaO wrote: »We all follow ETL to varying degrees. So if you have strong feelings about salt, and do not feel that you have any health issues that are worsened by this, then salt away.
Reading Dr. F's books are great, but not necessary to get the gist of the program. Essentially, I see it as a lifestyle that focuses on whole food and always strives to capture the most micro nutrients in food choices. For some here, that means vegan (I am not vegan, but really minimize animal food sources and adore cooking vegan dishes), but Dr. F does not require that. I am probably not doing this justice though and would recommend a quick google search of what others have written in summaries and reviews.
Your path is your own, and that exactly as it should be. For me, I find this merry group of MFP ETLers to be a warm and supportive bunch of folk (no matter how or what I am eating at any time).
Well put. My own approach is kind of "south beach meets mediterranean meets eat to live", by that I mean: I'm not as low fat as some, I'm not 100% plant based and do eat *some* animal products, and I do carefully consider the glycemic load of my foods. But, importantly, I do focus on creating the most nutrient dense, primarily plant based diet that I can.
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@JacquiH73 You can usually find Furhman's books in local libraries, in paperback, kindle, and even audio, if it interests you. I listened to them while working out.
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