Guilty party: It's like a pity party, only longer

Some people wake up feeling guilty every day. Seriously, I saw it on Dr. Oz. They haven't done anything wrong, but that feeling of needing to apologize is just there. I don't wake up feeling guilty. At least I don't think so. Yet when I read once about a Houston socialite who started each day by looking at herself in the mirror and saying, "Joanne, I forgive you," I was intrigued enough to try it. And I liked it. Turns out all the stupid mistakes I'd made that I thought were in the past had been hanging around my present like bad air pollution, like soul smog. It felt good to clear the air.

Over the last two weeks, I've had another lesson in guilt and the power this emotion has to keep us trapped in unhealthy behaviors. Predictably, my guilt spiral started with cheese. Cheese and the Oscars. See, my sweetheart was out of town on Oscar night, so I had the television all to myself. Oscar-watching isn't a habit with me, but this year I was rooting for Missi Pyle, a childhood friend and part-time vegan who was in "The Artist." She'd be there in an eco-friendly sustainable gown no less. I couldn't wait to watch for her on the red carpet. This called for a bottle of wine! You see where this is going, right? Wine needs cheese. And vegan cheese on a cracker just didn't seem appealing to me.

I rationalized it like, hey, if I only eat cheese every two months, I'll be doing pretty dang good. But cheese and wine have been my downfall so many times. Deep down I know I need to find a new pairing if I'm ever going to achieve the lifelong health I want. So I felt guilty. And that guilt zapped my motivation. Some coconut ice cream, some french fries and a few skipped workouts later, and I haven't lost any weight in two weeks. And I haven't blogged either. Oh my gosh, the guilt! And over what? Some cheese? Some laziness? Clearly, this is the exact insanity that keeps some people in a yo-yo diet cycle.

The most insidious thing about the guilt spiral is that I wasn't conscious of it at all. I mean, if I'd known I was having such pointless guilt, I would have stopped it. To test if you're having pointless guilt, try forgiving yourself in the mirror like the socialite did. You may be surprised to feel a little trickle of relief.

Yours in good health,
Summer

Best thing: new tastes

My fried chicken craving has passed, thanks to the pecan-crusted seitan in "The Kind Diet." I served it with her rustic pasta, which is actually only about half pasta and the rest sliced cabbage. It was so comforting and rich-tasting, yet unlike anything I've ever had before. As I settle into my new diet, discovering new, amazing tastes has been happening more and more. And frankly, I'm shocked by it.

My taste buds haven't exactly led a sheltered life. I've tried rocky mountain oysters and cabrito from a pit in the ground on our ranch as a kid, foie gras entier (that's the whole liver, ya'll) in Paris, rotted shark and whale meat in Iceland, plus every kind of ethnic restaurant you can think of here in the States. So how is it that I can walk into the grocery store down the street, pick up a bunch of ordinary looking produce, and in my own kitchen discover a whole new world? I tell you, it's exhilarating.

Here's a little list of the new and amazing I've tried this week. You may recognize some of these as my friends from the Asian market:
Daikon - This big, ole radish is always sitting there like a giant, white carrot on the top produce shelf near the ginger. I had this as matchsticks in miso soup and braised with soy sauce as described in Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian," the modern equivalent of the Better Homes and Garden cookbook and Joy of Cooking that you should run out and get right now. It's got some radish heat, but is mild and easy to eat. I can't wait to try this in more things.
Parsnip - Not to be confused with daikon, because this also looks like a white carrot, but it's smaller than the daikon. Parsnip has become one of my favorite veggies since I mashed it into some potatoes last month and somehow it lent a coconut taste to them. Sublime!
Kabocha - Japanese winter squash. It's really sweet but has the texture of floury potatoes. I have to be honest, my husband didn't like his at all. I couldn't believe there is a starch he doesn't like. But I think maybe baking it dried it out too much and next time I should braise it. I served this with ginger-baked tofu and steamed baby bok choy drizzled with umeboshi plum vinegar for a Japanese-style square meal. What really blew my mind about this meal is that I wasn't planning on cooking Japanese at all. I mean, I don't cook Japanese. But then it just happened.
Umeboshi plum vinegar - This is the best stuff ever. Sour, salty and hot pink! I love, love, love it and feel so sexy when I eat it. Shake it onto greens with some gomaiso, which is sesame seeds and salt easily found at Whole Foods in the Asian section, and you've got something special.
Fruit with chili sauce - Oh my gosh, this will change your life. I recently read that fruit vendors in LA offer their fruit with chili sauce, so this morning I tried it with pineapples, strawberries, clementine segements, a squeeze of lime and some unsweetened coconut. A few dashes of Sriracha, and I was instantly addicted.

I hope you have some fun adventures, food and otherwise, coming up for the weekend. I'd love any hot tips on amazing new plant-based tastes to try. My sweetheart is going to Washington, D.C., for a few days so the kitchen will be all mine.

Yours in good health,
Summer

Weigh in and menu, quickly

I weighed in on Friday and ... I've lost 11 pounds in seven weeks!
About a pound a week has been coming off. I'd love to be losing faster, of course, but I can't be disappointed by such steady progress without any portion control or calorie counting.

For inspiration, here's the menu from our luscious Valentine's dinner at Mint Tulip. Each course featured a different Mexican ingredient and a different chile. Dinner was superb and the conversation refreshing. Andrew could hardly believe such a decadent dinner was possible with just plants, no meat or dairy. My favorite thing was the cashew cheese.

cornmeal/sesame seed crusted fried avocado on a home made tortilla with cabbage and avocado/tomatillo salsa.

nopalito/jimaca/green apple/onion salad tossed in a lime/cilantro/jalapeno dressing and topped with cashew cheese.

chipotle pumpkin soup with edible flower petals, pepitas and chipotle crema.

mushroom/green chile/calabacita tamales with roasted corn and potatoes.

red chile/almond/chocolate cake with coconut milk and white chocolate drizzle. served with roasted strawberries with balsamic reduction.

Yours in good health,
Summer

Just a little addicted

The cravings have come. My six-week low-fat, plant-based honeymoon is over. I want sugar, grease and salt, and I want it now. I want fried chicken.

Now, I haven't eaten fried chicken regularly since I was a kid. So what's going on? When I examine these cravings, it's pretty clear my brain is telling me that these foods are going to make me feel "better." Better than what? I guess I could psychoanalyze myself and come up with a million reasons why I might need to feel "better." But in light of what I've learned by reading "The Pleasure Trap," I think I'm going to forget the psychoanalysis and call these cravings evidence of addiction.

I shouldn't be too suprised these cravings have come up now. I started the week determined to be stricter with my diet by cutting out bread, pasta, oils and other processed foods during the week. I was going to be perfect. But by Monday night I was fishing out the last Tofurkey beer brat leftover from the Super Bowl. Although I know the authors of "The Pleasure Trap" would tell me to forge ahead and break free, I'm not ready to right now. I've come so far in the last six weeks and been so happy to have tons of fruits and vegetables in my life. I want to enjoy this space for a while longer. Especially since I'm still losing weight.

So instead of fried chicken, I think it's time I tried the Seitan Piccata from Candle 79 that is all the vegan rage. And tonight I'm having Isa's Garlicky Kale with Tahini Dressing, one of my absolute favorite things but I've been avoiding making it because of the fat in the tahini.

Weigh in Friday!

Yours in good health,
Summer

Weird new foods I'm trying this week

The thing about a plant-based diet is that it breaks you out of your rut. I was in a serious bread and cheese rut for years and years. My dinners would rotate between grilled cheese and tomato soup, pizza and cheese with crackers and apple. So just cutting out cheese has seriously rocked my world. I've had to make new friends with hummus and nutritional yeast (spare me your gross out face, it's awesome!). I've rediscovered old friends like guacamole, stir-fries and red beans and rice. And now I'm ready to really get this party started with some intriguing strangers that I met at the Asian market this weekend.

Some of them I know by reputation, of course. Others were just too beautiful or cool sounding to resist. Let me introduce:
Kabocha squash
Lotus root
Daikon
Yu-choy
and Wakame

Does that sound like a squad of sexy international health superstars or what? As I make them this week I'll let you know how it goes.

Yours in good health,
Summer

Best thing: "The Pleasure Trap"

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
- from "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver

The best thing this week has been reading "The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force That Undermines Health and Happiness" by Dr. Doug Lisle and Dr. Alan Goldhammer. A few weeks ago, I watched a YouTube video of Dr. Lisle giving a talk titled "How to Lose Weight without Losing Your Mind." What he said created an inner revolution in me. I blogged a little about it here. His perspective, as an evolutionary psychologist, on why humans at this time in history are having such a hard time maintaining optimal weight changes everything. Here's a bit from the book to give you an idea of what these guys are about.

"... where has it ever been observed in nature that a species in its natural environment either underfeeds or overeats to the point of health compromise? The answer appears to be never, and this observation is crucial evidence of a natural law of profound significance. Animal feeding behavior appears to be regulated by what may be termed the "Law of Satiation": In a natural setting of caloric abundance, animals will consume the correct amount of food needed for optimal function."

The implication of this for the plump, the pudgy, the obese, the food addicts and yo-yo dieters -- basically everyone I know -- is that all the reasons you thought you struggled with your weight are completely wrong. There's nothing wrong with you, your body is not messed up, childhood trauma hasn't been making you overeat, you're not lazy or lacking willpower, thin people are not better or smarter than you. It's simply that  your perfect, innate calorie-counting mechanisms have been fooled by modern foods.

There's so, so much more to all this, but that's it in a nutshell. Watch the talk and then get the book. The talk lays out the basics, the research, the science. The book deepens your knowledge so you can really navigate food choices in the best way, as well as navigate other pleasure traps like prescription meds and television.

I haven't even finished the book yet, and my life is already so much better. Now I understand the source of the desperation I feel when the thought drifts into my head that I'd like to get pizza for dinner, or go get an ice cream for dessert, or stop into a bar at happy hour and pick up a pack of smokes on the way in. We all have those thoughts that are so tempting they turn our sharpest logic into the ramblings of a child. Why can we succeed at everything else, moving mountains to get the careers and lovers we want, but we can't say no to a pizza when it's clearly not in our best interest? What I'm learning is that those thoughts come from a brain convinced that we need whatever is tempting us for our survival. And with this understanding, my logic has been able to override the temptations fairly easily, no white-knuckling involved.

So watch the video! And let me know what you think of it.

Your in good health,
Summer

Thinking low-carb is outsmarting yourself

Peer Trainer has an interesting article this week about low-carb diets and whether or not they work. I've wanted to write about low-carb diets for a while because since I switched to a plant-based diet Jan. 1, I've suddenly found myself on the front lines of the war against carbs. When people find out that I freely eat sweet potatoes, brown rice and bananas, they are incredulous and suspicious. Even though these foods have been part of the human diet for centuries, right now, in the midst of the obesity epidemic, most people put a simple 160-calorie white potato in the same category as a 260-calorie glazed donut. I was one of those people until I did a whole foods cleanse last summer, ate unrefined carbs freely, and lost 12 pounds in a week. That's when I realized that I'd been outsmarted. That I'd outsmarted myself.

We outsmart ourselves when we mistake the details for the big picture. It's like not seeing the forest for the trees, except you convince yourself that a single tree is the same thing as the forest. It's so easy in our information-rich society to outsmart ourselves. An intriguing detail comes to light, and we allow it to turn our entire understanding of a topic on its head.

As we pick apart and try to solve the obesity epidemic, we continually outsmart ourselves. One day calories are all that really matters, the next day it's fat, then it's carbs, then fiber. Suddenly it seems reasonable to view a banana as the worst thing you could ever eat while spraying fat-free butter spray on a rice cake for your afternoon snack. Or, worse yet, picking up a bag of pork rinds. The focus on macronutrients, that is carbs, protein and fat, has overshadowed everything else about food. Micronutrients have become so misunderstood that fortified granola bars can seem like a good replacement for an apple a day. After all, they don't go bad and kids like them, right?

This madness is why I will never go on another low-carb diet or worry about carbs again. Depriving myself of any unrefined plant food just because of its carb count doesn't make sense to me anymore. If it grows in the ground or on a tree and hasn't been refined or made "better" with chemicals, then I definitely want to eat it, regardless of its sugar or fat content. I mean, are gorillas worrying about carbs? Can you think of any species that eats primarily fruits and leaves that is having a problem with diabetes or obesity? No, in the natural world, all that matters is whether a food is colorful, sweet and juicy.

I can no longer think of food as portions of fat, carbs and protein that add up to a certain number of calories. Food is either nutritious, ie providing nutrients, or its not. This morning, like most mornings, I had a big bowl for breakfast. With grains, three fruits, plus a little dried fruit and nuts, this dish would terrify most dieters I know. Just out of curiosity, I added it up and one bowl is 667 calories, more than 100 carbs and less than 20 grams of protein. But after I eat it, I feel fantastic. I have a crazy energy buzz, which feels very different from a sugar high, and I almost always have to remind myself to eat lunch four hours later. I've also lost 10 lbs this month. So while most diet coaches would advise me to ditch my big bowl for an egg-white omlette and a sensible portion of fruit like half a grapefruit, I refuse to be outsmarted anymore.

Yours in good health,
Summer

Super Bowl snacks!

I love pop culture + I love beer = I love the Super Bowl!

The Super Bowl is gluttony at its finest, nothing but watching TV and eating. And everybody wants heavy, greasy food that goes well with beer. Me, too! But I also want to lose weight, so what should I do? Suffer with small portions? Just say fuck it and eat? Isn't there another option? Heck yeah! Here are some decadent recipes I may try this weekend. They aren't traditional low-fat, low-calorie diet recipes, so you may be wondering how these foods can be good for your diet. Lemme 'splain.

First, these foods don't have the addictive qualities that meat and dairy do. They won't be calling you from the kitchen to come have just a little more. My husband says that when you don't want to eat something compulsively then that means it's not very good. I totally and completely disagree. Eating compulsively is not natural, no other species does it, and the only reason we do is that modern, high-fat, refined foods fool our mechanisms of satiety and bang on the reward centers in our brains and make us think that overeating this stuff will be good for our survival. If this thought is blowing your mind, you will LOVE this video of Dr. Lisle breaking it all down.

Second, all these foods will be a little bit lower in calories and fat and all will be cholesterol free. Some will be much, much lower in calories and fat.

Finally, you're sure to end up consuming more micronutrients and a better nutritional profile overall than you would with regular sliders and wings. For example, probably the least nutritious thing here is the Tofurkey beer brats, which are 260 calories with 13 grams of fat and 8 grams of fiber for one. In contrast, Eating Well's light boneless chicken wings are 256 calories, 10 grams of fat and 2 g fiber. Guess which one will keep you full longer? Regular brats will be around 350 calories, but actually the first recipe I found was 700 calories for one!

Now, before we get into the recipes, I have to tell you that some involve ingredients that, while easy to find, you have probably never used. Before you decide that nutritional yeast is something you never want to put in your mouth, check out the label on your favorite processed food. I promise there will be an ingredient far more disturbing. And if you've eaten fast food in the past few years, you've probably eaten the dreaded pink slime. Something so foul it has to be soaked in ammonia before it can be consumed. And guess what? The Ag department just bought 7 million pounds to put into school lunches. Sorry to be a downer, but Tofurkey is nowhere near the abomination that stuff is. Meat analogues have a long history of human consumption. But that's a story for another time.

Two of the best vegan-by-accident party foods are guacamole and seven-layer dip. I'm sure I'll be making one or both. Here are ideas for the seven layers in no particular order:

vegetarian refried beans, salsa, guacamole, toffuti sour cream mixed with taco seasoning, rehydrated TVP cooked with taco seasoning or just buy the Lightlife Smart Ground Mexican (so. many. jokes.), sliced black olives, chopped green onion, chopped tomato, and cilantro.

Or how about nachos! This recipe has a faux queso I'm interested in trying. I'm also VERY interested in trying this vegan queso in a jar that Hungry Girl raved about.

For any holiday or occasion, you can always rely on Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen to have the plan. She's got a great Super Bowl idea, a big pot of chili with chips and guacamole.

Chic Vegan is a cool online magazine that has a nice round up of Super Bowl recipes, including some buffalo dips that look awesome.

You can make sliders, dogs or brats using the fake meat versions. I've been imagining using a biscuit cutter on my veggie burgers and making a slider bar with carmelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, guac, pickles, coleslaw. You could just go crazy! And I'd crumble the scraps into chili or tacos. That would be cool, right?

For a craft beer lover like me, Tofurkey makes awesome beer brats using Full Sail Amber Ale. I just love brats and sauerkraut on a good bun with grainy mustard. I also found this crazy DIY beer brat recipe from a vegan beer lover. It doesn't sound too hard, so maybe I'll try it.

Whatever you're eating, I hope it's a fun day.

Yours in good health,
Summer

Our mothers, our diets

" Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children." 

- William Makepeace Thackeray
- and also that badass in "The Crow"

My mother has always been my diet partner. Dieting is an activity that we do together. Consequently, I've never chosen a diet that doesn't have her full support. Until now.

She wants to be supportive, but I can tell, since she was my first God and my survival as an infant depended on being able to read her, that she's concerned. From her point of view, this way of eating is too high in starches, grains and sugars (all that fruit!). Plus no portion control. Plus where in the heck am I getting my protein? A person just can't eat that many beans. Plus I'm probably alienating my husband.

OK, enough! Stomp, stomp, stomp. Slam! [Muffled from behind closed door comes The Smiths] "Take me out tonight. Where's there's music and there's people and they're young and alive."

Whew! All right, 1989 flashback is over. But that's how it feels when your mom criticizes you, suddenly you're a kid again. I'm sure my mom has felt the same way when talking to her own mom before. Except she would probably slam the door and play "In My Room" by the Beach Boys (I told you, I know the woman better than she knows herself).
So what's a mom to do? What's a daughter to do? Acutally, I have no idea. But two key attitudes are helping me to successfully navigate this tricky situation. And if they can work with your mom, then they'll definitely work with other family, friends and colleagues.

1. I acknowledge that food choice is very personal.
   I'm not a fundamentalist, insisting that my way is the only way. Within this blog I may evangelize, but out in the world, when someone starts talking about the glories of a low-carb diet, or when I recieve a copy of the P.I.N.K. Method in the mail from my mom, which happened to me a couple of weeks ago, I just think to myself, "Mellow. Be mellow. You gotta mellow out, dude, and let it be." Yes, my inner monologue is voiced by Jeff Spicoli from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
2. I encourage flirting.
   This is Alicia Silverstone's term for just trying out some coconut ice cream or a meatless meal. Kathy Freston calls it leaning in. I think it's a great way to go. I mean, how in the heck are you supposed to give up something as delicious and addictive as ice cream until you know that mango sorbet is waiting for you on the other side? Over the holidays I was making everyone try green smoothies. And guess what, my mom was totally into it! She's been making them on her own ever since. I can't wait to make her a batch of brownies made with silken tofu.

I hope these ideas are helpful.
How do you deal with well-meaning critics?

Yours in good health,
Summer

Cheese is totally that guy

This is a bad idea on many levels.

You know the guy, the one who you know is no good for you. The one you're so glad to be rid of until you have a few too many glasses of red wine. And then it's on. You're all, "Oh yeah, I've missed you, too. Everything about you that's wrong suddenly seems so right. You're dirty and I like it!"

For anyone who has given up dairy, cheese is totally that guy. It makes sense. Cheese has a high concentration of casomorphines, the opiates in milk that help mothers and babies bond. Combine that with all the fat in cheese, and the reward centers in our brains go crazy for the stuff. The beautiful thing I'm discovering about a plant-based diet, though, is that it's self-correcting. Cheese may win a battle every once in a while, but it won't win the war.

I was seduced by that bad boy last weekend. We ordered pizza, and through a series of justifications that seem like total nonsense to me in retrospect, I decided to order my veggie supreme with cheese on only one side and no cheese on the other.

Having gone without my old friend for four weeks, I expected an ecstatic reunion. Instead, I found that my tastes had changed. The cheese was much more buttery and greasy than I remember. It was good, but I missed the bright flavors of tomato and onion that I've gotten used to with no-cheese pizza. I can't believe I'm writing this, but it was really just OK.

Will I ever have a grilled cheese sandwich or margaritas and queso again? Can't say, but I'm into this limey guacamole now and have been making some righteous sandwiches thickly layered with hummus, sprouts, cucumber, lettuce, tomato and avocado. As a result, I'm not too worried about it. And this is the real difference between this time and every other time I've tried to lose weight.

Yours in good health,
Summer

Best thing: big breakfast bowl

The best thing this week, and really since I first discovered it two weeks ago, has been Rip's Big Bowl. It's a breakfast recipe from hunky Austin firefighter Rip Esselstyn, author of the Engine 2 Diet. He had it posted on his page during the Vegan Kickstart. The recipe is a crazy combination of cereals and fruits that doesn't really sound like they go together. Also, cold cereal gives me heartburn for some reason, even as a kid. So when I saw the recipe, I thought I'd never try it, but Rip's blue eyes eventually wore me down, and I've been addicted ever since. Here's my only slightly different version.

The big bowl starts with one-quarter cup of three different kinds of cereal: rolled oats, Grape Nuts and Uncle Sam. Rip also uses a quarter cup of shredded wheat, but I thought it got too soggy. Anyway, to your cereals, which you've put in a big bowl of course, you add one tablespoon each of ground flax, walnuts and raisins. Rip uses a little more dried fruit and nuts, but then he's a firefighter and I'm a writer, so I think our calorie needs are a little different. Now the crazy starts. To the cereal, add a sliced banana, sliced kiwi and sliced mango or grapefruit with all the juice. Trust me, trust Rip, kiwi, mango and grapefruit with the juice are all totally amazing in cereal. To this you add three-quarters of a cup of plant milk. Rice or soy is what I've usually got. Get your big spoon and dig into the best bowl of cereal you've ever had. It's really more of a big fruit salad with granola than it is cereal. Whatever you call it, I love it!

Rip says he eats this almost every day for breakfast, too. And we both went to UT Austin. And we're both triathletes, although I only did one, and like to swim. I think we might be soulmates.

Yours in good health,
Summer

p.s. - a new Vegan Kickstart will start April 2. It's free and awesome, so why not sign up right now!

Weigh in: first 3 weeks

On Jan. 2, I started the Vegan Kickstart. It's a great, free program from the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine. I didn't follow the meal plans, I just tried to eat as close to an unrefined, plant-based diet at possible. On most days, I ate my pound of salad and avoided oils. Of course, I was also strictly vegan. Lo and behold, at the end of the three-week kickstart, I've lost seven pounds!

The best part is that I haven't paid attention to portion size, calories, carbs or anything like that. I've just eaten. And my menu has included mac 'n' cheese (faux cheese of course), brownies with all the fat replaced by silken tofu, chocolate chip cookies with all the fat replaced by mashed banana, and no-cheese veggie pizza from a chain pizza place. All these things have been completely delicious. I won't lie, the first week was rough, especially the first five days. You've got this nauseating toxic hunger from food withdrawl, low blood sugar because your body is used to easy-to-digest processed food, and you miss your old standbys because the new standbys don't taste right. But by the second week, my taste buds were changing, and I was finding some good recipes. By the third week, I swear that mac 'n' cheese tasted like the real deal to me.

If you're wondering how this is possible, how a person can eat all these foods, not pay attention to portion size and still lose weight, see this post for some theories. Of course, this is all one big experiment for me. I'm eager to see how my weight loss progresses over the next three weeks.

Yours in good health,
Summer

Best thing: sweet potato wedges and garlicky greens

The best thing this week is a classic health food combination, sweet potato wedges and garlicky greens. When I worked the chef's case at Whole Foods for a few months while I was getting my journalism degree at UT-Austin, I tasted this dish for the first time. Talk about a revelation. The sweet creaminess of the potatoes, the fragrant bite of the garlic and the salty umami of the soy sauce that you must use to season this makes the ideal meal for anyone who loves salty-sweet combinations.

I've been chasing the high of my first time with this dish for years, but only this month have I really figured it out. From vegan athlete Scott Jurek's recipe at Vegan Kickstart, I learned that the best way to do the sweet potatoes is to cut them vertically into four wedges. Then you don't have to flip them and they turn out so creamy and good. Drizzle them with oil. I don't like to use too much oil, but it can't be helped in this recipe. Then season with salt and whatever. Scott uses paprika and rosemary. I like that, too. I've also done Creole seasoning or herbes de Provence or cardamom and cumin. Put skin side down on cookie sheet and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes. I'm at high altitude, so mine ended up baking for 45 minutes.

For the greens, I think you really need four cloves of garlic. But I'm not a chef, just someone who loves food. Saute the garlic in broth or water. You can use oil if you want, but that's just pure fat so think about it. What I usually do is toss the wedges with oil and seasonings in the pan that I'm going to use to saute the greens. So I get a little bit of an oily coating on the pan. Anyway, saute the garlic for about three minutes. You want it to have a chance to mellow and flavor the broth or water (or oil, you dilletante), but do not let it start to burn. Turn down your heat if you need to. When the kitchen gods tell you it's time, throw your greens in. I've used any and every combination of greens and they're all good. But this dish isn't really satisfying to me unless there's some kale in there. I don't know why, but I love it. I guess it's because it reminds me of my first time. If you find yourself pushing more greens out of the pan than you're keeping in the pan as you try to get it to wilt, you may want to get a metal tong (set of tongs? idk). This has become one of my favorite cooking utensils and makes me feel totally pro. So after the greens have wilted but before they're totally collapsed, splash in some soy sauce. Not too much, not more than a tablespoon. You can always add more later.

You can just have this for dinner and nothing else. Or you can add some beans, tofu, a random veggie burger. That's the great thing about eating whole, unrefined plant foods. You don't have to get all crazy worrying about the composition of a single meal. As long as you're eating veg, fruits, beans and grains all the time, you're good!

Yours in good health,
Summer

Enough with the eat less and exercise already

Two fascinating pieces of information came to me today through the magic of cyberspace. Both carried the message that the key to successful weight loss is food choice, not eating less and exercising more.

I've been suspicious of the eat-less-exercise-more-ohm mantra ever since I trained for and completed a triathlon and remained overweight. And then I trained for a marathon and remained overweight. And then I became a yoga teacher and remained overweight. I have lost weight by calorie counting, eating low-carb, eating nothing and drinking all my nutrition, eating nothing but what was delivered to my front door in boxes -- you know, all the usual methods. But the weight has never stayed off.

Further adding to the mystery of why I've continued to gain weight over the years despite all this is what happened when I did a whole foods cleanse last summer. I wasn't trying to lose weight. I was trying to get my body ready to have a baby, so I stuffed myself with all the greens, sweet potatoes, lentils and brown rice I could stand and lost 12 pounds in a week. Twelve pounds! All of this begs the question, "WTF?!?!"

So the first clue to what may be going on came in the form of a survey at Peer Trainer that looked at what their members who lost weight in 2011 did and what the members who didn't lose weight did. The members who lost weight most often cited eating different foods and eliminating, as opposed to moderating, some foods. In contrast, the members who didn't lose weight usually expressed that their plans for 2012 involved more focus on eating less food overall and exercising more. Interesting.

Now we come to the second clue, a talk by Dr. Doug Lisle at the Forks Over Knives You Tube channel. This is quite a long talk, about an hour, but it presents a fascinating perspective that may just change your life. I sincerely urge you to give it a look. In short, he says our bodies are designed to perfectly monitor our caloric intake, just like the bodies of all the millions of species on the planet. So why, out of all the millions of species, are there only three species struggling with their weight?: us, our dogs and our cats.

Dr. Lisle certainly had my attention at this point. The reason, he says, is that many foods we're eating now are unnaturally concentrated in calories and our bodies aren't able to accurately keep tabs on our intake. So let's say I eat a bowl of rice and vegetables that's 500 calories. My body has receptors in the stomach, and there's something about the hypothalamus, and then through evolutionary perfection my body is able to say, "Hey, thanks for the 500 calories." But, if I eat that same bowl of food with two tablespoons of oil added, my body will most likely say, "Hey thanks for the 500 calories," even though it just had 700 calories. He cites some good studies that have me totally convinced that this is an idea worth looking into. If you can cut down the concentrated sources of calories in your diet, then you'll naturally eat the optimum number of calories without even thinking about it. Just like every gazelle, crocodile and hawk out there.

Of course, you'll still have to fight with your biology to choose the less calorically dense foods over the high-reward foods like ice cream. But that's totally different than ignoring your hunger drive completely and just not eating, which is what most diets put people through. I know I've certainly cried at the end of a day because I've used up all my Weight Watchers points and was still hungry. There's just no way that's ever going to be sustainable.

I'll let you know how my experiment goes. I'm thinking of posting a weigh-in soon. Let me know how your path to optimum health and fitness is unfolding.

Yours in good health,
Summer

How to eat spinach leaves like potato chips

My daily pound of green goodness.

I have a new habit. A good habit for a change. This single new habit has transformed my eating, turning me into the kind of person who eats spinach leaves like they're potato chips. Am I weird? Am I making this up like so much reality tv romance? No, I swear, it's totally true.

Inspired by Joel Fuhrman's recommendation in his book "Eat to Live" that a good nutrition goal is to try and eat one lb of raw vegetables a day, I decided to measure that out one day and see just how much 1 pound is. I mean, is that even realistic? I had filled a container with about 1/2 a head of romaine lettuce, a couple handfuls of spinach, a handful of shredded cabbage, 1/4 green bell pepper, five carrtos, and five grape tomatoes when the scale hit one pound. It looked about the size of a salad for a family of four. Big, but really not impossible.

I put the lid on the container, grabbing a leaf of romaine that was preventing the lid from closing and eating it right there, without dressing or anything, as if it were actually something delicious. A few hours later, I got the 1/4 bell pepper, a couple of carrots and tomatoes and some hummus for a snack. When lunch came, it was so easy to make a little salad to go along with my leftover veggie enchiladas. The big payoff came at dinner, though, when I realized that if I made a big salad, I would have eaten all the veggies in the container and met the heroic one pound goal.

You'll have to try it for yourself to feel how great eating an entire pound of raw veg is. It's strangely liberating. You know that no person can remain unhealthy eating like that. You know that this time, you're going to be successful. I measure out my one pound almost every day now. Sometimes, when I'm munchy, I'll just stand in the kitchen mindlessly eating spinach leaves while I try to figure out what's for dinner. Can you imagine that?

I think the reason this has turned me into a plant-munching machine is the same principal that measuring out 8 cups of water for the day turns people into water-guzzling machines. It's just there. So, get out your biggest food storage container and that old food scale and try it. You'll need some healthy dressings for your salads, too. If you need ideas, there's an awesome list of no-oil salad dressings over at Healthy Girl's Kitchen.

Yours in good health,
Summer

Best thing: veggies and tofu with brown rice

The best thing this week has been making the Steamed Veggies and Tofu with Brown Rice from the "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch" cookbook. I know it sounds too bland to be allowed to exist, but there's a sauce that goes with it that you will crave and want to bathe in.

The genius thing about this recipe is that you can put some frozen veg in the steamer basket, slice some tofu and lay it on top and then make the sauce. Dinner will be ready in about 8 minutes! What about the brown rice, you say? Well, I always make a big batch of that on the weekend. You should, too. It's great for breakfast, you can put all kinds of crazy leftovers on it for lunch and then this dish is effortless.

What about pressing the tofu, you ask? Isn't it gross just steamed like that? That's where this awesome sauce comes in. It's tahini, Bragg's liquid aminos and a touch of sesame oil thinned with water. First, I'm crazy about Bragg's. I don't know why. It just tastes like health food circa 1974. Second, I don't follow the amounts that Skinny Bitch uses because they're too high in fat for my purposes.

This is something you should know about the Skinny Bitch cookbook. While it's great for transitioning and for that crazy craving that won't go away, it uses lots of processed foods and oils. But the book is a a totally fun read and the cookbook has some gems, like this recipe and the Green Goddess Pasta, which ranks right up there with comfort foods like fettucine alfredo and mac 'n' cheese as far as I'm concerned.

 What I love about this recipe even more than the sauce, though, is that it's something easy to do with frozen vegetables that tastes great. Most of my old tricks for frozen vegetables involved butter. Swapping tahini (aka sesame butter) for dairy butter is a good thing. Check it out:

    Butter - 1 tablespoon                                          Tahini - 1 tablespoon
              100 calories                                                        85 calories
              calories from fat 100                                          calories from fat 66
              11 g fat                                                               8 g fat
              7 g saturated fat                                                 1 g saturated fat
              30 mg cholesterol                                               0 mg cholesterol
              81 mg sodium                                                     0 mg sodium
              0 g carb                                                              3 g carb
              0 g fiber                                                              1 g fiber
              0 g sugar                                                            0 g sugar
              0 g protein                                                          3 g protein
              7 percent vitamin A                                            0 percent vitamin A
              0 percent vitamin C                                            0 percent vitamin C
              0 percent calcium                                               2 percent calcium
              0 percent iron                                                     5 percent iron

Notice how the tahini is more than just pure fat? Look it up yourself, and you'll see all the extra vitamins and minerals that tahini has that a pure fat food like butter doesn't have.

Yours in good health,
Summer

Why plants are rad and meat is boring

This is rad. Don't act like it's not.

I first realized that plants are rad and meat is boring on the day after Thanksgiving, 2006. The night before, after feasting all day, I had made myself a plate of spiral-sliced ham and cheddar cheese with a roll. Even while I was eating it, I just wasn't that into it. I'd been eating heavily all day, and this final snack seemed pointless.The next morning I woke up vegetarian. Seriously, that salty sweet ham and opiate-filled cheese (yes, cheese really does have opiates. more on that later) just sent me over the edge. I was done. My diet had become completely boring, narrowly focused on meat, cheese and flour products like bread and crackers. See, I was in love with a man, and he had seduced me into following his meat-heavy ways. Yes, my darling husband, I'm blaming you.

So, on that fateful day, I downloaded a vegetarian starter kit from PETA and read over what my first vegetarian meal would be: stuffed acorn squash with coleslaw. That sounded so delicious to me, like the greatest thing a person could ever eat. I believe my body was starving for vegetables at that point. I was a strict vegetarian for an entire year after that. I made lots of mistakes, like refusing to eat the beans and rice my mom made for me during a visit because it had chicken broth in it. And letting my love affair with cheese get out of control. I actually gained weight that year, which was pretty crazy because I was planning my wedding during that time and trying to lose weight.

My year of being vegetarian ended at an office Christmas party in 2007. Without even thinking about it, I grabbed one of those little smokey sausages that's been siting in a crockpot with grape jelly and bbq sauce and put it in my mouth. The spell was broken. I started eating meat again and went on a low-carb diet to try to lose the weight I'd gained being vegetarian. Of course that didn't work. I was more confused than ever about nutrition and what to feed my body.

Today, I am so many pounds overweight I don't have the courage to share it with you ... yet. I am also 10 days into eating a low-fat, vegan diet based on unrefined plant foods and feel better than I have in years. This blog will tell the story of everything I've learned from my past dieting attempts and how I'm putting all that knowledge to use this year to lose all the extra weight I've gained for good. I hope what I write here is entertaining, inspiring and, most of all, helpful.

Yours in good health,

Summer