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