Quick Vegan Healthy Lunch for 4

If you want to eat healthy, you can still prepare food quickly.

New neighbors were coming for lunch and here's what we had:

• Roasted red pepper and tomato soup in a box, heated up, served in very small mugs
• Burritos: In an organic collard leaf put, chopped lettuce and kale, mashed black beans, mashed white and sweet potato from potato salad left over
• Chopped red onion
• Chopped organic Roma tomato
• Grated fresh, raw beet flavored with apple cider vinegar and Udo's oil

Roll the collard leaf up from top to bottom. If the stem is thick, pare it in the back so the leaf will roll.

We had mint tea, flavored only by mint leaves from the garden and a packet of Stevia.

Using a tiny scoop, we had one scoop each of: coconut milk ice cream (mint chip and cherry amaretto and a scoop of cappuccino flavored Cashew ice cream. An organic fig cookie that was gluten free finished off the meal.

Not hard to assemble, the prep time was about 10 minutes with everyone helping.

No Sun Burn

How could I be in the direct sun for more than 4 hours, maybe 6 without getting sunburn?

Antioxidants a a powerful protector for the skin. Honestly, I have a light tan, let's emphasize the word  light. No sunburn, no ouchies, nothing.

Everyday I eat lots of raw veggies, have 2 or 3 servings of Barley Max, drink freshly made carrot juice, and take an antioxidant supplement and everyone can see the benefit. My skin is not burned.

I have also learned that the chemicals in sun screen have some elements that are harmful to the skin. Go figure!

Don't go without sunscreen until you have transformed your ea ting program and are heavily fortified with antioxidants in your system. Then give me some feedback and let me know what the effects of bright sun are on your skin, please.

Energy!

Let's talk about energy.

Yesterday I got up at 4:10 AM to prepare to drive to St. Augustine for a commercial shoot. I arrived there at 6:15 AM,  worked (which means stand in the hot sun, move around a little, meet lots of new-to-me people, eat, and stand some more). I was released to go home at 6:25 PM and then drove 48 miles back to where I live.

I was on the set with people much younger than I. Who had the most energy?

You bet.

It seemed like I was winning the energy marathon. Why?

I don't eat animal protein. There was none lingering in my digestive system rotting and holding me back. I had my Barley Max in the morning before I left and some supplements ( Vitamin D, E, A, omega fatty acids 3, 6, and 9) and I tried not to eat the foods that were offered all day.

For snacks I ate cut up fruit, lots of water, some salsa and Tostito scoops and dried raisins. For meals, I asked for a salad and ate it all, had a small piece of garlic bread and then for dinner I had more salad and some spaghetti with oil and parsley.

This was the first time in more than 2 years that I had spaghetti and I only ate it because there was nothing else. I was not going to eat the fatty lasagna or tomato/sausage red sauce.

When I got home, I had Barley Max in coconut milk vanilla yogurt and carrot juice and went to bed.

On the set I was alert, ready to work, interact and filled with energy. The younger people noticed this old lady who was not flagging.

My eating program speaks for itself. I don't have to "sell" it. It sells itself.
 

Fast Fat

Want to know how fast you can gain weight? Fast!

Here's my true confession.

For a year and a half I have worked hard to achieve and maintain 115 pounds, through diet changes and exercise. Here's my warning to you. That can be partially wiped out in less than a week.

With Passover and Easter in one week, I had lots of opportunity to eat matzo, fake ice cream (which still has calories and many from fat), and eat in restaurants.

One restaurant, my favorite - Present Moment Cafe in St. Augustine, has healthy vegan food, all prepared at 105 degrees or less. Their healthy pumpkin pie still has calories, healthy though it is. Duh!

Then yesterday, with that restaurant closed, we took a relative to Corky Bells in Palatka, FL. Corky Bells is known for fried, grilled, broiled or blackened fish and lots of southern vegetables smothered in fat.

What did I order: a bowl of lima beans, a bowl of collard greens, a bowl of stewed tomatoes and okra and a bowl of green beans. The pork and fat was visible in each bowl and I picked around the meat eating almost every piece of vegetable. Delicious and fat laden.

I almost forgot to mention the 2 corn muffins that had jalapenos in them. I used them to sop up the fatty liquid surrounding each vegetable.

If you are drooling and groaning as I write, groan on. How could a seemingly intelligent, healthy and diet conscious woman do that to herself? The answer is, "The same way you may do it to yourself everyday!" It's easy. Think you have no alternatives, trick yourself and say you deserve it and watch the pounds add up in a nano second.

So of course, today I have refocused on cleansing and doing all the things I know how to do. I've already been to the exercise room and spent more than 20 minutes on the treadmill and some more on an elliptical climber. I've had my first glass of distilled water.

What's the plan for the rest of the day? Lots of water, carrot juice and Barley Max. Some fruits and lots of raw veggies. No Ezekiel bread. Maybe a cracker or two with my raw blended salad at lunch.

Two days of this and I may be back at 116. Let's see.

It's slow and hard to lose weight and change habits from those that put the weight on in the first place. Fat is fast. It's easy, way too easy to get fat again.

Don't try it. Just take my word for it.

Favorite Flavors

If I want my husband to eat the same way I do, it's gonna take some extra work. He likes sweet and I like sour, like the old song, "You say tomato, I say tomato."

Recovering from what may have been pneumonia, he needs to eat lots of raw foods to nourish his body and allow his body to heal itself. So, I made him a salad this way.

He likes raw veggies cut up very small. This is how I prepared them

• kale
• lettuce
• beet greens
• avocado
• tomato
• yellow bell pepper
• orange pepper

Cut up very small, I must emphasize.

Then I grated about 1/4 cup of a raw beet on top.

For the salad dressing, I'm so pleased with my creative efforts. I made this healthy honey mustard from scratch in a few minutes.

I took a bottle of Dijon mustard that had only 1/4 cup of mustard left in it. I added about 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil, about 1/3 cup of cold water and about 1/8 cup or 1 large tbsp. of raw honey. I put the lid on the container and shook it until all the ingredients were well mixed and drizzled it over the salad. Did I say it was well-minced?

I also served some leftover potato salad. I made it with Yukon gold white potatoes and sweet potatoes. Then I added minced raw celery and green onions. For the dressing I used Vegenaise, with the purple label. That one is made with grapeseed oil.

My husband's portion had added chopped sweet pickles. He loves that. IN fact, today he asked for seconds, something he rarely does. I lealve them off of mine and add sea salt instead.

I toasted a few pieces of Sesame Ezekiel bread and we had that on the side.

If you try this, let me know how you like it. If you customize the flavors in another way, let me know

If you add bacon grease, don't let me know. I don't want you to clog your arteries and if you do, I don't need to know.

Happy Easter.

What's for Breakfast?

By popular demand, I will now share my recipe for a delicious breakfast that feeds your body and gives you energy for the morning.

In my Blend Tech blender (it's industrial strength but not as great as the Vita Mix, which I will buy next), I put:

• one frozen banana, cut up into 1/2 inch pieces
• about a cup of "wild" frozen blueberries - we buy them at Wal-Mart
• a tbsp of Barley Max Mint  because it's for two people - buy it from www.hacres.com and tell them I'm your Health Minister, pin # FTP. They also have Barley Max Berry. See which you like best.
• some fresh raspberries or frozen, maybe 1/2 cup
• some blackberries, fresh or frozen, maybe 1/4 cup
• a splash of organic coconut/pineapple juice
• cover with almond milk or rice milk or homemade Brazil nut milk (ask me for easy peasy recipe)
• blend for XL smoothie 

This is my basic recipe and variations include grapes, grape juice, a dollop of vanilla coconut milk yogurt, frozen peaches, strawberries, and even fresh apples.

The key is to customize the flavor so you will love it. No sense trying to drink what I love. If you hate it, why would you want more.

That's the key to eating in a healthy way, a way that allows your body to heal itself and maintain health. Customize every recipe until it fits you.

I try to eat raw fruits in the morning since they cleanse you. In plain terms that means you will go to the bathroom and have at least one bowel movement which is what you want. Three a day means you are moving your food through you in a healthy way and nothing is getting "stuck." That's what you don't want, undigested food stuck somewhere in the digestive system, rotting and decaying and causing unhealthy cells to grow.

In and out within a few hours.

A big word of CAUTION here: a bulemic person,  someone who eats and then goes to the bathroom to throw up, will miss the benefit of the nutrition they carefully prepared to feed their body. Not only will they miss the nutrition they prepared and waste money, they will also be inducing their body to get rid of some stored up nutrition which is worse.

Put good stuff in your body, let it do it's healthy thing, and then let the waste leave in the way it's supposed to.

I hope you all don't mind my being frank here, but how in the world will you get the picture if I don't use primary colors and be blunt.

Out to Dinner

Last night I attended an interdenominational Passover Seder with many friends and what in the world did I eat?

I ate the most delicious food, all plant based:

• some of the sunflower seed/almond/sesame seed nut loaf with gravy - for recipe see:www.hacres.com 
• quinoa with celery, carrots, onion and a dot of olive oil
• steamed broccoli and cauliflower
• carrots and spinach casserole
• steamed carrots and potatoes from the brisket/pot roast that every one else ate
• matzo with haroset (chopped apples, cinnamon, walnuts and grape juice)
• parsley

What did everyone else eat? They ate brisket that smelled delicious, roasted chicken, and some roasted lamb with veggies.

How in the world did I keep from eating the meat? Easy. First, did you know that your taste buds change every two weeks? So mine have been changed now for a year and a half and I did not crave the meat. Actually, I just reminded myself that the meat would stay in my bowel for days, if not weeks, putrifying and rotting before elimination potentially causing havoc in my colon. (Think precancerous colon cells.)

What did I have for dessert? Nothing. I filled up on veggies and reminded myself that I had delicious berries, vanilla coconut yogurt and mint chip coconut ice cream at home waiting for me, if I was still hungry.

Instead, I had hot tea with the mint leaves from my garden that I brought to the dinner. Sweetened with Stevia, it was delicious.

I sipped it as I walked by people with bowls heaped high with ice cream and angel food cake.

Am I a saint? No. I just know who I am, someone who wants to remain healthy. I know "there is pleasure in eating harmful foods for a season." I have had those seasons and they exist for me NO MORE.

This morning, my pants still fit, I have no sickening feeling in my bowel of meat just sitting there, and no chemical aftertaste of processed sugar in my mouth. (Did you know that a plant based diet even sweetens your breath?)

Go out to dinner and be good to yourself. Don't swallow the bill of goods that others will try to persuade you with, like "It's only one meal. You know you really want to eat that." Say to yourself instead, "I know that I want to stay healthy. I 'm doing the right thing. If 50,000 people do a stupid thing, it's still a stupid thing."

Send my your testimonies. 

Food Accountability Group

Here's how to eat well and save money on your food budget.

Get several friends to join you in a "Food Accountability Group." Once a week or once a day or on some schedule that you agree on, call each other on a conference call via skype for free or message one another in a group on FaceBook about what you are planning to prepare and eat for the next day or few days or week.

If you are stumped, share with the other members what ingredients you have on hand and any dietary concerns you have and let the group suggest menus you can make without having to go to the grocery store. This will limit trips, save on what you spend, and foster creativity and sharing amongst you all.

I used to do this when my kids were little. I would go into a friend's kitchen and show what she could make for about $25 a week.  After all, if you save on food, you can spend more on vacations, clothing,  nights out, books or even...savings.

If you try this, please let me know. The savings of friends puts a song in my heart. If we all had saved more, we could be buying real estate at rock bottom prices and still have more in the bank or mattress or wherever you stash it.

Today, a food accountability group, tomorrow a saving accountability group, the next day a spiritual accountability group, and so on.

What's for Dinner?

My husband took a quarter of a frozen pizza and scraped off all the toppings. Instead, he put on it: diluted organic tomato paste, cut up cherry tomatoes, diced onions, red pepper, mushrooms, vegan "cheese" and herbal seasonings. Bake at 400 degrees until the cheese bubbles and browns.

I'm using an Ezekiel tortilla as the pizza base with the same toppings.

Fast healthy and delicious.

We drank fresh organic carrot juice first and will follow up with a green salad and slivered asparagus that was steamed for a few minutes.

Myths That Harm

USA Today has an op ed on school nutrition and declares that money does not prevent schools from offering more nutritious food to their students/victims than what they now serve. Duh! Anyone could have told you that, especially nutritious conscious mothers who have been feeding families for decades, perhaps centuries on healthy eats.

If it's not money, what is it that hold schools back? It's the myths they mistakenly hold onto.

In the Adams school district 14 outside of Denver, the food director projected a revolt from the students if she got rid of chicken nuggets. Her projection was perhaps based on her own food preferences. The students did not revolt. They sat down and ate turkey subs on whole wheat bread, roasted cauliflower, herb roasted potatoes, a fresh salad and fresh fruit. Hey, it's a good start.

What myths do you have about food? Do you think kids should drink cow's milk everyday? Do you think that bread, rice, potatoes and pasta should be part of a daily menu at home or at school? Do you think that carrot juice turns you orange is and bad for you?

We will look at these myths in future postings. But here's one to chew on with your morning smoothie.

Children need some cooked food and some raw food with their breakfast but do you know what's best for adults? Not the overcooked omelet, bacon, home fries, bagel, muffin or toast that is being offered in my hotel this morning. Fresh, raw, uncooked fruit is the best for adults. It helps to cleanse the body from toxins accumulated from the day before. Try it. Have a banana, some fresh pineapple, and orange segments, if that's all that's offered. I supplemented mine with some Barley Max mixed with orange juice.

If I were home, I would have put a frozen banana in my Blend Tech blender with some frozen wild blueberries, some organic coconut/pineapple juice, some organic grapes and perhaps some fresh blackberries. The frozen banana makes the smoothie taste rich, sweet and delicious, like some kind of dessert parfait. Add the Barley Max for amino acids and vitamins and you are set until mid morning.

I carry a "living food" breakfast bar with me on the road. Mine has oranges, cranberries, some nuts and other natural flavors and I love it with some hot mint tea.

I love the tastes of the foods I don't eat. I just don't eat them. They make me sluggish, hungry (because they don't have enough nutrition). They give me arthritis, pains in my arms, achy joints and make me fat.

What do you eat for breakfast? Are your choices based on mythical beliefs left over from the Middle Ages or based on your nutritional needs?

What's For Dinner?

   You're tired and hungry and you want dinner. You go home and look at some frozen meals you bought that have been in the freezer for weeks. You look at canned vegetables and cans of tuna and wonder how that would taste. You finger fliers from pizza delivery franchises, Chinese food, and Greek take out wondering which would be in your table the quickest.

   While you are lost in thought, confused and hungry, cut up some carrots, celery, red peppers and lettuce, put some almond butter on each piece and chew away, even up to 30 chews per mouthful. While you are still deciding what to eat, you realize you are not very hungry anymore. You've filled up on this healthy snack and you are considering calling it dinner.

   Why not?

   Where's the protein? The veggies and the almond butter have protein. Enough? For this meal, yes.

   If you had mixed a tsp. of Barley Max with water and guzzled that first, you would have added some amino acids to your meal, the key part of protein that the body needs to maintain health and grow in health.

  Is it that easy? The easy answer is yes, a healthy meal can be simple and fast.

   Of course, there is more to the story, but this will do for starters. Come here for ideas on how to eat for good health.

   So where did my title come from: Don't swallow that!? First, all the good food titles were taken. Second, I got your attention. If a little voice inside your head cautions you when you are about to eat unhealthy fats, sugars, carbs, and chemicals, I will have done a good deed. You can have fat, sugar, and carbs, but the healthy kinds, not the ones that make you gain weight, give you unnatural highs and lows, contribute to diabetes, heart disease, cancer and scores of other diseases.

  I will show you how to replace the bad stuff with the good stuff, enjoy your food, lose weight, and gain greater health and energy than you have ever had.