How Much Should I Eat?

   I am responding to a comment that portion sizes are not usually listed in vegan recipes.

   Here's the good news. When eating a plant diet, rarely do you need to watch portion sizes. I don't know anyone who ever got fat on vegetables:)

   Use common sense. One or two slices of bread are more than enough. One small potatoe or half a jubo sweet potato would be enough for me. don't eat a whole bag of Tostitos or 6 vegan cookies. When making a raw sweet potato pie or avocado chocolate mouse pie, just eat a slice.

   When it comes to raw food, I never measure my portions. When I am eating cooked food, I eat in moderation.

    When switching to a vegan regime, your taste buds will change and you will learn different signals to pay attention to about hunger, feeling full, and frequent snacking. I snack every day on a Hallelujah Acres cranberry orange snack bar in the morning with a cup of mint tea. In the afternoon I snack on a cranberry blast survival bar and my  mint tea again. I sweeten the tea with a packet of Stevia and I am satisfied. Occasionally I crave salt and so I snack on a whole grain pretzel snack or carrot sticks dipped in dijon mustard. Okay, I'm weird, but it's healthy and I like it.

    Please don't hesitate to ask specific questions as you eat your way to new health. I am so proud of you.


 


 

Why Bill Clinton is a Role Model

Some of you know that Bill Clinton has not been a favorite person of mine, for years. And so, you are wondering, why in the world would I have changed my mind.

It's not politics, I am talking about; it's food. Bill Clinton has become a vegan. His dramatic diet change has been widely publicized so I may not be telling you something new. Since the news media have stopped reporting on his dalliances, we don't know if he has changed changing partners. But he has stopped eating Big Macs and french fries and the plant based diet he enjoys is about the healthiest you can get, in my opinion.

It's hard to change your eating program and I give credit where it is due. Congratulations ,Bill, for giving your future grandchildren a chance to know you. You are following in your daughter's footsteps. Chelsea has been a vegan for more than 10 years that I know about. She "got the flick" way before you did. It's nice that you are teachable and that you have decided to give up some bad habits. We can all learn from that.

Obesity

How do children become obese? They may have big bones and big heads. What about their arms legs and stomachs?

I have seen parents or grandparents feed children, over-stuff them with food that makes them fat.. Have you seen it, too?

The children are fed with processed foods that have lots of fat and sugar and they don't satisfy. I know because when I used to eat those foods, I ate way too much of them because I was always hungry.

If I eat food that is raw, under 105 degrees, the food is in a natural state, no additives, sugars or fats, I become satisfied easily without making a pig of myself. On the contrary, I remember eating roasted or fried chicken and not being able to stop. It was not feeding my body with what it needed and the fat was addictive.

Studies have shown that if you offer children an array of foods. a mixture of healthy and non-healthy choices, children will eat the healthy fare and enjoy what they eat. If there are no healthy choices, children become accustomed to the food you give them. They also become addicted to the fats and sugars and it's not far from that they they become obese.

We do that to children. They don't do that to themselves.

If you know any obese children, please talk to their parents. Talk about nutrition. Refer them to websites that will give them more information.

Children do not become obese on their own. They are taught to make poor choices.

Cafe 118 - Winter Park, FL

    If you want a reason to travel to Winter Park, FL, just 30 minutes from Sea World in Orlando, I'll give you one: Cafe 118 in Winter Park on East Morse Boulevard.

    This is the third time I have eaten there and I have relished everything ordered.

    Today, I had raw lasagna. Layers of thinly sliced zucchini alternated with macadamia nut "ricotta" cheese, raw tomato sauce and a slice of a tomato. The portion was just enough to fill me up but not overwhelming. The flavors were so savory and rich and delicious.

    Howard had 4 veggie rolls filled with sliced cabbage, avocado and other veggies, each rolled in a collard leaf. Served with a bowl of sweet and sour sauce, you dip the rolls and munch and crunch. It was really enough for 2 people and the flavors were very satisfying.

    Since we were only going to eat 2 meals today, we had dessert: a slice of cheesecake with blueberry glaze on top and pumpkin spice pie with a cream sauce on the side and a nut crust.

    I know it sounds as if I were eating dairy, but all the ingredients were plant based and there was no dairy. There was also no refined sugar, only agave and other natural sugars. It was fake cheese and fake cream and yet the flavors were so rich, that I thought I was eating real cheese and sugar.

    I will be back because there is so much on the menu I haven't tried. Besides the appetizers, main courses and desserts, there is an extensive selection of smoothies made with not milks.

   With healthy food this tasty, I am less tempted to cheat. Sometimes I am tempted, but I resist. My goal is continued health and I don't think any meal or any food is worth risking my health for.













 

5 Ways to Live Longer

   The book The Longevity Project written by researchers Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin clearly points out that some myths of behavior have been debunked.

The five ways to live longer are:

1. You don't have to always think happy thoughts to reduce stress and lead a long life. Some worry is OK.
2. Gardening and walking are enough exercise to keep you healthy.
3. Being serious is not bad for you.
4. Working may keep you alive. "...those who were most engaged in pursuing their goals" lived the longest.
5. Having fulfilling social relationships, like marriage or healthy singleness, keeps women living longer. The married men in the study lived the longest.

So for the New Year, think a little, worry a little, smile a little, garden and walk a little, be serious when you want to be, work, and cultivate healthy relationships.

Cheers!

What is a Blended Salad?

   A blended salad is a healthy plant based meal that you mix in a high powered blender.

   Why should anyone want to eat it ?
  
   That's easy. It's a fast, delicious way to get lots of greens without feeling like you are in a pasture grazing.

   I just made a lovely blended salad for lunch. Here is what I mixed:

• one large organic collard leaf, cut up
• a stalk of celery, cut up
• about 9 organic grape tomatoes
• several leaves or organic dark green lettuce
• one organic carrot, chopped
• 1/2 cup of organic canned garbanzo beans
• about 5-6 tbsp. of Udo's oil (I dump instead of measuring)
• about 3 tbsp. of organic apple cider vinegar
• about 1 tbsp. pf Bragg's amino acids
• 6 pitted Kalamata olives

I blended the ingredients together in my Blend Tech machine using the setting: Whole foods, sauces, dips.

Then I toasted a piece of sesame Ezekiel bread.

Leisurely, I ate my lunch loving the miz of flavors and knowing how good for me this salad was.

Try it, at least once, before you tell me I'm nuts:)

Happy New Year!

A Prophet!

This morning my husband said to me, "You are like a prophet that no one listens to."
He was referring to the way that I eat. I have stuck to my plant based eating program for almost 2 years and flirted with it for 10 years and I am not sorry.

I am glad that I have no health issues. I just took my morning power walk to Whole Foods and back in the rain. That's hard core. I even impressed myself.

But so many have health issues that would go away if they changed what they ate. I know people with Crohn's disease, fibromyalgia, heart disease, kidney failure, arthritis, mysterious auto immune diseases,  cancer, joint replacements that don't remove joint inflammations, acne, diabetes and obesity. My heart aches for them knowing that if they would only consider changing their eating program, their conditions would improve, if not disappear outright.

What's a caring person to do? I can't yank their food out from under their noses. I don't bring the subject up at the dinner table. I don't shove books in their faces and I don't send them articles and jam their emails.

What do I do? I eat my food in front of them and enjoy it. I serve them food that is delicious and good for them when they are my guests at home. I pray for them a lot. And...I blog about it.

If you know anyone who has a health issue, please start to pray that they consider another way of eating and living. Pray hard. Pray a lot. Eat healthy food in restaurants and at home where they can see you. Exercise and enjoy your health. Enjoy it for all to see. You may be the only nutrition book they ever read.

If you dare, send them my way. And send them to: www.hacres.com

Life and health are only a click away.