I think the easiest way to make sure you stick with this program — not just for 6 weeks, but for life! — is to make meals that you really like to eat and are easy to prepare. I have 2 basic “go to” breakfasts — either smoothies or a hot cereal bowl, like oatmeal. Lunch is almost always a salad with beans and soup. Then for dinner, I usually have a tofu/veg/mushroom stir-fry, soup, or salad, or any combination of the three. These are easy dishes to make and I keep the basic ingredients in the fridge at all times. Make eating nutrient-dense meals a no-brainer.
Week Two Results
I lost another 2.5 pounds this week, for a total of 5 pound so far. So I’m half way to my goal and I have 4 weeks left to go. One thing I didn’t do last week was work more exercise into my schedule. It seems like it should be such an easy thing to do, but if I don’t set aside a specific time for exercise, the day just flies by and I forget about it. Making it a priority this week!
Observations from Week Two
Life Without Oil: I’ve been surprised at how easy it’s been to give up using oil for cooking and salad dressing. Out of habit, I used to drop a few glugs of oil over my salads without thinking about whether I really needed it. Now I just use balsamic vinegar and am good to go. And although I like to crisp up my tofu for a stir fry in oil, seasoning the tofu with Braggs Amino Acids or soy sauce is a fine substitute.
Swapping Lunch and Dinner: I found that I’m better off eating a heavier meal (stir fry or pita pocket sandwich) for lunch rather than dinner. I guess having a few extra hours to work off the calories works best for me. And for some weird reason, having a light salad and soup for dinner makes me fall asleep faster and easier.
Let’s Talk About Portion Size
Most diets want you to count calories and measure portion sizes. There’s very little of that on Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat To Live program. In fact, he encourages you to eat as much as you want of almost all kinds of fruit and vegetables. To give you an idea of what my portion sizes are like now versus an “average” portion size, check out these photos:
You really can’t overeat when it comes to nutrient-dense foods, so feel free to load up a big bowl and dive in!
What I Ate Over The Weekend
Saturday Eats
Breakfast: Since I made up a batch of quinoa on Friday, I used it up over the weekend. So I had another bowl of quinoa with bananas, blueberries and dates.
Lunch: I had a large salad and vegetable soup.
Dinner: I finished up the vegetable soup and had a large bowl of honeydew melon.
Sunday Eats
Breakfast: I finished up the quinoa and had it was a banana, frozen pomegranate seeds, frozen raspberries and black currants.
Lunch: We were out all afternoon and I forgot to bring along some food in case I needed it. We didn’t eat until almost 4 o’clock when we came across a Whole Foods and I had a salad with romaine lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, celery, mushrooms, shredded beets, black beans and balsamic vinegar. The salad weighed over 1 pound and I ate all of it!
Dinner: Dinner was pretty simple – just a big salad with balsamic vinegar and a grapefruit.
Week Three Grocery List
My grocery lists each week are pretty much the same, although I found some fresh black-eyed peas in the produce section this week that I couldn’t resist!
Fresh Veggies: 1 eggplant, 3 zucchini, 3 yellow squash, parsley, English cucumber, 3 red bell peppers, 1 bunch of green onions, 2 sweet onions, 1 bunch of broccoli, cremini mushrooms, 1 bag mixed salad greens, 1 bag baby spinach, 2 pints grape tomatoes, fresh black-eyed peas
Fresh Fruits: 6 bananas, 1 honeydew melon, limes, lemons, 2 avocados, 1 grapefruit, 4 apples
Frozen Fruit: mango, blueberries, raspberries
Staples: 2 extra firm tofu, soy milk, 2 cans no-salt diced tomatoes, tomato paste
Week Three Prepped Meals
Last week I had a Mexican food theme going. I don’t have a theme for this week – just kind of a mish-mash of whatever looked good to me at the market. In addition to the Basic Salad I always have on hand, here are the other dishes I made:
Wild Rice with Tofu & Mushrooms
This was a clean out the fridge and freezer dish. And it’s a substitute for my usual stir fry. I had a bag of wild rice I’ve been wanting to use and just started pulling things out of the fridge to see what would go with it. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients (makes about 8 servings)
1 cup uncooked wild rice (washed and drained)
1 package tofu (diced)
10 ounces cremini mushrooms (sliced)
1 sweet onion (diced)
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen sweet corn
4 teaspoons Bragg’s Amino Acids (or light soy sauce)
Directions
- Cook the rice per package instructions (about 1 cup rice to 4 cups water cooked for 40 – 45 minutes). Add 2 teaspoons of Bragg’s or soy sauce to the water.
- Place the tofu, mushrooms and onions in a non-stick wok pan with 1 cup of water and 2 teaspoons of Braggs. Bring to a boil and cover with a lid. Let cook over high heat for about 5 – 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the lid and cook on high until about two-thirds of the liquid is absorbed.
- Add in the rice, peas and corn. Continue cooking on high until almost all of the liquid is gone.
- Serve hot immediately.
Black-Eyed Pea Soup
Ingredients (makes about 8 servings)
2 cup fresh black-eyed peas
1 large sweet onion – diced
3 carrots – sliced
2 celery stalks – sliced
2 bay leaves
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon whole cloves (remove after cooking)
1/2 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
6 cups of water
Directions
- Place all of the ingredients in a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 15 – 20 minutes until the peas are fully cooked. Because I used fresh black-eyed peas, this cooked up pretty quickly. If you’re using dried beans, it will take 45 – 60 minutes to cook.
- Serve hot with a pinch of salt.
Ratatouille Soup
This was the result of a failed attempt to bake a layered dish, so everything ended up in the soup pot, which turned out really well!
Ingredients (serves about 8)
1 eggplant
1 large yellow squash
2 zucchini
6 medium tomatoes
2 15-ounce cans unsalted diced tomatoes
1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Directions
- Dice the vegetables in uniform sizes.
- Place the diced tomatoes in a food processor and blend until smooth.
- Place all ingredients in a soup pot and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low, cover with a tight-fitting lid, and cook for about 30 minutes until all vegetables are cooked.
- Serve hot with a pinch of salt.
That’s it for this week’s round-up report. Check back later tonight for a recap of what I ate on Week Three Day One!
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