Easy Black Bean Salad

This salad is so delicious.  We ate it as a side dish one night, for lunch the next day, and as a snack with crackers on day three.  It’s super good for you, totally vegan, and comes together in about 10 minutes.  Great for hot summer days.

This is what you need. I got this out of the Forks Over Knives book you see in the background.

Black Bean Salad

2 cans of black beans, rinsed well (if you don’t rinse them well, they’ll turn the salad grey)

1 large tomato, diced

1 bag of frozen corn

1/2 red onion, diced

the juice of 1 lime

3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

Mix all the ingredients and serve!  It doesn’t get any easier than that!

It makes a great side dish for anything grilled.

 

 

Hey, Look at Me! I’m Trying to be a Blogger!

I am a goal-oriented person.  I like setting them, planning my strategies for achieving them, and bragging about them later.  My affinity for goals is probably my primary source of self-esteem.  So, in order to boost my flagging self-image, I’m setting a couple for July.

July will be the month of “Dogs and Blogs.”

Here are my goals:

1.  Exercise my dogs several times a week.  I live in the deep South with a good, fenced-in backyard.  My dogs live outdoors.  It’s stinking hot.  Too hot to walk a dog.  But, I’m going to even if it’s just a little.  My dogs are out of shape.  They’ll tire quickly.

2.  Blog more.  My goal is to blog 15 times this month.  I’m also going to take more pictures.  I don’t usually take my own pictures, but I’m going to.  Otherwise, how will I ever get better at it.

I think that getting a little more exercise at night with the dogs and being a little more conscienscious (did I spell that right?) with my food, I should see my dogs become more pleasant company and my food get interesting again.  (I’m pretty sick of humus and crackers, pasta, Boca burgers and canned minestrone soup.)  I may even see the 3 pounds I gained in Disney World magically disappear.

Jumping off the Diet Rollercoaster: Change Your Mindset

Are you or do you know one of those people that lose weight on a diet and then gain it all back?  Do you have 3 sizes of clothing in your closet: your normal size, your been-on-a-diet size, and your need-to-get-back-on-my-diet size?  Are you starting to feel like there is not way to maintain a healthy weight for your whole life?  If you’re wondering what diet will work for you, the answer is probably all of them and none of them.  Let me explain.

My sister made an excellent observation years ago when we were all doing the Atkins diet, scarfing down lunch meat and eschewing carbs.  She said, “No matter how long I stay on Atkins or how much I lose, I’m never going to forget that ice cream tastes good.”  She really got me thinking.  What diet will ever work if it requires me to go my whole life without enjoying the food I really love?  I know myself well enough to know that I will eat what I want eventually.  I might be able to deny myself something sweet or buttery for a while, but eventually I’ll be at a wedding or a party or a movie, and I’ll let loose.  I’m not ready or willing to be on a diet that restricts my ability to have the food I love for very long.

I, and I think a lot of others, can watch what I eat for several weeks, maybe even months, and see some weight loss.  That’s why any diet will work.  If you become conscious of what you’re eating and eat less, you’ll lose weight.  But, I can’t live like that forever.  I don’t have never-ending willpower, and that’s why diets don’t work.  Whatever weight you or I lose by restricting our diets dramatically will inevitably return when we relax.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t fight that war forever!  I quit.  In fact, I quit a couple years ago.  No more dieting.  No more fat-free creamer, sugar-free cookies, lite bread, food journals, diet pills, cheating or binges.

The only thing that will make me a thin person for the rest of my life is behaving like a thin person for the rest of my life.  Eating good food (as in healthy and appetizing) when I’m hungry and finding something to do for entertainment other than eat are the keys for me.  Being vegan has helped me to learn to enjoy healthy food.  (I still love sweets, but I have a new appreciation for fruit salads, grilled pineapple, and vegan baked goods.)  I’m less addicted to junk food and crave it less often.  But, I’m not on a “vegan diet.”  I’m not waiting until I go on vacation to “cheat.”  I’m not planning what I’ll eat when I’ve lost my weight and I can go off my diet.

I guess what I’m saying is that before you can change your weight, change your mindset toward food.  Read these success stories from the National Weight Control Registry and see if you see what I saw.

I identify with this guy’s food addiction. Maybe that’s why both of us found help in being vegan.

The change in food (and subsequently their weight) came after the changes in the way they thought about themselves.  They took an objective look at what and why they ate.  No gimmicks.  No diets.

How to start your day like a rockstar

I love these thoughts.  We should all tap into our inner celebrity!  this post is brilliant.  i only wish I had thought of it.

How to start your day like a rockstar.

Better Food Can Boost Your Weight Loss

If you’ve been reading lately, you know that I’ve been suggesting resolutions that have nothing to do with dieting.  I’m going to waver just a tiny bit today.  Today I want to suggest that you resolve to eat the highest quality, most natural food you can afford.  It’s kind of a diet, but not like you’re used to.  You’ll lose weight, but you will have to think about food and your body differently.

First, your body knows what to do with real food.  Your body is from nature and your food should be too!  You have a digestive system that is fully capable of digesting potatoes and bread.  A healthy human can successfully metabolize natural sugars from the sugar cane plant or honey.  Carbs, like the kind in rice and grains, are natural and beneficial to your body.  Fats, like the kind in olives, avocados, and nuts, are natural and beneficial to your body.  Your body has the most amazing ability to extract the nutrients it needs and combine them in ways that are useful.  You don’t have to count your grams of protein or obsess about calories.  Your body can get what it needs from natural food.  In fact, it can get what it needs from plants(!) 95% of the time.  (That’s what I mean by vegan-ish—my goal is for less than 5% of my diet to come from animal sources.)

Also, food made in a laboratory is not natural.  If the ingredient list looks like the answer key for a chemistry test, it’s not natural.  Don’t eat it!  Real food is not designed to sit on a shelf for 6 months without going bad.  If bacteria don’t even want to eat it, why would you?  Besides, switching to artificial sweeteners will not help you in the long run.  Buying everything fat free will not help you in the long run.  You know how I know this?  Because every fat person I know drinks diet soft drinks and eats low fat mayonnaise.  You will undermine your health by turning your digestive system into a chemical treatment plant.  Eat food make in a kitchen, not in a laboratory!

Lastly, trust that your body can regulate its own weight.  Remember that feeling of hunger and satisfaction?  That’s your body’s way of letting you know when and what and how much to eat.  For millennia, human beings ate according to what was available and what their bodies wanted and they managed to stay thin.  My grandparents have lived to ripe old ages in good health by eating regular food when their bodies required it.

With those thoughts in mind, resolve to eat the highest quality, most natural food you can afford.  Don’t worry if you can’t buy organic produce.  Buy produce.  Don’t worry if you’re not shopping at the bakery for your breads.  Just buy bread with the fewest fake ingredients.  (Watch out for high fructose corn syrup.  It’s fake no matter what the corn sugar folks tell you.)  And quit ignoring your urge to eat peanut butter and bananas because peanut butter is high in fat and you read somewhere that bananas have too many carbs.  Eat guacamole.  (It’s great on a salad.)  Order the hummus and olive plate even though they serve it with extra oil.  Just eat when you’re stomach growls, savor each bite, and stop before you have any regrets.  It’ll be the best non-diet diet you’ve ever lost weight on!

Don’t Diet–Pursuit Pleasure for the New Year

The second in my suggested list of non-dieting resolutions was to pursuit simple pleasure.  I need to clarify this before someone gets the idea that I’m advocating hedonism.  We should review a few principles about true pleasure.

First, simple pleasure does not come back to haunt you.  There is a difference between pursuing pleasure and making mistakes.  You could enjoy the sensation of quitting your job and telling your boss what you’ve always thought of her.  That moment would bring you great pleasure. But…the aftermath would be bad.  If you’re overweight then you’re in the habit of choosing a pleasure that comes back to haunt you.  You’ve been choosing to eat junk for the good feeling of it and suffering the consequences later.  That’s not the kind of pleasure I’m talking about.  The pleasure I’m talking about isn’t stuffing yourself with food to gratify an immediate appetite.  I’m talking about something that enriches your mind and spirit. 

Second, simple pleasure does not have to be elaborate.  Sometimes the best things are the simplest.  In fact, to me, the best pleasure is the satisfaction of a job well done.  (That’s how I’ll feel after I post this J)  Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because something is small that it’s not special.  I have a bouquet of flowers on my dinner table right now that bring me pleasure.  Reading a good book in a bed with clean sheets is a great pleasure.  There are lots of non-food pleasures that you may have overlooked.  Find them.  They will be unique to you and they will be worth the effort.  You should try to have something pleasurable every day, no matter how small it is.

Third, simple pleasure will help you be happier and being happier will help you be healthier.  I believe that the world was made beautiful because God wants us to enjoy it.  He gave us taste buds, olfactory lobes, musical octaves and nerve endings that register tastes, smells, harmonies, and sensations because he knew we would need them.  Enjoying these things brings us to a state heightened peace.   You need to cultivate pleasure to escape from the stress of life.

Pleasure is one major reason why I will never diet again.  Dieting and Pleasure are mutually exclusive.  Dieting is about removing from your life the foods that bring you pleasure.  I do not want to do that.  What I want to do is add more pleasure to my life that has nothing to do with food.  I plan ahead of time (and I use visual imagery to help—more about that in a later post) to find pleasure that doesn’t involve food.  For example, when I get home at night I put on comfortable clothes and relax on my front porch for a few minutes if the weather is nice.  When I fix dinner, I think about the beauty of the food and the satisfaction of feeding my family the old-fashioned way—sitting down at a table full of homemade food.  In the evenings I think about the warmth of a cup of hot tea and the contentment of stretching out on the sofa.  I can fill an evening with simple pleasures that have nothing to do with food.  And, pursuing that kind of pleasure is a much better resolution than dieting.

Non-Dieting Resolution: Release Stress

Research shows that elevated stress levels cause an increase in the body’s production of cortisol and that cortisol promotes weight gain by slowing your metabolism and storing fat around your belly.  It also affects your body’s ability to control its blood sugar.  So it could be making you tired and crave sugar!

My personal research is much less scientific.  Stress makes me fat.  It makes me crave food for comfort and entertainment.  It makes me much less likely to coerce myself into exercising.  And, it makes it nearly impossible for me to concentrate and keep my priorities (good health and the pursuit of pleasure) in line.  Unfortunately, stress is unavoidable.  To help manage your stress level, mull over some of these thoughts and suggestions.

First, determine what stress-causers are changeable and unchangeable.   Pardon me for stating the obvious, but make a list of what you can and cannot change!  For example, having to work 40 hours a week and take care of multiple children is stressful, but there’s nothing I can do about it.  However, having to pack lunches in a cluttered kitchen every morning while rushing said children to school is something I can change.  Two years ago I came to the conclusion that watching what I eat is a stress-causer, but one I cannot avoid.  I have to watch my weight to keep it down or I’ll watch it go up.  Either way, I will experience some level of stress.  I decided I’d rather have the stress on the front end and make healthy, albeit less convenient food choices, then on the back end and never have any clothes that fit or self-confidence.

Second, develop strategies for coping with your stress.  As I mentioned before, I have to pack lunches.  My strategy is to de-clutter the kitchen, pack lunches at night and make the kids pack their own a couple days a week. For my weight, I adopted a vegan-ish lifestyle. As a vegan, I still have to watch my food, but I don’t have to watch my calories.

For the stress you cannot avoid, find something relaxing to do.  I find deep breathing helpful.  For more information about breathing for relaxation, read Dr. Andrew Weil’s book Breathing:  The Master Key to Self Healing.  His techniques were designed to reduce the effect stress has on the body and to open the mind to helpful, constructive suggestions.  Let me also suggest wine and a pretty porch.  Nothing melts stress for me like alcohol and the great outdoors.  You may prefer a bubble bath or tunes on the iPod.  Whatever works works!  Just don’t leave your stress relief to chance.  Take control of your health and happiness in every way you can!

Third, if you’re really overwhelmed, consult an expert.  Don’t rule out the value of a few counseling sessions or hypnotherapy or a life coach.  When stress starts to get ahead of me, I scour the library’s website for help.  That’s where I found Dr. Andrew Weil’s book.  Whatever you do, resolve that you will not let stress steal your health this year.  Make relaxing one of your new priorities.

You Won’t Miss Meat As Badly As You Think

Mark Bittman’s Truthbomb: Reducing Your Meat Intake Isn’t As Difficult As You Think

by Hanna Brooks Olsen

Flexitarian. Lessitarian. Semi-vegan. There are a lot of titles that pertain to the way Mark Bittman, cookbook author and New York Times writer, chooses to eat. But they all pretty much boil down to the same thing: healthy, simply, and with a little less meat and dairy than the rest of the United States is regularly consuming. In a blog post on his site today, Bittman, who has had several forays into vegetarianism, but still chooses to eat a little meat here and there, explains what meat-avoiders have been saying for years: that it’s really not difficult to limit your intake of animal products, and that you don’t have to “go vegan” just to eat better (one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions in America). And you know what? He’s spot-on.

Which is not to say that veganism, vegetarianism, or even the limiting of meat, dairy, and eggs is some kind of silver bullet toward a nutritious diet–plenty of vegan foods, like Twinkies and french fries, offer just as many empty calories and fat as fast food or anything containing meat–but cutting back on red meat and dairy has been linked to a reduction in the risk of certain kinds of cancer. And, when done correctly, preparing the occasional meal without meat or dairy can lead to more well-rounded meals that incorporation more vegetables, fruits, and lean proteins from sources like beans and nuts. And, as Bittman points out, it’s not nearly as hard as most people think.

I can’t count the number of times that someone, most often over a meal where they are eating meat and I am not, has told me that they “couldn’t live without meat/dairy/some other food product that it is entirely humanly possible to live without.” Whenever someone says something like this, I can only think “Oh, I didn’t realize that your body is composed so divergently from my own, because here I stand, alive and well, not eating those things.” Sure, it can be inconvenient at a restaurant, where a Garden Burger is the only non-meat item, but that’s why being flexible, and only occasionally limiting intake of these foods is important. It’s not that any single person can’t exist on a diet without meat, or dairy, or other items that Americans have been conditioned to believe are “essential”–it’s that they haven’t found the right way to quietly, healthfully omit them in their own homes.

A vegan meal, contrary to what die-hard meat lovers may think, doesn’t require enrollment into PETA, and it doesn’t have to consist of an unpronounceable grain, a pile of sprouts, raw spinach, and a some kind of gelatinous, genetically-modified protein product. Think of all the dishes that are easily made vegetarian or vegan: thai noodles in peanut sauce, pasta with red sauce, salad, sorbet, pizza without cheese (or even pizza WITH cheese, if you want), mashed potatoes made with olive oil instead of butter, stuffed bell peppers, rice and beans, burritos…the list goes on, and I promise you won’t spontaneously sprout dreadlocks if you eat one of them.

Bittman makes some excellent suggestions about how to limit the intake of meat and dairy in ways that won’t feel like something’s missing. Simply leaving the meat out of pasta sauce (or substituting it with TVP), or making lentils or another kind of high-protein legume the star of a meal, or seitan instead of beef in stir fry can all help cut back on meats which may be high in fat and cholesterol. And when you find that your usual go-to dishes are meat based, you may be more likely to sub in something hearty and healthy, like brussels sprouts, squash, nuts, or grains, in place of the old standard.

Becoming a vegan in the New Year is a pretty lofty goal. But “eating better” is attainable–as long as you allow yourself to live with less of those foods you “can’t live without.”

Copied from Blisstree.com on 12/30/11

http://blisstree.com/eat/mark-bittman-says-try-vegetarian-vegan-meals-328/

No-Dieting New Year’s Resolutions

Have you dieted for months, charted your weight loss, and counted every calorie during every January for the last decade?  I used to feel like losing weight was a mystery.  I could do everything just right and see no results at all.  Or, I could just barely slip up and watch the numbers rise on the scale.  Because it seemed like it was out of my control, I got frustrated and depressed with the whole process.  Don’t set goals that focus on the results because you can’t always control results.  Set goals that encourage healthy behaviors.  You can control your behaviors.

May I suggest a couple of New Year’s Resolutions for you?

1.  Release stress.

What do you need to do to make your life less stressful?  Can you cut down your schedule or let yourself off the hook for something?  Should you stop dwelling on a bad relationship and move on?  Is there something hanging over your head that you know you need to do, but you just don’t have the motivation?

If anything is dragging you down, get rid of it!  Stress makes you fat and ugly.  It complicates your life and steals your joy.  You will age more quickly and less gracefully.  Much of life’s stress is unavoidable so don’t harbor any that you don’t have to.

2.  Pursue simple pleasures.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but living a good life is a lot of hard work.  Luckily, there are many things that make it wonderful and worth the effort.  Make a quick list of things that you encounter on a regular basis that bring you enjoyment and resolve to savor the pleasure in them.  Life will get in the way of pleasure if you let it.  But, you may find that if you make pleasure a priority you will find it more often.  Don’t deny yourself the joy of making yourself happy.

Now, I’m not talking about irresponsibility in any way.  Stupid decisions today could rob you of tomorrow’s pleasure.  I’m talking about a simple stop-and-smell-the-roses approach to life.

3.  Eat the highest quality, most natural food you can afford.

This is all about pampering your body from the inside out.  Fuel your body.  Do not use your body as a trash can or dumping ground.  If you had a very important dinner guest you would prepare a very special, fresh meal.  Well, you do have a very important dinner guest—yourself.

 4.  Embrace the best version of yourself.

How would you live if you were thin and healthy?  What would a thin, healthy you do after work or on the weekends?  How would it feel to stand up straighter and feel confident?  Imagine yourself that way and live as if it’s already happening.  The truth is this—When you live like a thin person, you will become one.  Do you know why diets never work?  Because when you’re on a diet, you eat like a fat person who is on a diet.  But people with a healthy relationship to food, don’t live like that.  They live and eat like thin people and they stay thin.  When you can live like you’re thin, you will be thin and you will stay thin.

5.  Find an exercise you can live with for the rest of your life.

You might have to experiment a little to find what you like, but resolve this year to find an exercise that you can grow old with.  May I suggest Pilates (or its Eastern friend yoga)?  Classes are readily available, videos are quite effective, and the routines are simple for all ages and fitness levels.  Combine Pilates with walking a few days a week and you’ve got yourself a formula for healthy aging.

Good luck in the coming year.  For the next few days, we’ll look at each of these recommendations one by one and see how we can use them to make ourselves better, happier people in 2012.

Getting Ready To Be Vegan for New Years

I have to be honest with you—I’m not always a great vegan.  I cheat.  I don’t eat meat, but I do eat cheese sometimes and things baked with milk or egg.  I’m not proud of it, but I will admit it.  Those occasional failures serve to remind me of why I went vegan in the first place.  After a week or two of tolerating failure I’m like to have a stomach ache, a general feeling of lethargy and tighter pants.  Then, I’m ready to knuckle down and clean out my food choices.

Well, that’s where I am now.  I’ve eaten one too many Christmas cookies around the water cooler at the office.  I’m ready to get back to normal!  I’m sure I’m not alone.  This is about the time of year when thousands of Americans start planning the diet that starts in January.  Would you like to join my family and be a better vegan in January?  Here’s how we’re getting ready:

1. Gathering recipes.  I’m keeping my eyes open now for quick, easy ideas and making them as often as I can.  Why wait to feel great?  I can eat vegan today and feel good today.  Plus, in January, I’ll already have pulled together some ingredients and tested out a few things.
2. I’m using up and giving away all my non-vegan food.  Friday I will be on a mission to bake and use up all the eggs, milk chocolate, hot cocoa, etc. that is taking up space and threatening to weaken my resolve in January.  I’m going to make hot cocoa, invite over my kids’ friends and serve the all the stuff I make.  What’s left is going home wrapped tightly on paper plates or is coming with me to my large family get-together on Sunday afternoon.  (My brother will eat it.)
3. Everything I buy from here on out is going to be vegan.  The dish I bring to mother’s Christmas dinner?  Vegan.  Our intimate family gathering on Christmas Eve with just the kids?  Vegan.  I can’t control what everyone else serves (and wouldn’t even try!), but I can assure that I have a choice that I’m happy about.
4. Visual imagery.  I don’t know that I can stress enough how helpful it is for me to rehearse situations in my mind before they happen.  Here’s an example:  When I visit relatives, we almost always put the desserts on the kitchen table, pour a cup of coffee and sit down around the table and talk for hours.  Inevitably, I pick and snack all afternoon.  I can’t just walk away or I’ll miss the conversation.  I can’t suggest that everyone move because they like sitting around the desserts.  This year I’m going to do something just a tiny bit different.  I’m going to fix hot tea instead of coffee (I associate coffee with dessert), hold the mug in my hands and lean back in the chair.  I’m going to make sure that the desserts are not in my line of sight and are more than an arm’s length away.  I’ve rehearsed in my mind how I’m going to look at the faces of my family instead of at the goodies on the table and how relaxed and calm I’ll feel when I’m sitting and talking and not cluttering my attention with food.
5. I’m going to eat whatever I love.  The keyword is “love.”  I’m not going to eat something just because I like it or it’s okay or there’s nothing else.  I’m not going to eat it just because I felt obligated to or because it’s still on my plate.  I’m not going to eat it because it’s time to eat or because everyone else is eating now.  However, I will eat whatever I love.  And, I will eat it as long as I love it.  Which means, I may stop halfway through a slice of pie because it’s starting to get sickening sweet, or I may eat the whole thing.

I feel really good about the next 10 days, and I am really excited about starting 2012 feeling better than I did when I started 2011!