I've posted a new recipe today under Recipes. This one is a Vegetable Crumble. Originally it was to be topped by wholemeal/wheat flour and oil, but I've changed it to be more like a Shepherd's Pie topping.
I came across a website yesterday called the Gabriel Method which isn't vegan, but the guy who runs the business was very obese at one point in his life. You can see his dramatic pictures on the site. The thing that interested me about his philosophy was that he realized through his research was that when people put on weight it generally isn't because they are weak or eat too much or any of the usual factors that most people assume about them, but that their body puts on the weight for several different reasons:
There are 3 vital things that he feels the overweight person needs (more of):
For a vegan, of course we get our protein from beans and nuts, as well as dark leafy greens (which is not so well known). Broccoli and many other vegetables are also a great source of protein for us. Live food, is of course fruit and vegetables, sprouted nuts and seeds, sprouted grains (like Quinoa and wheat berries) and sprouted beans (not the kidney variety as they are toxic unless boiled 10 minutes, but you knew that, of course). The most often forgotten ingredient in a healthy diet is the dark leafy greens which are full of life giving chlorophyll as well as many other nutrients (as well as proteins). The Omega-3 fatty acids are a little more difficult for us to get as we have to consciously add nuts and (particularly) seeds like chia, flaxseeds and walnuts to our meals. He also believes each meal should contain some protein. This is not difficult to do. You only need about 1oz a day, so if you mix flax seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds together, grind them up and put a generous tablespoonfull on each meal, you will be able to meet your requirements, if your body is able to convert the vegetable variety (which is a precursor called ALA) into the DHA that the body requires. He also recommends a source of probiotics like yoghurt or you can buy Acidophilus from health food stores to help the digestion work more efficiently. And the final thing he advocates are nightly visualizations. If you picture your body as you want it to look each night before you go to sleep you will program your sub-conscious mind to help you in the process. He admits that his own weight loss started out slow. The addition of the Omega-3 oils, for instance, takes about 6 months before they have coated the cells completely throughout the body. So you will not be looking for instant weight loss, but sustained loss over time which will stay off if you stick with these principles for life. I'm about feeding the body what it needs for total health and being a healthy weight, so I'm totally fine with his principles. Even when I went totally raw I only lost 2lbs a month! But it kept falling off easily and I was able to eat what I liked as long as I stuck with raw, uncooked fruit and vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains. So today I'm starting this blog of my journey. It's been a long one already. I started looking at how foods impacted my health when I found out that migraines are sometimes triggered by certain foods. I found mine and eliminated them. That makes it sound easy, but it wasn't because what you have as triggers are those foods that you crave. Think chocolate! OMG NO!! But it's gone.
Then when I started into my Change and the bloating and middle aged spread caught up with me I started to look at how foods impacted my hormones and digestion. That one is still ongoing but I do know that wheat, particularly refined wheat (as in flour, bread, cakes, etc.) is a problem. According to my pendulum (don't roll your eyes, it works!) I also have a problem with rye and corn (ah, no, not the cornbread too!). That pretty much eliminates tortillas, cake, bread, and all those other good things until I can find something else to replace them with. Chickpea flour/gram/besun may be the answer. It is also more proteinaceous than grain flours. As I find recipes that work I'll post them for you. My intent is that the recipes will not contain any weird foods that are hard to come by. You may occasionally need to go to a health food store or shop online (I've found Amazon has most things I'm looking for). Of course, if this is a new foray for you into healthy eating, there may be a lot of foods that you've never come across before. Hang in there and don't give up. Your health is worth it! |