DAY SEVEN, IN VEGGIE HEAVEN

DAILY DOSE OF NUTRITION ADVICE
WITH DR. JANICE STANGER

This last week may have been filled with both delights and challenges. You may be realizing the unbeatable health benefits of a whole foods, plant-based diet. Yet you are wondering how to keep it up.

The Perfect Formula Diet is an eating plan that will keep you satisfied, trim, and healthy for life. Here's a quick outline of this easy-to-remember way of eating. By volume (such as a cup, half cup, or whatever you life):

• One quarter of your food will be vegetables.
• One quarter of your food will be fruits.
• One quarter of your food will be beans, peas, lentils, and/or potatoes in any proportion.
• One quarter of your food will be whole grains.

Eat flavorful foods with generous amounts of fresh or dried herbs and spices. Add a handful of nuts or seeds four to six days a week; or choose nut butter if you prefer. Don't forget your two tablespoons a day of ground flax seeds. These inexpensive seeds are your healthiest and most affordable source of omega-3 fatty acids. Be sure to take a vitamin B12 supplement (while plants make most vitamins, B12 is made by bacteria).

Foods to avoid include all animal foods (meat, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs) and manufactured foods (such as white flour, white rice, sugar, soda, margarine, and jarred vegetable oils).

You will find that food cravings fade as your body is getting all the nutrients and calories it needs. Your tastes will change as well, and this process takes only about three weeks. With one week down, you are only two weeks from finding that whole plant foods taste better to you than previous unhealthy food choices did.

SUGGESTED LINKS

• Veg Diet for Athletes
• Vegetarian Foods: Powerful for Health

RECIPE IDEAS

Red Lentil Dal (serves 4) 

• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil for frying
• 3-4 cups water
• 1-2 tomatoes, chopped (optional)
• Cinnamon stick (optional)
• 1 tbsp Indian curry paste
• Salt to taste

1. Carefully sift through the dry lentils and remove any tiny rocks.
2. In a large pot, sauté onion with oil and curry paste until softened.
3. Add rinsed lentils, water and optional tomato and cinnamon stick.
4. Bring to a boil then simmer covered at a low boil for up to an hour until the lentils become creamy.
5. Salt to taste.
6. Serve as a soup or over rice.

Quick Veggie Rice (serves 2)

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 small stick of cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1 cup mixed chopped vegetables (potato, carrots, peas, beans, corn)
• 3 cups water
• Salt to taste
• Dash of coconut cream or coconut milk (optional)

1. Sauté chopped onions in oil.
2. When golden brown, add cinnamon, bay leaf, cumin, rice and vegetables.
3. Sauté two minutes and add 3 cups of water.
4. Bring to a boil, add salt, and coconut milk (if using) and simmer covered over low heat. 
5. Cook for 20 minutes (35-40 minutes for brown rice).
6. Garnish with coriander leaves or sliced green onions, and serve along with chutney or with dal.

More Recipe Ideas 

Ready to try tofu? These two recipes make a great introduction to this excellent and versatile source of protein:

• Vegetable Barley Soup
• Amanda's Thai Peanut Pasta
• Classic Veggie Stew

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Turn Off the Fat Genes: The Revolutionary Guide to Losing Weight by Neal Barnard, MD (ISBN: 0609809040)

No More Bull! The Mad Cowboy Targets America's Worst Enemy: Our Diet by Howard F. Lyman (ISBN: 0743286897)