Rip Esselstyn's Blog, page 30
March 4, 2014
Mardi Gras!
Louisiana is known for their Mardi Gras celebrations. Not known for the healthy eating, we thought we’d we’d ask: what does a healthy Mardi Gras look like? Thankfully there are a lot of great recipes out there, and even better? One of our favorite chef/bloggers (Susan from Fat Free Vegan) happens to be from Louisiana, and she knows how to make some great Louisiana dishes!
So why not celebrate Mardi Gras in a healthier way? Enjoy some of these great Mardi Gras inspired recipes!
Real Louisiana Red Beans & Rice
Hoppin’ John with Avocado Cucumber Dressing
Stuffed Eggplant and Not So Dirty Rice
No related posts.
March 3, 2014
Adventures with Ami: Investigating Vegetables
How many tomatoes can I realistically eat? This is the thought that crossed my mind as I clicked through pages of heirloom tomato seeds on the web. I have the opportunity to build a new garden this year. I have a naked backyard waiting for me under the layer of ice that hides it’s potential at the moment. It’s a fair question. I mean I love tomatoes, but how many plants do I really need? I read the descriptions of each variety, taking notes on the days from germination to yield. Plotting a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors and time of harvest. How big will my raised beds be? What materials will I use to build them? How many kinds of vegetables will I plant this year? What vegetables do I eat the most? Which vegetables take up a lot of space as they grow? Which vegetables can I get a the farmer’s market for really cheap? All questions that need to be answered so I can formulate my plan: the backyard grocery.
It’s an interesting list of notes. I eat a lot of vegetables. I get excited thinking about the food I am going to grow. I had my first garden the year before I went plant-strong. I can say for certain that I didn’t eat nearly as many vegetables on a daily basis before I planted my own garden. There is something marvelous about fresh picked flavors to make you change your mind about veggies. Tomatoes, for example, come in so many flavors. I just couldn’t get over how different they all were. Standing in the dirt, smelling the leaves of each plant, savoring the flavor of each sampling, I fell in love with vegetables. My vegetables. The vegetables I grew, in my yard.
Maybe it was the pride that I grew them myself. Maybe it was the sheer unadulterated flavors. Nothing added. Just vegetables. It might have been the array of colors and my penchant for making art projects out of my plate. That summer I took hundreds of still shots of the mighty tomato. Since then I’ve tried so many new varieties of vegetables. I’ve had fun preparing them, photographing my creations and most of all, eating them!
I often hear people say: I don’t like vegetables.
Really?
This always strikes me as interesting. The palette of flavors to choose from is so wide and varied, lumping them all together with a blanket statement like that seems wildly unfair and not fully investigated. Maybe you grew up eating vegetables out of a can, over cooked and just plain. Maybe you ‘had’ to eat brussels sprouts even though you hated them. Maybe you would like them steam better than roasted or raw, maybe sauteed with lemon juice? My suggestion… start looking at vegetables in a new light. Try a little exercise when you have some time. Slice some raw vegetables, some familiar and a few new to you. Close your eyes and take a bite. Is it sweet? Maybe spicy like a radish? What is the texture like? If you had to describe it to someone who never had this food could you? How many adjectives can you attach to it? What about the scent of the vegetable? What might you discover if you took some time to investigate vegetables? What do you have to lose?
No related posts.
February 27, 2014
Meet Grace!
Hi everyone!
My name is Grace and I am so excited to be one of the Engine 2 Diet college interns! I am twenty years old and a junior at New York University majoring in Nutrition & Dietetics. Going vegan was not only the best decision I have made for my mental and physical well-being, but it has also been the best investment I have made in my education. I became passionate about health and wellness when I decided to become a vegetarian when I was fifteen. And by vegetarian, I mean I was eating everything but meat. I was eating fish, baked goods, dairy, butter – the works. I eliminated sugar and wheat from my diet, along with meat and poultry, and lost seventeen pounds. This was a big feat for me, since I went from knowing nothing about nutrition to immersing myself in the scientific knowledge behind calories, nutrients, exercise and food in general, and then actually seeing results. And I was not alone on this journey; my mom was with me every step of the way and has been ever since.
However, after four years as a vegetarian, I knew it was time for a change. My sushi obsession was becoming unappetizing, and constantly cracking eggs and melting butter was beginning to really make me think about where the ingredients I used were actually coming from. I had also gained back all the weight I had lost and added wheat and sugar back into my diet, as if no change had ever occurred. I was always broken out, I had eczema up and down my arms and I began to notice that my hair was broken, brittle and split on the ends. On Christmas Eve in 2011, I picked up Alicia Silverstone’s book, The Kind Diet, on converting to a vegan lifestyle, and threw it into my shopping cart along with all ingredients for Christmas dinner & dessert: tuna, eggs, cheese, milk, butter, chocolate, caramel, sugar, bread, etc. One week, a few chapters, and all the Christmas left overs later, my mom and I decided to go vegan.
It was like flipping a switch. We quit all animal products cold turkey. However, for the first year of being “plant-strong,” we barely ate plants. We were eating all the vegan substitutes for regular food: vegan chicken, veganaise, vegan burgers, bagels with vegan cream cheese, smart balance, vegan BBQ wings, vegan desserts made with processed oils and vegan butters…
The list goes on. It wasn’t until we had been eating these “transition foods” for a year that we actually adopted a plant-strong lifestyle. We began eating kale, chia seeds, quinoa, tempeh, tofu, hummus, avocados, tons of fruit, collard greens, and vegetables we had never even heard of before! It was like being given the key to a whole new world.
All of a sudden, my skin was glowing, I leaned out and began to see muscle again, and my hair was full and healthy. We realized that was the key – being healthy. Not simply finding substitutes for everything you’re used to, but adopting new habits and actually changing your life.
Since then, I have encouraged my entire family to watch Forks Over Knives, in the hopes that it will spark curiosity and excitement in them as it did in me. Along with my mom, my dad, my aunt and two of her young daughters have since adopted a plant- based, whole-foods lifestyle. Even my little sister (who is eight years old) became a self- proclaimed vegetarian when she was six, and has more understanding and passion towards animals than I have ever seen in a child.
Through my studies, I hope to become a Registered Dietitian and further immerse myself in the field of plant-based nutrition. I know that Forks Over Knives and Engine 2 Diet will only continue to inspire people in all stages of life to adopt a whole-foods, plant- based diet and change their lives by taking their health in to their own hands, just as their books, recipes and documentary have inspired my family and me to do the same. I am so excited to be interning with Engine 2 and I can’t wait to spread the word about living a healthy, vibrant, plant-strong life!
No related posts.
February 24, 2014
Adventures with Ami: Winter Fatigue
I’m ready for winter to be over.
I don’t think I am alone in this thought. The past few months have been really hard on most of the country. The weather has been unflinchingly cold/snowy/ice-filled for most of the country. Historic storms, ultra low temperatures, school closings, flight cancellations, and even deaths have been reported from coast to coast. I’ve stopped watching the weather. I just really don’t want to know. Even my dogs seem haggard. My German Shepherd turned and looked at me from across the frozen ice pond of a backyard today…his eyes said – when is this going to be over? It’s this time of year you might catch me sporting a new shade of hair color or watching one of my favorite classic movies, Blue Hawaii. Dreaming of sunshine, warm weather and all the things that Spring brings.
I’ve been craving all things colorful lately. From an array of beautiful fruit to the shock of colors available in the new models of running shoes. Everything colorful has been attractive to me these days. I bought three different kinds of citrus fruit during my last grocery trip. I rejoiced at the crisp scent of the ruby red grapefruit as I peeled it for a morning snack. I also noticed the other day as I was pulling produce out of the refrigerator to make my salad, that I was building a rainbow. Red- tomatoes, Orange – carrots, Yellow- sweet peppers, Green- kale, Blue- Blueberries, Purple- cabbage. Perfection. My rainbow salad!
We eat with our eyes. From cookbooks to food blogs, great looking food crosses my path daily. Get excited about the food you prepare for yourself by making it flavorful and visually appealing as well. A pop of color can add interesting flavors to your meal in addition to making it pretty. Different colors in plant-based foods can often mean a differing array of nutrients also. Mixing things up by slicing your vegetables in a different way can even make an old standby fresh and exciting. Making zucchini noodles with a spiral slicer brings a whole new dimension to the vegetable. Slicing carrots like chips instead of sticks makes them great dippers for salsa and hummus. Getting creative with your presentation can also get kids interested in their plate. Everyday on Pinterest, I see fun ideas for kids involving fruit and vegetables.
Today, beets have crossed my radar. Golden beets, red beets, beet greens, beet hummus, roasted beets, beet burgers. The colors are mesmerizing and a fresh change from shades of tan and brown. One pass on google for beet recipes and beets on Pinterest provides me with a plethora of ideas for this colorful root. Another new item on my radar at the grocery store is a bag of yellow, orange and red mini sweet peppers. They all taste the same, but the colors matter. At least to me. Decorating a burrito bowl, a stir-fry, a salad with the multi-hued vegetables can make it a lot more attractive in addition to adding flavor.
Until Spring arrives with tulips and daffodils to decorate the drab winter landscape, add some splashes of color and interest to your dishes.
No related posts.
