How I Got Started and Healthy Convenience Food, Part II

Good morning! I received a great question by way of Facebook this morning and I thought I would share it and my response with everyone here on the blogosphere.

"hey wendy,
i am in the middle of eat to live and jon and i are starting it tomorrow. i have been avidly reading your blog and luuuurve it!!! i had a question. did you start with dr. f's 6 week plan? how much did you lose in those initial 6 weeks? did you start with a diff. diet? do you mind answering my terribly nosy questions? thanks."

I actually started the old fashioned way . . . with my umpteenth trip to Weight Watchers. It was at a Weight Watchers meeting that a fellow member mentioned a website called Peer Trainer. The PeerTrainer site was instrumental in the transformation of the way that I eat. There is a lot going on at that website that I won't go into here, but that is where a lot of people were talking about Dr. Fuhrman and Eat to Live. Now a days, you can just walk into any Whole Foods Market and discover him, but this was before all of that.

So I got a copy of Eat to Live and read it. I was going to Weight Watchers and counting points and recording what I ate and losing weight at a nice rate. But my experience with the Weight Watchers program in the past has always been that I lose the weight, end up feeling extremely deprived and out of control, then I go off the diet because I just can't stand it anymore, and gain all of the weight back plus more. Pretty typical (the statistics on this are horrifying).

At about the same time that I picked up a copy of Eat to Live I was also introduced to a book called Volumetrics. The authors of both of these books ascribe to the same philosophy that in order to lose weight and keep it off in the long run you must consume a large volume of healthy, low calorie food. It's pretty simple actually. Fill your plate with lots and lots of vegetables, fruits, beans and real whole grains, a little bit of nuts, seeds and avocado and let nature do the rest. Low fat dairy, low fat animal protein and oils may be consumed sparingly, if at all. The rest of the food that's out there--all of the processed garbage that fills every supermarket shelf--just leave it there. It doesn't belong in the human body.

Pretty big shift from how I had been eating, even how I had been eating on Weight Watchers. But I was intrigued by all of this because I absolutely knew where following the Weight Watchers plan had ended me in the past. Not that I don't think that Weight Watchers has many amazing things to offer, it's just far from perfect.

So I started incorporating the principles of Eat to Live and Volumetrics while counting Weight Watchers points and I lost all of the weight that I needed to relatively quickly and without much fuss. It took me about a year and I lost 50 pounds. That's about one pound per week. To expect more than that is to set yourself up for failure. A long term solution to this problem is what I know we are all after. Not a quick fix that will never withstand the test of time. Now you and your husband may lose a lot of weight at first following the Eat to Live plan--consider it a bonus, but that was not my experience. It was all a rather uneventful slow and steady loss.

About a year into this, I reached my "goal" weight with Weight Watchers. I was thinner than I had been since I was 15 years old. This new low didn't last but a moment. I had trouble continuing to count points, something that I struggle with to this day. I wish I could get back to that place of religiously tracking what I eat, but I haven't been able to. What I have not struggled with FOR A SECOND is continuing to eat a no-added-fat, vegan diet that is high in vegetables, fruit and beans. It is this that is the lasting change with food that I have been searching for my entire life. My new relationship with food is unrecognizable to my old one. I am a new person. I'm not nearly as thin as I was six months ago, but I am a healthy and happy version of myself, free of food addiction and hating my body. I feel confident and strong, finally!

Here's an easy idea for dinner (served with a salad) or lunch for school or work: whole wheat pasta + black beans + corn + your favorite salsa. That's it!

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Wendy's Vegan Chili Mac Recipe

Hi friends! It has been WAY too long since I posted a new recipe.  Lately I have been preparing a lot of things that I have already written about and, the new things that I have tried making have been, well, less than blogworthy. So I'm really excited to tell you about something delicious called Chili Mac, for those of you that have never heard of it.

I first was introduced to the concept by a co-worker who was participating in the 28-day Engine 2 Challenge at Whole Foods with me. She found a recipe on FatFreeVegan and recommended it, suggesting it might be good for my 10-year-old daughter who was also participating in the challenge with us. She was so right, my daughter loved it. Me, I thought it was okay, but not worth making a second time. Check out that recipe here at  FatFreeVegan Chili Mac

So when my friend Jill was asking for dinner ideas for her family I brought it up. And I thought, it's such a great concept for a healthy meal, I need to give it another go. So I printed out a few vegan chili mac recipes from the Internet and came up with my own, using the ingredients that I know I like. I suggest you do the same. Just like my vegan enchilada recipe, chili mac is super easy to customize!

I decided to go with a meat replacement product called "Gimme Lean." I've used it before and I couldn't recall whether or not I liked it. Eating these types of vegan meat substitutes is something I try to really limit. Too many ingredients, a little too high in salt. But I wanted to see if I could make a Vegan Chili Mac recipe that the whole family would love, and this really helped. Next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I am going to use a meat substitute like Morningstar Farms  Veggie Crumbles. I just like the consistency of that product better.

Wendy's Vegan Chili Mac

serves 8

8 ounces whole wheat elbow macaroni (I used Barilla Plus)

1 large onion, chopped

3 Tbsp vegetable broth or water

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 package frozen Morningstar Farms Veggie Crumbles or 1 chub Gimme Lean Ground Sausage

10 ounces frozen corn

1 25.5 ounce (or more) jar of your favorite tomato sauce

1 bunch kale, rinsed, hard stems removed and sliced thin

1 cup (or more) water

1 can kidney beans, washed and drained (I used a 20 ounce can, but a 15 ounce can is fine too)

1 Tbsp chili powder (mild, med or hot--your preference)

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

optional: Cayenne pepper or red chili flakes, to taste-be careful, you can always add more

Cook macaroni according to package directions and set aside.

Place a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Add vegetable broth. When bubbling, add chopped onion. Stirring frequently and watching the heat (we are looking for browning, not burning), cook until onions are translucent and soft, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and stir. Add a few Tbsp water or broth if pan is too dry as you are sauteing the onions and garlic.

Add veggie crumbles or veggie sausage. The veggie sausage will take more work to break it up and brown. The veggie crumbles just require stirring to cook and brown. Once browned, add corn and stir.

Turn heat to low. Add tomato sauce and at least 1 cup of water. Add kale and stir. Add beans and stir. Add cooked elbow macaroni and stir. Season with 1 Tbsp. chili powder, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp salt and if desired, a pinch of Cayenne pepper or red chili flakes. 

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