Okay Brian, you asked for it here ya go.
Berries 'yes' pomegranates & kiwi, not so much.
Baked or roasted veggies, great. Forget about the Olive Oil and Salt. Dr. Furhman says someone at their ideal weight can handle 1 teaspoon of Olive Oil a day.
Somewhere withing driving distance from your house is fresh mushrooms, you can find them.
About the onions, let's see if we can get you to learn to love them.
Let's start with the email I sent Brian today:
Brian,
I have Iced Coffee or Green Tea in the morning, and then it's water the rest of the day. Now that I'm passed the six weeks of the Eat To Live program, I have one Fosters (its Australian for beer mate) with my cheat meal on Sunday. My Cheat Meal is just one meal, its not a cheat Day. Its whatever Ive been craving, and I make it myself.
My regular meal plan is; fruit for breakfast (whatever I feel like and as much as I want), break at 11AM a piece of fruit, lunch 1PM is mashed beans and vegetables, 3PM snack a piece of fruit, 7PM Huge salad, 8PM dinner is mashed beans and vegetables, 9PM dessert fruit. I eat every two hours or so. On my breaks I walk, at lunch I walk and I walk home. I'm up to 7 miles a day which works out to about 700 calories burned a day.
My salad will be in a bowl big enough to serve four. In it Ill use whatever lettuce looks good, celery, onion, cucumber, mushrooms, carrot, apple, pear, raw cashews, fresh or fire roasted red pepper. NO CROUTONS or BACON BITS.
My salad dressing is; 1 tbs. Ground Flax seed, 2 tbs. of Red Wine Vinegar, 2 tbs. of Organic Apple Juice, 1/2 tsp. Dijon Mustard and a dash of Mrs Dash. I shake it up in an empty mustard jar, dress and toss my Huge salad. My dressing tastes great to me. It has No Fat, Oil or Salt.
Or, a handful of raw Cashews, 1 tbs. Ground Flax seed, 2 tbs. of Rice Wine Vinegar, 2 tbs. of Organic Apple Juice, a dash of Mrs Dash, all put into a mini-blender until smooth. It thickens as it sits to whatever consistency you like. I like mine creamy.
Mashed (or pureed) beans are a staple of my personal meal plan. The way I make them is; I dice an onion (maybe you could grate the onion on a box grater) and sauté in a little butter and olive oil, add some crushed red pepper flakes and crushed garlic. When I smell the garlic (only takes about 30 seconds) I add 2 large cans (1 lb. 13 oz,) of rinsed Progresso beans. I stir the beans with the onion and garlic and then add chicken stock (1 cup to a 1 1/2 cups). I toss in some fresh herbs (tyme, rosemary) I let the beans simmer and get really tender, about 10 minutes. Then I puree them in a food processor. This makes about 8 portions. They're very filling and a good source of fibre and protein. Very little fat and no salt. They taste great hot or cold. Much more flavour than mashed potatoes, pasta or rice. Anything I might put over potatoes, pasta or rice I can put over my mashed beans. I've been eating them twice a day for over 8 months and haven't got tired of them yet.
I cook my vegetables for my lunches and dinners in large batches, so I dont cook every night. My go-to vegetable dishes are; Gazpacho, Pasta Fagioli (minus the pasta), Caponata or Ratatouille (which surprisingly has no rat in the recipe) Chow Mein, or a combination of mixed vegetables steamed and dressed with black pepper and red Wine Vinegar. I search for recipies for vegetables that I dont really eat, like I want to start eating more Kale, Brocolli and some others that I know are good for me, but Im not used to them.
Thats when I found:
Gordon Ramsays Broccoli Soup:
Bring water to a boil in a large stock pot. Add a large pinch of salt (1 1 1/2 Tbsp.). Add broccoli and boil rapidly. Your broccoli is finished cooking when you can pierce it with little or no effort (15 to 20 mins.). Remove the stock pan from the stove burner. DO NOT POUR THE WATER OUT! Use a slotted spoon to add broccoli to a blender but be careful because its boiling hot! Pour enough of the water left over from cooking the broccoli to fill the blender half way. Add a pinch (or more) of salt. Use several pulses on your blender to break the broccoli up and then puree for several seconds.
Pour soup into shallow bowl. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and serve at once! Delicious!
Ive been topping off my soup with sauteed onions and mushrooms. The best Anti-Cancer soup I can think of. Amazing! Mostly because I never ate broccoli.
(You don't like onions I didn't eat broccoli, we can learn to adjust, right?)
Keep up the good work.
I'll put up a couple of the other staples of my meal plan later, it can be the basis of your meals for the week.
Phil
Brian, my projection is, if you get on the program and I mean really do it right, you will lose 10 lbs. your first week, 30 lbs. your first month and be down around 250 by August. Start putting money away for new clothes.
Oh, and you'll never have to count a calorie or ever go hungry
I'll eat most any other vegetable other than cucumber and onion.