October 5 food

Yesterday was a busy day.  Sorry for the late posting.

I only ate one meal yesterday and felt great.  I did it again yesterday (Oct 5) and felt great. This morning, I am hungry and will have some oatmeal and fruit.

My meal yesterday was Farley's revised chickpea curry dish.  The recipe will be below.  I get a demerit for a glass of white wine with the meal.  We were happy to host a friend who recently lost her husband, and we had a glass of wine and a toast to his memory.  He was a wonderful guy, but somebody who was not interested in preserving his health, which is the sad part.  He should still be here as I see it, but all we can do at this point is honor his memory and the many great things he did for others, perhaps at his own expense.

My challenge is going great.  I did not expect to be perfect for the month.  But I saw a new low for weight (185.2) and a new recent low for blood sugar (116).  Rising blood sugars (170s typically) were what prompted me to look for a way to lower them.  I was eating a healthy plant based diet already, and I was very interested in Dr. Furhman's thoughts on blood sugar, diabetes, and weight.

Dr. Fuhrman explains that some people are very sensitive to weight.  I knew that I was a bit over the top of the BMI charts, but did not think it important.  At 194 pounds, I did not look fat by present standards.  Neither was my body fat that high - typically about 22%.  But Dr. Furhrman is very firm about the importance of being thin.  I don't think he really differs that much from Jeff and Dr. M about what is ideal.  But he emphasizes this point quite a bit -  especially if blood sugars are a problem.  His book convinced me that it would be worthwhile to work on my weight.  His explanation of toxic hunger was really key for me.  Since working on these ideas, I have lost almost 10 pounds in less than a month - and that is after being stable at 194 for several years.  So my hat is off to Dr. Fuhrman, and my blood sugars are responding well. Dr. Fuhrman believes basically, as I read it, that if your blood sugars are too high, then you need to get thinner.  I plan to test that, and so far so good.  I also feel better at the lighter weight, and look better.

I used to tell people to eat defensively -  to stay satiated all the time so that they would not be tempted by SAD food.  I am not so sure about that advice now - at least for those who eat in response to toxic hunger.  And as Dr. Fuhrman points out, if you are overweight, you are eating in response to toxic hunger.  You can't eat healthy food in response to true hunger and be anything but slim.  It looks like this is true in my case.

Slow-cooked Curried Garbanzo Beans

This is my easy, low labor method of making this dish which takes about 20 – 25 minutes to assemble.   I use mostly canned and packaged products and will list my favorites below.

In a slow-cooker place:

1 24 oz can of No-Salt Roma Tomatoes with juice

(I cut up the tomatoes with scissor right in the pot, you can also use already diced tomatotes)

1 15 oz can of No-Salt Garbanzo Beans, rinsed and drained

1 8 oz package of fresh green beans, chopped bite size

1 fresh orange or yellow bell pepper, chopped bit size

1 heaping TBS Curry Powder

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground turmeric

1/8 – ¼ tsp red cayenne pepper

1 C Red wine (may substitute wine for no salt, no oil vegetable broth or water)

I cook this in the slow cooker for about 3 hours on “low” and then let it stay on “warm”  which on my pot is really a simmer, for another 3 hours or longer depending on when I'm serving it.  The longer it simmers the better.  Adjust temp according to your slow cooker.  This also freezes well.  I usually triple this recipe so I can freeze a large portion for another time.

Serve over a mountain of greens and brown rice.  I like to steam broccoli and/or cauliflower to go on top of it all.

What I used:

Trader Joe's No-salt Roma Tomatoes

Trader Joe's Fresh Haricort Vert Green Beans

Canned Garbanzo Beans are a local private label but they are very low in salt and are organic.

Wine:  I typically use a Cabernet or Zinfandel which I will find at Trader Joe's for around $6 a bottle.