One of Jeff Novick's best posts ever

Many people are invested in the idea that recovering your health is very complex.  It isn't.  Recently, Jeff Novick posted a summary of how to go about it in his McDougall forum.

The advice given by Jeff is virtually verbatim  the same advice he gave me when I hired him as a nutritionist to reverse my own health problems.  It is really simple, and all you need to know.  If you follow these guidelines, you can't help but be trim and restore your health.  Here are Jeff's words:

Here is a quick review:
- Focus your diet on unrefined unprocessed fruits, veggies, starchy veggies, intact whole grains and legumes.

- Start meals with soup, and/or salad, and/or fruit as they will fill you up for less calories and help to reduce your consumption of other more calorie dense foods

- Avoid all liquid calories as they provide little to any satiety for the calories

- Dilute out meals based on intact whole grains, and/or starchy vegetables and/or legumes with fruits and vegetables. Make sure 1/3 to 1/2 of the bulk/volume (by eye) of all your meals are low calorie dense vegetables

- Salt - the less you salt your food, the less people tend to eat

- Variety- the less variety, the less consumption

- Raw Foods - Foods you can eat raw tend to be lower in calorie density and you may not digest as efficiently. Cooking begins the digestion process.

- Make sure you are avoiding all higher fat, calorie dense plant foods, nuts, seeds, oils, avocados, tofu, etc

- Make sure you are avoiding all refined processed grains and starches, (breads, bagels, crackers, cookies, dry cereal, etc and anything made from ground up flour) even if they are whole grain

-Avoid all refined concentrated sugars/sweeteners, even if they are natural and organic.

In regard to sodium, while tracking may be of some value, tracking is nearly impossible as most of the sodium is hidden. However, if you follow the program, the recommended foods are all naturally low in sodium. For any packaged/processed foods, make sure the amount of sodium per serving is no more than the amount of calories per serving.

If you do this, and make adjustments as necessary, you will hit all the numbers automatically and lose weight and lower your cholesterol and BP.

Only one card on the table

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted anything.  In part, I have been busy enjoying life, and in part it often feels like I might not be helping anybody.

The only people (I think) viewing this blog already know about Dr. McDougall, and I have seen few questions here.  When it comes down to it, this is really simple.

Dr. McDougall often says that, concerning his program, that there is only one card on the table.  And that card is whether a person is going to follow his advice.  Everybody who does follow his advice gets better - usually markedly and quickly.

So many people are interested in esoteric nutritional or psychological questions about diet.  But for those who give the program a real try, success in inevitable, and anybody who does try it (with real adherence) does not question that Dr. McDougall is correct because the results are so dramatic and rapid.

What about people who don't experience good results?  Simply, they are, usually knowingly, but sometimes unknowingly, failing to adhere to the recommendations.  Dr. McDougall cites the case of smoking.  When smokers quit, they all get better.  When alcoholics quit, they all get better.  And when those who eat our Western diet follow Dr. M's recommendations faithfully, they all get better.

There truly is only one card on the table.  Are you going to do it?  If you are going to do it, there is plenty of help available, including here, and all you have to do is ask.  For those who don't want to do it, or who want to do their own version of the program, I wish you success but expect failure  I could cite many cases of people who try partial adherence and remain fat and sick.  There is no known benefit to knowing about what Dr. McDougall teaches, or talking to others about it.  You have to play the card.

You might want to view my friend Laura' blog.  http://www.mrsdoodlepunkslaststand.blogspot.com/

Laura thought that she was an obese McDougaller (there is no such thing).  I challenged her to eat nothing but unprocessed whole plant food of low calorie density for a month.  You can see the results in her blog.  She played the McDougall card and won big time.

So there is only one card on the table.  It takes some effort at first to play that card, but it makes all the difference in the world.

A Wonderful Safety Razor

It has been awhile since I posted here - very busy.  One thing I want to do is a review of rice cookers, since we recently bought our third cooker.  We have a Sanyo, a Zojirushi, and a Tiger.  Our favorite is the Tiger, but more to come.

I did want to talk off topic about shaving.  I have the ideal gift idea for the man in your life who is a wet shaver (or wants to be - it really is the best way IMO).  I have a stout beard but a sensitive face.  I long ago abandoned the electric - just too poor of a shave.  For a long while, I used a straight razor, and still do on occasion.  It gives a great shave, but takes a lot of time, and there is always the inevitable nick unless you do it every day.  It is definitely not for everybody, and really not for me when such great double edge safety razors are so inexpensive.

The widely available multi-blade cartridges are to me an abomination.  The cost is ridiculous, they don't last long, they cut the whiskers below the skin, which then irritate the face as they grow back, and the plastic cartridges will contaminate our world for many years to come.  Then there are the aerosol cans of awful shave lotion.  And the teflon strips that are there because the shave cream is so awful.

The old double edge safety razor with a badger brush and shaving soap or creme can't be beat.  You get a smooth shave that feels and looks good.  It is inexpensive over time and is better for the environment.  It is so cheap that you are not tempted to push things with a dull blade.

I have a fairly large collection of razors, and am always willing to try something new.  I was using a (expensive) Merkur Vision Adjustable, which did pretty well.  But I had read glowing reports about the reasonably priced Muhle 89R (non adjustable) in shaving circles.  Since I needed some new shaving cream and more blades, I ordered one.  Wow.  I now see why so many people who could and would buy anything are moving to this shaver.

Here is what it looks like (from Lees Safety Razors, where I got it) http://www.leesrazors.com/products/Muhle-R89-Safety-Razor.html
Lee says that the Jagger for $41 has the same head and shaves just as well.  It is perhaps not as beautifully finished as the Muhle.  The Muhle is just amazing.

It comes with a single Derby blade, which turned out to be excellent.  I will order some more of those blades.  This combo shaved very close with no irritation.  That is what others have noted, and I agree.  With most razors, it is easy to get a close shave if you don't mind ripping your face a bit.  And easy to get a comfy shave if you don't go close.  But the Muhle razor is the best of all worlds and does not need to be adjustable.  I haven't heard of a single person who has not gotten great shaves with this, and I am very enthusiastic, as is Farley.  She noticed how my face was Baby Bottom Smooth for most of the day.

Amazon sells Gillette Mach III blades, 12 for $24.  That is about $2.00 each, and they don't last long.  Lees sells the Derby's 15 for $7.50.  That is $.50 each and a fourth the price of the Gillettes, and they shave better and are more durable.  You will be kinder to the environment, your face, your loved one, and your wallet by going Double Edge.  If you use 120 blades per year, you will spend $60 per year on blades versus $240 for Mach III.

You will also save money and feel (and smell) better with a quality shaving soap or creme over the cheap [in quality] stuff that is sold in aerosol cans.  Lee is a guy who will help you out.  You will also need some type of brush, but the less expensive ones are fine.  In fact, I prefer them because I like a stiff brush.

So I think that this makes a great gift.  It actually saves money and wins in every department.  Marketing is amazing.  It convinces people that they want bad food and bad shaves for more money.

Our Thanksgiving Menu

Our first Thanksgiving 3 years ago was an adventure in experimentation.  Bob and I were quite happy with the results of my mad scientist efforts in creating a healthy and festive meal for this special occasion.   Traditionally we always have another (carnivorous) couple over the next day for leftovers.  I was worried how it was going to go over with them but they loved it!  So here is my menu for the big day to help anyone over the hump of thinking that holidays might be a bit of a drag going without the usual turkey, marshmellowed yams, heavy oily stuffing and mountains of buttery desserts.   You will not feel cheated and if you are going to someone else's home for Thanksgiving, everything can be made in advance and go with you to rewarm elsewhere..self-defense cooking is a must and everyone else will want to taste what you have!

Do realize that this is a "feast" menu, meant to be enjoyed just a few times a year.  The sesame glaze is a high density calorie food and the dessert is high in sugar.

Thanksgiving Menu

Mushroom Lentil Loaf

Green Beans with Sesame Seed Glaze

Baked Japanese Sweet Potatoes

Spinach Greens with Garlic Mustard Dressing

Baked Apple-Berry Crumble

MUSHROOM LENTIL LOAF

1½ cups red lentils cooked in advance in 2½ cups water until tender, then partially mash in cooking water (doing this the day before is very helpful)

2 medium onions, chopped

2 large portobello mushrooms, diced

red wine, vegetable broth or water for sauteing

2 cups packed fresh spinach, chopped

1 15 oz can diced no-salt tomatoes and juice

2 cups brown rice, cooked (another do-ahead)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp Mrs. Dash's garlic and herb seasoning blend

½ tsp dried marjoram

¼ - ½ cup ketchup or barbecue sauce

[best sauces are “Bone Suckin' Sauce” BBQ sauce (my favorite) or Muir Glen ketchup]

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir-fry onions and mushrooms in wine, broth or water in a nonstick pan. Add spinach and cook, covered, until spinach wilts.
3. Add onions and mushrooms, tomatoes, rice, garlic, sage, Mrs. Dash, and marjoram to lentils in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.
4. Press into a 9x5 inch loaf pan and spread ketchup or BBQ sauce on top.
5. Bake for 45 – 60 minutes. Serve with more sauce drizzled over slices.

If you have any leftovers this makes great sandwich material.

GREEN BEANS WITH SESAME SEED GLAZE

The Beans:

2-3 lbs of fresh green and yellow wax beans rinsed and looked over.

Steam beans for approximately 25 minutes then turn into an oven proof baking dish.

The Glaze:

4 TBS sesame seeds

2 tsps honey

2 tsps low-sodium tamari sauce

1. Toast sesame seeds in the oven or in a pan, watching carefully so they don't burn. Place in a small grinder or food processor and process just until ground.
2. Put sesame seeds in a small bowl and add honey and tamari. Stir until mixed and just crumbly. Add to hot green beans. Gently toss and keep warm in low oven until time to serve.

Both beans and glaze may be made in advance, then mixed together and warmed about 15 – 20 minutes before serving.

JAPANESE SWEET POTATOES

4 – 6 small sized Japanese sweet potatoes (sometimes also called oriental yams) depending on number of people. At least one potato per person. But these are delicious and you will want some extras for possible seconds.

Any type of sweet potato or yam will do. We like the  jewel or garnet yams.

I simply scrub and place in a convection or regular oven and bake at 350 – 360 degrees for about 1 ½ hours. Leave in oven to keep warm. Serve as is...they just don't need anything else.

FRESH SPINACH GREENS WITH GARLIC MUSTARD DRESSING

Fresh spinach, well washed and coarsely chopped...set aside in salad bowl.

Dressing:

In a jar with tight lid combine

2 cloves fresh garlic finely minced or pressed

2 TBS of Dijon Mustard or your favorite spicy mustard

½ cup balsamic vinegar

juice of 1 lime

Shake well, adjust for your own taste

Serve greens and dressing separately for guests to add dressing as they choose.

BAKED APPLE-BERRY CRUMBLE

5 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1 cup blackberries, chopped

1 cup raspberries, halved

1 cup blueberries

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup buckwheat flour

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1/3 cup rolled oats

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine apples, berries, ¼ cup brown sugar and ½ tsp cinnamon; toss to blend. Place apple-berry mixture in a 1 ½ to 2 quart baking dish.  (I cheat and use a disposable aluminum baking pan - no gooey washing)
2. In medium bowl combine flour, remaining ¼ cup brown sugar, and 1 tsp cinnamon. With pastry blender or two knives, cut in mashed bananas and then add in the oats. Spoon on the banana/oat topping over the apple-berry in baking dish covering apples as much as possible. Bake 40 – 45 minutes until apples are tender and topping is getting crispy.

Note: frozen berries are fine if fresh are not available.

ENJOY!

Farley

Dr. McDougall's Address to the ACLM

A few people appreciated Dr. McDougall's lecture on MS, RA, and autoimmune diseases.  I would like to promote another of his lectures that is also available for free download and is excellent.

Dr. McDougall was asked to be the keynote speaker to the first meeting of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, now an accepted specialty board within the medical profession.  In this address, Dr. McDougall summarizes some of the main problems facing those who specialize in this area, and some of the main problems faced by all of us as patients and candidates for the western diseases that seem to plague most of us as we age.  It is SAD because it is so unnecessary that we age so poorly in this country. 

Enjoying my "golden years" is one of the wonderful benefits of this lifestyle.  I was not enjoying my entry to these years before I was lucky enough to contract heart disease, and learn about this important knowledge that reversed my heart disease, diabetes, kidney stones, high blood pressure, obesity, etc.  I was suffering every day while trying to remember how many of each of my basket full of pills to take.  Now I feel great and take no medications at all.

Here is the link:
You have to scroll to the bottom of the page and download the lecture of almost an hour and a half (a fairly large file)
http://drmcdougall.com/store_electures.html

Restaurants

I was asked my opinion on how to handle restaurant meals.  I think that much of the answer depends on who is dining.

For somebody new to healthy eating, restaurants are almost always a bad idea IMO.  They are minefields that take a lot of experience to negotiate, and there are many traps for the inexperienced.

In general, I treat restaurants as feast days unless I am absolutely certain how they prepare the food.  It is very common for waiters or managers to tell you that there are no animal products or dairy in the food when there are, or all whole grains when they aren't.  These people usually don't know, and they are probably correct in assuming that most people want only to hear that the food is healthy rather than wanting to insure that it is.  It is also very common to incorrectly assume that something is healthy because it is represented as vegan- take a look at what goes into the typical veggie burger.

I have had rice that was steamed in animal broth, and lots of food that clearly had tons of oil and salt despite what I was told.  You just have to assume that anything you order at a restaurant is dangerous to your health unless proven otherwise.

My theory is to try to avoid restaurants if you can.  The one thing that can be said for sure is that you have no direct control over the preparation of your food.  Here are some ways to avoid restaurant food -
- If you can, eat beforehand so that you are not hungry.
- Buy a Bento Box like this http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-SL-JAE14-Bento-Stainless-Steel/dp/B000246GSE/ref=sr_1_6?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1289794929&sr=1-6
That way, you can always pack something to eat.
- Bring snacks like apples, bananas, etc.
- If you have to travel, use the web to find stores where you can purchase healthy food.  If you are driving, take your rice cooker etc. with you and find a motel with a microwave.  You could also take a steamer with you as discussed earlier in this blog.

Avoiding restaurants, you will save money and increase the control you have over your food.  But sometimes the realities of life demand that you eat at a restaurant.  Suck it up and order something healthy even if you have to pay what seems way too much to get something not on the menu.  Call ahead to make sure that the restaurant can give you what you need.  If they can't, find someplace that can.

A baked potato is safe if not coated with grease.  Steamed vegetables and rice are usually safe if not cooked in meat broth or with unknown sauces.  Make sure to order it plain.  Remember that any bread almost certainly contains added fat and/or salt and is not whole grain.  If you have a weight problem, you don't want bread anyhow.  Remember that marinara and other sauces almost always have added oil.  A skipped meal is better than eating unhealthy - especially if you have a health problem that you are trying to reverse.

For a person who is in good health, I see nothing wrong with the occasional restaurant meal at all if you know that the place cooks what you need.  When I find a place that does understand what I need, I make sure to patronize that place and be generous with the staff.

What you will find, I am afraid, is that the only foods that a restaurant can prepare for you that are good are going to be very bland, and not nearly as tasty as what you can do for yourself at home.  It isn't their fault.  They are used to making food tasty the American way, by adding fat, sugar, and salt to the food.  That is what the overwhelming majority of their customers want, unless it is a specialty restaurant.

And finally, don't think that just because a place is vegan that it is healthy.  The vegan restaurants I have seen are often worse than a McDonald's or Burger King with respect to finding something healthy that you can eat.

This lifestyle will give you tremendous, even unbelievable benefits.  But it does require change, and part of that change is giving up some things that have done you harm.  For the most part, that includes tasty restaurant food.  So use the money you save eating this way to indulge yourself in other ways.

Baby Bok Choy "Stir Fry"

A little change of pace for tonight's meal.  We've been eating so many steamed veggies I decided to give the steamer the night off and "stir-fry" a more Asian style dinner.  Bob and I really lapped this up.  I took the picture before I added the tomatoes...which was actually an afterthought.  So picture this looking even more colorful with diced up red tomatoes in it too.

Baby Bok Choy “Stir-Fry”

Ingredients:

2 large portobello mushrooms chopped

1 small yellow onion, quartered and sliced thin

4 bunches of baby bok choy, well rinsed and chopped

½ c shredded carrots

1 c broccoli in small flowerettes

½ c sliced snow peas

1 tomato diced

red wine for sauteeing

In a large pan heat enough red wine (or salt-free, no-oil vegetable broth) to cover the bottom. When bubbly add mushrooms and onions, sautee for about 10 minutes. Next add the rest except the tomato. Tossing occasionally, cook for about 15 minutes. Finally add the tomato and let it heat thoroughly.

Serve over fresh chopped spinach and brown rice.

Additions to add to your personal serving: my favorite is a squirt of fresh lime juice and several dashes of Tobasco

If you can't find fresh bok choy you can substitute it with fresh chopped spinach and celery to get the same effect.

This makes 3-4 servings