First I chose to do strict Essy food plan when hubby started getting chest pains. Then I added McDougall and Engine 2/FOK meals into the mix. Then came Dr. E's magazine interview and Jeff's talk with Dr. E to clarify certain issues that were brought up in both the interview and his Plantstock speech regarding fruit, flour products and potatoes.
And I'm as confused as ever.
He says to eliminate flour products if trying to lose weight, even though they're allowed in his heart disease food plan. Many of Dr. McDougall's heart healthy recipes that I chose to cover next month contain flour products. In fact, next week alone I have 4 recipes that include them.
And the greens! Dr. E says for his heart patients he recommends 6 servings of greens a day, to include them in every meal. I understand how important they are, and I do as Jeff does and try toss a handful in a pot when it's appropriate, but many of these meals I can't see having greens with, and I've tried them in oatmeal and it rendered the oats inedible.
It's hard to pick meals to make when one person has to stop losing weight, one has to stop gaining, and both have to eat heart healthy. And now to choose meals that include loads of greens? And to get 6 servings in my husband daily when he eats only 2 meals a day and can't tolerate salads right now? Along with all the other recommendations & guidelines? While hubby still has a poor appetite? ARGH!
I wish VeganMoFo didn't come right in the middle of hubby's recuperation period, when he's still trying to get his appetite back and I was still trying to get this family attuned to eating 100% the Dr. Esselstyn way.
So, right now I reserve the right to change my VeganMoFo theme around once again, and even though I had made out a list of 30 McDougall meals from the McDougall Program for A Healthy Heart book, I will probably go back to my original plan and pick and choose between those two books, Dr. Fuhrman's Cholesterol Protection for Life, and Neal Pinckney's Healthy Heart Handbook, with maybe a few others tossed in here and there.
When I come up with a new menu for next week and pass it by my husband, then I can finally go shopping for the ingredients. Hopefully it'll be a menu we stick with. Last week I planned on making all his old favorites, but it didn't turn out that way. Only twice did I make what was planned, with him changing his mind hours before dinner, one day the minute I was about to start cooking. Yesterday I wound up just roasting up a casserole dish full of scrubbed red and Yukon Gold potatoes and ate them with beans and fresh salsa. Looking back on it, I should have tossed some greens in there, too. He said it was the best meal he had all week. I hope I'll be able to stick with the planned menus for this coming week, but after yesterday, when he gave up his beloved weekly pizza for potatoes, I'm not so sure.
So, I'll be posting a heart-healthy recipe daily. Whether or not I actually get to make it will be another story. If I do, I'll be sure to post photos and comments on it. I know this isn't exactly what VeganMoFo is about, but it's the best I can promise at this time. It's better than posting about aprons, like I had to do during one of the earlier VeganMoFo's I participated in. Last year I did a few about Jeff and Rip's handstand rivalry. Now that was scraping the bottom of the barrel! LOL
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