Farmer Fred's Book Giveaway Almost Over

Isa Has A New Book Coming Out!

Sadly, it's not for me any more, but for those who don't need to lose weight and can afford a few extra calories around the holidays or have family gatherings to cook for, Isa always has the most fantastic recipes!

Dr. McDougall's Next Book: The Healthiest Diet on the Planet

No cover art yet, but Amazon is now taking pre-orders for the next (last?) book by Dr. McDougall:

The Healthiest Diet on the Planet: Why the Foods You Love - Pancakes, Potatoes, Pasta, and More - Are the Solution to Preventing Disease and Looking and Feeling Your Best

What a long title!

It's not coming out until September, and will be in both print and e-book/Kindle version.

I was accused of being a wet blanket on the official forums when I didn't show extreme enthusiasm about the book when I mentioned how we all read what's going in it already (Color Picture Book and newsletter articles). Dr. McD himself wasn't all that enthused and sounded like he's only doing it for the paycheck, which was a hefty one, he hinted. I don't begrudge the good doctor the income from the book - he's probably aiming to retire in the not-too-distant future and could use the extra in his nest egg. He's already announced that this upcoming McDougall Hawaii trip will be the last and has hired another doctor (or 2?) to assist at the 10-day and ASW programs because it's become too much for him to do alone. But a published book of the Color Picture Book and newsletter articles? I wasn't too enthused with a lot of the articles when they first appeared the past few years. Some of them he just took web posts from other McDougallers; many of the others he had covered the subjects in the past, both in print/pixels or in videos. How many more times are we to hear the story of he and his father walking down the street oogling girls, proclaiming that only thin women are f***able (but in more polite terms)? The diet of Eskimos? Diet is better than pills for hypertension? The debates between low carb/Mediterranean/Paleo, etc. and high carb? His hatred of flu vaccines? I read them once, don't need to read them again. If I do, I can just go to the newsletter archive page. Yes, they're staying in the archives even though the same exact articles will appear in the book. He said he insisted to the publisher that the info remain free on the site.

Unless something drastic happens that will call for us to greatly curtail our non-essential spending, I'll buy the book, because as I wrote on the forums, I own everything else that I could get my hands on already. Will I buy both the Kindle and paper versions like I did some other books? Probably not. Will I encourage others to buy it? It depends. I still refer people to the old McDougall Plan or McDougall Program: 12 Days to Dynamic Health books or even MWLP before the newest one, The Starch Solution. Unless this book is vastly different than he said in the last 2 webinars that it will be, I don't see that changing.

End of Holiday Health Fest and New Book Coming

Today's post is dedicated to the food program and other offerings of Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

Instead of his usual winter challenge this year he did a Holiday Health Fest from his Facebook page. There were various articles written, videos made, and a few minor contests with prizes ranging from an autographed copy of the cookbook to $2014.

Recently he posted the final video with the closing remarks about the Health Fest:



Eventually that led me to look on Amazon, where I was looking for something else but instead found the pre-order page for his newest book coming in March 2014, The End of Dieting: How to Live for Life. 

In The End of Dieting, Joel Fuhrman M.D., a board–certified family physician who specializes in preventing and reversing disease through nutritional and natural methods, and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat to Live, Super Immunity and The End of Diabetes, delivers a powerful paradigm-shifting book that shows us how and why we never need to diet again.
Fuhrman writes, "By reading this book, you will understand the key principles of the science of health, nutrition and weight loss. It will give you a simple and effective strategy to achieve—and maintain—an optimal weight without dieting for the rest of your life. This new approach will free you forever from a merry-go-round of diets and endless, tedious discussions about dieting strategies. This is the end of dieting."

This description makes it look like another rehash of Eat to Live. He announced months ago that his next book was going to be an updated/replacement of Cholesterol Protection for Life. This doesn't look like that. Oh, well. Hopefully it'll have some new recipes in it, and not just more taken from the Member Center or the current recipe contest that he's running for members of his web site only. But since I'm currently veering a little away from all the starchiness of the McDougall program and more towards the vegginess of the nutritarian food plan (minus all those nuts and dried fruits) thanks to ever increasing triglyceride levels, I'll be buying this book, anyway. 

Isa's Been Busy

Is there anyone who reads this blog who doesn't know Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of a slew of vegan cookbooks and owner of the Post Punk Kitchen web site and blog?

Her latest book, Isa Does It, was recently released. I haven't bought it yet and may not get it at all, even though I own all her other books except Vegan Pie in the Sky. I skipped that one because I could never make a decent pie crust when eating SAD, and with all added fats now out of the picture, I doubt I could make a decent fat-free vegan crust, too. Besides, with the triglycerides as high as they are, I don't dare eat anything sugary, even if they are fruity! I didn't buy the new one and may not buy anyone else's cookbooks in the future because I'm really trying to simplify our meals. But more of that in a future post.

Back to Isa.

I just discovered that she did a series of videos and a free Kindle ebook titled  Breville presents Make It Vegan: Recipes from the Yiddish-speaking, Nebraska-living, post-punk vegan, Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Yes, FREE!!

All 10 recipes and videos are included in the ebook, so it does take a while to download and install to your Kindle, so have patience.

If you don't have a Kindle and don't want to bother putting the Kindle app on your computer, pad or phone, you can still see all the videos here on YouTube.

As with all of Isa's other recipes and books, not everything will be McDougall-safe as-is and may require some tweaking to make them compliant. But I sure do love looking at these foods and dreaming of the day I might be able to indulge in them all once again.

Enjoy!

Winter is Coming - That Means the Holidays Are Also Coming!

It's the holiday season again. In our family, it started back in October with my birthday and extends to January First. In-between are birthdays for the rest of our family, as well as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve.

All the vegan stars are sharing their holiday recipes again. Mary McDougall and her posting from 2005; Susan Voisin is working on some new recipes on Fat Free Vegan, Chef AJ reminded us of her Chef and the Dietician holiday video from last year:


and the Engine 2 people did a post on the Daily Beet blog about getting along with people who don't approve of your food choices.

And now Dr. Fuhrman is in on the act. Instead of the holiday challenge he had the past few years on his web site, this year he has a contest that anyone who uses Facebook can enter. Paying members of his site are understandably annoyed, especially those without a Facebook account or they do but don't wish to share their Friends list. Not only do you have to "Like" Dr. Fuhrman's Facebook site but to enter the contest you ALSO have to enroll in it at the official entry form on the Facebook site, the far right link at the top of the page. You can enter with a name and email address or via Facebook, and again there you'll be told you're giving Dr. Fuhrman access to your Friends list. People from his office say that further down the line on the entry form links you'll be asked which of your Friends you want to share and you have the option to choose none of them, but others are saying that option never appears. You can still see all the information Dr. Fuhrman posts on Facebook without being a Facebook member or entering the contest, you just can't win any prize if not registered.

As for holiday recipes, Dr. Fuhrman shared his Thanksgiving Non-Meat Loaf from his Eat to Live Cookbook with a YouTube video:




Well, after a testimonial from a woman named Susan.

The recipe itself, shared on-line a few years ago:

Thanksgiving Non-Meat Loaf

Serves: 6

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
4 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons Bragg Liquid Aminos
1 box soft tofu, drained and patted dry with paper towel
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/4 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cups chopped portobello mushrooms
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon Dr. Fuhrman's VegiZest or other n-salt-seasoning blend, adjusted to taste
2 teaspoons Spike (no salt)
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano or Dr. Fuhrman's MatoZest
1 1/2 teaspoons basil
1/2 teaspoon sage
3/4 cup whole grain bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix arrowroot powder, water, aminos, and tofu together in a high-powered blender. Add walnuts & blend until smooth.

Saute onions, celery, and mushrooms in water with seasonings and herbs until vegetables are soft, stirring occasionally.

In a bowl, mix together tofu mixture, vegetables, bread crumbs and cooked rice.

With a paper towel, spread a small amount of olive oil in a loaf pan. Add mixture to pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes. Turn loaf out and slice.

Note: May be served with low sodium ketchup and thinly sliced raw onion.  


I haven't attempted to make this particular one yet. I usually don't have good luck with loaf recipes and they always fall apart, either when I attempt to remove them from the loaf pan or when I cut them. And my husband has a sensitivity to walnuts. With three gout flares in less than 3 months, I'm hesitant to tempt fate and feed him those nuts right now. But the loaf does look good and I may attempt it in the future, but with a different nut.

So, with Hanukkah starting Wednesday as the official holiday season kick off, I wish everyone and their families a happy and healthy time!

VeganMoFo Day 21 - Fruit and Triglycerides

Well, the Autumnal Equinox is here. I found my first horse chestnuts earlier this week - those come before the changing leaf colors around here. It's so weird to realize that my husband has been out of work since the outside temps were close to 100 degrees and he'll be going back in 5 weeks wearing his winter coat.

I want my fall temperatures! Yesterday hit 79, today 80 is expected. I have hot meals planned, and lighting the oven means the kitchen temperature soars into the low 90's, even with a fan in the window. 

We ate nothing new last night. We ate nothing hot last night.

My husband's boss phoned, made small talk, spoke about how sorely missed he is and how far behind the  office is with him out this long (Sorry, but he's NOT going to feel guilty about this!), and made up some excuse for needing his home address.

About 2 hours later the doorbell rings - it's a delivery from Edible Arrangements! And not just a bouquet but also a box of dipped fruit, and a balloon! My husband called his boss back, thanked her and the gang profusely, then settled in at the kitchen table and started dissecting the bouquet. He stopped and asked me if he's allowed to eat all this stuff . I nodded my head and he started stuffing his face with melon balls and strawberries. I hadn't seen a smile this big on his face since weeks before his first bout of chest pain! He did a few South Park/Jennifer Love Hewitt and Godfather jokes with a mouth full of melon balls. He had his fill of fruit, we took the rest of the arrangement apart and put the fruit into a container in the refrigerator, and I was getting ready to make the pizzas for dinner.

South Park

Then he gave me a guilty look. He was so full of fruit and in the mood to have more later that he wanted to hold off on the pizza. He felt guilty because he thought the dough, made 12 hours earlier because I was up and unable to sleep since before 3am, would go bad. I told him to be at ease, that the dough will easily keep with no problem.

He then pulled a container out and had more fruit.

We shouldn't be eating this much fruit, not with our high triglycerides, but I let him go without a word. Today I'll mention that fact and restrict him (and myself) to the equivalent of 3 servings of fruit. Looking at the size of those strawberries, it'll probably be only 2 of them, that's how big some of them were. I've always wanted to get one of those arrangements but was always thrown aback by the prices. I'm cheap and would never spend that kind of money on ourselves. When I went to grab the graphic to put in this blog post I caught a glimpse at the price of the bouquet and my jaw dropped, but the gals in the office insisted on giving him something he would enjoy, and they noticed that the few times there's something going on at work and food is offered, he skips the meat dishes and all the sweet stuff and just grabs a piece of fruit or a plain bagel, depending on what time of day it is, so figured he would enjoy the arrangement. Well, he may have enjoyed the money they spent for it more, but after seeing that smile, I think they made the right choice.

So, we had fruit for dinner. And as an after-dinner snack while watching As Time Goes By. I dreamed of fruit over night. And we still have a lot of fruit in the container in the refrigerator.

I think the only fruit I'm having today will be some frozen blueberries in my breakfast oatmeal. He can enjoy his bouquet until the fruit runs out or it goes bad, whichever comes first. It's a good thing neither of us have any blood work planned for the near future. Here's Dr. McDougall's opinion on fruit and triglycerides, and here is Dr. Esselstyn's. Dr. Fuhrman claims that triglycerides go down eating all the fruit you want on his food plan and doesn't limit them. I'll stick with Drs. McD and Essy on this, because I've proven it with my own lab work. I've also proven that nuts, even Dr. Fuhrman's limit of 2 ounces a day for fat people like me, keep cholesterol levels and weight high, the same thing a certain famous veg chef also learned. In the 2 months since I stopped using cashews for my cheese sauce or adding almond or cashew butter to my morning oatmeal, I've lost 15 pounds. I'll have the lab results in another week that should show the cholesterol down again, but I do know that they went up as soon as I started using cashew cheese sauce instead of my former tofu based one.

All this to say I'm sorry there's no new recipe today, and possibly none for tomorrow, either. I was going to make and post about Mary McDougall's pancakes that I was going to make for lunch, but besides all this fruit, my husband decided he now wants those red pepper sandwiches for lunch again. Dinner is supposed to be a plain old pot of pasta with jarred sauce. If I decide to fancy it up a bit I'll let you know.

But I really wanted those pancakes. :(

My Beef With Meat Is On the Way!

I love how Amazon sometimes mails pre-orders out early so the customer gets the book on its day of release! I pre-ordered Rip Esselstyn's My Beef With Meat and as of Sunday afternoon it's on its way from the South Carolina warehouse and will be delivered Tuesday.

Too bad I'm suffering my first Spring cold right now and reading the book will have to wait until I've recuperated, because otherwise I'll forget everything I read.



For now, I'll have to be content with these video advertisements. It would be so nice if ads for books like these would show up on television.



My Beef With Meat... Http://mybeefwithmeat.com from engine 2 diet on Vimeo.


MBWM from engine 2 diet on Vimeo.

And I think this is Natala doing a sneak preview of the book in the first 3 1/2 minutes of this 14 minute vlog post


Video Blog 9 from engine 2 diet on Vimeo.

Today's Reading from "The Tao of Joy Every Day" Book

November 23
Day 327

The Holistic Self

Perhaps due to the great advances in science and technology, we have a tendency to divide, sort, and categorize everything. The body is divided into the nervous system, lymphatic system, digestive system and so on. Even the mind is divided into the id, ego and superego in Freudian psychology.

The Eastern approach also involves categorization, but there is a greater emphasis on interconnectedness. Both the mind and the body are seen in a holistic light where everything has an effect on everything else. Indeed, even the mind and the body are recognized as inextricably connected.

One principle we can derive from this is that if one wishes to sharpen the mind, one cannot rely only one reading, learning and other mental activities. One must also work on the body. This means both exercise and nutrition. This is one of the reasons many sages exercise regularly and either choose a vegetarian lifestyle or limit their consumption of animal products. At higher levels of cultivation, one can sense the effects of food on the mind, and a diet rich in plant-based foods is considered the best choice for mental clarity.


The Tao Today

Most of us are not operating at peak efficiency, either physically or mentally. Your body and mind are capable of so much more. Think about them as the sages do, not as separate parts, but as an interconnected whole. Look for ways to work on both body and mind to be at your strongest and clearest.

The Tao of Joy Every Day

365 Days of Tao Living

Derek Lin

2011

Tarcher/Penguin Press

ISBN: 978-1-58542-918-9

The book's offical page on the author's site

Amazon page

Derek had once written on his forums, The Tea House, that he follows the food program of Dr. John McDougall. And Derek's writings have been recommended by people on the McDougall forums. Unfortunately I can't link to Derek's post itself because the original version of that board was closed because of excessive spamming. The new Tea House is doing quite well and is so-far spam-free.

VeganMoFo Day 26 - Like A Hurricane

Hurricane Sandy is on her way up the Eastern seaboard and our area is going to start seeing the rain bands on Sunday and continue into next Thursday. Forecasts like this make me glad I bought Robin Robertson's book Vegan Unplugged when it came out. Here in urban New Jersey we don't usually lose electric due to storms - when we do have a blackout it's either a squirrel chewing through a wire causing a transformer to blow or a major blow-out in the dog days of summer, when everyone is trying to keep cool and the power companies can't keep up and the whole grid goes down.

If we do lose power, I have a full pantry of items that can be easily put together to make a filling and delicious McDougall-friendly meal. It has to be room temperature, though, as propane stoves are illegal for indoor use in our city, and we have no balcony, deck, porch, roof or even yard access with this top floor walk-up apartment. Besides, I've seen the damage even candles do in these old places and forgo all open flames aside from the kitchen stove. And who can use a camp stove during a hurricane or blizzard, anyway?

I did a little grocery shopping today to grab some needed items for next week's dinners, because our usual shopping day, Sunday, the stores will be crazier than they were today. I have my bottled water all ready should we have no water for some reason, but that never goes out unless we have a water main break, not from storms. Paper plates, disposable cutlery & cups, all our flashlights have fresh batteries, and we have plenty of book, cards, and board games to keep us busy if worse comes to worse.

Good luck, fellow East Coasters, and hopefully we'll all be fine and on-line with little or no interruptions. In the meantime, enjoy some classic Neil Young:

VeganMoFo Day 5 - Eating Simply

Here's an excerpt from a book I'm currently reading that goes along quite nicely with Dr. McDougall's and Jeff Novick's philosophy of eating simply:

Chapter 64

Put things in order
before a disorder makes its appearance.
Don't wait until your body cries.
Pay attention to the way you eat
and what happens next.

The wise desire what others do not desire:
tranquility, centeredness.
The wise learn what others do not learn,
eat nourishing foods others have passed by,
keep the natural development of all things.

A transformed diet begins with this bite.
Don't fuss over food;
keep it simple or you will spoil it.
People who explore numerous diet possibilities
are too busy trying to remember past knowledge
to pay attention to the here and now,
where life is.

Avoid calculated outcomes.
Just pay attention
and your outcome will be right for you.
The wise take action
by letting things take their course
and watching.


Commentary
Some of us get so carried away with hype about a new food or diet that we bombard our bodies with a wild array of foods that end up fighting each other in our systems. We never look beyond our tastebuds until a crisis presents itself and we puzzle over the why of a condition, such as colitis, hypertension, or other conditions.

When we keep our intake simple and listen to our whole body response we experience calmness — freedom from gas, gurgles, cramps, and fuzzy teeth; our joints move more easily and we have a steady stream of energy.

There is nothing complicated here; the body runs at peak efficiency with no calculation necessary. Give your body the undivided attention you pay your valued, most inspiring mentors.
~~~~~

Forget That Diet and Eat What You Need
The Tao of Eating

Elizabeth Terp
Paperback: 126 pages
Publisher: Trafford Publishing (July 6, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1412024552
ISBN-13: 978-1412024556

Amazon page, with Look Inside feature


And that's just ONE chapter. The entire book, based on ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu's work, Tao Te Ching, compares his basic teachings on living simply and how to rule a country to eating simply and ruling your own body. Learn by observing. From the back cover:


The TAO OF EATING
is written out of what I know
and what I don't know,
all of which changes instantly:
what I know becomes suspect
and what I don't know becomes clear
in the present moment.

Under all this confusion
flows the Way,
continually softening knowledge posts,
floating well-secured docks out to sea,
exposing fresh sand where there was none.

My work is to be sensitive to all the
great and subtle changes,
awake to life.
 - Elizabeth Terp
~~~
Eating the McDougall way follows the Way.

The Starch Solution

Dr. McDougall's latest book, The Starch Solution, is being released in May, 2012, and the web site for the book has just been activated. You can see some of the Star McDougallers' stories, see what foods you can eat that will help lead to weight loss and better health, but not much more.

And I really don't like how Prevention Magazine is marketing this - a free gift upon ordering, 4 payments of $6.75 each (It's only $17.81 on Amazon when pre-ordered), return at any time for a refund ("even 20 years from now," says the ad). All the links that appear to go to recipes all go to the order form. Sounds like a huckster instead of a serious promotion of an important book.

I already pre-ordered mine, but don't think I'll be reading anything Dr. McDougall has already written before or said in a free on-line lecture. I hope for his sake that Prevention really promotes this, including getting him appearances on the talk shows, and he doesn't blow it.