Jeff Novick (And Dr. McDougall) for the Win!

Please, go read this post by Jeff Novick. Here's but a small sample. For the "meat" of the post, go to the link.

Creating Healthy Habits

by JeffN » Wed May 30, 2018 12:15 pm

I have often discussed the importance of simplicity in achieving and maintaining both short-term and long-term success. I am going to add one more issue that often gets missed in this discussion and that is the issue of habits.

What we are trying to do here is learn new behaviors and make them into habits. We are trying to break old unhealthy habits and develop new healthy ones. These include learning to be more active and learning to eat healthier. And, while there are several keys to developing a new habit, two of the most important ones are consistency and repetition. While simplicity is important, so is consistency and repetition.

This issue has come up quite a bit lately in discussions and counseling with clients and I believe it is partly (if not largely) due to the influence of social media. Social media is giving us access to an enormous amount, and constant flow, of information.

In the last few years, there have been many online “summits, documentaries and symposiums,” which seem to attract a lot of attention and viewers. I have been invited to be a speaker to many of them and have always declined. I am not a fan of them for many reasons. 

Ann and Jane Esselstyn - Sauces

In this video, Ann makes her famous Walnut Sauce that was originally in the Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease book. But now Dr. Esselstyn says "No nuts!!" for people with heart disease, so Jane makes the revised version, made with cannelini beans instead of walnuts.

Bye, Dr. McDougall!

I’m sure by now you all got the e-mail from Dr. McDougall announcing his partial retirement. I’m sure I’m not the only one not surprised by this. He hasn’t looked and acted his old self since his fall a few years ago, and the wildfires that claimed his home and life’s work took what little wind was left in his sails.

Thanks, Dr. McDougall, for all you’be given us all over the years, and hope to see you again soon on the forum and webinars.

Another Dr. Goldhamer/Chef AJ Q&A

Notice for European Readers

I woke up this morning to this notice on my Blogger Dashboard page. Being in the USA, I can't see what they actually wrote on my blog. Just be assured any notice they put up about accepting cookies or whatever is legitimate - even the McDougall Program people sent emails out about this last week.

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Potato Power

Close to Home Comic

Jeff Novick Interviews

Health Sciences, the magazine of the National Health Association, did an interview with Jeff Novick back in 2102 entitled Nobody Does It Better. There’s not much in it many McDougallers don’t already know, but it’s a good read, anyway.

There’s also an interview Jeff links to from his website to where he’s proclaimed a Jewish Food Hero. In this one, he goes more into detail on his nutritional guidelines than his personal history. Again, nothing we don’t already know, just good to see again.

Salad Eating Advice - Nothing New Under the Sun

For those who are now in the habit of eating a pound or more of non-starchy vegetables for breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner on the advice of a certain somebody, including those "BAS - Big Ass Salads" that "if they aren't big enough that someone comments on their size, they're not big enough," and "salad should be as big as your head" - everything old is new again. 

Jeff Novick, dietitian for The McDougall Program in Santa Rosa (and has many videos of his own out, both lectures and cooking videos), has written about that - and much more - for many years now, but nobody goes around quoting *him* (Aside from some of us on the McDougall message boards, that is).

Here's a blog post he wrote back in 2007 called "Shock and Awe" Salads. Good reading, as are all the other blog posts and articles on Jeff's web site. Lots of good information there, as well as his forum on the free McDougall message boards.

Imagine what life would be like for all those people if they took this advice when it was first given back in 2007 (Myself include)?

Ann and Jane - All Oat Waffles

Another fun romp in the kitchen with Ann and Jane Esselstyn, this time waffles made with oats. I know every WFPB cooking guru has their own version of waffles and pancakes (Here's Heather McDougall's passed down by her mom Mary), but this one is so simple.

How simple is it?

Simple enough that I made some of my own this morning! Like they did, I used water, even though the book says plant milk or water.

OK, so they're really thick! Also, notice I got 7 waffles on the plate. At first I messed up the measurements and had a cup of water to a half cup of oats and wondered why it was so wet. Oops. I'm awake since 3am so have a little sympathy! Wound up making a double batch. Also, 8 minutes may be a bit too long. As you see, some of mine are almost burnt at that time. Next time I'll try them at 5 or 6 minutes. That also made them a bit dry, and, to be honest, not that tasty. My son took one look at them and walked away, saying he'll make his own breakfast later. I really didn't expect him to partake, since he's not a fan of oatmeal in any way, shape, or form. More for me! LOL

I did something totally anti-Esselstyn. First, I broke a few in pieces and dunked them in one of those half cup containers of natural no-sugar added applesauce. When that was gone, I used a teensy bit of pure maple syrup. The applesauce tasted better. Maybe in the future I'll try making the Raspberry Sauce that is recommended in the book, but using blueberries because I despise raspberries. It's only 10 ounces of thawed frozen berries and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar whirred together in a food processor to make a smooth sauce. I have no frozen fruit at the moment, hence the applesauce.  

They were a nice change of pace, but it's still a pain in the neck to make and clean up after. Who wants to wash out a food processor and waffle iron first thing in the morning?! But it does make a nice crispy waffle (if you eat them within 5-10 minutes. After that they go soggy.), good for a grab-and-go breakfast if you make up a bunch to keep in the freezer. That's where most of these went.

If I ever try to make these again, I might try a savory version, with baby spinach, sun-dried tomato strips, and nutritional yeast.

I was also thinking of using a savory, or just plain, version to make something to eat hamburgers on. There really aren't many gluten-free AND oil-free options out there in bun-land, rice cakes are too crunchy and crumbly, and lettuce or collard leaves used as wraps allow all the toppings to slide right off and onto the plate, table, or my shirts. But these seem to be a bit too thick for that purpose. Maybe I can open the waffle iron way before time so they split in half, then use those 2 halves like a bun. Hmmm. Might work. I hope so, because I really miss eating burgers. I have at least a dozen recipes I want to try, in addition to Jeff's and Mary McDougall's that are already favorites. I'm too lazy to stand over a stove and make fat flats (similar to pancakes) out of this dough.

But for breakfast? I'm back to hot oatmeal tomorrow.

A Brief Q&A with Ann and Jane

And they changed the intro to go with the season, too!

World Lupus Day - May 10

For More Information . . .

Ann and Jane - Corn Salsa

Who doesn't love a corn salad? I even wrote about 3 different ones from Mary McDougall on this blog over the years - Barbecue Bean Salad, Honey Bean Salad, and Mexican Corn Salad. 

Unlike those, this one from Ann and Jane Esselstyn has no beans in the salad, but Ann does say she serves it over their rice and bean meals all the time. Hmm, that gives me an idea for next week's Mary's Bean Stew meal. :)

The video's a few seconds over 4 minutes - that's how long it takes to make this once the onions, peppers, and cilantro are cut. But being the lazy cook that I am, I would probably use already chopped red onions from the store, a small jar of either pimientos or roasted red pepper slices, and skip the orange pepper. At $3.99 each it's not worth buying one for the small amount used in this recipe. I still have a lime or 2 in the refrigerator from the other salad of theirs that I still haven't made, so I would use that for the first time, but after that, jarred lime juice, for sure.

Mary's Bean Stew - Take 4 and Take 5

Yes, today is the fourth time I'm making Mary McDougall's Bean Stew in my oval Crockpot, and I can say without a doubt it will be the LAST time I attempt to make this in this appliance.

I wrote all about the first time I made it, how it kept drying out, how I kept adding water, when I added twice the amount of water to beans to start, because it had steamed and dripped all over my counter when I started it in the Instant Pot.

I did not write about the second and third times making it. Each time I used another variety of Rancho Gordo beans. For today's batch, I'm using Rancho Gordo Aluba Blanca small white beans. I usually save this type of bean for when I make baked beans, but what the heck, I figured I'll use these in the stew.

Mary McDougall has said many times she never soaks her beans, that she just tosses beans and water in her slow cooker, and each time I make this recipe that's what I've been doing. Rancho Gordo people have even said their beans are so fresh they really don't need soaking. But darn it, every time I make this recipe, whether I use 4 cups of water to start or the almost 9 cups I used today, I have ALWAYS needed to add more water. Maybe next week I'll try a quick soak first. I don't want to soak these overnight - they're so fresh they'd probably start sprouting.

And definitely next time I'm doing things differently. Instead of making this recipe in the Crockpot, I'm going to cook my beans in the Instant Pot, after soaking first, and follow Jill McKeever's rule of adding enough water to cover at least the first knuckle of your index finger. When done, I'll do a 10 minute natural release, and add the seasoning and sun dried tomatoes, and hit the Keep Warm button for the rest of the cooking time.

Some changes I did make today - I started it off on High, and after an hour had to add more water. After it started to boil again, I lowered it to Low heat for the next 3 hours. At the 4 hour mark I had to add water again, and again let it come to a boil. As soon as it did I again turned it down, and at this time I added the seasoning and sun dried tomatoes. I also added half a pound of frozen mixed greens that I bought in Whole Foods. After an hour on this temp I then turned it down to Keep Warm. Right now, the beans are fully cooked and soft, the tomatoes are rehydrated, the greens are hot - in other words, everything is ready to eat, but it's still a few hours until dinner time. When the time comes, I have some steam-in-bag Yukon Gold potatoes I'll make, then serve it all up.

At least today it's not a dried out, gloppy mess, but a nice stew with lots of flavorful bean broth. Hopefully next week I can just cook it up without having to add another drop and have a meal just as good.

Why am I so determined to get this recipe to work? Well, I did mention I rejoined the Rancho Gordo Bean Club. The other day, the club box plus the other beans I ordered arrived. Yes, I was greeted by yet another bag of runner/lima beans.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

IDN why I never posted the above message when I wrote it out last week. Here's this week's making of Mary's Bean Stew.

Changes:
I used Rancho Gordo's Yellow Indian Woman bean. 

In an attempt to make sure they don't get dried out, I did a soak. Steve Sando, the owner of Rancho Gordo, says his beans are so fresh that if people insist on giving them a pre-soak, do it no more than 6 hours, otherwise they'll sprout. This morning I picked through, cleaned and started to soak the beans before I headed out to a doctor's appointment. By the time I got back from there and a quick grocery store trip, they were not only well soaked but starting to split. All this in only 2 hours! Next week, no soaking.

The next change was where these beans were going to be cooked. Instead of the CrockPot, I tossed them into my Instant Pot with 8 cups of water. According to this chart, soaked Yellow Indian Woman beans take 8 to 10 minutes. I hit Manual, lowered it down to 8 minutes, and let it go. After it hit the Keep Warm stage I let it sit for a while, and after a half hour finally released the last of the steam. It still took 4 minutes before it finished.

The beans looked - and tasted - beautiful! Like miniature pinto beans, so small and pinkish.

At this point I added 2 tablespoons of Mrs. Dash Table Blend and the bag of smoky sun-dried tomatoes and closed the lid, keeping the pot on Keep Warm mode.

A half hour before dinner I popped in an 8 ounce bag of baby spinach and mixed it up. Here's how it looked about 15 minutes later:

By Jove, I think I've got it!

In about 5 minutes I'll be spooning this out over rice for me, cornbread for my husband. I know we're only supposed to have an average of a cup of beans a day on the McDougall program, so I purposely had no beans yesterday and have none planned for tomorrow. I can tell you right now there will not be any leftovers of this stew today.

Maybe I'll get brave next week and try one of those many bags of lima beans I have from the Bean Club over the years. Wish me luck!

Dr. Sanjay Gupta Talks About Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy

This is the heart problem I developed back in 2009. Like many others on the Facebook Takotsubo Support community, I still have on-going problems associated with this and still have to take medications because of it.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the doctor who did that famous video with former President Bill Clinton about going plant-based after his heart problems, The Last Heart Attack, which included interviews with Dr. Ornish and Dr. Esselstyn, recently did this little talk (and joined the FB community, too!).



He said he'll talk more about Takotsubo in his next video, how some people continue to have on-going problems and don't recover 100% even if their echocardiograms show complete recovery, and is already talking with the owner of the community on other things he'll discuss, like exercise. Hopefully he'll also talk about the benefits of a plant based diet, too. There are dreadfully few of us in that community that are plant based, and less than a handful that have even heard of Dr. Esselstyn or Dr. Ornish!

Ann and Jane - S.O.B. Burgers

Smoky Oat Bean burgers, that is.



Weren't those Engine 2 burger buns recently discontinued? I'm pretty sure I read that on-line. Our closest Whole Foods never had them, anyway, and I'm no longer ingesting gluten products, so no biggie to me. 

My husband likes Ezekial Sprouted Grain English Muffins that we get at our local Stop and Shop, and that same company also puts out a few gluten-free muffins, in "multi seed" and brown rice versions that Stop and Shop doesn't carry. I found them in that same Whole Foods a few weeks ago when we went during hubby's recent week off of work. The seedy one was so hard, even after microwaving (they come frozen), I couldn't even bite into it, and the rice one was rubbery. Oh, well. Good thing we only go to that store once a year or less. 

In one of the comments to this video, someone suggested using the skins from baked potatoes to use as a bun, so I may use my weekly potato allotment towards that in the future. I've been using lettuce leaves as burger holders. It does the job, but I'd rather have a starch and save the greenery to act as a topping.

For the other gluten-free readers out there, what do you use to hold your burger when you want it as a sandwich and not crumbled up as a salad topper or sliced up on a plate?