Day 72: Q & A

Today's Food:
Breakfast: Smoothie (strawberries, blueberries, banana, flax seed, water)
Lunch: romaine with Green Velour
Dinner: Chili

Exercise: 30 minutes on the bike, 30 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes abs


Q: How much do you spend on ETL food?

I haven't ever tried to figure it out or kept track of how much money I spend on ETL food. I do think that it can get very expensive if you buy organic everything (I do when it's on sale but don't stress out about it otherwise) and are making different dishes every night.

Here are some of my "tips" for ETLing without spending an arm and a leg:

- buy from the wholesale clubs… Sam’s, Costco, BJ’s etc.
I get fozen fruit for my smoothies there (strawberries and blueberries) as well as fresh bananas for the smoothies. I also buy frozen veggies there, broccoli florets, and veggies mixes. (These make for easy and quick dinners). I also buy spices there, they are so expensive in those little jars at the grocery store!

- Buy fresh produce from farmer’s markets when available. This saves a lot of money over the grocery store and I think that it’s much fresher as well.

- Buy dry beans, not canned. This way you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for salt-free beans; and it’s really not that much of a hassle to soak and cook them. Many people use pressure cookers to greatly reduce cooking time… I’m not that brave.

- Keep recipes simple!

Overall, I’m saving money by not eating out or getting take out, not buying prepared or frozen food from the grocery store and not buying anything to drink (soda, beer, etc). I also buy only what I know I will use and not throw away. AND I’m improving my health which will mean less money toward health-related problems in the future.


Q: You eat so little... (ok this isn't really a question but a few people have commented so I felt that it would be worthwhile to address)

On Eat to Live, Dr. Fuhrman wants you to eat 3 meals a day ONLY WHEN YOU'RE HUNGRY. No snacking. At first many people are daunted by this idea. Many weight loss plans out there promote eating small meals frequently throughout the day stating that it will keep your metabolism up and therefore you will lose weight. However, Dr. F eschew's this advice, he states:

"Frequent eating is a form of overeating. It accelerates aging. One of the critical nuances that makes my recommendation so different from the nonsense about trying to keep up your metabolism is the understanding that it is almost impossible to achieve an ideal weight if you eat when you are not truly hungry. Eating more calories does not make you weigh less and the metabolic slowing from eating less calories is too small to prevent loss of weight from the lower caloric intake." (per the Ask the Doctor section on www.drfuhrman.com)

So here's a sample of the volume of my daily intake:

Breakfast: Smoothie… 40 oz (a whole Nalgene bottle filled to the very top, or 5 cups) Toward my daily goal of at least 4 servings of fruit, meets daily requirement for 1 Tablespoon of ground flax seed.

Lunch: a whole 10 oz bag of salad… romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage. Can have beans on this if you want but I prefer eating my beans hot. Sometimes 1 oz nuts/seeds on the salad depending on what’s in the dressing. This counts toward my daily goal of at least 1 lb of raw veggies, 1 cup of beans, and 1 oz. of raw, unsalted seeds or nuts.

Dinner: cooked veggies and beans. Counts toward my daily goal of at least 1 lb of non-starchy veggies and 1 cup of beans.

Dessert (if I feel like it): pineapple, apple, fruit & soy milk “ice cream.” Counts toward fruit.

For more info about the strict vegan rapid weight loss version of ETL that I am doing my best to follow check out: http://www.fatfreevegan.com/etl.shtml


Q: What is this Green Velour you so often have on your salads?

Here's the recipe:

Green Velour Salad Dressing
Adapted from DrFuhrman.com’s Green Velvet Dressing

Makes 2 to 2 ½ cups, 4 to 6 generous servings.

1 cup water
½ cup fresh lemon or lemon & lime juice
½ cup tahini (raw & unsalted please!)
½ cup frozen spinach or mix of green herbs
1 - 2 cloves garlic (more if you are a garlic freak, like me)
2 T no-salt seasoning blend of your choice (something like Mrs. Dash)
2 t Braggs

Place all ingredients in a blender and whiz it up until it is creamy and has a lovely green color, about 1 minute or depending on your blender.

To me, the predominant flavors in this dressing are the tahini and the garlic. If you aren't a fan of tahini... you might not like this. If you happen to be a fan of garlic and tahini or strong/spicy flavors in general you just might love it. I think that it tastes much better if I let it sit in the refrigerator overnight after making it to let the flavors come together. I use spinach all the time now rather than green herbs (the original recipe calls for parsley, tarragon, and dill) and like it much better than the original, but that's just me.

A big thank you to everyone who reads my humble little blog, and an even bigger thank you to everyone who leaves comments! You all keep me going!