Weekly Update, Thoughts on Nourishing Traditions, & Cooking Spree

Bowl of Oats One of my new favorite breakfasts is this:

I take 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, cover with 1 cup boiling water and let sit for about 10 minutes. Then I stir and top with 2-3 grated carrots, a grated apple, and some raisins or blueberries and then sprinkle some cinnamon. I find the carrots and fruit add just enough sweetness and texture to make the oatmeal exciting, and the oats are really filling and satisfying.

Here's the nutritional info for one bowl (1/2 cup oats, 1 cup grated carrots, 1 apple, 2 TBS. raisins). To add more calories and protein, double the amount of oats and/or add some plant milk. To add more fat add a few walnuts or sliced almonds and or plant milk.

83% calories from carbohydrate, 8 % calories from protein, 9% calories from fat.

349.8 kcal

Protein 7.6 g

Carbs 79.3 g

Fiber 12.0 g

Fat 3.4 g

Vitamin A
18474.9 IU
792%

Folate
40.2 µg
10%

B1 (Thiamine)
0.3 mg
31%

B2 (Riboflavin)
0.2 mg
17%

B3 (Niacin)
1.7 mg
12%

B5 (Pantothenic Acid)
0.7 mg
14%

B6 (Pyridoxine)
0.3
mg
23%

B12 (Cyanocobalamin)
0.0
µg
0%

Vitamin C
15.3 mg
20%

Vitamin E
1.4 mg
9%

Vitamin K
20.5 µg
23%

Calcium
83.4 mg
8%

Copper
0.3 mg
37%

Iron
2.8 mg
16%

Magnesium
139.3 mg
45%

Manganese
2.0 mg
111%

Phosphorus
262.6 mg
38%

Potassium
844.4 mg
18%

Selenium
13.8 µg
25%

Sodium
90.7 mg
6%

Zinc
1.7 mg
21%

Saturated Fat
0.5 g
3%

Omega-3
0.1 g
5%

Omega-6
1.1 g
25%

Cholesterol
0.0
mg
0%

Weight Loss Challenge Our guestblogger Elise is taking this week off, she'll resume her weekly update next week. But for those of you on board the 12 week challenge, please update us and let us know how this past week went. A side note on that, if you are experiencing weight loss stagnation, I HIGHLY recommend checking out the McDougall MWL discussion board for ideas and tips. Also, check out some MWL (maximum weight loss) recipes here.

Cooking Spree I'm sorry I haven't posted much lately. I'm coming up for air after having spent nearly the entire last month devoted to micro-organizing my food storage (which I'll talk more about in another post because I know many of you are like me and are into the food storage thing and have questions as to how a vegan does it, but the answer is, it's easy! and I'll talk about why later). I know, I'm a dork.

We got some tax refund money back and decided to go crazy and buy, a freezer. An EXTRA freezer to store goodies, and bread, extra meals, frozen fruit, veggies, ect. And the prospect of doing this has excited me to no end. In short, I've been on an unstoppable cooking spree. Here's the short list (I'll do pictures and more details in another post):

[Note: The cookbooks I refer to can be found at my Amazon store.]

9 loaves of bread (!)(the dough was massively huge!)--I mixed in different ingredients to make multi-grain sunflower, sunflower pumpkin seed, oatmeal sunflower, oatmeal wheat, multi grain oatmeal pumpkin wheat--I LOVE making bread!

Buckwheat flaxcrackers--I had to dust off my dehydrator for this, but I made oriental veggie flavor, pizza flavor (it smelled like a pizzeria while baking), and peanut butter flavor (my kid's favorite)

Sundried Tomato & Olive Foccacia bread--a recipe from Vegan Baking. I made for guests and was a real hit. Froze the extra.

Cookies, cookies, cookies--I've learned the old adage, "a way to a mans heart is through his stomach," is true. My hubby, although not vegan, adores my vegan cookies. His favorites: Dreena Burton's amazingly delicious Chocolate Chip cookies, and Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies and Chocolate Chip Mint cookies from Vegan Baking. As long as I have several batches of frozen dough in the freezer, ready to be made at any time, my husband is a happy man.

Carrot Date Muffins--Made a bunch, froze the batter in cupcake holders so that when I want freshly baked muffins (without the work!) I just pop them into the oven and in 30 minutes I have hot, fresh muffins. Yum.

Cinnamon Rolls--Again another recipe from Vegan Baking. I made two versions--"lite" and "rich." More on this later. We had a batch then I froze the remain dough (as rolls).

Veggie Cutlets--Can you believe I've never made any sort of veggie "meat"? I've been vegan for almost 4 years and I don't think I've even tried this stuff. I've always been drawn more towards simple food--rice, beans, fruits, and veggies--but this simple recipe from Seven Secrets Cookbook was calling my name. I tried it with reluctance but was delighted and thrilled with the results. It was a bit startling though, because it actually tasted a bit like chicken/turkey and I haven't tasted that in years! It's very versatile, low in fat, high in protein, and I'm excited to try it tonight as strips for fajitas. I'll let you know how it goes.
I know a lot of what I made is not "health" food. They're treats. I've found that everyone needs to find a happy balance and find what works for their family. I want my kids to grow up having a healthy relationship with food, knowing the difference between treats and food. Also, I'm smart enough to know that I can't shelter my kids forever. There will come a time when they'll go off to school and friends houses and will be exposed to non-vegan foods. I want them to always know that they can get cinnamon rolls, cookies, muffins, ect. at home and that they taste just as good, if not better than the "others." Also, one of the benefits of having a freezer is that I can make a batch (or two or three) of some goodie, eat some, then freeze the rest so I or my family doesn't feel compelled to eat three dozen cookies in one day (which is what we used to do growing up!).

Question of the Day A great question was asked by a blogreader Kathleen. I decided to answer it in a post because I'm sure many of you have had a similar question.

Kathleen writes:

Have you ever read, "nourishing traditions", by sally fallon or "real food" by nina planck? they are very much in favor of fats, especially saturated fats to be incorporated into diet along with fermented foods (miso, kim chi, kombucha). i was wondering what you thought.

My response:

Kathleen,

I am familiar with Sally Fallon and her work, and while I think she promotes some better habits than what Americans are currently practicing (eating whole grains, avoiding refined processed foods, particularly vegetable oils and HFCS, sugars), I couldn't disagree with her more on her position on animal foods and her glorification of coconut oil. She has piggy-backed on Weston Price's legacy, and mixed it with her own views, which are simply that, her own views and opinion.

Further, I have yet to see any peer-reviewed, long-term population studies demonstrating that the diet she advocates can reverse degenerative disease such as heart disease or diabetes. Everything that I've read or heard about the benefits of the diet are purely anecdotal, which doesn't cut it for me.

Also, she touts foods such as coconut oil, raw milk/cheese/eggs/butter, foods that besides being extremely high in fat are likewise calorie-dense (which as Americans, we definitely need more of, right?). SHE SAYS the saturated fat in these foods are a good thing because saturated fat from animals is desirable (for weight gain? increased risk of heart disease? constipation?).

A whole-foods starch-based diet (vegan or not) is achievable by nearly every person on the planet (except for maybe people living in every harsh, remote climates like the Eskimos, but chances are, you're not in this category!). It's sustainable, economical, and research shows can be the most health-promoting, disease preventing. No need for specialized foods or fancy regimens. The diet Sally Fallon recommends however, aside from being heavy on meat/milk/cream/butter, relies on foods that are either not available to many people (raw milk, cheese, coconut oil, fermented foods like miso, kombucha, ect.) or are foreign to their culture.

I think many people are drawn to exotic diets and we love to hear more good news about our atrocious habits. I can see why many people are drawn to Fallon's diet: "More butter, baby!," "I don't have to cut back on my meat consumption...sweet."

From a purely vegan/personal perspective, my values don't align with those of Fallon. I don't believe that humans who have access to an abundant variety of nutritious plant foods, need to eat the flesh of animals or drink mammalian milk for health. At the expense of possibly sounding self-righteous, I think that doing so is not only unnecessary, but causes a lot of unnecessary suffering, death, and waste. Three things to which I'd rather not contribute.

Further reading:
Dr. McDougall's response to some of Nina Planck's work

Jeff Novick, RD, Thoughts on Weston Price Foundation