Natala Constantine

Everyone knows that for optimal health, we need to eat more whole, unprocessed foods. But not everyone knows how simple this can be!

I love whole foods, I love that they are so delicious on their own with out using anything to manipulate the flavor, nature got it right the FIRST time, we don’t need to help out nature by adding processed ingredients to unprocessed foods.

There are so many great combinations you can use – just using whole foods, here are a few to get you started.

Breakfast ideas:

Fruit salad with some chopped walnuts or ground flax seed.

Quinoa: warm or cold with some chopped up fruit, you can add flax seed or walnuts if you like.

Oatmeal: with some fresh fruit, a few walnuts or flax seed.

Black bean scramble: Black beans, chopped vegetables, topped with no salt added salsa. Pan “fry” in a big pan using water instead of oil or spray.

Greens: I’m wierd. Let’s just get that out of the way. I like steamed kale with nutritional yeast for breakfast.

Breakfast tacos: black beans, greens, salsa on a corn tortilla.

Occasional treat: tofu scramble with tons of veggies.

Lunch/Dinner ideas: *Add kale whenever possible 

Salad is always an easy choice, use lots of fresh vegetables! I like topping salad with homemade salsa or a homemade hummus. You can add beans and seeds/nuts as well.

Hummus and veggies. Make your own hummus so it is fat free – just chickpeas, add water in the blender as needed, lemon, garlic and nutritional yeast. Serve with raw chopped veggies.

Soup! I LOVE soup. You can dream up all kinds of soup ideas and you can add lots of greens to them! One of my favorites is to take well cooked cauliflower, (1-2 heads) some water, some spices and blend or use a mixer. We add all kinds of vegetables and greens – it’s a very creamy soup.

Chili: Diced tomatoes, vegetables and beans – that’s all you need.. .and a few hot pepper spices if you are daring.

Quinoa salad: cooked quinoa, beans, vegetables.

Rice and beans: Probably one of the easiest things you can do. Just brown rice, beans, vegetables and low sodium salsa. Use big lettuce leaves for “taco shells”.

Collard wraps: I boil collard greens for about 5 minutes (after removing the stem) before I use them for wraps. I like to stuff them with all kinds of veggies – and I love using “cauliflower rice”.

To make cauliflower rice – grate cauliflower or put in a food processor. When it is grated and looks kind of like rice, put it in a shallow pan with some water until it is soft, but not mushy.

Add cauliflower rice to beans, vegetables, spices and then put the mixture on top of the big leaves and roll up!

Vegetable sushi: Use short grain brown rice or use cauliflower rice. Add in cucumber, peppers and if you like, a little avocado.

Sweet potato and toppings: My favorite is to add steamed kale and black beans, it is delicious and simple.

Zucchini pasta: Slice zucchini with a vegetable slicer to make thin long slices. Top with chickpeas, diced tomatoes, italian seasonings and a little nutritional yeast.

Portobello Fajitas: Slice mushrooms, peppers, onions and add to a shallow pan with a little water – cook with salt free spices. Serve on top of brown rice, and top with shredded cold greens, low sodium salsa and a few slices of avocado.

Fancy taco salad: This is one of my favorite things to make. On a bed of dark leafy greens add chopped veggies, beans, butter nut squash (cut up) or sweet potato (cut up), top with salsa. It is SO tasty.

Desserts:

FRUIT!!!!

You can also make sorbet just by using frozen fruit or a little fruit and ice.

Frozen banana makes a great “ice-cream” blend frozen bananas and frozen cherries, and you have a really nice cherry ice-cream. Add a little water to make it easier to blend.

Dates: just pitted dates make a delicious dessert – to me they taste like caramel. Want to get really fancy? Cut them down the middle, and put a little bit of almond butter (unsalted, unsweetened). Delicious!

You don’t need any fancy recipes to have a healthy plant-strong menu every day! Challenge yourself to have 1-2 days a week of being unprocessed… and then challenge yourself to see if you can do it 3,4,5,6 and 7 days a week! I promise, you will feel fantastic, and the more you do it, the easier it gets and the tastier it becomes.

Speaking of unprocessed – if you would like a recipe book filled with some AMAZING vegan, gluten free (and lots of raw) recipes that are all completely unprocessed? Chef AJ out of LA just came out with her new cookbook“Unprocessed”! I highly recommend it. There are even recipes for tortes, truffles, lasagna, tacos, nachos and more

Last week my husband and I worked at the Engine 2 Immersion in Austin, TX. We got to help 100 people transition to a 100% HEALTHY plant-based diet. A food plan free of all animal products, all extracted oils, all extracted sweeteners and low in salt. And I think I can safely say that every person loved the food, and that many lives were changed.

The line up was fantastic: Dr. Colin Campbell, Dr. Cadwell Esselstyn, Dr. Pam Popper, John Robins, Jeff Novick (RD), Rip, Ann and Jane Esselstyn, vegan family doctor, Linda Carney, plant-strong success stories including Mike Bankman who has lost 80 pounds in 5 months, Char Nolan, Matt (fellow firefighter with Rip turned plant-strong) and then myself and my husband. Plus some amazing chefs from Whole Foods who are part of the Health Starts Here program – a food program that focuses on plant-strong foods free of extracted oils and sweeteners.

It was a heavy hitting kind of week.

This was my third immersion, and each time I walk away, amazed that in just one week people can learn all of the information they need to know in order to live a healthy life.

I got to have a lot of great discussions with all of the speakers, and came away with a lot. Here are some of the things I learned this time around:

1. Dr. Campbell was shocked that people read China Study and don’t come away with not just avoiding animal products. They should also avoid “plant-fragments” like ALL oil, extracted sweeteners and salt.

2. Sugar, extracted sweeteners (like agave, maple syrup) and fruit juices and even smoothies can do damage to the endothelium. (Dr. Esselstyn had a long talk on this).

3. We do not need to purposely include nuts in our diets. (Dr. Popper, Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Campbell and Jeff Novick) all said the same. Most of us just don’t need to seek out extra fats. If they are part of a plant-strong dish (free of oil/sugar/salts) that is ok, but you don’t need to go and measure out a certain amount of nuts every day in order to get enough fat. Some suggested just using some flax seed (ground).  Of course, there are exceptions like high performance athletes, but being the most of my audience are not high performance athletes, I’d say you are safer to just not be pouring on nuts, and you don’t have to worry about getting enough fat. Please read “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” to learn more about this. I know there are some nut lovers out there, and I get it, but just know that you might not need AS many nuts as some of you are consuming.

4. People don’t need transition foods. Contrary to popular belief (of some) we do not need to trick people into being vegan by offering vegan junk food to them. I watched people transition from some of the worst standard american diets to a completely healthy plant-based diet (free of junk) in ONE day. ONE DAY! No vegan icecream, no potato chips, no chocolate, no coffee, no fried food. And guess what? People were just fine, and it turns out the taste buds change rather quickly when you jump in the deep end of healthy foods. So we can put to rest that people need junk food to make the transition to vegansim easy, they just don’t, as proof by the now 300 people I’ve seen go through the immersion, who overnight were eating large amounts of kale.

5. There is a lot of false information about health out there – for meat eaters AND vegans. It is not just meat eaters who have been duped into believing certain dietary myths, vegans have been duped all the same. The amount vegans who believe that oil is healthy is staggering. Even when the top doctors and respected RD’s in the plant-based field have been trying to debunk that one for years and years and years. The amount of vegans who believe agave is a health food – also staggering, (it is not a healthy food if you are wondering). The oil thing seems to get people really upset, I know it’s hard, because there is a lot of really bad info out there, even in the RD community – it’s just a mess. But I promise, especially with the new studies that meet the highest standards of evidence coming out – you will be just as clear on oil as you are about dairy – it’s not healthy. And there is a lot of bad info, but I trust that people will look for the best scientific info there is on the subject. Jeff Novick is a GREAT start – he breaks down studies and researches more than anyone I have met. If you believe that something like oil is healthy – you should be pissed off at the person that lead you to that information, if you start to look into it, you will soon discover that the data is just not there to back it up, and that it causes a lot more harm than it could ever cause good. Oil strips out every thing good about the food. If you want olive oil – EAT AN OLIVE. If you want flax seed oil? Have ground up flax seeds. Get all of the good stuff, don’t mutilate the poor veggie.

*just a note, I really don’t mean to be a pain about the health stuff, it’s just that I really like MOST of you and I would love if you did not have to suffer some of the junk that I suffered because of poor eating choices. It sucks to get t2 diabetes, it sucks to get other preventable diseases. I’m not saying this because I’m trying to take away your favorite foods, but more so that you can make informed decisions about your health and well being. There is no food (vegan or not) that is worth getting sick over.

AND don’t take my word for it – start doing some heavy duty research. Read “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease”, “The China Study”, “Eat to Live”, anything by Dr. McDougall, “The Pleasure Trap” by Dr. Lisle, “Engine 2 Diet”. Start with those, read every single thing Jeff Novick has written, and then make an informed decision. Oddly enough, these books are usually the very same books that vegans recommend to meat eaters on the health benefits of a plant-based diet, somehow a lot of vegans miss the other foods that we need to get rid of though. Find out about every single study you hear about, tear it to pieces. You deserve and have the right to good information.

The immersion programs will soon be offered to the public (right now it is just for whole foods employes) when they are public, I’ll let you know, because the program is really amazing.

My life has whizzing by in the past few weeks. It’s been a great few weeks, but very busy.

Last week my husband (Matt ehem, vegan180.com) and I worked with the Engine 2 Diet team to help 100 people transition to a healthy 100% plant-based diet. As always it was incredible. We got to work alongside of Dr. Campbell, Dr. Esselstyn (and most of his family) , Dr. Popper, Jeff Novick and John Robins. It was an amazing week, filled with so many insightful and deep conversations, that I’m having a hard time putting it all into words.

But, rest assured I’ll figure out a way to put it into words. I just wanted to touch base since it’s been SO long since I’ve written anything. Oh! I also celebrated my birthday last week… it’s good to be alive and well, just to think that a few years ago I didn’t know if I’d live to see this birthday, well it’s pretty awesome, and I’m glad to be on this incredible ride with so many wonderful friends (even the virtual ones, you guys are awesome as well).

I promise to write more next week!

If you did not know, my husband has a new blog: vegan180.com

His post today is really awesome, and I think you will like it. Go check it out here.

I’ve asked a few of my favorite people what their take is on “junk food” and what we should eat… here are a few more answers.

From Jeff Novick: (who says this is not his official answer, but is a great answer)

“Here are some guidelines that might help your readers in adopting a healthy plant-based diet:

• Eliminate the oil.  There is a great video clip of your chef demonstrating oil-free stir fry on our website, and he has a salad dressing booklet with no-oil dressings that are delicious!
• Eat nuts, seeds, avocadoes, olives and other high-fat plant foods only when they are ingredients in a dish.  Don’t go out of your way to include them in your diet; best to keep them out of your house
• Choose foods from the four major food groups – fruit, vegetables, legumes and whole grains
• Buy a couple of good cookbooks that don’t use oil – lots of vegetarian cookbooks use oil and even dairy products as staple ingredients
• Read labels carefully – the more ingredients the more likely the food is not “food”
• Differentiate between food and a treat.  Fruit juice-sweetened cookies are still cookies, and to be eaten on holidays. Soy hot dogs are for the fourth of July cook-out, not be eaten on a daily basis. And vegan cheeses are transitional foods, to be used while the family is adopting a program of dietary excellence™, not on an ong0ing basis.   Including these foods in the daily diet will lead to some of the same health problems as eating meat and dairy regularly will.
• Last, but not least, get some assistance.  Most people who try to do this diet on their own do not do it well.  We offer a great course that can be done at home through distance learning; take our course, or take someone else’s, but get some education so you can succeed at making the right changes.”

Dr. Pam Popper

Executive Director, The Wellness Forum

From Lindsay Nixon - author of the cookbook “Happy Herbivore”

“Strictly speaking, if it doesn’t look exactly like it does in nature, it’s a processed food. However, not all processed foods are created equal. Whole wheat flour is inherently a processed food, but it’s not as processed as, say, an Oreo. Strive to eat as many unprocessed foods as possible, and when you opt for processed foods — utilize the more wholesome choices, such as using whole wheat flour and whole-wheat bread instead of white all purpose flour or white bread. Remember: the healthiest foods don’t come in pretty packages or boxes and except for legumes, nuts and seeds — they can all be found in the produce section. The majority of food on isles in the middle of the store is junk.”

I’ll be posting from more experts soon!

I’ve asked a few experts to answer the question on what we should eat and what is junk food.

First up, vegan activist, coach, nutrition expert, and someone who has personally made a huge and ongoing difference in my life, John Pierre. He is not only passionate about health, but he has been a compassionate vegan, working on behalf of animals for for the past few decades. If you have been vegan for any length of time, you probably already know John, if you are new to veganism, or are just thinking about it, he is someone you will want to know as you continue in your journey.

The difference between a “junk food vegan” and a “whole foods vegan”

” First and foremost, before talking about the difference between junk food and whole food vegans, we need to validate and acknowledge that any vegan, regardless of type, should be given praise for not consuming animal products. Let us not forget the countless animals thatare saved every day due to the choices that they make.Having said that, it’s true that what sometimes happens when someone turns vegan is that they want to do theright thing for the animals and the planet but they may not know much about diet. Let’s face it, good dietary practices are not taught in school other than the infamous “pyramid”with the same old animal products. Often times, vegans turn to “similar type” products that they ate as anima lproduct consumers. These include, fake soy meats, fakesoy ice creams, and generally a continuation of highly processed products minus the animal ingredients.We need to realize that achieving great health is not difficult. We just can’t believe how easy it really is whenwe hear it and want to make it more complicated than it is.All you have to ask yourself is “Can I find this in nature?” In other words, has what I am holding in my hand beenmade by a machine in a factory or is it something thatcame from the earth or a tree? That’s how simple it is.

The more items we eat that come in boxes, the more we are considered “junk food” eaters. Whole Foods are not foundin boxes. They are found in gardens and on trees and you find them in your produce section of any store or at yourlocal farmers market. These are the foods that we need to focus on. These are the foods that lead us to what weonce ate in nature and are designed to eat. Pretty packages will not help us achieve our goals of good health. Granted, these are great products that arepackaged and have their place in our lives. I would rather see someone consume a few processed foods while on a wholesome fresh fruit and vegetable diet than someonewho eats no processed food and feels so bad about it that they give up the vegan diet completely. Everything has balance. We cannot forget that simple fact. The key is to increase the consumption of foods directly found and grown from the earth. Processed foods will not and cannotgive us the nutrients, enzymes, micronutrients, and countless other essential ingredients that our bodies crave in order to be healthy. You can’t pour apple juice in your car and expect it to run. It was not designed to utilize that type of fuel. We need to really grasp the fact that we were designed to eat food from the earth. Whole, unprocessed,fresh, brimming with nutritional value and great tasting,this is the food that we can thrive on. Anything less is going over stimulate your taste buds, run havoc with your
mind in the form of addictions, leave your wallet a little emptier, and worse of all, leave your body lacking what it was truly designed to consume.

Here is the list to remember, organic fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds,grains, legumes and potatoes.”

-John Pierre, you can find him here, on facebook and on twitter.

VRA (Vegans Rock Austin) are throwing a healthy vegan potluck on the 19th. This is a GREAT idea! If you live near Austin make sure you can come! This is why Austin was my favorite vegan city last year, such a friendly, loving and kind group of people… kind enough to throw a healthy vegan potluck.

I’d love to see more of these… how about it? Throw a potluck that is focused on healthy vegan eating… no oils, no added salt, no sugar, no junk. Let me know, and I’ll post it on the blog, twitter and facebook for you.

Hope to see you on the 19th in Austin

http://veganaustin.org/event.php?id=369

Some good resources for healthy vegan potluck dishes:

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com

http://happyherbivore.com

http://engine2diet.com

http://fatfreevegan.com/

be creative! There are so many fabulous dishes out there.

Let me know if you are going to throw a healthy vegan potluck in your town!

I forgot to mention it here on the blog, but my story about reversing type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, losing almost 200 pounds so far, getting rid of high BP, nerve damage some other pretty serious health issues is in the new book by Kathy Freston, Veganist!

I’m really honored to be included in the book, and that some other get a little bit of hope when the read it. It starts on page 81 for anyone who is interested.

Since it is hard to show you what getting rid of diabetes looks like- except, hey, I’m ALIVE. I thought I’d show you a photo of me and some old pants. I’m almost down 200 pounds (from my highest weight).

Well this could not have worked out any better! Chef AJ a great friend, amazing chef, compassionate vegan and advocate of healthy unprocessed living is doing a FREE tele class tonight!

If you are interested in living a healthier vegan food life, this is the class for you. I hope you can all make it. She is an amazing chef and makes things like german chocolate cake with out any sugar, oil, or gluten. Seriously.

Here is the link:

http://tinyurl.com/5ug8o8d

6:00pm Pacific Time. Details are below. If you would like to be on the call dial 212-990-8011. The access code is 98764#.

You guys are going to have to double check, but I think that is:

9pm Eastern

8pm Central

7pm Mountain

6pm Pacific

My good friend, Chef AJ just came out with a new cookbook that I am VERY excited about!

It’s called unprocessed, it is all gluten free, and free of ANY processed foods – no salt, so sugar (including extracted things like agave, no oil.

So if you’ve been wanting a completely unprocessed cookbook, this is it!