Make Every Bite Count! : Elevate Your Choices, Lose Weight & Feel Great ~The SASSY~Super Affordable, Simple, Satisfying & Yummy Produce-Rich, Plant-Based Way To Health

331 Pages·2015·32.69 MB·English

by  Tracy

~The SASSY~ Super Affordable, Simple, Satisfying &
Yummy Produce-Rich, PlantBased Plan To
Lose Weight & Feel Great
INTEGRITY PRESS 2014 iv
Make Every Bite Count!
Copyright © 2014 Tracy A. Minton. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission of the copyright holder and author, except in the case
of brief quotations in articles or reviews.
DISCLAIMER
Your health is to a large extent in your own hands. You should carefully make
choices about diet and lifestyle as these profoundly affect your health and
longevity. Most physicians get very little training in nutrition, but the litigious
nature of modern society makes it necessary for me to suggest that you check
with an appropriate health care provider familiar with your specific case before
undertaking any change in your diet or lifestyle. Nothing in this book is to be
construed as a diagnosis or treatment for any disease, or as a recommendation
appropriate for your specific condition.
ISBN-13: 9781500303020
ISBN-10:150030302X
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. The Making of Make Every Bite Count
____________________________________1
2. My Story
_____________________________________________________________9
3: So How Do We Make Every Bite Count?
__________________________________15 The Make Every Bite Count Five
Main Principles: _______________________________16
4: The Foods That Help You Make Every Bite Count
__________________________21 “I was told fruit was too high in sugar, and
not good for diabetics.”__________________21 What about fat? How much of
the good fats are good for you? _____________________23
5: Beans, Legumes, & Whole Grains
________________________________________27 Other foods that help make
every bite count!____________________________________29
6: Pulling It All Together & Keeping It
Simple________________________________31 Kitchen
911______________________________________________________________34
My PlantBased SASSY Meal Prep
Suggestions:_________________________________35
7: The Raw Materials of Health
____________________________________________39
8: Let’s Go Shopping!
____________________________________________________43 What to Eat,
Aisle by Aisle__________________________________________________43
A few more ways to sneak in more fruits & veggies
______________________________47
9: How Much To Eat?
____________________________________________________49
10: A Little More Of My Story
_____________________________________________55
11: Tips to Make Every Bite & Moment Count
_______________________________61
12: Produce-Based 7-Day Menu
____________________________________________67 Breaking the
fast__________________________________________________________67
7 Days of Meals
__________________________________________________________68
Constructing Your Meals To Make Every Bite Count
_____________________________72
13: Recipes
_____________________________________________________________75
Fresh
Fruit_______________________________________________________________75
Sweet & Savory Fruit Salads
________________________________________________77 Smoothies 78
Fruity Desserts
___________________________________________________________84
Whole Grains & Breakfast Porridge
Options____________________________________86 Bring On The Beans!
______________________________________________________90
Soups___________________________________________________________________95
Salads, Greens, Veggies & Dressings
__________________________________________106 Raw & Cooked Pasta
Bowls & Marinara Sauce__________________________________122
Potatoes, Tofu, Sandwiches &
Sushi___________________________________________125 Raw Sushi:
______________________________________________________________135
Snacks
__________________________________________________________________136
14: Summary
___________________________________________________________139
Key Points
_______________________________________________________________143
15: Final
Thoughts_______________________________________________________145
16: Books & Resources
___________________________________________________151 Recipe
Index
____________________________________________________________156
ii
1. The Making of Make Every Bite Count
“Think of the fierce energy concentrated in an acorn! You bury it in the ground,
and it explodes into an oak. Bury a sheep, and you get nothing but decay.”~
George Bernard Shaw
I first transitioned to a fully plantbased diet in the fall of 2011 with my husband,
Don. We had been eating a paleo diet at the time, however, prior to our wedding
in May of that year, I had reached my life time heaviest weight, and was dealing
with a whole slew of health issues that seemed to be getting worse, versus better.
(You can read more about my story in the next chapter.)
I began a blog, The Food Way, (now called the Plant Based Solution) during our
transition, to share my insights as I set about making the changes to our diet, and
trying to regain my health. This book grew from that, initially with a very
straight forward name, “What To Eat.” I would start it, put it on the back burner,
only to pull it out, and table it several times. Each time I returned, I had new
developments in my own health that I would try to include in my book.
My original intention was to inspire eating a healthy, produce-rich, plantbased
diet by showing how easy it can be with recipes that are very simple, affordable,
satisfying and tasty. But my own ups and downs with weight and health issues
prompted me to also share ways I’ve learned to tweak my diet to get the results I
desired. Hence, the SASSY, MEBC dietary plan ~ A Super Affordable, Simple,
Satisfying & Yummy approach to eating a healthy produce focused, plantbased
diet that will ensure you make every bite count. The simpler and more flexible a
diet is, the more likely it will be that people will stick to it over the long term,
making it Sustainable as well.
Our body is designed to experience good, or rather thriving health when we take
care of it. Even for those with genetically weak constitutions or limiting
conditions, there is still a point of balance for each person where we can feel our
best, despite the circumstances. Unfortunately, many of us wait until a crisis to
pay more attention to our health.
So what is health? I like how Alicia Silverstone sums it up in The Kind Diet. She
poses a challenge to stretch our understanding about what health is by outlining
a new definition. She asks us, “What if health means feeling strong enough to do
whatever you want to do, flexible enough to roll with life’s blows, being
peaceful inside, connected with your intuition, experiencing spontaneous bursts
of gratitude, and feeling a very real sense of connectedness with all of life:
nature, the universe, and all the living beings in it?” Well, what if?
My life seemed to present to me plenty of evidence about what was not health.
From childhood on, I was riddled with allergies, had bouts of extreme fatigue,
was diagnosed with anemia around age 8 or 9, and eventually developed
ongoing digestive issues, including constipation, bloating, abdominal pain, and
hypoglycemia. And that was just a few of the physical symptoms! I was also
very emotionally sensitive and moody having grown up amidst a lot of fighting,
and ultimately a family divorce~all prior to being a teenager.
My dad died a hundred pounds overweight with heart disease, and adult onset
diabetes, now just called Type 2 diabetes. He loved his steak, prime rib, and egg
sandwiches with Canadian bacon and gooey melted cheese. Even his vegetables
would be cooked in Campbell’s cream of condensed, high fat, high sodium
soups. He was my first model of what health was not, and what I planned to
avoid. I did not want to be dependent as he was upon Western pharmaceuticals.
He had to take drugs to counter the allergies to the original drugs!
One of my first inspirations for what health could look and taste like was found
at the Heartland Cafe which opened in our north side Chicago neighborhood in
the 1976.1 I fell in love with ‘natural foods’ as they were called. (Foods didn’t
have the long list of qualifiers yet, i.e. gluten-free, soyfree, low-fat, low-carb,
Non-GMO....you get the picture.) They served up big plates of brown rice and
veggie stir-fries with tofu, daily bean options, amazing gritty whole grain
cornbread, and peachy whole wheat pancakes with real maple syrup. Salads
were huge, and loaded with sprouts, veggies, avocado, and sunflower seeds. Best
was the tahini dressing, which was pretty exotic for me at that time. This was the
midwest during the 70‘s. Artichokes and avocados had barely crossed the
borders from that distant, ‘out there’ land known as California. And whoever
heard of tahini?
In college, I volunteered at our local natural foods coop, called The Duck Soup
Coop, which to my surprise is still open! I absolutely loved being in that
environment, surrounded by natural foods. After college, I moved out to that
distant land, California. Grass Valley was my home for one of those years. A
friend from home who had married and been living there was giving me a tour of
the area when I first showed up. She took me to the local natural foods coop in
Nevada City called Earth Song, which also happened to have a little cafe
attached. (Sadly, they are now closed.)
The ‘Macro Meal’ on their menu consisted of a big plate of whole cooked
grains, beans, greens, some fun condiments, a soup, and cornbread. I would
order that with a big cup of the roasted kukicha twig tea, which I just loved.
Those $5 macro meals were magical to me. I would leave with this otherwise
elusive feeling of pure balance and contentment within every cell of my being.
A local author named Kristina Turner wrote a book about macrobiotics that had
all of these enticing drawings of big pots of steaming hot beans, grains, or soups
cooking. It was filled with information and charts about the energetics of foods.
She spoke of the various organ systems, and the foods and seasons that
corresponded to helping harmonize and strengthen them. A passage would read,
“if you’ve been feeling ____ (fill in the blank, i.e. worried, sad, depressed; or
frustrated and angry) and you want to feel ____ (confident, calm, peaceful,
inspired, etc..) then eat more ____ (brown rice, or corn, or more of this or that
grain, bean, or vegetable.
I fell in love with the thought of various foods having different energies, and that
I could have greater control of how I felt by adjusting my dietary choices.
Ultimately it was part of what influenced my decision to study acupuncture and
Oriental medicine.
1
http://www.heartlandcafe.com
After this time period, I ended up living in Aspen, Colorado. While in Aspen, I
worked at two different health food stores. It was these environments where I
most came alive. I felt surrounded by pure potential energy––barrels of whole
grains and beans of various shapes and colors that just waited for the right
variables (a pot of water over a heat source)––with which to spring to life.
While working at one of the health food stores, my co-worker introduced me to
Gary Smith and Nancy Meze, authors of The Aspen Wellness Group 7-Day Diet
Cleansing & Renewal Plan who were teaching health and nutrition based in
macrobiotic principles. Here was that macrobiotic theme again! They sponsored
organized cleanses which entailed gathering for a meticulously prepared dinner
by Nancy, while Gary taught various diet and lifestyle strategies to enhance
health. I was able to volunteer and help with the food preparation.
Nancy’s food was beautiful. Again, I noticed this vibrance in the food, and how I
felt eating it. She had previously been a private chef, with Ringo Starr being one
of her clients. Gary also taught a few qi gong exercises, meditation techniques,
and more. By this point, the seeds to my future choices seemed to have been
planted.
Unfortunately, despite having these seemingly random experiences that really lit
me up inside, I also, like many of you, lived in many situations that were
disharmonious to who I was, and my true desires. I believe when we live
incongruently to our hearts true callings, we experience poor health. It is like a
sign on the road shouting at us that we made a wrong turn. But it is precisely
what I learned from veering off course that has given me the boundary to
understand what health is, at least to a degree, by what it is not.
understand what health is, at least to a degree, by what it is not.
There were many other inspirations that led to writing Make Every Bite Count.
You could say that in some ways, this book has been ‘stewing’ for a long time.
My earliest inspiration was my love of animals. In fifth grade, we did a lot of
creative writing. One project was to write about how we envisioned our future. I
already knew by the tender age of 10 or 11 that I planned on being surrounded
by animals rather than kids.
That younger me knew something that took a while for my adult self to fully
manifest into alignment. I never enjoyed eating beef because to me it was like
chewing on a leather belt. And, at one point, our family drove past a slaughter
house which smelled horribly. My dad simply explained that some animals are
raised for our consumption. So, with every bite, I unwittingly began to go
against my own heart––something that took many years, and many challenges to
finally rectify.
My mom was another source of inspiration for writing this book. At various
intervals of my life I lived at home with my mom. When I did, I took charge in
the kitchen. I helped her shop (she doesn’t drive), and prepared most of the
meals. She always felt better and lost weight when I lived with her. And I always
prepared lots of greens and veggies!
I can hear her voice now asking me (as she did over the years) to both write a
book (I fell in love with writing in 5th grade), and send her a simple outline of
what to eat, how to do it, and preferably with nice photos.
The macrobiotic philosophy is one of the main threads that have woven in and
out of my life, and that I seem to always return ‘home’ to. Macrobiotics offers us
a map to living in a way that is most harmonious to our true nature. Hippocrates
was the first to coin the term, ‘makrobios’ thousands of years ago which
translates to ‘big life.’2 He knew then that when we eat and live in harmony with
the natural world, we experience greater health, longevity, and inner peace.
Make Every Bite Count is a simple and flexible way of eating healthy that
anyone can employ, despite time or other constraints. I want to show people that
eating a healthy plantbased diet can be super simple, affordable, flavorful, very
satisfying, and yummy! And that it is the most sustainable approach to losing
weight and improving our health.
I also want to help others experience that elusive, deeply balanced place of inner
contentment as I have. Many people erroneously believe themselves to be
contentment as I have. Many people erroneously believe themselves to be
healthy, yet really are not. For example, we have many female clients that have
high levels of stress and anxiety. They do no associate their mental emotional
states with their diet.
This often accompanies insomnia, constipation, and possibly back pain or
migraines. Several proudly defend their ‘clean’ diet of grass-fed animal foods
and butter, high amounts of coconut oil and other plant fats. They adamantly
believe that eliminating grains greatly improved their health, despite the fact that
their higher fat, low fiber and water poor diet slows intestinal motility, causes
constipation, and can contribute to pain, stiffness, and poor moods.3 4
As I have come home to discover, yet again through the many incarnations of
writing this book, when you eat the right foods, at the right times, (and avoid all
the wrong foods) there is a sense of calm, balance, inspiration, and contentment
that spontaneously bubbles up from within. It truly feels like a home coming.
We find ourselves better able to ride the waves of life’s challenges with a much
more peaceful and calm disposition. (Hey, this is starting to sound like Alicia’s
definition of health, isn’t it?)
Everyone of us is coming from a different background, with varying energetic
needs, health goals, and constitutional strengths and weaknesses. The net effects
of what we eat is based on the context from which we come from, and the
entirety of our diet. We may believe eliminating certain foods, such as grains or
beans for example, brings us relief when in fact the real problems were the
quality and combinations of foods we were eating prior to making changes.
2
The Macrobiotic Path To Total Health, by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack
3
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/plantbased-diet-mood/
4
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/human-neurotransmitters-in-plants/
Most likely, the diet was high in refined grains, bad fats, dry foods, and too little
water, fiber, and important nutrients from fresh produce. I know from experience
that eating grains (whole or refined) and/or beans with lots of fats, including the
so called ‘healthy fats’ such as olive and coconut oil, and animal foods
simultaneously is a challenging combination to digest for most people.
It is also easy to get caught up in the tide of books and misinformation that exists
these days that can take us off our course. I fell for some of it myself throughout
my own journey. Regaining health and vitality after years of eating the wrong
foods takes a toll. The older we get, the longer the road to recovery. But I also
foods takes a toll. The older we get, the longer the road to recovery. But I also
discovered that even when we think we are eating an abundance of all the ‘right’
foods, they may be the wrong foods for our constitution and present needs. You
can read more about that in the next chapter.
Western approaches to science and health are more analytical and reductionistic
than Eastern holistic approaches. It is important to remain critical and
discerning, and cultivate a sense of awareness of the greater picture operating.
Every thing is connected. Macrobiotics teaches us that everything has more than
one side. The media thrives on publishing what is controversial, not necessarily
accurate. And studies can be set up to intentionally get certain results.
Ultimately, what matters is what the preponderance of evidence indicates––
cultures around the world eating a predominantly grain or starch-based, produce
rich diet have the best health. And, of course, what matters most for you is that
you not only get results, but that you also experience true vibrant health, and that
deeply felt sense of physical, mental, and even spiritual balance.
One goal for this book is to share what I have learned through my training, and
my direct experience. I have a Masters degree in Oriental Medicine with an
emphasis in Chinese Food Dietetics, and I have completed T. Colin Campbell’s
plantbased nutrition certification course through eCornell. I’m also a certified
clinical hypnotherapist, and holistic coach. In my earlier life, I worked in health
food stores, restaurants, catering, and prepared healthy delivered meals. Since
then, I’ve been a holistic practitioner of ‘alternative medicine.’ Essentially, my
entire life has been focused on food, nutrition and health in one capacity or
another.
But what I have to share is more than what I’ve learned from books. I lost over
20#, going from my lifetime heaviest, to nearly my lifetime lightest weight as an
adult~at the age of 50! I lost 1/5th of my body weight, a lot for my barely 5 foot
frame. I also healed several symptoms that, left unchecked, could have
developed into serious and unthinkable conditions. Beyond the health challenges
that I experienced in my younger years, I also contracted a host of sicknesses in
my late 20’s––some pretty severe––during several trips to Mexico and Central
America. Dysentery, hepatitis A, and parasites were the worst of them.
I have spent a lot of time and money over the years trying to achieve the level of
health I believed I could and even should be experiencing for how active I had
been. I also realized that some of my health issues were born from a deeply felt
unrest, or disquietude from not being aligned with my own divine sense of