Saturday, October 22, 2011

Avocado Kale Salad Recipe

Kale gets no respect. Even after reading this helpful Huffington Post article on the nutrient-rich dark leafy green (which reminds you that kale has more iron per calorie than beef), you still have reservations about it.


Well get over it. Joanna's kickass recipe will change your mind.


JOANNA's AVOCADO KALE SALAD RECIPE

ingredients
2 bunches of kale
4 avocados
2 lemons
1 package teriyaki-flavored tofu, optional
Garlic salt
Salt
(or half this recipe for a small dinner for two)

preparation

  • Wash the kale thoroughly and cut into small strips. Cut around the stem. 
  • Peel the avocados and mash them in a large mixing bowl. Add the juice from the lemons and mash the avocados with the lemon juice. Add roughly a teaspoon of garlic salt and sea salt to taste and stir. 
  • Add to the kale strips to the avocado and stir.
You can keep it fairly simple (above) or add in other ingredients as you wish: pearl tomatoes, grilled zucchini, tofu for added protein, etc.

Friday, October 21, 2011

The Lost Art of the Salad

Joanna and I have a go-to lunch salad.


It's got 2 cups of spinach, 2 pearl tomatoes, 1 yellow bell pepper, 1/2 cup of raisins, 1/4 cup of walnuts and a small block of teriyaki-flavored tofu. It's tossed with 2 tablespoons of honey mustard dressing and seasoned with salt and pepper. If we had a ripe avocado, you bet your ass I would have tossed half of one in there.

It takes 5 agonizing minutes to prepare. It serves two, and it's 660 calories. That's 330 calories per person. If you put your portion in a whole wheat wrap, it's 450 calories per person. If you take out the walnuts, you save yourself 100 calories.

Have 18 or 20 grapes on the side, and add 100 calories.

This meal cost between $5 and $6. It feeds two. That's about $2.75 per person (add $.25 for the wrap).

Now ... let's compare to a McDonald's value meal.

Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese Value Meal

The Quarter Pounder with Cheese Value Meal (medium size) comes with the burger, fries, drink. It's 1100 calories with 45 grams of fat and 1460 mg of sodium. This meal costs between $5 and $6 depending on the location. Per person. That's $11 or $12 for two people.

Yes. 330 CAL vs. 1100 CAL.

Yes. $5.50 vs. $11.50, on average.

Let's say you were feeling adventurous and decided to get the Double Quarter Pounder Value Meal -- the large one. That would be 1550 calories. 67 grams of fat. 1730 mg of sodium.

If that's not enough, consider the fact that the homemade salad doesn't require a drive-thru. The salad isn't processed or fried in beef grease. The salad doesn't make you feel like shit all day; in fact, it energizes you. It has essential nutrients.

Let's say you eat a #3 value meal every day for a year. Ignoring the fact that you'll be disturbingly unhealthy, you'll have spent just over $2,000 on lunch alone. For yourself alone.

Eat the salad every day for a year, and you'll spend just over $1,000 on lunch. You'll save $1,000. 


You can't isolate health. What you eat plays into every part of your life. It affects your cholesterol as much as it affects your pocketbook.

CHALLENGE

Don't eat fast food for one week. Don't cheat.
See how you feel after one week
Calculate how much money you saved on breakfast, lunch, dinner for one week.

If part-way into that one week, you begin to feel withdrawal, then that means you have an addiction to fast food and, more specifically, to processed foods. If you drive by a McDonald's or a Wendy's or a Taco Bell or a KFC with the windows down, and you're tempted by the smell from the drive-thru, then you have an addiction. You shouldn't be tempted by this. You should be sickened by this. This should be further incentive to keep up the fast food ban. It's expensive, processed, fatty, calorie-ridden garbage. 

Don't see that on the menu.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

I Gots Mad Calcium, Yo

Where do vegans get calcium?


 50% more what?


Ohhhh. 50% more calcium than dairy milk. Dairy-free.


BRIAN'S POST-WORKOUT 
KICK-YOU-IN-THE-ASS 
MORNING [VEGAN] SMOOTHIE

In a blender, combine 1 cup almond milk (unsweetened or, if need be, vanilla), 1 small to medium-sized banana, 3/4 cup frozen mango, 1 cup frozen mixed berries (I use raspberries, blueberries and blackberries). Blend to smoothie consistency. Add 2 tbsp of water as needed.

For protein, add one generous scoop of Life's Basics chocolate or vanilla plant protein (I prefer the chocolate), which is available at www.allstarhealth.com


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Counting on Things That Are Possible

Back in June, I attended a friend's wedding in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. On the morning-of, I was assisting the groom with his outdoor ceremony decor (pulling wooden bench after wooden bench out of storage and staging them in front of the makeshift altar), and he happened to mention that I was vegan. This caught the attention of one of his groomsmen, who immediately turned and asked, "WHO's vegan?" The groom pointed to me unabashedly, at which point the groomsmen took one good, hard look at me and said,

"You don't look vegan."

What does this mean? It means my clothes weren't homespun from hemp. It means I don't have dreadlocks or a ponytail. It means that I bathe and use deodorant, that I don't have a peace symbol etched into the underside of my arm, or a soiled bandana around my neck, or cruelty-free moccasins on my feet.

It means I don't look the part ... or whatever "the part" is supposed to look like. It means there's a serious misconception about vegans out there.

 In a completely unrelated event, a work acquaintance discovered that I was vegan over an office lunch. After cracking several jokes on the topic (some harmless, some offensive), he said,

"Look, my wife was vegetarian for a while. I converted her into a meat eater. You can't really say you're a vegan until you've had a really good steak."

 "Actually," I said, "I've only been vegan for [at the time] ten months. Before that, I ate meat all the time. So this is a conscious choice."

 "Oh."

Have most of my food-driven conversations with non-vegans been noteworthy? Not at all. For the most part, my interactions with non-vegans have been surprisingly positive. People are generally curious and compassionate. Most people who approach me on the issue are doing so because they're interested in learning more about it and hearing about the experience, the transitions, the ups and downs, and the decision I made to become vegan. The few negative responses that I've had are coming not from a place of hatred but a place of ignorance -- and discomfort as a result of that ignorance.

 All that being said, this is not a blog about veganism. There are enough of those. Rather, this is a blog about making a change. On Thanksgiving Day (yes, Thanksgiving Day, a day traditionally reserved for turkey and gravy and whole sticks of butter) of 2010, I changed the way I consume/talk about/think about food. And at the start of this year, while my wife and I drove around North Carolina after visiting our respective families for the holidays, we decided to make health our top priority this year. That doesn't mean that we promised ourselves that we would shed 15 pounds by February or work out "X number of hours per week" (because those goals are unrealistic and typically don't work). Instead, it meant that boot camp sessions would take priority over sleeping in; that a costly gym membership would take priority over other large-scale purchases; that stopping to get fast food rather than taking the time to cook a proper meal, even when we're completely wiped, would not be an option. And, close to 300 days in, I can tell you that it's been one hell of a year.

It's so easy to say that a change isn't possible for you, that your life and all of its demands and hardships and hurdles won't allow you to cook/exercise/live a healthy lifestyle. I get it. But change comes from commitment, not excuses. Take it from a married guy who works four jobs consecutively, is currently working on two books, and always cooks for two. We all have our baggage, and we can all find an excuse. The people who achieve and change are the ones who say, "I'm going to make that happen regardless. It's possible."

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