By Rhonda Jones
January is here, you are overweight, sluggish and tired from all the overeating and party time in December. What should you do?
Why go plant-based, of course. Now is the best time to set a goal to get slim and healthy in 2025. I am going to give you some tips to make a plant-based diet quick, easy and enjoyable and you will wonder why you did not do it sooner. By the way, slip a thirty minute walk in each day to help get your body moving while you are eating your plants. You can take an apple with you. Here are some easy ways to get started. Stick with it for thirty days and see how good you feel and how much weight you have lost. And, let me know. I would love to hear from you.
1. Try Mary’s Mini for ten days. It is easy and you should lose a pound a day. All three meals should include the same food; a starch and non-starchy vegetables. Pick your starch, white or sweet potatoes, brown rice, millet, quinoa, farro, any starch. I prefer potatoes as they are filling and nutritious. Add non starchy vegetables especially greens but tomatoes, celery, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, etc. are also great non-starchy veggies. Garnish with spices, nutritional yeast, plant-based “cheese” sauce or non-fat dressings and you have a meal. If you want to go the full thirty days, just add a cup of beans a day and two pieces of fruit. Hold off on avocado and nuts until you reach your weight loss goal.
2. Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s eat to live eating plan. He has many great books but, “Eat to Live” and “Eat for Life” are my favorites. His eating plan is also simple. He advises eating GBOMBS every day. GBOMBS is short for greens, beans, onions, mushrooms (always cooked), berries and seeds. Breakfast is usually fruit and oatmeal with a small handful of nuts or seeds. Lunch would be a large green salad with lots of different greens, sliced cooked potato, beans, carrots, celery, tomato, onion, cooked mushrooms, whatever you like as long as it is whole plant food. Make a fat free dressing such as balsamic and Dijon mustard dressing and add a bowl of vegetable bean soup. Dinner usually consists of steamed veggies and vegetable bean soup. This is his basic plan but pick up one of his books to learn more and get more recipes.
3. Now, let’s get really simple with Jeff Novick’s five ingredient dish that is cheap, easy to make and satisfying. I made this for a year when I first went plant-based as it was so easy to throw together and would make four meals for me. I would eat some and freeze some and would always have food. Here is the main recipe and it can be made in hundreds of ways: 1 28 ounce can of tomatoes, 1 14 ounce can of no salt beans, 2 cups of starch (cooked pasta, potatoes, rice, etc.), 1 pound frozen vegetables, 1 pound frozen leafy greens, lots of your favorite spices. Simply dump it all in a pot and let it cook. Add spices at the end. You can make Indian dishes, Mexican or Italian by changing the spices and ingredients. Make this your main meal of the day and have salad and fruit for lunch and grain and fruit for breakfast.
Eating plant-based meals can be easy and inexpensive. Next week, I will have recipes to add flavor to your meals and more tips from the experts.
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