Whole30 Diet

While hiking three miles Saturday morning at Island Ford on the Chattahoochee River, I was contemplating what I was going to eat for the next thirty days, or rather what foods I would be giving up. I seriously wondered if I could do without donuts, cookies, pies, ice cream, cheese, milk, pasta, brown rice, wine of all flavors and Grey Goose Vodka. This sounded more and more like a horrible idea, but if I could reset my metabolism and have a healthier body, then I was willing to try this crazy diet one day at a time.

I had read every word of the Whole30 website and Amazon was delivering the book to me today. However, I had already committed to trying the diet even though I did not have all of the details in hand. OK, so I finish with the hike, drive home, take a shower and I'm ready for breakfast, not. Well, let's see, no oatmeal, no granola, no cheese toast. What am I going to eat?

The reason I include this Whole30 journey in my Tony's Return to his Vegetarian Roots Blog is for two reasons. One - vegetables are the star of this show and Two - I am really getting in touch with food, cooking and tasting each ingredient while coming off of my sugar, grain and dairy addiction.

Whole30 - No Grains, No Dairy, No Legumes, No Alcohol for 30 Days

Day 1 - Saturday

Breakfast
I scrambled 2 free-range eggs in olive oil, baked a sweet potato and peeled a mango. I also brewed a cup of Rooiboos that I brought back from South Africa. I even drank a glass of spring water.

So far so good! I was in full compliance with Whole30! Kind of...
I kept kidding my wife that I probably would not make it 10 minutes on the diet without messing up. Be careful what you say, because it can come to fruition. I worked so hard to get started on the right foot. I woke up at 5:45 that morning, came down stairs to take my vitamins, popped a chewable vitamin B, crunched it and swallowed. I went, that tasted way too good, and sure enough, it had sugar in it. So Whole30 says when you mess up, you start over. Luckily I was starting over at the same time I started so no foul no harm, right?

I had late morning nap after waking up so early. When I woke up, my Whole30 bible was in the mailbox. I quickly searched through it to try and come up with a grocery list so I could have lunch which at that point was quickly turning into dinner. Before I set out for a trip to a new Sprouts, I ate a couple of spoonfuls of cashew butter since peanuts are not allowed. You can eat cashews or a few almonds which are not rated quite as high as cashews. Seeds and other nuts are lower on the totem pole but ok to eat. I think walnuts, hazelnuts and macadamias are pretty healthy for you and authorized on the diet.

As I shopped the produce department at sprouts, I picked out carrots, cauliflower, vidalias, spring onions, red leaf kale, mushrooms, butternut squash, parsley, coconut milk, coconut water, celery, cucumbers, zucchini, lemongrass, avocados, grapes, apples and an assortment of dried herbs and spices. I also bought some coconut oil, chicken stock and ghee. These are all of the foods I ate for the next six days. I also added some chicken, salmon and a few other delicious foods during the week.

I had a grilled chicken breast for dinner along with a handful of grapes and called it a night. I was full and thought, wow, this diet is going to be a breeze.

Day 2 - Sunday - Loving life!

Breakfast
I made kitchen sink scrambled eggs - red kale sautéed with vidalia onion, mushrooms, avocado and a little sea salt with pepper. It was delicious.
Lunch
Even better, I made no-fuss salmon cakes with salmon of course, sweet potatoes, an egg, almond flour, parsley, dill, paprika, black pepper and paprika sautéed in coconut oil.
Dinner
I ate leftover salmon patties and some cashew butter.

So far, so good, easy enough.

Day 3 - Monday - A bit of a hangover feeling! 

I woke up with what felt like a little hangover. This was the beginning of sugar withdrawal probably.

Breakfast - Thai coconut soup, chicken broth, lemongrass, ginger, shallot, jalapeños, limes, chicken breast, mushrooms, red bell pepper, carrot and coconut milk. After cutting up the fresh ginger and putting it in the chicken broth with the limes, lemongrass and jalapeños, the infusions of the exotic scents were intoxicating.
I stood over the pot and had an aromatherapy experience that took me back to the aromas of Bangkok. When I poured the coconut milk in, it was like this creation that materialized in this majestical way.  Needless to say, I am totally getting off on the new food experience.


Lunch -Chicken breast
Dinner - More thai coconut soup.


Day 4 - Tuesday - Slight headache, a little cloudy!

Breakfast - I made another egg scramble with red peppers, vidalia, mushrooms. dee-lish.

Lunch/Dinner - Butternut squash with red kale cooked in coconut butter.

Day 5 - Wednesday - Horrible headache!

Breakfast - Butternut squash soup. Onion and squash cooked in coconut oil, with garlic and ginger, chicken broth, salt, pepper whizzed up in a food processor. This was absolutely amazing and was sweet enough for breakfast.

Lunch - Sockeye salmon caught in the wild baked with dill and lemon along with a sweet potato with nothing on it. I am actually starting to enjoy these without the butter that I have put on them my entire life. After a few days your taste buds begin to appreciate the little subtle tastes of each bite of food you eat.
Dinner - I finished the butternut soup, had about 6 red grapes and a spoonful of cashew butter.






Day 6 - Thursday - Feeling rough, have had this headache for over two days now.



Breakfast /Lunch- I made this incredible chicken curry with chicken stock, curry, cumin, onions, ginger and coconut milk that I poured over spaghetti squash. The spaghetti squash was fun to cook and hard to cut in half. You score it with a paring knife and then use a sharp larger knife to cut it lengthwise, remove the seeds and drizzle with olive oil, place it flesh-side down on a cookie sheet that has been coated with coconut oil and cook for an hour. I ate half of the squash with chicken curry on it for breakfast and the other half for dinner.



They say that on Day 6 that you begin to want to eat everything in sight. I did have hearty meals on this day.

Dinner - Cauliflower rice with a grilled chicken breast that had an apple cider, ginger, orange reduction sauce on top. Cauliflower with carrot, garlic, parsley, chicken broth. This is the first time I riced cauliflower in a cuisinart and it was so cool watching the florets turn into rice. I also had the pleasure of using ghee for the first time. Ghee is used in Indian cooking and is a clarified butter that is heavenly. This was also the first butter I had tasted in almost a week. Butter is not allowed on Whole30 but ghee or clarified butter is because the milk solids have been removed and then you have pure butter that is smooth and looks a bit like yellow vaseline but much nicer.

Day 7 - Friday - Feeling better, a little more energy, a little less hung over.
















Breakfast - Free range scrambled eggs with green onion, parsley and avocado with a glass of spring water.

















Lunch - Wild caught sockeye salmon and cauliflower rice

So I have broken one of the cardinal Whole30 rules, but hey I am not always a rule follower for those who know me. They ask you not to weigh or measure yourself during the program. To this day I have not eaten cheese, yogurt, milk, butter, peanut butter, pancakes, waffles, bread, rolls, pasta of any type, pizza, cookies, pastries, croissants, jelly, cinnamon rolls, brownies or ice cream and I have not consumed a sip of Coca-cola, Grey Goose, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Cabernet. But I have stepped on the scales and feel that I am aware enough to not allow that to rule whether I continue on the diet or not. I am very happy to announce that I have lost six and a half pounds during my first six days of eating Whole30 Food Freedom, as they call it. It is not a diet, it is the 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom.

A New Healthy Lunch Option?

Solving the “What’s for Dinner” questions, or better, Solving the “What’s for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Snack” crisis?

Isn’t this the most stressful part of the day, trying to figure out what to eat?  There are so many factors and people involved that it can get rather complicated if you have not planned it out.  When mom comes home after a busy day at work, this is probably the last thing she wants to deal with.  Trying to please everyone’s taste and diet can be challenging.  

Our family eats out a lot.  This summer, we rarely ate at home.  You would think that makes meal time less stressful, but we have a difficult time agreeing on the same food cravings or on the same restaurant.  Sometimes, half of the family wants hamburgers, others want pizza or burritos.  I usually want vegetables or Southern food like fried chicken and mashed potatoes.  Many nights we will go to two or three different places to pick up food.

Typically, it is me who wants to eat healthy and also watch my fat and caloric intake. If we eat at home, I stay away from butter and eat my yogurt butter.  You can also watch your sodium intake if cooking your own meals.  I prefer not to eat meals from a box or from a freezer.  Fresh ingredients taste better and are a much healthier choice.

From growing up in the seventies, and becoming a vegetarian for eighteen years at the young age of fifteen, I have a sense of what eating healthy means.  I spent years reading books on healthy foods and I spent most of my time shopping in health food stores and having meals in juice bars and vegetarian restaurants.

Last year, I tried my hand in packaging raw nuts and making fruit and nut bars to snack on.  I called the line, Love Organic Foods.  If I had it to do over again, I would have started with my original plan to produce my line of dry veggie burgers called, Love Burgers.  All you do is add water, form patties and bake and you have a healthy meal choice.

I have several ideas for making portable, healthy foods to eat when you need something right away.  Besides putting Love Burgers in a pita pocket and adding sprouts or lettuce, I have ten other burgers to eat the same way.  Love Burgers can be prepared with your choice of rice cheese, havarti, cheddar, swiss, monterey jack or parmesan.  

Love BurgersMillet & Mushroom PattiesMillet, Cauliflower, Sesame PattiesLentil & Carrot PattiesLentil, Almond PattiesBrown Rice, Mushroom, Carrot PattiesQuinoa, Mushroom, Carrot PattiesQuinoa, Spinach, Arugula, Chickpea, Tahini, Brown Rice PattiesThai Oatmeal, Chickpea, Peanut Butter Patties Black bean, Sweet Potato, Ginger Patties

Patties seem to be more friendly than burgers and they have an island feel to the name.

Portable foods is what I have spent many hours thinking about.  I want to create a line of foods we can eat anytime we are hungry and need an energy boost.  When you get hungry, you usually grab whatever you can that is fast and close by.  Many times, that means fast food that is full of fat, calories, sugar, salt and chemicals.  What if we could reach for one of Tony’s Healthy Patties or a Love Burger or a Flower Power Bar made with ten different organic nuts, fruits, seeds, honey and bee pollen?  Or what if we could just have a bee pollen snack in place of a candy bar?  

I am thinking about launching a Healthy Food Delivery business and am exploring the possibilities to find out if there is enough interest.  This is what I am considering.  I am in the Marietta area but will consider delivering to Atlanta, Buckhead, Sandy Springs, East Cobb.

Every day that I could get fifty orders for healthy patties, I would make them available.  

These are the questions I have for you.

How many of you are interested in trying some healthy food options?

How many of your coworkers would be interested?

Where are you located?

What time do you want this delivered?

How many days a week would you consider eating healthy?

How much do you typically spend on lunch?

Would you pay a couple of dollars more to have it delivered to you?

Do you ever buy lunch from food truck?

Do you have any food allergies?

Are you on a special diet?

Are you a vegetarian?

Is organic food important to you?

Organic food costs more, is it worth it or would you prefer something healthy that may be less expensive?

Have you ever tasted lentils?   mung beans?   quinoa?   millet?

brown rice?   tamari?    chick peas?    

Do you want to eat healthy foods and be a healthier person?

If so, this new delivery service could be great for you and your friends.

Sunday Morning Breakfast

I have tried to eliminate eggs from my diet since my conversation with Griffin, my wise 17 year old son. He suggested that not eating eggs would be an obvious choice for a vegetarian. I explained that I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian or thought I was until I digested his advice. Yes, if I don't eat chicken, why would I continue to consume eggs. So after becoming totally grossed out by the thought of what eggs are, I decided to avoid cooking omelettes and egg dishes. I also stopped using eggs in pancake and waffle recipes and have made cookies without them. This does not mean I will stop eating all products with eggs in them but that I will become more conscious when making the choice.

Becoming a vegetarian again was a choice I made when I decided to eat healthier and try and lose some weight. I do feel more energetic, more focused and I have lost weight. As long as this trend continues, it inspires me to learn more about nutrition and healthy living.

This morning I ate soy sage patties and whole wheat pancakes with my yogurt butter and honey. My favorite morning beverage is Vanilla Almond Milk. Eating whole grains keep you satisfied for a longer period than white flour. Soysage tastes great and has no cholesterol or bad fats. I used Wild flower honey because I ran out of Agave Maple Syrup.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. I better get my homemade vegetarian chili out of the freezer so I can have some while not watching the game. Just kidding, I will probably have left over Thai from last night's meal.

What can I have for dinner, that is the question for the day?

Living the Good Life...

I have loved every day and I have enjoyed eating and cooking so much more now that I am living the vegetarian dream. Everyday i eat exactly what I want to eat, which is Healthy, Tasty, Creative Food and flavors so absolutely enticing that it just makes me enjoy living that much more.

Many of you know my passion for Indian Vegetarian Food. Well do I have a special treat to share with each of you. Let me begin by saying that my favorite Indian vegetarian chef is on hiatis for the moment. His name is Ram and he owned my favorite Indian Restaurant called Madras Sri Ganesh Ram Palace in Stone Mountain. MGR Palace closed recently and Ram was cooking at another restaurant but he is on vacation till he opens a new palace. Ram was the dosai chef at Madras Saravana.

Anyway, the new news is that Udipi Cafe from Emory has opened two new locations by Cumberland and on Peachtree Industrial. I have been to the Cumberland cafe twice over the last week and they are cooking absolutely incredible vegetarian dishes and they offer them in a lunch buffet that is very affordable. The food is consistently delicious and exotic. I highly recommend the Palak Paneer and the Masala Dosai. Don't forget to try dipping the pakora into either the mint sauce, tamarind sauce or the coconut sauce.

Day 36 As A Vegetarian

Heres to a HUGE SHOUT OUT to Scott Carter for his Asian Inspiration and recipe. Scott, I will be eating variations of this for the rest of my life, thanks!

As Scott suggested, I heated olive oil and added sweet onion to a hot wok, and pressed garlic, then stirred in Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste, ( totally vegetarian ). Then I threw in some cauliflower, broccoli, bamboo shoots, carrots, bell pepper and firm tofu to roll around in the paste. I then added more curry paste and a little sesame oil. After adding crushed red pepper flakes, I did a variation Scott. I added Trader Joe's Thai Red Curry Sauce that has coconut milk, ginger and more red chili & onion. After cooking, I spooned this on top of my short grain brown rice. With a tiny bit of tamari and a class of Pinot, dinner was served.

Next time I will add fresh ginger, mushrooms and coconut milk as Scott suggested. Cheers everyone!

I have pretty much tried to eliminate white flour, processed foods, and as many preservatives as possible. I will add whole grains and as many fresh vegetables and fresh fruits as possible. I stopped drinking sodas and I will drink as much spring water as I can. I will also drink green teas, white teas and herbal teas. Celestial Seasoning Red Zinger is my favorite tea that I will make and always keep on hand. I stopped eating beef which means McDonalds hamburgers, Longhorn burgers, Five Guy's burgers and homemade hamburgers. I stopped eating steaks, beef tenderloin, pork tenderloin and all pork including bacon. The hard part will be giving up barbecue pork, barbecue turkey and barbecue chicken. Giving up all chicken whether it is fried, grilled or any other type, may be difficult, since that has been a huge part of my diet for the last twenty years. I have also been a huge sushi lover and seafood lover. I do love crab, lobster, fish, mussels, oysters and I may eat them all in the future. I do not know how long I will be a vegetarian, but I will try and eat this way as long as possible. I have prepared all meals that I have eaten at home, and it has been time consuming, but rewarding, at the same time. I have eaten out twice in the last 15 days. I had vegetarian Indian once and falafels the other night, at a Mediterranean restaurant up the street.

Day Two Vegetarian Diet - Made Vegan Chili for Tomorrow.. You start with sauteing onions, bell pepper, red pepper, carrots, mushrooms, celery, garlic and add tomato puree, spices and black beans, garbanzo beans and pinto beans then finish off with cooked crumbed TVP to add some great tasting protein. I put this on top off brown rice a few meals and then I mixed it up and put it on whole wheat noodles a couple of times.

By making big batches of soup or chili or pasta, you can eat several meals or freeze for another time in the near future. I learned to make a different grain and legume every few days to have as your base that you can add vegetables to. Tempeh or tofu is a great addition.

Day 5 - Veggie Burgers - carrots, zucchini, celery, bell pepper, onion, parsley, potato flakes, wheat germ, nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds. Eat in whole wheat pita with rice cheese or havarti with a little tamari sprinkled on top. Adds alfalfa sprouts if you have some fresh ones or you can use mung bean sprouts.

Day 8 - Quinoa with mushrooms, broccoli, tempeh & a little tamari. Quinoh, pronounced keenwah, a high protein food is kind of like a round rice or tabouli. It is actually a seed that is related to beets, spinach & tumbleweeds. It is cooked like a grain but is packed with nutrition.Tempeh is made from soybeans and brown rice. Cut it in slices and sautee in olive oil with a little tamari sauce and eat on the side or on top of rice or quinoa. You could eat is for breakfast in place of bacon.

Day 9 - Lasagna with Spinach and Peppers | WholeFoodsMarket.com
www.wholefoodsmarket.com Vegetarian lasagne with eggplant, onions, mushrooms, peppers and great cheeses, whole wheat pasta a must. I am adding mushrooms, eggplant and vidalia. I roasted the eggplant at 350 degrees until tender with a little olive oil brushed on, then layer with other ingredients. I will also add some tofu to the batch somehow.

Day 12 - I sauteed the staples of garlic, vidalia, carrots, button mushrooms, acorn squash ( peeled with a potato peeler ) celery, zucchini squash, parsley in some olive oil. I sprinkled gomazio and some Jamaican spices and tamari on top. eat with brown rice.

Day 14 - I discovered Morningstar Farms frozen vegetarian foods and tried the veggie chicken enchilada with rice. It was fine.

Day 15 - I fixed Morningstar maple soysage with scrambled parsley eggs and whole wheat toast. I use Brummel & Brown Yogurt Spread in place of butter to get some good omega 3s.

OK, Here is the deal, You want to mix whole grains like brown rice, buckwheat, barley, bulgur, cornmeal, hominy, quinoa, cracked wheat, quinoa, wheat germ, wild rice, bran with other legumes such as lentils of all colors, chickpeas, all beans including black, kidney, pinto, mung, soy, black-eyed peas, lima, adzuki for complete proteins. Add fruits, veggies and spring water and fresh air to live a long healthy life.

A New Beginning - Return to Vegetarian Diet.

On January 1, 2011, I became a vegetarian again like I was twenty one years ago. When I was 15 years old, my life took a new direction, I returned home from a trip to Europe, and I became a vegetarian. I also opened my first company that same year, a little plant shop on Pharr Rd called Nature's Way. I remember spending some time with this guy who was a Meher Baba follower who was a macrobiotic. He ate this strange brown rice that was very different from the Uncle Ben's white rice I was raised on. I started eating the rice and then I remember only ordering vegetable plates at the local diner. This was back in the 70s when the first juice bars and vegetarian restaurants started sprouting up. I ate at the Energy Source or the Egg and Lotus everyday where I ordered cashew, cheese & alfalfa sprout sandwiches or humus & sprout sandwiches. They had great lentil or split pea soups. We traded plants with the Egg & Lotus and I would go there and order the special vegetarian delight of the day. Soon the Kundalini's bought the Egg & Lotus and the name changed to the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple served Bajan Specials which was cooked mung beans with lots of spices and they would melt white cheddar on top and cover with a huge mound of sprouts. The local chines restaurant would make vegetarian egg rolls for me and vegetarian rice specials and they called them Tony Specials. Pretty soon both juice bars and Andy's Chinese had Tony's Specials that other people ordered who also wanted vegetarian dishes. I visited every vegetarian restaurant from Atlanta to Miami, from Atlanta to California and anywhere I travel to. I loved the Golden Temple in Georgetown outside of Washington DC. I also went to the Spiral Restaurant in Miami on a monthly basis and ordered huge quantities of food to take with me after dinner for the next day.

Okay, so you get it, I was a devout vegetarian for 18 years. Actually, let me clarify, I ate only vegetables for 3 years only. After that I added seafood back to the diet because I I thought this was such a divine food. I mean how bad could fish, crab, lobster and shrimp be, right?

Well, I am starting this year out on a fairly strict lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. I have never cut ice cream out of my diet so why not eat eggs and drink milk. I like to make waffles also and they typically require eggs and milk. I have only cooked eggs twice in the last 15 days. I do love soy milk but I have been drinking vanilla almond milk lately because it tastes like a milkshake.