I've Figured Out How We Can All Be Skinny/Healthy

Awhile ago, I asked Kill "how come no one ever asks for our advice when they want to lose weight?" His reply was that no one wants to lose weight the stringent way that we did it and he might be right. His theory is that people want to be their most attractive but, they also want to keep doing what they're doing. Cynical but also true. I do know people who have made eating changes because of illness and they're usually pretty successful but weight loss is a tricky business and people think that they can't lose weight. I personally always thought that I was "big boned".

I'm also pretty sure that we get told things that are "good" for us because certain groups for profit lobby the people that make our food guides. Why else would brands be allowed to change the food serving to be the smallest serving possible so that it seems healthier? I once read an ice cream label that had a tablespoon as a serving size....seriously?

The way that we lost weight is as follows:

Great considering I shrunk by 2.5 inches April '12

• Cut out sugar - on your porridge, in your tea (that was hard) and in your dried fruit. I still occasionally eat a small bowl of something with sugar or honey but I don't really need it so I always ask myself "what's going to be better for Cailey?" When you have cancer it's obvious that you need to be help your body but your health is just as valuable as mine.
• Don't eat foods that are made in a processing plant. I like deli food from Community or Planet Organic but if the whole product came preassembled (like an Oreo) then don't eat it except at Christmas or when you have PMS :).
• Eat fruit and vegetables from scratch. Ideally, just in plain form like an apple instead of apple chips. Pretty obvious but you could eat all the veggies and fruits you want, every day, and be skinny.
• Don't keep your favourite junk food in your house or desk. Every time that I get groceries, I gaze a little too long at the chips because I crave chips and if they were in my house then I'd eat them all. So I don't buy them but I want to Every. Single. Time. You've got to ask "what's good for me long term" and "who's the boss?" Also, you don't love chips, they just send you an addictive message. It may seem more obvious that you don't actually love liquor or more dramatically, methamphetamines.

The Hardest Ones

Circa 2010

• Cut out alcohol. I drink a few sips of beer if we're at the pub but I never order my own. I order tea when I'm out and yes, I feel like like weirdo sometimes however, I feel great in the morning and I'm protecting myself from toxic belly fat and my hard working, micro-tumored liver.
• Stop eating dairy. I saved this one for last because you're going to hate it the most. Dairy is delicious and habit forming so cutting it out is going to be rough. I used to eat cheese every day and drink milk like I owned stock in dairy farms. I also had a cheese freak out one day because I craved it so badly when I quit. I yelled at Kill and then I realized, cheese is addictive, but I'm smarter than cheese. Lastly, dairy is just fat and sugar (lactose) so except for the nutrients it provides like calcium (ever heard of spinach or kale) it doesn't have that much to offer.

Circa 2009

Circa 2013

Doing this Kill lost 40 pounds and I've lost 45 pounds (which I don't think is from cancer or my cancer drugs.) Typically, people now gain weight on chemotherapy because of the creation of anti-nauseant pills and steroids (which are anti-rejection drugs). About 20 pounds of weight gain is average but I didn't gain it. While on intravenous chemo, I maintained my weight because I changed my lifestyle through diet. I work out 2 or 3 times a week but I can't do all that much because I broke my back and I sleep like a cat (which means, all of the time.) A disclaimer, Kill and I also don't eat meat although I'll eat seafood so that had a small effect too. I'll include some delightful before and after pictures for your amusement :). Good luck if you've ever try this plan because once you conquer the cheese you'll never go back to your old size again. I bet you end up looking like Gwyneth Paltrow but even cuter.

Recipe Thursday - Garlic and Ginger Broccoli

We are in Hills B.C.  right now but I'd like to post Kill's favorite broccoli recipe.  He loves it and it's so simple - that's the dream isn't it? I read this recipe about 5 years ago but I can't remember where; still, I'll try to remember so as not to be a plagiarizer.

Garlic and Ginger Broccoli

• 1 head broccoli (cut into florets and 1 inch stem chunks)
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 inch chopped, fresh ginger (leave the skin on, it's fine)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds (white is prettier than black for this)

Heat the oil in a frying pan for 30 seconds on high then put in ginger and garlic. Turn down to medium and fry lightly for 1 minute then add in your broccoli. Pour in the water and cover the broccoli for 3 minutes, stirring once. When the broccoli is bright green, add the soy sauce to the pan, put it all on a plate and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Super easy right? 

My mom served broccoli so often when we were growing up that I had to take a few years break when I left the house. Now I'm back to liking it and really, she was right because it's so good for human beings. Good job mom :).

Recipe Tuesday - vegan cornbread

My lovelies,

I've been reveling in my latest recipe coup - Vegan Cornbread! It is from This Crazy Vegan Life by Christina Pirello and it is a fantastic recipe (Pirello, pp. 167, 2008). Instead of chili powder, I crushed one ripe apricot in my hand and stirred it into the batter for a sweeter flavor.

Vegan Cornbread Muffins with Apricot (makes 8)

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup wholewheat flour (I used brown rice flour)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp brown rice syrup (or honey, maple syrup, etc..)
• 1 tsp brown rice vinegar (I bet apple cider would work too)
• 1 cup unsweetened almond or soy milk
• 1 crushed, ripe apricot or 1 tbsp apricot jam

Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly oil a muffin tray or use silicone/paper inserts. Mix cornmeal, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the wet ingredients: rice syrup, vinegar, almond milk and apricot to your dry ingredients until it's smooth. Fill the muffin inserts or tray holes until 3/4 full and then bake for 17-20 minutes. Cool and eat or just eat them warm like Kill and I. We also thought that they were good with coconut oil or margarine. These are dense and they travel well, even in my pocket!

Happy snacking and if you make them then upload me a picture. I love photographing my food, my friend Naka sensei would be proud!

Recipe Friday - Vegan Italian Wedding Soup

Finally, I feel well enough to cook again! What a pleasure.

The first thing that I made was Italian Wedding Soup because I love it and I haven't had it since Kill and I became vegans. This soup has a veggie broth, barley, white beans and chopped Kale put in at the last minute and it is scrumptious. The non-vegan versions also contain sausage.

Italian Wedding Soup (serves 8)

• 10 cups vegetable stock (homemade or store bought)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp each dried basil and dried oregano
• 1 cup uncooked/unsoaked white beans (cannellini or black eyes peas)
• 1 finely chopped leek
• 1 chopped white or red onion
• 4 cloves diced garlic
• 4 finely chopped carrots (unpeeled)
• 1 diced yellow pepper
• 1 cup uncooked barley (pearled or partially hulled)

In each bowl at serving time:  

• 2 kale leaves (centres cut away and leaves chopped)

• 2 ripped basil leaves and a shimmer of olive oil on top

This is one of those, leave-it-on-the-stove-all-day soups... (or crock pot). Heat the stock in a big pot, throw in bay leaves and dried herbs, then put in uncooked beans and bring to a boil. Turn it down to a low simmer for about an 1 hour when the beans should begin to soften. Add the uncooked barley and bring to a boil again then simmer for 30 minutes. Add the leeks, garlic and onion and simmer for 20 minutes or longer then throw in those carrots and peppers. Simmer for a minute or two and taste the soup. More salt? Are the beans and barley soft?

Serve with chopped kale and basil in a bowl with soup ladled over top and drizzle olive oil on top. Life is good :). Keeps for 5 or 6 days in the fridge.

We ate it with tomato, cucumber and pepper salad.

Recipe Thursday - Cauliflower Mash

I'm reading Anti Cancer by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber and it is about how he, as a student, discovered that he had inoperable brain cancer while using an MRI during his PhD. It's excellent and was recommended by my dentist, Dr. Lucy Urban, here in Calgary (she is wonderful and accepts new patients, I think).

He's still thriving and he's asked his colleagues to do studies on which foods do not promote cancer growth but, do the opposite. I think of eating as an opportunity to heal. For breast cancer: garlic, leek, scallion, cauliflower, kale and cabbage all inhibit cancer cell growth up to the highest measured -100 capacity. Garlic, leeks and cabbage are all in the top 10 foods that inhibit breast, prostate, lung and brain cancers. Good news!

Today's recipe is a great way to eat cauliflower and was recommended by another wrestling coach :).

Cauliflower Mash (serves 4)

• 1 head cauliflower (cut into quarters and leaves removed)
  
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp dried dill
• or 1 tbsp curry powder 
• 1-2 tbsp sesame, olive or avocado oil

Take a medium pot and half fill with water. After placing a metal or bamboo steamer on top of your pot, bring water to a boil and then plunk in your cauliflower bits. Steam it for 30 minutes with a lid on top to hold the steam. You're close now, turn off water, remove cauliflower and place in a bowl. Mix in salt, dill or curry and oil then puree with a hand blender or use a food processor.

I like to serve it with a lentil patty or something crunchy. Theses have the texture or whipped, mashed potato with a lower glycemic index and cancer fighting properties! Hooray!

Have a good weekend my sweeties.

Recipe Thursdays

Today's recipe is for Miso Soup... you may have realized, how much I love soup. I could eat, only soup, forever!

I eat miso, most days, for breakfast but regular humans usually eat it at lunch or dinner. My friend Clayton said that the idea of vegetables and savory soup at breakfast is not tantalizing to him, at all. To each person, their own taste I say. I also switch the vegetables/grains often to include: peas, onion, scallion, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, radish, spinach, brown rice, barley, quinoa and so many more!

Miso Soup with Vegetables

• 2 cups water
• 1 clove garlic - diced
• 1 chopped mushroom
• 1 chopped carrot
• 1 chopped leaf of kale/chard/bok choy
• 1 inch of cubed tofu  (optional)
• pinch wakame seaweed (I grind it between my fingers)
• 1 Tbsp miso paste (I like mugi and genmai which are barley or brown rice)
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce (optional)

Place water in a pot and boil. While building up to a boil, place garlic, mushroom, carrot, tofu and seaweed in pot.
Once boiled, turn down to medium-low and add green leafy vegetables. When the water is simmering, put the miso into your soup bowl and then ladle in enough "soup" from the pot to cover. I use a tiny whisk to whisk the water and miso together until smooth then I mix it back in the pot. You can add 1/q2 tsp of soy sauce now if you like a deeper flavour. Simmer gently for 2 minutes but don't allow it to boil or you'll kill the enzymes in the miso.
Do you take probiotic pills or yogurt? Miso, like sauerkraut and pickles is another food item that strengthens your gut by giving it digestive enzymes. Great for anyone whose been recently ill or has eaten something that didn't agree with them.
Ladle into a bowl and eat!

Recipe Thursday

This Thursday I was lucky enough to have Kill home for lunch because his students were graduating near to our house, yay!

Now, I couldn't eat all this so Kill gallantly volunteered to eat my extra bread and corn but it was delicious.

We ate:

• steamed corn on the cob
• 1 dolma (rice stuffed grape leaves)
• steamed chard with sesame oil, lemon juice and sea salt
• sourdough with sliced avocado
• lentil soup with peas, tarragon and thyme
• fresh peas in the pod

Since, I bought the dolmades (plural of dolma) at Community Naturals, why don't I share the recipe for the lentil soup? This is from "This Crazy Vegan Life" (Pg 145, Pirello, 2008) but I left out the canned tomatoes and added more herbs. I'm phasing out industrial canned things because of BPA exposure and because it's summer, so I can!

Lentil and Vegetable Soup (serves 4)

1 tsp oil (I used sesame)
4 cloves garlic
1 red onion - but any type would do
sea salt (I grind it in my mortar and pestle with some wakame seaweed*)
2 stalks celery
1 carrot
1 cup rinsed lentils (brown ones are best here)
5 cups water
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup rinsed, uncooked barley

Optional: 2 leaves ripped up fresh tarragon, 3 sprigs fresh thyme, fresh or frozen peas (about 2 tbsp)

1. heat oil in large pot
2. put in diced onion, followed by garlic, season with pinch a salt
3. after 3 minutes, put in chopped celery with another pinch of salt
4. one more minute later, put in chopped carrot with a pinch salt
5. letting it cook for one last minute, put in water, lentils, barley and bay leaves and bring it to a boil
6. cover the soup once it's boiled and simmer it for 45 minutes (I set a timer and watched Say Yes to the Dress)
7. discard bay leaves, spoon into bowls and add peas, tarragon or thyme (or all three!)

Happy eating my sweeties :)

Love,
 Cail

*seaweeds or sea vegetables are very good for cleansing the body of radiation according to Japanese traditional cooking. Super useful for areas with nuclear reactor melt down or when you've had a scan!

Healthy recipe Thursday

My friend Posie asked me for a recipe after I wrote about my lunch a few days ago. The recipes I use now are a bit more basic because, in the last year, my diet has changed quite a bit.

April of last year: diagnosed with cancer
June: cut out dairy and meat (except I ate fish once a week)
July: Started cutting out liquor
September: Liquor/fish were gone
January: cut out flour products (I'll eat them once a week) and eat brown rice, barley, millet, oats, etc..
January: cut out white/brown sugars...started looking up what was in my beloved Starbucks drinks
March: limited fruits to rarely because a banana can have 30g of fructose in it! Began actively eating more broccoli/cauliflower/kale/bok choy.
April: limited caffeine and soy milk (soy in it's purest forms: miso and tofu are still great according to recent medical journals.)

Even though, I have been much less active because I hurt my back, my weight is still as low as ever. Eating like a well-rounded farm animal is totally my secret to weight loss (and Kill looks even better than me)!

Back to the task of recipes, this is a super basic recipe that you can mix with anything.

Brown rice and red lentils

Ingredients: 

1 cup brown rice (sifted, soaked and drained)

1 cup lentils (any colour will do, sifted, rinsed)

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

Water

• Take 1 cup brown rice (I prefer short grain) and put it in a colander or strainer. Rinse it and then pick out any shrivelled or funny coloured grains (I bet you'll find 5 or 6). Soak lentils in 2 cups water for an hour or more. 

• Take 1 cup lentils and do the same as the rice, except that you don't need to soak them. Christina Pirello says that they don't take longer to cook if you don't soak beans and that soaking actually contributes to farting (Cooking the Whole Foods Way, 2007)

• Get rid of the soaking water, put rice and lentils in a rice cooker (I got mine at T&T Asian market for $34.99) with water filled up to the 3 line in your rice cooker.

• Cook for about 50 minutes but your rice cooker should cook uninterrupted until it senses the water is gone. Once it's close to done or after it beeps I put in about a Tbsp of masala mix from Superstore and 1 tsp of extra turmeric for colour, about 1/2 tsp of salt. Stir it in.

• Eat this alone, in a wrap, as a cold rice salad or put it in a squash soup. It's super versatile and if you don't like curry then don't put it in :).

*If you use a pressure cooker or a pot then don't despair! I haven't made it using those methods but I will and then I'll update the recipe or if you make it then please send me the times and liquid amounts.