To clarify, this means the volume of COOKED vegetables, which take up a lot less space than raw vegetables.
This was not to say that those vegetables could not be raw, but simply that you need to make this conversion when figuring out your daily meal plan.
HOW ABOUT BLENDED SMOOTHIES?
Hey, easy I thought to myself! I just stuff the Vita-Mix or NutriBullet or whatever full of spinach and kale and chard or other greens and a little fruit and I've got it made. Right?
Sorry, No!
Because it turns out that Dr. Esselstyn isn't a great fan of blending.
Why not?
Because digestion begins in your mouth. Saliva contains important digestive enzymes, and so to get the most value from any foods you eat you need to chew thoroughly to let saliva do its work. And blending breaks down the valuable fiber, making it less effective.
(Actually this is consistent with some of the authorities on blended drinks who urge you to hold these in your mouth and "chew" them even though they are liquified. But here I'm just sticking to what Dr. Esselstyn had to say.)
So while I use a blender for some things, right now I'm trying to get the bulk of my daily GREENS -- whether cooked or raw -- whole!
HOW ABOUT A BREAKFAST (OR BRUNCH) SALAD?
In other posts we've looked at greens included in one pot meals. Cooking greens definitely cuts down their volume and makes chewing easier too. But what about a way to get more greens into your daily fare quickly and with minimum fuss?
Many "Essy-compliant" salads are mostly greens with a light dressing - perhaps a little lemon juice or balsamic, but no oil. But how about a hearty salad that would even be quick to put together in the morning as for breakfast, as well as for the main course of a meal later in the day?
It's pretty easy to get those greens! If you plan for it, and always have some greens on hand, you can stuff them into all sorts of dishes. Chop them up and they just disappear! Roll them into bunches, slice these bunches into narrow ribbons, and then cut across those ribbons and put them in all your soups and stews. You'll be getting plenty of those fistfuls in no time!
The Greens. We'll keep this easy and fast. You want your leafy greens to be organically grown. Even if some of your other veggies are not organically grown your leafy greens should be. You can use about 1/4 to 1/3 of a 1 lb. bin of one of the organic, pre-washed, ready to eat selections now available in many supermarkets. My favorite: Earthbound Farms Deep Green Power blend - a combo of young spinach, chard and kale - a nice assortment of sweet and soft with tougher and stronger. But there are other great selections and combos as well.
The rest of it! Let's make this super easy! At many salad bars these days, even in conventional supermarkets, and certainly at Whole Foods you'll find all sorts of salad "fixings" -- including not only plain raw veggies like chopped celery, carrots, radishes and mushrooms, but items such as artichoke hearts, beans, quinoa, wild rice, corn, peas, cabbage, mung bean sprouts, chopped tofu, peppers, olives, mushrooms, berries, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, some chopped nuts, and lots of other bits and pieces (as I call them). Why stand there chopping when all you want is a quick meal? Why cook a lot of quinoa, or open a whole can of artichoke hearts or beans, or whole bag of frozen peas or buy a whole cabbage or a whole cake of tofu, just to have a little to sprinkle on your greens?
Help yourself to a small container and fill it using your head as well as your stomach as a guide! There may be some oil in some of these selections so try to keep these minimal and drain the liquids as well as you can while you are helping yourself.
CAUTION: Many of these prepared goodies use a lot of oil. Read the labels and avoid the ones with oil! Some, like the beans, can be rinsed before using.
When you go to fix your salad, put about a third of that big bin of greens into a large bowl (I like to run a ceramic knife back and forth through them a few times to make them a little more manageable to eat) and start stirring in some of your mix of bits and pieces. Try to use as little of this as you can (you can keep the rest in a covered container for use within a few days) and keep stirring so all of the greens all pick up some of the flavors. Remember you just want these little bits (and most especially the ones that may have some oil in them) to lightly kiss your greens, and not enfold them in a full-body embrace! If you need a little more flavor that's the time to consider a little lemon or lime juice or your favorite kind of vinegar.
If needed you can use the greens from the salad bar as well, especially the dark romaine and spinach and kale, but try to use organic whenever you can. And you'll probably find more variety in the "bins" in the produce department. But if you find great dark leafy organic greens in the salad bars go for it. Probably best to keep them in a separate container however from the rest of the bits. They'll keep a little better that way.
A warmed tortilla or piece of whole grain toast or some whole grain crackers on the side perhaps spread with some guacasalsa or hummos you made earlier (see recipes in another post here) and or some salsa will give you a filling meal and a couple of fistfuls of greens besides!
 |
Nice Big Salad with Lots of Goodies! YUM! |
