My Thanksgiving gratitude gift for my husband and the THT chef

There's many things I'm grateful for when it comes to my husband Erik, but one thing I love most about him and am so grateful for, is how utterly supportive he is of my dreams and business aspirations.  

On our first date, I told Erik I wanted to start a plant-based, meals to-go service while we made vegan manicotti and pasta from scratch together.  We were using tofu and turmeric to make the pasta as an assignment I was working (as a chef with over 15 years experience, Erik had never heard of making pasta this way -- bonus points for me!).  

And now, almost 2 years since that date (the manicotti was delicious by the way), we've made my dream meal service, Trisha's Healthy Table (THT), come true.

Erik's never doubted my abilities to succeed in work and life and better yet, helps me give my all to be the best me I can be.  And that, means the world to me.  

I'm grateful for Erik's support not just because he's a kickass chef and cooks all the THT meals, but because at my every "holy shit, what are we doing!?  Can I actually do this?" moment, he never lets me quit and never shows an ounce of doubt in my abilities to start a business that truly cares about helping people improve their health and eat healthy food that tastes damn delicious. 

From sharing his recipes with you, editing my newsletters at 1 am, quitting his restaurant job to work for us (a scary thing for him to do) and helping me launch eCourses in 2017, Erik is an integral part in helping me help you, learn how to eat better.  

A Trisha's Healthy Table member came to pick-up chili and cornbread on Monday and shared some timely insight she learned at yoga that day that inspired me to write today's post.  It went something like this...

"Not expressing the gratitude you hold inside for someone is like buying them a present, wrapping it, but never giving it to them."  

Not only were Erik and I honored to hear she was grateful for us, but it helped me write this blog. There's countless days when I think about how lucky and grateful I am to have Erik in my life, but I still hadn't written and shared those thoughts, which was something that was really important to me.  

So today I'm finally giving him one of the gratitude gifts I've kept to myself, for him and you to share.  

Today, Erik and I enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving -- we ate in the company of a large and truly wonderful family that took us Northerners into their South Carolina home.  

Here's some of the delicious food Erik made for Trisha's Healthy Table and for me for Thanksgiving...

Erik's creamy tahini mashed potatoes and oyster mushroom gravy.  Oh it was SO good! And so healthy!

Creamy tahini mashed potatoes, oyster mushroom gravy, green bean casserole and lentil loaf (I also added cranberry sauce to the plate and bread. Yum!).  100% plant-based, vegan and oil-free.

We also enjoyed a walk in Harbison State Park where the trees have finally changed to fall colors here (which I'm also very grateful for).

Erik and I enjoying the fall leaves in Harbison State Park, SC. Thanksgiving Day 2016.

Take Control Now Question

"What are you grateful for Chef Erik for?  His recipes, him supporting me to better serve you, or his freakin amazing food? 

Or, who haven't you expressed your gratitude gift to yet but should've?  When will you?" 

Please help Erik know how amazing of a human, husband and chef he is by clicking "comment" below and sharing your thoughts.  Or, let someone else important in your life, know how much they mean to you.

Love and Leafy Greens,

Trish
 

The 3 Simplest Diet Changes You Can Make for the Greatest Health Results

Now it's time to hear from you...  "What dream health result do you want for yourself?"  Do you want your knees to never hurt again and be able to run 15 miles?  Do you want to wake up energized and know you won't lose a limb to diabetes like your father did?  Do you dream of having a lean and toned body that you're happy in everyday?

Please share your insights and thoughts by clicking 'comment' below.  

3 ways to eat plant-based when you don't want to cook and food tastes boring.

I was inspired by a friend for today's blog.  Dr. Swann Adams (our amazing Scientific Adviser) had a tough week sticking with her plant-based diet.  If you remember, Dr. Swann recently reversed her type II diabetes (hellz yea!) and she wants to keep it that way.  But this week was a tough one for Swann...   

The reason I'm inspired by Swann though, is not because she struggled this week (although I admire her openness in sharing it because we all struggle). 

I'm inspired by how Swann looked those challenges in the eyes and kicked their asses.  She stayed on track with her plant-based diet, and amongst her challenges, she even lost another 1.5 pounds.  In a week.  

And no, she didn't just stop eating to do it.  She continued eating plant-based, without portion control.  In addition to her HbA1c reverting to a normal level, Dr. Swann has now lost 28 pounds in 17 weeks.  Let me get a "hellz yeah sister Swann!"   

How did Dr. Swann stick with it when she didn't feel like cooking and her meals just weren't appetizing?  That's exactly what I'm sharing with you today -- 3 ways to eat plant-based when you don't want to cook and food tastes boring.  

Swann didn't stay on track and continue to improve her health by luck.  She put the work in, made the effort and we want to share those tools with you today.

3 ways to eat plant-based when you don't want to cook and food tastes boring
 

1.  Have a friend or family member cook for your kids (or you).

Swann did.  Her mom is well aware of Swann's dietary needs and how important making long-term plant-based changes is for Swann (she attended our Take It Back training and learned the recommendations for herself).  So, when Swann needed a break in the kitchen, she asked for help (it's a lot easier to get help if you ask for it.  This is an important skill to have).  Her mom cooked for her kids so she could rest easy.

This is another reason why it's so important to tell friends and family about your vegan diet changes.  They can help you!  Even if you don't have supportive family, make a pact with a friend to help one another.  They can cook for you (or your kids) and you'll always be there for them when they're in need.

2.  Have a professional cook you healthy, vegan meals.

Swann did.  She asked Erik and I to make her a tray of lasagna and meatballs.  Did we?  Absolutely!  Erik's the Executive Chef for Trisha's Healthy Table so he knows how to make healthy, plant-based taste dang delicious.  And Swann agreed...

"I had the lasagna last night and I went to bed singing sweet Erik praises.  Man that man can cook!"

If you're in South Carolina, you can get our healthy meals to-go in your kitchen now too!  We're offering meals to-go on pre-sale until Tuesday, September 20th.  Some are already sold-out and there's only 7 days left to get them in 2016!  Click here to learn more about Trisha's Healthy Table meals.

3.  Use freezer or pre-packaged food.

Unfortunately, restaurant food is generally not that healthy.  But, if you intentionally cook large batches when you do cook, you can freeze the left-overs.  Then, when you don't want to cook, just eat your frozen meals.

You should also keep the house stocked with packaged foods that do make the cut.  Dr. McDougall foods, Engine 2 and more offer boxed soups, veggie burgers, cereals, breads and more.  Keep the house stocked with good food, pre-packaged food and keep the junk out (you're more likely to be vulnerable to junk food when life is tougher).  Then, it may just be a matter of microwaving soup to get good food in your belly when cooking is out of the picture.

Take Control Now Question  

When do you feel like eating plant-based is really hard?  How do you overcome these challenges?

Click 'comment' below to share your thoughts.

It's not easy for most of us to take care of our health the way we need to. Life gets busy, and sticking to a new, plant-base diet can be challenging amongst career, kids, family and endless amounts of fried and junk food bombarding us at every turn.  If you know someone who wants to eat plant-based to improve their health and has trouble doing it, consider forwarding this email to them.  Hopefully it will help.

3 ways to lose weight when you've plateaud on a plant-based diet

Ever feel like you're doing everything right, by the book, but you're still not losing weight?

You're eating plant-based, feeling better (which is awesome), but the scale hasn't budged and you need it to.  You know you're on the right path but wonder "what am I doing wrong?"  

My friend Kathy feels this way and maybe you do too.  She had this to say commenting on Dr. Brie's interview from last week...

“I’ve been eating plant-based for almost 7 months. A friend and I began together and it’s been a lot of fun sharing recipes and texting pics of what we ate that day. I feel great on this eating plan. I’m post menopausal and even though I’ve been following this diet for 7 months I can’t seem to lose weight. Help!”

— Kathy, Take Control Tuesday friend

Even if you're not post menopausal it can be really frustrating knowing you're on the right path, but not getting the health results you want or expected.  And I've been there.  Multiple times and I know how to get through it.  

To help Kathy, today I'm sharing 3 ways to lose weight when you've plateaued on a plant-based diet whether you're post menopausal or not.

3 ways to lose weight when you've plateaued on a plant-based diet

1.  Make sure you're doing the diet right.  

There's many ways to do plant-based wrong or half-right.  Wrong or half-right won't get you the best results.  Here's an example of doing a plant-based diet wrong:  

Eating a junk-food vegan diet.  Tortilla chips (50%-ish fat), fries, vegan cookies etc. don't contain animal products, but that doesn't mean they're good for you.  Especially on a regular basis. At best, they're treats to be saved for special occasions.

Just because a diet is called plant-based or vegan doesn't mean it's good for you.

You must eat whole plant foods 90-100% of the time.  This includes fruits, veggies, whole-grains, legumes (beans, peas, lentils) and the optional nuts and seeds.  Refined foods (vegetable oils, white flour products and sugar) and animal products are not whole plant foods and should be avoided.  

Another example is eating high-fat plant food such as avocados, coconut, olives, nuts and seeds at every meal or as snacks.  Eating peanut butter out of the jar or peanut butter toast every morning instead of something more filling with less calories like oatmeal and fresh fruit can also prevent weight-loss (see point number two).  

Bottom line:  Learn how to do the diet right.  

Good news is, you're in the perfect place for that.  Sign-up for email updates above and you'll be the first to know when my free 'doing the diet right' crash course comes out in the next 2 weeks.  Or, learn from John McDougall, MD or Pam Popper, PhD, ND.  These are my top two teachers for doing the diet right.

2.  Eat high-fat plant foods as condiments or don't eat them at all.

People love avocados.  I do.  And that's partly because of the high amount of fat that's in them.

By design, fat tastes good so we'd eat it when we were hunter and gatherers.  At that time we needed the extra calories that fat provides because we never knew when we'd get more calories and needed any calories we could get to survive.  

The reason we need to be cautious of high-fat food is because fat has 5 extra calories per gram compared to a gram of carbohydrate or protein.  Carbohydrate and protein both have 4 calories per gram, while fat has 9 calories per gram.  Same quantity, but more calories in fat.  

For example, nuts can be great for your health.  But, if you casually snack through just one cup of almonds throughout the day, that's 838 calories (1).  They're very calorie dense which means their small volume of food is packed with more calories.  Compare that to one cup of a baked sweet potato (same amount) which is only 184 calories (2).  Plus it's really filling so you're more likely to stop eating instead of continually snacking.    

Bottom line:  nuts and seeds should be used as condiments, not snacks to enjoy to their health benefits and flavor, without overdosing on calories.  Or, simply omit high-fat plant foods completely.  

 

3.  Increase the intensity, duration and frequency of your exercise and stick to it!

Most people I've worked with have more trouble sticking to a long-term and challenging exercise regiment than changing their diet.  Once you've hit a weight-loss plateau, it's time to ramp up your exercise.  

You need to continuously increase...

• the intensity (how hard you're working),
• the duration (how long you're exercising for) and or
• the frequency (often you're working out)

for fitness to improve and weight loss to be encouraged.

The optimal goal is 5-6 days a week of exercising in your target heart rate for 45-60 minutes a day.

For post-menopausal women especially, hot yoga is a great way to reach that goal.  If you're in Columbia, SC, try Bikram Yoga or Yoga Masala.  I've been to them both.  Contact me if you want my opinion.

Now I'd love to hear from you.  Share your thoughts by clicking 'comment' below and answer...

Take Control Now Question

Which of these 3 tips do you need to implement the most and why?  

What's going to be the hardest part about getting started?

I can't wait to hear from you in the comments.

Love and Leafy Greens,

Trish

How USC professor lost 17 lbs in 8 weeks without eating less. An inspirational interview.

Have you ever struggled with your weight?  If so, I want you to keep reading.  And if you haven't, I still want you to keep reading because this is just that good.  

About 8 weeks ago, I had the honor of helping someone who was just diagnosed with type II diabetes.  At age 44.  She has a loving husband, an 8 year old daughter McCullough and a 9 year old son, Thompson.  She has a very successful and rewarding career in academia.  Case in point -- she has a lot to lose and is way too young for diabetes.

Swann Adams, PhD, the Assistant Director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the University of South Carolina, is this amazing person.  She's an Associate Professor in the College of Nursing and the School of Public Health.  She's been published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, The American Journal of Public Health, Women's Health Issues and many more (like I said, successful.  This woman is like a super hero).   

But if you asked Swann, there was always one area of her life where she felt like a failure. Her health and more specifically, her weight.  Until now.

Swann had been on and off Weight Watchers for 20 years.  She was even prescribed amphetamines from her doctor to help her with her weight.  After no success, Swann accepted her body and her weight.  She thought this was just her body type.  Wrong.  

When Swann came to see me, she wasn't trying to lose weight (she was confident there was no way she could).  Her concern -- improving or reversing her diabetes diagnosis.  

Seven weeks later, where is she?

Swann has lost about 18 pounds in 7 weeks without eating less.  No carb counting, no calorie counting.  And, her blood sugars are now in the pre-diabetic range.

Swann had this to say celebrating her son Thompson's 9th birthday a few weeks ago...

“For the first time in forever, I felt confident walking around in my bathing suit. I still have a long way to go but just the 15 pounds gone, and how easy it was, makes me believe for the first time that it’s possible to change my appearance. I almost got tears in my eyes I felt so good and positive.”

Today, I'm thrilled to share with you my very first Take Control Tuesday interview (above)... a very personal interview with Swann (and oh yes, we had a blast too.  And we have bloopers at the end of the video to prove it). 

Swann shares some pretty amazing insights (and advice for you) that you won't want to miss....

“This is a way to stop the critical voice in your head that tells you it’s your fault that you’re so fat. It gives you the tools to be able to be in control, take the shame away and to be happy.”

Swann is happy for many reasons, but one of them (and I am right there with her!), is because improved health and weight loss are possible without eating less food.  It's simply replacing foods that promote weight gain and disease, with those that promote health and weight loss that are filling.

For example, here's one of Swann's health promoting and weight-loss promoting meals, a "cheesy meatball" sub.   

The meatballs are made using oats, brown rice, lentils instead of beef and added it to are a bunch of different herbs and spices that have a similar taste and texture as regular meatballs.  It's topped with an onion and pepper marinara sauce, and the whole wheat buns (yes, it's okay to eat wheat and gluten) are lined with mustard and relish.  And the cheese!?  This is one of Swann's favorite recipes.  And I've made it.  It's SO good.  It's a cheese sauce made from cauliflower! Swann also loves it on her whole grain grits in the morning.  Check out this recipe...

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Cheesy Cauliflower Sauce

Source: Fat Free Vegan Kitchen (all of her recipes are great!)
Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 2 heaping cups small cauliflower florets
• 1 teaspoon granulated onion powder
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled, or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon mellow white miso or soy-free chickpea miso or a little salt
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch or potato starch
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt to taste

Instructions

Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the cauliflower, onion powder, garlic, paprika, mustard, and turmeric. Cover tightly and reduce the heat to very low. Simmer until the cauliflower is so tender that it easily comes apart when poked with a fork, about 15-20 minutes.

Carefully transfer the contents of the saucepan to a blender. Add all remaining ingredients. Cover and blend, starting on low and increasing the speed until you’re at the highest setting. (Be careful–hot foods can “erupt.”) Blend until you have a completely smooth sauce.

Pour the sauce back into the saucepan, add salt to taste if you like, and heat until it begins to bubble, stirring occasionally. Allow it to cook and thicken for at least another 2 minutes. Serve hot.

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Swann and I have a Take Control Now challenge for you, to help you implement what you learned on the blog.  Here's what we want you to do...

1.  Try the above cheesy cauliflower recipe.  What day will you make it?  Once you've made it, report back.  What did you think!?

2.  Share some encouragement with Swann.  Tell us what you learned from her story or any other insights from listening to our interview.

Click "comments" below to share your voice.

Love and Leafy Greens,

Trish

P.S. The audio and video quality of today's video is not the best.  But, we did the best with what we have.  And, the content is just that good that it's not worth passing up.