The First Step to Changing How I Think About Food

“You can put five people in a room with a cake, there will be one or two people who couldn’t care less about the cake, unless they’re really hungry. But at least a few of them will have a hard time thinking about anything but the cake,” says eating-disorders researcher Gayle Timmerman, Ph.D., R.N., of the University of Texas at Austin.

While I am a person who wants to lose weight, I've never thought of myself as one of the people obsessed with the cake. I'm not interested in fad diets, but curious about diets that change your relationship with food, like the potato diet and intermittent fasting. But will those diets actually work if I haven't admitted that I have a problem with my relationship with food?

In his book Presto!: How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales, Pen Jillette has to admit he has an unhealthy relationship with food before he can commit to the potato diet and lose all of that extra weight. Part of that for him was due to his lifestyle change. In his past, he didn't get a lot of opportunities to eat out, especially not in fancy restaurants. As he became a celebrity that changed. He got to eat in fancy restaurants all the time, but in some part of his mind, he still looked at the menu as if he were getting a treat, rather than making a healthy choice.

That really resonated with me, not because I've become some sort of celebrity, but because the way I access food has changed and I still look at menus like I get to choose a treat. I always order the loaded vegan truffle fries at this one cafe near my house because I know they are the most delicious thing on the menu, not because they are good for me.

Like Jillette, I make excuses for my shape and size. "Obesity runs in my family, so it's a wonder I'm not fatter." "I'm getting older and a lot of people gain weight as they age." Well, you know what? There are a lot of people in my family who are not overweight and some of them are older than me.

I still don't think I am one of the three people who would be obsessed with the cake, but that might just be that I don't have much of a sweet tooth. Leave me in a room with pizza or tacos and oh my God!

Thinking about this, my relationship with food and how it might be unhealthy is my goal for this week. I don't think I will be able to change how I feel about pizza or tacos because you can't choose what you love, can you?

Soy: is it bad for you?

Half the time, when I talk with people about eating a plant-based diet, I hear that I should avoid soy. It seems that most of the people around me worry that soy is full of estrogen. Ironically, most of these people regularly consume dairy products. When pressed on the subject, my friends usually think it would be ideal to avoid both. A week later, they are still only avoiding soy. Why? Is soy really bad for you or is this more propaganda against giving up meat?

Many people switch from meat to tofu and quickly benefit from reduced saturated fat and cholesterol. Sure, you can still get these benefits from a plant-based diet without consuming soy.

Most people, who accept the logic of a plant-based diet, would agree that tofu is safer to eat than steak. Those same people would also agree that tofu or edamame is better for you than a tofu dog or other processed soy products because many of the nutrients in soy, like fiber, are filtered out in the process of making the tofu dog or tofu-based cream "cheese."

People worry about consuming the estrogen in soy because for years we were told that estrogen caused breast cancer. Many blogs still support this idea. Is it true? Does soy even contain estrogen?

When I started writing this post, I knew that soy contained isoflavones and phytoestrogens. I've been reading up on what that means:

Isoflavones are polyphenolic compounds that possess both estrogen-agonist and estrogen-antagonist properties. For this reason, they are classified as phytoestrogens — plant-derived compounds with estrogenic activity. Isoflavones are the major flavonoids found in legumes, particularly soybeans.

We know that during the early stages of breast cancer estrogen encourages cancer cells to grow and spread. This makes many doctors worry that soy could make things worse for women with breast cancer. A 2014 American study looked like it may support this idea, but the study lost funding and couldn't go on long enough for conclusive results. During this study, 70 women at the early stages of breast cancer consumed four cups of soy milk a day, while 70 others consumed a placebo. I don't know anyone who consumes that much soy per day. They found that several genes that encourage cancer growth were active in women in the soy group. They didn't find out if this actually caused cancer to grow.

They also didn't find out anything about the effect of soy on people who don't have cancer. Many studies suggest that consuming soy prevents cancer, including prostate cancer in men.

In fact, soy has been found to have so many health benefits that it is available as a supplement. People take soy supplements to treat high blood pressure, heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, asthma, lung cancer, endometrial cancer, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, osteoporosis, and kidney disease. It's used to regulate bowel movements, improve memory, to relieve muscle and breast pain, for menopause, and premenstrual syndrome. People also take it to prevent breast cancer. Though, we all know how I feel about supplements.

A study of the quality of commercially available soy supplements suggests that less than 25% of products contain within 90% of labeled isoflavone content. Paying more for a product doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the content shown on the label is accurate. 

But wait a minute... can soy prevent cancer?

When we want to know more about the benefits of plant-based diets, we keep looking to China because the Chinese have been eating plant-based diets for centuries. Researchers studied more than 73,000 Chinese women and found that those who ate at least one or two servings of soy per day were 11% less likely to develop breast cancer than those who did not.

Of course, there are problems with that study too, at least when we apply it to the lives of women who ate McDonald's and Dairy Queen as kids, rather than tofu and miso. We don't know how soy benefited those women in China. Did it start to work when they were children? Is starting a soy diet at 40 too late?

I don't know. None of the research available is persuasive enough for this skeptical woman. I would likely be more concerned about soy if I had breast cancer. If I had breast cancer, I wouldn't take advice from my blog, but would listen to the professionals helping me get rid of the cancer.

If you don't have cancer, these studies are only telling you to eat soy in moderation, by which they mean one or two servings per day. That doesn't sound very moderate to me, but I'm less concerned about soy now than I was when I started researching it.

Thanks for reading. Please share any more information about the benefits and dangers of soy in the comments.

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Eat healthy for under $50 a week!

What if I told you that you could eat a plant-based whole food diet for $50 a week?

I browsed the Whole Foods 365 website, for my area, and assembled this shopping list. I assume you have salt, baking powder, vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, sriracha, brown sugar, spices... If you don't have those things, you should. Also, your initial shop might cost a little more. The ingredients in my list filled a seven-day meal plan, outlined below. The grand total of my shopping list was $42.01, plus an optional bottle of wine for the weekend and a $3 slice of pizza when you go back to the store at dinner time on the last day.

Also, there are days that you can entertain... sometimes, you have too much food for one.

There are a couple days when the cooking seems a bit labour intensive, but I made sure at least five of the lunches could be taken to go.

Here's how you do it:

Shopping List

2 green peppers 0.50
1 cob bi-colour corn 0.33
2 lbs or 7 individual bananas $1.00
1 lime 0.25
4 lemons $2.00
1 cucumber 0.50
1 bunch fresh cilantro 0.50
1 bunch scallions 0.50
1 bunch fresh Italian parsley 0.50 ea
4 sweet potato yams $2.00
1 Yukon gold potato 0.45
3-4 Roma tomatoes $2.00
1 bunch spinach $1.00
1 bunch green leaf lettuce $1.00
1 hass avocado $1.45
1 red onion 0.45
Handful green beans 0.50
1 big bok choy $1.50
5 organic Bosc pears $3.50
1 package penne rigate 0.99
1 can black beans 0.69
Califia Farms unsweetened almond milk $3.99
3-4 cups long grain brown rice $2.00
4 1/4 cups unbleached white flour $1.00
1 tbsp organic chia seeds 0.50
1 package organic extra-firm tofu $1.79
2 cups French vanilla granola $1.00
Organic Earl Grey tea $4.39
Handful organic dry roasted peanuts 0.50
I bulb garlic 0.25
Organic chocolate syrup $3.49
1 package Forbidden Rice Ramen with Miso soup 0.99
Three Wishes wine $3.49 bottle (optional)

Day One:

Breakfast is simple: 1/2 cup granola, 1 chopped banana,  1 cup almond milk in a bowl, with a cup of tea on the side.

Lunch-to-go: pack a salad made of 1 cup green leaf lettuce, 2 slices of red onion, 1/4 cucumber, 1/2 cup spinach, and make a little lemon parsley vinaigrette.
For the vinaigrette combine freshly squeezed lemon juice with chopped parsley, garlic powder, a vinegar of your choice, and a little olive oil.

Dinner: Spicy Peanut Tofu and Bok Choy Rice Bowl!
Only make half the recipe (2 servings). Use 1 clove garlic, 1/2 pkg tofu, 1/2 bok choy, 2 cups brown rice, 1/8 cup chopped scallions, and 1/8 cup peanuts (crush them yourself). (Put half in a sealed container to take with you for lunch tomorrow.)

Dessert: make a pear crumble using 4 pears, 1/2 cup granola, 1/4 cup flour. I hope here that you have the cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar in your pantry. Makes 9 servings.

Day Two:

Breakfast: 1 serving pear crumble. I cup of Earl Grey tea.

Lunch-to-go: leftover rice bowl.

Dinner: sweet potato and avocado tacos!
Make your own flour tortillas.
Chop up a sweet potato, cover it in olive oil, chilli powder, salt and pepper.
Roast the potatoes for 20 minutes, while draining and rinsing the black beans. Then, stir the potatoes with the black beans and roast for another 10 minutes.
Dice up half an avocado and make yourself three delicious tacos for dinner. Top with fresh chopped cilantro. Store the leftover tortillas and sweet potato bean mixture separately for future use.

Dessert: 1 serving pear crumble.
Freeze the remaining six servings of pear crumble in individual portions that can be microwaved later.

Day Three:

Breakfast:  1/2 cup granola, 1 chopped banana,  1 cup almond milk in a bowl, with a cup of tea on the side.

Lunch-to-go: guacamole and tortilla chips.
Make your own guacamole with the other half of last night's avocado, the juice of 1 lemon, minced garlic, and 1/2 tsp olive oil.
Make your own tortilla chips using the leftover tortillas from last night; simply cut each one into 6 triangles, brush with olive oil and salt, then bake at 350 for 7 minutes.
You can make your lunch the night before, or in the morning.

Snack-to-go: 1 serving frozen pear crumble, it can thaw over the course of the day and still be cold when you eat it, or you can microwave it.

Dinner: Mexican rice bowl.
Invite someone over, if you feel like you have enough for two to eat.
The sweet potatoes are better the next day.
Boil and de-kernel 1 cob of corn, reheat 1/2-1 cup leftover sweet potato bean mixture from yesterday's tacos. Mix with 1 cup cooked rice, a handful of fresh spinach, and a sliced tomato. Top with a chopped scallion and lemon wedges to squeeze over it as you eat.

Pro-tip: put leftover lemon wedges in a jug of water in the fridge to drink later.

Dessert: chocolate banana shake. Put 1 cup almond milk, 1 banana, and some chocolate syrup in the blender.

Day Four:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup granola, 1 chopped banana,  1 cup almond milk in a bowl, with a cup of tea on the side.

Lunch-to-go: 1 serving pasta salad.
Make in the morning or the night before.
Prepare 1 cup penne. Chop parsley, garlic, a tomato, a scallion, 1/2 red onion, and 1/2 cucumber. Put it all in a bowl, add a handful of spinach, a little vinegar, and olive oil. Mix.
Makes 2 servings, so set half aside for tomorrow.

Dinner: hearty miso soup.
Prepare Forbidden Rice Ramen, prepare as directed, but add 1/2 cup extra water. As the water boils, add 1/4 bok choy, 1/4 of pkg tofu, a chopped clove garlic, powdered ginger, and three chopped mushrooms.

Dessert: 1 serving pear crumble OR make banana bread out of leftover bananas. Uses 3 bananas, 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup almond milk, as well as other ingredients from your pantry.

Day Five:

Breakfast: 1 serving banana bread (hopefully, you made it last night). Top with peanut butter. Make a cup of tea.

Lunch-to-go: 1 serving pasta salad (from yesterday).

Snack-to-go: banana bread. It's Friday, bring a few extra individually wrapped slices of banana bread to share friends.

Dinner: Thai Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins.
It's Friday, invite a few of the friends you made sharing banana bread over. This recipe makes enough to share. Use green pepper because it was on sale. Substitute powdered ginger for fresh and use your favourite brand of siracha. This would be a great night to open that optional bottle of wine!

Day Six:

Make brunch for your friends, or reduce this recipe and only use one, or two slices of your banana bread for French toast! That's right... you can eat French toast!

Lunch: salad. After a heavy breakfast, it is better to eat a light lunch.
This is the same salad you made on Monday so you can pack it up to go if you want. It is good for using up leftover produce.
1 cup green leaf lettuce, 2 slices of red onion, 1/4 cucumber, 1/2 cup spinach, and make a little lemon parsley vinaigrette.
For the vinaigrette combine freshly squeezed lemon juice with chopped parsley, garlic powder, a vinegar of your choice, and a little olive oil.

Dinner: green stir fry with rice.
Prepare 1/2 cup rice. Saute remaining bok choy, a handful of green beans, 1/2 green pepper in a little olive oil, with garlic and powdered ginger. Season with soy sauce.

Dessert: 1 serving pear crumble.

Day Seven:

Breakfast: pear, peanut butter and tea. Simple, yet satisfying.

Lunch: tofu scramble with roasted potato.
Cube potato and mix with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, turning once.
Heat teaspoon olive oil in a small frying pan. Crumble your remaining tofu into the pan. Sprinkle turmeric over the tofu and saute, watching the potatoes turn yellow. Add diced tomato and a handful of spinach.
To serve, put the tofu scramble right on top of the potatoes, and sprinkle some chopped parsley, or cilantro on top.

Dinner: you have to go shopping for next week. Buy a slice of vegan pizza for $3, while you are there!

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