Woman claims food saved her life

http://www.kctv5.com/story/17003128/woman-claims-to-avoid-heart-surgery-with-food

http://www.kctv5.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6774552

Congrats E2ers from Chapel Hill

Family Cholesterol Pool

So while the family was in Durham for my birthday, we had a pool to guess what my final cholesterol would be:

Pre-Diet Cholesterol = 271

Ordered High to Low:
222 - Jim
205 - Brian
180 - Sharon
170 - Leigh
167 - Matt

Post-Diet Cholesterol = 179

And the winner is Mom! With my total cholesterol being 179 she is the closest and wins the prize (whatever that is?)

Cheers!

Day 31: Drum roll please

Finally, the official cholesterol results are in!

Test = Old -> New

LDL or 'bad cholesterol" = 189 -> 113 (loss of 76)
Total Cholesterol = 271 -> 179 (loss of 92 - so close to 100!)
HDL = 47 -> 33 (not that great to go down in the 'good' cholesterol, need to work on this)
Triglycerides = 174 -> 166 (loss of 8)
Glucose, Serum = 95 -> 84 (loss of 11)
Pulse = 83 -> 63 (loss of 20 beats per minute, if the heart works less, this sounds pretty good)
Blood Pressure = 139/79 -> 130/74
Weight = 227 -> 209 (loss of 18 pounds)

Some pretty amazing results in less than one month. Who knows what will happen if I keep this up for a whole year?

Day 30: No Chicken Chicken Patty

Today I tried the 'No Chicken - Chicken Patty' as a sandwich for dinner along with some sweet potato fries. Sadly, the fries were very well done (burnt) but the burger came our great! I look forward for more of these to come...

Day 29: Still going....

Just like that energizer bunny....

Today was the first time I have eaten an animal in almost a month. Now I did not have steak or chicken or pork, but we did have sushi for the first time in a month. Our favorite restaurant, Shiki Shushi, does buy one get one take-out on Mondays! So good!

Day 28: Happy... Graduation!

While February 19th certainly is significant in my life, this birthday is extra special knowing that I made it through the 28-day Engine 2 challenge!

For breakfast we had breakfast tacos with some no meat breakfast sausage. I also squeezed some oranges for some fresh oj.

For lunch, I whipped up a quick pizza using the Khabuli dough. So good and fast and tasty!

For my birthday dinner we had an early meal so I could make it to the graduation ceremony. We chopped up a bunch of vegetables (olives, onion, squash, zucchini, peppers) and made a huge pot of pasta sauce veggie style.

Graduation was a nice touch. It was great to see so many familiar faces that made it through the entire 4 weeks together. We had some treats and celebrated our accomplishments.

When I had returned, my birthday dessert was waiting for me when I arrived with a candle ready to be lit. Leigh made the 'Dark Chocolate Brownies'. They were delicious and a great way to end my diet journey along with my birthday!



28 Down - 0 Left

Muscle Pain Correction

Some people have been asking how my muscles are. They are much better, thanks for asking! :-)

I must preface this by saying that I am not a doctor and if your symptoms worsen or persist you may need to consult with your health care professional.  That being said it is important to:
A. Make sure that you are getting enough "healthy fats" as these are essential for supporting everything from the muscles to brain health to memory to mood etc.  (they don't call them "essential fatty acids" for nothing).  Good sources are flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts, etc.  Rip doesn't recommend it but if you feel you need to supplement there are some good vegan options, any of our Whole Body Team Members would be glad to help.  Also throw some nuts/seeds/avocados into the mix as well.  The idea is not to be "fat free" but to focus on "healthy fats" in their "whole food" form.
B. CoQ10 is often recommended for folks on statins to help ameliorate some of the muscle pain/weakness associated with taking statins.  This may be helpful as well.
Hope this helps but again I am not a doctor and cannot diagnose or prescribe anything.

So what I did was eat more walnuts and consciously add more flax seed to my meals. I also started taking CoQ10. I used to take COQ10 and stopped taking it towards the end of last year. Luckily I still had some in the cupboard.

I am happy to report the muscle pain has gone away. I am still not sure if it was the diet or something strenuous that I may have done (Stella is certainly getting heavier), but I am glad this has slowly subsided.

Day 27: Birthday Dinner

Breakfast was great. We made another large bowl of fruit. Pineapple, Kiwi, Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Mango, Etc. I also made the famous french toast. Very tasty.

For lunch we made some prepared veggie burgers (curry) and some sweet potato fries. The fries were not as crispy as one would have liked again, but the meal was extremely good. Brian also has a 'no chicken chicken' sandwich which was in the frozen section. I look forward to trying that later next week.

For dinner, the debate was where would Matt want to go. The Angus Barn? Another Steakhouse? I mean, this is my birthday and a great day to 'cheat' on the diet. After some hemming and hawing I decided that we should eat in and celebrate in the comfort of our own home. We went with Thai Palace in Chapel Hill after finding out that Simply Thai on 55 had closed down. I purchased the Pad Bi Gra Prow - Stir-fried with Thai basil, hot pepper and garlic with Tofu and Mixed vegetables. It was nice to see that Thai Palace allowed you to choose shrimp, beef, chicken or Tofu on all of their dishes. This was not the case with PF Changs it seemed.

For dessert we made some homemade banana ice cream. (frozen banana, strawberries, vanilla extract, almond milk). This came out great! Very tasty.

Day 26: Kabuli!

Crazy morning. I fasted this morning so I could get my cholesterol and blood work done. I am still not sure if I am going to 'cheat' on my birthday or not. After getting my blood drawn I found out that I would not get my results until next week. Stay tuned for the big reveal on Wednesday February 22nd!

I quickly made a bagel with almond butter and went to get my brother Brian at the airport who flew in from California for my birthday!

For lunch I treated Brian to some Whole Foods lunch hot bar. We both ate at the 'Health Starts Here' bar. Luckily they had the sweet potato lasagna! I hate to say that is was better than the one we put together some 3 weeks ago, but it was. I also tried some garlicy kale and Quinia salad.

My parents drove down from New Jersey and arrived around 2:30. Always great to have them around!

For dinner we decided, as we always have over my birthday weekend, to make some home made pizza. Before we left for lunch I recieved this from our coach, Jenn.
"They're in!  Kabuli crusts (E2 approved) are in the frozen section just in time for the weekend.  (Many thanks to our frozen buyer, Rodney) Get 'em while they're hot!  (or cold as the case may be....)"

I made one pie and Brian made another... One having mushrooms and no peppers and the other the opposite. They were both incredibly good. The crust is much better than anything I would have done. This will certainly be a staple from now on!

For Dessert I made some 'firehouse cobbler" while we watched the Forks over Knives movie.

26 Down - 2 Left!

Day 25: Panini Fail

For breakfast we went with the big bowl. I again worked from home trying to prep the house for the company coming this weekend for my birthday. My brother for California and my parents from New Jersey. Cannot wait!

For lunch I had some toast with almond butter and some chips and salsa. (the end of the chips, not as good as the fresh and warm chips).

For dinner I was on my own. I decided to attempt to make a panini again. I also made some sweet potato chips this time instead of fries. I have to say both came out pretty awful. On the panini I wanted to make it 'spicy' but added way too much hot sauce. And the chips, they were ok, but not as crispy as I was expecting. Overall not a great meal, especially having to eat on my own.

25 Down - 3 Left!

Day 24: Loftovers

Well, this was a pretty boring day for food. Big Bowl for Breakfast, Leftover Pizza (the end of it) for lunch, and leftover fajitas (the end of it also)... Looks like tomorrow we will have something new as we are all done with leftovers.

Interesting information on Olive Oil

Day 23: Happy Valentine's Day!

The day started off slow. Both Leigh and I had the day off. We figure since we have the built in babysitter (daycare) we might as well use that and take a vacation instead of trying to pay extra for someone to watch Stella.

For breakfast I made a fresh fruit bowl and heated up some leftover french toast from Sunday.

For lunch we went out for Valentine's day. We went to An in Cary. While they might not have had E2 approved meals, that had a pretty good vegetarian selection. We started with the Viet Spring Rolls (Vegetarian Option Available) Noodles, Cucumber, Sprouts, Greens, Mint, Peanut Sauce.

For the main course I ordered the Pad Thai (Vegetarian Option Available) with Rice Noodles, Onions, Celery, Bean Sprouts, Scallions, Egg, Peanuts, Lime... I also had some Miso soup with the dish. Everything was excellent!

For dinner we tried the Panini Recipe. It started with 2 slices of bread with hummus spread on each slice. Then I saute onions and mushrooms in a pan. While that was sauteing I chopped some spinach and some fresh cilantro together. I combined everything together. The sandwich looked huge! But, no fear. once I put the sandwich on the pan and squashed it with a tea pot filled with water, it slowly shrunk in size.



We also made some sweet potato fried using this cool nonstick film that Leigh bought for me for valentine's day. While the fried were not crispy, they were also not stuck to the pan, so I guess it did its job.

23 Down - 5 Left

Day 22: What is next?

This is the end of 3 weeks. Week 4 we really do not give up anything else. Just one more week of the all inclusive items that we have given up these past three weeks. No meat, no dairy, no oils, no processed foods.

The morning started off with the usual big bowl. It is always nice to have leftovers from the weekend to use in the cereal. This is a perfect way to finish up some leftovers.

For lunch I had some more pizza leftovers. Since Leigh and Ginnie went out to dinner Saturday night and I still made a pizza, this meant that there were many pizza leftovers! Always a good site.

For dinner, we did Fajita leftovers. pretty boring night overall...

For class we discussed where we are going to go from here, once the 28 days are complete. I have to say I really have not thought about this much. I am really curious how my cholesterol is going to turn out. I think this will determine if I will be 80/20, 70/30, 90/10. So the jury is still out. I am planning on getting mine done on Friday...

22 Down - 6 Left

Day 21: Favorites

My sister-in-law Ginnie was in town this weekend, so this gave me an opportunity to cook the E2 way for her for breakfast. We started off with a nice large bowl of fruit and then I whipped up the french toast recipe. Everything was very tasty.

For lunch we had some leftover pizza, always a hit!

For dinner we made our famous fajita recipe. This is a recipe that we made almost weekly. The recipe before seemed very healthy, but this time we eliminated the oil and replaced the chicken with 2 kinds of beans (black and Pinto). We added the same marinate spice and the same onions and peppers. We also made another batch of guacamole along with some homemade chips!

Day 20: Pizza - if at first you do not succeed...

For breakfast the hotel had a nice free continental breakfast. Unfortunately there really was not anything I could eat there that was approved. Pretty much the only thing there was a banana. Even the fruit cup had added sugar and fruit juices.Luckily I brought with me 3 oranges along with some of the leftover nuts, so I was ready to rock and roll.

We made it back to Durham around 1pm, just in time for some leftovers for lunch. I wanted to sample the leftover pizza as I was about to attempt a retry later this evening. The leftovers may have actually been better than the original.

Original -> New
1 1/4 Warm Water -> 1 1/4 Warm Vegetable Broth
3 Cups Wheat Flour -> 2 Cups Wheat Flour
1/4 Corn Meal ->same
1 tsp honey -> 1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp basil and 1 tsp oregano -> same
1/4 tsp garlic powder -> same
2 tsp applesauce -> same
3 tsp yeast -> same

Outcome - the dough was better, but still not right. I am thinking the wheat flour is the culpret and might try some other E2 options next.

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

20 Down - 8 Left

NOTE: http://samisbakery.com/our-products/breads/millet-and-flax-pizza-crust/

Muscle Pain?

So, when my Dad was prescribed Statins about 2-3 years ago he started to have muscle pain and weakness in his arms and shoulders. It was always assumed that the muscle pain was attributed to the Statin Drugs...

I have noticed in the last 3 days that I am having something very similar. I have pain and weakness in the forearms, in my bicept and in my hands. This makes me wonder if the muscle issues with Statin's might be due to the sudden drop in cholesterol and not the drug itself. Could muscle pain and weakness be a sign of just lowering ones cholesterol?

Not sure if this theory will hold much water, but I have not really done anything out of the ordinary recently other than the E2 diet.

More to come at some point... Looking forward to getting my blood work done next week.

On a side note, I am down to 210 pounds (from 227). While I never had real hard number goals for my birthday (February 19th), but a weight and a cholesterol both under 200 would be amazing...

Day 19: On the Road Again

Today was the day that the team traveled from RTP to the RTP Datacenter up in Sterling VA. I can tell you that eating out was going to be a challenge, so here is what occurred.

Breakfast was easy, I went with the HSH Nutridozen bread with some almond butter. I did make some coffee as I had to be up and ready to leave by 7.30.

Around 11 we stopped at a gas station for some gas. I did my best to attempt to find a snack that was E2 compliant. I figured nuts might be my best option. There was so many choices though that were not allowed. Some with added salt, others roasted in oils, others dipped in chocolate. I did find these Barcelona ones, and turned the 3 into a trail mix for the road.

We made it to the DC4/DC5 around 1pm and stopped at a Pei Wei (a most fast food joint that is affiliated with PF Changs). There were several 'vegetarian' options. While I am not sure how E2 compliant they were, I think I made the best choice that was available to me.
Spicy Korean Vegetarian - Korean hot pepper sauce, garlic, white mushrooms, onions, carrots, long beans, toasted sesame seeds

For dinner the group of 10 decided to go to the Olive Garden. I can honestly say there were not many options. I am thinking that I fell off the wagon this evening. I did ask for the healthy Gluten Free menu, and thought I had ordered a dish with mushrooms and onions along with gluten pasta, but for some reason it was just sauce 'blended' with mushroom and onion :-( I also broke down and ordered the Caesar Salad and had a couple of the breaksticks... Overall, a pretty poor performance on my end. I plan on checking out the workout room in the morning along with a nice long time in the hot tub.


19 Down - 9 Left

A message from your trainer

Frequently Asked Question:

My turn.

Have you ever been told or told someone else yourself,

“You have to eat more fruits and vegetables!”

(Insert pointer finger waving here)

 

Thought so.

Any guess as to why that suggestion is still important today as it was the very first time your loved one suggested (ok, maybe demanded) it?

That’s right…because fruits and vegetables are “good for you.”

Fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamins and minerals.

And fiber.

And water.

And energy.

And phytonutrients!

Phyto-what?!

Phytonutrients.

 

Fruits and vegetables and other plant foods -including legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains are powerhouses that deliver thousands of phytonutrients to our bodies!

The term ‘phytonutrients’ literally means, plant (‘phyto’ is Greek for plants) nutrients.

 

Phytonutrients are naturally occurring, biologically active compounds created by plants for their own survival and protection.

Smart plants, huh?

 

Such naturally occurring plant nutrients interact in a number of ways to protect the plant AND to prevent disease and promote health in humans who eat plants!

 

The best way to take full advantage of these phytonutrients and their symphony of interactions is to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables and other plant foods.

Think rainbow here…

The darker & deeper the color of the plant, the more power of phytonutrients your body will experience with each bite.

 

 

So the next time you step into the produce room at your local grocery store, pause and take a look around…

 

See the purple cabbage over there? The deep green kale & broccoli over there?

Over on that wall of produce, do you see the orange & yellow peppers? The blue, purple and magenta colored berries?

The red onions and the white garlic caught your eye?

 

All of those colors, aromas and textures of the fresh fruit and vegetables are there for a reason.

The reason: protective phytonutrients.

And so now you know exactly why,

“You have to eat more fruits and vegetables.”

Day 18: Make your own Veggie Burger

Thursday was another hectic morning. Luckily I had prepared most of the big bowl yesterday before aborting and having the fajitas. Just adding some fresh fruit and oat milk and I was ready to rock and roll.

For lunch, I took the end of the leftover Sloppy Joe with some 'Health Starts Here' Nurtidozen Organic Bread. This was the first time I was sampling this bread and it was very tasty.

For dinner we attempted to make our first homemade veggie burgers. We followed the New York Times Veggie burger recipe. I can honestly say, the patties did not seem to come out very good looking, although the did smell good and they tasted pretty good.

As a side we tried the sweet potato fries again. I read something online about trying to bake them on a cookie sheet so that all the sides would get the heat. Although this method seemed very messy, I think I will give it a try again, although I am going to attempt chips next time.

18 Down - 10 Left

Day 17: Pizza Challenge

Today was a great morning. I have been jogging on the treadmill since the start of the year (one of those new years resolution things) but today I was able to run for 55 minutes. Usually I run for 20-30 minutes but for some reason I had the energy to keep going.

For breakfast I was making the big bowl when I realized we had the fajita leftovers. I decided to add black beans to the peppers and onions and hash browns and microwave the mixture. This came out excellent and was a great start to the day.

For lunch I was able to avoid the Bojangles run as I brought in the leftover quinoa salad. I was surprised how good this was after 5 days or more in the refrigerator.

During our class on Monday Jenn had mentioned that the bakery and pizza area was still trying to figure our a good E2 approved pizza dough recipe. Since I have made my own pizza dough in the past I figured I was up for the challenge. I started by googling 'no oil pizza dough' to see what might come up. I did find a few decent templates to work from. After using a combination of 3-4 recipes the dough was complete.

I then added a can of crushed tomatoes, onion, mushroom, olives as the base layer. I then crushed some cashews and mixed that with some nutritional yeast as my cheese replacement. I then found a recipe for no oil pesto and combined fresh basil, tomato, garlic and pine nuts.

The end product did not come out too badly, but I think it is back to the drawing board for a better dough.

17 Down - 11 Left

Day 16: Ordering Tofu

Started the day out with another big bowl. I actually decided to 'punish' myself and I did not eat the cereal with any fruit. Just straight grains.

For lunch I had some leftover chili from last week. I am guessing since it is a vegetarian 3 bean chili, I really did not have to worry about it going bad.

Another fear I had with my team coming in from out of town was the group dinners. While I was able to avoid Monday, I felt that I should join the group this evening. The went to one of our favorite restaurants in the area, shiki sushi. They have the best daily deal of buy one get one free sushi rolls.

Well, I went with the following -> Udon Pad Kee Mao (spicy) Stir-fried udon noodles with onion, red and green bell pepper,mushroom and Asian basil with vegetables and tofu

I can honestly say I never thought I would order tofu at a restaurant. My other selections were chicken, beef or shrimp. The mean was very good and something I might have the next time we dine there. The spice and the basil really made the dish.

16 Down - 12 Left

Day 15: Fajitas

Today we were scrambling again in the morning. I wanted to get into the office on-time with folks from every different time zone but eastern showing up. I did not want to be the last person in the conference room.

I tried a new bagel this morning. It was a poppy and onion bagel. Previously we have only had the cinnamon raisin.

We had another class this evening. It is surprising how many of the evening group still come to the events. I actually printed out some cards with my blog URL to hand out to the class. It is not that I want the attention, it is more motivation knowing that others are following my journey, and maybe I could help some keep going.

Since Week 3 is no oils, Jenn did a demo of how to saute onions and peppers in a pan with no oils. We paired the peppers and onions with seasoned hash browns on a tortilla with salsa and guacamole. It was kind of funny that this meal was the plan because Leigh and I had discussed having something extremely similar for dinner tonight.

When I returned home, I took what I learned and tried to recreate the meal. It was delicious! I seasoned the hash browns with our 'fajita marinade' and then microwaved it for 4:30. Sauteing without oil is a cinch. Just start with your pan super hot and add the raw onions first. Onions have a natural oil and water that will be used when it hits the pan. After about 3-5 minutes, add the peppers. I was told to add some vegetable broth to keep the mixture 'slippy'. Once all was complete, time to make the loaded tortilla.

15 Down - 13 Left

Day 14: Super Bowl Sunday

I can honestly say I was dreading this day and the diet. It has always been said that the E2 diet is not about will power, so do not put yourself into tough situations. More about that later....

For breakfast we did the French Toast again. Definitely one of our favorite breakfast recipes. This time I backed off on the amount of banana and increased the amount of milk. We paired the French Toast with another bowl of fruit!

For lunch we went with the Whole Foods bar again. There are several E2 approved items on the bar. I was able to sample about a half dozen items. I certainly over-purchased though, as we had plenty of leftovers.

Finally, Super Bowl time. I made some fresh hummus, salsa and guacamole for the party, along with some tortilla chips. With my entire team flying in for our week long training from Ireland, Hong Kong and all across the US this made it tough to ask everyone to 'bring their own dish' for the party. It was decided early on that we should pool the Per Diem money and order some pizza. I polled the team and this is what we purchased:

1 Double Peperoni
1 Papa John's Favorite (Peperoni and Sausage)
1 Spicy Italian
1 BBQ Chicken
1 Spicy Italian with Onion
2 Plain Cheese
1 Garden Fresh with thin crust
1 Cheese Stick order
1 6 Cheese Stick Order

1 30 piece Buffalo Chicken Strips
1 30 piece BBQ Chicken Strips
1 30 Piece Honey Chipotle Chicken Strips

To make a long story short, while I did cheat on the diet, I did so with the Garden Fresh Pizza which I asked for thin crust along with 'lite cheese'. There were certainly many poor choices that I could have made and at the end of the day I am proud of the choices I made or rather I did not make.

Oh, and congratulations to my New York Football Giants for their Super Bowl victory! It was one of the best Super Bowls in recent memory... Both teams were evenly matched and it could have gone either way.

14 Down - 14 Left (Half Way!)

Day 13: Fried Guacamole?

 It is always nice to have a weekend morning to spend time to cut up some fruit. It does take time to get the mangos, kiwi, berries and oranges. I paired the bowl of fruit with a new batch of the firehouse cobbler. I made them again in muffin form and will have several serving for later on this week.

For lunch I went with another veggie burger with some freshly made sweet potato fries. I used the tin foil again, which worked alright, but I am on the lookout for some parchment paper today while shopping...

Now, the most dreaded part of the evening. Going out to a restaurant for dinner. I have to pat myself on the back as I did make some excellent choices. We went to Buku in downtown Raleigh - Global Street Food. We started with some Baba Ghanouj. Although the dipping chips were probably not the best option, we did load up each chip with the dip. For dinner there were some options, but I went with this Ethiopian dish. (Ethiopian Lentil Wat potato, swiss chard, carrot, red onion, berberé spice, injera flatbread). Never in a million years would I have looked for this item on the menu, but believe it or not, it was damn good!

We then went to the American Idiot show at the Memorial Auditorium. The show was good, although extremely short. Maybe 90 minutes. We did know most of the songs in the musical and it was certainly upbeat and fun, although trying to piece together Green Day songs into a story line was challenging at best.

We did go out afterwards for drinks. We made it to the Oxford where we had some wine and ordered an after dinner appetizer. What immediately caught my eye was a 'fried Guacamole'. (Panko and chile crusted avocado deep fried and served with pico de gallo and chipotle ranch). Against our better judgement we ordered this intriguing menu item. After looking at the final product and taking one bite it was obvious that this was a horrible mistake. Guacamole tastes so good on it's own, why would you need to 'fry' it? It is certainly apropos that we saw 'American Idiot' tonight because this is certainly a stupid idea to create such a dish and one of the main reasons why America is in the shape that it is in today.

13 Down - 15 Left

TEDxAustin - Rip Esselstyn - 02/20/10

If you have not had a chance to watch the forks over knives video, here is a taste of what is it all about. Plus this is free! I watched it this morning and I hope you check it out...

Day 12: Sloppy Joes!

The day started off with another Rip's Big Bowl. Very good and filling as always. I did work and home today, so I was able to munch on the bowl throughout the morning.

Lunch was uneventful, I did not really have anything substantial. Just an orange, some chips and hummus. The big bowl throughout the morning really fills you up.

For dinner we experimented today. We went with the Sloppy Joe recipe from the book which calls for 'vegetarian meat crumbles'. I also baked some corn chips cut out of corn tortillas to pair with a freshly made batch of guacamole. For the guacamole I did use sorano peppers instead of jalapeno peppers and there was certainly some added heat to the dish.

We topped the meal off with a freshly made quinoa salad. Leigh made this, so I am not aware of how difficult this was to prepare, but the recipe does call for this to be chilled after cooking the quinoa. The salad had pineapple, red pepper, onion, green onion. This was quite delicious. Thanks babe!

12 Down - 16 Left

Day 11: Parchment versus Wax?

Day 11 started with another amazing fruit bowl. While out shopping this past weekend we purchased a mange slicer (those mango cores are a pain in the ...) so this made life easy. We sliced up mango, strawberry, pineapple, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry (sadly forgot about the kiwi). I told Leigh about my almond butter experience last night and she also wanted to give it a try, so we paired the fruit with a bagel also.

For lunch, it was chili again. One this to note about the book is that the recipes make for large portions. Almost as if Rip is trying to feed the entire fire station. This is certainly not a bad thing, as leftovers make for a quick and easy meal. With 'fast food' being an epidemic in this country, having something health and filling in this fast paced world is a godsend.

So here is my 'Parchment Paper' story... We decided to do Burger and Fries for dinner. I recall in my class on Monday that someone had mentioned using 'Parchment' paper to bake the homemade sweet potato fries in, and while the aluminum foil that I had been using was not turning out too badly, I wanted to give it a try. Well, stupidly I purchased 'wax paper' thinking that the 2 were synonymous. Boy was I wrong! After baking the fried on the wax paper, they pretty much stuck to the paper and sadly were inedible.

Because of this blunder, it gave me the opportunity to make my first homemade hummus. I quickly grabbed the garbanzo beans, garlic, lemon juice, tamari and some vegetable broth. It whipped up very quick and easy and while alittle lemony, it was a great pair to the veggie burger.

I would be remissed if I did not mention Needle Nose Ned Ryerson on this Groundhog Day... I still cannot believe the dumb thing saw it's shadow. It was 70 degrees here today!

11 Down - 17 Left

Day 10: Almond Butter

I have been avoiding trying almond butter since the start of the diet. We purchased approved bagels and they have been sitting in the freezer since day 1, but I really did not know or want to attempt to eat them. Coming from New Jersey, bagels are a way of life. To this day, when my parents come down to visit me I always remind them to bring a dozen bagels. They really do not make them the same or as good here in NC. Well, I was running short on time so I decided to go for it... Toasted the bagel, slapped on some Almond Butter and believe it or not, it was actually really good. Now don't get me wrong, a bagel with cream cheese does not get much better, but as my palette continues to change, this is something that I can certainly get used to.

Lunch was great, I brought in leftover Chili from the weekend. It actually tasted better as it had time to sit in the refrigerator. Another nice, quick and easy meal. Just a few minutes in the microwave and I was ready to go. Certainly helped going from one meeting to the next.

For dinner, we were busy yet again. Wednesday was certainly a crazy busy day. I decided to go rogue and just make up a dish on my own. It really was not too difficult. We went whole wheat fusilli pasta (reminds be of Fusilli Jerry from Seinfeld), I sauteed  one onion, added mushrooms and peppers and then added 2 cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes (no salt added of course). The whole meal too about 10-15 minutes to prepare and was delicious.

10 Down - 18 Left