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Fat-Free and Low Fat Vegan Plant Based Recipes

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Product Review: Amy’s Bowls Brown Rice Black Eyed Peas and Veggies

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I’m reviewing another Amy’s product. Amy’s Bowls with brown rice, black eyed peas and veggies. I have to admit I don’t really eat black eyed peas, but that’s only because I don’t see them for sale much in Canada. So I was curious to try this. I had previously tried Amy’s Brown Rice and Vegetables Bowl which was ok, and I wanted to compare them. This one I actually like better!

Here’s the ingredients, all vegan.

Nutritional information, a little high in fat and sodium as many Amy’s products tend to be. (For the portion size.)

Taken out of the package.

This meal actually looks pretty nice once it’s reheated. The veggies get a little overcooked in the microwave, but once you mix everything together it’s pretty good. I like the combination of black eyed peas and brown rice and it has a nice flavor. I’m definitely going to seek some out to cook myself.

Here’s my review breakdown.

Basic Nutritional Info: 290 calories 11g of fat, 580 mg of sodium, 11 g of protein

Price: $3.74 USD on sale ($4.99 reg) In Canada about $6.29

Taste: 4/5

Texture: 3/5

Healthfulness: 3/5

Looks: 4/5

Low fat: No

Vegan: Yes

Gluten Free: Yes

Soy Free: No

Nut Free: Yes

GMO Free: Yes

Would I eat it again? I would if it was a good price.

What could be improved? Reduce the amount of sodium and olive oil in the recipe.

 

Have you ever tried Amy’s Brown Rice, Black Eyed Peas and Vegetables Bowl? What did you think?

This is not a sponsored post. Low Fat Vegan Chef received no compensation for reviewing this product. It’s just a popular brand in the vegetarian community.

The Importance of Reading Labels. Organic Doesn’t Always = Best

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Shopping for healthy foods can be somewhat challenging and confusing these days. Most people purchase products based on what the package looks like and health claims put on the front. They don’t always read the ingredient list or check out the nutritional information.

One thing I find particularly confusing and frustrating is the label “organic”. Especially when it comes to processed foods. Organic is only one criteria to determine whether a food is “healthy” and a good choice. Often foods labeled organic can have lots of oil and salt which can make them unhealthy regardless of being organic.

Let’s take a look at some of the organic and conventional canned beans that can be purchased at a regular grocery store. (Please bear in mind I am in Canada and there’s only about 4 choices of brands for each product and there will be more in the USA)

Black Beans

1 cup of organic black beans is 210 calories with 890 mg of sodium. This is shocking! You want to look for foods with around a 1:1 ratio of calories per serving and mg of sodium. This is far too much sodium for a packaged food for me to ever put in my shopping cart. It doesn’t even matter that it’s organic so I just leave it on the shelf.

So what about a non-organic brand of black beans such as this popular brand? Well this label is deceiving. They have changed the serving size to only 1/2 cup. For 1 cup of these black beans it contains 260 calories and 860 mg of sodium. This brand has more calories and only slightly less sodium in it. This wouldn’t make it into my shopping cart either.

There’s lots of different brands so let’s check out another one. This one is 190 calories per 1 cup and only 280 mg of sodium. This leads me to believe there is less oil and sodium used in the recipe, and while the sodium isn’t quite at the 1:1 ratio it seems to be the best option for non-organic black beans at a fair price. For conventional, yes this could go into my shopping cart if there wasn’t any sodium free variety available.

Chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans

Chickpeas are another product frequently bought by vegetarians and health seekers so let’s take a look at some of these labels.

Organic chickpeas, looks good on the front, but check out the nutritional information on the back. 1 cup has 220 calories and 770 mg of sodium. This is far too high and it would not make it into my shopping cart.

This label is again playing the little trick of changing the serving size. For a 1 cup portion of chickpeas it has 340 calories and 940 mg of sodium. This is shocking! This product would never ever make it into my shopping cart. That is more salt than in a frozen dinner or a pizza.

Here’s a more acceptable nutritional label. 210 calories and 390 mg of sodium. It’s not low sodium, but it seems to be one of the “better” choices for the price at the grocery store. If there were no low sodium/sodium free varieties at the store, I would choose this one.

When comparing organic to traditional products there are definitely some clear winners and losers. Overall there is one brand of organic beans that you can always count on to be healthy and good for you. I don’t need to compare any more types of beans, I think you get the message that even products that should be essentially the same are not and it’s important to always read the labels.

Eden Organics uses no added salt and uses seaweed instead to add some additional flavor to the beans. The great news is that they are also oil free and contain no other preservatives. They also come in a BPA free can, so all around they are the best choice for canned beans. You can find them at regular and health food stores. The only downside is that they are often more expensive than their competitors, but their product is better.

The good thing is, once you find out what brand is the healthiest you don’t have to spend time reading labels anymore for that product, just repurchase it every time. Even if the other brands that are high sodium and are on sale, I still don’t buy them. Sometimes they are in BPA lined cans and have salt and oil in them and there’s no point in buying unhealthy plant foods just because it’s on sale. The other ones are only a few cents more each.

Alternatively you can cook your own beans and control the amount of sodium and reduce the cost of using beans in your cuisine at home.

I detail this in my Comfort Soups To Keep You Warm recipe ebook. You’ll learn how to cook dried beans from scratch, make your own vegetable broth (that is more flavorful than store bought and low sodium)

Cook dried chickpeas at home

homemade vegetable stock

Tuscan Roasted Tomato Chickpea Soup made from scratch

All this and more is can be found in Comfort Soups To Keep You Warm

Are you surprised by any of these labels? Do you read the nutritional labels of everything you purchase at the store? Any other products you’d like me to investigate at the grocery store?

Product Review: Amy’s Kitchen Vegetable Pot Pie (Non Dairy)

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I used to love chicken pot pies growing up (easy for kids to cook themselves naturally) and probably ate them too frequently. I loved how crispy and tasty the crust was on them. I was surprised to find a vegan version of this traditional pot pie and thought I’d try it out.

Honestly it’s not my favorite from Amy’s Kitchen, but I do commend them for trying to make this vegan pot pie lower in fat and healthier than the original. However the crust is a little hard and dry when you bake it up and not very delicious. Inside the tofu has a chicken-like flavour but there seems to be more crust than filling. I think I’ll skip trying to make vegan pot pies myself and opt for a hearty veggie stew instead when I get a craving for something like this.

Ingredients and directions.

Nutritional Information

Taking it out of the package

I tried to get a picture of the insides so I broke into the crust with my fork, but you can tell it’s got a lot of empty space in there. For around the same calories I’d pick Amy’s Bean & Rice burrito as it’s a little more filling and satisfying. If you have a craving for a vegan version of chicken pot pie, this may do it for you though.

Basic Nutritional Info: 320 calories 19 grams of fat 53% fat by calories 22 g of protein

Price: $3.74 USD on sale ($4.99 reg) In Canada about $6-$7

Taste: Dry crust, tofu not bad, missing more vegetables

Healthfulness: 2/5 (high in fat and sodium)

Looks: 2/5

Low fat: No, high fat recipe

Vegan: Yes

Gluten Free: No

Soy Free: No

Nut Free: Yes

GMO Free: Yes

Would I eat it again? Probably not. It’s mostly dough and hardly any filling. The gravy is supposed to be the best part and it’s very dry overall.

What could be improved? More sauce, more filling!

Disclosure, I’m doing this review of my own accord, I was not given any free product nor was I paid to do this review.

Have you ever had Amy’s Vegetable Pot Pie? What did you think?

This is not a sponsored post. PlantBasedU received no compensation for reviewing this product. It’s just a popular brand in the vegetarian community.

Ninja Cooking System Recipe: Vegan French Yellow Split Pea Soup (Slow Cooker)

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Back in August I attended the International Food Blogger Conference and attendees were able to secure a brand new Ninja Cooking System for free should they choose to try it. I was very interested because it’s not just a slow cooker, but you can use it for baking or stovetop cooking as well. So if you like to start off some of your soups, stews or roasts by sautéing and then turning on the slow cooker, you will love this kitchen gadget. It comes with a little cookbook in the box, but naturally none of the recipes are vegan. There is one “can be made vegetarian” lentil soup recipe in the book, but I tried it and was not impressed. (It uses chicken stock and cheese and I used vegetable stock and it was rather bland, naturally.)

So I decided to pull it out and make a vegan split pea soup. It is rather chilly in Calgary, Canada where I am and it sure makes the house smell delicious with soup cooking away all day. What’s nice about the Ninja Cooking System is that it has a non stick lightweight pan. So there’s no fear of food getting stuck to it making it hard to clean, or it being so heavy you might accidentally drop it and break it. It also has a handy digital timer for the low/high/buffet (keep warm) setting, and simply an on/off setting for the low/medium/high stovetop section.

Since I will be using it only for bean, lentil and soup recipes (and not roasts or meat stews) I will be playing around with it. But for my purposes it works just like a slow cooker so it’s very easy to use. Don’t be intimidated! Just select the setting you want by using the dial. Although I still have my regular slow cooker, I suppose I don’t need it anymore as the Ninja is quite convenient to use AND clean too. It also comes with a little metal pan for roasting/steaming/baking and a metal roasting rack.

If you’re interested in getting a Ninja Cooking System you can get it on Amazon here. I suspect it would also make a nice gift for that family member pressed on time, who likes to toss ingredients into the pot and “set it and forget it” until they come home from work for fast meals.

Although I’m not skilled in the art of French cooking (as they use butter, cream and meat predominantly) I still enjoy using some French ingredients and especially French herbs. Here’s my version of a simple and hearty Vegan French Split Pea Soup.

Vegan French Yellow Split Pea Soup (Slow Cooker)

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 cups yellow split peas (rinsed and picked over)
8 cups vegetable broth (low sodium or homemade)
1 large sweet onion, or 2 small, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 celery ribs, diced
3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
3 tsp Herbs de Provence (or a mix of rosemary, thyme, savory and/or basil)
3 small bay leaves
1 tsp Dijon mustard (do not use yellow mustard or spicy mustard)
Fresh ground pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Herbamare or salt (or to taste)

Directions:

Place ingredients into a slow cooker such as the Ninja or a pressure cooker.

Cook on high for 5-6 hours or low for 8-10 hours. Alternately you can cook it in a pressure cooker for about 7 minutes.

When split peas are at desired tenderness, mash or blend part of the soup for a creamier texture.

Add dijon mustard and stir and season to taste with Herbamare or salt and pepper.

Serve with whole wheat bread or over rice.

Additional Tips:

Make sure to use fresh split peas (meaning not ones sitting in your cupboard for the past year, and preferably not from a bulk bin). Using “old” split peas that have been through various temperatures and humidity can leave them hard and difficult to break down. You’ll know you had old peas if at the end of cooking time they are still rather hard and intact. No amount of cooking will soften them, you’ll just end up burning the bottom of the soup to the pot. (I have had this happen many times from bulk split peas) Pick up a fresh set of split peas for your soup recipe instead.

Because I cooked this in the Ninja some of the moisture escaped from the hole in the lid at the top, so my soup is really thick. If this happens to you, you can add a little more broth or water as needed for desired consistency and then season to taste.

Additionally you can add diced potatoes or other seasonings to this soup to mix it up.

Have you ever made split pea soup? What ingredients do you like to add?

Product Review: Amy’s Kitchen Bean And Rice Burrito Non Dairy

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This was my first time trying one of Amy’s burritos. The bean and rice burrito sounded like a good bet for a vegan version. I was a little surprised at the calorie count for it though because at 320 calories it’s way more than a snack, but the burrito is fairly small so it looks more like a snack or part of a meal.

Nutritional Info and ingredients.

It tastes pretty standard for a pinto bean and rice burrito, good, but not amazing. It’s a little too high in fat and sodium for my liking, but maybe for a small meal it will work for others. It reheats really easily which makes it an easy meal. I think I will make a recipe for this myself because it’s pretty simple to create. 🙂

Here’s my overall review score.

Basic Nutritional Info: 300 calories 8 grams of fat 24% fat by calories 10 g of protein

Price: $1.98 USD  In Canada about $4

Taste: 4/5

Texture: 4/5, tortillas is a little dry but that’s to be expected in lower fat tortillas

Healthfulness: 2/5 (high in fat and sodium)

Looks: 4/5

Low fat: No, medium fat recipe

Vegan: Yes

Gluten Free: No

Soy Free: Yes

Nut Free: Yes

GMO Free: Yes

Would I eat it again? Yes, but I think I’m more apt to make one myself.

What could be improved? Use less oil in the recipe and lower the sodium content. It’s a little too high to be considered health food.

Disclosure, I’m doing this review of my own accord, I was not given any free product nor was I paid to do this review.

Have you ever had Amy’s Bean & Rice Burrito? What did you think?

 

Questions Answered: Is Cooking Spray Ok To Use and Can You Make Oil-Free Kale Chips?

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After posting about The Myth of Moderation: The Impact of “Just a Little Oil”. I got some questions so I decided to answer them so everyone can benefit.

 

Q: Veronica – what is the impact of using  the cooking oil sprays? 

We all have probably heard about Pam non-stick cooking spray. On the front of the container it actually says “fat free” which they are legally allowed to advertise if 1 serving is less than 0.5 g of fat.

 

Look at the back of the container and it says that 1 serving is actually 1/3 of a second spray.

 

Do you know anyone that can spray a fraction of a second?

 

I don’t either.

 

Read the ingredient list and it says: canola oil, grain alcohol from corn, lecithin from soybeans, and propellant.

 

So is it possible for any food to actually be fat free, when the first ingredient it contains is oil?

 

No. Absolutely not.

 

The primary ingredient in all cooking sprays is oil. They’ve just conveniently changed the serving size to something absurd to weasel around food labelling laws.

 

This only serves their purposes, not yours.

 

When you use cooking sprays, do you spray for even just 1 second?

 

Doubtful.

 

Usually it takes a few seconds to cover a pan or some vegetables on a tray with cooking  spray.

 

So at best you’re adding a fraction of a teaspoon of oil to your dish, and at worst it’s a teaspoon or two.

 

But it’s really hard to know for sure.

 

And that’s not all, they use propellant in cooking spray which is a pretty vague term.

 

Propellant in cooking spray can include n-butane, isobutane, nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide.

 

While they are used in small levels, it’s not something you want to be consuming and using every day in your cooking.
 

Every little bit can add up.

 

Have I used cooking spray ever? Yes.

 

Do I use it regularly? No. Almost never in fact.

 

Instead of using cooking spray and oils, why not master the art of oil-free cooking?

 

For cooking in a non-stick pan, use some water or vegetable broth to sauté. If you’re doing only onions or mushrooms, you actually don’t even need any liquid, as they will naturally release them while cooking to prevent sticking.

 

For baking or roasting, try using a little balsamic vinegar and water with seasonings, or vegetable broth in a roasting pan and seasonings.

 

While we cannot replicate cooking with oil, we can increase the healthfulness of our cooking while still achieving good flavor.

 

There’s far too much oil in restaurant and prepared food as it is to need to use any of it at home.

 

All oils and cooking sprays are highly refined foods and should not be a regular part of your cooking.

 

Q: I made kale chips awhile back and they were very good…both my wife AND i LOVED THEM BUT…IT TOOK A COUPLE OF TABLESPOONS  OF OIL which was rubbed on the kale  to prepare them for baking… is ther[e] a better way to make kale chips?

 

While I haven’t made kale chips in the oven, I have made them in a dehydrator (as they started out as a raw vegan snack at first.)

 

I would suggest using another liquid such as balsamic vinegar, or lemon juice instead to toss the kale in and using seasonings such as nutritional yeast, soy sauce and chili flakes instead.

 

I even found an oil-free oven dehydrated kale chips here. For oil-free raw vegan kale chips go here.

 

A quick google search will often yield oil-free versions of your favorite recipes. So don’t be afraid to use it.

 

If you’re looking to learn how to cook without oil and transform your body with the power of plant-based cuisine I highly recommend my Comfort Foods From Around The World recipe ebook.

 

It contains over 60 low fat recipes that will wow your taste buds and make eating healthier a whole lot easier and tastier.

 

 

Just take a look at the photos and your mouth will be watering for these delicious meals that are not only good for you, but good for your waistline too!

 

No more diet foods. No more bland and boring recipes. The secret is to learn how to cook your old favorites a healthier way that will satisfy your hunger and suit your family’s needs.

 

We’ve all been guilty of not eating enough fruits and vegetables, and my way makes it much easier to do so. When you’re filling up on plant-foods it won’t even feel like a diet and the weight will melt right off.

 

Go to:

 

 

You can do it, and I can help. 🙂

Product Review: Amy’s Kitchen Roasted Vegetable Tamale

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I’ve actually never had a tamale before (you don’t often find them without meat or cheese). But I quite like this Roasted Vegetable Tamale by Amy’s. It’s much different than Amy’s Enchiladas and has some good flavor and texture to it. The tamale portion is delicious and different, the black beans? Mmm not so good. I absolutely love black beans, but these ones crushed my expectations and not in a good way. All I could taste was salt and nothing else. 🙁

Ingredients all vegan!

Nutritional information. This recipe is lower in fat than some of their meals, but seriously high in sodium. Over 2 1/2 times the amount health experts recommend per calorie (mostly in the beans).

I wish these tamales came by themselves because I would enjoy eating them again. They were flavorful. But the beans are too salty. I’m not sure if they are catering to the lowest common denominator in salt lovers or what. I like some salt in beans but I don’t know why Americans eat such salty black and pinto beans, it’s hard to taste anything else but salt. Other seasonings like cumin and chili powder can add some interest and reduce the amount of salt needed in a recipe.

On to my overall product review.

Basic Nutritional Info: 280 calories 7 grams of fat 23% fat by calories 9 g of protein

Price: $3.38 USD on sale ($4.99 reg) In Canada about $6.29

Taste: Tamale 4/5 Black beans 1/5 way too salty

Texture: 4/5

Healthfulness: 3/5 (high in sodium)

Looks: 4/5

Low fat: No, medium fat

Vegan: Yes

Gluten Free: Yes

Soy Free: Yes

Nut Free: Yes

GMO Free: Yes

Would I eat it again? Yes, but not the black beans portion.

What could be improved? Use less oil in the recipe and much less sodium in the black beans and other seasonings instead.

Disclosure, I’m doing this review of my own accord, I was not given any free product nor was I paid to do this review.

Have you ever tried Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Tamale? What did you think?

Product Review: Amy’s Kitchen Indian Vegetable Korma

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This is probably my favorite Amy’s meal that I have tried so far, because there are 3 distinct dishes in it. It’s not spicy, but has some nice flavors to it. Most of Amy’s Indian meals have cream or paneer cheese in them, so I was happy I could try one that was vegan.

They even make it easy to tell on the ingredients list that it’s all vegan. 🙂

Nutritional Information for Amy’s Vegetable Korma. It has about double the amount of sodium per calorie that health experts recommend so it’s a bit too high. It’s also over 34% fat by calories.

Taking it out of the package.

After it’s reheated. It looks a little bit messy, but it tastes better than it looks! Here’s my overall review of it.

Basic Nutritional Info: 310 calories 12 grams of fat 35% fat by calories 9 g of protein

Price: $3.38 USD on sale ($4.99 reg) In Canada $6.29

Taste: Vegetables 4/5 Rice 4/5 Dal 3/5

Texture: Vegetables 4/5 Rice 5/5 Dal 4/5

Healthfulness: 3/5 (high in fat and sodium)

Looks: 4/5

Low fat: No, medium fat recipe

Vegan: Yes

Gluten Free: Yes

Soy Free: Yes

Nut Free: No

GMO Free: Yes

Would I eat it again? Yes for a quick meal.

What could be improved? Use less oil in the recipes and a little less sodium in the dal, it was pretty salty.

Disclosure, I’m doing this review of my own accord, I was not given any free product nor was I paid to do this review.

Have you ever tried Amy’s Vegetable Korma? What do you think? 

How To Stop Sabotaging Your Weight Loss Goals

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“We all can’t help everyone, but we can all help someone” is a phrase that I came across recently that really rings true for me.

I know that I can’t change the world or get everyone eating I talk to eating healthy, but I feel it’s really important to share knowledge and help others. I’ve always been an extremely inquisitive and curious person, and whenever I learn something new I just feel the need to share it.

So if I can make a difference for just one of you today with this post, I’m going to do it.

First, I’m going to start off with a basic assumption: I know you want to be fit and healthy. Who doesn’t? But it’s not very easy to be once you’ve learned some bad habits is it?

We really want to change and have more energy, lose the weight and feel great. But something happens along the way…

You may or may not know what it is, but I think I know.

We tend to get in our own way and kind of sabotage ourselves, whether it’s subconsciously or not.

Let’s take a look at the some the top reasons we prevent ourselves from reaching our goals when it comes to achieving health and weight loss.

-Bad Attitude & Negative Perspective
-How You Talk To Yourself
-Wanting to Look Good To Impress Others
-Lack of Preparation and Planning
-Lack of Motivation

Bad Attitude & Negative Perspective

Your attitude about diet and lifestyle can stop you from succeeding before you even get started.

What not to do:

As dieters, we can have this attitude that eating healthy isn’t attractive. That the food doesn’t taste “good enough” as what we’re used to, that we’re deprived from our favorite treats, and somehow we’re being punished for our sins until we can drop the weight or gain our health back.

Then once we’ve achieved our goal we hope we can have a few treats again and relax a little.

You might even be telling yourself or others “Oh I can’t have that any more, I’m on a diet!!!”

Let me tell you from personal experience, this approach does NOT work.When we look at our new food as “the enemy” or not as good as what we used to have, we start to feel upset and stressed and resent it. And this can leave you seeking solace in your old favorites, trying to comfort yourself to feel better or feeling depressed and frustrated day after day.

What to do instead:

Change that attitude into a positive one.

Say to yourself something like, “I want to turn over a new leaf and start choosing foods that are not only delicious but are good for me and make me feel good.”

You know some of your past food choices haven’t been ideal. That’s ok. Today is a new day and try to have a positive attitude just to try it out. If you have to, fake it til you make it.

Try to look at your situation as wanting to be kind to yourself in a different way, a better way that not only keeps you healthy but brings more to your life like energy, happiness and longevity.

Try saying to yourself “I can eat whatever I want, but I want to choose foods that are healthful instead”.

Turn the negative into a positive. You make the decisions for you. You decide what you eat, and you choose different foods that are healthy, they are not forced upon you. Keep it positive and avoid any negative talk or attitude about your plant based meals.

By the time you get used to eating new healthier foods, your tastebuds will have caught up with you and you’ll realize these foods do actually taste pretty good, better than you thought they would.

Wanting to Look Good To Impress Others

Let’s face it, sometimes we can be a little insecure and vain.

We look at pretty and attractive people on tv and in the magazines and we can start to envy them.

Surely we would be happier if only we looked like them right?

What not to do:

You try to convince yourself to eat better and start exercising so you can dress to impress and look good for your spouse or flaunt it in front of friends and acquaintances.You think having people envy you will make you feel better about yourself and that should be motivation enough to stick to a new plan.

The truth is you’re actually sending a really bad message to your subconscious.

That somehow because you’re not currently getting praised for your looks or health that you aren’t worth it and if you were that would mean you were a success and make you feel better about yourself.

This is a bad situation.

The person who should care the most about your health is yourself. No one can force you or motivate you better to get healthy than yourself. Trying to diet or lose weight for someone else will not work for very long and soon you’ll be back to square one and still feel pretty crappy about yourself.

What to do instead:

Realize that you are the best motivator for getting healthy. Tell yourself that you want to get fit and feel great because of what a positive effect it will have on your life.

Get excited about all the benefits you will have by getting in shape and eatingbetter.

Things like:

-more energy
-better mood
-clothes fitting better
-being more outgoing
-feeling confident about your body
-wanting to dress up and go out
-not feeling guilty about food

All of these things will be a much better at motivating you to get healthy than just to look good for someone else or impress acquaintances and strangers.

Feed your soul and not your ego and you’ll naturally feel this positive shift in your perspective and behavior.

How You Talk To Yourself

This will predominantly concern women as we tend to be very critical of ourselves and expect perfection.

What not to do:

You look at yourself in the mirror and feel hopeless and depressed. “How did I let it get this far?” you might ask yourself. You don’t feel worthy, you feel ashamed and suddenly you just want to sit around and open up a tub of ice-cream to console yourself.

If you ever feel like this please do not lose hope. The problem is not what you see in the mirror. The problem is what you are saying to yourself and how you are treating yourself. The mirror is only a reflection of your previous behavior. You’ve made yourself feel unworthy of health and success somehow turned to food to help fill the emptiness or sadness you feel.

What to do instead:

Realize that you are not the sum of what you see in the mirror. There is far more to you than what can be seen on the surface. But you need to look at that reflection of yourself as your friend, actually your best friend.

If you’re not your own best friend, don’t expect anyone else to be able to treat you better than yourself. Look at yourself and say “I accept myself unconditionally as I am right now.”

It helps if you can say this at least 5 times a day.

Even if you feel silly, even if you think it’s a lie, please just try it.

It helps to train your subconscious to associate your image with love and acceptance, instead of shame and guilt.

Visualization is highly beneficial for success. If you have any other conditions such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer you can use positive affirmations to help
your body heal as well. Envision yourself at your ideal body weight and in perfect health. Try to think about yourself like this throughout the day.

It will send signals to your body that will help you achieve your goals.

Lack of Preparation and Planning

What not to do:

You buy a bunch of recipe books or you spend hours online looking at recipes you want to make only to let them sit there in the back of your mind “to try one day”.

You don’t make a shopping list of items to buy, and you don’t really think about when you’ll go grocery shopping or when you’ll have time to make lunches or dinner.

So you come home from work, stressed out and feeling guilty and you order take out or pull out something unhealthy from the freezer to reheat.

You tell yourself “maybe next week I’ll do better… but I don’t know if I can do it.”

What to do instead:

This is something I really had to work on myself.

When I have been most successful in eating healthy I’ve prepared all of my meals at home, and brought food with me wherever I went.

1. Find some recipes that you want to make for the week. Plan out some simple meals like smoothies or oatmeal for breakfast, soup, stews, wraps or sandwiches for lunch and some casseroles or entrees for dinner.

2. Write down all the ingredients you need to buy and plan 1 or 2 times that you can shop for groceries. If you plan on making a lot of green smoothies or salad it helps to go twice a week as sometimes you can run out of fridge space for those bulky items.

3. The last step is to schedule some cooking/prep time for meals. If you don’t make time for this you really won’t be able to succeed and you risk having your produce go to waste.

Even if you have a busy work schedule or family life, try to find 1-2 hours at least 2-3 times a week that you can dedicate to creating healthy meals. Just take it slow, start out with a few recipes until you get the hang out if it.

If you make sure you have healthy meals already prepared in the fridge you are more likely to eat them whenever you get busy and stressed. Don’t let yourself get to the point where you’re starving, cranky and there’s nothing ready to eat in the fridge so you go out and get some fast food instead.

Anticipate those situations that make it easy for you to feel tempted to grab take out or fast food and be prepared.

Every time you have one of your healthy meals instead of something else, smile and praise yourself a little. You’re on your way to success!

Lack of Motivation

You may feel a lack of motivation towards many things, exercising, grocery shopping, preparing meals, eating healthy
etc.

Try to determine the root cause of your lack of motivation.

If you’re just too tired, try to go to bed a little earlier and get a little more sleep. If you feel uninspired or afraid of trying something new, ask your spouse or a friend to do it with you for moral support. (This could be exercising together, shopping together, cooking together etc).

You can also meet like minded people on websites such as www.meetup.com if you’re looking for some activity partners or veggie enthusiasts to talk to.

If you feel like you don’t have any time to work out, look at your schedule and plan all your other activities out and then see where you have some time. Even if you just
make time 30 minutes 3 times a week before work or after dinner to go for a walk or a light jog it will make a difference.

The key is to make realistic goals and start out with what you can manage and stick to it.

Studies have shown that once you have created a new habit and stuck to it for at least 21 days, it becomes almost second nature and is very easy to keep up.

The hardest part is going to be getting to that 21 days. But just take it one day at a time and praise yourself for the little victories along the way.

So now that we’ve covered some of the mental blocks that might be preventing you from being successful at a health new life style, I want to encourage you to remember the important things I’ve covered in this post.

-Start having a positive attitude with healthy food

-Don’t change for anyone else, change for yourself

-Accept yourself for who you are today

-Plan ahead for success

-Make time and get motivated with friends
or loved ones

While I can’t personally coach everyone on living a successful lifestyle (I’m still working on myself too!) I can help you when it comes to making meals with my mouth watering plant based dishes.

My Low Fat Vegan Starter Kit is the perfect way to get started in this journey.

100% real food, with no oil, and no processed ingredients.

All with tantalizing photos to inspire you every day. Best of all they are omnivore and picky eater tested and come with a 100% 60 day money back guarantee so it’s risk free to try.

Get the Low Fat Vegan Starter Kit here:

http://www.plantbasedu.com/LowFatVeganStarterKit

And I want to say thank you for all that you do by reading my emails and blog posts because without you I wouldn’t be able to reach out and help the world.

So in turn we are helping each other. 🙂

P.S. If you’ve already bought one of my ebooks in the package you can definitely upgrade to the whole package at a discount. Just contact me and I’ll give you the
details!

Jeff Novick On The Myth of Moderation Pt 2: The Impact of “Just A Little Oil!”

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If you missed out on The Myth of Moderation Pt 1: check it out here.

As humans we tend to be fairly curious and like to test the limits of what we can and can’t do. Often when people opt for a new diet or eating plan they try to stretch the boundaries of what they are “supposed to do” and try to do what they perceive is acceptable, normal or even healthy. In the case of a low fat vegan diet, many people still believe just a “little bit” of oil can’t hurt anything, and in fact is good for you.

While I won’t argue that a healthy individual with no ailments would be harmed by a little bit of oil in one recipe eaten only once, a little bit of oil here or there does add up and it counts. I like to strive for a whole foods based diet as much as possible, and the fact is oil is a refined food and just isn’t included in the optimal diet.

We have plenty of opportunities to get omega 3’s from chia seeds, flax seeds and walnuts, and omega 6’s from other nuts and avocados. Adding olive oil or coconut oil is not necessary for health, and you will benefit from more nutrients and antioxidants if you just ate the whole food instead.

Jeff Novick, MS, RD talks about the concept of adding just a little bit of oil to your salads or veggies and how that actually makes more of a difference than you think.

For more information, I also highly recommend Jeff Novick’s lecture From Oil To Nuts: The Essential Facts About Fat Oils. You can watch a free section of it on YouTube, but it’s definitely worth getting the whole lecture on DVD. He also has a short excerpt from Going Nuts Over Nuts his 2012 lecture on YouTube.

The Myth of Moderation Pt 2: The Impact of “Just A Little Oil!”

So now you’ve got Jeff’s take on adding “healthy” oils to your salads and vegetables. If you’re cooking veggies you have a few oil free options.  You can steam them on the stove, microwave them, or saute them in a non stick pan.