After about fifteen years on a whole-foods, plant-based diet – with long forays into oil-free as well – we started to take stock and make some changes. We were concerned about brain health, sufficient quality Omega-3s, and were frustrated with not losing a key ten pounds. We also took a lot of cues from the lifestyles of the “blue regions.”
To be clear, we don’t believe that there is any one diet that works for everyone. But there are some basic underlying givens – predominantly plant-based, non-GMO, unprocessed, for some gluten-free, and organic when it counts. For that we rely on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen (or 18) and Clean 15 list (ewg.org) as the place we start to decide where to spend our organic food dollars – in addition to our local CSA pick-ups.
To migrate from such a long-time fairly rigid WFPB lifestyle felt a little uneasy, but we both agreed it was time. We started by just adding a little fish to our diet to ensure quality omega-3s – but always as a condiment (usually 3 oz.). But not just any fish or seafood – we made a list based on, again, the Environmental Working Group’s (ewg.org) high omega 3s and low mercury chart combined with the Monterey Aquarium’s sustainability list. Those lists have since been combined so there is now just one easy source called the SMASH fish (ewg.org): Salmon, Mackerel/Mussels, Anchovies, Sardine, Herring – all wild-caught seafood from sustainable populations. (We also have a secondary list that I’ll cover in more depth in an article on seafood.) Our friends were delighted! Entertaining us was now so much easier. To accommodate our diet, they happily centered meals on wild-caught Alaskan salmon and everyone at the table was content.
After a while, we decided to look further. While we had lost weight on a five-day all-organic juice and smoothie fasts, we inevitably gained some of it back. We both wanted to lose that frustrating, sticky 10 pounds – permanently – to be healthier, look better, and regain large swaths of our closets. So we needed to find a lifestyle diet that was satisfying for the long term and would also help us meet our health and weight goals.
We explored many options to find an approach that was grounded in evidence with a science that made sense. We decided to try Mark Hyman’s 21-day “Eat Fat, Get Thin” diet. It was pretty much life-changing for both of us. We found it very easy to follow, never felt deprived and started to lose weight – slowly and consistently. After our experiences on an oil-free plant-based diet, and having been steeped for decades in “low-fat” and “a calorie is a calorie” propaganda, it was really hard to add all those healthy fats. But we did, and, for us, it worked.
Half kidding, Hyman minted the word “PEGAN” to describe his maintenance plan – the best of paleo and vegan – and we have embraced a lot of it permanently. We still don’t eat meat or fowl. But we have dramatically limited our grains and beans, have added lots of healthy fats, continue to eat those small condiment portions of wild-caught fish and seafood, and are both at – or very near – our goal weights. Our plates are about 2/3-3/4 vegetables, 1/8-1/6 protein (fish, tofu, etc.), with nuts, seeds, organic extra-virgin olive oil, and three specific kinds of cheese as condiments. We cook only with avocado and coconut oils, (and very occasionally with ghee and toasted sesame oil). The Organic EVOO is for low-temp cooking, drizzling or dressing.
The grains: Quinoa (actually a seed), black rice, wild rice, organic brown rice (only occasionally and cooked in a big pot of water like pastae, amaranth, and millet. We experiment with a little bread – mostly organic mixed seeds and grains (Dave’s Killer) and whole-grain gluten-free (Udi’s) – and also sour dough. And we limit pasta to GF quinoa, red-lentil, and Miracle/Shirataki Noodles (made with Konjac). Plus we also spiralize a lot of veggies, which we actually find very satisfying.
Dairy: We continue to use only plant-based milk (almond, organic soy, and coconut plus canned full fat coconut milk) and, for the most part, plain organic coconut and almond yogurts. But we have also recently toyed with grass-fed organic full-fat cows milk Greek yogurt (Stonyfield’s Totally Grass-Fed Organic plain Greek yogurt) – to see how we feel. As for cheese – this is a very personal list: Only authentic Italian Parmigiano Reggiano, authentic Greek Sheep’s Milk Feta and French goat cheese (Chevre). That’s it. We trust these European sources far more than American ones and can find them easily even in the big box stores (they just cost a little more) – and some are made with A2 milk. But all are used as condiments and sparingly.
At the same time, we are minimizing ersatz vegan imitation foods – sadly so many of the meat alternatives are made primarily with gluten – but we are dipping a toe in the water with the new Beyond Meat products. And most of the vegan cheeses seem to be full of questionable ingredients. But we are withholding judgment because of the new wave of clean plant-based dairy from Miyoko, Kite Hill and local sources but they are very pricey.
Eggs? Yes! Pastured, organic, free-range. Three times as much as supermarket CAFO eggs, but there is a real difference that you can see and taste. And the consensus, at least this year, is that the right eggs are healthful. So a well-cooked egg on a mess of steamed power greens (baby chard, spinach & kale with a pinch of turmeric) drizzled with EVOO is the standard late-morning breakfast these days.
Sweeteners are confined to organic stevia, monk fruit, and very occasionally dates, organic maple syrup, or a drizzle of hyper-local honey from our neighbors’ hives. We also stock organic peanut butter, sun butter, and almond butter, along with an array of olives, capers, pickles, artichoke hearts and lots of other unctuously lovely foods.
We also always make room in the fridge for some fermented foods: kimchi, real sauerkraut, Bubbie’s pickles and relishes, kombucha, and farmers’ market finds. Umami comes from an assortment of mustards, a huge array of liquid condiments, and five kinds of miso. We’ll leave a full panty list for another post, but suffice it to say there is minimal processed food.
Beverages are mostly organic green tea (my go-to drink for more than two decades, there is always a cup at hand until dinner time – then herbal), lemon filtered water, iced tea, an occasional glass of wine (and for my husband coffee and beer).
Bottom line, we rarely, if ever, feel deprived, and find it remarkably easy to dine out or be dinner guests (we just get a little flexible and stay on course at home). We think that choosing what and how one eats should be a continually evolving process – informed by reliable, reproducible, evidence-based studies. That it is important to not get stuck with titles, or too invested in one’s food choices as a large a part of one’s identity – because then you feel less free to change. Try something that resonates and if it works, great. If it doesn’t, step back and try something else. (Oh, and BTW, my IBS which informed my life for at least seven years has mostly disappeared……).