Crazy Sexy Diet: Eat Your Veggies, Ignite Your Spark, and Live Like You Mean It! (42 page)
Read Crazy Sexy Diet: Eat Your Veggies, Ignite Your Spark, and Live Like You Mean It! Online
Authors: Kris Carr,Rory Freedman (Preface),Dean Ornish M.D. (Foreword)
Tags: #Nutrition, #Motivational & Inspirational, #Health & Fitness, #Diets, #Medical, #General, #Women - Health and hygiene, #Health, #Diet Therapy, #Self-Help, #Vegetarianism, #Women
SHOPPING LIST
Here’s a short list of foods
you’ll find in my personal cache—I think they’d look good in yours, too. Some are healing staples and nutritional prizefighters, while others are transitional foods for getting over the meaty, fatty hump. All are a diet upgrade. Again, you do not need everything! This is just a guide, a snapshot of my kitchen.
VEGGIESYour new lifestyle calls for veggies, veggies, and more veggies! They are the centerpieces of your Crazy Sexy Diet. Cucumbers, broccoli, kale, collards, celery, parsley, cabbage, romaine, red lettuce, spinach, peppers, zucchini, asparagus, red peppers, chard, green beans, alfalfa sprouts, lentil sprouts, mung bean sprouts, sweet pea and sunflower sprouts, onions, garlic, leeks, cauliflower, winter squash, carrots, arugula, bok choy, sweet potatoes, parsnip, turnips … the list goes on! Have fun with your veggies—experiment with new tastes like kohlrabi, tat soi, and jicama. Mix and match ’em, try new seasonings, invent your own stir-fries, salads, soups, and stews. Oh, and invite me over for dinner.
TIP
When navigating the grocery store, stay on the perimeter and avoid the middle! The perimeter is where the produce and fresh foods are found. Packaged foods are found in the middle of the store. When venturing into the inner aisles for grain, bread, and cereal, look up or down. The stuff at eye level is from big food companies that have paid big bucks for premium space. Less expensive small brands, plain old steel-cut oats, whole grains and organic pastas, and dried beans are often found below or above eye level.
GLUTEN-FREE GRAINS AND NOODLESWhole grains (gluten-free, if you’re sensitive) are a big part of the Crazy Sexy approach. Good choices: millet, quinoa, buckwheat, brown rice, wild rice, amaranth, and teff as whole grains or pastas, 100 percent buckwheat soba noodles (most brands contain wheat), Tinkyada rice pasta, Ancient Harvest quinoa pasta. Oats are fine even for the glutensensitive or those with celiac disease, as long as they are from a safe brand (one that processes oats in equipment that does not process grains containing gluten).
GLUTEN AND NON-GLUTEN BREADS AND SNACKSGluten-free doesn’t mean bread-free or snack-free. You have lots of great choices here. Food for Life Baking Company makes yumalicious gluten-free breads and wraps. If gluten doesn’t bother you, check out their sprouted Ezekiel breads and cereals. Other gluten-free products: corn tortillas, mochi, and other brown rice products. I love the brown rice crackers made by Sesmark, San-J crackers, and Edward & Sons. Check out Glutino and Glutano snacks and Pamela’s Products for cookies, dessert mixes, and pancake mixes. Whole Foods makes a gluten-free line as well. Just read the labels, because some of the foods contain milk and eggs.
BEANS AND LEGUMESChickpeas, lentils, adzuki, white beans, black beans, limas, and pinto beans are the easiest to digest. Soak dried beans overnight in twice as much water as beans and add a ½-inch strip of kombu (seaweed) to the soaking water. This helps cut down on your methane expulsion! So does discarding the soaking water and rinsing the beans before continuing on with your recipe. If you don’t have the time to soak beans, Eden brand canned beans are a good alternative. Other brands contain preservatives, but Eden uses only beans, kombu, salt, and water. Rinse before using to remove up to 40 percent of the added salt.
SOUP’S ON!Fresh warm soup is a staple for people transitioning to the Crazy Sexy Diet—especially for those who live in colder climates. Make your soups tasty and hearty by using beans and a variety of veggies, especially root veggies like parsnips, celery root, yams, blue potatoes, carrots, and turnips. Add fresh herbs, lots of garlic, onion (or chives or scallions), a little olive oil, and Celtic or Himalayan sea salt. Don’t worry about recipes. Just throw everything in a pot, cook until the beans and roots are tender, and season to taste. I add Pacific Foods organic vegetable broth or Rapunzel brand vegan bouillon. Miso soup is another healthy staple. Miso makes a great base for a soup with vegetables and soba noodles.
FRUITAvocados and tomatoes (yup, technically they’re fruits), apples, lemons, limes, grapefruit, pears, grapes, and berries are all good choices. While fruits are a healthy choice, low-glycemic fruits (those that are less sweet, like blueberries) are better for your blood sugar (check
chapter 3
for a glycemic index refresher). Remember that fruit in general is slightly acidifying. You don’t have to skip it—fruit is very cleansing, loaded with vitamins and minerals, and it makes a satisfying snack or dessert. Just go easy. Two or three servings (half
a large grapefruit, one medium-size apple, a cup of berries) are plenty per day.
SWEETENERSStevia, yacón syrup, and agave syrup are my favorite alternatives to sugar. Stevia and yacón don’t affect your blood sugar; agave raises it only slightly, but not as much as sugar does. Stevia is actually an herb from a plant in the chrysanthemum family that grows in Paraguay and Brazil. Be aware that a little goes a really long way—this wonder plant is about 300 times as sweet as sugar. It comes in packets or as a liquid; brand names include SweetLeaf.