Whole plant-based lifestyle

whole plant-based lifestyle and Veganism are the healthiest lifestyle in the world. By eating living foods, you encourage your body to maintain a healthy weight while fueling your body with all the nutrients to sustain perfect health and cut the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity by 80%.

Dieting is not so much what you eat but what you don’t eat. If you are serious about toning your body and looking better than you have ever looked before, follow my lifestyle. Don’t call it a diet because diets never work. You must replace foods that are making you gain weight with foods that create balance and enhance your vitality.

The foods that I will recommend to you will eventually taste like the foods that make you fat. You have to mentally learn to enjoy food for what it does for your health rather than what food does for your palate.
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First and foremost – STOP eating anything in a box, can, jar, frozen and has a shelf life. Don’t consume processed oils, salt, sugar, refined grains, flour, condiments, etc. Don’t eat anything fried, cut out all bread, commercial hummus, crackers, anything that says “vegan” and “organic” other than fresh organic fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, seeds, and nuts.

I make my own hummus which is very nutritional and fat-free. I take a half a pound of dry garbanzo beans and soak them overnight. I then thoroughly rinse the beans and put them in a pot covering them with water. I bring to a boil and simmer for about fifteen to twenty minutes until the garbanzo beans are tender. I rinse the beans again and throw them in a high powered blender or you can use a food processor… I add the juice of five or six lemons (depending on your taste and enough water to give it a creamy texture. Add the water as you need to when blending. That is it. I love the taste of garbanzo beans. When you add tahini, olive oil, garlic and salt, you are compromising the taste of the garbanzo beans… Oil and tahini add lots of fat too….

Make huge salads. I make enough for two or three days at a time. I chop fresh local organic beets, celery, carrot, red cabbage, and parsley, kale, spinach, radishes (include all vegetables that are locally grown). You can add a half an avocado, lemon and organic apple cider vinegar with each serving. I use apple cider vinegar on all my salads, no oil. I also add hemp seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and, walnuts for additional protein, calcium, fiber, and antioxidants. I eat this salad for breakfast and sometimes lunch. It has a lot of fiber, enzymes and all of the vitamins you will possibly need. You can add any vegetables you like that are locally grown and in a season… Try adding blueberries when in season…

For dinner, lunch, and breakfast eat quinoa, millet, amaranth, and buckwheat – add lentils too. as these grains only take fifteen minutes to prepare. I add chopped tomatoes, parsley and lemon. Another meal choice is an organic yam or butternut squash. Just add lemon on the yam, the squash needs nothing. Embrace the wonderful natural flavors of real food – Don’t disguise the taste with oils and salt.

Eat just an organic salad for dinner; kale, spinach, red cabbage, celery, carrots, parsley with 1/2 avocado and organic apple cider vinegar. Last night I had two large organic artichokes with fresh lemon (less than 100 calories, no fat, highly nutritional). Tonight I am going to have two bunches of lightly steamed spinach with organic chopped tomatoes and lemon.

Who doesn’t like to snack? I always have organic radishes, cucumbers, cauliflower, apples, pears and red bell peppers on hand to snack on. These healthy nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits have zero fat and practically no calories and they are very filling. One of my favorite snacks is roasted garbanzo beans. I soak a pound of garbanzo beans overnight. I rinse them thoroughly the next morning. I then put the garbanzo beans in a large bowl and toss with Bragg Amino. I place the beans on a stainless steel sheet and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes. I live in a high altitude so it takes a little longer. I snack on these beans all the time. They are loaded with protein, fiber and an abundance of nutrients…

If you must go to restaurants, drink warm lemon water and ask for a plate of steamed or raw vegetables. If they don’t have any, then don’t eat, just socialize. Restaurant food is the worst and the most deceiving. So, when I go to restaurants, even Vegan restaurants, I will have raw vegetables. One of my favorite restaurant meals is just a plate of parsley with lemon…

Don’t try and starve yourself, your body will go into a defense mode and store fat. Eat like there is no tomorrow of the foods that burn calories. Drink lots of organic green or white tea. I also drink freshly squeezed organic grapefruit juice which I find burns fat. Infuse water with healthy herbs, fruit, and vegetables. I also drink a lot of chickpea miso. I buy Miso Master as it is organic and 100% vegan. Many miso pastes are infused with fish oil or fish flakes. If you eat at any Asian restaurant, the miso, even though they will tell you the miso is vegetarian, is loaded with fish oil and fish flakes. Another thing Asian restaurants do is steam the vegetables with fish, fish oil or fish flakes. They consider fish to be vegetarian and most Asian restaurants do not know what vegan is… They use fish as a seasoning and a staple.

Cut out coffee and I hope you are not drinking sodas, even the zero calories. Again, do not drink or eat anything that sits on a shelf. I never shop at a supermarket. I buy all my produce from organic farmers and a health food store that I go to where I know exactly where they buy their produce. I have visited the farms. Substitute your doctor for your organic farmer. Make your organic farmer your best friend and the most important person in your quest for pristine health… I call my organic farmers “Doctors.”

I buy all my grains and beans from Bob’s Red Mill. They source the freshest organic products. Natural food stores, even Whole Foods buys their bulk from distributors that have been sold and traded as many as a dozen times. Those grains and beans sit in the bulk section for weeks, sometimes months and are constantly being exposed to humans many times a day… Bob’s Red Mill is the highest quality resource there is for grains, beans, and oats. They ship FREE!!!

Grains and beans are a powerful nutritional food high in protein, vitamins, fiber and calcium and low in calories and fat. I buy bulk organic barley, wheat berries, brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, mung, garbanzo, black and adzuki beans. You have to soak them for twenty-four hours, rinse them thoroughly and simmer them together for about 30 minutes until tender. You can add vegetables at the very end by turning off the heat and allowing the vegetables to steam in the beans and the grains. For seasonings, I use fresh grated turmeric, cumin, sage, basil, garlic, paprika, and ginger.

Exercise has a lot to do with maintaining your weight, health and mental clarity. You don’t have to run on a treadmill for two hours or go crazy in the gym. Just walk briskly, park your car furthest from where you are going to the mall or work, take the stairs, do your own house cleaning, play sports, ride a bike, dance around the house or do like I do and play with your grandkids (I feel I have accomplished my goal when my four-year-old granddaughter says, “Papa, you are making me so tired.”)…..Do activities that you enjoy and look forward too. I hate the gym and exercise classes so I walk a lot and ride my bike.

You might say that my diet is expensive, time-consuming and restrictive. Well, so is diabetes, heart disease. obesity and cancer. Think of this new vegan lifestyle as preventive medicine and the only path to extend your life and live healthy long into your 80’s and 90’s. Your mind will be clear, your body will be clean and your energy level is amazing.

I eat like this regularly so I don’t call it a diet, these are the foods that make me feel vibrant and have kept me doctor and prescription drug-free my entire life.

Good luck – ask me anything you want, I will be more than happy to support and encourage you. Please message me…..

“Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food”…….. You can do it! ……Doug