Living Whole Food, Plant Based!
I was so blessed to have grown up in Vermont. The Green Mountains and Lake Champlain were the perfect setting for outdoor activities. But as summer is relatively short, most of my memories are of fall and winter activities. What is Vermont if not maple …
The whole food plant-based (WFPB) lifestyle has really challenged my creativity in the kitchen. This is particularly true at breakfast when my head is still foggy while I wait for the coffee to kick in. As much as I love oatmeal, man (or woman…or child) …
I have a few recipes that I like to go to frequently. One of my favorites in my Fresh Mango Salsa. The beauty of this recipe is how versatile it is. Whether you are vegan or not, this salsa goes as well on tortilla chips and tacos as it does on chicken and fish (for those non-vegan family and friends).
Personally, I usually wait for mangoes to go on sale when I make this. It’s February as I write this post and all our markets have fresh mangoes for under $1.00. Honestly, I rarely see mangoes for more than $3.00, but one of the keys I find to be successful in the whole food plant-based (WFPB) lifestyle is to buy produce when it is in season and on sale. Pay less and the produce is fresher. I should note that I have tried and failed miserably using frozen mango, so I recommend sticking to fresh when making this salsa.
Mangoes and avocados have always challenged me when it comes to ripeness. There is a short window that if you cut too early, you have unripe fruit, but a day too late, the fruit has gone bad. This time, I purchased the mango about seven days ago. It was pretty green and hard. After leaving the mango on the counter for six days, the color started to turn yellow and red. The fruit was also softer when squeezed gently. I threw it in the refrigerator to stop the ripening process and scheduled time the next day to use the mango for this recipe. I got lucky, the mango was perfect! Ripe, sweet, and juicy!
Seriously, timing the ripeness of the mango is the most difficult part of this recipe! Everything else is essentially chopping and mixing.
The ingredients are simple.
1 ripe mango (I use the common Red Mando or two or three small Honey Mangoes)
1 jalapeno
½ red onion
½ cup of black beans, rinsed
Juice from ½ of a lime
Cilantro
½ teaspoon of ground cumin
½ teaspoon of sea salt
That is it! Dice the mango and red onion. Finely chop the jalapeno. In a bowl combine the mango, jalapeno, red onion, rinsed black beans, cilantro, lime juice, ground cumin, and salt and mix.
Word of caution! Wash your hands after chopping the jalapeno and definitely do not touch your eyes (or private parts) until you’ve thoroughly washed your hands (and don’t forget under your fingernails).
As I mentioned, this salsa is great with tortilla chips. For dinner, I’ll make vegan tacos for myself with vegan refried beans, avocado, and arugula…this salsa would rock the top of the vegan tacos. For my wife, I’ll make shrimp tacos for her that will also pair perfectly!
This salsa has a nice Mexican or Tex-Mex vibe…but I have a twist to this recipe that will take you to the other side of the world!
With the addition of one simple ingredient, this salsa is turned into an Indian Chutney!
By adding 1 teaspoon of Chaat Masala (which can be easily found in an Indian or Asian market or on Amazon where everything in the world can be found), this salsa is transformed into the exotic flavors of an Indian Mango chutney! Although the black beans are not traditional to Indian cooking, all the other ingredients can be found in traditional Indian recipes. Substitute the black beans with mung beans or black-eyed peas if you want a more traditional Indian legume, but I promise you, nobody will complain about the black beans in this chutney with the unmistakable Indian flavors.
I hope you give this recipe a try. Inexpensive, flavorful, versatile, and yummy!
As always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them and I will respond as soon as possible!
To your health!
Stephen
On your whole food plant-based (WFPB) journey, you are going to experience many traps and pitfalls. Almost all of these will take place when you have a moment of weakness, when convenience trumps all else. If you are like me, the day begins rushed. The …
There are a ton of meal subscription services out there. Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, and Plated are among the many that popped up when I did a quick Google search. But looking at the options, most of the known names didn’t have a true vegan …
One comment I hear repeatedly when I talk about living a whole food plant based (WFPB) life is “I could never do that, it would be too hard.”
I typically respond with “Why do you think that?”
Then I will get a litany of responses like, “I need protein”, “I could never get my family to do it”, or “We like to go out to dinner.” But my favorite reason is, “It would cost too much.”
I could go on and on with the responses, but in reality, it is likely that the timing isn’t right for them to adopt the lifestyle. Like anything in life, you can accomplish anything you decide to do (within physical possibilities…I will never be an NBA center no matter how hard I try). For some people, that day may never come. For others, it may be a health scare. For me, it is a desire to better my wellbeing and longevity (quality as well as quantity of my years).
Note, I am not referring to the responses as excuses. Excuses is overly strong, judgmental, and not what I believe is going on here. I think the responses are a process of gathering information, processing and filtering the information, and then filing this for future reference.
So, let me debunk some of the responses I receive.
I will leave you with this…
Going all the way back to the time I attended Weight Watchers while in elementary school, I have tracked or been concerned about calories. Other diets had me tracking the macros…protein, carbs, and fats. Whether measured in grams or percentages, I spent my life trying to follow a lifestyle that required a lot of work. A lot of conscious effort to record and track everything I put in my mouth. The guilt and shame that followed if I had too much carbs or not enough protein or too many or too few calories. It was INSANE!
My life today? I don’t track calories, fat, carbs, protein, or anything else! As long as I do not eat any animal products or heavily processed foods, I eat as much as I want, when I want. If I am hungry, I eat. I am putting good stuff into my body until I am full and my body is rewarding me.
I promise you, anyone can live this lifestyle. It is simple and easy to follow. Yes, it takes a degree of discipline at the beginning, but you can do it.
I would love to read about your experiences adopting this lifestyle.
Best of health to you!
Stephen
I have found that simple recipes that are easy to prepare are necessary to maintain and sustain the Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle. If you need to spend your days meal prepping for hours, you’ll quickly lose focus and reach for something that is processed, …
A pine cone? What? No, this isn’t what you eat on a whole food plant based (WFPB) diet. Rather it is symbolic. You need to start somewhere and somehow. You need to plant that seed to allow you to grow into this lifestyle. I was …
Who am I and how did I get here?
Let’s see, where do I begin? It was Christmas 2017 and my Christmas gifts were all Keto related cookbooks. I was convinced Keto was my passage to a healthy life and washboard abs. It was the craze and may still be. But then a friend of mine expressed his concern.
This friend is very well read on diet, nutrition, and exercise. He warned me about the impact of Keto on my heart health. I was 52 with total cholesterol of 290 and blood pressure of 146/110. He asked me if I fully researched the impact of Keto on my heart health. Honestly, it was something I paid attention to, but when you are wanting to do something, you search for anything that supports what you want to hear.
The common theme I heard was that cholesterol numbers were misleading. Studies seemed to support that in defense of Keto. This was contrary to everything I had heard for years.
He suggested I watch Forks over Knives and What the Health on Netflix. Two documentaries that challenged the Standard American Diet (SAD) and offered a solution to obesity and chronic diseases. It was not pills and medication. It was not fat and protein from animals. It was a Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) diet.
Vegan? Me? My skirt steak was legendary. My brisket had smoke rings that would remind you of counting the life of a freshly cut tree, not to mention the burnt ends. My Korean Spare Ribs could not be more tender. I was probably the last person you would expect to adopt a WFPB life.
But my friend’s concern and what I watched in the documentaries made more sense to me than the “science” behind Keto. I looked at it this way…this lifestyle would not hurt me and can only help. Before doing Keto, I decided to give this WFPB thing a try.
I had one last hoorah! Dinner at Texas de Brazil where the leg of lamb and garlic sirloin was consumed in quantities that should have caused a heart attack! I finished that meal and went cold turkey. This was February 19, 2018. I adopted a Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle.
My weight at that time was nearing 200 pounds. In fact, when the scale hit 200 I jumped off. So I will admit to 199 lbs. but not an ounce more.
I had a physical exam with my doctor in mid-March. He has tried to prescribe Crestor or some other cholesterol lowering medication for the last six years. I refused to fill the prescriptions that he called in to the pharmacist, convinced I could do it on my own with diet and exercise. My weight had dropped to about 188 at the time of the physical. But what shocked me after four weeks on the WFPB lifestyle were my cholesterol number (it had dropped to 211) and my blood pressure (118/80). Could this be a fluke?
Well my doctor feared it may have been a fluke and asked me to return in sixty days for another blood test. So, at the end of June I returned. After ninety days of a Whole Food Plant Based life, my cholesterol number was 171 and my blood pressure was 110/70. I was elated and felt so empowered and in control of my life and my health. As I neared my 53rd birthday, I was 162 pounds (a loss of at least 37 lbs.), felt much younger than I had in years, and told anybody who would listen to me that I found the Fountain of Youth! And I went on to live happily ever-after…
Ok, it didn’t quite work out that way.
My wife and I went to an all-inclusive in Mexico at the end of July and I indulged in what I paid for. All you can eat and drink…and if filet mignon was on the menu, I ordered it. Oxtail, seafood, eggs, bacon, steak, steak, and more steak. I’m not even mentioning the alcohol that was flowing (into my mouth).
Shortly after was a cruise with my step-kids. Eight days of excess. A cruise is essentially an excuse to eat yourself silly and I was delirious!
Returning home to college football season had me outside grilling skirt steak, ribs, and wings.
I had fallen back into my old routine. My weight crept up again, reaching 190 during the Christmas holiday. My skin was inflamed and my joints hurt. The energy levels I enjoyed for the five months while adhering to the WFPB lifestyle was gone, replaced with a lethargic and flabby being. I was embarrassed and ashamed of my lack of control and discipline. My health was taking a turn for the worse and I needed to take control and own my destiny.
I wanted to be the husband and father my wife, kids, and step-kids deserved. Healthy, vibrant, and not a burden physically or mentally. Plus, I had another very important reason. I will be a grandfather in 2019. I want to be out there throwing or kicking the ball with my grandchild(ren). I want to be rough-horsing with them in the ocean. I want to exemplify health and vibrance that defies my age.
On January 1, 2019 I rededicated and recommitted myself to the Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle. I have seen what it offers to my overall health and I want that for myself. And what better way to lead by example and hold myself accountable than starting a blog on the subject. Put myself out there for the world to see.
So here we are at the beginning of the new year. Two weeks in and so far, so good. Down 6 pounds, but weight isn’t everything. I’m sleeping better, feel my skin looks better, and my energy level is improving.
But I know every day presents new challenges. I will discuss my trials and tribulations, offer tips, share recipes, review products, and just be real with you. I’ll be honest and open with you. That is my promise to my community. At the end of the day, this blog is about you. You stay and read my posts not because of me, but because I am serving you by providing information and hope that will help you and your quest.
My commitment is to post twice a week, scheduled for Wednesday and Sunday. If there is a subject you would like me to address, please comment below. I will make every effort to respond to each comment and where I can, incorporate your questions into my blog.
I invite you to join me on this journey.
Wishing you the best of health!
Stephen