Why Going It Alone May Not Be The Answer

This Smokey Tomato “Cheez” Ball is quite versatile when added to a holiday board. It can be coated in parsley or chives for the green festive look or a mixture of nuts. Add an assortment of whole-grain crackers of toast points and you have a delicious appetizer. I have used these leftovers on a baked potato with luscious, yummy results. Bring this to your next pot-luck and see how fast it disappears. (By the way, you don’t have to tell them that it isn’t cheese!)

The holidays are upon us and so are the social obligations. If you are worried about the holiday buffet table, why not offer to bring an appetizer? These Black Bean “Meatballs” make a perfect addition without the guilt! Add your favorite dipping sauce, i.e., spicey mustard, barbeque sauce or ketchup. These also freeze well, so make a double batch and freeze half. These will compliment those Sunday football games…just defrost and reheat.

Growing up, meatloaf was a weekly staple for our family of 9. Surrounded by mashed potatoes, fresh greens, biscuits and gravy. If we were lucky to have leftovers, a meatloaf sandwich was always appreciated the next day. Well, lots has changed since that time, but the ease and simplicity of such a loaf is always attractive. The L.O.V. Loaf brings back many memories, but none of the saturated fat or cholesterol. Certainly, there is no harm to the animals and I LOV the leftover sandwiches!

This Pumpkin Bisque recipe is very versatile. I have used it as an appetizer at a ladies’ luncheon and I’ve had it for a main course with hot sour-dough bread. It is slightly sweet yet has savory undertones. I like to top it with a dallop of Cashew Cream or Tofu Sour Cream, both add a delightful taste and enhance the creaminess of this dish.

I have learned a great deal through my plant-based journey. First, I try hard not to rely on processed foods and when I do, I make sure the added ingredients are limited. This way I know I’m not getting the chemicals and dyes that are added to many processed and ultra-processed foods. In this recipe as well as the one before, I use a can of pumpkin puree; its only ingredient is “pumpkin” or “organic pumpkin.” I have a sweet tooth and sometimes I have to give into the craving. These Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are nice way to satisfy the desire for something sweet without the guilt. Of course, they are packed with beta carotene, which we need on a daily basis to fight off those free radicals, but it also has great fiber and natural sweetness. (See how easy it is to justify a cookie!) Enjoy!

I truly love fall when the large variety of pumpkins start popping up in grocery stores and vegetable stands. I usually buy a couple of dozen pumpkins of various sizes, use them for a fall centerpiece and then enjoy preparing an assortment of meals including sweet and savory. This Pumpkin Pie Breakfast Smoothie provides the right amount of energy to keep you focused throughout the morning. Did you know that pumpkin is packed with beta carotene, which is great for our eyes and skin? One cup contains 245% of your Reference Daily Intake (RDI) of Vitamin A and only 49 calories. Although most believe pumpkins are a vegetable, they are actually in the fruit family because they contain seeds. Stay tuned for additional pumpkin recipes (and more trivia) over the next few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.

My cousin recently shared a recipe found in Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book, Eat to Live. After preparing the recipe as directed, I made a few changes, added a few ingredients and removed a few as well. In the end, these Eggplant Meatballs are delicious. I doubled the batch and froze half for another day. My husband enjoys them plain and I dip in tomato sauce. I would recommend not soaking them in the sauce, just having it on the side. Topped with nutty parm, you have an excellent meal!

For years I watched The Biggest Loser (TBL) series. It was flat-out amazing that some contestants were losing 10, 20, and even 30 pounds in one week! For the excited television audience, TBL established some pretty unrealistic expectations about weight loss. For many people, those expectations still exist. A special occasion—a wedding, reunion, graduation, vacation, or even the beginning of a new year—can inspire a crash diet almost guaranteed to drop some weight in a short period of time. Unfortunately, it is also almost guaranteed that the weight will eventually return, often bringing a few extra pounds along with it. Why? Because losing weight and learning how to live at a healthier weight are two very different things. Quick-fix diets usually have an expiration date. We "go on" the diet, follow a list of rules, eliminate certain foods, count points or calories, buy special products, or endure hunger because there is a finish line somewhere in sight. We tell ourselves, I can do anything for six weeks. And maybe we can. But what happens in week seven? That's where the real work—and the real success—begins. I have had the privilege of watching one client answer that question over the past 10–12 years. Her transformation didn't happen during a 12-week challenge. There were no dramatic television weigh-ins, trainers screaming from the sidelines, or confetti falling from the ceiling. Instead, there were thousands of ordinary days filled with choices. One meal. One walk. One grocery trip. One decision to keep going after a difficult week. One healthy habit practiced often enough that eventually it became part of everyday life. Over those years, she has lost more than 100 pounds . She has gone from wearing a size 22W to a size 10—and even those size 10s are getting baggy! That's certainly something worth celebrating. But the number on the scale isn't what impresses me most. She has kept going. Her success didn't come from being perfect. It came from being persistent. She learned healthier ways to eat. She became more active. She made changes she could actually live with—not for 30 days, but for years. When life got in the way, as life always does, she didn't declare herself a failure and give up. She simply found her way back to the habits that had helped her succeed. That's a very different mindset from the "diet starts Monday" approach. We often underestimate what can happen when small improvements are repeated over a long period of time. A pound or two may not seem exciting when television transformations have taught us to expect double-digit losses. But sustainable change isn't supposed to be a race. Think about it another way. If you improve your health a little this month and continue building on that progress next month, where could you be a year from now? Five years from now? Ten years from now? My client knows the answer. More than 100 pounds didn't disappear overnight. A size 22W didn't become a size 10 in 30 days. Her transformation was built gradually, through consistency, patience, and a willingness to keep moving forward. And perhaps that is the lesson we need most. You don't have to change everything today. You just must change something—and keep building from there. There will be weeks when the scale doesn't cooperate. There will be vacations, holidays, birthdays, stressful days, busy schedules, and unexpected detours. None of those erase the progress you've already made. They are simply part of living. Health isn't something we achieve and then check off our list. It is something we practice. So forget the dramatic television weigh-in. Forget losing 20 pounds before the reunion. Forget the latest promise to "drop a dress size by Friday." Instead, ask yourself a different question: What is one change I can make today that I would still be willing to do a year from now? Start there. Because the most successful health plan isn't the one that helps you lose weight the fastest.  It's the one that helps you build a healthier life you don't want to quit.

An increasing number of people are understanding the important role a healthy lifestyle plays in the quality and quantity of life. Whether you have tried numerous times to reach your desired health improvement goals (without sustainable success) or are looking for a fresh, new perspective on achieving a healthier and more vibrant YOU, a Health Coach can help you reach and maintain your goals.

It’s hard for me to even say it, but the week of Thanksgiving is upon us. Through my lifestyle and health coaching, I’ve heard many concerns about “staying on track” during the holidays as family and friends may coerce you to “Enjoy yourself,” “Throw caution to the wind,” or more challenging, “Why eat this way?” We hear this almost every day, so the holidays should be no exception. However, it may be on these traditionally festive days, when even more elaborate foods beckon that we feel temptation even greater. Let’s review several Survival Skills (SS) that will leave us feeling victorious! It is easy to “stay on track” when we have a strategy in mind. Start now and plan your holiday meals; the more specific you are, the more successful you will be. My newly released, FREE eBook, “Phyto-Phabulous” Holiday Magic—Favorite Plant-Based Recipes, provides great ideas to guarantee your success. First, think about your family and friends. They know that their traditional foods are good, but we know that they aren

What Doesn’t Kill Us, Makes Us Stronger…Well, Maybe! When it comes to being stressed, we all have stories to share. One story that we can all weigh in on began in March, 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic reared its ugly head. This novel, highly contagious virus impacted everyone in some way with lock downs, mask mandates, social isolation, financial/economical concerns, food supply issues, health care (physical and mental), school closings, and the list goes on. Mixed into this global unrest was/is a heavy load of emotional fear— fear of catching this raging virus; fear of the unknown; fear of what we can’t control; and, the ultimate fear of death. Stress was and still is, quite pervasive! In the next few issues of the PhytoFit newsletter, we are going to take a deeper-dive into stress and how we can manage it. You may recall from previous newsletter discussion, Lifestyle medicine is the use of evidenced-based, lifestyle therapeutic approaches, such as a predominantly whole food, plant-based diet...

Have you ever had a sleepless night? You may vividly recall an agonizing evening of tossing, turning and checking the clock every five minutes. I admit when I was in my teens and twenties, sleep was not my top priority. These days are much different; sleep, like oxygen, is a necessity. This past year with COVID-19 looming, many of my friends and coaching buddies (clients) have found sleep elusive. Between the pandemic, social unrest and feelings of uncertainty, many have counted sheep more than sawing ZZZZs. In their book, “The Alzheimer’s Solution,” Drs. Dean & Ayesha Sherzai discuss the power of sleep to restore the body and the mind. As neurologists, they examine brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF) that can repair the brain at night. At the same time, cells and neurons are able to regenerate during sleep. But that is not all. In the Sherzais’ studies, they reveal how the brain can “…clear-out toxins during deep sleep, including those toxins that lead to amyloid buildup.” They also explain that les

In the 1968 film, Funny Girl, Barbara Streisand made popular the song, “People.” The opening lyrics are timeless and as appropriate now as when originally recorded. “People, people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world.” As we take a deeper dive into the importance of lifestyle medicine, we learn that strong socialization is the foundation for happiness, health and longevity. Lifestyle Medicine is the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic intervention—including a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances, and positive social connection—as a primary modality, to prevent, treat, and often reverse chronic disease.

Have you read the US News “Best Diets 2021” report? If you haven’t heard of this annual publication, let me fill you in. Each year, US News pulls together a panel of nutrition experts from prestigious universities and research centers to analyze the composition of “diets” and validate their dietary attributes and claims. This year, experts were from Harvard, Emory, Tuft, Johns Hopkins, Joslin Diabetes Clinic and more. The panel consisted of physicians, nurses, dietitians and nutritionists. Renown plant-based authorities such as Dr. Michael Greger and Dr. David Katz were included in the annual review for this publication. As a society, most people look at diets as a temporary deprivation or restriction of key nutrients/ingredients to reach weight-loss and/or health goals. These short-term dietary changes are usually time-bound, for example, a two-month diet before a special occasion or vacation. However, most people grow tired of the restrictions, fall prey to peer pressures, and recognize that the “diet” wa

January is traditionally a time for reflection and a time to think about a fresh, new year. The process typically involves looking back over the prior year at things we did well (or not), thinking about new possibilities/opportunities for the coming year, and committing to some behavioral changes to make those possibilities a reality. Many of us take the time to complete a list of New Year’s resolutions and “improving health” is usually high on the list with ideas of weight loss, exercise and healthier eating. Everyone has their own perspective of what that means, what it might look like for them, and have some ideas about how to improve their health. Even scientific researchers approach it in various ways.