The Diet (and a Recipe)

I'm realizing I haven't said much so far about what exactly this diet is that I'm following.  I almost hate to call it a diet, since so often people think of a diet as cutting down on the amount of food.  This is really a diet meaning a way of eating. 

For the last five days and the next few weeks, I've cut out all dairy, gluten (wheat, rye, oats, spelt, farro, couscous, bulgar, etc.), sugar, refined flours, dried corn products (with the exception of sprouted corn tortillas), all sweeteners, dried fruit, alcohol, peanuts and peanut products, all oils except for olive oil (the diet allows for some others, I just haven't found I've needed them yet.) additives, dyes and artificial anything, red meat (which I already wasn't eating), no skin on poultry while cooking (or eating), some types of seafood and fish.  Sounds like a lot, doesn't it?  But amazingly, my diet feels richer and more satisfying than ever. Although I will confess, it does take a little more planning and a lot more refrigerator space.

The idea is to eat twice as many fruits and vegetables every day as protein and grain.  Make vegetables more interesting and serve them as the center piece of the meal with protein and grain as the accents. You would have thought as a vegetarian for many years that would have been how I ate.  And yet in retrospect, I ate a lot more bread, pasta, cheese, yogurt and grain than I did vegetables and fruit.  Never really gave proportions much thought since I thought I was eating healthy.

The other big change for me was having to have protein at breakfast.  I'd have an occasional egg or egg whites but never ate any other kind of protein at breakfast since I didn't eat bacon, sausage or ham.  I've had to look for some new ideas for breakfast.  Luckily the cookbook that came with The Abascal Way book had some really great breakfast ideas and recipes.

This is just a brief overview of the diet, if you're interested in learning more, check out Kathy Abascal's The Abascal Way book and cookbook.  By the way, this is not an advertisement for this book or diet.  It's just one I read about at just the right time that seemed to make a lot sense to me.  The Arthritis Association and the The Diabetes Association offer similar recommendations for diet although I didn't find them as comprehensive as this one.

One of the things that's highly recommended is eating more leafy greens.  I like leafy greens but find they get kind of boring.  I never knew quite what to do with them which would make them interesting enough to eat regularly.  My favorite recipe so far came out of Sunset Magazine.  A recipe for Kale Chips.  These are truly wonderful.  Even my husband, an avowed greens hater, eats them and thinks they taste really good.  I like them even better than potato chips and they make a great substitute for popcorn.  I've been buying bunches of kale, and cleaning and de-ribbing and storing in the frig.  Then I can pop them in the oven when I want some without all the prep work.  Don't put the oil and soy on them until right before you pop them in the oven.  I use a big plastic bag to shake them up with the soy and oil to coat.

The key to these is to not over cook them and let them burn or they lose their flavor.

Soy and Sesame Kale Chips

Avoid crowding on baking sheets.  Keep an eye on them, they can scorch quickly.

1 bunch Lacinato kale (also called Dinasaur or Tuscan kale)

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 Tbs. soy sauce

1 Tbs. sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Rinse kale and thoroughly dry.  Tear leaves from ribs.  Tear leaves into 4 inch pieces.  Place in large plastic bag.  Pour in soy sauce and olive oil and shake well to coat.

Arrange leaves in a single layer on 2 or 3 rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment.  Bake, switching pan positions after 13 minutes.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake until leaves are crisp but not browned.  About 5-7 minutes more. 

Make ahead up to 1 week if stored in airtight container.

Options:

 Omit soy sauce and sesame and add ¼-1/2 tsp coarse sea salt to oil.

Omit soy sauce and sesame.  Add ¼ -1/2 tsp coase sea salt and ½ tsp coarsely ground pepper to oil.  After chips bake 13 minutes, sprinkle evenly with 3 Tbs. grated parmesan or 3 Tbs. of nutritional yeast.  Continue baking as before.

Enjoy!