By now everyone has heard of the Engine 2 Diet and its Plant-Strong plan focusing on meals of fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts and whole grains. The bestselling book, The Engine 2 Diet, by Rip Esselstyn has been in the news and is seen in every Whole Foods which has developed a healthy eating guide based off the diet plan called Health Starts Here.

Health Starts Here is a program developed by Whole Foods and is an offshoot of the very popular Engine 2 Diet which has been proliferated lately by the movie Forks Over Knives. Helath Starts Here follows what is called a four-pillar approach to food:

Whole Food

Eat whole, unprocessed foods.

We believe that food in its purest state — unadulterated by artificial additives, sweeteners, colorings, and preservatives — is the best tasting and most nutritious food available.

Plant-Strong

Eat a colorful variety of plants.

The diet emphasizes the use of fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. It also makes a strong case against the use of added oils encouraging all fats come from those already found in foods such as nuts and cooking using vegetable broth as a replacement where oil is typically used such as sauteing.

Chef Chad Sarno gives a Health Starts Here cooking demo for Salud! at Whole Foods Green Hills

We were invited to a Health Starts Here event by Whole Foods Green Hills culinary demonstration that was instructed by Chad Sarno. Sarno is a classically-trained chef and a co-founder of the Health Starts Here program. He has owned vegetarian restaurants in London, Turkey and the US.

The demonstration class focused on dishes that could be made quickly and preparing ingredients in bulk to make the prep quicker. Cooking enough beans for a week’s worth of meals. Making sauces in portions to be used for many dishes as well as full dishes that could be kept in the refrigerator for easy lunches.

All of the meals prepared used no oil and no salt. In place of salt Sarno had created as seasoning mixture he calls Wicked Good Spice and Seed Blend, a mixture of sesame, sunflower seeds, flax and nutritional yeast. Instruction was given in making your own almond milk as well as a basic white sauce. The quick and simple Kale Avocado Salad was one of the most surprising dishes created. Kale, tomato, avocado, onion and the juice of a lemon made a very flavorful and satisfying salad without need for any extra seasonings. Quick and simple it can be kept in the refrigerator for a grab whenever the craving came.

I could easily go on about the dishes but it’s best to just give you some recipes. Give these a go and don’t worry about the omission of salt or oil where you may be accustomed to adding them. They’re unnecessary. The flavors pop in these.

Wicked Good Spice and Seed Blend

1/2 C Sesame Seeds, dry toasted
1/2 C Sunflower Seeds, dry toasted
1/2 C Golden Flax Meal
1/2 C Nutritional Yeast
2 TBS Onion Powder
1/2 TBS Chipotle Spice
1 TBS Garlic Powder
Black Pepper

Toss all together and store in shaker or air tight container. Great all purpose seasoning.

Kale Avocado Salad

Kale Avocado Salad

This is a very simple, quick and delicious dish. Completely raw.

1 head of kale, any variety, shredded
1 large tomato
1 1/2 avocado, chopped
2 TBS red onion, green onion or leek, finely diced
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch of cayenne

In mixing bowl, toss all ingredients squeezing as you mix to wilt the kale and creaming the avocado.  Serve immediately.

Basic White Sauce

1 C raw cashews, soaked (or tofu)
1 1/2 onion diced & steam fried in veggie stock
2 garlic cloves
1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
1 1/2 Cup low salt vegetable stock
3 TBS Nutritional Yeast
Pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic with stock and steam fry until onions are translucent. Add to blender with soaked cashews, soy/nut milk and rest of ingredients and blend adjusting thickness to desired consistency. Add fresh herbs to finish. Sauce will reduce and continue to thicken on its own with time. Use as a base for any other sauces.

Chad Sarno has a return visit planned for Salud at Whole Foods Green Hills with a class on vegan cooking. The class is set for sometime in April/May. I’ll post dates and more on it when information becomes available.

Have you ever wanted to follow your food from farm to plate and take a look at each process your food encounters on that trip?  If you are a meat-eater then a new series will give you that opportunity.  The BBC-produced series Kill It, Cook It, Eat It is presently being run on Current TV and  is gaining attention for its graphic look into the industry of factory farming, meat production and slaughterhouses. The  series involves volunteers who follow their meal from pasture to slaughter to plate and nothing is held back, save a few blurred frames.  This show brings what many meat-eaters won’t see, stunning, neck-slicing and skin ripping all while semi-conscious and dangling from a hook.

My first viewing of the show was cringing and somewhat surprising at the material shown.  This show goes where documentaries such as Food, Inc and others fell extremely short, showing the process an living creature goes through to become the meal you and your family consumes. You see the animal being raised, transported and then each process from the killing neck-slice to the end product with a glimpse of the factory that lends itself to the result.  Six volunteers are followed with their “meal”.  Many are shocked to learn of the process and many questions are asked as they view the writhing bodies being butchered.  As you can imagine, it can be extremely gruesome to watch.

The show is extremely graphic but every meat-eater should know where their meal came from before it became that burger and fries. This show will give them the look they need without going to the slaughterhouse themselves.

The series airs Tuesdays at 10/9 central on Current TV and episodes re-air at various times throughout the week.

This is one of the best responses to “Why are you vegan?” that I have heard. This woman has done her research and obviously has been asked the question before. A bit “fringe” of a response but you can take some good information from this.