Plant Based Yogi: June 2017

Monday, Day 1: Making Time to Practice

In all of my research and studies about food and health, one of the most startling discoveries was that the single most determinant lifestyle factor related to health was whether or not we prepare our own meals. This lifestyle indicator was more predictive of long-term health than following any particular diet or exercise plan. In other words, the more one consumes meals prepared by a person, the greater the correlation is for good health. Food columnist, Michael Pollan has many great sayings about food, one in particular that captures this idea: “If it comes from a plant, eat it, if it was made in a plant, don’t.”

Yet, too often we choose convenience at the expense of long-term health.

The average amount of time Americans spent preparing, cooking, serving and cleaning up food has shrunk to 37-minutes a day? The amount of time we spend on average to nourish our bodies has shrunk almost in half since the 1960s*. During this decline we’ve also seen a substantial rise in health issues attributed to lifestyle. Understandably, we live in busy times and we all feel pressure to do more with less time and may have obligations that limit the amount of time in the kitchen. And yet, we often do find a way to make time for the things that really matter to us. Or maybe we just need to be given permission to make time for ourselves, like carving out time to practice yoga. It’s not always about having time, it’s about making time.

Now I’m not trying to suggest that we all need to be slaving away in our kitchens for hours a day cooking up gourmet meals, nor that we even need to cook every single day. The modern convenience of prepared foods can be a way to save time without sacrificing health. Over the course of the next 22-days, we’ll explore ways to save time and how to find convenient options that are healthy too. For now, our first practice is about making time to enjoy a meal with full presence.

The yoga sutras of Patanjali begins:

atha yoga anushasanam, which means “now, the practice of yoga begins."

Practice for the day, to be repeated as often as you can practice:

Take note of how much time you allot for yourself to eat. Can you dedicate a few extra minutes, or perhaps longer to sit and enjoy an entire meal? If you have a family, you may already have a practice of eating a meal together. Recognize that this is a practice, it is a sacred time, whether alone or together to be grateful for this meal.

Tips:

Consider silencing and removing from sight any potential distractions like cell phones or personal devices from your eating space, just as you would do during a yoga class.
Slowing down while we eat helps us to eat just enough food so we feel comfortably full.

“Spend time with your food; every minute of your meal should be happy. Not many people have the time and the opportunity to sit down and enjoy a meal like that. We are very fortunate.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh, How to Eat

Welcome to the 22-Day Jumpstart Cleanse and Mindful Eating Journey

Introduction
Goal
Structure of the Program
Program Principles
Getting Ready for Day 1
Other Resources and Optional Meal Plans

Intro

Through our yoga practice, we learn how to connect our mind and body to focus on ourselves. Yoga helps us re-energize, de-stress, and find our center in a world that seems to be constantly challenging our balance. What if we could extend this practice to become more mindful about one the most fundamental daily habits that has the power to change our lives?

The way we eat can either be an empty experience of filling up or it can form a sacred connection between ourselves and the universe. We believe that the lessons we learn in our yoga practice -- mindfulness, connecting to the present moment, inner peace and joy -- can transform our experience of eating.

2) Goal

The goal of this program is to go beyond where most diets fall short by helping you deepen your awareness and curiosity about food that can turn into a life-long journey and practice. Over 22--days, we will introduce simple, easy to follow practices towards incorporating mindfulness into our diet. We will learn about the benefits of eating more unprocessed plant foods and mindfulness techniques to make healthy eating a natural extension of our yoga practice.

3) Program Structure

Daily Practices

The 22-Days are structured around daily practices. Each day you will receive an email with a short lesson or intention for the day. They are designed to be interactive and can be personalized to a practice that best suits your goals. We ask that you commit to trying the practice for each day and keeping up as best you can, as they will build on each other and this will enable you to make the most of the live sessions.

Going Deeper

In addition to the daily practice, we’ll offer tips, suggestions, resources and recipe links for you to consider trying as well, but they are not requirements for completing the program.

FAQ:

Q: Is this a full 22-day “cleanse?”

A: A “cleanse” can be a quick way to reboot or reset our bodies, minds, and appetites but are usually not meant to follow long-term. Our quick-start program will offer plenty of opportunities to reset your diet, but it is unlike other “cleanse” programs that tell you exactly what to do or not to do. Instead, we will empower you to make your own decision about what to eat for the next 22-days and beyond. We believe in offering suggestions and new perspectives rather than forcing you to follow rules that may or may not work for you.

Many of our lessons and daily practices will suggest trying out new foods or groups of foods and will include recipes and guidance on how to find and prepare them. If you are looking to follow more specific plans that tell you exactly what to eat on each day, such as a meal plan, we’ve included a few recommended and complimentary meal plans and links that you can choose to use at the end of this packet.

Q: Do I need to follow a specific diet?

A: This program is based on a whole food plant-based approach to eating. We use the term “plant based” because it is not restrictive, rather it means a diet that includes and has a foundation based on plants.

Q: What is a whole food plant based diet?

A: My favorite definition is from the documentary, “Forks Over Knives” :

“A whole-food, plant-based diet is centered on whole, unrefined, or minimally refined plants. It’s a diet based on fruits, vegetables, tubers, whole grains, and legumes; and it excludes or minimizes meat (including chicken and fish), dairy products, and eggs, as well as highly refined foods like bleached flour, refined sugar, and oil.”

Q: Why whole food plant based?

A: No matter which diet or nutrition philosophy, there is one uncontroversial and universal truth that everyone can agree on: unrefined plants are among the healthiest foods we can eat. Large scale and long-term scientific studies on diet suggest that eating a diet rich in a variety of whole plant based foods can prevent and in some cases reverse many chronic diseases. In fact, it is the only diet clinically proven to reverse or heart disease, which is the number one cause of death globally. There are so many reasons for choosing to eat more whole unprocessed plant foods that we’ll continue to explore them throughout this program. Here is a short video with clips from a new documentary that reveals the science behind a whole food plant based diet.

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
Welcome							Kickoff Introduction to WFPB
Week 1: Introduction to Mindful Eating	Making Time to Practice	Connecting to Source* *The Love Powered Diet	Focusing on Whole Plants	How to Read Food Labels 1	How to Read Food Labels 2	Breaking the Fast	Mind-Gut Connection
Week 2: Balancing the Elements and the Whole	Water, Sugar and Fruit	Protein	Whole Grains	Dark Leafy Greens	Cruciferous Vegetables	Eating a rainbow	Pre- and Probiotics
Week 3: Lifelong Practices	Everyday Superfoods / The Hack	Setting Yourself Up for Success	Buddha Bowls	Eating for Our Environment	Eating for our family	Bringing it All Together	Deepening Your Practice

4) Program Principles

This program will:

Show what's possible when you bring an abundance of whole plant foods into your life
Give you actionable lessons, tools, and tips on how to do that.
Offer different levels and options to start making simple changes or go deeper.
Reveal how mindful eating, like yoga, is about so much more than just the physical food
Support you through our bi-weekly check-ins, private Facebook group, and more.
Help you get the support of your family, friends, co-workers, etc.

We ask that you:

Start by committing to undertake one or more of the daily practices over the next 22-days.
Find your own reasons to do this.
Be curious! Try out new foods. Discover new recipes. Find what works for you.
Share your experience. Ask questions, share your struggles and successes if you are comfortable. We are here to support each other!

5) Preparing for Day 1

A Simple Mindful eating practice

Find a vegetable or fruit that you would like to eat.

If you don’t have any fresh produce at home, you may need to go shopping at a market, grocer, farm market or stand. Look for fresh seasonal produce and select a whole plant food that looks appetizing to you. If you’re at a grocery, notice that whole plant foods do not have lists of ingredients or many labels. We recommend selecting organic, when possible, for reasons we will discuss during the program, but it’s not required for day 1.

Some suggestions:

A piece of fruit: watermelon, pineapple, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and cherries in peak season meaning they are at the peak of both their availability and flavor.
A crisp vegetable that can be enjoyed raw: romaine lettuce, bok choy, fresh spinach, kale, collards, and

If you choose a whole piece of fruit or a larger vegetable, you may want to cut it into pieces. If it has a pit or a seed, consider separating it prior to starting or select a seedless variety.
If you choose berries, you’ll want to get enough to enjoy for a few minutes, around half a cup to a cup worth of fruit.

Find a comfortable, peaceful, place and time where you can sit and eat with focus and attention.

Pause for a minute or two to appreciate this piece of food and think about how it had to be grown and cultivated. Notice the natural beauty of the food, the colors, textures and smells. Digestion starts with our eyes!
Begin to eat the food with intention, take small bites (if it’s a larger piece) and chew slowly a few times before swallowing each bite/piece.

As you're eating the food visualize all those living nutrients nourishing you at a cellular level
Try tuning up your senses by eating a few bites with your eyes closed.

Reflect on your experience. How did this practice make you feel?

5. Additional Resources

Private Facebook Support Group

Insert link here

SpE’s Blog

http://www.plantbasedyogi.com

Meal Plans and Recipes

Lighter World - https://www.lighter.world/welcome

My favorite resource is a website called Lighter World – They offer free customizable meal plans and recipes based on your own preferences – they are entirely plant based and complement our program nicely. We are not affiliated or partnered with Lighter in any way, but we are fans of this amazing free service and recommend using it if you’re looking for additional guidance.

21-Day PCRM Kick Start - http://www.pcrm.org/kickstartHome/mealplan/week-1

The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has a terrific 3-week meal plan with tons of options that correspond to a whole food plant based diet. In addition to daily meal suggestions and recipes, they have shopping lists for the whole week. It’s also free.

Mindfully Clear Book - https://www.amazon.com/Mindfully-Clear-Days-Body-Mind/dp/151530714X/

Another 22-Day program with meal plans and recipes that we recommend is Mindfully Clear: 22-Days to a Clear Mind and Body. This book was written by SpE’s partner, Ayami and is a wonderful companion to this program. It is available from Amazon here.

Engine 2 Recipes - http://engine2diet.com/recipes/

Excellent resource for healthy and delicious whole food plant based recipes. Engine 2 has a partnership with Whole Foods, so many of their ready-made products can also be found in Whole Food stores.

Forks Over Knives Recipes - https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/#gs.BajlGk8

Organized by the type of food, select “I’m in the mood for…” and find a great collection of freewhole food plant based recipes.

Nutrition Facts

A website that distils the latest peer-reviewed scientific evidence about nutrition and diet into short videos, and is searchable by topic:

http://nutritionfact.org

https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/plant-based-diets/