Beets, Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli, Red Peppers, oh my

Today's Agenda: Looking forward to leftovers from dinner last night! For the past two weeks, I have been making food from a book called The Thrive Diet. The idea behind the book is through a diet focused on plant-based whole foods you can reduce stress and achieve optimal health (i.e., reduce body fat, diminish visible signs of aging, boost energy and mental clarity, enhance mood, increase productivity, eliminate junk food cravings and hunger, build stronger immune system, lower cholesterol, improve sleep quality).

That's a large task the diet takes on but the way it does it is by discussing what foods are best for you and giving some recipes of how to incorporate them into your diet. No calorie or fat counting, just introducing some of that "weird stuff" in "that aisle you never go down in Whole Foods" into your routine.

So, that "weird stuff" is actually pretty good. We usually eat pretty healthy but having incorporated hemp oil, coconut oil, flax seed and hemp protein into my diet over the past two weeks I feel even better -- most noticeably the cravings for sweets and (my downfall) cheese have gone away! And the recipes are easy to use and remember and modify so it isn't a chore to follow the diet. And the food is delicious!

And last night's dinner was another great example -- "Pizza" with a crust made from coconut oil, whole wheat corn flour (I couldn't find chickpea flour at WF), black-eyed peas, quinoa, cayenne pepper, garlic, white pepper (throw all in the food processor) + toppings of broccoli, shaved beets and sweet potatoes, onion and red peppers. I skipped making a marinara sauce (okay, I just totally blanked on this step!) and just added a few pads of goat cheese and a dash of salt. Delicious!