Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue, Day 2

Day 2 on the Engine 2 7-Day Rescue was another amazing day! As I mentioned yesterday, I'm embarking on Rip Esselstyn's 7-day challenge to eat oil-free, low-salt, and low-sugar plant-strong foods. I needed a spring reboot to boost my energy while I'm not running, and this plan allows me to eat the same volume of food with less fat and calories (I need those extra calories when I'm marathon training but not while rehabbing an injury).

Just to be clear because I know people feel weird about diet culture: I am NOT trying to lose weight. I am just trying to eat more volume by choosing less calorie-dense foods. For me, the 7-Day Rescue is about maintaining my weight and feeling great while I'm not able to run. That said, for people with health issues, the rescue can be a great way to prevent and reverse conditions like diabetes, hypertension, etc.

Anyway, here's what I ate on day 2 — all recipes from Rip's Seven Day Rescue Diet Cookbook. But I did start my morning with a non-recipe, pre-workout snack of an Almond Date Roll. I typically have bars before my workouts, but I'm going with more low-sugar, whole foods options on this plan, so dates are perfect. I had one of these before I went on a short neighborhood walk to test my foot (it's getting better!) and some ab work at home.


 Breakfast was Banana Steel Cut Oats with kiwi, strawberries, and chia seed.


I mentioned yesterday that it was an adjustment for me to eat my oats without any sweetener, but in this recipe, banana IS the sweetener. You mash a whole banana in its skin, and then squeeze into the oats before adding toppings. Perfect!

Morning snack was Baby Carrots & Bell Pepper with Engine 2 Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. I made a batch of Rip's oil-free hummus this week as well, but I wanted to have some other hummus options since that's my main snack all week. This storebought Engine 2 hummus is oil-free but still delicious. And it's way smoother than my homemade version.


Lunch was Rip's Split Pea Potato Soup over quinoa. This was so hearty and filling — a great example of volume versus calorie density. A large portion of this split pea stew served over quinoa made for a big meal, but it was very low-cal since it was prepared without oil. That means I could eat a ton of it!


I also had a Garden Salad with Jane's Dancing Dressing (oil-free vinaigrette with balsamic and maple). I'm supposed to eat greens for lunch and dinner every day on this plan.


Afternoon snack each day will typically be fruit, and yesterday, that was Strawberries and Grapes. Helps combat those afternoon sugar cravings.


Dinner was REALLY GREAT!! This Southwestern Potato Bowl from Rip's 7-day plan was so delicious that it could fool anyone who assumed this contained oil.


The base is raw baby spinach topped with warm, cubed potatoes. I air-fried the potatoes with no oil, but I did use a tad bit of seasoning salt. The plan is low-salt, but minimal amounts are allowed, and I just can't imagine potatoes without a little salt. Atop the potatoes are mashed pinto beans with low-salt rotel, corn, red bell pepper, scallion, and cilantro. The only salt I used in the whole recipe was on those potatoes, and that was enough! I'm amazed by how easy giving up massive amounts of salt has been. I'm typically a salt-aholic.

I'm eating cooked greens at dinner every night, so last night I had more steamed Turnip Greens with Rip's Sweet Fire Dressing. Salt-free and seasoned only with the dressing, Mrs. Dash, Liquid Smoke, and some balsamic.



After dinner each night, I'm drinking my homemade kombucha (current batch is strawberry mint!) with a little sparkling water. The 7-Day plan says we shouldn't drink our calories, so I don't know if booch is really allowed, but I make my own rules sometimes, and I believe booch is magic juice. Plus, it's sort of like a sub for wine when you can't drink that. Ha.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

That’s a lot of produce! I don’t think i would miss oil, i just don’t use much of it day to day. But there are a number of vitamins especially in greens that are fat soluable, so without a few grams of fat your body doesn’t absorb them all. I recall it was something trivial, just 3-5g fat; so i always have a few nuts on my salad or use a dressing with a bit of fat.
I hope your foot is on the mend!
Ttrockwood