As you may have noticed from my posts as of late, I've been seriously pounding away some junk food. I love junk food. Nothing makes me happier than pizza and tacos and anything smothered in vegan cheese. But I also know that when I consume too much of that stuff, I'm left feeling kinda blah. Too much fatty, processed food makes me sluggish and gassy, and when I start to feel that way all the time, I know it's time for a reboot. To top it off, I'm pretty sure I'm treating my boredom from not running by shoving in even more junk food than usual. And that's not healthy. I want to feel good! I decided it was time for a little spring cleaning, so I decided to try the Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet. They sent me the book for review last year, but I just wasn't ready to embark on such a big change. And then, earlier this year, I was sent the new Engine 2 Cookbook for review. I wasn't ready for either at the time! But now I am. In case you're not familiar, Engine 2 is an oil-free, low-salt, low-sugar plan that focuses on whole plant foods (and very little processed foods). It was started by Rip Esselstyn, a former pro triathlete-turned-firefighter who managed to turn the health of his Austin fire station around by converting co-workers to a plant-strong diet. The Seven-Day Rescue is the more intense version of the program with very limited fats. I'm doing that for seven days, and then I'll switch to a couple weeks of regular Engine 2. All recipes this week are from Seven-Day Rescue Diet Cookbook, but you can get the guidelines and some recipes for free here. I started my 7-day journey yesterday with this bowl of Easy Blueberry Oatmeal — just oats, flax seed, blueberries, and banana. Since the plan is low-sugar, there was no added sweetener, which isn't typically how I eat my oats. I would have normally drowned this in maple or agave, but you know what? I noticed, while eating this, that oats have a natural sweetness, and they're actually really tasty on their own! Interestingly, the oil-free part of this plan isn't the hard part for me (I don't tend to miss oil on oil-free plans), but I am a little concerned about cutting back on salt and sugar. Since yesterday was Sunday, I slept in so my breakfast was later in the morning. I skipped a morning snack and had lunch around 1 pm. That was a Hummus & Avocado Rescue Flat. The rescue flats are the 7-day plan's version of a sandwich. Rip recommends eating them open-faced with only one slice of bread, but that didn't seem like enough food for me, so I had two flats (so basically, I had a sandwich. Ha!). The plan calls for only whole wheat bread or sprouted grain, so I used Silver Hills sprouted grain bread. The flats were topped with oil-free hummus (the Engine 2 "Our Hummus" recipe), which didn't have any tahini or oil, just chickpeas, garlic, lemon, and mustard, which added a nice twang. Atop that is avocado, tomato, cucumber, and romaine, plus a drizzle of balsamic instead of salt. I didn't even miss the salt! One thing to note: The regular Engine 2 diet does allow for avocados, olives, nuts, and nut butters, but the 7-day plan only uses small amounts of avocado, no nuts (except walnuts), and no olives or nut butters. It's really designed for people who have serious health conditions and need some strict guidelines to get on track, but I figured it be good for me to try this for a week before adding back in those more fatty (albeit good fatty) foods. For my afternoon snack, I had an Anjou Pear. Snacks on the rescue diet are just whole fruits or veggies with hummus. Dinner was awesome! The Brown Rice Bowl from the 7-day book has a base of romaine topped with seasoned black beans, brown rice, cherry tomato, salsa, cilantro, and green onion. It tasted like a burrito bowl, and thanks to all the chili powder and other spices in the beans, it was fine without salt. The rescue diet recommends greens at every meal, and I will definitely make sure I do that at lunch and dinner (breakfast would be a little hard since salad for breakfast sounds weird, and I don't have time to prep that many cooked greens daily). But I will be sure and do salads at lunch and cooked greens at dinner. Last night, I steamed some Turnip Greens and topped them with Rip's Sweet Fire Dressing (almond milk, cayenne, smoked paprika, and balsamic). I also bought some salt-free Mrs. Dash to add extra flavor, and it really helped! That's it for day one! I'm feeling great so far. Will post my meals daily over the seven days!

Vegan Standby. Hummus from Rip Esselstyn's "Engine 2 Diet" Book. While I have a zillion and a half books, do love the addition of Engine ...

I would eat these every day if I could, they're that good! Here's the original recipe, written by Engine 2 coach Ami to the Engine 2 blog and also posted to the Engine 2 Seven Day Diet Rescue Facebook community: TOP ENGINE 2 RECIPES: CHEEZY CHICKPEAS Ingredients 1 15-ounce can no salt added or low sodium chickpeas (do not drain and rinse!) 1/2 cup nutritional yeast 1 teaspoons Bragg liquid aminos 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour InstructionsDrain the liquid from the canned chickpeas into a small saucepan. Add the Bragg liquid aminos, then whisk in the nutritional yeast and whole wheat flour until well combined. Simmer on medium heat until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add chickpeas and stir to cover. Serve over cooked brown rice, baked potatoes, whole wheat pasta or your favorite grain – and load it up with some fresh or steamed greens!Servings: 2 Well, on the FB version, Ami doesn't mention this is 2 servings, and AFAIK, all of us there who were making this eat the whole shebang ourselves in one sitting, many saying they double it. Using homemade beans won't work with this, because you need the bean liquid - a.k.a. aquafaba - to make it work. Water or broth just isn't thick enough. Although the recipe calls for wheat flour, I use Mary McDougall's preferred flour for gravy, rice flour. Never a lump in her gravy recipes or in this one. One can of beans makes enough sauce for an entire pound of broccoli, as seen here: This is what I've been having for lunch a few times a week. I have to restrict myself to that because other days we have beans or lentils for dinner, and Dr. McDougall does limit us to an average of one cup of beans or legumes per day. But if he didn't? Oh, yeah, this would be my every day lunch!

The Seven Day Rescue Diet challenge is over! Saturday was my last official day on this plant-strong, oil-free, low-salt, low-sugar meal plan. I embarked on this challenge as a sort of spring reboot after several weeks of junk food binging left me feeling in need of some serious nutrition. I've done many reboots and meal plans over the years (usually in January), and I love that I always learn something about nutrition and adopt a few new healthy habits. This time, I learned more about sodium than I've ever cared to know before. And now that I know what to look for on labels, I'll definitely be seeking out low-sodium options when they're available. I've also learned to love the taste of food without much (or any) salt — in just a week! I plan to cut back on salt just a little because I was a bit of a salt-aholic. I'm also learning that I just don't need oil when I cook at home, so I'll be cutting back on that at the house (though I won't worry too much when I'm eating out or eating someone else's cooking!). Anyway, here's a recap of what I ate over the last three days. All recipes here are from Rip Esselstyn's Seven Day Rescue Diet book. Thursday morning started with Cinnamon Stick Oatmeal, which was supposed to be cooked with a stick of cinnamon. But I didn't have any, so I just added ground cinnamon. Plus, ground flax, banana, and blueberries. Morning snack at my desk was Engine 2 Roasted Red Pepper Hummus with Carrots & Celery. I've been eating so much hummus this week, but I will never tire of hummus. Lunch on Thursday was Rip's Bellissima Pasta Salad. This had whole wheat penne pasta with spinach, cannellini beans, roasted red peppers, tomato, onion, and steamed broccolini. The dressing was just plain red wine vinegar, and I have to say, I didn't miss the oil here. BUT I did actually miss salt in this. Pasta salad just needs a little bit of salt. If I made this again, I'd add some. Dinner on Thursday was Rip's Red Quinoa Bowl and Steamed Kale. This bowl was REALLY good. It had a base of romaine lettuce topped with quinoa, bell pepper, pineapple, cannellini beans, and Jane's Dancing Dressing (an oil-free maple-balsamic vinaigrette). I had a lot of fruit Thursday night as well. We had girl's night at my friend Shara's house, and I brought cantaloupe, and Becca brought berries and apples. On Friday morning, I had my favorite breakfast of the week — Savory Spinach Oats! This is steel cut oats with nooch, spinach, ground flax, mushrooms, turmeric, and hot sauce. Perfect! Didn't need salt at all. I would eat this again and again. Morning snack was more hummus and veggies, and then for lunch, I had Rip's Chopped and Cubed Salad. So big I had to eat it out of a mixing bowl! This had mango, sweet potato, corn, romaine, kidney beans, and a homemade sesame seed dressing. That dressing was FANTASTIC, and it only has three ingredients — toasted sesame seeds, maple syrup, and low-sodium soy sauce. You don't miss the oil at all since sesame seeds add some good fat, and the soy sauce — while light on sodium — provides plenty of flavor. Dinner on Friday night was Quinoa Cali Rolls. Fun! These little veggie sushis are stuffed with quinoa, brown rice, mango, bell pepper, carrot, and cucumber. They didn't stick together as well as I would have liked since neither brown rice nor quinoa is ideal for sushi rolling, but they tasted great. I used less soy sauce for dipping than I typically would. I went grocery shopping on Friday night, and by the time I returned, I was a little hungry again. My sushi just didn't stick with me. Luckily, I'd just bought Engine 2 Triple Berry Cereal at Whole Foods on my shopping trip, so I had a small bowl of that with oat milk for a late-night snack. Saturday was the last day! So I treated myself to Rip's Oat Pancakes. These fluffy pancakes are made with oat flour (which I made by grinding oats in my coffee grinder), and they're sweetened with mashed banana and applesauce. Rather than smother them with maple syrup, I made some quick blueberry topping by cooking down frozen berries with some fresh-squeezed OJ. Lunch was leftover pasta salad, and then I made banana bread! The recipe for Badass Banana Bread is actually from the new Engine 2 Cookbook, not the Seven-Day Rescue book (more on that Engine 2 book in a few). The bread is oil-free and sweetened with maple (though I didn't have enough maple left so I subbed a little agave too). I also added walnuts and raisins. I'll admit that it's not quite the same as regular banana bread with oil. It's lacked the moistness, but it was still really tasty. And after a week with no dessert, it felt like a treat. After my snack, I hit the road to head to Arkansas for my 20-year high school reunion! But before the party, I made a stop at my parents' house to heat up my very last Rescue Diet meal — Sloppy Joe Tostados with Steamed Kale. I'd made this earlier in the day and packed it with me since I knew I'd be in Jonesboro around dinner time. The sloppy joe mix is made from lentils, mushrooms, green peppers, and a little BBQ sauce. It's piled high onto corn tortillas that are crisped up in the oven. I'm not sure why I don't make tostados all the time, but I really need to. So easy and fun! After dinner, I headed over to meet up with my best friend Sheridan, her partner Drew, and our friend Brittany. We all went to school together (except for Drew), and we're all still close! They live in Little Rock and had driven in that morning as well. The reunion was at a bar called The Brickhouse. Of course, I had some beer there. I hadn't drank in seven days since I've been on this reboot, so it was fun to kick back and enjoy a few beers with my old high school buds. After the reunion, the four of us went back to Drew's dad's house for a slumber party! I brought Roots oil-free hummus (it's better than the Engine 2 hummus!) and baby carrots and some low-oil, low-salt popcorn for snacks. I knew I'd want snacks, and I wanted to have options that were best for the plan. But I also knew Sheridan would have some more decadent snacks, so I planned to eat a little of those too! And I did! She made vegan sour cream & onion dip, which we had with Ruffles. And I had some Zapp's Voodoo Chips (my fave!). I'm proud that I didn't just totally binge on junk food though! I had a little of each thing and didn't go crazy. I'm usually the girl at the party standing by the food table all night and just shoving food in until it's all gone. Working on that. So there ya have it! I felt great over these seven days, sooooo I'm planning to stick the Engine 2 plan for a couple more weeks. I'll be graduating to the Engine 2 Cookbook, rather than using the Seven-Day Rescue Diet book, and I'll probably deviate from the plan here and there. I know I'll eat out a few times, and wine is definitely in my future. I'll keep y'all posted daily with more food recaps!

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