by Marc Kaplan

I transitioned to a primarily whole food, plant-based, non-dairy, raw diet in August of 2010 and lost 17 pounds in five weeks. This was the largest detoxification program that I have ever done. The biggest difference for me was that I was not looking for just a quick fix weight loss diet but I was ready to shift to a healthier diet for the rest of my life.

I was a compassionate vegetarian and I was still overweight with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hypertension, and borderline diabetes. There are so many varieties of diets from doctors, health practitioners, and other sources (South Beach, Atkin’s, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, various detoxifications like the super lemonade cleanse, etc.) that I found my self overwhelmed with the amount of options, and choices.

The real question to answer is what does your body really need to perform at
the best it can? The answer is you need to experiment a little, which is a fun and
rewarding experience. My shift to a non-dairy plant-based diet has made me
healthier, more athletic, more energetic, a steward to the environment, achieve
great happiness, and to become a true compassionist.

As humans we all are in the pursuit of happiness and comfort. I was raised on a
variety of meat products with every meal, so I experience a lot of joy in preparing
them and eating them. The problem is that they not only have virtually no
nutritional value but in fact adversely affect people’s health because of the work it
causes for your body to digest dead flesh and the fats associated with much of the
meats. Lastly, I realized that all animals experience pain and suffering at the time of
slaughter no matter how humanely they are killed. It is one thing to be part of the
killing process but it is all whole other thing to make that pain one with my body by
eating it. Metaphysically and spiritually it was causing me major problems to ingest
the dead flesh of an animal that incurred such great suffering during in its execution.
And like so many of us, I was doing this at least three times a day.

The basics to my weight loss program and spiritual growth program was achieved
by drinking lots of water, sticking to a 75% whole (raw) foods, avoiding all animal
flesh, no dairy products, exercise my body everyday, and to exercise to the point of
breaking a sweat at least every other day. I am also a advocate of daily meditation.
We have between 900 and 1,000 waking minutes, it only takes 10 of those minutes
to be able to establish a daily pattern of mindful meditation. I prefer Tai Chi and
Qigong but there are many simple sitting meditations for beginners.

The following dietary suggestions come from my life of trial and error as I experimented with various diets. My philosophy is simple as is my diet. Strive to eat whole foods and avoid animal flesh meats, dairy products, white sugar, white flour, and foods with high fats and artificial sweeteners. Sounds simple because it is.

I have made three suggestions for each main meal but you can visit the recipes area
of the Green Smoothie University website to see many more options.

Breakfast
Do not rush to get food and drink into your body because the clock on the wall says
its time for breakfast. Delay breaking your nightly fast and wait until your body
craves nourishment, it will tell you. You just have to be open to listen to it.

•  Try starting your day with some water, maybe one or two cups to quench your thirst and feed your dehydrated body. You may want heat up the water and possibly add some fresh squeezed lemon.

• Make 16 to 32 ounces of a Green Smoothie. My favorite smoothie is made from two handfuls of spinach, one handful of strawberries, one ripe banana, and a cup of coconut water. I often add blueberries, mangos, pineapples, apples, and other seasonal fruits to the suggested baseline ingredients. Do not worry about buying an expensive blender. Basic blenders, which you probably own already, will work just fine.
•  Granola with bananas and a variety of other fruits with almond, rice, or soymilk.

Lunch
You will not be very hungry depending on how much smoothie you had for
breakfast. Again, I would encourage you to ignore the clock on the wall and wait
and eat when you are hungry. I often go until 2pm or 3pm before graving a 2nd
major meal if I had digested 32 ounces of smoothie that morning.

•  Nori (seaweed) wraps made with sliced zucchini, bell peppers, sweet onions, avocado and tomatoes. I coat the roasted nori wrap with cashew, almond, or sunflower seed butter and simply lay the strips of vegetables down and roll it into a hand roll cone. The nori wraps can be made with sticky brown rice as well but also taste great without it.
•  Avocado (guacamole) dip made with lots of added vegetables. I take two fresh avocados and like adding banana peppers, mangos, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, and fresh cilantro.
•  Green Salads (kale, spinach, mixed greens, romaine, etc.) with fruits and vegetables. Remember to go very light on the dressing.

Dinner
Many of the faux meats can be purchased at your local grocer. The faux meats help
to make me happy by reminding me of comfort meat foods I enjoyed while growing
up. I do much of my shopping at Trader Joe’s because they are reasonably priced
and reasonably healthy. I would caution everyone to make sure you limit you intake of processed soy products like the faux meats to just a couple time a week.

•  Stir-fried vegetables will give you a little break from your raw foods intake and allow you to experiment with various seasonings and light marinades.
• Meatless Meatballs with onions, sundried tomatoes, garlic, basil, and bell peppers mixed into a marinara sauce.
• Thai Vegetable Gyozas are very simple to make and very tasty to eat. Eight of these vegetable pot stickers along with some accompanying vegetables can make for a very fulfilling meal.

Between Meal Snacks
Dehydrated kale chips
Roasted seaweed in bite sized containers
Raw almonds and other nuts
Fresh fruit
Salsa and with whole grain chips
Guacamole dip

I encourage everyone to please share this diet with your family, friends, and co-
workers if you have success with it in your own life. I did and that is why I want to
share it with you now.