PILATES PLUS

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Pilates Plus

500 Nordhoff Place

Englewood, NJ 07631

201-569-7970

February 2011

Issue: 1

New Recipes & More from Pilates Plus

Greetings!

This is a first email in a series that will include plant-based recipes, tips for small lifestyle changes that can lead to big results and client success stories.

I try to eat a plant-based diet with not much added fat. No nuts except for a few walnuts once in a while. No avocados. When I do use a drop of oil for cooking, I use either flaxseed oil or canola oil. Once a week or so I broil some mackerel for the omega 3 fatty acids that are so heart healthy and so good for our brain. Since adopting this way of eating I have dropped a dress size. I feel great and have more energy than ever. Everyone I have cooked plant-based food for has remarked at how tasty and satisfying it was.

My husband is not interested in eating a plant-based diet so I cook meat for him. How I eat and how he eats is not worth wrecking a relationship over. He probably gets a lot more vegetables in his diet than most people. I don't cook separate foods for him per se. He gets whatever I'm eating and I try to give him meat with his meal. I'm sharing this with you to encourage you to try plant-based cooking and eating even if everyone in your household is not willing to make changes. Be gentle and let other people go at their own pace for change. Something to try might be to plan 2/3 or 3/4 of your meal to be plant-based with a bit of protein on the side. Or, you might consider making a day or two of the week to be plant-based.

I try to eat plants close to their original form. I buy potatoes, tomatoes, onions, spinach, sweet potatoes, dried beans and cook them. I don't eat food that has been canned. I do eat frozen vegetables but try to buy fresh whenever I can. I avoid food that is made with chemicals and food that is one thing and tries to look like another, so no soy cheese or veggie burgers, no vegan cupcakes. I avoid food that comes in a package and has chemicals I don't cook with at home.

Notice that I haven't included calorie information with the recipes. If you eat a plant-based diet there is no need to count calories. You get full from your meals and you lose weight. How cool is that? Even Weight Watchers has made fruits and vegetables 0 point foods. Plant based meals fill you up, without filling you out! Please make a point of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I want to hear from you too. Do you have a health or fitness related question you'd like answered? Send it to me and I'll be answering your questions in future editions of this newsletter.

In This Issue

Oatmeal

Guiltless Potato Pancakes with Salsa

Easy, Delicious Beans and Spinach

Oatmeal

Oatmeal

1 cup old fashioned oats

4 cups cold water

ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons ground flaxseeds

ground cardomom - optional

freshly grated ginger - optional

brown sugar, honey or maple syrup

raisins, dried cranberries - optional

Put water, oatmeal and spices into pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer - stirring once in a while. Simmer for 20 minutes or so until most of the water is absorbed. Stir in the ground flaxseeds and cook for a couple of minutes more. This recipe makes 3 servings for me. It keeps for several days in the refrigerator. Can be frozen. You can eat this hot but it tastes just fine at room termperature too. One client tells me it tastes as good as bread pudding. The oats are heart healthy and lower cholesterol. The flax seeds are a terrific source of omega 3 fatty acids, fiber and lignans. This is a great way to start your day and keeps you full until lunch.

Potato Pancakes with Salsa

4 Yukon gold potatoes

1 large onion

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

1 scant teaspoon canola or flaxseed oil

Grate potatoes, onion, garlic by hand or in a food processor, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lightly grease a non-stick skillet, form patties and put into skillet, tamp down with the back of a spatula, cover the skillet with a lid and cook on one side for 10 minutes. Turn pancakes over, cover the skillet and cook for 10 more minutes. 8 pancakes. These pancakes freeze well.

Salsa

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1/2 cup mint leaves

1/2 cup cilantro leaves

1/2 a small red onion

juice of a lime

salt to taste

Put everything into a small chopper and process until everything is a rough chunk. This keeps for several days and is a nice side dish.

Spinach and beans with salsa

This is less a recipe than a primer on how to cook delicious beans and very tasty spinach. Beans: Take 2 cups of dried beans. Sort, rinse, put into a pot, cover with cold water. If you want a measure for the water, you won't go wrong starting with 4 cups. Add to the water 3 or 4 cloves of chopped garlic, sea salt, freshly cracked pepper and a couple of bay leaves - I also add a good dash of red pepper. I like my food to have a bit of heat. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Cover the pot, turn off the heat and let your beans sit for at least an hour but it could be all day while you are at work. When you are ready, take the lid off the beans and bring back to a simmer, adding more water as necessary. Taste a bean once in a while to see if they are the texture you like.You do not have to soak lentils or black-eyed peas but you can cook them the same way. Everyone who tastes my beans enjoys them. Beans fill you up and not out. If they make you gassy it is because you don't usually eat them. Once you incorporate them into your diet your body will start making the enzymes to digest them better. I have to have a pot of cooked beans in my refrigerator at all times. With a pot of beans a meal is just minutes away. I don't care for canned beans. Actually, I don't care for canned anything, but beans are particularly vile from a can. Too mushy, too salty and completely deviod of character. Buy your beans from a good ethnic store that does a brisk business. If you buy stale beans, they will take forever to get soft and you will think you have done something wrong, when in fact you just had the bad luck to cook geriatric beans. A lot of recipes tell you to drain the cooking water off the beans. Don't you dare:) This is called "pot liquor" and is just the tastiest liquid. You will not have to use any kind of canned chicken or vegetable broth to jazz up your soups, especially if you use the garlic and pepper and bay leaves during the cooking process. My cupboards feel bare if I don't have at least a couple of pounds each of lentils, little white navy beans and Italian borlotti beans. People tell me all the time that they don't have time to cook beans. Poppycock, it is not very active cooking. Presumably, you spend some time reading, watching TV or working on the computer - you may as well have some beans simmering on the stove. People also tell me they don't have time to cook at home so they need to go out to eat. Poppycock, if you keep a few staples in your home and pay a bit of attention to keeping things on hand like a pot of cooked beans and some vegetables in the freezer you can always cook up a tasty meal faster than it takes you to get in your car, drive to the restaurant, wait for a table, get the menu, place your order, wait for your food, wait for your check and drive home.

Spinach: Buy the biggest bag of baby spinach you can find. Rinse the spinach, mince a good handful of garlic, put a good pinch of sea salt and some freshly ground pepper into a pot. Cook the spinach for a minute or two until it is soft. Divide into portions and freeze. If you are just one person, a small portion, if there are two of you, double it. Spinach and potatoes, spinach and beans, spinach into soup, spinach with a baked sweet potato.

There, now you have the fixins for a meal in your fridge and freezer. Eat at home more often andless often at restaurants. Your health will improve

Be well,

Brigitta

I hope you enjoy this first edition of Pilates Plus' newsletter and the recipes as well! I'd love to hear your feedback - once you try these healthy and delicious dishes, let me know what you think. Please forward this email to friends and family.

To your best health!

Brigitta von Gulner
Pilates Plus