Health Starts Here! Louisville Whole Foods Team Members take on the 28 Day “Engine 2″ Challenge

2/22/12

Three Weeks In. New Belt. New Pants.

So today marks three weeks since this challenge started. I was a bit skeptical at first. I knew someone who had done it, and it seemed to work well for them, but I had tried other things like that before. Now, here we are and I AM A BELIEVER!

Since starting this, I have already bought new pants a size smaller and I had to purchase a new belt because I ran out of room on the one I had. I HAVE LOST 18 POUNDS as of this morning!!! I can’t believe it!

I’ve always had a problem with bad skin (acne, redness, etc..) and my skin looks better than it has.. ever! I plan on continuing with eating this way even after the challenge is over. I mean, it’s worked so well this far. So why not? It’s better for me, I feel better, I look better.

I will keep strict to it for at least the next three months. Then after that I may start to have small amounts of oil and salt, but not much.

I love that this forces me to cook at home more. I feel like we have saved a lot of money since we hardly ever eat out anymore. I know everything that I am eating and what is in it. Can’t beat that!

This post will be short because I don’t feel like I have much new to say. Just if you are doing this or something like it, STICK WITH IT! IT WILL PAY OFF!!!!!!

Good luck!

Sorry no photo today. I’ve been too busy eating the awesome food to take pictures of it!

-Jack – Bakery Dept. Whole Foods Market Louisville

Pictured-breakfast cookies (recipe included)

Here We Are. 14 Pounds Lighter.

So here it is. Day 13. I have stuck to the diet through and through. Maybe I had one beer. Okay. That’s not important. What is important is how I feel. And that is AWESOME.

I have, as of this morning, lost 14 pounds. I seem to go up a pound or so one day, then down two or three the next. It’s crazy times! I feel great! I can’t wait to see where I am at the end of this challenge. I can’t wait to see where I am a month after that. I don’t want to be like, ‘oh now I have seen the light!’ but I totally have. I mean, it all makes sense. Fat is bad for you, plants are good. Duh, haven’t our parents been saying to ‘eat your vegetables’ all our lives? Well, I guess they knew something we didn’t.

Confession time: I cheated today. My girlfriend and I were looking for something to do and couldn’t think of anything. Our old standby was to go out to eat, so she started looking up vegan restaurants in the area. I kept saying, ‘well, I’m sure they use salt and oil in their recipes…’ but she was determined. Finally we found a place downtown that had a lot of salad varieties, so I figured we could just eat that and it would be okay. We got there only to discover they were closed, so we ended up going to one of our favorite eats on Bardstown Road.

Once there, we decided this would be our ONE CHEAT MEAL for the whole month. I don’t know why I agreed to it, a moment of weakness I suppose. We stayed vegan, but had some hummus on pita (the hummus was topped with oil and I’m sure the pita had salt in it) and then I had a Thai vegetable mix with peanut sauce. Which I’m sure had a lot of oil and salt.

Let me tell you. I won’t be doing that again. The food tasted weird. Like, not good weird. I LOVE THAI FOOD. I love peanut sauce. I LOVE PITA.  The flavors were just all wrong today though. Also, I felt weird for a few hours after eating. I felt heavy again. I felt over-full and weighed down. I felt like I used to. I felt like I had thrown away the last two weeks of being awesome.

I’m over that now. I am back to eating the E2, plant-strong way. I won’t be going back to that for a while, if ever. Another thing I noticed is I used to be able to put away a plate the size they brought me in one sitting, no problem. Today I ate about a third of it and I was full. Very full.

Wow, this went on longer than I thought. Point being: I cheated. It’s okay, I’ll be okay. I’ve realized my mistake. I don’t want to mess up what I’ve got going so it won’t happen again.

Included is a photo of some tasty breakfast cookies that I made the other day. HOW TO MAKE: 1.5 cups of oats, 2-3 super ripened bananas, 1 cup unsweetened applesauce, handful of craisins (I used raisins), cinnamon to taste. Mix, throw on a baking sheet @ 350/ 35 minutes. Enjoy!!

Jack – Bakery Dept. Whole Foods Market Louisville

 

 

 

 

Today is day 5. I’m almost done with the first week. It hasn’t been bad at all. I thought for sure that I would be craving this and NEEDING that but so far, I haven’t really missed much. We’ve had chili and veggie dogs, tons of fruit, tons of salad, salsa, homemade dressings, wraps, homemade chips, cereal, etc. Just a bunch of really tasty stuff! I think my girlfriend is actually having a tougher time than I am!

Although, to be fair, I have been off work since day 2, and since I work in the bakery, going back may prove to be difficult. It’s all the little things you can nibble on all day. The cookie bits and cake pieces that aren’t being used. “Well, it’s just a little bit.” Then at the end of the day, you realize how much trash you have eaten.

I think I will be able to do okay. I have yet to cheat once! Which is good for me. I am excited to try all the new recipes in the book and the ones we are finding online. I started following Engine 2 on facebook and they post photos every meal of what they are eating! They have things like shepherds’ pie and pizza! Plant strong, of course.

I’ve really been enjoying Rip’s Big Bowl (pictured) for breakfast. This stuff is killer. Hands down it is my favorite thing so far. I could eat this all day! Oats, grape-nuts, shredded wheat, Uncle Sam cereal, bananas, raisins, and walnuts! In the book recipe he uses grapefruit and kiwi, but I don’t particularly care for grapefruit. So I have been eating it this way so far. Most likely I will get some kiwi at work tomorrow to make it even more colorful and awesome!

I’ve noticed something. When I am full from eating this way, I don’t feel the same as I used to. I used to feel tired and heavy and I didn’t want to move. Now, even when I am full, I feel much less weighed down. Much less tired. I am very impressed as I am only beginning the 5^th day today! I can’t wait for how I feel three weeks from now!

My only ‘issue’ so far is that I haven’t lost any weight yet. I know, I know. It’s way too early to see any real changes. I am not giving up. I am going forward! I can’t wait to see how well this works in another three weeks!

-Jack

 

02/02/12

My first few days of E2 have been, overall, successful and exciting. Cooking has been so much fun! My other half works in the Meat Department at WFM. He will not be going Vegan with me; after all, he has to know his product right? Luckily, he is happy to eat whatever I cook at home, and even he is impressed with the dinners I’ve made thus far. One night, we tried out a recipe that was available to me through the Heath Starts Here department at my store. I’m a big fan of quinoa anyway, so I tried the Zesty Quinoa with Broccoli. It used vegetable broth to simmer the onions and garlic, as opposed to oil, and was flavored with sundried tomatoes and lemon juice. Quite delicious! We are also big fans of mushrooms, so I whipped up a little side dish. I kind of threw it together, but the mushrooms were simmered in veggie broth, thickened up with nutritional yeast (perfect for obtaining a cheesy texture) and seasoned with a little lemon juice, garlic and fresh parsley. The flavor combination was that of a really decadent stuffed mushroom.

I’ve been sticking to large salads for lunch, packed with veggies, and an oil-free dressing. Most of the time, I top my salads with just a little vinegar. It does the trick. However, there are several oil-free dressings offered at WFM, along with recipes to make your own at home!

On the first day of the challenge, our store’s Healthy Eating Specialist set us up with an E2 kickoff meeting, where she provided us with a delicious vegan burger she made from scratch, served with chipotle roasted veggies, and a sprouted grain bun. Thanks, Meg! Last night for dinner, I marinated fresh cut potatoes in an oil-free chili sauce, and then baked them until crispy. We had a mountain of garlicky kale (my favorite) as a side.

As far as eating goes, I’m doing a good job! My cigarette habit, however, hasn’t gone away completely. I had every intention of going cold turkey (ha, ha), but it’s become harder to kick than I anticipated. I’ve gone from a pack a day, to bumming only 1 or 2 cigarettes throughout my day. It’s an improvement for sure, but not exactly where I’d like to be.

Now, to figure out what to cook for dinner tonight! Thanks for reading, and I hope that this is helping you through your own challenge. Even changing your eating habits slightly can make a difference!

Dylan Hutson | Customer Service Cashier at Whole Foods Market Louisville

 

Thoughts of an In-No-Way-Shape-Or-Form-Healthy Eater on Day 1 of the 28 Day Engine 2 Challenge

I love food. A lot. I love cheese. I love meat. I love most foods I have tried. Living in a city that prides itself on the diversity of restaurants available and living with a girlfriend who loves to cook (and is amazing at it) and loves to cook “southern style” has led to me being someone I don’t want to be.

Someone who is heavy and unhealthy. I used to work at a very physically demanding job that required me to be moving up and down stairs carrying heavy furniture all day. I lost a ton of weight working there and was finally happy with myself.

Now I am tired. All the time. I get winded easily. I eat when I am bored. I NEED CHANGE! I want the old me back. I want to be able to run after my daughter and play with her and not have to tell her that I am too tired to play right now. I want to be able to climb on things and not worry about if they will break or not. I want to not have to think about whether people are judging me because of my weight (most likely they are not, this is just where my mind goes).

Working at Whole Foods, I heard about this 28 day Engine 2 Challenge last year. I toyed with signing up, but as usual, procrastinated and never looked into it more. Some of my immediate coworkers did it and seemed to have generally good results. As with a lot of diets though, they seemed to fall off right after the 28 days and went right back to eating as they used to. Some people were just ‘doing it to see if they could’.

Then I met a coworker who did the Challenge. And stuck with it. And it worked so well for them! I was very impressed and thought maybe this was something I should do. So I asked about when the next one started (Feb 1) and here we are.

Going in to this I had so many ideas about how this was going to be. “I am only going to be able to eat salads. All day every day.” I thought there would be no variety, it would be all bell peppers and lettuce. So I started to read the book, and I got to the recipe section. HOLY COW! There is SO MUCH variety! And that’s just in the recipes they give you, you can make your own with all the awesome stuff you can still eat.

I also had to change my thinking about this before going in. I thought to myself, “why is this called a Challenge?” It’s just eating differently. That shouldn’t be a big deal. I think my biggest challenge will be cooking. I enjoy cooking but I don’t do it very often. I know this will change that.

 

I will be updating this blog throughout the 28 days to give you the perspective of someone who used to eat not so great: lots of meat and cheese and sugar. Lots of eating out. Lots of junk. Hopefully this “Challenge” will do what I want and I am able to continue a plant strong diet after it is over. It is my plan to not eat meat again. Ever. It is my goal to lose some weight. It is mostly my goal to become healthier. I hope that I can meet these goals and do better than I thought I would. I KNOW I CAN!

Jack

 

 

 

 

01/31/12 – I’m no stranger to the Engine 2 Diet. In fact, a little over a year ago, it helped change my life. After being educated about the diet through my job at Whole Foods Market, I took it upon myself to obtain the book and give it a read.  I was 20 years old, at my highest weight of (about) 210 pounds, a full on meat eater, & a fast food indulger.  The proof was in the pudding — literally. The book totally convinced me by busting myths about my food, giving me scientific proof, a step-by-step guide to what food I should & shouldn’t be buying, tips for exercises, & on top of that, half the book is filled with recipes! This makes everything almost too easy. There is only one catch: You have to cook. A lot. I can see why this can be a problem for most people. Fitting a home cooked meal into the hustle & bustle of everyday life can be challenging in and of itself, let alone cooking in a way that you’re not used to. This is where I lucked out, because I’ve always had a passion for cooking & food in general. Food, like art & music, is universal. It can speak so many different languages. Food is linked to memory sensors in our brains, reminding us of Grandmother’s kitchen, our first date, where we come from or what we’ve been through. I was used to frying greasy chicken, whipping up velvety Alfredo sauces, & baking cheese-bubbling casseroles, butter-filled pies & fluffy cakes. The fact that the E2 book is loaded with recipes truly excited me.

After going through the challenge, I liked the way my body felt (& looked) so much, that I decided to stick with the vegan eating style. I of course picked up using oils & sugars again, but nothing I ate for the next year contained anything that came from an animal. I dropped 50 pounds, my skin turned perfect, I felt like a million bucks & people noticed. My body was glowing because I was putting all the right things into it.

For the last 4 months or so, I’ve been sucked into a holiday vortex. I’ve been milking (no pun intended) the cooler air, they grey sky, & the southern-style cooking my family has to offer. I make exceptions for cheese, & dairy in baked goods, but I still never touch actual meat. I’ve also failed to mention until this point that I’m a pack-a-day, menthol cigarette smoker. I’ve become increasingly less active & for the first time in well over a year, I think my jeans are getting tight instead of loose. This isn’t acceptable. I couldn’t be starting any sooner than tomorrow, which is when my Whole Foods Market Louisville is beginning their challenge. Am I overwhelmed? Yes. Do I know I can do it again, just like I did the first time? Yes. The only thing that I’m a little worried about is staying committed to cutting the cigarette habit.

I will be updating on my progress & daily challenges/successes of the challenge through recipes, photos and posts.

Meanwhile, I think it’s okay to have a final indulgence, don’t you think? My last cigarette will (hopefully) be smoked today. Here’s to hoping making myself proud again! If I can do it, so can you.

-Dylan