I wrote this cookbook because people wanted recipes that would help them understand how to apply the principles in How Not to Die in their daily diet and to give them handy, delicious ways to get the Daily Dozen and other wonderful Green Light foods into their meals.
That’s great if you’re already committed to the most healthful way of eating. But I also wrote this book for those of you who may be at the experimental stage, where you are telling yourself, “Okay, I’m willing to try eating more healthfully, but I’m only going to do it if I like what’s on my plate!”
To eat well, it helps to cook well, and to cook well, you need to have the right foods at the ready. And all that starts with shopping.
When I go to the grocery store, I am thinking mainly about three things: produce, produce, and produce. I try to stock the fridge with as many fresh vegetables and fruits as will fit.
A shopping spree in our household means spending almost all of our time in the produce aisle. I love seeing what new items are in season—such as peaches in the summer and squash in the winter. I try to make sure my cart mimics a rainbow. Besides all shades of greens, I might buy purple cabbage, yellow peppers, red apples, and blueberries. More colors mean the most plant pigments, which mean more antioxidants.
As part of our produce-gathering mission, I also spend time in the opposite side of the store, the frozen foods section. Sometimes frozen fruits and veggies actually contain more nutrition than fresh ones. Frozen vegetables may be frozen on the day of picking, whereas “fresh” produce may have been sitting on a ship from the other side of the Earth, losing some of its nutritional value along the way. Local and fresh-picked is best, but not available year-round where I live, which is why I hang out in the frozen foods aisle.
The only times I really fan out into the heart of the store is to buy whole-grain pastas, jarred or Tetra Pak tomato products, canned beans when I’m not cooking my own, and whole grains, dried beans, nuts and seeds, dried fruit, and spices from the bulk aisle. I like to make big batches of beans and greens so I have them always at the ready to instantly improve the nutrition of any dish. I hate to see good food go bad, so it provides that extra motivation to pack in the healthiest of foods.
As well, I keep lots of old bottles and shakers sitting out on the kitchen island. I keep them brimming with spice mixes I’ve created, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried parsley, dried peppermint, dried dill, ground flaxseeds, and dried barberries, all ready to spontaneously add extra texture, flavor, and nutrition to meals.
It takes time to build up a truly plant-terrific kitchen, and I recommend going at whatever pace you feel comfortable to transition to a fully evidence-based diet. The people who try to adopt a whole-food, plant-based diet cold turkey are often, I’m afraid, the ones who may not keep it up. People who learn to eat well over time, food by food and meal by meal, may do best. They experiment with new foods, deliberately adding more vegetables to their diet to crowd out some of the less healthy choices and when they can, introducing a new, healthful recipe to their cooking repertoire. Then they find another such recipe, and another, until all of their meals are centered around Green Light foods.
The most important thing to keep in mind is long-term sustainability. It’s not what you ate for the first few decades of your life, or even what you eat tomorrow or next week, that matters. It’s all about what you eat for the next few decades. So please proceed at whatever pace works best for you. Remember: don’t stress if you fall off the wagon from time to time. If you do eat poorly one day, simply try to eat better the next.
Besides these basics, it’s also important to find foods you love. And the best way to do that may be to expand your horizons. There are all kinds of exotic beans and greens, so why not select some you aren’t as familiar with? How about adzuki beans or gigantes? What about sorrel or kai-lan (Chinese broccoli)? If you’re lucky enough to have a large Asian market near you, that’s where you can find more unusual produce, such as jackfruit, which looks like a huge, spiky melon with a shredded meatlike texture that can help extend your meatless Monday health streak into taco Tuesday. Although eating healthfully might sound limiting at first, many people tell me that they end up eating a more diverse diet than they ever have before.
Venture into the ethnic sections of your local markets, which span Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Ethiopian, and beyond. The goal is to find sauces or seasonings that can jazz up the most humble of beans or greens. Most prepared sauces are Yellow or Red Light foods, with added salt, sugar, and fat, but if a not-so-good-for-you sauce dramatically increases your intake of whole plant foods, it may be worth it to use it until you can Google your way to find a Green Light alternative.
Some spice mixes may start out in the Green, such as Italian, jerk, taco, berbere, garam masala, and za’atar. Be sure to have some on hand so when you’re in the midst of cooking, you can just toss some in the pot without having to worry about the proper ratio of basil-to-oregano (or whatever). That’s already been taken care of for you.
To help you stock your pantry, the following list is a guide to the foods you may want to have, particularly if you are going to be cooking up the recipes in this book.
artichoke hearts (jarred or frozen)
BEANS: (dried and canned) black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, navy beans, black-eyed peas, pinto beans, lentils, split peas, and cannellini beans
chickpea flour
chipotle chilies in adobo
cocoa powder (unsweetened)
curry powder
date sugar
dried chilies
DRIED FRUITS: dates, raisins, apricots, goji berries, figs
dulse seaweed flakes
GRAINS: red, brown, or black rice, red or black quinoa, old-fashioned rolled oats
miso paste (white)
mustard (salt-free stone-ground)
nut butters and tahini
nutritional yeast
NUTS AND SEEDS: cashews, almonds, pecans, peanuts, walnuts, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, hulled hemp seeds (hemp hearts)
PASTA AND NOODLES: 100% whole-grain or bean-based spaghetti, linguine, fusilli, lasagna, soba
roasted red peppers, jarred
spices and dried herbs
TOMATO PRODUCTS: salt-free jarred, BPA-free canned, or Tetra Pak tomato products (diced, whole, purée, paste, marinara sauce)
TORTILLAS: 100% whole-grain and corn
vanilla beans
vinegars (balsamic, rice, tarragon)
FRESH
FRUITS AND ROOT VEGETABLES: onions, garlic, carrots, sweet potatoes, and celery, as well as lemons, limes, bananas, gingerroot, and seasonal fruits
LEAFY GREENS: kale, baby spinach, arugula, and fresh herbs, as well as crucifers including cauliflower and purple cabbage
SALAD INGREDIENTS: lettuce, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, and avocado, and other vegetables, such as asparagus, green beans, broccoli, mushrooms, squash, and corn
tempeh
FROZEN
VEGETABLES: greens, corn kernels, green peas, edamame
FRUIT: blueberries, cherries, strawberries, peaches, mangoes
cooked and portioned rice (black, red, or brown), beans, and Vegetable Broth
ALSO, KEEP ON HAND THE FOLLOWING: