Pregame
Lets give thanks for ourselves
Note: When you read this today, picture us having a conversation. That is the way I intended for you to receive and I wrote it with this in mind.
Pivot
We are going to talk about mindset for the upcoming holidays. Holiday, I should say. Why take them all at once? Take it one at a time. Otherwise, it is not really enjoyable. How can you enjoy Thanksgiving if you're worried about the whole damn season? I have already seen people talking about gaining weight over the holidays and while I am not discounting how you feel, I do want to come at this from another perspective. It is serious, a lot of people worry about eating during the holidays so let's break it down.
Unsolicited Advice
You have a holiday where it can already be fraught with emotions, you may have people picking at you or perhaps they will be upset if you don’t eat the way you normally eat. “What's wrong with you, you always liked the stuffing, why aren’t you eating the stuffing?” And now all of a sudden you have 10 pairs of eyes on you waiting to see your next move and you’re trying to explain, “Well, I am trying to eat beans…blah.” That conversation is for a different day. By the time you get to the family Thanksgiving table you do not want to be explaining that you are eating beans. You want to be able to enjoy yourself if you want to enjoy yourself. Or if you want to eat beans you eat beans. You don’t want this day to be the day that you announce you are not eating any of the food your family worked to prepare. No way. This would be my biggest unsolicited advice.
How do we make this happen? If you read this newsletter the day it's posted, you will have over a week prior to Thanksgiving where you could talk to the person who is hosting and let them know you are going to bring a side dish and to not to worry about you. When I first started eating differently than many of my friends and family that is exactly what I did. Really it's about getting together and socializing and seeing one another. It is not about your most nourishing, on target bean meal. You do that all week. Getting together with friends and family is about seeing friends and family. The dinner is awesome but it does not have to make or break the day. Communicate with the host that you will bring a side dish, maybe two, to the party. Let's think about what they are. One will be a dish where you integrate beans that you can eat and the other will be something you know everyone will enjoy to add to the meal.
I would suggest you give yourself grace on this day. Give yourself a break. If you end up knee deep into the cheese board, no problem. And because you did, now you want to eat the stuffing, too, have some. The next day you will get back on track. I promise you will. For those of you reading and you are thinking, “No, I am ready. I do not want cheese. My mindset is solid, my family knows I am incorporating beans into my diet but I am still at the beginning and I need some tips.” What should I do?
Solicited Advice
Show up and it's about keeping blood sugar stable, and lean protein and fiber on your plate. If you can do that you are not going to want to oversnack. You will prefer to eat the meal. A great way to do this is to start with veggies or hummus for an appetizer and a shrub or an infusion to drink. For me, these are easy drinks to prepare whether hot, an infusion or cold over ice, a shrub, you can have a social drink where apple cider vinegar, lemon, ginger and rosemary, can help keep blood sugar from spiking. This year, I am hosting and plan to make it as an alternative mocktail. Shrubs traditionally have sugar in them. I am going to make one and replace the sugar with a bit of maple syrup or honey. For me, it's about starting with apple cider vinegar before I eat. There is no significant science that I found (only small studies for short periods of time) but there is anecdotal evidence to keeping blood sugar from spiking. And family lore. I have been drinking hot tea water with apple cider vinegar for years. No sugar needed. But this is an acquired taste, I know. I will have a glass of wine when I sit for the meal. Having the premade mocktail gives a nonalcoholic social option and it's a fun way to participate in the cocktail hour. The other thing you can do is the beans! Remember, if you are already eating beans you will not show up hungry but rather, satiated and in control of what you want to add to your plate. There are also many diverse, veggie forward side dishes that I have seen all over the Internet. Choices.
Thanksgiving morning
You are recycling your hormones multiple, multiple times per day. Your bile is also released multiple times per day, full of fat soluble waste, and it's traveling through your small intestine to your colon. If you have been reading the newsletter, you know the goal is eating a half cup of beans three times a day so that all of that waste binds to the soluble fiber in beans and instead of recycling back into your bloodstream it exits into the toilet. One and a half cups per day is what we are building up to. If your hormones are recycling approximately every 20 minutes there are other times of the day that taking in some beans would be helpful. If you are not yet eating three ½ cups of beans a day you can wake up and have a teaspoon of beans. Getting dressed and ready to go where you are going, then have another teaspoon or two. You are helping your body to get rid of fat soluble waste, hormones and other gunk instead of having it recycled back into your system. A good day may be as easy as waking up, drinking a glass of water, taking a walk, or stretching or meditating. Whatever you do for yourself, do that. If you haven’t incorporated any light physical exercise, stretching or a morning walk will make you feel thankful, I bet. For breakfast, heat up some of the beans you have in the fridge, maybe add an egg and rice or other grain. Add greens and seeds if you have them. Put the kettle on and drink an infusion. My favorite is a couple of good chunks of raw ginger, apple cider vinegar, and mint leaves steeped in hot water. Go on with your morning. Read the paper, watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on TV. Relax. Have your day. Once you are ready to leave for the celebration or if you are hosting, before you brush your teeth eat one last tablespoon of beans before you brush your teeth. It will help with your hormones, lessen any anxiety, all of that.
Arrive with a plan…or not
Go to your relatives and maybe you decide to bring the shrub you made. No big deal, put it in your travel coffee mug or water bottle or mason jar. Everyone is having their cocktail, you pour your shrub over a glass of ice, bring a sprig of rosemary. Boom! Million bucks. Bring enough for others to try, if they are interested. Remember today is a celebration with family. Not a day to corner your uncle and talk about beans. Pour yourself your little shrub and mind your business. Engage with your cousins.
This is my best, most heartfelt advice. Either you have the soup or you don’t. Have the potatoes, stuffing and other sides or you don’t. Have dessert or don’t. That's it. It's as easy as that. The sky will not fall. We all wake up the next day, and begin again. Fresh new day. The best part is if you have been eating beans consistently, a day of indulging will not throw you off. You may have an upset tummy for a bit and your stomach will be happy once you reset and eat the beans again.
Oh, and one final thing that may help. My father, sometimes when we are having more serious conversations, he has said to me, “Denise, I don’t worry about the things I can’t control.” Hmmm… I want a little of that. I have taken it where it served me. I don’t always as my family can confirm, and I am not sure he has either but we can try. One of the things I do more often is think, can I control this? Mostly the answer is no. We can control little. The only thing we can control is ourselves and our own actions. So let's not put ourselves through hell, let's not shame ourselves or feel badly or any of that next Thursday. Let’s just say this holiday is for giving thanks. Let’s think about what we are thankful for and why? Alright. I love you for reading this far, I am thankful for all the wonderful things that you are and are becoming. Now go out there, enjoy yourselves, and start with beans!
Recommended Recipe
Roasted butternut squash with a surprise ingredient…beans.
Maybe you offer to make the soup course and get your serving of beans out of the way. I usually roast my veggies on Sunday when food prepping for the week. I may not even know what I am making with the squash but more often than not I add roasted butternut squash into a recipe so it’s a good bet to roast it ahead of time. Makes midweek cooking a snap, especially if you have cooked a pot of beans and/or you have a can in the cupboard. This soup will come together in no time.
Ingredients
1 2-2 1/2 lbs butternut squash-roasted, skin peeled off
2 Tbsp olive oil-separated
1 medium onion chopped
4 garlic cloves chopped
~2 cups white beans or 15oz can (I had Rancho Gordo Coco beans already made in fridge) cannellini, navy or northern white would be good, too. If you have a can of garbanzo or pinto in the cupboard, you can use that instead of going out to get something specific.
1/2 tsp ground ginger or 1 tsp grated fresh
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, optional (I like a little heat. Leave out if you don’t)
2 1/2 cups veggie stock
1 cup milk of your choice I use coconut milk (not the one in the can but the one in a carton or box you can put on cereal or as a drink) or oat milk. I chose not to use heavy cream or full fat coconut milk because the beans make this soup creamy. If I was making a soup without the beans for creaminess I may rethink this step. And if I was making this and I had no milk in my fridge I would use extra veggie stock or even water and not blink an eye. There are many ways to add layers of flavor to a recipe. If I did have to use water I would make sure the soup sat overnight before serving for the flavors to blend and become more complex. Maybe add some coconut aminos for deeper taste. I hope this gives you license to use what you have and make it to your taste.
pepitas, pesto for garnish (and I had leftover mushrooms that I sprinkled on top)
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Farhenheit. Cut the butternut squash in half add one tablespoon of olive oil over the top, salt and pepper. Lay flat on a rimmed cookie sheet on top of parchment. Set the timer for 45 minutes. A fork or knife should slide right through when finished. Let cool and peel off the skin.
While the squash is roasting, heat up a heavy pot or dutch oven for two minutes over medium heat, add the other tablespoon of olive oil and the onion. Stir every now and then until onions are translucent. (5-6 minutes) Add the garlic, stir and sauté for another minute and a half. When finished put this mixture into a bowl. You will need to wait until the squash is done roasting to continue.
Add half the onion mixture, a cup of beans, half the squash, and half of the stock to a blender and blend until completely smooth (1-2 min). There are too many ingredients here to add everything at once without some shooting out the top of you blender. Poor the blended soup back into the pot you sautéed the onion in. Then add the remaining, onion mixture, stock, beans and squash and blend again until smooth. Add back to the soup pot and add in the coconut milk and heat through.
Add the ginger, nutmeg, cayenne and stir until incorporated. Taste and adjust any seasonings. This is where you can add the salt and pepper.
When ready to eat, add one to two ladles to each bowl, sprinkle with pepitas, add a few big drops of pesto and swirl it through. As I said I had made sautéed mushrooms earlier in the week and I love them on top of soup. You could crisp up some shallots, too. The possibilities are endless. Enjoy! Eating beans is a delicious proposition.
Contact
If you have any questions on your mindset approaching the holidays, the bean protocol or integrating beans into your daily meals, please email me at Denisemancieri1@gmail.com. Feel free to comment below if there are topics you would like to see.
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Note: I am not a doctor. I am a teacher and an educator with an earned doctorate in educational leadership. I enjoy research and I can parse large amounts of information into easily understood and digestible pieces allowing people to understand what is happening to their body and possible steps to reverse it with food as medicine. I have healed my own GI issues through choices with food. I followed Karen Hurd’s bean protocol diet, I meditated and still do and I healed. I feel compelled to be in service and educate others as the more people eating beans, alongside a healthy diet and sharing their stories the more people will live a healthier existence. Joy, peace and freedom abound. Please see your doctor and discuss nutritional options before you change any course of action with your health.