Thai Green Curry Anti Cancer Soup

I have eaten Dr. Furhman's Famous Anti- cancer soup almost every day since I've started this diet, sometimes three times a day! It is so much trouble to make, and it makes so much, it's just easier to grab a bowl than make something else. Even though it's nutritious, I'm pretty sick of it.
I had my usual Wed. cheat of Thai Green Curry Seafood at my favorite restaurant, and I came up with an idea- why not try to combine it with the anti-cancer soup?
I forgot about the idea until yesterday at the grocery store, I saw a can of "light" coconut milk, it had half the fat and calories of the regular. I also found some green curry paste, so I thought I would give my idea a try...I've never made green curry before, and hoped for the best.
I decided to reduce the amount of carrot juice and eliminate altogether the cashews of the regular anti cancer soup. I figured it would be about an even trade calorie wise. At the last minute, I added shredded unsweetened coconut, to boost the flavor of the coconut milk.
Th result was a slightly sweet, mild green curry flavor, not overwhelming. I really like it, especially compared to the regular ant-cancer soup.

Thai Green Curry Variation Anti-Cancer Soup

1/3 cup each dried split pea, lentils, black beans

4 cups water

2 onions, chopped

2 leaks, carefully cleaned and chopped

2 zucchini chopped

2 to 3 cups kale, stems removed

1 small bunch celery, chopped

Carrot juice ( I used organic, not from consentrate)

16 oz mushrooms, chopped

2 cans light coconut milk

2 -3 TB green curry paste

Handful of unsweetened shredded coconut

Stevia to taste (I used Truvia baking blend- about 1/8 cup)

Garlic, onion powder, pepper, and Mrs. Dash to taste

Directions

Add dried beans and water to a large soup pot. I usually cook medium heat until boiling, then turn to med-low and cook for 30 min.

Add onions, leaks, zucchini, kale , celery, 1 can of light coconut milk, enough carrot juice to barely cover the veggies, the veggies release their own juices . Add seasonings to taste. Simmer 40 min.

At this point, I usually take the soup off the burner and scoop out about 4-5 cups of veggies (without liquid) and let them cool in a large bowl for about 30 min. (I actually realized my mushrooms and second can of coconut milk wouldn't fit in my pot, so I had to ladle off and discard some of the soup liquid that was in the pot).

After 30 min, put the pan back on burner on med. heat and add mushrooms.

To a food processor add the reserved veggies, 1 can coconut milk, curry paste, shredded coconut and stevia or sweetener and blend until smooth. Add to soup pot, stir, and cook for 30 min.

Day 6- Dr. Furhman's Famous Anti-Cancer Soup

• Day 6

• I realized that I had most of the ingredients for  Dr. Furhman's Famous Anti- Cancer Soup recipe.

• Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dried split peas and 1/2 cup dried beans
• 4 cups water
• 4 medium onions chopped
• 6 -8 medium zucchini, chopped
• 3 leeks, chopped
• 2 bunches kale or 2 bunches collard greens or 2 bunches other greens, chopped, tough stems and center ribs cut off and discarded
• 5 lbs organic carrots ( 4-5 cups juice)
• 2 bunches organic celery ( 2 cups juice)
• 2 tablespoons sodium-free seasoning (such as Dr. Fuhrman's VegiZest) or 2 tablespoons Mrs. Dash seasoning mix
• 1 cup raw cashews
• 8 ounces mushrooms, chopped ( shiitake, cremini and or or oyster)
  Directions
  
  1. Add beans and water to very large pot over low heat.
  2. Add onions, zucchini and leeks to the pot along with chopped kale. Stir in carrot juice, celery juice and VegiZest or Mrs. Dash.
  3. Simmer about 20 minutes until onions, leeks, and zucchini soften. Transfer the soft onions, zucchini, and leeks from the pot to a blender along with some of the liquid from the pot. Completely blend or puree the vegetables. Add more soup liquid and the cashews to the mixture, and blend inches Return the creamy vegetable mixture back to the pot.
     
     
     
     
     As you can see, this is one of the ugliest soups I've ever seen. I had to make a few substitutions: I didn't have split peas, so I used lentils and blackbeans. I only had 2 onions, 4 zucchini, and subbed green onions for the leeks I also don't have a juicer, so my hubby got me some organic carrot juice. I didn't have the cashews, so I subbed almond flour.
     All in all, the soup is quite tasty. It was not fun to make, but it makes a huge poy, so it will last quite a while and can be divided up to freeze. My husband even had a bowl and said, it's not bad (which, believe it or not, is a complement.)

Day 3 and 4

Day 3

I weighed myself and NO WEIGHT LOSS! Very frustrating, to say the least...
I had my usual breakfast of oatmeal and fruit, a little less oatmeal, a little more fruit this time.
I spoke to my mother, and she said I was eating more than they usually do. They don't do mango smoothies, and they don't use as many beans as I did.
I was having lunch with a friend, I did eat a Thai green curry seafood combo dish. It is one of my favorites. I decided to go easy the rest of the night. I snacked on a few pieces of fruit and for dinner I had a bag of frozen broccoli, mushrooms and carrots. I microwaved them, they were horrible. I even added Mrs Dash and coconut aminos- just awful. Found myself starving later, so I ate my son's leftover open faced smashed banana sandwich on gluten free bread, it was good and helped fill me up. Before bed I was starving again and ate one of my son's apple Larabars made out of dates, almonds, apples, raisins and walnuts. It really hit the spot.

Day 4

I finally lost 2 lbs! Had a meeting at Boo's school in the morning and couldn't focus, so I broke down and had my International delight mocha iced coffees. I had a few pieces of cantaloupe as I ran out the door.
Midmorning I had a salad, this time no fruit, only greens, broccoli, celery, cucumber, onions and carrots. I cut out the beans as well, especially since the hummus I use in the dressing contains garbanzo beans, I think that was my problem before.
After a few hours I was starving! I had some oatmeal with a sliced banana. A little later I was still starving, and wanted to cheat so bad, but had a bowl of cantaloupe with shredded unsweetened coconut on top. A little later I had a plum.
The thought of another salad did not sound the least bit appealing. I looked up recipes and found one that i could modify to what i had available. It was called Chinese Apricot Stir Fry I stir fried a bag of frozen sugar snap peas, carrots, mushrooms, and onions. I added 1 TB of 4 berry preserve(unsweetened) 1TB red cooking wine, a dash of coconut aminos, slivered almonds, sesame seeds and some Mrs Dash. It actually was really good.

Day 2

Here is my breakfast consisting of 1 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten free steel cut oats, organic strawberries, blueberries, apple, banana, and slivered natural almonds. Yes, there is oatmeal in there somewhere! :-)

Yum!

I realized later that I used too much oatmeal, but it was sure good.

Since I am still in the first chapter of the book, I am still just doing the basics meal wise.

The salad above has spinach, romaine, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, grapes, tomatoes, onions and canned black beans that I rinsed well. I also added a few nuts and sesame seeds.

I really like the dressing I had last night, so I repeated it :-)

I contains 1/4 cup roasted red pepper hummus whisked with 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar.

I had the same salad for dinner, and a little later my son and I had a really good mango smoothie made out of frozen mango ( partially thawed is the key) and vanilla coconut milk and a little stevia. It was absolutely delish!
I can't believe how full I am today. Almost uncomfortably so, it is a really strange feeling, I can't remember feeling this full in a long time.

Day 1, well sort of...

I received my book in the mail a few days ago, and have read the success stories and the intro. I was going to read a little every day. Then today about noon the phone rings...
My mom called to tell me about her wonderful salad for lunch, and how she has lost 10 lbs. in 30 days by just doing Eat for Life for just 2 meals a day, and eating how she normally did for 1 meal. She wasn't overweight before, so those ten pounds normally would be difficult to lose, but she said they just melted away.
I told her that I was just starting the book, but she kept telling me that I should just start the diet while I read.
 What? I wasn't ready for that, I wanted to ease in slowly, finish eating everything in the pantry and fridge that wasn't compliant. I had ribs, chicken wings, and dare I say, Pappa John's pizza in the fridge. I had even had a piece of pizza for breakfast!
She told me to just go to the grocery store and get at least 4 different types of fruits, a bunch of fresh veggies, different dark salad greens, some no salt cans of beans, frozen veggies and fruit, some gluten free steel cut oatmeal, some hummus, a few nuts, and just start it for goodness sake! She said that my father had lost 30 lbs in 30 days, so what's stopping me?
Ahhhhh! Giving up meat, butter, cheese, white bread, cake, eggs cold turkey? I don't think I'm ready! Somehow she convinced me that by starting with just a half a day left would ease me into it.
I went to the grocery store and poured through the produce aisle, grabbing everything in sight, lest I get hungry. After about an hour and a half with calls made to both my mother and father for advice, with a whopping grocery bill of $125, I did it!
By that time I had to run home and unload the groceries and go across town to pick my son up. All in all, by the time we made it back, it was 4:45 and all I had to eat today had been a piece of pizza and a huge cup of International Delight Iced Coffee, mocha flavored and about a liter of Diet Dr. Pepper.
I asked my 5 year old son if he wanted to have a salad with Mommy for dinner. "No way" was the quick response. He then saw all of the fruit and decided he would have a "banana salad". I decided to go with the flow, and this is what he ended up with:

  

Boo's "Banana Salad" contains Romaine, spinach, broccoli, cucumbers, celery, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, and of course, bananas. He chose all of this himself, and with a little balsamic dressing, he ate the whole thing! I've never seen him eat this many vegatables, ever. He has never even tried celery before, because he didn't like the way it looks.

I used everything Boo did, but added tomato and Texas sweet onions. Yes, I did use bananas(after the photo was taken) and do you know what? It was surprisingly good!
Here's a picture before dressing:

And here's a picture with A dressing made from red pepper hummus thinned with balsamic vinegar:

I don't know if it was because I was STARVING, but this salad was great!

A little later on I was really hungry. I really wanted something chocolate, but instead I grabbed a handful of grapes and got quite full. It was kind of bizarre how instantly full I felt.

How it begins

My mother called me to let me know that my father had two blocked arteries, and that there was nothing that the doctors could do. Mind you, my father has already had two heart attacks, but, evidently this was the wake-up call that was not to be ignored...

   Fast forward two weeks, my parents called and said that they were doing this new diet that his cardiologist recommended called Eat to Live. He said that he had lost 15 lbs in 5 days! Yes, 5 days!

Then he started to tell me about the diet. Mainly fruits, vegetables, beans and nuts. WHAT? My father had been on Weight Watchers for almost a year leading up to this, but no meat, no sugar?

Whatever he was doing, it was definitely working. I talked to him a few days later, and he was continuing to lose about 2 lbs. a day. Incredible. He was so excited he wanted to mail me a copy of the book. I was getting excited about his weight loss, and excited to lose weight myself and get healthy in the process.

 My 5 year old son has several food intolerances- no gluten, no dairy, and no soy, so I am familiar with restrictive diets. I am creating this blog to memorialize my journey, hold myself accountable, share recipes, and hopefully encourage others out there on a similar journey to health and weight loss.

May the adventures begin!



Here is a link to my father's blog
http://eattoliveracetohealth.blogspot.com