Ginger-Apple Oatmeal and Three-Month Progress Report

This morning it was four degrees below zero and I wanted a warm and comforting breakfast, so I made this:

GINGER-APPLE OATMEAL
Serves 2


1 cup water
1 large Braeburn apple, cut into chunks
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
tiny sprinkle of salt

Start the water boiling in a small pot on the stove, and cut up the apple into the water, then add the oats and stir occasionally, cooking on low until the oats are the desired consistency.  Add ginger and spices near the end of cooking. 

Verdict: Very Good.  Simple, sweet, and ginger-spicy.  I topped mine with roasted unsalted pistachios.  I have oatmeal two or three times a week, usually. It's best fresh, but I often make extra and just reheat quickly for subsequent breakfasts.  This is typical of my usual method, though I have done variations with dried blueberries, dried peaches, fresh pears, frozen blueberries, frozen peaches, and occasionally some sliced banana. I change the spices to match the fruit--including the above seasonings as well as nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and occasionally a dash of vanilla.  For the top I try different nuts (cashews, pecans, walnuts, almonds), usually toasted, and usually about half an ounce.  Dr. Fuhrman counsels that those trying to lose weight have no more than a cup of grain and an ounce of nuts/seeds per day.  This breakfast (one serving) provides half of that allowance of each, leaving some leeway in the rest of my day to enjoy grain or nuts.

I've spent the last three months pursuing a nutritarian lifestyle based on these daily parameters outlined in Dr. Fuhrman's book (recently updated) Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss 

one ounce nuts or seeds
one cup (200 calories) whole grain or starchy vegetable
goal of one pound raw veggies
goal of one pound cooked veggies
goal of one cup beans
at least four fruits
1 T. flax seed meal

(I add 1-3 oz. animal product--usually fish or chicken--zero to three times a week, and though Dr. F. allows up to 2 oz. avocado per day,  I usually have only 1-2 oz. per week.)

No or absolutely minimal added oil, salt, sugar, white flour

I do still drink coffee (mostly decaf) with a little 1% milk in it, and I usually have 50-100 calories of "extras" in a day--a little feta cheese, a bit of ham in the beans I cooked for the family, a little jelly on a cracker, a dollop of lowfat plain yogurt on a curry dish.

I also had several weeks of indulgence--limited ones for a couple of days at Thanksgiving and more treats for a couple of weeks at Christmas/New Year's.  That stalled my progress in weight loss, but by a week into the New Year I was basically at the same point I'd been a few days before Christmas, and that was okay.

In three months of nutritarian eating, with reasonable deviations, I have lost 25 pounds. I have not felt uncomfortable hunger and always have the option to have more beans, greens, or fruit to help with that. I exercised regularly at the beginning of that time but schedule and weather have gotten me out of it lately. I look forward to more regular exercise in the weeks to come.  And I plan to keep losing weight, because I need to.