Getting Started on a Plant Based Regimen

The first thing you will have to do after buying and reading Dr. Esselstyn's Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure, is go shopping. There are many staples and basics you may not have in your current carnivorous kitchen. I needed to buy lots of spices, grains, and legumes, dry lentils, dry and canned beans of all sorts, spelt flour for making gravy, quinoa for sprinkling on salads, plums, raisins, and figs, Ezekiel bread, Wasa crackers and nutritional yeast. The nutritional yeast is an easily acquired taste and it has a cheesy flavor that is very nice. I enjoy sprinkling it on a sweet potato. Read the recipes in Dr. Esselstyn's book, as well as on Fat Free Vegan and you will get a good idea of what you need. I also keep on hand Bragg's liquid aminos and Bragg's apple cider vinegar. I use the liquid aminos almost every day for making my own oil and tahini free hummus.

You will now need some storage. I had to get some counter storage jars for my new legume and whole grain friends as well as refrigerator storage containers as you will be making things in larger quantities.

The next step is to set your meals for week 1. There will be an adjustment period, so make sure you have all your meals planned. Here was my week one meal plan:

Breakfast

Rolled oats with chopped apples, raisins, cinnamon, and flax seed meal (recommended by Dr. Esselstyn for Omega-3s). This is very good and very filling.

Snack

Prunes or figs

Lunch

Sweet potato with nutritional yeast.
A large salad with lettuce, radicchio, arugula, grape tomatoes, beets, red quinoa and balsamic vinegar.

Snack

Homemade Hummus on  Wasa crackers
In a blender: 
1 15 oz can of chick peas
Juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves
1 tbs of Bragg's liquid aminos
Cumin to taste
I like a roasted red pepper or some Italian parsley as well.
This is great hummus and you wont miss the tahini or oil one bit.

Dinner

The amazing Fat Free Vegan Smokey Apple Baked Beans
I also have a big bowl of brussel sprouts steamed with liquid aminos. You will be stuffed!
I also had Dr Esselstyn's black bean burgers on Ezekiel toast with shiitake mushroom gravy, both of which can be found in the book.

Snack

Grape Nuts or rolled oats or a couple of prunes

Final step, feel great, because you will!