Exploring seasonal vegetables for fall on the Ideal Protein Diet.

Fall seasonal vegetables on the Ideal Protein Diet

Why exploring vegetables on Phase 1 matters.

Many of us love the routine that Phase 1 of the Ideal Protein Diet offers. It’s part of what makes the Ideal Protein Weight Loss Program so easy to follow and enjoy. It’s also easy to get accustomed to the same vegetables and we often hear the coaches encouraging dieters to try something new. There are more vegetable varieties encouraged on Phase 1 than most of us realize! Easy go-tos include peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, cauliflower and broccoli. But have you tried adding some canned palm heart to your lunch time salad? Or how about some cooked rhubarb with a dollop of Ideal Protein Vanilla Pudding Mix? It’s amazing what a little variety can do. It stretches the imagination and helps us discover the good foods from mother nature in a whole new way.

Ah jicama! Exploring new vegetables can be both intimidating and fun.

Not only is it important to try new vegetables while on Phase 1, it’s also important to begin the exploration of new vegetables for when you reach your weight loss goal and transition on to the Lifestyle Program. Having a comfortable relationship to all kinds of vegetables is a good foundation for keeping the weight off in maintenance.

I remember what it was like to be at the grocery store and see jicama for the first time. I was on Phase 1 and took on learning about the vegetables I didn’t know on the Phase 1 sheet. I was a tad intimidated and a little embarrassed about having to ask the produce guy where I could find certain things. Thankfully now I know to just google it! Jicama was certainly one of the vegetables on the Phase 1 sheet I had never tried before. This amazing vegetable blew my mind: I could shred it raw onto a salad for a nice light crunchy texture or I could toss it in cinnamon and bake it in the oven for a desert-like treat. Hooray for this versatile vegetable!

Remind yourself to look at the Phase 1 sheet with new eyes every now and again. A good practice to make sure you have variety on the Ideal Protein Diet is to pull out the Phase 1 sheet when making your grocery list. Pick a vegetable you are not super familiar with and see if you can find it at your local grocery store. Of course, it depends on the season!

Fall seasonal vegetables on the Ideal Protein Diet.

We are so blessed that in a global world, we have access to most vegetables year-round. Having said that, tasting a vegetable that is in season can be quite a different experience from trying something that was grown far away and shipped a week ago because of varying climates required to grow these vegetables off season. When grown locally and according to the seasons, I personally find that the flavours of these same vegetables can be much richer. The quality and freshness is usually much higher in a seasonal vegetable.

So here it is, a short list of fall season vegetables for the Ideal Protein Diet found here in the Pacific North West:

Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage (green, red, savoy), cauliflower, celery, cucumber, fennel (bulb), garlic, kale, lettuce, onions (red, yellow), peppers, radish, rutabaga, spinach, swiss chard, tomatoes, turnips (white), zucchini.

If you are feeding others in your family, you may be interested in the full seasonal list provided by the BC Association of Farmer’s Markets: find it here.

New recipes for trying seasonal vegetables on Ideal Protein.

So it’s time to go for it! Explore and make some time to try new recipes with these fall seasonal vegetables. There are many recipes on the world wide web (old school lingo I know!). Be sure to cross check your Phase 1 sheet with the recipes you find online as some recipes are not fully Ideal Protein compliant. Pinterest is a great place to find all kinds of IP recipes and you will never be out of ideas! There are many Ideal Protein inspired blogs out there too from dieters just like you. Mainly, the key is to get really good at googling recipes. For example, google “Jicama recipes on Ideal Protein” and you will see several interesting recipes come up.

Navigating the seasons is a part of being alive. Enjoy trying all the lovely vegetables offered on Phase 1 of the Ideal Protein diet. Go explore!

Written by Amrita, Owner at Vital Body – Authorized Ideal Protein Weight Loss Centre