…continued from Part 1.

In Phase 2, the weight loss stopped happening for me. I started off at 135.2lbs at the beginning of this program, and then went down to 132.4lbs after Phase 1 (on the 4 day of the program), went down to 131.4lbs on the 5^th day, and then I seemed to reach my plateau, despite exercising every day, and following the meal plan (but eating less than required every day, due to already being full on about half the prescribed amount of food). Actually, on my 6^th day, I actually gained weight! Went back up to 132lbs, then down, up, down, up. So at the end of Phase 2, I was a disappointing 132.2lbs, which was pretty much the same as I had been at the end of Phase 1. The headaches started to lessen when I started Phase 2, and were gone by the end of it.

Phase 2 introduced pre-biotics and pro-biotics (which are supposed to “eat away belly fat”), plus “healthy fats” such as avocado, coconut oil, and nuts. There were a LOT of these healthy fats from Phase 2 and onward in the program, and so I wasn’t surprised that my body wasn’t losing weight due to the high caloric content of the meals. For example, after one day of Phase 2 where I actually gained weight, I calculated the caloric content of the day’s food (and I had actually eaten all the prescribed food that day, I think, or at least close to it), and it came to 1400 calories! So no wonder I wasn’t losing weight with that kind of caloric intake (where 1 tbsp of olive or coconut oil racks up over 100 calories)! With exercise, I cannot take in more than 1100 calories a day and expect to lose weight. I know other people can, but my body is weird and doesn’t work that way.

There are some desserts, too, like this yummy and satisfying Peach Crumble.

Phase 2 was Days 3-7, and Phase 3 (the final phase) was days 8-15. I was still really enjoying all the different foods in the meal plan, and Phase 3 was no exception. In fact, in Phase 3, you get to eat some yummy desserts! And this is where I want to talk about some of my favorite recipes in the whole meal plan itself.

But before I get to that, I should mention that there are a few foods that I absolutely detest and cannot tolerate, and so I omitted the meals that called for these certain ingredients (pineapple, grapefruit, and mushrooms) and substituted them with other meals from that phase or below. This was totally fine to do, according to Ani. She stresses the flexibility in this program, and also stresses that she wants you to be full and satisfied while on this “diet”. (even though it really doesn’t feel like a diet!) So it’s okay to go ahead and make more food to eat if you feel that that’s what you want – but that was never the case with me!

So as for the meals that I loved, there are a few that I want to give attention to. First of all, the beloved shakes (which I started my every day with, much like in my regular life, but with way more variety) My favorite shake, hands down, was definitely the Chocolate Banana Mylk Shake, but that’s to be expected when you’re blending bananas and chocolate together! I really enjoyed the Blueberry Blast and Orange Vanilla Shakes as well, and other shakes that followed the same basic model, that is: blend one type of fruit with some nuts, some ice, some water with a bit of matcha in it, and maybe some coconut oil or cinnamon – and you’ve got a delicious drink that will take most of the day to drink because it keeps you super satiated! (due to the fat content, I think – Ani says that these drinks are designed to keep you satisfied)

Kreamy Chipotle Salad – another winner.

With regards to the salads, I was blown away by the deliciousness of the various dressings, as combined with the really wholesome mix of greens (mesclun mix, romaine, cabbage, etc.) and veggies, such as cucumbers, bean sprouts, and/or shredded carrots. My favorite salad overall was the Spring Sauerkraut Salad with Thermo Dressing. I actually learned to like sauerkraut (which I had always thought I hated, but really, I didn’t) because of this salad, and the mixture of bean sprouts, sauerkraut and the creamy, tangy miso-based dressing was one of the best things I had eaten in quite some time.

Again, I must stress that you don’t feel deprived on this diet, and, in fact, the food is absolutely delicious, which is why you don’t even feel like you’re on a diet. Think of it more as just a new and exciting way to eat, rather than a meal plan of restrictions.

The Cabbage Salad with Cucumber Miso Dressing was also fantastic (another great dressing on a bed of ever-so-healthy shredded cabbage and carrots), and I loved the Corn and Basil Mesclun Salad because it taught me to eat fresh, uncooked corn from the cob – something that I had not even known before was possible, and so delicious!!

Moving on to the soups, you might think it’s weird to eat a soup that isn’t piping hot, because if it’s room temperate or cold, then it’s kind of just like a savory smoothie, right? Right – but there is really nothing wrong with that. Sometimes I would pack my soups for work in my Vitamix drink bottle and just drink it from the bottle – so delicious, flavourful, and sometimes spicy, too!

I loved the Coconut Tomato Soup. I loved its simplicity in that it was only raw tomatoes (which I am not a fan of at all, on their own), a bit of coconut oil, a bit of miso, and a bit of ginger and optional garlic. But the mélange of all these ingredients in my blender turned out one of the most delicious concoctions you can imagine! And this was the case for so many of the other soups as well: blend a handful of simple ingredients together and, in minutes, you have an amazing and filling meal to eat that is low on calories and high in nutritive value. This is a way of eating that I need to start adopting into my regular lifestyle.

The Celery Almond P̢t̩ РI can eat this forever!

As for the recipe section in the book entitled “Rolls, Wraps, Noodles, Patés”, I certainly do have some favorites from here, even though I didn’t eat everything from this section (avoiding the mushroom meals, and seaweed ones as well – another food that I can’t stand). It was from this section that I fell officially in love with kelp noodles, and that is because of the amazing Marinara Sauce that I made to go with them, which was incredibly simple to make and I’m flabbergasted at how blending together so simple ingredients (cherry tomatoes, a few herbs, lemon juice, and olive oil) can make one of the tastiest sauces ever! I loved this dish so much that I made it 3 times over the course of the program.

I was also blown away by the deliciousness and simplicity of the Celery Almond Paté, which was so good on its own, I thought. I just ate it straight with a fork – no wrapping or dipping accompaniments needed. When you mix together chopped celery, ginger, garlic, raisins, miso, some herbs, and almond meal, this happens to create an amazing “paté” that I could eat forever.

By the end of the 15 Day Fat Blast program, my total weight loss was a paltry 4.6lbs. After the initial weight loss in the “liquid only” part of the program, the remaining daily meals in the program allowed me to only just maintain my weight (all while exercising daily as well). But while I didn’t lose anywhere near the promised 15lbs as I had hoped for at the beginning of this program, I feel that what I gained was so much more valuable, which was the introduction of a true transition to 100% raw plant-based eating. As I said at the beginning of this review, this is something that I had been striving for for the past few years, and now, I’ve finally accomplished it! I’ve been completely raw now for the last 18 days!

Fudge Brownies with Fresh Berries – simple ingredients, satisfying flavour.

I would like to see this “Fat Blast” program touted not so much as a way to lose weight, but more so as a transition into an extremely healthy (and new) way of eating. I was able to experience so many good things from carrying out the meal plan of this program. I learned how to make (and enjoy) so many new and healthy foods; my mindset has now shifted, I believe, to want to eat fully (or at least more) raw in the future; and I learned the practical process of how to actually “go raw” (and to do it the right way).

When I went into a supermarket the other day to buy some peaches, I looked along the middle isles of the store and it seemed really weird to me to see that these aisles consisted of “food” that was mostly all in boxes and plastic packaging! I feel so much more removed from these processed products now and really have no desire to have them back in my life. What’s in these boxes and plastic bags is not food. Food is the variety of fruits, vegetables and greens that we have abundant to us (at least here in North America), and there are so many combinations in which to eat these that you can never get bored from it. Food is deliciousness that grows on trees or in the ground. Food is not something that has multiple ingredients written on a label, and packaged with preservatives and a big fancy colourful label!

It is fully my intention to continue to incorporate many of the recipes in this book into my regular lifestyle, and I am so grateful to have been introduced to these delicious and super healthy recipes that utilize solely whole plant foods. I plan to continue on this path as well in discovering more delicious things to eat by buying Ani’s other books and tackling the raw food books that I already own. So thank you to Ani Phyo for this book! I may not have gotten lighter, tighter and sexier, but I ate delicious, wholesome, and healthy food for 15 days, all made from pure ingredients, and that is what I ultimately value and take away from this experience!

I must admit, I have had this book for quite some time now – about a year – and had always wanted to try out this “15 Day Fast Blast” – a diet plan of wholly raw foods -, but had been somewhat apprehensive about it all this time. Why? Although I’ve been experimenting with a high raw diet for the last 2 years, and have been wanting to go completely raw vegan for that period of time, the “fear factor” of consuming only raw foods for 2 weeks kind of got to me. Could I do it? Would it be difficult? Would I be hungry? Going on a “diet” is synonymous to me with being deprived, and I like my food too much to want to be deprived, especially if I’m unsure of what the results will be. Well, one year later, I finally did it, and the only thing that I regret is that it took me this long to finally embrace the challenge!

Ani Phyo, for those who don’t know, is a household name in the world of raw vegan cuisine. She is an expert in the raw kitchen and has already put out four other raw recipe books to date. This book was my first introduction to her food, but it’s a bit of foray from her other books that read exclusively as “cook” books; this book is primarily written as a diet plan that promises the reader that they will lose 15lbs in 15 days by following the daily meal plan as provided.

I had my doubts as to whether the weight loss of 15lbs would or could work for me, since that would put me at 120lbs, and I’ve never been that weight in my life! (ok, not since about grade 10, but I was still growing then, so it doesn’t really count) I definitely have more than 15lbs of fat to lose, but despite my already fairly healthy vegan diet and my regular exercise regime of 5 workouts a week, it is extremely difficult for me to manage my weight to get it in the 120s. So this diet was going to prove, once and for all, that if I ate the best diet possible in the world (a raw vegan diet of whole fruits and vegetables) and continued with my exercise, would the weight just “naturally fall off”? (as is always promised by various vegan and raw advocates in the community)

Apparently, once you transition to a vegan diet, your “excess” weight is supposed to naturally come off, without effort. That certainly never happened to me when I went vegan years ago (in fact, I gained a lot of weight). So would it work for me when following a 100% raw vegan diet of fruits and vegetables? That was the question, which you will discover the answer to shortly!

I love the way this book reads. Ani guides you along the path, as your mentor, giving you encouragement and motivation every step of the way. Her language is fun and invigorating. Her words are consistently conveyed in an upbeat manner, and I must say that it’s this continuous positive re-enforcement that is a key to keeping the reader moving along to actually do everything they need to do to begin the program. She focuses on regularly checking in with your emotions during the program, and so you feel that she is with you there every step of the way.

I would think that the 15 day food meal plan program, itself, would be quite daunting for the average person entrenched in a lifestyle of the Standard American Diet to face. But it was even daunting for me, even though I was already familiar with most of the foods needed for the program! I think what was intimidating to me was the whole proposed process of putting all these foods together, multiple times a day, to create creative dishes that I was not so used to eating. (not raw, at least) Luckily for me, I already had all of the non-perishable ingredients (except for the matcha powder) in my pantry, so it was just a matter of buying fresh produce like apples, tomatoes and greens to really get started.

But I can understand that if a person didn’t already have ingredients called for in this program such as spirulina, coconut oil, miso paste, cacao powder, and stevia, it would certainly be more of an effort (plus a great monetary expense) to have to purchase all of those items at once. Not to mention that the majority of the recipes call for using a $500 high speed blender, which most people don’t have. (though, of course, you can get through the plan with a regular cheap-o blender, and it shouldn’t diminish the experience too much)

Once you have the required ingredients, however (and yes, there is a very convenient set of shopping lists in the book to follow), the food making part is super duper easy, and super duper FUN! Yes, the “blast” part about the diet (in my opinion), is that it’s really just a blast to be able to make all this delicious and nutritious food to eat!

Packing my soups for the day!

The 15 day program is broken down into 3 phases. In Phase 1, Ani says the purpose of this phase is to “reboot your body”, so that you can start with a “clean slate and a clean engine.” Fair enough! It consists of a purely liquid diet, and you may think that that means you’re going to go hungry, but this was not the case at all. You’re constantly drinking in your nutrition throughout the day, and, honestly, my stomach couldn’t even take in all of the prescribed daily meals: a shake for breakfast, a shake for a morning snack, a soup for lunch, another shake or soup for an afternoon snack, and another soup for dinner. I found that it really was too much for me, and so my initial fear of “being deprived” was really nothing to be concerned about, since the breakfast shake and dinner soup was about all I could take in each of these days. The drink meals, I found, were satisfying, tasty, and filling.

Ani says her test subjects lost an average of 3-5lbs in Phase 1. Since I was on a low calorie diet (and still exercising), I managed to lose a total of 2.8lbs in Phase 1. It could have even been more, I think, if my sleep scheduled hadn’t been messed up with working a graveyard shift and therefore hadn’t been sleep deprived. (because you lose your weight while you sleep and you’re not going to lose any weight if you only get four hours of sleep in one day! As a result, I didn’t have any weight loss at all on my 3^rd day.)

So I was excited through Phase 1. This diet was really working! Oh, I should mention that I certainly began my “detox” headaches during this phase, and that part wasn’t fun. I also think it was a result of the low calorie diet. I felt very weak during this phase from taking in few calories, plus the exercising. And then Phase 2 came along.

In Phase 2, the majority of the daily meals still continue to be delicious shakes and blended soups, but green/vegetable salads with dressings are also added in – and so the solid food begins!

The addition of salads was really exciting for me, because I really love salads. I really love smoothies as well (or “shakes”, as Ani calls them), and already incorporate these largely into my diet. For any given day, I’ll start my day off with a green smoothie and then have a large green salad with veggies and either beans or tofu for my main meal. But I must admit that I tend to always make a variation of the same smoothie and same salad for every meal, so it was exciting for me to experiment with such a wide array of different recipes every day in these meal-type categories. In fact, I don’t think one single recipe is ever repeated in the diet plan, which calls for making an average of four different recipes a day (with leftovers as your “snacks”). For a foodie like me, this is great – it was always a pleasant surprise to see what kind of delicious concoction would be produced when blending a medley of specific ingredients together. In fact, every day I was excited for the food to come for that day. Only thing is, the food doesn’t just magically appear – you have to spend the time to make it!

So, this brings me to the topic of time management for the 15 Day Fat Blast Program. The meals may be quick and easy to whip together as individual “dishes”, but since there are so many of them to make for the day (or throughout the day, if you’re fortunate enough to be able to spend most of your day at home), you really have to schedule the time to create your lovely raw food.

If I was working an 8 hour shift and I knew I had to make all my food for the day before going out to work, I would schedule a full hour beforehand to prepare everything, plus wash the (minimal) dishes. This was the case for the first half of the program. For the latter half, I was working mostly at home, so I allowed myself short 30 minute breaks throughout the day to make and eat/drink each meal, whenever I became hungry. If you’re a busy person like me, it is essential to make sure you plan out the time to make your food, since this is a key to the success of following the program!

Cabbage Salad with Cucumber Miso Dressing – sooo good!!

But really, once you have all the ingredients, and have the time to make the food, there really isn’t a lot more to it. All you need to do, according to Ani, for this program, is to eat! Eat lots of delicious food that happens to be raw, and you’ll lose 15lbs in 15 days. (and she recommends repeating Phases 1 and 2 before moving on to Phase 3 if you have more than 15lbs to lose) Exercise isn’t even a required component of this program, and I’m sure many people will be happy with that. However, for me, I was convinced that I still needed to exercise (for my petulant body) in order to have a chance of success on this program. Because, generally, if I don’t exercise every day, I gain weight. For example, I exercised a lot during the 3 days of Phase 1, and if I hadn’t, I’m convinced that I wouldn’t have lost those 3lbs.

Continue here to Part 2.

I love Indigo Café! Having just opened in Kitsilano (Vancouver) in 2011 by local raw chef Lovena Galyide (whose raw un-cooking workshops I’ve had the pleasure of participating in in the past), I am so pleased that there’s another restaurant in town that offers a whole menu of raw vegan food – and delicious raw vegan food, at that. I need to get there more often, and, in fact, have plans upcoming to go again next week.

I was at Indigo in January and revisited Lovena’s Zaatar Crackers and Golden Tortilla Chips with No Milk Coconut Cheese, which I had been craving since the previous time I had been there, months before. Demonstrating the virtues of using a dehydrator (of which the ownership of one I want badly), the crackers are crispy and delicious and make a perfect compliment to the tangy coconut cheese, which seems too daunting to me to make myself, so I’m glad to have this café to go to to get my fill of yummy and healthy non-dairy coconut cheese coming straight from the raw coconut itself.

Zaatar Crackers and Golden Tortilla Chips with Coconut Cheese

And then I had to have dessert, of course, because Lovena’s desserts are amazing! Touting a variety of delicious desserts (all with accompanying food porn appropriate photos on display), this was not an easy choice. This is another reason why I have to go back – so I can eventually try them all! I opted for the Double-Layered Mousse with Berries and Chocolate and savoured, with euphoria, every morsel of every bite of this delectable wonder. Raw desserts are the best, I am always saying. Please give me more.

Double-Layered Mousse with Berries and Chocolate

Indigo Food Café is only open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at this time, with private classes and special events being held the other days of the week. Get there when you can.