#266: Kiki Nelson - Keep it Simple...Plantifully Simple
Follow Kiki at plantifulkiki.com
Kiki Nelson first appeared on the PLANTSTRONG Podcast on episode 200, but she is back with a new book, Plantifully Simple: 100 Plant-Based Recipes and Meal Plans for Health and Weight-Loss.
This book is a treasure trove of 100 plant-based recipes and meal plans designed for health and weight loss, making meals deliciously simple and accessible.
Plantifully Simple not only provides recipes, but also practical guidance on meal planning for weight loss. She discusses her plate-building technique, which focuses on filling your plate with 50% non-starchy vegetables and 50% starches, allowing for abundant, calorie-dense meals that promote satiety without the guilt. Kiki explains how this approach helped her lose over 70 pounds and overcome weight loss plateaus by developing a better understanding of calorie density. Her goal is to help listeners discover that they can eat plentifully while also reaching their health aspirations.
And, as a bonus, Kiki whips up her simple chickpea omelets and breakfast taco recipes noting that they are not only easy to prepare but also adaptable for various meals throughout the week!
Kiki’s incredible journey and the insightful strategies she offers serve as a reminder that being PLANTSTRONG is not just about what you eat, but how you think and approach your health. Her book, Plantifully Simple is a valuable resource for anyone looking to simplify their cooking and nourish their bodies.
Order Plantifully Simple
Episode Resources
Watch the Full Episode on YouTube
Join our PLANTSTRONG Sedona Retreat - October 8th-13th, 2024
Order Plantifully Simple
Plantiful Kiki’s website - https://plantifulkiki.com/
Follow Kiki on Instagram - @plantifulkiki
To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, including our all new chilis, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.
Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, and delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!
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Full Transcription via AI Transcription Service
[0:00] I'm Rip Esselstyn, and you're listening to the PLANTSTRONG Podcast. It is back to school time, and that means it is time to make meals that are delicious and simple, plantifully simple. Today, Kiki Nelson is back on the podcast to talk about her latest book and share two simple recipes with all of us. right after this message from PLANTSTRONG. Hey gang, give yourself the gift that will never stop giving back to you. Join us at our next in-person experience in Sedona, Arizona from October 8th to the 13th. We have eight spots available for this exclusive and interactive immersive retreat. treat. Spend a week among the red rocks of Arizona, and we will do all the cooking. You get to come, relax, meet new friends, get answers to all your burning questions, enjoy some yoga, daily hikes, endless buffets of plant-based meals, and be entertained and educated with our world-class presentations.
[1:16] Challenge me at Pickleball, and all the while, you'll be fully supported by our PLANTSTRONG team, including Dr. Brian Asbill, Dr. Laurie Marbas, my sister Jane Esselstyn, Adam Sud, and Dr. Doug Lisle. We can't wait to meet you. Register at liveplantstrong.com or send us an email with your questions at hello at plantstrong.com. Whether you are trying to lose weight, improve your health, sleep better, or just grow your plant-based cooking repertoire, you're going to love today's episode with Kiki Nelson, aka Plantiful Kiki. In July of this year, Kiki released her latest book, Plantifully Simple, 100 Plant-Based Recipes and Meal Plans for Health and Weight Loss, that provides both practical and inspiring new whole food plant-based recipes. We were also fortunate that Kiki was one of our Brockstar chefs at this year's Plant-Stock event, and I want to share that interview with you today.
[2:21] And if your taste buds are anything like mine, you'll want to hear the mouth-watering recipes that she shares for her chickpea omelet and breakfast tacos. Who in the world doesn't love those? I love how simple and plentiful Kiki makes things, and I know that you will too. So let's welcome back to the PLANTSTRONG Podcast, Kiki Nelson.
[2:50] Plantiful Kiki, welcome back to Plantstock 2024.
[2:59] We had you last year and back by popular demand. Here you are. For those of you that want to know a little bit more about Kiki, you can listen to episode 200 of the PLANTSTRONG podcast. But I feel so lucky and honored that you've agreed to join us this year at Plant-Stock. Because, you know, really, Plant-Stock, it's about celebrating all things whole food, plant-based, all the Broc-stars that are really helping to move the needle in significant ways. And you're right up there at the top, Kiki. and so appreciative to you and what you're doing to get people over to the good side. Well, thank you for having me. I feel so honored. I remember when I was starting my journey, reading all of the Engine 2 books and how stoked I was because you came to Whole Foods near me years ago. And my husband and I went to listen to you talk. So this is just wild to me. Well, you know, it's funny you say that because I don't know if you remember or not, but back then when I was touring Whole Food Market stores and doing the book signings, people would come up to me and they'd tell me their success stories, right? And I actually went back through the.
[4:29] My vault of videos and we found the one of you and talking, talking to me. And it was so, it was so raw and perfect and wonderful. And we'll actually, we'll, we'll have to pull it up and maybe as a bonus, we can play it at the end of this recording. That'd be a lot of fun. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That was a long time ago. I think I'd lost like 40 pounds by then or something like that when I met you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You were just starting to get into it, But, you know, what's super exciting to me is you have a new book that you have just launched. Tell us about Plantifully Simple and why everybody should run out and either go to the bookstore or order it off Amazon or wherever, you know, your book is sold.
[5:18] Yeah, so I am, I think out of all the books that I've written, Plantifully Simple is my magnum opus. I'm giving readers more tools in the weight loss department. So the front of the book really just gives readers a new plate if they're struggling with like the last five to 10 pounds. So I've structured a new plate building method for that. And then I'm just giving readers another tool box to be able to kind of really look at their intake and see why it isn't working for them. And then, of course, the recipes are super simple, full of flavor. I had so much fun building this book. I made the crab cakes into crab cake burgers for Fourth of July, and those are made out of chickpeas. And I just, I love everything in this book. Do you have a copy there that you can show us?
[6:16] We'd love to see it. And if I'm not mistaken, on the back somewhere, I may have endorsed it as well. Yes, you did. I am so proud of that. That's me right there. That's you. Yeah. You endorsed it for me. So yeah, Plantifully Simple. And you've got 100 recipes for health and for weight loss. Yeah. And you've got two 28-day meal plans, right? Yep, two 28-day. I wanted to make one that was more varied for the person that loves to be in the kitchen. And then I made one that was very simple and repetitive for the individuals that.
[6:57] Just need to get it knocked out for the week. And that's me. That's the category I fall into. Yeah. Well, you know, last year, and I'm realizing there's a pattern here, but last year you made a kale and kelp salad for us for Plant-Stock. You also made a, no, I'm sorry. That's not what you made. My bad. You did a chickpea salad sandwich. Yes. You did a, um, a, uh, uh, Persian rice and chickpea bowl and a ranch dressing. And today, what are you going to be making for us? Today, I'm going to show you how to make chickpea omelets that are full of veggies. And then we're going to take those chickpea omelets and then make breakfast tacos. Cause the whole premise behind plantifully simple is to make meal prep and meal planning extra simple. So I wanted to build recipes in a way that you could take your leftovers from one meal and make it into another. I love the way you're taking that one meal and then you fold into another. And so in this case, you know, what I did is the other night I made these chickpea omelets with all kinds of vegetables on top. It was absolutely drop dead delicious. And then just like you suggest, I then the next day turned them into breakfast tacos. It's so, so wonderfully smart.
[8:26] Before you get into making these two recipes, just for people that didn't join us for Plant-Stock last year, didn't tune in to episode 200 of the podcast, will you kind of give us a Reader's Digest version of kind of your journey on weight loss and health.
[8:50] Absolutely. So I have struggled with my weight since about 15 years old, and I was always interested in health, but always seeming to go about it the wrong way. Long story short, I had gone to my normal checkup and my doctor came in and she was like, you're pre-diabetic still. I've been pre-diabetic for about 10 years. You have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high high triglycerides, you know, you're hypothyroid and you're very overweight. She's like, you need to lose at least 40 pounds like yesterday and take this serious because your health is declining. I had like high elevated creatinine. I think is that what it's called for my kidneys? Like I had a bunch of stuff going on and I was like 30 when this happened or 31, I was in my early thirties. So I was very... So how much, if you don't mind sharing, when you say you were overweight, do you know how many pounds you were roughly? Yeah. So my weight teetered between 189 and 194 pounds. And I am a petite person. I'm only 5'3". So being almost 200 pounds was...
[10:06] Very serious. And I just didn't know how to go about losing weight other than really restricting calories and really overdoing it on exercise. So I went home completely defeated and I was just like, well, I don't know what to do. And I was venting to a friend that I ran into that I hadn't seen in years, but she had lost like 40 pounds and she didn't say anything about that. But she's He's like, just check out somebody named Dr. John McDougall, like go to Barnes and Noble and get his book, The Start Solution. He helps people lose weight eating potatoes. And my first thought was like, there is no way that my pre-diabetic self should be eating carbs, but I didn't have, I really was out of options. I had tried everything. So I ran to the store, grabbed the book, read it that day, read the whole thing. And my life has never been the same. The next day, got everything out of the kitchen, and we were on a high-carb, low-fat, plant-based diet. And I just started, the weight just started falling off of me. And I wasn't counting calories. I quit going to the gym because I was burnt out. I just took a walk every day.
[11:22] And, yeah, the rest is history. Yeah. So did you ever have the opportunity of meeting Dr. John McDougall? Not in person. I had the pleasure of being able to speak with him over Zoom, which was wonderful. So it was it was sad when I got the text about his passing for sure. Yeah. Well, obviously, I want to I want to honor John and his work and the impact that he had and the torch that he carried for so long. That gave so many of us the strength and the courage to do what we're doing here today. His.
[12:06] His work has had a major, major ripple effect. And so thankful for John and Mary and the whole McDougal clan. But so when you read the starch solution, did you then think, I mean, did it make sense or were you still a little fearful of the carbs? I was nervous about if it was going to work. But everything he said, and I still recommend the starch solution to everyone starting a plant-based diet because he wrote it so perfectly to make it easy to understand why it's right. I mean, so I read the starch solution and I immediately felt within me, this makes sense. I've never heard this. I have tried everything and everything he's talking about has been my experience on the the other side of this coin. So that's why I felt a renewed sense of hope. Now, when it came to sitting down to a plate of pasta without guilt, that took a couple of weeks.
[13:10] But after that first week, I had lost six pounds, which isn't all fat. It's going to be a lot of inflammation and waste and all of this stuff, but that's all I needed. That is all I needed after that first week. Yeah, I gave you the confidence to get going. Well, what I also love about your work, Kiki, is that, you know, you, you like, like me, you're kind of carrying this McDougall torch. And I would say that if, if, if like my work from Engine 2 and PLANTSTRONG, I think it most closely resembles Dr. John McDougall and everything that, you know, kind of he stands for. And I know that in reading both of your books, Plantifully Lean and Plantifully Simple, you are so also about, you know, loving the carbohydrates, minimizing the kind of the nuts.
[14:07] You're such a fan of what's on the plate and calorie density that is so important and not counting calories or worrying about portion control. Yeah, absolutely. That's calorie density was huge. And that's why I'm here today. And the way the McDougalls laid everything out. So yeah. And then, you know, you in reading your book, you know, I know that you said, you know, basically you started dieting and whatnot. I think, I think you wrote in your book as early as 12. Yeah, I was 11. But you also say, yeah, but you say you've got a, you've got a big appetite and you like to eat. Yeah. And so I'm sure that this way of eating allows you to still do that. That's the only way that I've been able to be successful and be successful long-term because you can only restrict and starve yourself for so long before, you know, it swings back the other way. So yeah, understanding the principles of calorie density and understanding that you can eat enormous volumes of food for a small amount of calories is life changing, especially if you're.
Simple Recipes Ahead
[15:30] Okay. So what, what recipe do we want to start with here today? Okay. So we're going to start with the chickpea omelets and I'm going to show you just how much you get to eat for around 360 calories, which is a very small amount. And that's only to show you like how much more you can still eat on top of that, because I would need more calories than that to sustain me in a day. So, okay. It's super easy. I'm just going to start with one cup of chickpea flour. I've seen it sold as garbanzo bean flour as well. I had no idea where to find chickpea flour. And I just, because I'm at the farm in upstate New York, so I'm not at my normal grocery stores. No whole foods, you know, within an hour and a half. And I went to a ShopRite and I was able to find one there, but this, I found a Bob's Red Mill chickpea flour is a certain brand that you buy that's the one that i buy that's the only one i've seen so and i can get that yeah at our regular grocery store colorado is very well.
[16:36] Stocked in the chickpea flour department i don't know why but yeah we can get it anywhere so well you love chickpeas don't you i do they're filling and they're great for you so yeah i use them a lot Okay. So how much chickpea flour do you have there? Okay. So we have one cup of chickpea flour and then this is the fun part for me. So I'm going to add a quarter teaspoon of garlic powder, an eighth teaspoon of onion powder. And then I have got about half a teaspoon of Himalayan black salt. Have you heard of that? I've used it before. Yeah. So the black salt has that sulfury eggy smell and flavor. And that has been when I switched to using that in the egg recipe, my husband and son were like, oh, my gosh, this tastes so real. And then a pinch of turmeric. So nice. And you mentioned your husband just now. Your husband has been been along for the ride as well. And he's not just a bystander. I mean, he's an active participant and he's also lost weight, right?
[17:45] Yeah. He lost 50 pounds in that first year of us being plant-based and he was the one that was, you know, I'm going to give you four months, then I'm going to go back to eating, but I want to support you. So like, I'll do this for four months. I'll eat how you want to eat. And I took it and he felt so good after those four months, he'd lost like 35 pounds, I think at the end of of those four months and his aches and pains had gone away. He just was never interested in going back. And this guy loved his steak, like loved it.
[18:20] He's just, he's been completely fine. Well, there's a, there's a pretty amazing before, before and after photo. And if, if Carrie, who's the producer can find it on Instagram, maybe she can pull it up. I think it was just maybe three or four days ago. You posted the before and after of you and your husband. Yeah. It's pinned to the top. Yeah. It's pinned to the top, but it is pretty darn powerful to see that before and after. Oh, we just don't even recognize these people. We were lethargic nap takers, like chronic nap takers. So, and now it's like, you know, let's go play tennis. Except I live, you know, in the middle of nowhere. So you haven't, you haven't partaken in pickleball yet? I haven't. I played pickleball for the first time on a cruise ship in Alaska last year, but I was so seasick. I don't even, I couldn't see straight. Oh, what, what cruise line did you go on? You remember? I think it was princess. I think it was a princess cruise. We did one too last year. We, we did a Norwegian one down, um, down through Alaska. It was amazing. Amazing. So amazing. I, it was, I would do it again, even with all the puking, I would do it again.
[19:38] Well, and were you able to make it, make it work as far as eating? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think people get caught up looking for vegan meals or plant-based meals when really you should be looking at plant-based ingredients. And so you can get bread over here and hummus and salsa over here and lettuce over here and make a.
[20:00] Veggie hummus sandwich. And yeah, it was totally easy. Yeah. We couldn't believe how accommodating all the different restaurants were to all of our needs. And, you know, they have a pasta bar and they had a pizza bar and we just, you know, asked for what we wanted. It was so much fun. Yeah. I had a great time. Yeah. All right. Okay. So this batter is so easy. That's it for the ingredients. And then you're just going to add one cup of water. So it's a a one to one ratio. So if you want to make less, just do it one to one. So if you want to make a half a cup of chickpea flour, then just add a half a cup of water. And then I can really smell that sulfury, you know, eggy. I love it. And then that's it. You have this batter and I'm going to save you the making it in the pan. I already have some made up, but I just use a half cup measuring cup, which gives me, this is a cup. Anyway, use a half cup measuring cup and it gives you the perfect amount and it gives you three equal sized omelets. And then I just put those in the pan one at a time. And I do have to lightly spray my pan because it likes to stick. I still haven't checked out the scan pan. Like you told me last year. Oh, I've changed. I've got a new one for you. I've got a new one for you. You do? Okay. Because I am up. Like I need to buy a new one. There's two of them actually. One of them is more expensive. It's called the The Caraway, Caraway pan. Yes, I've seen, okay, and you like it?
[21:30] It worked great for the first two or three months, but you got to be careful to not cook too many, use it too many times on above medium. Otherwise, I think it, it doesn't work as well. Now, the pan that I'm telling you, I am blown away. It's called T-F-E-L, T-F-E-L, T-F-E-L. Okay. And they're not that expensive.
[21:53] Supposedly, they're very, very safe and they work like a charm for pancakes. Cakes i made i made your omelet two nights ago on it like a charm i mean you don't need any spray it's incredible yeah okay i'm gonna i'm definitely gonna check that out definitely definitely okay so those omelets come out into these beautiful almost just like this and they're big and you You can eat three of those for one serving loaded with vegetables and in Plantifully Simple and Plantifully Lean. I do always give my calorie counts for everything because I don't know about you, but I have found that my audience still likes to be aware of calories because it is scary for people that have been maintaining their weight for years or trying to lose weight to not know where they're at. So when they can see that, oh, my gosh, I get to eat all of this food for under 400 calories, then you start feeling a little bit more comfortable with the idea of eating high-volume, low-calorie-dense foods.
[23:01] I think we need to repeat that, high-volume, low-calorie-dense foods. And I want you to repeat this. Are you saying that you could eat three of those omelets with veggies on top, and it would be how many calories? Under 400 calories that's i mean that is remarkable did you did you did you see how many vegetables i stacked on mine the other yeah yeah and that's exactly and that's what i i like encourage and i put a note in there that to me non-starchy veggies are free calories they are just free calories they are so low like this is like what this is like 20 calories and your body, you know, doesn't even use all of it. It eliminates some of it in the fiber and takes your body more calories to break it down than some of these have. So to me, non-starchy veggies are free calories, but they are high in nutrition. They're high in water and bulk, which helps, you know, trigger satiety in your brain. So load them up, load your omelets up. So.
[24:10] The next thing I do is we're just going to add all our veggies and you can add whatever you want. So I do a ton of mushrooms. I would do a whole eight ounce package for myself. And then I would. Do you have a favorite? Do you have a favorite type of mushroom you'd like to use? Whatever's on sale. Okay. So, cause organic mushrooms are really expensive here. So I, whatever's on sale, white or, or the baby Bella. Yeah. Those look like the white, the white button mushrooms. Yeah. These are actually baby Bella. Oh, wow. I sliced him. Yeah. Nice. And those purple onions. These, this is purple onion. And then I'm going to add bell pepper. I'm just putting whatever I have in the fridge. If I have zucchini or in the garden, I'll add zucchini, asparagus, all that good stuff. And then just let it cook down, season it. however you like. I always like garlic salt or garlic powder. And then you can assemble, we'll assemble one here.
[25:16] My son will eat six of these. Do you have, you have teenage boys, don't you? I have a teenage son and then two daughters. Yeah. So you've experienced how much teenage boys can eat. Oh yeah. So, so there you have, those are the vegetables that have been cooked down the vegetables that have been cooked down okay and so i just put them in here and then i always like to add greens because the more you get the better and why not so i'm going to add that and then i you know fold it over and just imagine having three of these on your plate like that's wow yeah my husband can't eat that much no that looks really really good can you Can you hold that up really close to the camera so we can see that?
[26:07] Let's make that. There we go. Yeah. And then I like to put hot sauce on top. If you make the pimento cheese sauce that's in the book, that's great on top. I'll put a little avocado or some salsa and you are good to go. You are not going to be hungry for a long time. And now have you ever tried folding in the vegetables while the chickpea omelet batter is cooking, no you're thinking outside the box have you i'm going to i'm gonna i'm gonna try i have it i wonder if you would get like a like a good scramble or something or a frittata yeah that's a good idea if you have your veggies in the pan and then pour your batter over the veggies, you end up with a frittata. Yeah. Yeah. And that's easier. I like that a lot. Hey, so before you, before you go into the breakfast tacos, I want to ask you this because it's, it's, to me, it's such an important part of your journey. And I think it's a message that so many of us need to hear this day. And that is, you know, your road to self-love over self-hate and how you were able to kind of.
Kiki's Journey to Self-Love
[27:24] Embrace and love yourself as opposed to looking at yourself and being, you know, not liking what you saw. Yeah. So what's interesting about that journey is that had started about a year or two prior to coming to a plant-based journey. So I had already been in the process of accepting where I was that I could accept myself and love myself while I worked on the things that I wanted to change. And I started becoming aware of my inner monologue and how I was talking about myself. You know, if I would see myself in a mirror and say, Oh my God, it's just, I look so disgusting. Well, I stopped doing that. I would catch that and say, you know what? I look beautiful. I look good today. Even if I didn't believe it.
[28:12] And it's a process, but it changes your entire inner ecosystem of how you think and believe about yourself. And when you're not in an antagonistic relationship with yourself, you're not going to be self-sabotaging because if you're trying to make change, when you believe you're not worth the effort and you don't deserve to live in the change you're trying to make, then you just self-sabotage yourself all the time. So I think it's the most important thing that you really work on. If you're trying to make a big life change and get healthy, that you really focus on the fact that you're an amazing being. You deserve to be healthy. You deserve to take care of yourself. You are worth the time and the energy and the money that it may take to take care of yourself. And when you start making food choices based on whether or not it adds to your wellbeing.
[29:16] That's where success comes in and you're not going to be perfect. That's the other thing is I want people to focus on progress, not perfection because no one's perfect. You know, I dive right into the holidays every year and I reemerge in January ready to get back on. So, you know, you need to be kind to yourself and love yourself through the process. And when you have a day or a meal that you're not proud of, brush it off, you know, just keep heading in the direction of your goals. Nobody, nobody gets anything from self-hate and self-criticism. You know, on one of our, one of the times I spoke to you on the podcast, you, you said something and I, and I wrote it down and I was able to find it and I'm going to read it because I loved it so much. And you said, self-love will always move you further than self-hate because what we love, we take care of. We take care of. Yep. That is my mantra. Yeah. I think that's so important for everybody to hear.
[30:26] Yeah. And do you know Plant-Based Addict at all, Adam Sud? I don't. Okay. Well, he went to rehab and in rehab, he was addicted to Adderall and some other drugs. But eight months in rehab, he basically almost ate the exact same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner so he wouldn't screw it up. And he was able to lose almost a hundred pounds in eight eight months, just basically doing oatmeal, potatoes and rice and beans. Right. Wow.
[31:01] But he said every meal, although he maybe wasn't good outside of meals, every mealtime, it was an act of self-love. Yeah. And I care about myself. So I, when I think of you in that quote, I also think of Adam Sudden and his journey to, to health and, and losing weight. Yeah. And it's, you know, Dr. McDougall, when I was listening to his lectures in the beginning, and he was asked about how do you deal with cravings and, and feeling like you're missing out. And he said, you have to make the decision that that food isn't food, that is poison and And you don't want it in your body. And so I started making just connecting those dots and you're just forming new connections in your brain and making new associations to food. And so I started looking at, you know, Taco Bell and all this stuff I used to eat as an act of self-harm and that I was only interested in food.
[32:09] Doing things and choosing things that we're going to add to my wellbeing. And it is, it is the greatest act of love you can perform for yourself is to nourish your body properly. Yeah. Another thing that I think I got from reading your book was think of this way of eating and living as medicine instead of a coping mechanism.
[32:36] You know, I mean, it's just, there's so many different ways of saying it but you know maybe maybe one of these ways will resonate with somebody and it'll it'll make sense make sense but progress progress it takes it takes practice and it takes patience yeah yeah you know discipline is just practice and that's all you're doing is you're practicing a little bit every day and those little changes add up to big wins every time amen uh so now what how are you going to turn this into breakfast tacos yeah so super easy so because these are lower in calories and now we're going to use corn tortillas let me show you these awesome corn tortillas oh yes everybody always asks me what kind of corn tortillas do you use and it is amazing if you get the right the right kind Yes. So these are, I hear all the time that people can't find them without oil and I've never seen corn tortillas with oil, but that's neither here nor there. So these are the stone ground whole kernel corn tortillas from Mirancho. And what I like about these ones is that they are, let's see, they're the thin credibles one. I don't know if we can see that. Let's see. Yeah. See how they say thin credibles and they're only 35 calories.
[34:04] Each, which is important if you are a volume eater, like I am. So if you are not a volume eater, like my husband, two, three corn tortillas is going to be fine, but I'm going to want like six. So, so these are important. And I find these at Whole Foods. And then somebody, um, on Instagram told me that they find some that are pretty clean, just like this. And they're only 25 calories a piece. And they find those at Walmart. So you can find them and I'm sure you can order them online. So I'm going to put three of these down and I generally heat these up in a pan. And if you do them in the microwave, they'll get soft and kind of fall apart on you. So that's the thing about corn tortillas. When you heat them, you don't want to microwave them. You really want to put them in a pan and just kind of let them brown up and get a little crispy on you because they'll soften up what you get all your food on them. So I like to add potatoes to my breakfast tacos. I just don't feel like it's a breakfast taco without potatoes. So I always have already cooked potatoes in my fridge so that I can cube them up and pop them in the pan whenever I need to make a meal. So I'll put those in a pan. I'll take my leftover veggies from the day before and I'll mix all of that together.
[35:23] So now here's my magically cooked potatoes and I will just. And what kind of potatoes are those? Are those Yukon Gold? gold or Yukon gold are my favorite. Yeah. I exclusively use Yukon gold because I think they're creamy and buttery. I don't know. And maybe, yeah. And how did you make those? So you just put them in the oven. You can just roast in the oven, roast them in your air fryer. You can put them in the pan if you want. I find like mine stick in my pan, so I have to roast mine. So when, but when you throw them in the oven, so do you slice them before you put them in the oven? I like to cube them, yeah. So I like to cube my already cooked potatoes. They're already cooked. So you're just...
[36:11] You know, giving them a little crisp. Now you can, if you have like frozen hash browns, oil-free hash browns in the freezer, you can throw those in your air fryer and add those to your breakfast tacos. And I think that that's even easier because I don't want to be boiling potatoes and then roasting them on the same day. Right. Right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So that, that to me makes a lot of sense that you're taking making potatoes that are already cooked and then you're cubing them up and then throwing them in there for just a little bit of time. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. Just to reheat them, give them a little crisp. Then you can add all of your vegetables. So here's the thing. If you're going to make the omelets, make a quadruple batch. You just make a ton of omelets and then you can keep them in the fridge. I like to put parchment paper in between them so that they don't stick together. I haven't tried freezing them. I know people are going to ask. I haven't tried that. So I don't know, but anytime I make omelets, I just make a huge batch because then they can, the kids can have their omelets or make the tacos. So then for the taco, I almost dropped my omelet. So then for the tacos, I just take, you know, my omelet here and I will cut it up.
[37:31] You can chop it up. You can crumble it up if you want it to look more scrambled, eggy. whatever you like.
[37:42] And then I just lured that into these tacos. Yeah. You know what I think I would do is I'd probably do a double wrap. Can you ever do two corn tortillas to make it a little bit thicker? Oh, I don't know. I haven't tried that. I'm Mexican, so we don't play. We don't change. This is what we do. You're from the Yucatan Peninsula, right? I am, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My mom is actually French Canadian from upstate New York. She grew up in Watertown. I don't know if you know where that is. I sure do. Yeah. So she grew up in Watertown and we spent a lot of time up there. And so she's a tall white ginger lady, if you can believe that.
[38:32] So, and then my dad is Mayan Indian from the Yucatan. Wow. Yeah. What a combo. It is a combo. Bombo. It's funny how genetics work. Cause then my daughter, my husband's Norwegian.
[38:45] When my daughter was born, she had red hair and then it turned white blonde. She was a toe head blonde. And so I looked like the nanny for years and then it darkened. So then I'm just going to take salsa. You can make Pico. You can use the old paste picante. That's what I use sometimes. times, but I did Pico. It's funny you say Pace Picante. The other day we were somewhere and again, it was a little rural town somewhere and all they had was the Pace Picante and it was so good. It is good, but it is so salty. We don't have it. You have to use little amounts of.
[39:29] Cause I don't have it often when I do it's good. And then I'm going to add a little bit of avocado. I will skimp on nuts and seeds all day. I will skimp on dressings just to have as much avocado as possible. Cause I love avocado. You like the green gold. I do. So you have like this beautiful full taco. And what I love about those tacos that you have there is they look like they're substantial as far as how big they are. They're not little tortillas. No, they're a good, I think these are bigger than, no, there's probably about like six inches, a six inch tortilla. It probably says on there. But because they're only 35 calories a piece, so I can eat six of these.
[40:22] That's good. That's serious volume there. I love it. I just never, I was always embarrassed by it. I always said like, I eat like a linebacker and it wasn't until I wasn't until I watched, um, I think it's how to lose weight without losing your mind by Dr. Doug Lyle, where he explains like your stomach and your stretch receptors and that some people are satisfied on three pounds of food. Some people are satisfied on six pounds of food and that's going to be consistent every day. So change the calorie density of what you're eating and you can still eat your six pounds of food and lose weight. Yeah, no, very, very well said. Very well said. Yeah. Yeah. The stretch and the density receptors and exactly. So what is your, when people ask you Kiki, do you snack during the day? Do you snack in between your big volumous, uh, low calorie, um, nutrient rich meals? Yeah I do and so what do you snack on I snack on fruit and I've always snacked on fruit I'm not really like a snack on carrots type of girl so I snack on on peaches on melons on grapes apples you know and if I find like I'm constantly snacking it's because I didn't have enough.
[41:47] At the previous meal. And that can happen a lot, especially when you're eating low calorie density like this, like this is a lot of food volume volume wise, but it's not a lot calorie wise. So like for me, if I had the three omelets and that was it, I would be hungry in a couple hours, believe it or not, because I do need a little bit more calories than that. But yeah. That's how you, you know, if you're going to snack, I say snack on fruit, don't snack on crackers. And that I figured that out at my first major plateau that I was like, okay, I'm going to stop snacking on toast and crackers, even though they're oil free.
[42:26] And that was boom. Another 10 pounds. So you just mentioned something that I think is really important. I'd love for you to expound on that. You mentioned you hit your first plateau. plateau, uh, can you let us know, like, where was that plateau on your weight loss journey? And then what was the kind of re rejiggering that you needed to do in order to basically crush past that plateau? Yeah. So my first plateau and you're going to hit plateaus on any, everyone hits them and you're going to hit it at least a few. So my first plateau was probably right around 35 pounds. I just couldn't get another pound to budge, but I had gone from a standard American diet to a low fat, high carbohydrate diet, but I wasn't, um, using any plate building method. I was just eating platefuls of pasta burritos, you know, potatoes and not, I was eating more non-starchy vegetables, but not in the amounts that I eat today. So I was also snacking on crackers and a lot of toast. I was, um, eating a lot of pancakes and syrup for breakfast and there's nothing wrong with pancakes, but syrup adds up a lot. And, you know, when you're a volume eater and you know that about yourself, you're.
[43:54] Then you need to be more strategic. So the first thing I did was say, okay, I'm going to start. I don't like to focus on what I take out. I like to focus on what I'm putting in. So I started focusing on adding in fruit for snacks.
[44:09] So that naturally just like weeded out the crackers and I stopped buying the crackers and all the toast. And my kids also started snacking on fruit. And that was like another 10, 15 pounds that came off. And then I hit another plateau in that one. I struggled with the most because I hadn't really understood the concept of calorie density yet. And so I went back to Dr. McDougall's starch solution. And on one small page, he He mentions the 50-50 plate, I think. And so then I went and looked at what other books he has. And I found some other books where he explained more about plate building and how to do that. I found Dr. Doug Lyles. And, oh, Jeff Novick. Jeff Novick. Yes. Jeff Novick's video on, thank you, on calorie density. And that was because I had read the books and understood, okay, this is what I do. But when I saw it explained further by Jeff Novick with all the examples and all the research and why it works.
[45:28] Something clicked and then the 50 50 plate took me all the way down to the way i am today yeah yeah yeah uh no i think i need to give a shout out to jeff novick who is such an incredible um diet diet dietitian and nutritionist and a disciple of dr john mcdougall um just loves loves, loves, loves John.
[45:58] And Jeff was a huge, fabulous teacher in my life over a number of years. I always invited him to my seven-day medical immersion programs where he would speak to some of Whole Food Market's unhealthiest team members. And I had the good fortune of hearing Jeff talk about calorie density and all these other principles and how to read a label for a a good five, six years. And he's just, he's brilliant at it. And he's a brilliant, brilliant teacher. Absolutely brilliant teacher. I am here today because of how he was able to put everything together. Yeah. Yeah. Distilled it down nicely. So repeat, repeat for our, for the Plant-Stock audience and for the podcast listeners, the 50, 50 plate, tell me again, what does it look like? it. So you are going, I'm going to hold up a plate easier. So you are going to take your dinner plate, any size plate. Cause everybody asks, well, what size plate, any size that makes you happy for me, that's an 11 inch dinner plate for most normal human beings. That's a nine inch dinner plate.
[47:08] So take your plate and you're just going to visually divide it down the middle in half. You're going to fill half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables. Like what does that mean? yeah what is like roasted mushrooms and zucchini onions asparagus any you know you can google broccoli cauliflower you can google whole list and then on the other side yes anything you love artichoke yes all that good stuff and then on the other side you're going to put your starches. So your burrito bowl, your potatoes, your pasta, and you always want to start with your non-starchy vegetables first. That way you fill up on the lowest calorie dense foods first. And you have all that fiber sitting in your gut, weighing it down, stretching it out. So your brain is properly signaled with satiety and then you move on to your starch. And if you're hungry afterwards, which I always am. You just do it again and start with your non-starchy vegetables. And a lot of times what happens is you go in for that second plate, you get through your non-starchy vegetables and then you're like, I don't have room for the starch.
[48:21] So sometimes you do, and it still works. You still lose weight. Tell you, you, and remind myself and everybody listening, you're now down, is it 70 pounds? 70 pounds. Okay. And, and, and how long have you successfully been able to keep it off? And there's a before and after. Thank you, Terry. Yeah. Isn't that wild? Yeah. So I have been maintaining that for, I want to say six years now. Six years. So this isn't just some fad diet that's worked for you for six months or a year. I mean, we're talking six incredible years. Wow. Yeah. And what's been your, what is your take or your philosophy on alcohol, caffeine? Can you talk about that? Yeah. So I have just read so much scary stuff about alcohol that I'm not willing to touch it. And I have never been an alcohol drinker. Um, I don't know if you're familiar with Dr. Christy Funk, but she's excellent. Um, her website, you could find so much information about how.
[49:34] You know, alcohol really negatively affects your body and really increases your chances of breast cancer and lots of other cancers. There's also a ton of research saying that when you drink alcohol, it stops your liver's ability to burn fat off your body for up to 48 hours. So why would you do that if you're trying to lose weight, you know, just from a purely mechanical standpoint? So I just never touch it. And, um, how long, how long has that up in the case now? I mean, I was never really a drinker. So I think the last time I had a little bit of champagne was on my like, nice wedding anniversary a few years ago. Okay. I got it. Got it. Got it. So you've never been at, uh, I've never, and I've, to be fair, I've never been a coffee drinker either. Um, well, you know what, you and I are very similar like that. Uh, I don't do alcohol. I don't do coffee. Uh, never liked the taste of coffee and I really never liked the taste of alcohol. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. How about that? There you go. Yeah. Did you build the, the wine I had was like Moscato. So it's basically sugar wine. What do you do? Kiki, what do you do when you need a bit of a chocolate dessert fix?
[50:57] I make the chocolate mud cake out of Plantifully Lean because you just, and you can make it gluten free or not. It's a few ingredients. You put into a bowl, pop in the microwave for 50 seconds and you have like a molten lava, lava gooey delicious cake that's what i do oh my gosh that sounds incredible yeah it's so good, and it takes no effort and you always have the ingredients in your baking cabinet yeah yeah um.
The Power of Gratitude
[51:28] Well, what, what have I missed out on here? What, what, any, any parting messages or quotes that you'd like to leave the, the Plant-Stock audience with today? day? Yeah. Just what I wish more people understood is how much power they have and that everything that you need, everything that you're looking for, for the world to give you or for other people to give you everything you need ultimately already lives within you. All of the, the acceptance, the confidence, the discipline, all of that sits inside of you. It's just a matter of learning learning, to connect with it and get it out. And if you can work on that every day, work a little bit on loving yourself, work a little bit on being easier on yourself and practice a new, you know, you want to eat a little bit better, just practice a little bit every day. You're going to, you're going to get to where you want to go. When you, when you were on your journey, you just, you just sparked some, a question that I wanted to ask. Um, but when you were on your journey and you were, looking for that discipline and accountability and, uh, changing your habits, did you journal was journaling an important part of that process? Yeah.
[52:49] Yep. And I still journal and I learned like 15 years ago. So I used to struggle with severe anxiety disorder and I would have panic attacks all day. This is a long story. I'll make it short. So I learned, I had somebody who helped me through that, that told me you have to journal, you have to journal your successes at the end of the day. You have to journal what you're proud about. And that's what I did. So a lot of people think, well, I have to just journal, like, you know, what good food I ate more than that. Congratulate yourself in your journal that you ate some good food today. Yeah. No, it's something so simple, but something about, you know, going from your mind to your fingers to the end of that pen or pencil tip into your journal, I think is, is really powerful. It's so powerful. Yeah. I had, I invited another gentleman on the podcast.
[53:49] His name's Eric and he has lost a hundred pounds eating this way and following the exact same prescription that you and I are huge advocates for. And not only did he, well, he journaled, but he also, every morning he wrote, wrote down his intentions for the day, which he said was so important. Yeah. So, so you're also a fan of writing down your intentions, your intentions. I like, so I, I have, I build mantras for myself and they change every year. And so every morning I go over my intentions for my life, my day and who I believe I am or who I want to be. I am loved. I'm protected. I am graceful, whatever it is. And I read that to myself and I tell myself it's going to be a great day. And you know what? It always is. And at the end of the day, I end my day with writing down everything I'm grateful for. And what the guy who helped me move through anxiety taught me all those years ago was really what you're doing is you're, you are journaling to learn, to connect with your inner power. When you are choosing to be grateful and set your intentions, you are calling that out and it's already in you. There's no mystical, anything, everything you need already lives in you. So journaling is.
[55:14] Is huge. Yeah. And you said another word there that I don't think we've talked about yet today, and that's gratitude, which we're learning, I think, more and more about what it can do for you. And I think others, when you express gratitude, either to them or to yourself or, you know, while journaling. But I think gratitude is something that.
[55:42] None of us took serious enough for a long time. So I'm glad. It'll change your life. Gratitude will change your life. Well, speaking of gratitude, I just want you to know how grateful we are to have you as part of the, the, the Plant-Stock lineup this year. Again, you're, you're such a fantastic contributor to thank you for having me to the movement and and helping people find their health and and lose weight and uh and be and be happy so thank you thank you it was so fun yeah hey on the way out you have to give me a virtual PLANTSTRONG fist bump all right where's my camera boom it's It's right there. It's right there. All right, Kiki. Until next time. Bye. Bye. Thank you.
[56:39] Kiki's latest book, Plantifully Simple, is available now wherever books are sold. And I'll be sure to put a link in the show notes on how to get the book and how to learn more about the wonderful Kiki Nelson. Thanks so much for listening to the PLANTSTRONG podcast. And as Kiki says, keep it simple. And of course, always, always keep it PLANTSTRONG. See you next time. The PLANTSTRONG podcast team includes Carrie Barrett, Laurie Kortowich, and Ami Mackey. If you like what you hear, do us a favor and share the show with your friends and loved ones. You can always leave a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And while you're there, make sure to hit that follow button so that you never miss an episode. As always, this and every episode is dedicated to my parents, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. And Anne Crile Esselstyn. Thanks so much for listening.
