A Letter To My Local Whole Foods Market

Hello,
I would like to see more of the foods made by the prepared foods department for the hot bar, grab and go and deli department – follow the 4 pillars.  I have been patronizing your store since February 2012, and almost EVERY selection available contains canola oil or olive oil.  Most of the time, this addition of oil is completely unnecessary to the success of the recipe.

I moved here from St Paul, MN, our local WFM practices the 4 pillars, has 28 day challenges and almost none of the items available in the deli and the hot food bar have oil in them.  I always look forward to shopping at your store and would like to have lunch while I am there.  I am usually disappointed that of all the food available, I am stuck with making a salad as my only option.  I have previously discussed this with Lisa Markley, the Healthy Eating Specialist at your store via email and on the phone.  She said she would talk to the prepared foods department about it two months ago.  Nothing has changed.

I don’t expect you to cater to every lifestyle, for there are many personal choices in the dietary sector.  However, I have adopted a whole foods-plant-based-no added fats diet as prescribed by your own Health Starts Here Advisory Board, so I would at least expect you to follow your own 4 Pillars principles.  Having spent a weekend in Austin, TX with Rip Esselstyn, Dr. Caldwell B Esselstyn Jr., Jeff Novick, MS RD and the team at the Flagship WFM store in Austin, there are so many recipes and options available to your prepared foods team.  Dan Marek, the Healthy Eating Specialist there has so many recipes that fit the four pillars perfectly.  I’d love to see your prepared foods team make this change.

Thank you,

Ami Mackey

and the response I got today….

Hello Ami…

I am glad that you have come to KC and I hope that you keep coming to our department to check out the Hot food venues.  I am very sorry that you have been disappointed on the choices of the bars.  We are moving in a direction that you will hopefully be pleased with.  Lisa is currently working with Laura and Anthony…some of our kitchen staff to help create some recipes for our hot food venues.  Today we have Rip’s Sweet Potato Lasagna out and we will always try to have an Engine 2 or HSH set on both bars in the future.

Next time you are in please come by and check out the choices that we have to offer not only on the hot food venues, but in our Chef’s Case we have at least 3-4 HSH choices and on our Salad bar/Grain bar we have other offerings as well.

Thanks for your comments it helps us to know what our customer base is looking for.
Have a great day!

Terra Salser
Prepared Foods Associate Team Leader
Whole Foods Market METCALF
913.652.9633

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If you don’t ask…things may never change.

So ASK! WRITE! CALL!

My Plant-Based Road Trip!

Tomorrow morning at about this time, I will be driving near Wichita, KS on my way to Austin, TX for the Farms 2 Forks Immersion weekend.  I am so excited to be on this journey!  Over two years ago, I bought Brendan Brazier’s book – Thrive.  I read it cover to cover and attempted a couple of recipes.  Then it sat collecting dust.  I wasn’t ready.  The following year, we tried Dr. Barnard’s 21 day Vegan Kickstart.  It worked, but we fell off the wagon in Chicago.  Damn you Gino’s East Pizza!

During that time I had purchased Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn’s book Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease.  I read it cover to cover, made a couple of recipes and then…well…same old story…Dr. Esselstyn sat on the bookshelf next to Brendan shaking his head in disappointment.  Spring came last year and found us at our heaviest in years.  I bought The Happy Herbivore by Lindsay S. Nixon.  I remarked to Bill, that this..this I can do! I can eat this way and be happy!  I bought The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn shortly there after.  Building a compendium of information and recipes to sustain us. A few weeks later, Bill Clinton was going to be on CNN talking about his new found Vegan lifestyle and how it changed his life.  We watched rapt, in silence to find out he was doing what Dr. Esselstyn told him.  “HEY! We have that book!”

Summer came and went, 2 major changes in jobs, one for each of us, a ton of stress and more pounds later and finally on our trip to San Francisco, we decided…when we get home…we are SERIOUSLY going to do it this time!  A few days being home, I stumbled upon Forks Over Knives on Netflix.  That’s it. Yes!!!

WE ARE DOING IT!

December 2011 we got down to business.

Several false starts, fear, excuses and laziness prevented us from getting started earlier.  As we had the tools all along. Sitting there collecting dust and waiting for us to get smart and get busy.

Since then, we got our behinds to the gym, found fitness that is fun for us, learned a lot about ingredients and what we are truly capable of accomplishing.  I am enrolled in a Plant-Based Nutrition program through the T. Colin Campbell Foundation and Cornell University so I can learn even more from the author of the renowned China Study.  I have a new focus and a career path for many Plant-Based Adventures in the future.  From helping people learn how they can have an urban garden, start a community garden, change their life through plant-based whole foods, cook amazing recipes and feel better than they ever have before.  I want to help people educate themselves to create a positive change for their families.

It’s working for us and we feel better than ever.  Bill has lost 37 pounds, I have lost 20.  We have lost so many inches, gained a bunch of muscle, but most of all, we gained the empowerment of knowing we can sustain this lifestyle.  We are going to Thrive!

This weekend, I get to meet athlete, Brendan Brazier, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn and his wife Ann, Rip Esselstyn, Dr. Doug Lisle, Jeff Novick and Carol Ann Sayle from the Boggy Creek Farm – an urban organic farm in Austin.  I can’t wait to be part of the community of folks that are coming from all over the country to learn more, just like I am. People hungry for change, for the knowledge to make it happen and the tools to be successful in that endeavor!

eCornell

I’m enrolled in school!
I am taking classes through Cornell University -eCornell Professional Development.
I am studying Plant Based Nutrition through the T. Colin Campbell Foundation.
I start April 11, 2012.
This is just the beginning of my educational adventures!

Intentions

So we dabbled a bit with this last year.
All was going well and then we were thwarted by life and Chicago deep dish pizza.
Here in 2012 we’ve made a resolution to live more consciously.
We are working on our fitness, nutrition and fun!
We aim to:
eat better in every way.
improve our stamina, increase muscle mass and flexibility.
(weight training & Bikram Yoga to start)
golf more (which shouldn’t be hard compared to last year)
and have more left over at the end of the day for fun.

as a personal aside, I aim to learn something new.
a skill, a wealth of knowledge perhaps, a hobby.
I have the time and the means to do so this year, so it should be interesting!

So far I have been working on my whole foods plant-based no added fat cooking.
We are formulating a life plan based upon the works of Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. with some help from Rip Esselstyn and Lindsay S. Nixon.
We are huge fans of The Happy Herbivore and The Engine 2 Diet. I am also a HUGE fan of another blogger, who wow’s me on a daily basis in this category:

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/

I’ve come up with a few dishes of mine own as well.

Lime Pepper Garbanzo Bean Salad

I am considering taking a series of courses at Cornell University about Plant Based Nutrition. It’s an online series that is offered as part of the T. Colin Campbell Foundation.
It’s going to be a great year!