SoulVeggie

03/14/13: Mark's Interview w/ Dr. Don Wagner (stream/audio download)

"This is our second interview with Mark Sutton, author of Heart Healthy Pizza “Over 100 Plant-based Recipes for the Most Nutritious Pizza in the World”.  Dr. Don and Mark discuss many of the healthy alternatives to eliminating animal fats from your pizza and still making great tasting pizza.  The combination are almost endless. Treat yourself to a copy of this book direct from the author here."

How cool!  Dr. Don Wagner (who's interviewed close to 500 people over the past two years, on radio, such as Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Goldhammer, Chef AJ, Dr. Fuhrman, Chloe, Dr. Pam Popper, Dr. Neal Barnard, Victoria Moran, Kathy Fisher, and the list is just too long to be complete here), asked me back for a another interview!  Am honored.  We had a great time, much more relaxed this time (we chatted for a long bit the night before).  As usual, Dr. Don asked some insightful questions and forced me to be serious for a few minutes...

They've built a new website (looks marvelous) and here's the page where you can listen to the audio stream or download the audio MP3:

http://www.drdonshow.info/2013/03/14/heart-healthy-pizza-cookbook-with-guest-mark-sutton/

Enjoy!  And, ahem, remember you can order autographed copies of the 1st Vegan Pizza Cookbook here.

 

DC Area: "Heart & Planet Healthy Diet Choices: Pizza Sampling & Lecture"

You can see more photos of previous event HERE

The web page announcement/where one can order tickets:
http://hearthealthypizza.eventbrite.com

 

“Heart and Planet Healthy Diet Choices: Pizza Sampling & Lecture”

March 2, 2013, 4pm to 7pm, Eastern Village Co-Housing, Silver Spring, Maryland

Plant-Based Pizza Sampling:

“Really Reubenesque Revisited”

• Pumpernickel Crust
• Russian Dressing with Pickles
• Green & Red Cabbage, Mushrooms, Red Onions
• Oats, Cannellini, Horserashish, Paprika Topping Sauce

“The Brassy Brassica”

• Whole Wheat & Black Bean Crust
• Kale, Tomatoes, Cauliflower, Herbs, Peppers, Onions
• Millet, Sunflower Seed, Chili Garlic Topping Sauce

“The Artfully Moderna”

• Garlic & Mixed Herbs Wheat Crust
• Pizza Sauce
• Seasoned Vegetarian Sausage, Artichokes, onions, & Black Olives
• Quinoa, Sweet Potato, Corn, & Dijon Mustard Topping Sauce

“The Experimental Veg-8 Prototype Mach II”

• Corn Polenta Crust (gluten-free)
• Red & Green Cabbage, Carrots, Broccoli, Jicama, Bell Peppers, Radishes, & Celery
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Tofu, Ginger, & Flax Seed Topping Sauce

(A complete list of all ingredients is available for review by attendees with food allergy concerns)

Cost: $20 per person

Recipes from “Heart Healthy Pizza” by Mark Sutton.  Learn more about the 1st Vegan Pizza Cookbook at:  www.hearthealthypizza.com  Autographed copies of “Heart Healthy Pizza: Over 100 Plant-based Recipes for the Healthiest Pizza in the World,” will be available at a special discount price of $15.

FAQs

What are my transport/parking options getting to the event? This session will take place from 4-7 pm in downtown Silver Spring MD – just about 1/2 mile from the Silver Spring Metro station (Red line). There is street parking within 1 block (should be Free on Sun but be sure to read signs carefully and follow parking instructions).  Address will be supplied on tickets.

What is the refund policy? We have room for 16 attendees and expect this class to fill up quickly. Please RSVP ASAP. It’s first-come, first-serve, payment will be required in advance, and no refunds will be possible.

1st Int'l Study of Heart Disease & Diet, a Heart Healthy Pizza Fix/Justification

I get a lot of questions about calling my book, “Heart Healthy Pizza:  Over 100 Plant-Based Recipes for the Most Nutritious Pizza in the World.”  Primary among them are “why are they “heart healthy” and something about the arrogance of calling them the “most nutritious pizza in the world.”  To that end, it’s gratifying to read of this new international study of some 30,000 people in 14 countries, that states, in summary:
“A new study shows older people with established heart disease who ate the most heart-healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, and nuts had a much lower risk of dying or having another heart attack or stroke than those who ate the unhealthiest diet.”  
From: “Healthy Diet Helps Damaged Hearts:”
...wouldn’t it be wonderful it they went a step further, following the 20+years of peer-reviewed research by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., that demonstrated that following a no-added oil/fat plant-based diet could not only reverse heart disease, but in theory, prevent it? Unfortunately, the study only recorded what people ate and not tested what would happen if they eliminated any animal proteins, dairy, or oil in their diet (for people without heart disease issues,eliminating nuts for those who don't).  As such, the study was, “gee whiz, this is what transpired” rather than any advance in nutritional science by attempting to determine what would happen with deliberate changes in diet, specifically, eliminating all animal products, dairy, and oil.
Still, it’s comforting to see the phrase “heart healthy” in the context of the dietary descriptions they used.
Back to my cookbook, the 1st vegan pizza cookbook.  Why did I call it “Heart Healthy Pizza?”  Simple.  It was inspired by and follows Dr. Esselstyn’s dietary recommendations.  He PROVED they work.  He reversed and, in theory, prevented heart disease.  In the study above, the researchers but noted that people approaching a no-fat plant-based diet, who’ve had heart issues in the past, had less future occurrences.  Wonderful, but by no means any solution.  They ate fish and consumed free oils.  The survival percentages would have been higher without the fish and added oil.
Now, the “most nutritious pizza in the world” phrase has gotten me some flack, but, without going into great detail, let me excerpt Dr. Michael Greger’s opinion in his review of my book as defense:
“Although it might seem arrogant and pretentious to call these the "most nutritious pizzas in the world," one would be hard pressed to think of any others that would be as healthy and beneficial to one's diet.  Mark takes full advantage of the abundance of phytochemicals in fresh vegetables and whole grains in these recipes to raise the bar on vegan cooking and demonstrates a unique and creative approach to making one of the most popular foods in the American diet not only a nutritious experience, but a enjoyable and tasty one as well.”
--- Dr. Greger’s review is here:
I’m comfortable knowing that the recipes in my book are heart healthy, mostly gluten-free, and enable one to make the most nutritious pizza in the world.  Studies like the one mentioned above are encouraging, despite their narrow and conservative approach. Here’s an excerpt from a review of my book by someone who died, and is now following Esselstyn’s recommendations:
"I dropped dead on a tennis court (and was lucky enough to be playing against a team with a cardiologist who did world class cpr for 12 minutes until a rescue squad arrived to shock me back to life). It took me about 30 seconds post-op from my bypass to adopt Caldwell Esselstyn's vegan cardiac disease reversal program. Though I ate a "good" diet most of the time, I was addicted to cheese pizzas for my whole (almost foreshortened) life. This book is a treasure. The visuals of the pizza are appetizing and valid relative to the finished product. The taste of the recipes I have undertaken is great. The nutrition is miraculous for a so-called comfort food. Thank you, Mark Sutton, for your tour de force collection of no oil vegan gourmet pizza. Incidentally, I run 10 k's, complete duathlons, and play USTA team tennis at the age of 64 on the Esselstyn diet.
- R.S. (Amazon book review)
I wrote this book, with over five years of research and experimentation (would have been years less if I hadn't interviewed Dr. Essy and decided to go "no oil"), to help people be heart healthy and vegetarians or "normal" people get over the "I'd miss pizza" whine."  So cool that it has.  Over half of men in the US will experience heart disease issues, over one-third of women.  It’s about diet, and the sooner the government and mass media recognizes and promotes that realization, the less the number of future deaths.  As Dr. Esselstyn notes, “heart disease is a food-borne disease.”  This number one killer of people in the world is not just expensively treatable by modern science, but CURABLE and preventable by a dietary no-oil plant-based science approach. 
And, you can still have your pizza fix.
Namaste, Mark  
(yeah, going to have to make the spine text title text on my book larger.... oh well...)
[Note: The photo above is a shot taken today of the first time I’ve seen my book in a health food bookstore.  Wow.  In good company!

Mad Cowboy Newsletter, Discounts for Holiday Vegan Pizza Cookbook

The latest issue of the Mad Cowboy Newsletter is now available online with a Holiday Discounts for purchased copies (autographed) of the 1st Vegan Pizza Cookbook, "Heart Healthy Pizza." Check out the discounts for 1 to 4 copies of the book at this link.

Here's the Introduction and Table of Contents to this edition:

"In this edition we are proud to announce the winners of last issue's Vegan Mind-Bender Contest and the Heart Healthy Pizza Cookbook Giveaway. There's also a gift-link for readers who want to purchase autographed copies of "Heart Healthy Pizza" at a Special Holiday discount. You'll also find a scathing and detailed rebuke of the "Paleo Diet" by Dr. John McDougall, disturbing historical statistics on soda and food serving sizes, and learn about internal concerns about outside food corporation's influence on Registered Dieticians.

Francis Moore Lappe weighs in with a fine rebuttal on the recent Stanford study that disses organics, Paul Shapiro on why meat consumption in the US is falling, what several vegan nutritional experts think about specific food products, and how a vegan first ran a 100 mile brutal ultramarathon. Further down you'll marvel at a recent Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness that essentially equates humans and animals, how SHARK is using drones to video illegal pigeon shoots, Hurricane Sandy's impact on companion animals, and about the "microflora" inside you. And don't miss our Vegan Digital Media Theater where there's a plethora of interesting media links.

 ... as always, a tip of the hat to our new subscribers: y'all can browse/search through past issues at the Mad Cowboy Newsletter Archives at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/

Best regards, Mark MC editor/webmaster

 

Table of Contents:

00: Quote(s) from Howard

01: The Vegan Mind-Bender Contest Winner/Challenge!

02: Heart Healthy Pizza Cookbook Winner & a Special Holiday Discount!

03: Mad Cow Info Round-Up

04: Paleo Diet Cruel, Soda & Food Serving Sizes, Dietician Dilemma

05: 15,000 Weather Records, Reckless Organics Study, Seasonal Food Map

06: Vegan Digital Media Theater

07: Giving Up Meat, Meat Sales Fall, Veg. Nutrition Experts, Run 100 Miles

08: Human=Animals, Animal Rights Drones, Sandy & Pets, Bugs Inside U

09: Quick Bytes

10: Closing Thoughts

 

College Exam #2: Heart Healthy Pizza Gets Another "A"

As noted in a previous post, I've always felt that one of the Ultimate Tests of a good pizza (plant-based, plant-strong, or not) is what College Students think of it. Having accomplished their 1st test, the infamous (and plant-strong) College Greens graciously sacrificed their intensive late-night weekly Saturday Night Study Period and Angry Bird Marathon (kidding... a fowl joke), to try another recipe from my book, "Heart Healthy Pizza."

A couple of days ago, via e-mail at the Engine2Extra Online Community, the results came in, with photos as well!  Here's what Tara had to say (unedited, and with her permission):

--------------

"WE MADE ANOTHER PIZZA THIS WEEKEND!!!! And once again... SUCCESS!!!!

This time, we made the whole wheat black bean crust with the quick italian tomato sauce. We loaded the pizza with spring mix greens, red cabbage, orange bell pepper, portobello mushrooms, and green peas. Then we topped it off with tofu and lemon sauce.

Yum yum yum YUM!!!! A deliciously delightful Saturday night treat :)  

We took pictures this time!! [Note: click on photo for larger version]

College Greens Photo of Pizza Before Topping Sauce

   

Just showing the veggie-licious toppings before we added the un-cheese sauce :)

College Greens Pizza w/ Tofu Lemon Topping

Fully prepared and cooked!!! READY TO EAT! yaaaaaaaaay :D

College Greens Pizza After Being Visciously Assaulted

Forty minutes later....

I don't know whether you saw or not, but Craig took a slice with him as his lunch the next day when he went hiking at Rickett's Glen. His friend took a picture of the half-eaten slice of pizza over the waterfall and I tagged you in the picture on facebook :)

Anyways, it was another weekend of plant-strong pizza yumfest!!! Thanks SO MUCH for letting us play around with this book, it's been so much fun and so deliciously scrumptious :) We plan to make at least one more pizza before doing the full review. But I don't think you have anything to worry about. We're already sold :)

Hugs, happies, healthies,

  Tara :)" 

-----------

So cool!  I did tell them that plant-strong people are advised by the Engine2 Diet Team, and rightly so, to use tofu sparingly and as a treat as it's high in fat (and being processed, lacks fiber).  Regardless, I was intrigued by the toppings the students chose. Am very proud of their ingenuity and continued dedicated efforts to eat a healthy no-added oil plant-based diet. They are setting a high bar, but still taking the time to share the results (and their advice) with others.  Here's some of their articles.

After feeling a tad cantankerous with a recent birthday, it's refreshing to see such well-placed optimism, creativity, and joie de vivre!

Namaste... Mark

 

Presentation: "A Heart- and Planet-Healthy Dietary Lifestyle."

Saturday 10/20 6pm est to 9pm est: "Mark will speak about a heart- and planet-healthy dietary lifestyle, and the impact our individual choices have our own health and that of our Planet, at Baltimore EarthSave Veg potluck, in Owings Mills, MD.  Featuring a live talk, book signing, and giveaway on “Heart Healthy Pizza” by Mark Sutton, author of the first-ever vegan pizza cookbook. Mark is a longtime interactive multimedia consultant, vegan, and organic farming enthusiast. He has served as the Visualizations Coordinator for two NASA Earth Science Satellite missions focused on environmental and global climate change issues."

"Monthly dinner meetings are held at the yoga studio of "Your Prescription for Health, 10210 S. Dolfied Rd. Learn more about Mark Sutton and Heart Healthy Pizza at http://www.hearthealthypizza.com/. Please RSVP and join us! DETAILS:" http://earthsavebaltimore.org/node/43  Note: Dr. Greger spoke at this event last month.

My 1st Radio Interview Audio is Now Available Online!

My interview on the Dr. Don Wagner Show (09/27/12) is now availble as a streaming and downloadable mp3 audio file (http://bullheadurgentcare.com/archives/playfiles/09262012p.html).

It's about 50 min. in length.  Dr. Don was great. The audio quality deteriorates a bit due to Skype issues, so I had to live with audio artifacts (echo/reverb) in my ears most of the time and my vocal level gets a bit uneven as a result in 2nd half).

Definitely check out his mp3 Archives of previous interviews (http://bullheadurgentcare.com/archives/). Some very interesting people! Honored to have been asked, and my appreciation to Dr. Don for the opportunity and experience.

A REAL Plant-Based & Plant-Strong Pizza!

I have an adversion to what I call "foo-foo" pizza.  Oh sure, I'll tolerate it (usually requires good company and a glass of fine wine), but sprinkling a few greens, cherry tomato and olive slices, on a hummus base, slapped a wheat flour crust might look pretty, but it doesn't do it for me.  Might as well sub out the crust and use a wrap or nori instead. IMHO, it's not much of a pizza and admittedly, I'm very biased!  In my cookbook, I show that a pizza can be much more --- a greater nutritional sum of it's parts than what I've just described. It can incorporate a wide swath of antioxidant and phytochemical full vegetables, legumes, and rich textures.

Anyway, I've been working on refining some new recipes at request for some exciting new projects I can't write about yet.  Here's the latest experiment:  it's an extension and modification of a recipe from said cookbook.  This puppy (at its 3rd test here) has an oat flour, cannelini beans, and flaxseed crust.  This makes the crust gluten-free (flour made from rolled oats as part of the recipe), low glycemic, and only 2 TBS of flaxseeds are used.

The vegetable filling has a green curry sauce base and a nice mix of cauliflowerettes, tomatoes, diced mushrooms, broccoli, two types of hot and semi-hot peppers, and sliced onions.  The "cheese-like" topping sauce is made of millet, sunflower seeds, spices, dijon mustard+, then sprinkled with italian seasonings.  Woof! Here's a before and after 2-photo collage:

 

Click to see larger image!

Now THAT'S what I call a real plant-based pizza!  Guess I'm a devout, ahem, "Foo Fighter..."  I'll be publishing the recipes online in the near future and will make note of where (if not here) on this blog when I do.

Note:  here's my article published on the Engine2Diet Blog on "Plant-Strong Pizza."  There are three cheese-like topping recipes and my gluten-free oat crust recipe (a favorite of many, judging from my e-mails!).  Enjoy.

Go "Plant-Strong" at the "Engine2Diet Extra" Community

"The Engine2 Diet" is former firefighter Rip Esselstyn's best-selling book about a plant-strong lifestyle.  As the son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Rip incorporated not only his Dad's research on heart disease and diet into the book's program, but recipes and a complete exercise plan as well.  The comprehensive Engine2 Diet website builds and expands upon this seminal work and is an excellent source of information on Engine2 Diet activites, articles, research, recipes, and several other useful resources (in fact, I've written two articles for them:  "Plant-Strong Pizza" and "Plant-Strong by the Numbers").

Snapshot of Engine2 Extra "My Page" (Site ©2012 Engine2Extra, photos by Mark Sutton)

The Engine2 Team has recently developed, announced and released access to the "Engine 2 Extra" private online social community.  This unique website is a real go-to place for advice, support, research, interaction with nutritional experts, and just plain great socializaing, regarding achieving and maintaining a heart-healthy and plant-strong lifestyle. Here's but a short list of some of the many things you'll find on the site:

• Individual and Community Support
• Specialized Groups
• Recipes
• Live Support and Chat
• Recipes
• Member Blogs
• Forums
• Special "members-only" Activities
• Webcasts and Telecasts with some of the best in plant-strong education, such as:  the Esselstyns, Dr. McDougall, Dr. Barnard, Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Lisle, Jeff Novick, as well as plant-strong chefs and success stories.

"Plant-Strong by the Numbers" - Heart Disease, Fat, Sugar, & Salt

"Although a knowledge of numbers isn’t critical to successfully navigating the journeyto a plant-strong lifestyle, recognizing important signals on the trip can be very useful for helping in deciding what to eat and what to avoid.  They can also be additional encouragement to help us stay on the road less traveled by and not get lost in false needs."

There are various numbers and statistics that are suggested as being useful to remember to encourage optimatl personal health. A discussion and distillation of these metrics on daily intake requirements for fat, sugar, and salt, as well as their content and measurements in certain foods, can be found in my guest blog post for the "Engine2 Diet" website."