Thank you thank you thank you for saying that we should not have a cheat day. That is exactly how I messed up for years on every diet I was on. And I am so proud of you chef you are such an inspiration. Keep going you’re doing great
At 60 years old just learned a really cool trick with tofu. Cut open the package, and drain the excess water. Cut it into six or eight cubes then freeze it for a few hours or a day till it is solidly frozen. Then just stick it in your refrigerator and it will thaw naturally. You can actually squeeze gently the cubes and tons of water comes out. Then you can do anything you want with it. It is amazing that way and I don't think I can ever use regular tofu again from just pressing and all that labor really turned me off to tofu. This is the easiest thing as soon as it thaws just take it out squeeze and it's ready to go. In seconds.
I saw Chef Del at the Cleveland VegFest some years back. Part of me was judgy about why this vegan chef was so big and part of me just really understood his struggle. Eating in our current food climate is so incredibly difficult--good for him for not giving up!
This man is BLOWING MY MIND!! I keep pulling over to spill my thoughts. I’m sending this to my accountability partner. My homeboy and I JUST came to the realization YESTERDAY that we can still binge: when i have a pound of berries and it’s actually time to eat (i’ve burned through the calories i’ve last eaten and I’ve burned a couple hundred more just living my life, sometimes instead of snacking on those berries, I’ll POUND THE SHIT out of them. Then i’m like, “uh oh, now you’re done for a few hours.” But now worries. I’m full and I just go do something and before i know it’ a few hours have passed and it’s time to eat again. Baby binges. I’m dead certain the body doesn’t even want a pound of berries at once : too much. But I can stop there because I have the volume from the berries. Now keeping my calories close to what i burn (below, actually) there IS one thing: what do you do when you’re out and about and it’s time to eat and you don’t have good options? I use dried fruit for this. I can keep a couple pieces of dried fruit like a couple dates or a 60calorie pack of dried berries or raisins so when I feel a little bit of weakness, I can pop that emergency stash in my pocket to bail me out and take me to better pastures. It’s AMAZING. (Ooooooh careful, oats are dry : just one: oats are perfect for emergency bailouts) I’m also a Jelly Belly fiend. I found the fix: taking my vitamin D3 and B12 in jelly bean form sold at Walmart. I kill two birds in one shot here. I take one of each every other day. Believe it or not, it’s enough of a fix that I haven’t had a Jelly Belly in six months. BOOOM 👊🏼 We’re KILLING IT!!! Not onpy are we keeping the weight off, but we have extra precision and are staying shredded with IMPUNITY 🤗 I’m sending this to ny accountability homeboy. WOW. You are blowing my MIND, Chef AJ. Can we talk about Black Rice soon????????? I discovered it has like 1/3 the calories compared to brown or white rice. CRAZY!!!! I have a dry bad of Black Rice and it’s in my stash lockup. I’m too busy with the greens and sweet potatoes but one day I’ll get to that Black Rice. THIS is how to live and be HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY. I feel like I’m in heaven everyday. On my life. I do NOT lie. I stand in tue light and speak the TRUTH. BEST INTERVIEW I’VE EVER SEEN 👊🏼
I almost never get to see the interviews live, I live in a different time zone. Chef AJ, the guests... have all said something that I say: "YES - that was how it was". I was a real skinny kid, then chubby (remember the Chubby Shop in the girl's dept at J.C. Pennys?), obese, and then I'd said on the boarder of morbidly starting from age 9/after the 4th grade to the 8th. Like Chef AJ, I got big - under 5 feet tall, grew to 5'6'', but was almost 190 lbs before things changed. It was I guess, a food addiciton to certain things - my poison was instant top ramen noodles (there is crack in those little foil packets, our j korean neighbor gave use boxes of the stuff), Spagehetti O's in cans as well as the other in tomato sauce pastas - all the things I learn from the school lunch program and emotional eating. My mom started going back to work full time around 72' and I'd buy the stuff in the cans at the deli for 31 or later 33 cents. All those things lit me up! In the 7th our home economics assignment was to make a food plan, my teacher read mine and said maybe I could get rid of the hot dogs, I was a bit heavy. No one had ever before said that and bless her heart. I was not helped by anyone. I saw my photo in a school album and could not believe that was me. I still, to this day, cannot understand how my parents let me get so fat - these were the two most vain people on the Planet. The idea that your parents/family love you is not always the case - there are a lot of children or wives or husbands in horrible situations. My parents were out of control - a real bad marriage (that's where the emotional eating I saw with another guest this week came in, Stove Top Stuffing in a warm bath tube - that's sick!), hated me for being so ugly, the embarassment. I was a straight A student, btw. Not one problem from school. I knew a lot of girls from bad family situations, they were a mess inside. A lot more ugly stuff that I'll leave out. My sister hated me, too. A real bad household. My pet names from my mom and sister were awful, sometimes I'll hear someone say one of them and it brings back bad memories). Food, ignoring everything at home, and knowing I was leaving there by the age of 9 and not coming back was my focus. In the 8th I topped my weight, I destroyed all photos from those years. Food and a cat were my only friend. I went on a diet I saw in a magazine, lost 70 - 80 lbs in a few months (shouldn't my parents have thought I had DM or cancer???), started playing soccer in the town summer league, which got me into indurance sports (bike, walk, swim). It wasn't vegan or vegetarian, but the foods I ate did not light me up. I could eat ice cream and stop, dairy was not the problem. I'm 59 now. The only times I had weight gain was working as a RN nights, studying for exams, eating the crap at other people's houses, got up to 138 - 142 lbs in my mid.20's - from that time. The rest of my life I stayed 120 - 125ish, now I'm around 116 - 118 lbs post menopause 7 years. I do not watch what I eat, because most of what I eat is plain plant foods. I cook and do not drink sodas(or smoothies - I'd rather eat than drink). It's been over 44 years since I was obese. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like if things did not change for me. Almost everyone I went to school with is obese - it is shocking! People need to stop eating processed foods, soda... a good start. I watch these interviews because I'm cheering these people on.
I have BED. Logically, I know what to do. Doesn’t always happen but the binges are not nearly as frequent. I’ve always been active and now eating mostly a whole food plant based diet. I’ve been able to successfully maintain a healthy weight for 3 years mostly due to keeping with healthy habits. When I do go off track, it’s one day instead of a month. The hardest part of maintenance is knowing that you cannot keep the same bad habits.
Chef Del, You’re a food addict. I’m not obese but I know I’m a sugar addict and do not have sugar in my house or eat anything with sugar. I’m 148 pounds and need to lose 10 pounds! You’re on your way! But admitting you are a food addict is the beginning of your new way of eating. Most Americans are addicted to something!
Thank you Chef AJ and Chef Del for creating such wonderful supportive WFPB communities for us to participate in! CNS Kitchen is wonderful and I would recommend it to anyone. Link to join is in above show notes.
an espresso roast black coffee with a bag of mint tea, green w elderberry tea or green turmeric tea (nothing else) WHILE snacking on a pound of blueberries is the most amazing thing. i guess i say this about everything i eat. it really feels like i ONLY eat the best things on Earth. i can’t tell what my favorite thing is: the greens, the berries, the potatoes, the oats the beans? THEY’RE ALL MY FAVORITE THING!!!! Okay calm down. Lest i post this message and go demolish my body. That’s the thing. i stay so damn lean because i KNOW i’m just one binge away from demolishing the way i look and FEEL. Nothing feels better than doing right by your body. The joy of being lean and eating small but powerful with no oil or garbage lasts WAAAAAAAAAY longer than the “feel-good” of eating crap. LIFE IS SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOD!!!!! 🔥🤗🔥🤗🔥🤗🔥🤗🔥
Hang in there chef and continue the plant base way of eating. Thanks to chef A J for this platform that motivates a lot of us . God bless u Chef A J . ❤
Thank you so much for sharing Chef AJ and Chef Del this very important personal subject. The struggle is real. As a Vegan for over 16 years for the animals, I struggle with a WFPB diet.
Holy shit. This man just said my number: 6,000 calories. THIS IS ME!! Wow. i really WAS a food addict. just can’t stop. if it’s processed and delicious, it’s impossible to stop. i had to gather a stash of the healthiest junk food : poison made from beans, rice and sugar. i keep it all in a bag under lock and key because i realized i was worried about not ever having anything tasty ever again. That’s why i was going way overboard. i burn 1900-2100 cals per day. Having an extra 6,000 ontop of eating what i should have eaten, it’s devastating. Demolishes your gains from the pst couple months. Now i never touch my stash. I feel good knowing i have access to less harmful junk that i enjoy but i delay that gratification. See, once i eat it, the joy of maybe eating it later will be gone. i look forward to it and never eat it. There’s just no room. That junk will push out nutrient-dense greens. I took an entire year and ripped 600-1,000 calories off my body per day. i had failures everywhere. But i learned from each failure until i found myself in a half-million calories deficit and only eating 3lbs of greens, a pound of berries and either potatoes and beans (a walnut with those greens). And when i eat, it’s only a few hundred calories. Eating less at a time means i can eat sooner rather than later after i’ve eaten. So now when i have a pound of berries in front of me and i’ve burned through all the calories i last ate (Garmin Instinct Solar, Cronometer with Timestamps), i snack on my meal and make it last. i notice my body doesn’t like too many calories at a time, even if i’ve been fasting for a day. Doesn’t matter. I drip in all my calories unless they’re greens and vegetables. i go hard on those. it works. I was 245 last year. i’m 6’1 and weigh 138lbs but solid as hell. i’ll grow muscle from here but being so lean lets me SEE with my EYES if the weight i put on is solid or flabby. Never heard someone who had what i had talk like this before. WILD! I keep my goodies under lock and key just so i wake up enough while digging for keys to catch myself and remember to have my own back. If i do overeat in the night, it’s with bananas. 900 calories is a lot easier to work with vs overeating by 9,000. Overeating on bananas in the night basically becomes breakfast, use those calories the next morning and when they’re burned up, soon i’ll feel a tinge of weakness THEN i’ll continue with my day, snacking on whatever i’ve planned to consume to hit 80carb:15-18protein:2-5fat It’s a fabulous life 🤗 These PURPLE SWEET POTATOES!!!!! 🤫
Please bring this man on your show again sooner rather than later. I can't get enough of Chef Del! He's got a Great Giggle!
She interviewed him in the spring of 2020, see if u can find that video.
“The struggle to be healthy isn’t nearly as painful as being sick”
Quote of the year.
What a kind soul. So generous, lion heart, honest about the journey… god bless Del. Wish him the best life.
Thank you thank you thank you for saying that we should not have a cheat day. That is exactly how I messed up for years on every diet I was on. And I am so proud of you chef you are such an inspiration. Keep going you’re doing great
At 60 years old just learned a really cool trick with tofu. Cut open the package, and drain the excess water. Cut it into six or eight cubes then freeze it for a few hours or a day till it is solidly frozen. Then just stick it in your refrigerator and it will thaw naturally. You can actually squeeze gently the cubes and tons of water comes out. Then you can do anything you want with it. It is amazing that way and I don't think I can ever use regular tofu again from just pressing and all that labor really turned me off to tofu. This is the easiest thing as soon as it thaws just take it out squeeze and it's ready to go. In seconds.
Keep the water in the tofu, water in food helps fill you up & stay fuller longer
Thanks for the tip!
Loved this interview. I just ordered Chef Del's book Better Than Vegan. Congratulations on his success, we are all rooting for him!
Chef Del is such a wonderful guy
This addiction is totally horrible. The joy we get from eating bad foods is I'm sure just like a high someone gets from doing cocaine.
I saw Chef Del at the Cleveland VegFest some years back. Part of me was judgy about why this vegan chef was so big and part of me just really understood his struggle. Eating in our current food climate is so incredibly difficult--good for him for not giving up!
Love Del. He's charming, honest, and a terrific chef. Thank you for having him on for this frank discussion of something that affects so many of us.
Love this! Just joined the CNS community- it’s such a comprehensive website with so many wonderful tools.
Chef Del is an inspiration. 😊
This man is BLOWING MY MIND!! I keep pulling over to spill my thoughts.
I’m sending this to my accountability partner. My homeboy and I JUST came to the realization YESTERDAY that we can still binge: when i have a pound of berries and it’s actually time to eat (i’ve burned through the calories i’ve last eaten and I’ve burned a couple hundred more just living my life, sometimes instead of snacking on those berries, I’ll POUND THE SHIT out of them. Then i’m like, “uh oh, now you’re done for a few hours.”
But now worries. I’m full and I just go do something and before i know it’ a few hours have passed and it’s time to eat again. Baby binges.
I’m dead certain the body doesn’t even want a pound of berries at once : too much. But I can stop there because I have the volume from the berries.
Now keeping my calories close to what i burn (below, actually) there IS one thing: what do you do when you’re out and about and it’s time to eat and you don’t have good options?
I use dried fruit for this. I can keep a couple pieces of dried fruit like a couple dates or a 60calorie pack of dried berries or raisins so when I feel a little bit of weakness, I can pop that emergency stash in my pocket to bail me out and take me to better pastures.
It’s AMAZING.
(Ooooooh careful, oats are dry : just one: oats are perfect for emergency bailouts)
I’m also a Jelly Belly fiend. I found the fix: taking my vitamin D3 and B12 in jelly bean form sold at Walmart. I kill two birds in one shot here. I take one of each every other day. Believe it or not, it’s enough of a fix that I haven’t had a Jelly Belly in six months.
BOOOM 👊🏼
We’re KILLING IT!!!
Not onpy are we keeping the weight off, but we have extra precision and are staying shredded with IMPUNITY 🤗
I’m sending this to ny accountability homeboy.
WOW. You are blowing my MIND, Chef AJ.
Can we talk about Black Rice soon????????? I discovered it has like 1/3 the calories compared to brown or white rice. CRAZY!!!!
I have a dry bad of Black Rice and it’s in my stash lockup.
I’m too busy with the greens and sweet potatoes but one day I’ll get to that Black Rice.
THIS is how to live and be HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.
I feel like I’m in heaven everyday.
On my life. I do NOT lie. I stand in tue light and speak the TRUTH.
BEST INTERVIEW I’VE EVER SEEN 👊🏼
What a wonderful interview. You both are so genuine and encouraging, wow! Wish more people were so transparent and kind.
I almost never get to see the interviews live, I live in a different time zone. Chef AJ, the guests... have all said something that I say: "YES - that was how it was". I was a real skinny kid, then chubby (remember the Chubby Shop in the girl's dept at J.C. Pennys?), obese, and then I'd said on the boarder of morbidly starting from age 9/after the 4th grade to the 8th. Like Chef AJ, I got big - under 5 feet tall, grew to 5'6'', but was almost 190 lbs before things changed. It was I guess, a food addiciton to certain things - my poison was instant top ramen noodles (there is crack in those little foil packets, our j korean neighbor gave use boxes of the stuff), Spagehetti O's in cans as well as the other in tomato sauce pastas - all the things I learn from the school lunch program and emotional eating. My mom started going back to work full time around 72' and I'd buy the stuff in the cans at the deli for 31 or later 33 cents. All those things lit me up!
In the 7th our home economics assignment was to make a food plan, my teacher read mine and said maybe I could get rid of the hot dogs, I was a bit heavy. No one had ever before said that and bless her heart. I was not helped by anyone. I saw my photo in a school album and could not believe that was me. I still, to this day, cannot understand how my parents let me get so fat - these were the two most vain people on the Planet. The idea that your parents/family love you is not always the case - there are a lot of children or wives or husbands in horrible situations. My parents were out of control - a real bad marriage (that's where the emotional eating I saw with another guest this week came in, Stove Top Stuffing in a warm bath tube - that's sick!), hated me for being so ugly, the embarassment. I was a straight A student, btw. Not one problem from school. I knew a lot of girls from bad family situations, they were a mess inside. A lot more ugly stuff that I'll leave out. My sister hated me, too. A real bad household. My pet names from my mom and sister were awful, sometimes I'll hear someone say one of them and it brings back bad memories). Food, ignoring everything at home, and knowing I was leaving there by the age of 9 and not coming back was my focus. In the 8th I topped my weight, I destroyed all photos from those years. Food and a cat were my only friend. I went on a diet I saw in a magazine, lost 70 - 80 lbs in a few months (shouldn't my parents have thought I had DM or cancer???), started playing soccer in the town summer league, which got me into indurance sports (bike, walk, swim). It wasn't vegan or vegetarian, but the foods I ate did not light me up. I could eat ice cream and stop, dairy was not the problem.
I'm 59 now. The only times I had weight gain was working as a RN nights, studying for exams, eating the crap at other people's houses, got up to 138 - 142 lbs in my mid.20's - from that time. The rest of my life I stayed 120 - 125ish, now I'm around 116 - 118 lbs post menopause 7 years. I do not watch what I eat, because most of what I eat is plain plant foods. I cook and do not drink sodas(or smoothies - I'd rather eat than drink). It's been over 44 years since I was obese. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like if things did not change for me. Almost everyone I went to school with is obese - it is shocking! People need to stop eating processed foods, soda... a good start. I watch these interviews because I'm cheering these people on.
What an awesome awesome show!! So helpful and love this man’s sense of humor!
I have BED. Logically, I know what to do. Doesn’t always happen but the binges are not nearly as frequent. I’ve always been active and now eating mostly a whole food plant based diet.
I’ve been able to successfully maintain a healthy weight for 3 years mostly due to keeping with healthy habits. When I do go off track, it’s one day instead of a month.
The hardest part of maintenance is knowing that you cannot keep the same bad habits.
Chef Del, You’re a food addict. I’m not obese but I know I’m a sugar addict and do not have sugar in my house or eat anything with sugar. I’m 148 pounds and need to lose 10 pounds! You’re on your way! But admitting you are a food addict is the beginning of your new way of eating. Most Americans are addicted to something!
Thank you for sharing! Love - It's a lifestyle NOT a diet!
Thank you Chef AJ and Chef Del for creating such wonderful supportive WFPB communities for us to participate in! CNS Kitchen is wonderful and I would recommend it to anyone. Link to join is in above show notes.
This conversation is so so excellent, thank you to all
Much love
Am very moved by this dialogue you guys have !
Truly beautiful and essential ❤
Thank you both sincerely, 😊
an espresso roast black coffee with a bag of mint tea, green w elderberry tea or green turmeric tea (nothing else) WHILE snacking on a pound of blueberries is the most amazing thing.
i guess i say this about everything i eat. it really feels like i ONLY eat the best things on Earth.
i can’t tell what my favorite thing is: the greens, the berries, the potatoes, the oats the beans? THEY’RE ALL MY FAVORITE THING!!!!
Okay calm down. Lest i post this message and go demolish my body.
That’s the thing. i stay so damn lean because i KNOW i’m just one binge away from demolishing the way i look and FEEL.
Nothing feels better than doing right by your body.
The joy of being lean and eating small but powerful with no oil or garbage lasts WAAAAAAAAAY longer than the “feel-good” of eating crap.
LIFE IS SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOD!!!!!
🔥🤗🔥🤗🔥🤗🔥🤗🔥
I love Pam Popper and Wellness Forum Health!
Love Chef Del Sroufe!
Such a lovely man!
Hang in there chef and continue the plant base way of eating. Thanks to chef A J for this platform that motivates a lot of us . God bless u Chef A J . ❤
Del is wonderful.
He’s awesome and amazing 😊
Just tuned in. Always love watching.
Thank you so much for sharing Chef AJ and Chef Del this very important personal subject. The struggle is real. As a Vegan for over 16 years for the animals, I struggle with a WFPB diet.
The challenge is how to make delicious healthy food, not junk. Junk is the easiest to invent. It’s mass produced.
Me too. I am eschewing the ice creamed fruit machine
Could not live without a Vitamix, instapot, or air fryer would never happen! lol
Fruit cream maker next!
Holy shit. This man just said my number: 6,000 calories.
THIS IS ME!! Wow. i really WAS
a food addict. just can’t stop. if it’s processed and delicious, it’s impossible to stop.
i had to gather a stash of the healthiest junk food : poison made from beans, rice and sugar.
i keep it all in a bag under lock and key because i realized i was worried about not ever having anything tasty ever again. That’s why i was going way overboard.
i burn 1900-2100 cals per day. Having an extra 6,000 ontop of eating what i should have eaten, it’s devastating. Demolishes your gains from the pst couple months.
Now i never touch my stash. I feel good knowing i have access to less harmful junk that i enjoy but i delay that gratification.
See, once i eat it, the joy of maybe eating it later will be gone. i look forward to it and never eat it. There’s just no room. That junk will push out nutrient-dense greens.
I took an entire year and ripped 600-1,000 calories off my body per day. i had failures everywhere. But i learned from each failure until i found myself in a half-million calories deficit and only eating 3lbs of greens, a pound of berries and either potatoes and beans (a walnut with those greens).
And when i eat, it’s only a few hundred calories. Eating less at a time means i can eat sooner rather than later after i’ve eaten.
So now when i have a pound of berries in front of me and i’ve burned through all the calories i last ate (Garmin Instinct Solar, Cronometer with Timestamps), i snack on my meal and make it last.
i notice my body doesn’t like too many calories at a time, even if i’ve been fasting for a day. Doesn’t matter. I drip in all my calories unless they’re greens and vegetables. i go hard on those.
it works. I was 245 last year. i’m 6’1 and weigh 138lbs but solid as hell.
i’ll grow muscle from here but being so lean lets me SEE with my EYES if the weight i put on is solid or flabby.
Never heard someone who had what i had talk like this before.
WILD!
I keep my goodies under lock and key just so i wake up enough while digging for keys to catch myself and remember to have my own back.
If i do overeat in the night, it’s with bananas.
900 calories is a lot easier to work with vs overeating by 9,000.
Overeating on bananas in the night basically becomes breakfast, use those calories the next morning and when they’re burned up, soon i’ll feel a tinge of weakness THEN i’ll continue with my day, snacking on whatever i’ve planned to consume to hit 80carb:15-18protein:2-5fat
It’s a fabulous life 🤗
These PURPLE SWEET POTATOES!!!!!
🤫
Chef Del used to have his own bakery @ Clintonville food co-op in Columbus, OH