Abstinent Valentine’s Menu

Roasted chicken, vegetables & baby potatoes!

IMPORTANT: Recipes may need to be modified to suit individual food plans and some recipes may not work. Please review carefully to adhere to your plan.

Slow Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

  • Whole Chicken | 4 lbs
  • Chicken Stock (no added sugar) | Approx. 1 cup
  • Lemon | 1 quartered
  • Yellow Onion | 1 quartered
  • Fresh Garlic | 3 cloves sliced
  • Fresh rosemary & thyme
  • Salt & Pepper

Directions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350
  2. Rinse and pat chicken dry
  3. Place quartered pieces of onion & lemon in cavity of chicken (put in what can fit)
  4. Place sliced garlic, rosemary & thyme underneath chicken skin all over bird
  5. Sprinkle chicken with salt & pepper
  6. Place chicken in roasting dish and cover bottom of dish with chicken stock (no more than an inch of stock around chicken)
  7. Place in oven and cook for approx. 2hrs, checking after 90 mins
  8. Once cooked pull chicken and let rest for 20 mins prior to carving

Roasted Carrots & Beets

Ingredients

  • Carrots | 6 peeled and cut into thirds
  • Beets | 4 medium, peeled and chopped into small chunks
  • Fresh rosemary & thyme
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Olive Oil Spray

Directions

  1. **Pre-heat oven to 375
  2. Combine prepared carrots & beets in large bowl
  3. Spray with olive oil
  4. Season with fresh rosemary and thyme
  5. Sprinkle with salt & pepper
  6. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet sprayed with olive oil
  7. Cook for 60-90 mins until desired tenderness turning them a couple of times.
  8. **If cooking with above roasted chicken put the carrots & beets in the oven when chicken has about an hour left. Pull out the chicken once cooked and turn oven to 400 and cook vegetables for another 20-30 mins

Roasted Baby Potatoes

Ingredients

  • Baby potatoes | 2 lbs washed and cut in half (do not peel)
  • Fresh garlic | 3 cloves peeled and finely chopped
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Olive Oil Spray

Directions

  1. **Pre-heat oven to 400
  2. Put prepared potatoes in a large bowl and toss with olive oil spray
  3. Add garlic, salt & pepper and thoroughly combine
  4. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet sprayed with olive oil
  5. Cook for approx. 1 hour until outsides are browning and insides are soft, turn half way through
  6. **If cooking with above roasted chicken put the potatoes in the oven when chicken has about an hour left. Pull out the chicken once cooked and turn oven to 400 and cook potatoes for another 20-30 mins

Heart Month

February is Heart Month in North America. Yes, Valentine’s Day falls in February which speaks to the emotions of the heart. However, Heart Month’s focus is on the physical health of our hearts. “Heart Disease” (a general term that simply means the heart is not working properly) is the number one cause of death for men and women. The best defense for heart disease is controlling the risk factors such as:

  • High blood pressure
  • Diabetes
  • High Cholesterol
  • Being overweight
  • Stress

The above risk factors are preventable and manageable. I know this first hand as I suffered from every single one of the above conditions and was on a plethora of medications to treat each one of them. The treatment that finally worked for me was treatment for food addiction; specifically a food plan that supported abstinence from all foods my body had become chemically dependent on and therefore was powerless over stopping to eat them.

Within twelve short months of food addiction treatment, I was free of all of the above conditions, taking no medications and am now extremely healthy according to my doctor. This is not an uncommon result for those recovering from food addiction by following an abstinence based treatment plan. So while “heart disease” is often listed as the cause of death on the death certificate, the truth is this is often the secondary cause with food addiction being the primary cause. So let’s include food addiction education when we talk about February being Heart Health Month!

Inventorying Food Slips

Book Two in the series by Phil Werdell now on Amazon

Food Slip CoverFor those starting food addiction abstinence and for those experiencing chronic breaks in abstinence or relapse, many of those in ACORN’s network have found it useful to do rigorous food slip inventories and create very specific practical changes that a food addict can make the next day – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

In recent years this recovery tool has been shared broadly among recovering food addicts and by physicians, dietitians, therapists and other health professionals. Now, Phil Werdell has written a short book based on his long-time experience using food slip inventories in his own recovery and professionally in ACORN. Dr. Beth Rocchio, a bariatric physician and Director of Integrated Weight Loss, adds a new preface.

Food Plans for Food Addiction Recovery: A Physical and Spiritual Tool by Phil Werdell and Mary Foushi

Ebook Cover Food Plans websiteBook ONE in a series by Phil Werdell is now available on Amazon. This eBook presents a thoughtful review of the various types of food plans that have been proven to work for compulsive eaters and food addicts on both a physical and a spiritual level.

Additional e-books in the series will include Phil’s writing on:

  • Challenging Food Addiction Denial
  • Inventorying Food Slips: Physically, Emotionally, Mentally and Spiritually
  • Food Addicts Healing their Feelings
  • Physical Craving and Food Addiction Revisited: the Science
  • OA and Other Food-Related Twelve Step Fellowships
  • For the Professional: Helping a Food Addicted Client

Second Annual Food Addiction Conference

UMASS Department of Psychiatry
UMASS Department of Psychiatry

We are pleased to invite you to attend the “Be Mentally Well” Symposium jointly sponsored by the UMass Department of Psychiatry and the Food Addiction Institute: “Trouble with Food? Sorting it Out with a Focus on Recovery”. This 1-day symposium is for anyone struggling with food issues, their family members and the professionals that work with them directly. You are also invited to attend the 2nd Annual Food Addiction Conference: “Diagnosing and Treating Food Addiction: A Toolkit for Physicians, Dietitians, Therapists and Other Health Care Professionals.” See below for more information on both events. We hope you will be able to join us!

Click to Learn more about the 2nd Annual Food Addiction Conference

2nd Annual Food Addiction Conference
Download the 2nd Annual Food Addiction Conference Flyer
Be Mentally Well Symposium
Download the Be Mentally Well Symposium Flyer

Register Here For Either or Both Days

Friday Conference
Saturday Symposium