By Rip Esselstyn
When Engine 2 pulls up to a house fire, our lieutenant immediately does a “hot lap”–a 360-degree walk around the structure to determine the scope of the situation before deciding on a course of action.
Experiment with different ingredients to personalize your bowl and determine the best plan of attack.
Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked hot cereal such as quinoa, millet, or amaranth
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal
2 tablespoons raisins or blueberries
1 banana, sliced
½ cup fresh or frozen fruit
½ cup soy milk
1/2 handful of walnuts
Instructions:
1. Cook cereal in water according to directions with flaxseed meal, raisins, banana, and fruit.
2. Drizzle with soy milk and top with nuts.
Rip Esselstyn is a mission-driven man. As a swimmer at the University of Texas at Austin, he was a three time All-American. As a professional athlete, he was one of the premier triathletes in the world for more than a decade. As a firefighter for the Austin (TX) Fire Department, he helped people and saved lives. As a friend to other firefighters, he transformed the way Austin’s Engine 2 ate to save firefighters’ health. Now, as the author of The Engine 2 Diet, he is teaching people the irrefutable connection between what they put in their mouths and their ability to reach their ideal weight and their ideal health. Recently, he has teamed up with Whole Foods Market as a Healthy Eating Partner to raise awareness for Whole Foods Market team members, customers, and all of America about the benefits of eating a Plant Strong diet composed of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds.
Rip comes from a family steeped in medicine. His great-grandfather, George Crile, co-founded the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, where his father, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., was chief of the breast cancer task force and completed one of the most extensive studies ever conducted on the relationship between the heart and diet–proving that a plant-based diet can stop, prevent, and even reverse heart disease.
Rip serves on the Board of Directors for The Wellness Foundation, EarthSave’s Meals For Health Program, and the AllergyKids Foundation.
