My original motivation for changing my eating habits was out of fear. The fear that in my late 30's, I already was experiencing symptoms of heart disease. To this day, there isn't a 100% confirmation the chest pain I was experiencing was related to heart disease. What I can tell you now is the chest pain is almost completely gone. I do get occasional tinges of pain but nothing like what I was experiencing prior to starting a plant based diet.
Since starting this diet my perspective on many things has changed, beyond just the way I eat. In the future, I will blog on some of those other changes and perspectives but for this post, I want to focus on another amazing side benefit of eating a plant based diet. When I was eating my previous unhealthy diet, I never realized how crummy I felt, even on the good days. In fact, the days that I could say I felt "good" were pretty far and few between. I don't mean that I felt bad all the time because of chest pain, but instead I just didn't feel 100%. My energy was low (unless I was under the influence of lots of coffee), I was on blood pressure medicine, acid reflux would bother me frequently, my back hurt more and just a general feeling of lethargy. Since starting a plant based diet, all of that has changed. As you know, I'm off of all blood pressure medicine, beta blockers and acid reflux medicine. I have more energy and when I do exercise or am active, I can be active for longer periods of time. Some of this is due to the fact that as of today 5/11/10, I'm 30 lbs. less than when I started this diet. But more importantly, because I'm eating the right foods I just feel much better. In fact, I can't imagine going back to how I ate and felt before. So you might say that my original motivation for starting this diet was to "prolong life" because I was afraid of heart disease. But now my motivation is shifting to my overall health and "quality of life". I enjoy my food more now, I enjoy exercising more now, stress at work does not seem to affect me as much and because I feel better, it's easier to have a positive attitude. Let me clarify, I'm not perfect and I still have days that I'm a grump (just ask my wife and kids) but I truly feel like my "quality" of life is better. A word of encouragement to others....maybe you don't want to go to a diet this extreme, but at least take small steps every day in eating better and making it a point to get more active. Exercise does not have to be going to the gym or hopping on the treadmill. Exercise can be playing with the dog, walking with your spouse around the block, dancing around the house while you clean or chasing kids in a game of hide-and-seek.....those all count as exercise. Eat more fruits, eat more vegetables, eat more grains. Avoid oil, processed foods, less meat, high fructose corn syrup. Small steps, but over time they add up and as they add up it means a better quality of life. If I can do it, anyone can.....now get off the computer and go take some small steps!
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I found this article today in, The Portland Press Herald title "Natural Foodie: Speaking of healthy habits, the doctor is in the house"
The article says, "Orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Herzog has seen the effects of poor diet at the other end of his amputation saw. But he'd rather not take such drastic measures. To that end, he's setting out to spread the word about how diet and exercise can prevent and reverse a host of lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease." Interesting read, here is a link to the rest of the article. Last night I asked Cari what she was making for dinner and she said, "White Bean Chili". Now normally, the White Bean Chili has chicken in it. Cari started thinking and said, "How about if instead of chicken I use tofu and then you can have it too!" I, of course, agreed and it was delicious!! Here's the recipe..... White Bean Chili Prep time: 10 min Servings: 4-6 Cook Time: 30 min Ingredients:
Put white bean chili and tofu into a skillet (we use our electric skillet) Add enough salsa to turn the liquid in the skillet a little red (1-2 cups) Bring to a simmer for about 30 min. Today is a "Western BBQ" here at work. Something fun to do to break up the daily routine. Each department was given food they needed to bring. Our responsibility was to bring rice and beans type dishes. Thankfully, the dear lady that organizes this thing recognizes there are more and more vegetarians at work (yes, some were already here and some are my converts!) so she put on the bulletin to make sure each department brings at least one vegetarian dish. I wanted something relatively easy but also something I had not tried yet. So, I dug through the McDougall book (one of my favorite books) and found this recipe for Spicy Spanish Rice. It has some green pepper, onion, garlic and a few other seasonings and to give it a kick, a little Tabasco sauce. See the recipe below.... Spicy Spanish Rice Prep time: 15 minutes Servings: 4 Ingredients:
Instructions:
I've given you the rules of my diet but I've realized that may deter many of you from ever looking at a vegetarian, oil free diet. So, in an effort to give you more information, I've created a new section to this site called "The Diet" (yes, I know....how original). This section will give you a little more detail to the diet and also point you to the McDougall web site which shares the diet in much more detail.
A couple of weeks ago, my dear bride went away for the weekend on a scrap booking retreat. To please her fellow cult members (oops, I mean scrap bookers), she made fresh cinnamon rolls to share with the other ladies. She then left, with the cinnamon rolls and only left the wonderful scent of the cinammon rolls behind in our house. The kids and I were a bit dejected, even though I knew I couldn't eat the cinnamon rolls because of my diet. So, I set out to make cinnamon rolls that WOULD work with my diet. I found a recipe for whole wheat cinnamon rolls and with a few adjustments, was able to produce my own fresh, whole wheat, NO OIL cinnamon rolls. The first picture is the bread rising. The second picture is the finished rolls cooling. The last picture is one, yummy cinnamon roll. Here's the recipe (which can also be found in the "recipe" links in the upper right. Cinnamon Rolls Prep time: 3-4 hours Servings: around 30 rolls Ingredients: Dough Ingredients 1 cup water 2 Tbsp yeast (4-1/4oz packets) 2 tsp. honey 2 1/2 cups non-fat soy milk 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce (butter replacement) 1/2 cup honey 4 tsp. Braggs Aminos (salt replacement) 8 cups whole wheat flour Ingredients for the “ innards” of your cinnamon rolls: 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce (butter replacement) 3/4 cup Splenda (you can use white sugar if you want) 2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon Melt your butter and set it aside. Mix together the rapadura and cinnamon in a bowl. Ooey-Gooey Frosting 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce 6 Tbsp. milk 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla 8-9 Tbsp. powdered sugar to make the consistency you like (or more) Stir in apple sauce, vanilla, milk and powdered sugar. Whisk together until smooth. Instructions: Okay, here’s how to make the dough… In a large bowl, mix 1 cup very warm water, 2 T. yeast and 2 t. honey. Stir this together and kind of mush the yeast around. Let this sit for a few minutes while you do the next step. In a saucepan, add 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce, 1/2 cup honey, 4 t. salt and 2 1/2 cups of milk. Heat this to 120 degrees. Pour milk mixture into yeast mixture and stir. Stir in 8 cups of flour, 2 cups at a time. (add more if you need it) Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes. Plop it into a bowl, cover it and let it rise for 1-1 1/2 hours. After dough is nice and fat, punch it down and knead out all it’s bubbles. Cut the dough in half, setting one half aside. On a well floured surface, roll dough into a nice big rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick. Use a pastry brush to spread 1/2 of the applesauce all over the rectangle. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cinnamon/splenda mixture all over the applesauce. Roll up the dough. Cut into thin slices, about 1/2 inch thick. Place rolls side by side on baking pan. Repeat process with other 1/2 of dough. Allow dough to rise about 30 minutes. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown at 350 degrees. Allow rolls to cool a bit, then drizzle lots and lots of ooey-gooey frosting all over them. My Pepperdine buddy, Brandy, shared these ideas with me. Great stuff!
"Friday night, I cooked for some really healthy, picky eaters. I made chicken kabobs and for myself, veggie kabobs. I used zucchini, mushrooms, 4 colors of bell peppers & seasoned them with lemon juice and salt/pepper. (I marinated the chicken though) If you have a griddle pan, there's no need for a nonstick spray either. I love the char that grilled veggies get. They would also work on the grill outside. We don't have one yet... so indoor BBQ has to do. I made a wild rice/basmati rice for the veggies to go on top of and for dessert, grilled pineapple. Tonight, we had leftover zucchini (btw, I highly recommend starting a garden. If the only veggie that you grow is zucchini, grow it. It grows so easily and it's hearty and versatile). I diced about 3 small zucchini, 4 potatoes, and threw some baby carrots into a pan and covered it. On medium, I steamed them, stirring every 5 min or so. When they were steamed, I threw them into a bowl with garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper, scallions (and whatever else you want to season with) and added water as I hand blended them to the consistency I wanted. It makes a really hearty and healthy soup. Elliot even eats it! We toast some bread or make homemade croutons for the top. It works with broccoli or basically any hearty veggie like spinach. Remember to leave the skins on all of them (washed well) because it keeps most of the nutrients that way." So many ideas, sometimes I don't know where to start. Thankfully, I LOVE eating so getting motivated to try these ideas is not tough. More recipes coming soon....... I've been needing some little thing to have after my meals to satisfy my sweet tooth. I found a neat little recipe from cooks.com that fit the bill nicely. I had to make a few adjustments to the recipe, but the cookies came out great! Here's the recipe (can also be found in the "Recipes" link in the upper right hand corner): Whole Wheat Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Prep time: 15 minutes Servings: makes about 25 cookies Ingredients:
Instructions:
There is a video coming out this summer that will talk specifically how a plant based diet can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, dimentia, etc. The video is not out yet but here's the preview.... More info about the video at http://forksoverknives.com/
When I share my fabulous plant based eating style with others and tell them what I can't have, they say, "Oh, so you are vegan!" NO!
Although vegans often eat a similar diet than me, the motivation is entirely different. A vegan does not eat meat because they believe it is cruel to animals. This is an excerpt from wikipedia: "Veganism is a philosophy and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.Vegans endeavor not to use or consume animal products of any kind. The most common reasons for becoming a vegan are human health, ethical commitment or moral conviction concerning animal rights or welfare, the environment, and spiritual or religious concerns. Of particular concern to many vegans are the practices involved in factory farming and animal testing, and the intensive use of land and other resources for animal farming." Ok, so I don't believe in cruelty to animals BUT, that is not my primary motivation for eating this way. I eat this way because I'm trying to stop and reverse heart disease. Not for religious reasons, not because of the environment and not because of any moral convictions. So, although I eat in a fashion consistent with how many vegan's eat....I am actually just a very strict vegetarian! Trivia: I originally title this blog "The Unlikely Vegan" and then switched it when I realized the true definition of a vegan. Now hand me my gun so I can shoot me some animals.......hello, I'm kidding! |
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