Before I begin the post, an announcement. For those of you who are paying subscribers—the blog is now free. Thank you SO MUCH for your support. I’m pausing subscription fees indefinitely.

I still hope to get a post up here every Saturday, with video if I can, but this way, if time gets away from me, as it did today, I won’t feel quite as guilty about it. All good? All good.

Now, here are your 10 statin-free cholesterol hacks.

1. Garlic. Eat a lot of garlic. Put it in all your favorite dishes. Not only will it lower your cholesterol, it will repel vampires.
   

2. Black Soybeans. One tablespoon of black soybeans per day can lower the LDL by up to ten points.
   

3. Brazil nuts. These work better than statins. 4 Brazil nuts in one day lowered total cholesterol 20 points and that number laster for 30 days.
   

4. Goji Berries have been shown in clinical studies to reduce cholesterol 10%-15%
   

5. Give blood regularly. When you donate a pint of blood, you have to make a new pint of blood. When you make new blood, it’s not pre-polluted. It’s fresh and clean. And you won’t be polluting it with bad eating habits like you did the old blood.
   
   When you have an aquarium, it’s customary to do a 10% water change weekly. Take out 10% of the dirty water. Add back an equal amount of clean water. A pint of blood is about 10% of our total blood volume.
   

6. Avoid fats of all kinds. I know somebody’s yelling, “But we NEED healthy fats!” Yes, yes we do, and we get all kinds of healthy fats in our whole plant foods. They all have fat in them, in the right quantities and compounds with the perfect amounts of fiber and protein and micronutrients that taken together, are what make healthy fats healthy. Oils are the fats extracted from the veggies and bottled up. So we get ‘em straight up, no chaser. And they pad our flesh in one direction, and our blood vessels in the other.

   
   We do not need any more fat than what can be found naturally occurring in our fruits, veggies, and whole grains. If trying to reduce fat, arterial plaque and cholesterol, then, we really must shun the oil, including olive oil and cooking spray.
   

7. Exercise most days of the week. Now, here’s a thing I learned yesterday! We burn more fat with light, exercise, at 50% to 70% of our maximum heart rate than we do with more intensive exercise. Regardless of age. 156 BPM would be my max heart rate based on my age. I’ll round that up to 160 for easier math. So 80 to 112 BPM is where I want to be when I’m exercising for maximum fat burning. A brisk walk can do that!
   

8. Eliminate ALL animal products. We know for sure that dietary cholesterol is only found in animals. Our livers make it for us, and the animals’ livers make it for them. When we eat meat, eggs, and dairy products, we add all the animals' cholesterol to our own, and that’s too much.
   

9. Eliminate ALL trans fats. These are only found in very highly processed foods such as pre-packaged cookies, cakes, & crackers, plus margarine.
   

10. Increase Fiber. Soluble fiber blocks cholesterol, and we get it from greens, whole grains like oatmeal, fruits like apples & pears, and in beans like kidney beans and black beans, and in leafy greens. All fruits and veggies are packed with fiber. And that helps.
    

I’ve added the Brazil nuts, black soybeans, and an hour a day five days a week on the treadmill. I already live on mostly plants, so I’m getting all the fiber. I’ve been having 6+ servings of green leafies & cruciferous veggies 6 days a week for months now, which fills the bloodstream with the scrubbing bubbles of nitric oxide, which remove plaque that has not yet calcified, and heals the epithelial system that lines the blood vessels, so blood flows smoothly.

My cholesterol has been high for a long time. It’s was still too high at the last check, though since going vegan, it’s come down more than 60 points. It was very high.

I’ll be getting it checked again in about a week when I get the results of a recent contrast CT of my chest to see what kind of shape those “hearteries” are in.

I know whatever it is, it’ll be better than it would’ve been had I never changed my ways. I was a carnivore for 59 years, after all. It’s gonna take more than 5 years of veganism to undo all the damage that did. But I’m doing my damnedest!

I’ll report back. See you next Saturday!

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Got Thrillers?

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• 1 cup potato, cooked and diced

• 1/2 cup yellow onion, cooked and diced

• 1/4 cup carrot, cooked and diced

• 1/2 a roasted red bell pepper

• 1 cup broth (from cooking the veggies, so when you drain them, save it aside.)

• 1/2 cup raw cashews that have been soaked overnight

• 1/4 cup nutritional years

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• A pinch paprika

• A pinch cayenne (*or more)

*Note on the cashews: To speed the soaking process, cover in warm but not hot water and soak for 30 minutes. Overnight or two nights works better though.

First, Roast the Red Bell Pepper

Wash the pepper, cut in half lengthwise, scrape out the white innards and seeds.

Place open side down on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Bake at 400º 25 minutes or until the skin bubbles up and gets black and the flesh is tender.

Remove the pepper. After it has cooled, pinch off the skin.

Dice and store in fridge in a glass jar. We’ll use half of this one in our recipe.

Next, Cook the Veggies

Wash, peel and dice the carrot, onion, and potato.

Put them in a small pan with two cups or so of water, and simmer until they are tender enough to mash with a fork.

Drain, but keep the water aside. You will need one cup. If you don’t have enough add some veggie brother.

The cooked, cooled vegetables go into the food processor. So does the roasted red pepper (1/2 of it.)

Add the Fat & Flavor

Add the cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, garlic powder, paprika, and cayenne and process for about a minute.

Then add half the broth, and process for another minute.

Transfer from the larger food processor container into the smoothie cup.

Process, then add the remaining broth and process again.

The sauce is done.

Mac & Cheeze

Mix 2 to 3 cups cooked whole grain macaroni with all of the sauce in a baking dish.

Grind mixed peppercorns over the top.

Top with breadcrumbs.

Bake at 400º until the topping has browned.

Serve and enjoy!

Sidebar: The Bread Crumbs

To make my own bread crumbs, I left three slices of Dave’s Killer Bread, broken into small pieces, on a plate on my counter for several days until it was dry enough to crumble.

Enjoy!

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Your summer reads are here!

Indira dreams of being bound and executed in ancient Babylon…

and wakes with rope burns on her wrists.

Watch the thrilling trailer, then click the links below to learn more!

Paperbacks coming wherever books are sold
eBook available at Amazon
To stay informed, visit MaggieShayne.com and sign up for the newsletter

Mark of the Witch - Paperback

Mark of the Witch - eBook

The Portal Series

It’s an homage to Melanie Safka and her song, I Don’t Eat Animals.

Enjoy!

And Cream topping – Naturally Gluten-free

This came out better than just about any dessert I’ve made yet. The recipe is from Forks Over Knives with a few tweaks to make it even better. Here we go.

Ingredients

• 4 lbs apples (about 8 apples but go by weight) I used Fiji apples

• 1 lb frozen raspberries, thawed (I see no reason why fresh wouldn’t work as well)

• 2 cups rolled oats

• 2 cups oat flour (you can grind another 2 cups of oats to make your own)

• 1/2 cup maple syrup

• 1/4 cup cashew cream

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• About 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• A pinch of nutmeg

Method

Wash, core, and chop the apples.

Pour them into two frying pans and cook over medium heat until tender.
Cover to speed things along.

Add a couple tablespoons water if they start to stick.

While they’re cooking, mix up the topping

Mix the flour, oat, baking powder and salt. Whisk to distribute.

Add the maple syrup and cashew cream. Mix well, using hands if necessary.

If it’s too sticky/not crumbly enough you can add a little more oats and flour.

Back to our apples

Pour the cooked apples into a 9 x 11 baking dish.

Spread the thawed raspberries over the top of apples.

Spinkle the cinnamon over all of it.

Crumble on the crumbly topping to cover the entire dessert.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes until heated through, and the topping browns

Whipped Topping

• 1/2 cup cashew cream

• 1/3 cup raw sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Whip together. Cover and chill until ready to use.

Cashew Cream

In case you need this again, to make the cashew cream, just cover a cup of cashews in water (not chlorinated or fluoridated) and let them soak overnight.

Drain, then whir in a high speed blender. Add 3 tablespoons water and blend some more. You can create the smoothest, creamiest consistency you want by adjusting the amount of water up or down a little bit.

This is your base. You can use it to make a mock sour cream, a mayo-substitute for mac and potato salad, a sandwich spread, ranch dressing, a multitude of dessert fillings, frostings, and toppings, and add it to chickpea salads for a creamier texture.

If watching fat due to heart or diabetes issues, limit yourself to a tablespoon or two of nuts or nut creams per day. 1-2 measuring tablespoons, that is. And 2 is probably pushing it. I know that’s not a lot. I had more than that on my dessert, I admit it.

See you next weekend!

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Got Witches?

Sisters executed for the practice of magic in ancient Babylon must reunite in the modern day to break a deadly curse.

“Maggie Shayne delivers romance with sweeping intensity and bewitching passion!”

–New York Times Bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz

Step Through The Portal

Ingredients

• 7 slices Ezekiel bread (from freezer section) or 1/3 cup whole grain oil-free bread crumbs

• 2 large portobello mushrooms, sliced

• 1/3 cup plant milk such as soy, used here

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 2 or 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 1/2 cup cashew cream (easy recipe here)

• 1 tablespoon ketchup, sugar-free if you have it

• 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

• 2 teaspoons dill pickle relish

DIY Breadcrumbs

Put 6 slices Ezekiel brand bread onto an air-fry rack and air fry for 5-7 minutes.

Put toasted slices into processor and pulse until crumbly

Put a sheet of parchment paper onto the air fryer rack, pour on the breadcrumbs and air fry another 2 minutes.

Put into processor and process on low until fine.

The Aīoli

Mix the 1/2 cup cashew cream, ketchup, and onion in the tiniest processor cup you have and process.

Add 2 tablespoons of milk from the 1/3 cup in the recipe, and process until smooth and creamy.

Pour into small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Add 2 teaspoons dill pickle relish

The Portobellos

Mix the garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast, and breadcrumbs into a small bowl.

Put the remaining milk into another.

Dip each mushroom slice into the milk, then the breadcrumb mixture and place onto a parchment-lined air-fryer tray.

Air fry 5 to 7 minutes, checking frequently.

Time this so you can serve immediately, or they get soft and have to be crisped up again.

Serving

I toasted 2 Dave’s Killer Buns.

Spread Aīoli on both top and bottom. Put the mushrooms atop a bed of mixed greens with tomatoes on top.

Voila!

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Sound up!

LONE WOLF is coming May 12th

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My version is very different from hers. Hers is linked below in case you prefer it.

Do not think of this as oatmeal. Think of this as creamed greens that taste like thanksgiving.

Here are your ingredients.

• 2 and 1/2 cups collard greens, or spinach, or kale. I prefer kale.

• 2 and 1/4 cups water

• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/2 cup oatmeal

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Method

• Put greens and water and spices into saucepan and cover.

• Bring to a boil on high head, then reduce heat to a 2 or low setting, and set a timer for 15 minutes.

• After the 15, add the oats, stir well, and set timer for 15 more minutes.

• After the final 15, pour into a bowl, stir in the nutritional yeast.

I get two meals out of this.

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn recommends 5 to 7 servings of green leafy and/or cruciferous veggies per day to flood the system with nitric oxide which removes existing artery plaque and repairs damage to the epithelial system. You can read more in his book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.

Ann Esselstyn is married to Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, and she’s the one with the original recipe she calls Warrior oats, which you can find below. Bear in mind Ann turned 90 this year, and this is not an old video. I want to age like Ann Esselstyn.

Try this. How else you planning to get 5 to 7 servings in and maybe fix your heart shit?

I love this stuff so much. When I tried Ann’s recipe, it tasted slightly like Thanksgiving to me, like the flavor of the stuffing and the gravy when I was a kid. So to enhance that, I added the celery and poultry seasoning.

Also, she adds everything at the beginning and cooks it all at once, but I do it in stages for my preferred doneness, and I leave the nutritional yeast out until the end, for easier cleanup.

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A death-walker, a medium, a ghost, a witch, and a time-slider, walk into a haunted house…

It’s the Scooby Gang of your dr… nightmares.

The RITA® Award-winning

FATAL Series

Enter if you dare

I’m Maggie Shayne, romance & thriller novelist. 111 titles so far with most of the major houses in NY. Hit the NYT a couple of times, won like 20 industry awards, yada yada. I’m working now with a remarkable house, Oliver Heber Books.

I’m a card carrying Wiccan Witch, and I’ve written a handful of non-fiction works on the relationship between natural magic and the Law of Attraction.

I’m married to a younger man and madly in love, and since he’s pretty nuts about me too, I’ve decided to live as long, and as healthfully as possible.

I used to expect I’d die by 60 for the illogical reason that my mother only made it to 60 + 2 weeks. She’d had pancreatic cancer for 14 months by then. Same disease also got her sister. So I felt doomed.

My Health then

• Primary Supra-Ventricular Tachycardia (PSVT) a condition where the heart rate will suddenly spike for no reason. Five times, I had been to the ER to have my heart chemically stopped and restarted to restore its rhythm.

• I had a prescription for metoprolol, a beta blocker and heart rate stabilizer, to take as needed should a PSVT episode occur. In 2020 they were occurring once or twice a month.

• Pre-diabetic with an A1C of 5.7

• Chronic acid reflux and—living on Tums. (Lived on Nexium til they banned it.)

• Terrible issues with scalp itch and flaking that I’d had forever.

• I was barely sleeping.

• Zero energy

• Near daily headaches, and frequent muscle, joint and body aches I thought were just age.

And then, one day, I stumbled upon…

Forks Over Knives

Skimming for something to watch, I stumbled upon the documentary Forks Over Knives on Amazon Prime. It was about Dr. Caldwell Esselysten’s and nutritionist T. Colin Campbell’s groundbreaking work in treating disease with a whole foods, plant-based diet.

Oh, I thought. Well, I’m never going to do that. Although I had been feeling more and more uncomfortable about eating animals, and had started to think I might stop eating mammals.

Still, I was curious enough keep watching. I made it as far as the study where researchers were turning BRCA gene mutations on and off “like a light switch” by switching the diets of mice from 20% casein (on) to 5% casein (off). Just that easy.

Casein is the protein found in cow’s milk; skim, 2%, whole, butter, cheese, cream, ice cream, whipped cream, and in almost every processed food on the shelf.

Women who find out they have a BRCA gene mutation frequently undergo double mastectomies just to prevent the breast cancer from occurring. (Why did no one tell them the same mutation causes other cancers too? Seems like a lawsuit to me.)

Inheriting damaged copies of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes can increase the risk for breast cancer and ovarian cancer in women and the risk for breast and prostate cancer in men, as well as other cancers. —Johns Hopkins Medicine:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/breast-cancer/inherited-cancer-risk-brca-mutation

I stopped the film and said a single word aloud, and that word was, “Shit.”

Because in my heart I knew I was going to make this change. Immediately. Because one of those “other cancers” is pancreatic—the one I most feared, and here I was handed a light switch to turn it off, and keep it off.

I also knew it was going to be hard as hell. (Only it wasn’t. It wasn’t hard at all.)

I called my husband inside and hit “start over” and we watched the video together from the beginning. The next day, we cleared out our fridge, freezer, and cupboards.

A Brief Detour

At first we had no idea what to eat, then we discovered that stores now carried a wide array of amazing “vegan” food products. Beyond sausage, Impossible burgers, “ch’ckn” nuggets, “f’sh” filets. (Plant-based foods don’t use meat, dairy, or vowels.)

And wow! Our favorite frozen curly fries and Tater Tots were also plant-based! And Lay’s potato chips, Ritz Crackers, and OMG, even Oreos!

We slid into the worst version of a plant-based diet. It was expensive as hell, and not healthy at all.

But even then, I had not had a single episode of the PSVT since we started.

In December 2022, just shy of two years eating “plant-based” (we were really eating oil-based) I was shopping when I felt an odd sensation in my chest and thought the PSVT had returned. I happened to be in the pharmacy, and it felt so weird and so different that I sat in the booth to take my BP.

I can’t find where I wrote the numbers down, but they were so high I was terrified. I immediately took a metoprolol, which I still carried around out of habit, in case of PSVT. I went to my car with a bottle of water, and texted one of my three RN daughters. (The other two are teachers.) She advised me to go to the ER. I said no. So she said take two pills instead of one, and then she stayed on with me until the meds took effect. BP came down, and I drove home.

Subsequently I saw my cardiologist, wore a monitor, had tests. It was not the PSVT. There was no arrythmia—still. All I had was out of control blood pressure. Unlike most patients, I can feel mine, that’s all. I was told to take my metoprolol daily from now on. End of discussion.

I tried the meds, but sometimes it was not enough and my BP stayed high, and sometimes it was too much and it went too low. I kept getting different prescriptions for the metoprolol; quick release, slow release, 10 mg., 25 mg., 50 mg. It refused to settle down.

I was furious with myself and the world. I had been promised great and thriving health on a plant-based diet! So I decided to watch Forks Over Knives again so I could yell at the TV.

I’d missed the key words

In our excitement over discovering the miracle (not!) of fake meat, we’d forgotten the “whole foods” part of “plant-based.” Plant-based garbage is still garbage. We started over from square one.

For Christmas my 5 girls bought us the Ultimate Cooking Course from the Forks Over Knives website. (Most of what’s there is free, hundreds of recipes, articles, videos. They even have a free recipe app by the same name that I use every single day. Check your App Store.)

We didn’t get around to starting the course until March, and that’s when we made the switch to actually eating a fully whole foods, plant-based diet. We even tried taking weekends off at first, but we felt so crappy when we did, compared to how we’d felt all week, that we quickly ended that.

I’ll tell you how to do that, too, and share the science behind it in other articles here.

Results are coming in

I immediately stopped taking the metoprolol daily, and instead checked my blood pressure 3 times a day. If it was high, I took a low dose, fast-acting metoprolol. But within a week of truly eliminating oil and processed foods, my BP settled into its old normal, and stopped its random spikes.

Three months later, I’m down to only checking my BP daily and never needing a pill.

• My normal blood pressure reading now is running 101/62 to 102/70 most days. No meds. Just food. Good, delicious, filling, satisfying, healthy food.

• My cholesterol is down 40 points.

• I’ve lost 40 pounds.

• A1C dropped from 5.7 (pre-diabetic) to 5.4 (normal range.)

• I have no reflux. Zero.

• I sleep much better.

• The scalp issues vanished.

• Hubby just asked the other day if I could remember my last headache, because he couldn’t.

• I feel like a kid again my energy is so high.

Meat, dairy, and oil cause inflammation. Inflammation causes just about everything else.

Other changes are more spiritual in nature

Ever since the beginning, I have experienced a sensation of lightness. The food I eat feels light in my body, there’s none of that post meal heaviness, you know? My meals energize me.

I feel that layers have been peeled away from my emotions, as if they were somehow insulated before. My sense of empathy has expanded.

I’ve lived in this area since I was fourteen. But it’s only now, ::cough:: decades later, that I really see the baby calves chained to their plastic igloos, destined to become “veal.” I recognize only now that they bawl for their mammas, who are close enough to hear and smell, but will never again be allowed near enough to touch.

I tear up and I think, Who the fuck are we? What kind of person eats babies?

If our entire society approves of a thing, we are conditioned to believe it has to be okay. We find dozens of justifications for our abhorrent treatment of animals, from “we needed it to evolve” to “some primitive peoples have no choice” to “but where do you get your protein?” One aquaintance actually told me her physiology was different from mine and that she required meat to survive.

Note: The animals we eat get 100% of their protein from plants.

So yes, emotional changes. I’m more sensitive and get my feeling hurt more easily, but I’m also feeling my happiness more. My joy is more joyful than ever. I have been an extremely happy little shit for a long time. But this is next level.

I seem to have lost my filters. That might be due to age, not diet. Either way, I speak my thoughts freely, and often regret it. Hence this blog—I need an audience to whom I’m not related.

Because this is a hard topic.

There’s no argument against WFPB being the healthiest way to eat that can’t be disproven by peer-reviewed science. And when we humans know better, we feel compelled to do better, and doing this just feels impossible to most, and that makes them feel angry and defensive.

Especially if you’re a working parent. Because to do this does require more time spent cooking, and I know that’s time a lot of us just don’t have today.

But I am here to tell you, it can be done. It’s not nearly as hard as it seems from the outside. There are shortcuts: Pre-chopped fresh or frozen fruits and veggies, canned beans and tomatoes, and batch cooking, among others.)

I am doing this and I’m lazy by nature, running two businesses, helping hubs run his, and writing novels. I am having funcooking. I am creative with it, building my own recipes, and tweaking some old favorites to get rid of all the bad stuff—like oil.

Sidebar: Oil, (even olive oil, despite its superior marketing) constricts your blood vessels 22% within minutes of us swallowing it, slowing blood flow, allowing plaque to form in our arteries, and damaging the critical endothelial cells that produce the nitric oxide that keeps our blood flowing freely. Source: Esselstyn, Jr., C. B. (2019). Is Oil Healthy?. International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention, 1(1), 3 pp. https://doi.org/10.22230/ijdrp.2019v1n1a35

The good news is, you don’t have to do this all at once. I didn’t, even though I thought I had. It took me 2 years to get to the full-on healthiest part. The health benefits, however, begin immediately. And every bit of improvement will help.

I’ll be producing some pieces about batch cooking and shortcuts that will be helpful for the busiest among us.

One last thing…

Gaia needs us to make this change

In all of this, I haven’t even touched on the environmental issues. So here you go:

So this is my journey and my reasons for taking it. I no longer have any fear of pancreatic cancer.

I hope I can help others on the path to the best health of their entire lives

SOURCES

Whole food plant-based vs plant-based with oil
Krenek, Andrea M, Anne Mathews, Juen Guo, Amber B Courville, Carl J Pepine, Stephanie T Chung, and Monica Aggarwal. 2024. “Recipe for Heart Health: A Randomized Crossover Trial on Cardiometabolic Effects of Extra Virgin Olive Oil within a Whole‐Food Plant‐Based Vegan Diet.” Journal of the American Heart Association, July. https://doi.org/10.1161/jaha.124.035034.Who am I?

Campbell, T. Colin - Cancer Prevention and Treatment by Wholistic Nutrition in J Nat Sci., 2017, Vol. 3

Bryant, Christopher J. - Plant-based animal product alternatives are healthier and more environmentally sustainable than animal products in Future Foods, 2022, Vol. 6 (recommended by Karin Yehling)

Alexander, Sarah et al. - A Plant-Based Diet and Hypertension in Journal of Geriatric Cardiology, 2017, Vol. 14

See you next time!

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INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup dry white cannellini beans

• 1/2 cup dry black beans

• 3 cups water

• 1 large yellow onion

• 1 whole head garlic

• 1 tablespoon reduced sodium tamari

• several shakes of liquid smoke

• Add a teaspoon of maple syrup at the end. We used a tablespoon but a teaspoon would’ve been enough.

The Day Before

First, cover the beans with water that is two inches deeper than the top of the beans, and soak them overnight. They need 8 - 12 hours.

The Next Day

Put the beans into the Instant Pot.

Dice the onion. (We cut into chunks in the video, but dicing would have been better.)

Slice the top and bottom from a whole head of garlic, then separate the cloves, slip the skins, and put them into the pot. Of chop them in half first, if you want.

Add the tamari and liquid smoke, but not the syrup. I don’t know about syrup in an Instant Pot.

The Cooking

Put on the lid, close the pressure valve and cook at high pressure for 5 minutes.

Do NOT open the pressure valve when done, but rather use “natural release” which is modern speak for wait for the pressure to come down on its own as the pot cools. After an hour or so, mine was good.

Check the pot. Open the valve and if little or no steam comes out, go ahead and remove the jiggler, then the lid.

Always remove pressure cooker lids with extreme caution, and hold your face away from the pot. Pressurized contents can blast out at you, and if they’re still under pressure, that means they’re still hot. Take care with this tool.

Results

My broth came out better than I could have even imagined! The combination of the smoke and the maple gave it a very ham or bacon flavor without the meat. Both Lance and I were surprised and really loved the flavor.

There’s lots of liquid left, so tomorrow, I’m going to add carrots, celery, and potato to this to make bean soup for dinner. I’m going to partially cook them together in a separate pot and then finish them in the soup. But next time, I think I’d throw the carrots and celery right into the instant pot with the beans, and add the potatoes after (So they wouldn’t get mushy.)

Aside: I’m really enjoying the Instant Pot my girls got me for Christmas!

Notes

My intent was to cook a big batch of dried beans to take the place of canned beans during my week of cooking. The problem? The Instant Pot is too small for that, so I’ll next experiment with cooking them in another way. But the result was a delightful new dish to add to the repertoire, so that’s a win in my book!

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At 3.49 to 3.99 a quart in the grocery store, broth is ridiculously expensive, and if you’re on a whole food plant-based lifestyle, this is a must-have item. We use it in everything, every time we oil-free sauté onions or mushrooms or peppers or all three, we need it to deglaze as we go, not to mention as a base for our soups, stews, and gravies.

Also, the last time I was looking at store-bought veggie broth, one of the ingredients was oil! And that was on a brand that didn’t used to contain ANY oil. Also they’re high in sodium. You’ll see no salt in this recipe, other than what’s naturally in the ingredients themselves (and a bit in the tamari.)

So watch the video to see how easy this is in the Instant Pot or on the stovetop.

STEP 1

All week long, as you cook, instead of throwing your produce scraps into the composter, through them into a container with a tight fitting lid, and put them in the freezer. Keep adding scraps to the same container till it’s full, and then keep adding new containers until you have about 6 cups.

So it’s important to WASH YOUR PRODUCE before you used it.

Never use cruciferous veggies for this kind of broth. Their flavors are overpowering.

Types of scraps to include:

• Greens (everything but lettuce)

• Celery (ends & pieces)

• Bell peppers (internal & seeds)

• Onions (ends, peels)

• Potatoes (peels)

• Mushrooms (skins, stems)

• Garlic (ends & skins)

• Squash skins, ends, winter or summer

• Sweet potato skins

• Apple skins (minimal or it’ll be too sweet.)

• A dozen things I haven’t though of here

STEP 2

Put the scraps directly from the freezer into the Instant Pot or stewpot on stove.

STEP 3

Add seasonings

• 2 teaspoons Italian seasonings

• 2 tablespoons minced garlic

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

• 1 tablespoon reduced sodium tamari

Stir it up.

Instant Pot: Cover with water put on the lid. Make sure it seals and add the jiggler, and set to pressure cook for six minutes.

Stovetop: Cover the veggies with water plus several inches. Simmer on low heat up to two hours, adding water as needed. It will boil away, even though you leave on the cover.

STEP 4

Instant Pot: Wait for it to cool, then release the pressure with the valve, removing the jiggler only after all steam has emerged. Open carefully. Then strain through colander.

Stovetop: Strain through colander

STEP 5

Pour into glass jars and keep for up to two weeks. You can also use your pressure canner with canning lids and rings to can the broth in large batches and store it up. I just don’t because I have scraps every week so I can easily make it as I go along.

OPTIONS

Change the seasonings.

You can lean into Indian flavors by adding ginger, masala, and/or curry powder.

Make a base for gravy by adding a teaspoon of poultry seasoning and a bit of white miso.

Use your imagination!

Enjoy!

Know someone who needs to reverse heart disease or type 2 diabetes? Maybe lower blood pressure without meds, prevent stroke, or reduce cancer risk even if they have the dreaded gene mutations? Send them this publication.

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Feel Good Again!

Women tired of holding the world together with one arm tied behind our backs deserve an escape now and then. And sometimes a week away in a tropical paradise spa just isn’t practical. That’s when we need a few hours, a cup of tea, and a Maggie Shayne novel. Just a little break from reality where some woman like us, facing problems way bigger and scarier than ours, rises up and defeats them all. She tackles the big bad using the skills innate to the female of the species. Her sharp mind, her keen intuition, her powerful emotions, her insight, her caring, her wisdom. And with these tools, she’s absolutely unstoppable.

And at the end, after you jump off the sofa and cheer with your fist in the air… you’ll feel unstoppable, too.

READ. MAGGIE. SHAYNE.

VIDEO ABOVE

TEXT BELOW

Ingredients

• 5 or 6 12-oz cans of beans/legumes: Lentils, kidney, cannellini, pinto, garbanzo, black beans.*

• 5 cans diced tomatoes, some of which can include green chilis

• A can of green chilis, not used here, would be great.

• 2 bell peppers of different colors

• Any hot peppers you like

• 1 very large red onion

• 5-6 large button mushrooms

• 2 and a half cups frozen greens, spinach pairs well

• an entire head of fresh minced garlic or two heaping spoonful jarred

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 2/3 teaspoon turmeric

• 2 heaping teaspoons Cajun seasoning blend

• 2 heaping tablespoons chili powder

*if you want to use dried beans for this, soak them overnight, then cover in water with one teaspoon baking soda. Bring to a boil for about a minute or two. Then drain the foamy green water, rinse the beans and cover in fresh water. Cook, covered, at a slow simmer, stirring frequently, until done.

Method

Pour the tomatoes into a crockpot or stewpot for the stovetop method.

Drain and rinse the beans and add them to the pot.

Chop the veggies and add those to the pot. Add the frozen corn and spinach as well.

Add the seasonings, and stir well.

For Crockpot: Cover the pot and cook on high for 4 hours or until the veggies are tender.

For Stovetop: Cover the pot and bring to a low simmer. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes. Taste as you go.

Tips: This is super better the second day, as the flavors will have mingled.

Heat: It this can be as hot or mild as you like. To turn up the heat add a little bit of Kashmiri Chili Powder. But go a little at a time as it’s strong! Like start with half a teaspoon. You could also shake in a few red pepper flakes, or chop up some hot peppers and add them to the pot at the beginning.

Always add black pepper at the end of recipes, as it loses its nutritional potency through cooking.

Serving Suggestions:

In a bowl with chunks of sourdough on the side

Slathered atop a split open, steaming hot baked potato

As a dip for fresh veggies and/or corn tortilla chips

With macaroni added to create chili-mac

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Danger After Dawn

MARINATED TOFU BITES

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup good balsamic vinegar

• 1/3 cup vegan worcestershire sauce

• 1/3 cup reduced sodium tamari

• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

• 1 lb extra firm or super firm tofu, diced to bite-size.

1. Mix the marinade with a wire whisk.

2. Dice the tofu to bite size and place into a shallow dish with a tight fitting cover. Keep the formation tight, fitting all bites into two layers. One would be better.

3. Pour the marinade over the tofu, replace cover. Shake and turn to coat all pieces.

4. Refrigerate from 8 to 48 hours.

5. After soaking is complete, preheat oven to 400º.

6. Spoon onto a baking sheet lined in parchment or silicone mat and bake for 11 minutes.

7. It will dry out fast, so immediately after baking, I usually brush a little leftover marinade over the cubes, then cover with tin foil until ready to serve.

Serving suggestion: Use as a topping for giant dinner salads. Top mixed greens and over fresh veggies with diced cooked sweet potatoes, the tofu bites, some sesame seeds, raisins, and crushed walnuts.

I use my very good Sclafani balsamic as a dressing, but it’s been discontinued. It’s aged, and sweet, and thick, and affordable. A rare combination. I’m in search of a replacement so let me know if you have one.

My husband uses a balsamic glaze, which is also super easy to make and I’ll include it in a salad dressing post one of these days.

See you next time!

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The video version of this post includes a very thorough demonstration of the oil-free sauté, so watch for that if nothing else!

The homemade veggie broth how-to is at the bottom of the text edition, below.

Okay, I’ve told you how to make stew before but this time I’m showing you. Also my stew changes every time I make it.

Caveat here, I used fresh veggies I had on hand, and frozen for everything else. I was out of mushrooms and low on carrots and I didn’t have any frozen carrots for backup. It should’ve had more carrots.

Frozen veggies are more convenient, fresh are slightly more nutritious and flavorful. Both are great for our health. And you can add any vegetable you think might be good in this.

Okay, let’s do this.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 16-oz package frozen peas

• 1/2 16-oz package frozen black-eyed peas

• 1 16 oz package frozen spinach or other greens

• 1 16 oz package frozen mushrooms

• About 3 quarts veggie broth (no salt or oil added)

• 2 lg russet potatoes

• 3 to 5 carrots

• 1 head garlic (all the cloves)

• 1/2 cup pearled barley

• 1/3 cup red lentils

• 2 heaping teaspoons Italian seasoning blend

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

• Several grinds of black pepper

• 2 tablespoons reduced sodium tamari

• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast

First

Put all the frozen veggies (peas, black-eyed peas, spinach) plus the barley, lentils, and seasonings (Italian seasonings, onion powder, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, turmeric and tamari) into a stew pot and cover with all the broth. (Always add the black pepper near the end of cooking.)

Heat to a simmer.

While heating, put a frying pan on medium high heat.

Second

Chop the onions, celery and garlic.

Add these to the frying pan when it’s hot enough to make drops of water bead up and sizzle-dance.

Dry sauté, stirring almost constantly and let the onions begin to brown.

When the veggies begin to stick to the pan, forming a brown stickiness, deglaze by adding a splash or two of water and stirring, stirring.

Continue cooking now until vegetables are almost tender.

Third

Pour the chopped potatoes and carrots into the broth. Scrape the sautéed onions, celery and garlic in as well, and return to a steady boil.

Fourth

Pour the entire mixture into the crockpot. Add 1/3 cup nutritional yeast, and it’s okay to grind on some black pepper now.

Cover and let it slow cook for a couple of hours.

By boiling it up on the stove first, you’ve cut the crockpot cooking time in half.

Alternatives

• Use all frozen veggies

• Use all raw veggies

• Use any combination of the above

• Add 2 14-oz cans of diced tomatoes to change up the flavor

• Use brown rice instead of barley

• Add any veggies you think would be good

• Add the onions, celery and garlic directly to the soup without sautéeing first. The sauté adds flavor, though.

• Skip the crockpot and cook it entirely on the stovetop, stirring frequently and watching closely for an about hour or until it’s done enough for you.

Skip the stovetop portion and put everything directly into the crockpot, then cook for 4 to 5 hours on high.

BONUS: Making your own veggie broth

Save the scraps from your veggies in the freezer, just adding to containers until they’re full. I like to have about 8 cups or all that will fit into the Instant Pot. Add seasonings like onion and garlic powder, Italian or whatever you like.

• In the Instant pot, cook five minutes once the pressure is up.

• In the crockpot, cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

• On the stovetop, boil at a steady simmer for two hours.

Strain out the solids, and store in a covered glass jar in the fridge for up to a week.

Dump what you don’t use and make a fresh batch.

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She’s been lied to her entire life,
And used for a singular purpose

As vampire bait

All Retailers: Paperback and eBook

Fall into the breathlessly romantic, heart-pounding, sexy, paranormal thrill-ride that’s destined to be your next obsession. WINGS IN THE NIGHT.

PlantStrong Podcast

Age Like a Boss

Plant-Based with Ann & Jane Esselstyn

The Exam Room Podcast

The Oil-Free Cooking Demo

VIDEO EDITION IS HERE

I don’t like to read long boring explanations all the time. Sometimes I do geek out over the details, but mainly, I’m racing from one task to the next. So it’s nice to find a concise list of actionable steps to help me achieve my goal, rather than a series of deep dive posts.

And without any lengthy introductions!

So here we go. 6 Steps to the greatest health of your life.

Step 1: Clean out your refrigerator.

Get rid of meat, processed meat, eggs, butter, margarine, cheese, milk. Meat includes all animals. Fish is meat that swims. Yes, poultry is meat. And yes, margarine includes dairy.

1B: Clean out your cabinets. Get rid of white flour, white sugar, white pasta, egg noodles, and all the processed mixes. Get rid of your oils, including olive and coconut. Get rid of your spray oils too. Ditch the mayo and prepared salad dressings.

1C: Clean out the freezer, same rules.

1D: Wash them all down.

It feels so great not to have to worry meat having contaminated your fridge or counters all the time, never to have something dripping blood in your fridge, or finding a bit in a back corner when trying to locate the source of a horrible stench.

Donate anything unopened and unexpired to a food pantry. Remind yourself the stuff getting thrown out was just destined for the septic tank anyway. It was just going to harm our bodies on the way through.

Step 2: Restock Your supplies

Shop around the outside edges of your grocery store, in the produce section most of all. Buy potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, beets, onions, carrots, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower and Brussels sprouts and celery. Get berries and oranges and apples and mangoes and kiwi and melons.

In the frozen section, get more veggies: peas, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, soybeans, and large bags of frozen greens. I can nearly always find spinach, kale, and collards in large bags, frozen. Back up your fruit with frozen varieties, too.

You can also buy precooked rice in the freezer section, just watch the ingredients. You only want rice, no sauces or glaze.

In the canned section, focus on beans. I get cans of every sort in reduced sodium or no salt if possible. Garbanzos (also called chickpeas,) black beans, pinto beans, dark red kidney, light red kidney, white kidney (also called cannellini).

If pinching pennies, buy the beans in the dried foods section. Soak overnight, then cook according to package directions. There are a ton of Instant Pot methods online. Just don’t feel compelled to add oils or fats or anything beyond seasonings.

Also in the canned section, get lots of diced tomatoes, diced tomatoes with mild green chilis, a couple cans of tomato paste, some canned mushrooms, and if you want, some artichoke hearts. Again, low sodium or no-salt added.

Whole grains including whole grain breads and rolls that are oil free—the purest of these is Ezekiel brand, found in the freezer section. Most Dave’s Killer Breads are pretty good too. Sourdough is excellent even if not whole grain due to the benefits of fermentation. Other whole grains include oatmeal, quinoa, brown rices, pearled barley, soba noodles and udon noodles (in the Asian foods section,) corn tortillas, whole grain burritos, and so on.

Get some fermented things like sauerkraut, or miso.

You’re going to need reduced sodium tamari and vegan worcestershire sauce.

You will learn to adore nutritional yeast. Trust me on this and stock up.

You might want some veggie broth. Check ingredients, some are putting oil into it, we don’t want that. Go low or no salt, or make your own.

Oh, and don’t forget nuts and seeds. Flaxseed for your omega 3s, sunflower seeds (not salted & oiled though,) sesame seeds, chia seeds to scatter on salads and sandwiches.

I always have peanuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, walnuts if I can get them. I buy in the bulk bins and I taste before I buy. Sometimes their natural oils has gone rancid, especially walnuts.

I always have peanut butter, and backup peanut butter. One ingredient: peanuts

I always have cashew cream made. As soon as it’s gone and I put more cashews to soak.

Get some plant milks, and tofu. Soy is extremely healthy, especially for women.

What not to buy: Plant-based butter, plant-based sour cream, plant-based cheese, plant-based cream cheese, plant-based chick’n nuggets/filets/patties, plant-based burger/patties/steaks.

Exceptions: ACTUAL VEGGIES Brand Sweet Potato Burgers, Black Bean Burgers and I think one other variety. Read the ingredients. (I said “Real Veggies brand” in the video. It’s Actual Veggies.)

Eat Meat Brand Mycelium filets, made entirely with mushroom root, no oil. Really excellent meat substitutes, highly nutritions, oil-free. A little challenging to cook without oil, but you can learn.

Step 3

Get a nice frying pan. You’ll want more than one, but start with one. You need a nice pan with a good, non-toxic coating. I like the ceramic ones. I fell love with Ozeri brand and then stopped making them, so I’m still in search of my next one.

You’ll learn oil-free cooking in this pan, and you’ll grow to love it. Take good care of it. It’s your tool of art.

Step 4

You’ll hate this part, but you’re going to be really glad you did it, later.

Get some numbers written down. Either get your annual physical ASAP or get the numbers from your most recent one. Blood pressure, weight, cholesterol numbers, A1-C, anything else they measured.

For blood pressure, that’s something we should be checking daily, same time of day, some situation each time, to establish our norms.

If you do the steps in this list, your blood pressure will lower, and your blood sugar will too. If you’re on medication for these things, you’ll need to monitor them closely. Most who do the whole food plant-based lifestyle faithfully need to reduce or eliminate blood pressure and blood sugar medicines. Always do so under a doctor’s supervision.

Write everything down, because you’re going to see amazing improvements in multiple areas.

Step 5

You won’t like this one either. I know I don’t. But we have to move our bodies every day. Just walk for an hour a day, that’s not hard, especially if you have a treadmill under a standup desk like I do. The brisker the better. And then on top of that, every once in a while, break into dance or run up and down the stairs or pop a few squats to challenge our heart rate and keep it strong. Work your muscles here and there to keep them from turning to flab.

Step 6

Reinforce your decision and stay positive! Have fun with it. Experiment with new recipes, new approaches, no foods, new ideas, and fill yourself with positive reinforcements.

6A: Keep this graphic handy to remind you of all the good you’re doing!

6B: Reinforce your decision by immersing yourself in positive feedback. You can do this by following these podcasts.

• The Age Like a Boss Podcast

• The PlantStrong Podcast

• Plant-Based with Ann and Jane Esselstyn

• The Exam Room Podcast from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Too, rewatch the basic documentaries that reinforce our knowledge and solidify it more with every viewing.

• Forks Over Knives

• What the Health

• Cowspiracy

• The Game Changers

• Food Choices

• Plant Pure Nation

That was all six steps, and two of them were shopping and watching TV!

Let me know which steps you take, and when! I can’t wait to hear how you’re doing. It gets easier, I promise.

After 5 full years, and heading into our sixth, I can honestly tell you I don’t miss meat or dairy at all. You won’t either. It’s just and addiction being broken, that’s all, and that only takes a few weeks.

What to expect

Your energy levels will increase. Your weird feelings of blah and blech will dissipate and your brain fog will lift. Your weight will drop without effort. You will feel energetically lighter, too. Your mood will improve. You’ll rarely if ever catch whatever bug everyone else has. If you’re male, your erections will return. For women, hormonal swings level out. Reflux vanishes. Joint aches ease. Dandruff and other skin issues go away. Your gut biome rebuilds itself, and becomes healthy and thriving, and from there, the rest of your health follows.

You aren’t going to believe how good you feel!

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Wings in the Night

There’s a family birthday (fun!) and then a major snowstorm Sunday, so we’re hunkering down. Might make for some fun videos, though.

See you soon!

Text version of this post

The PlantStrong Podcast with Rip Esselstyn

Nutrition Facts Podcast with Dr. Michael Greger

The Exam Room Podcast with Dr. Neal Barnhart and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

The South Park clip that predicted this

The Physician’s Committee Discussion of the New Food Pyramid

The Fantastic Fungi mesmerizing mushrooms clip with music.

See you next weekend!

The South Park clip that predicted this…

Here’s the video version of this post.

So here’s what happened.

RFK Junior said it was TERRIBLE that nearly half the scientists on the board that sets the USDA food guidelines every five years worked for and were paid by big meat and big dairy, while only just over half had no such conflicts.

I’ve always agreed with this. There should be nobody setting our food guidelines who makes their money based on what we eat. That’s a clear conflict of interest.

Here’s how RFK fixed the problem.

He fired the scientists who did not have financial conflicts of interest, keeping only those with financial ties to big beef, big pork, and big dairy. In addition, he brought in couple of new folks who make their money from the Low Carb Diet hoax industry.

Now nearly 100% of the committee who decide what to tell us to eat, make money based on what we eat. 9 out of 10 members declared conflicts of interest.

The rules for creating this committee clearly state that it must be balanced. There can be some people with food industry ties but they can’t be the majority, and they have to disclose their conflicts of interest. These folks did disclose. Boy did they disclose. The list of industry ties is multiples per person. These folks are really cashing in!

To be clear the scientists on this USDA committee are being paid to watch out for the interests of the various big food industries. And so that’s what they did.

The Major Changes in the Guidelines

• Meat and dairy have been moved to the very top of the pyramid.

• They have doubled the amount of protein recommended per day, from 0.8 to 1 grams per pound of body weight, to 1.2 to 1.6 grams per day, and it pushes hard for those grams to come from red meats and whole fat dairy products.

• They have removed the emphasis on whole grains, and reduced them to the tiniest spot on the pyramid. (This seems like a perk given to the members of the board who work for the low-carb diet hoax industry.)

• They now emphasize whole fat dairy, red meat, and processed meats as “healthy fats.” They state that, “The war on saturated fat is over,” and tell us to get 3 servings of full-fat dairy per day into our diet.

• This set of guidelines has removed warnings against red meat and processed meats, which are category 1 carcinogens—same category as tobacco and plutonium

• They took away warnings to avoid sugar-sweetened drinks and instead encourage them, using “real cane sugar” as if it’s a good thing.

• They did add a suggestion that most of what we drink ought to be water. One positive out of the entire disgusting con job.

In the small print buried deep, they kept the old recommendation of keeping one’s saturated fat intake below 10% of total calories. 3 servings of whole fat dairy per day would put you over the top of 10% of your calories from sat fat. So their recommendations contradict one another.

RFK Jr. gets hold of a good idea, then somehow spins it into something awful.

“Refined oils are bad,” he says. Ding ding ding ding! Brilliant insight. He must’ve read a book.

Then he goes on, “So use animal fats like pig lard and beef tallow instead.” Bonk! Terrible suggestion. Deadly, even.

The basis for the changes

The new recommendations cite a handful of studies. However, when you go to look at the studies cited, not one of them supports any of the changes they made.

There’s a small sampling of the real scientific studies that prove the opposite at the very bottom of this post. Be sure to scroll through.

Here are the highlights from all those studies

Adding 50 grams of whole grains (a couple of tablespoons) per day reduces:

• All-cause mortality (death) by 16%

• Cardio-mortality (death by heart attack) 18%

• Cancer mortality (death by cancer) 12%

• But only 2% of USAmericans get the recommended 3 servings per day.

More from the attached studies

• Dairy products cause Alzheimer’s as well as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, and prostate cancer.

• Saturated fat is the leading cause of heart disease, which is in turn our leading cause of death.

• No study done has ever shown any health benefit from consuming either low-fat dairy or full fat dairy.

• Consuming animal proteins INCREASES all-cause and cardio mortality

• Consuming plant proteins DECREASES all-cause and cardio mortality

• Adding 50 grams of legumes (peas, beans, lentils) per day reduces all-cause mortality 6%

• Swapping beans for meat as a protein source reduces all-cause mortality 9% and risk of Type 2 Diabetes by 12%

• Sugar-sweetened beverages (pushed by this document as something good. “Real cane sugar,” they sing,) and processed meats are the most health-harmful things in American diet.

Adding insult to injury

They added warnings against a vegan diet, listing a whole alphabet’s worth of vitamins and minerals it says are at risk in such diets, and again cites a study that says nothing of the sort. Real studies show that vegans are HIGHER in several of the minerals listed. They just flat out lied in this case, as in many others.

The actual science shows that all humans on the planet probably need a B12 supplement, vegans included. Humans who live where daylight is scarce and sunlight is indirect for all or part of the year should also take a D3. Vegans need no supplements that the rest of humanity does not also need.

There is nothing in a carnivore diet that you can’t get from plants. Be aware the animals being eaten—herbivores, all—got all the nutrients their meat contains from the plants they ate before they were killed. Vegans get them straight from the source—plants themselves.

The new guidelines make the protein myth official

The US RDA is a different set of numbers, and has not been changed. That’s something to know. And it lists the recommended daily protein intake at 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per kilogram of weight.

Even when that recommendation was made, it was acknowledged by the scientists that it was the TOP amount. Some very active people might need that amount, and with half the panel being on the big meat payroll, they opted for the highest number in the range indicated by science. For most of us who are neither athletes nor body builders, 0.6 - 0.7 grams per pound of body weight is plenty of protein.

Science has shown us that excess protein is harmful to our health. Excess animal protein turns on mutated cancer genes. Without it, they might well stay dormant, not producing cells. But when we wake them up, they begin making cancer cells, and nothing is better at waking them up than animal proteins. This has been shown in study after study after study. And also in some of these studies, the mutated genes shut back down when the animal proteins were removed from the diet.

Now these brand new guidelines nearly double the already admittedly high amount given by the RDAs along with pushing a pro-saturated fat agenda, which is a pro-meat agenda. The only places I know of where you can get saturated fat from plants is in avocados and coconuts. All other sources are all animal products.

So people who pay any attention to this upside down food pyramid are going to be eating far too much saturated fat, and the proteins that come with it. Casein, the protein in dairy, is a big cancer causer.

Heme iron, which comes from meat, damages cells, causes inflammation, and those things lead to cancer. Nitrates in processed meat are known carcinogens, again on the same category as tobacco and plutonium.

Cooking meat increases the risk, the higher the temp, the higher the risk. But not cooking the meat risks a quicker death by e-coli, trichinosis, toxoplasmosis, salmonella or many other potential killers

Meat is just a losing proposition.

But we already know this if we know the most basic things about how the universe works. What we give is what we receive. If we kill for food, that food must kill us in return. It cannot be otherwise.

Plants, on the other hand, give of themselves freely. As they mature, the plant dies, leaving its fruits behind to be devoured by the animals who live around it, and that includes humans. Apples fall to the ground from the trees. Potato vines die, leaving their treasures buried beneath them. Grain heads grow heavy with seed and pull the whole stalk to the ground. The squash vines die, leaving their beautiful gourds behind for us to enjoy. Even mycelium, with their underground neural network creating an internet for the trees and plants around them, sprout up fruits in the form of mushrooms. They bloom and die unless we pick and eat them.

Enjoy this collection of time lapses of the way mushrooms grow. It’s mesmerizing.

So peaceful, that video. Can you imagine getting such a peaceful feeling watching animals being slaughtered? No way. How so many of us still think it’s okay to participate in that trade is beyond me.

The Exam Room Podcast, by the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine has an entire episode on this on the new food guidelines and the inverted pyramid. I’m including it below. The Physician’s Committee is petitioning the FDA to recall these new recommendations, on grounds that they’re not based on any known science, study, or research. They did this successfully once before, for similar reasons, and that time they won.

Keep your fingers crossed it works.

Oherwise, use common sense. Believe science. The majority (like 80-90%) of our calories should come from complex carbohydrates in the form of fruits, veggies, whole grains and legumes. The majority of our protein (6-8% of total calories) should come from beans, lentils, nuts and seeds, and whole grains. The majority of our fat should be the natural fat found in plants, which is unsaturated and brings a whole lot of fiber with it to mitigate the harm the fatty parts could otherwise do.

We do not need full fat dairy products or meat for protein.

In Summary

If people follow these newest guidelines, they’ll be more likely to develop heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, inflammation, and many forms of cancer. People who believe the advice of RFK Jr.—who has zero medical, scientific, or nutrition training—will die years younger than they otherwise would have.

We need to follow and share resources we know we can trust, who aren’t being paid by any part of the food industry, for our information about what’s healthy.

Free ways to educate yourself include reading here. You can also subscribe for free to the following:

The Plantstrong Podcast - Rip Esselstyn

Nutrition Facts - Dr. Michael Greger

The Exam Room Podcast - Dr. Neal Barnhard (Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine)

That should be enough to get you a solid basis for developing your OWN nutritional guidelines.

Hint: the top, middle, and bottom of a legitimately healthy food pyramid would all be filled with same foods. Whole plant foods. Fruits, veggies, legumes, whole grains, nuts, berries, vinegar, and tofu, maybe little maple syrup here and there.

For a more formal, accredited, Cornell-associated course of study, you can take the T. Colin Campbell course on plant-based nutrition. I keep my certificate proudly on display in my kitchen. Right now they’re offering 20% off the tuition. Click below to learn more.

And I’ll see you next weekend!

Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition

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Here’s that list of studies proving RFK Jr doesn’t know shit about nutrition

References (AKA all the studies that prove RFK Jr. is a dangerous, deadly, dumbass)

1. Nunes, BP ∙ Flores, TR ∙ Mielke, GI ∙ et al. Multimorbidity and mortality in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2016; 67:130-138 Crossref Scopus (469) PubMed

2. Chowdhury, SR ∙ Chandra Das, D ∙ Sunna, TC ∙ et al.
   Global and regional prevalence of multimorbidity in the adult population in community settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis

   EClinicalMedicine. 2023; 57, 101860 Scopus (321) PubMed

3. WHO

   Global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2014

   World Health Organization, 2014

4. Freisling, H ∙ Viallon, V ∙ Lennon, H ∙ et al.

   Lifestyle factors and risk of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a multinational cohort study

   BMC Med. 2020; 18:5 Crossref Scopus (167) PubMed

5. Conrad, Z ∙ Thorne-Lyman, AL ∙ Wu, S ∙ et al.

   Are healthier diets more sustainable? A cross-sectional assessment of 8 diet quality indexes and 7 sustainability metrics

   Am J Clin Nutr. 2025; 121:315-323 Scopus (0) PubMed

6. Kim, J ∙ Boushey, CJ ∙ Wilkens, LR ∙ et al.

   Plant-based dietary patterns defined by a priori indices and colorectal cancer risk by sex and race/ethnicity: the Multiethnic Cohort Study

   BMC Med. 2022; 20:430

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7. Kim, J ∙ Khil, J ∙ Kim, H ∙ et al.

   Plant-based dietary patterns and the risk of digestive system cancers in 3 large prospective cohort studies Eur J Epidemiol. 2023; 38:617-627

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8. Loeb, S ∙ Fu, BC ∙ Bauer, SR ∙ et al.

   Association of plant-based diet index with prostate cancer risk

   Am J Clin Nutr. 2022; 115:662-670

   Scopus (47) PubMed

9. Romanos-Nanclares, A ∙ Willett, WC ∙ Rosner, BA ∙ et al.

   Healthful and unhealthful plant-based diets and risk of breast cancer in US women: results from the nurses’ health studies

   Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2021; 30:1921-1931

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10. Satija, A ∙ Bhupathiraju, SN ∙ Rimm, EB ∙ et al.

    Plant-based dietary patterns and incidence of type 2 diabetes in US men and women: results from three prospective cohort studies

    PLoS Med. 2016; 13, e1002039

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11. Satija, A ∙ Bhupathiraju, SN ∙ Spiegelman, D ∙ et al.

    Healthful and unhealthful plant-based diets and the risk of coronary heart disease in US adults, J Am Coll Cardiol. 2017; 70:411-422
    Crossref Scopus (535) PubMed

12. Bechthold, A ∙ Boeing, H ∙ Schwedhelm, C ∙ et al.

    Food groups and risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies

    Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2019; 59:1071-1090

    Crossref Scopus (410) PubMed

13. Delgado-Velandia, M ∙ Maroto-Rodríguez, J ∙ Ortolá, R ∙ et al.

    Plant-based diets and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in a nationwide cohort in Spain: the ENRICA study

    Mayo Clin Proc. 2022; 97:2005-2015

    Scopus (0) PubMed

14. Thompson, AS ∙ Tresserra-Rimbau, A ∙ Karavasiloglou, N ∙ et al.

    Association of healthful plant-based diet adherence with risk of mortality and major chronic diseases among adults in the UK

    JAMA Netw Open. 2023; 6, e234714

    Crossref Scopus (14)

15. Vega-Cabello, V ∙ Al Hinai, M ∙ Yévenes-Briones, H ∙ et al.

    Plant-based diets and risk of multimorbidity: the Health and Retirement Study

    J Nutr. 2024; 154:2264-2272

    Scopus (0) PubMed Google Scholar

16. Riboli, E ∙ Hunt, KJ ∙ Slimani, N ∙ et al.

    European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC): study populations and data collection

    Public Health Nutr. 2002; 5:1113-1124

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17. Sudlow, C ∙ Gallacher, J ∙ Allen, N ∙ et al.

    UK biobank: an open access resource for identifying the causes of a wide range of complex diseases of middle and old age

    PLoS Med. 2015; 12, e1001779

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18. Greenwood, DC ∙ Hardie, LJ ∙ Frost, GS ∙ et al.

    Validation of the Oxford WebQ online 24-hour dietary questionnaire using biomarkers

    Am J Epidemiol. 2019; 188:1858-1867

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19. Willett, WC ∙ Howe, GR ∙ Kushi, LH

    Adjustment for total energy intake in epidemiologic studies

    Am J Clin Nutr. 1997; 65:1220S-1228S discussion 1229S–31S

    Abstract PubMed

20. Cordova, R ∙ Viallon, V ∙ Fontvieille, E ∙ et al.

    Consumption of ultra-processed foods and risk of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a multinational cohort study

    Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2023; 35, 100771

    PubMed

21. Putter, H ∙ Fiocco, M ∙ Geskus, RB

    Tutorial in biostatistics: competing risks and multi-state models

    Stat Med. 2007; 26:2389-2430

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    Glob Epidemiol. 2022; 4, 100080

23. Hepsomali, P ∙ Groeger, JA

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    Sci Rep. 2021; 11, 11786

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I love this recipe, and I have tested it to perfection so here goes everything

One note: For this I use my whole grain gluten free flour blend which is:

• 3 cups brown rice flour

• 1 cup tapioca flour

• 1 cup oat flour

• 1 cup potato starch

• Mix well

Okay, so here we go with the blueberry muffins

INGREDIENTS

Wet

1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas

1/2 cup cashew cream* (details below, it’s just cashews and water.)

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (one ingredient: apples, maybe some citric acid)

1/3 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup salt-free peanut butter (one ingredient: peanuts, no added oil, no added salt, no added sugar)

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Dry

1 & 3/4 cups whole grain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

a pinch of salt

METHOD

Mix all the wet ingredients and sugar together in a large bowl. Beat with a hand mixer until everything is nicely combined and smooth.

Mix the remaining dry ingredients with each other first, adding the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt if using to a separate bowl and whisking all with a wire whisk.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and hand stir to blend until all flour is incorporated, scraping sides to get every bit.

Add the blueberries last of all, stirring well again.

Fill silicone muffin forms nearly full, leaving maybe a half inch from the top.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350º. I almost felt like mine could have used five more minutes.

Test with a toothpick. If there’s much wet batter on it, they’re not done, though this is trickier with berry muffins. The presence of the berries tends to keep the batter on the moist side, and there will always be wet blueberry on your toothpick.

Cool in the pans, then gently pop out from the bottom.

*Cashew Cream

I’ve given you this before, but adding it again here will make it easier than following links to another recipe, so here you go. Plus, I tried Method 2 today, since I didn’t have any cashews soaking, and it worked beautifully. Maybe better than Method 1.

Method 1: Cover a cup of cashews in water and soak overnight in the fridge. The next day, drain and blend in high speed blender, adding water a little at a time to achieve the consistency you want. I like it creamy.

Method 2: Cover a cup of cashews in boiling water. Let stand until water cools, drain. Repeat, covering in boiling water again, and again draining when the water cools. Pour cashews into high speed blender. Blend, adding water a little at a time to achieve the consistency you want.

I’ve kept this in the fridge for more than a week with no problem. Taste it, it’s sweet without sugar! Just take care. Nuts are high in fat, and those trying to lower cholesterol should limit themselves to 2 tablespoons per day, the equivalent which is about 4 teaspoons of cream. (4 teaspoons = about 1 and 1/3 tablespoons). That’s one muffin per day. It’s very hard not to eat more than one of these a day, so SHARE.

See you next time!

VIDEO COMPANION: BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Still working on perfecting my setup. This time you could hear my fridge running in the background. Learning as I go here. 🤷‍♀️

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Heart-tugging, small town romance
and a family you’ll never forget.

Escape for a little while,
and feel good again!

(Psst! I’m working on Book 4 now, and it’s a doozie!)

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To make this lifestyle work, you need some go-to, easy-peasy meals that you can make fast.

This sandwich filling one of them, and it’s wonderful. I didn’t feel it this one was complicated enough to require a video. First of all, it’s packed with protein and fiber. You can make it with or without the cashew cream, and it tastes wonderful either way, although I think the texture is better with it.

So here’s how it goes.

Vegan Tuna Salad or Egg Salad Substitute

Ingredients

• One 14-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (save the juice, that’s aquafaba.)

• 1/4 cup dill relish

• 2-3 tablespoons cashew cream

• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard

• 1/4 onion, finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons)

• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped (as much as you want)

• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

• 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup cup cashew cream for texture *optional. If you have coronary artery plaque, high cholesterol, or are looking to lose weight, skip the cashew cream, and follow the instructions below for using the aquafaba instead.

• AND FOR EGG SALAD: 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan black salt. (use a little, then taste. Increase a little bit at a time.)

• OR FOR TUNA SALAD: 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon seaweed seasoning

For serving:

• 2 slices Dave’s Killer Bread, toasted

• 1 large handful mixed super greens, chopped

• 3 slices fresh tomato

• A sandwich stacker pickle, if you like

Method

Drain and rinse the chickpeas and save the aquafaba

Pour the chickpeas into a wide bowl and mash them with the back of a fork or a potato masher.

Add the other ingredients, mixing well with a fork. When you get to the seasonings, start with a little, mix well, taste, then add a little more. It’s crucial to do this as you go, since you can’t remove the spices once they’re in there.

If you have heart disease and are looking to reduce cholesterol, skip the cashew cream, and instead add a teaspoon of cream of tartar to the aquafaba and whip until it’s creamy. Then fold that into the chickpea salad mix, for a smoother texture.

Press filling atop greens on one toasted slice. Then lay the tomatoes on top, put the other slice on the sandwich and slice in half.

*If packing a lunchbox, I recommend leaving the tomato off the sandwich, in a separate container to be applied right before eating. Otherwise the bread will get soggy.

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Hi, folks. Today I wanted to have an end-of-year heart-to-heart about shifting to a healthier lifestyle, because this is the perfect time to finally get off the fence and dive in. A new year is about to begin according to the way many of us measure time. There’s a sizzling, powerful energy of new beginnings in the air. Do you feel it? All the forces of the universe are lined up like the Buffalo Bills at kickoff, an unstoppable force surging forward as the ball is punted into the future.

That’s us at the start of a new year. Everything is fresh! Anything feels possible! We’re in an atmosphere of pure potential. We can begin to shape the kind of year we want by the choices we make as it begins, and then continue to make as it unfolds.

There is no better time than NOW. Not later. Right now. Resist the urge to junk-food yourself into a heart attack while you await the dreaded date’s arrival. It’s not something to dread. Every bite of garbage is doing physical harm to your body, but when you stop poisoning yourself you are going to feel so good, so fast, you’ll wish you’d started even sooner.

I suggest it’s better to begin your transition to a plant-based lifestyle right away, the instant the decision is made, so that by January first, 2026 you’re all-in.

From a spiritual perspective, there is nothing more harmful to us than believing something is the wrong choice for us but doing it anyway. Once we know better we must do better in order to feel better. It applies to everything, not just food choices.

Why everyone should make this change

Even those of us who didn’t start until age 60 will get an average of 8 years added to our life expectancy by making the lifestyle changes we discuss here. Our risk of cancer and coronary artery disease drop lower every single day we eat this way.

People who have type 2 diabetes get better so fast their doctors have to monitor their blood sugar levels closely. It’ll go so low their need for insulin or other meds might need reducing or eliminating. Ditto that with high blood pressure medications. You go for one jog on one day and your BP will be beautiful for the next 12 to 24 hours.

You can measure for yourself the differences these small lifestyle changes make in your physical health, your stamina, vitality, and well-being. Take a daily blood pressure reading at the same time every day, sitting in the same spot with feet on the floor, legs uncrossed, and your arm at heart level. Jot it down. You also can monitor your sleep with a smart watch or other app and see the vast improvements there. Make a note of your most recent cholesterol and A1-C markers to compare with your next. Testing again after three or even six months strictly whole food, plant-based—and I mean no cheat days, no ultra-processed foods, no oils, 100% all-in, with exercise—will show astonishing improvements.

Besides high blood pressure, other things that vanished for me when I switched, most within the first week or two, included chronic heartburn, an itchy, flaky scalp, snoring so loud I’d startle myself awake, feeling tired all the time, mood swings, and weird acne. Who gets acne at my age?

Here’s the thing…

Most people come to the whole food, plant-based way of life after a diagnosis. Cancer. Heart disease. Diabetes. Lupus. And many find the diagnosis shocking when it wasn’t shocking at all. It was inevitable. If you keep doing things that make you sick, you’ll get sick. Simple.

Autopsies of US children as young as 12 years old routinely show coronary artery disease already underway in them and that is 100% due to the standard American diet being touted as healthy. If you’ve been eating like everybody else in the US, you already have plaque lining the arteries around your heart. That’s a fact.

It builds over decades until your first heart attack. But for most people, their first heart attack is fatal.

—-

Sometimes, folks get shaken up enough to make the necessary changes after “less serious” diagnoses, like hypertension also called high blood pressure, or pre-diabetes, or high cholesterol.

Calling those conditions less serious, though, is just like saying that falling from the top of a building is less serious than hitting the pavement below. Both things are part of the same descent toward the same inevitable ending. One is not less serious than the other, it occurs first in the order of things.

If you don’t yet have a diagnosis, you will. So why wait? Why not do the things now that you think you’ll do once a scary diagnosis is made?

And if you DO already have a diagnosis, then don’t despair! It’s not too late to turn your health around. Dr. Esselstyn’s first study subjects were patients who were so far gone their doctors had pronounced them terminal. They’d been told to go home and wait to die. Some of them discuss their experiences in the documentary Forks Over Knives. All the subjects of Doc Esselstyn’s study who stuck with the plan were still alive 20 years later. Terminal patients, told they had months—got another two decades, at least. Come ON people! Nothing else can do this!

What to do right now

1. Put on one of the documentaries: What the Health? or Forks Over Knives or How Not to Die. Watch it in a format that can be in your kitchen and/or pantry with you, because while it runs, you have homework. You’ll be doing a kitchen clean-out.

2. Empty the cabinets. When you put things back, put only WHOLE foods back. There won’t be very many. Don’t panic about that, and don’t give yourself tired old excuses about not wanting to waste food. That food’s either going into the composter or the septic tank, only the route differs. Donate what’s unopened and unexpired. We should all be donating to food banks every week or two anyway, so get that new habit started.

   
   Compost what’s already open.
   
   White sugar is not a whole food.
   
   White flour is not a whole food because the bran and the germ have been stripped from the grain, leaving only the endosperm. It has to be “enriched” with synthetic nutrients because all its natural ones have been removed.
   
   White rice and white pastas are not whole foods for the same reasons.
   Ultra-processed foods such as Impossible or Beyond burgers or nuggets are not whole foods.
   
   Most breakfast cereals are not made from whole foods. A whole-food breakfast cereal’s ingredients list would be, “Rice, corn, barley, dates,” for example.
   
   Most canned soups are not whole foods. They may contain some whole foods but they also contain parts of foods.
   
   Oils and spray oils are not whole foods. They might be made from plants, but not the whole plant. Olive oil is the fat from an olive. Not the whole olive. All the benefits of 1 tablespoon of olive oil, so touted in the Mediterranean Diet’s enviable PR campaign, can also be gained from eating just 8 olives. And you’d also get a boost of fiber and other nutrients. I repeat, oils are NOT whole foods.
   
   Jiff and Skippy and Peter Pan peanut butter are not whole foods. They are sweetened and have the very worst kind of oil—hydrogenated vegetable oil—added. I can’t fathom why. Peanuts have tons of their own self-contained oil.
   
   Teddy Bear brand peanut butter IS a whole food. Its ingredients list is as follows. Are you ready? Here it comes. You might need to write this down. Drum roll, please…
   

   

   
   “Peanuts”

   

   I know, shocking, isn’t it?
   

3. Empty the Fridge

   The cheese has to go. So does the butter and the margarine made with the cancer-causing dairy protein casein and other parts and particles taken from cow’s milk. If you still have meat or processed meat in there, that will go, too. It’s hard to donate animal flesh because it’s decomposing from the moment the animal’s heart stops beating, and so the expiration dates are very short. Maybe take it out to the back yard and give it a proper burial.

   
   Non-dairy creamer is not dairy-free. Isn’t that a hoot? It has milk ingredients but is mostly oil and sugar. There are plant-based creamers, but most have oil and all have sugar. They are not whole foods. Get a frother/foamer. You can make a mountain of sweet foam from plant milks, and they’re not only better for us than creamers, they’re more fun and taste better. And you can add a sprinkle of sugar, some peppermint or vanilla or cinnamon or hazelnut flavoring, and it’ll be perfect.

   
   I can’t think of what else you might have in the fridge—it’s been 5 years for us. Ummmm, eggs, I guess. Bye, eggs! Hello tofu. And then there’s mayo, and other condiments. Check the ingredients, trash if necessary. I know it feels wasteful. But eating it, so it won’t be wasted, is trading away precious moments of your life.

   
   Besides, entire fridge is about to become the veggie drawer. I actually bought a little glass-fronted mini-fridge designed to hold beverage cans. I use it for fruit, because I couldn’t fit it all into the main fridge with all the veggies.
   
   4. The Restock

   
   *Buy plenty of potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, winter squash, turnips. These are the starches that will keep you full and satisfied.

   
   *Buy plenty of green leafies like spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens, arugula and other greens that are not lettuce. The lettuces are less nutritious.

   
   *Buy plenty of of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, artichokes, and so on.

   
   These veggies produce nitric oxide in your bloodstream, which is like releasing scrubbing bubbles on your coronary arteries.

   These vegetables actually heal and repair the blood vessels and remove plaque that hasn’t yet calcified, if you eat enough of them. Enough being 5-6 servings per day. A serving is 1 cup raw or 1/2 cup cooked.

   
   *Buy a bunch of other frozen veggies like peas, corn, carrots, black eyed peas, green beans, wax beans, anything and everything veggie. Frozen greens are way easier to use than fresh and save a lot of time. The only kinds they have where I shop are collards and spinach and I buy them every week and eat them every single day.

   
   *Stock up on oil-free, no-salt-added veggie stock or better yet, save your veggie scraps in a bag in the freezer, and boil them up to make your own broth once a week or so. On store-bought broth, always check ingredients. Some brands have suddenly started adding oil, out of the blue.

   
   *Get a bottle of reduced sodium tamari. It’ll be where the soy sauce is. This is a secret flavor booster.

   
   *Get a package of nutritional yeast, probably where the Bob’s Red Mill grains are kept, or in the bulk bins. It's dry flakes that taste like a mild version of cheesie poufs powder. You know, cheese puffs, Jax, cheese twists, those? It’s nutty and cheesy. It adds a lovely umami richness to soups, stews, tofu, just any dish, and brings a big boost of B12 with it. It will also thicken almost as nicely as flour, without the lumps.
   
   *Get some rolled oats, the old fashioned kind, or steel cut.
   
   *Buy some whole grain pasta, like macaroni and spaghetti
   

   *Get some brown rice or other whole grain rice. I’ve discovered a whole grain texmati rice that’s excellent, almost as light and fluffy as white rice.
   
   *Buy some other grains. Try barley or quinoa or both!
   
   *Other items you’ll want include are real maple syrup, dates, raw sugar, whole grain flours, and some nice balsamic glaze as a salad dressing.
   

   *Buy lots and lots of beans; black, white, kidney, pinto, garbanzo. If you buy them canned (way easier prep) aim for reduced sodium or no salt added.
   

   *Get some lentils, dried or in cans. Lentils are a superfood.

   Get some plant milk. You’ll try several, study the benefits and taste of each, and develop your own favorite for your own reasons. I go with soy.
   
   *Get some Ezekiel bread (and English muffins) in the freezer section. Another acceptable bread is Dave’s Killer Bread, rolls, and bagels (check ingredients as different flavors have differences.) The rule with breads and rolls is whole grain with no eggs, dairy, or oil. Sourdough bread is included on the plan even if it’s not made with whole grain flour, because the benefits of the fermentation outweigh the harm of the stripped down wheat.

4. Browse the recipes here and over at ForksOverKnives.com where were are hundreds—but take care as they’ve begun allowing oil in some recipes. The website is not being run by the same folks as the researchers who pioneered the lifetyle talked about in the documentary by the same name.

5. PLAN YOUR MEALS in advance. It’ll be far easier if you do.

My Top Tips

It’s helpful if you decide to have the same thing for breakfast most days, and leftovers from dinner for lunch most days. Thinking of what to make for each meal is the most time-consuming part of the whole thing for me.

I have my own version of Ann Esselstyn’s warrior oats for breakfast every morning, getting in all my servings of greens/cruciferous for the day in one meal. I’ve talked about this before and everyone thinks I’m crazy, but I am addicted.

[Warrior Oats sidebar: 2 cups of frozen greens, about 3 artichoke hearts, 1 stalk of celery, around 2-3 large mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon each of poultry seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, and ginger. Grind pepper atop the turmeric. Add 2 cups of water. Boil for 15 minutes then add 1/2 cup oatmeal. Cook until done. Pour into large bowl and stir in 1/4 cup nutritional yeast.]

Prior to discovering Ann’s Warrior Oats, I still had oatmeal each morning, packed with berries and a banana and some flaxseed meal.

On weekends, we have blueberry pancakes or French toast or a tofu scramble with veggies, but many times when we do that, I miss my warrior oats so much that I make ‘em for lunch.

So that’s tip 1, same thing for breakfast most days, and leftovers from dinner for lunch most days. Huge time-saver.

Tip 2 is batch cooking. Make large batches of chili, goulash, pasta and sauces, soups, stews and the like, so you don’t have to cook as many times per week. Make a big batch that covers you for two or three dinners, plus a couple of lunches, and you’ll save a lot of time.

Tip 3 is variety. If you shoot for 20 different fruits, veggies, grains, and spices every day, you can rest assured you are getting all your dietary requirements including vitamins, minerals, and plenty of protein. The only supplement needed is a daily B12, but everyone should be getting that, meat-eaters included.

Also, take a daily D3 during the shorter days of the winter months, unless you live on the equator. We get our D3 from sunshine.

There’s really no getting around the cooking aspect of this lifestyle, so you’re going to have to dive into that, too. Learn to cook without oil or sprays (just get the pan good and hot. It’s incredibly liberating. (Here’s a video demo.) Few pro-chefs can do it. But you and I can.

Meal Prep Basics

Begin with the starch—something filling like rice, pasta, quinoa, barley, white potatoes, or sweet potatoes.

Add the flavors—This is where sautéed peppers, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and maybe some corn go in.

Include cruciferous—add broccoli or cauliflower florets or a cup or two of chopped greens to the mix.

Boost the protein—The above is already about 10% protein (all plants have protein) so you’re good to go. But for the protein worry-warts out there, you can dump in a can of black beans, drained and rinsed, or lentils with all the other veggies.

We only need 8% to 10% of our total calories to come from protein. For calculating, protein has 4 calories per gram.) Here’s an entire post about protein.

Herbs, spices, other flavors—Sprinkle in turmeric, garlic powder, onion powder, and maybe some Cajun seasoning blend. Or for a lighter flavor, I’ll use thyme and bay leaves with a little oregano.

Serve—if not watching fat, sprinkle sesame seeds over the top.

See how easy? Just cook a bunch of veggies, together or separately, season them up, and serve over a rice, pasta, or potato base.

Weekends—On weekends, I make a batch of healthy cookies (my oatmeal raisin are the healthiest) and a big batch of food such as a soup, stew, or casserole—something to last.

I also dice up some extra firm tofu and put it to soak in a marinade of 1/3 cup each reduced sodium tamari, balsamic vinegar, and vegan Worcestershire sauce plus a shake or two of liquid smoke. I soak that overnight, turning the bowl frequently. Then I drain off the liquid and bake the tofu on a baking sheet with a silicone liner for about 11 minutes at 400º.

When we have our big giant salads for dinner, that tofu is the protein source. There’s always enough tofu bites leftover for hub’s lunchbox the next day.

Another weekend task is soaking the cashews. I cover a cup or two of cashews in water and soak them overnight. The next day I drain and blend them into cashew cream, adding back in just enough water to get the consistency I want. During the week, I use this cream the way some would use mayo, adding it to macaroni or potato salads, or as the base for a mac & cheeze, or for making spreads for sandwiches. I even use it as a base for frosting.

I do not like to start my week without both tofu and cashews soaked and ready to use.

You’re going to develop your own go-to meals, recipes, weekend habits, shortcuts, and downright brilliance where food prep is concerned, I guarantee it.

Nobody in your circle will be as healthy as you are, and you’ll probably drag your family into this with you, because that’s how we veg-heads roll.

It’s not as hard as you think it’s going to be, I promise

The hardest part is just making the decision to do it. Cut out the animal products. Cut out the oils and sprays. Cut out the ultra-processed frankenfoods. What’s left is the good stuff.

Eat real food. Eat plants. You won’t even believe how rapidly you’ll feel the difference!

Getting off our butts is just as important!

We must move our asses more. Even just walking for an hour a day on my treadmill made a huge difference for me. Adding that alone dropped my total cholesterol an additional 22 points in eleven weeks, and I dropped another ten pounds in the process. That’s the length of time it takes to watch one TV program or listen to a few chapters of an audiobook or maybe draft a blog post while walking on a treadmill placed beneath my standup desk. How easy is that?

I am here for you

You can email me any time with questions or leave them in the comments section. I read and respond to everything. And the only dumb question is the one not asked. We are all figuring this out as we go along, and I think the very best thing we can do in life is help each other.

The important thing isn’t hitting perfection on Day One or even in Year One. Hubs and I have been evolving this lifestyle for five years now, improving continuously over time as we learn more, experiment more, and feel better and better.

The important thing my friends, is to BEGIN. You simply have to begin. The longer you wait, the less time you’ll have here on this lovely planet with the people you adore and don’t want to leave. And the years you’ll gain from taking this step will be quality years of thriving health.

So what do you say? Are you ready to rock 2026 and the rest of your life?

Come on, let’s do this together!

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