3 Stages on the Way to Optimal Health
3 Stages on the Way to Optimal Health
And counting....
This page’s posts usually appear on Saturdays. Sorry this one’s a day late.
When Lance and I shifted to plant-based, we thought we’d gone all in, cold turkey, on Day One. We hadn’t. And yet, we had, as far as we knew. And that really shows me that going all in means entirely different things to different people, because we are al unique.
But for us, at least, there have have three distinct stages of progress. We don’t all move through the same stages at the same time, so I’m going to give you the stages as I have experienced them, and how I expect to experience them going forward. (I bet I don’t even know yet!)
Stage 1: The First Steps
For a great many folks, probably the majority, of us, the shift to better health begins with these two-steps; increasing consumption of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and reducing consumption of animal proteins such as meat, fish, eggs, and dairy.
Our “All-in”
For Lance and I, we eliminated all animal proteins in stage 1. And we saw healthy benefits, and massive weight loss, mainly because as newbies, all we knew to eat were those things. (Turns out that was the right idea.)
Then along came ultra-processed plant-based foods. The words “plant-based,” and the green packaging told us this was good stuff that was going to make eating vegan way more fun. We also learned that things like Oreo’s and Lay’s Potato Chips and Ritz Crackers and one kind of Act II Butter Lover’s microwave popcorn were plant-based too! Off we went. And away went all the health benefits we’d seen, and back came all the weight we had lost.
I include this part of our tale here, here, because I have had more than a dozen people tell me this same story. It’s a pattern for many of us, and remarkably, not only those of us who started around the same time, but even for long-time plant-eaters. A lot of us fell for the marketing of the new plant-based products and our health suffered for it.
Them’s Marketin’ Words
By the end of Stage One I had learned that the words “plant-based” have become a meaningless marketing phrase, and that we should just say what we mean. Not plant-based. Plants. We mean plants. We mean whole plants that you eat while still able to tell by looking at them what they are, not parts of plants. Olives, not olive oil. Potatoes, not vodka. Soybeans (edamame, if you insist) not “soy protein isolate.”
Stage 2:
At Stage Two, most have been reading and learning more about being an herbivore, and maybe watched and rewatched the documentaries, of which there are many. (I’ll inlcude a list at the end of this post.) If we had the massively shared ultra-processed plant-based experience I mentioned above, we now realize where we went off track. Some didn’t ever fall for that, and that’s cool, but most still level up from where we began, if for no other reason than that we learn more.
The Big Question
At this point, we figure that if getting off meat, dairy, and eggs makes us feel this great, what other things can we upgrade in our lives to be healthier. This is the stage where we decide to eliminate or severely curtail ultra-processed foods.
For Lance and I this stage was where the learning went formal. We took the Forks Over Knives Ultimate Plant Based Cooking Course, which is truly whole food plant based, which means, no ultra-processed ingredients, no refined oils, low sugar, and low sodium.
I also took a Cornel certificate course on plant-based nutrition created by my hero, nutritional biochemist T. Colin Campbell.
A lot of people take a course or several of them during this phase of plant-based living. It makes sense. When the simple changes we made in Stage One—changes we now see were easy, natural, joyful changes—improved our health so much, we realize how much you didn’t know. And we wonder how many other secrets there are to uncover and how much better we can do by our bodies.
Junk Reduction
Lance and I reduced our plant-based “junk food” to weekend treats only, and gradually, the “weekend treat” junk foods got less and less junky. There is a wide range of unhealthy. Amy’s Organics California Bean Burgers, which contain small amount of oil, are a least a B+ on the healthy/unhealthy sliding scale, where Impossible and Beyond burgers are D-. For health, they’re an F, but I grade on the curve of them being better for the planet and the animals.
For Memorial Day we got a package of Daring brand “Pieces” to barbecue on skewers with bbq sauce. These are much less unhealthy than their competing fake chicken patties and nuggets, which are made of wood pulp and oil. Watch the new documentary “Food Inc 2” to see the actual process by which Impossible meat-substitutes are made. It’s on Apple and worth the seven-dollar rental fee. I rented it and now I’m going to buy it and as I should’ve done in the first place. It’s excellent; a real deep dive that includes the plant-based end of the food industry.
Activity
During Stage Two I leveled up my activity, sitting less and getting more aerobic exercise into my days via outdoor jog, desk treadmill, or kitchen-dancing to Janet Jackson while doing food prep.
Also during Stage Two, I learned that getting my heart rate up nicely for a sustained period of 20 to 30 minutes, two or three times a week, is necessary to keep my blood pressure under control. If I don’t do aerobic exercise, it goes up. I do not intend to go back on medication for something I can control that easily.
I further learned that ultra-processed “plant-based” foods are almost as bad for us as meat and dairy. We use minimally processed products like tofu, plant-milks, and the mild soy sauce tamari, in its reduced sodium version. I use maple syrup for sweetening and dutch processed cocoa in baking. We use whole grain pastas and soba noodles. That’s about as processed as we get for everyday eating.
Stage 3:
So far, Stage Three seems to be a honing and polishing process. We go over our habits in search of rusty spots that need a little buff, a little spit-shine, a little attention, and in the process, leveling up.
Variety
We’ve begun focusing a lot on the variety of plant foods in our diets, and trying to expand it by adding new things at every opportunity. This week I bought my first batch of mustard greens and turnip greens. I hope we love them.
I counted up and made a list, and we are currently eating 53 different fruits, veggies, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and herbs/spices regularly, every week. In addition there are twenty different varieties that we don’t eat every week, but do eat a couple of times a month.
More and more, nutrition science is showing that the wider the variety of whole plant foods we consume, the healthier our “gut biome.” And the healthier our gut biome, the healthier our body. So much so that people take capsules made out of healthy peoples’ feces to get healthy bacteria into their own guts, to treat a variety of conditions including the dreaded C. difficile or C. diff. (Shute)
Maybe it’s just me, but I’d way rather eat veggies than poop.
Resistance
Stage Three is also where I learned how important it is to add weight-bearing exercise to my routine. The body doesn’t bother to support parts that it doesn’t need, and after menopause women lose a lot of their muscle mass.
Do we lose it because we are old? My own theory is, no. We lose it because we become less active, and because a lifetime of eating toxins has made being active ever harder. Painful, even. So we sit around more, and we tell ourselves we’ve earned it and that retirement isn’t for exercise. We get more sedentary and stop using our muscles as much, and as a result, they shrivel away.
I have put a set of hand weights, 8 and 10 pounds, (but soon I’ll retire the 8s and add the 12s) sitting between where I spend most of my time and the bathroom. Every time I pass them, I’m reminded to do 16 reps of something. (I started with 10 reps). Biceps, triceps, bent-over rowing, shoulder presses, stuff I don’t know the name of but remember from Jane Fonda and Cindy Crawford. (I still have leg warmers in my sock drawer!)
I don’t grab the weights every time I take a break from work or rise from sitting. Sometimes I’ll do squats instead, with a little hop at the top. I’m still at 10 reps on those, but I’m mixing in a series of lunges to I’m working different muscles.
Salt & Sugar
My nutrition classes also showed me where my very healthy diet had room for improvement. I was still eating a lot of sugar and still using salt in my cooking and/or on my plate. Just this month, I’ve stopped using any salt at all in my cooking, and in the past two weeks I’ve only used it once on my plate. I’m experimenting with Dulce and Kelp in seasoning.
I use reduced sodium Tamari in a lot of my recipes, so I’m still getting plenty of sodium, but less will help ensure my blood pressure stays nice and low. When we have an ultra-processed cheat meal that’s high in sodium, I can count on my BP being higher the next day, and that’s damaging my kidneys every single time it happens.
So again, leveling up. I’ve also eliminated a daily tablespoon of maple syrup from my morning oatmeal. The banana, strawberries and blueberries sweeten it enough. This eliminates about 2 cups of maple syrup per month from my diet!
I still have maple syrup on my Saturday pancakes, and it’s also an ingredient in my favorite, very healthy cookies. Here’s that recipe from Forks Over Knives:
My Decaf
I’m rethinking my coffee. I drink a lot of decaf coffee and have only just recently been learning about the carcinogenic chemicals used to remove the caffeine from my favorite brand, Dunkin’. I could search out decaf made by the Swiss Water Method, but if I’m making a change, I feel this is the perfect time to switch to tea once and for all. So just today, just this morning, for the first time, I did not brew a pot of coffee at all. I’ve had two cups of tea, and a lot of water, and I’m feeling very good with both those choices.
So far, so good
Stage Three is as far as I have progressed. And it’s been just over three years since we took our first faltering steps into Stage One. We’re averaging one level-up per year. That seems like a good pace.
It seems funny to me that in Stage One, I thought I was all-in. But in a very real way, I was! I was emotionally all-in, I was passionately all-in, I was whole-heartedly all-in. I just didn’t know how much I didn’t know. I was all-in based on where and who I was and based on my understanding at that point in time.
Today, I’m all-in based on where and who I am and my understanding at this point in time. I’m a little more aware of how much I still don’t know.
Stage 4?
I imagine Stage Four might be continued improvement in our choice of weekend “treats.” Or our definition of them altogether. For example, our breakfast “treats” are whole food plant based blueberry pancakes on Saturday, and whole food plant based tofu omelettes on Sunday. They’re treats because we love them, not because they’re “cheating” on our plan. One might say our treats are becoming more treaty and less cheaty.
I am becoming more aware of other things that get into my body besides the foods I eat, and as I learn more about these things, I will be shifting my choices about those too. Shampoo and conditioner, soap and toothpaste, deodorant and sunblock, and the tiny bit of makeup I still use once in a while. I like my eye liner, shadow, and lip color.
I’ve long since switched to Madison Reed hair color, which doesn’t contain toxic chemicals banned in other countries, like most hair color in the US contains, and I’ve reduced the number of times per year I use it.
I’m evolving to the point where I can let hair color go, but I’m just not there yet, and I’m okay with that. I’m keeping my beloved red in the least harmful way I’ve found.
I still don’t know everything that I don’t know. And neither does nutrition science. But we’re learning every day.
Has your health journey had stages too? Share about them in the comments section.
Documentaries List. Most of them are on multiple platforms including Netflix. Just do a quick search, and add your own suggestions to us.
Brand New: Hack Your Health (Love the graphics on this one.)
Brand New: Food Inc. 2, (Apple only)
Food Inc.,
Forks Over Knives
What the Health?
Cowspiracy
Seaspiracy, Netflix
The Game Changers
You Are What You Eat: The Twins Experiment
Eating Ourselves to Extinction
Dominion
Live to 100
Source cited
Shute, Nancy. “Frozen Poop Pills Fight Life-Threatening Infections.” NPR, 11 Oct. 2014, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/10/11/355126926/frozen-poop-pills-fight-life-threatening-infections.
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