This past Thursday was two weeks from the day I got the news that a routine chest CT noted calcification in my coronary arteries. To me, the most shocking part of this was that it showed a worsening from two years ago, when the last scan was done. (I have a little nodule in a lung they like to check every once in a while in case it has grown or changed. It has not.) I immediately read Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn’s book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. Dr. Esselstyn, a heart surgeon, was head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic for a lot of his career, and has done groundbreaking research on correcting heart problems with lifestyle to the need for surgery. The audiobook is just 4 hours and change. Below is the Chirp link, so where can buy without joining or paying a monthly fee like at Audible. You can also get the paperback or ebook anywhere they’re sold, including Amazon.
Two weeks in, I’ve already dropped five pounds, and weight loss was not the goal. It is, however, a side effect of eating properly. I’ve realized that I’ve been half-assing my whole food, plant-based diet through most of 2024, cheating with plant-based frankenfoods on weekends, substituting non-dairy chocolate chips for the raisins in my oatmeal cookies, and indulging my sweet tooth too much. I have plenty of excuses—life got busy, it takes so much time to cook, yada yada, yada. But the fact of the matter is, I found plenty of time to cook once they told me I might have heart calcification aka coronary artery disease aka heart disease. That’s a big motivator.
So here are the things that make the transition to a 100% whole food plant-based diet with no added oils, salt, or sugar much easier.
Learn how to sauté without oil. Here’s a link to a video demonstration I made. You just need a good pan, you don’t need Teflon®. You can do it in a good stainless skillet or any quality pan. Get the pan hot but heat it on medium. High heat will ruin your pans. When drops of water bead, dump in the veggies, stir just about continuously until you get the brown stuff sticking on the bottom (that’s sugar, the good stuff!) Then add a tablespoon or three of veggie broth or water to deglaze. Repeat until done.
Get the stuff you don’t want to eat out of your house. Just do a wholesale hoe-out of your cabinets and fridge. Pretty much anything prepackaged or ready made needs to go with a few exceptions. Don’t keep oils, sprays, or butters around will force you to learn to cook without them. Get rid of processed crap. Check everything for ingredients. Even my organic strawberry jam, I found this morning, has added sugar. But the raspberry jam by the same company only contains raspberries, citiric acid, and apple juice. Check everything you keep. No added oils, no added sugars, no added salt.
A healthy meal template: Start with a starch. Potato, sweet potato, whole grain pastas, soba noodles (in the Asian foods section,) whole grain rice. (Whole grain rices include brown rice, brown basmati rice (long grain,) brown texmati rice (long grain,) brown jasmine rice (long grain,) black “forbidden” rice (short/med/long), red rice (short/med/long,) brown sushi or rice (short grain,) brown arborio or carnaroli rice, (short grain,) calorie brown rice (short grain,) Carolina gold rice (long grain,) black sticky rice (long grain,) sprouted brown rice (long or short grain.) This list along with what kinds go best with which dishes/uses can be found at this link from Forks Over Knives.
Fill your space with wonderful foods from the produce section. I buy kale, arugula, spinach, mixed greens, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, all colors of peppers, multiple types of onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, multiple kinds of mushrooms, garlic, apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, mangos, peaches, pears, kiwi, bananas and lots more. In the Freezer section I buy more broccoli & cauliflower and spinach, plus peas, corn, black-eyed peas, and frozen packs of veggies and rice for quick use. In canned section, you cannot have enough beans; black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, garbanzo beans, cannellini beans, FAT FREE refried beans (the traditional type have pig fat in them.) You cannot have enough cans of diced tomatoes and/or crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce (read ingredients) tomato paste, diced tomatoes with green chilis if you like it hot. Whole grain spaghetti and macaroni. Not white, whole grain. Read the box. You do NOT need pre-made spaghetti sauce, I promise. It’s the easiest thing in the world to make. ALSO get lots of things you can grab and eat quickly. It’ll keep you on track. Apples, bananas, oranges, grapes. We do have to avoid nuts when we are trying to reverse an existing coronary issue, however.
Ezekiel brand breads/wraps/English muffins are the best I’ve found. They’re made from sprouted grains, and they are a complete protein sources. I had an Ezekiel English muffin just a few minutes ago, with a lovely organic raspberry jam whose ingredients were raspberries, apple juice, and citric acid. The brand is Crofter’s, but again, read the labels. Their strawberry jam has added sugar.Some unusual items that will soon become staples
Tamari-a mild, fish free soy sauce. Get reduced sodium. If you can’t find it, order online. I put this in all my savory dishes.
Nutritional yeast-dry flakes that are light yellow, and have a nutty, cheesy flavor. Used in countless recipes. Made from molasses. I put a half cup in every chili, pasta sauce, and soup I make.
Tofu-made from soybeans, you cube it, marinate it, sauté or bake it. It’s protein packed, super healthy, and soybeans prevent breast cancer.
6. Recipes
This site has dozens of recipes in the recipe section, but it doesn’t even scratch the surface compared to the plethora of recipes at ForksOverKnives.com. They even have a free recipe app with every recipe they have included. My go-to cookbooks which follow this plan precisely are:
The Engine 2 Cookbook by Rip Esselstyn (Dr. Esselstyn’s son, a firefighter, Olympian, and host of the Plant Strong Podcast, which is PHENOMENAL.)
Be a Plant-Based Warrior Woman by Jane Esselstyn and Ann Crile Esselstyn (Dr. Esselstyn’s is Jane’s dad and Ann’s husband.)
Forks Over Knives: Flavor!
THIS IS CRUCIAL!!!! Watch the documentaries.
This is going to keep you motivated. There are so many out there now. All the below are currently available on Netflix. They’re not linked, except for the final one.
What the Health?
Forks Over Knives
Cowspiracy
The Game Changers
You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment
Seaspiracy
The Courses
The Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate Program
The course below is offered online by Cornell University, and was created by T. Colin Cambell, Ph.D, author of the largest-ever study on the relationship between food and cancer, and author of The China Study. I have taken this course and have the certificate proudly displayed in my kitchen.
The Forks Over Knives Cooking Courses
I also took the “Ultimate Cooking Class” and I loved it. It teaches the oil-free sauté and dozens of other cooking methods, shopping tips, countless recipes, knife skills. You have to make multiple dishes and send photos in. There’s a kitchen overhaul. It’s comprehensive! They also have shorter, smaller courses besides the ultimate one. (Affiliate Link)