Reclaim Your Health
Here's how
I’m neck deep in T. Colin Campbell’s Plant-Based Nutrition certification course, offered by Cornell University, and I am loving it, learning a lot of new information and enhancing my existing body of knowledge.
I’m working on another novel at the same time, so it’s been challenging, but I’m almost finished with the course and can emerge from my work-cave, blink in the sunlight, and post an update here. And it’s a major update. It’s a potentially life-altering update.
I’m planning to post lots more recipes here, of course, but I also want to share some of what I’ve been learning, because that was the whole point.
Here are some highlights of what I’ve learned:
85% of people with type 2 diabetes can reverse the disease and get off medication with lifestyle changes alone. (Diet & exercise.)
In one study, women with severe PMS symptoms were instructed to eat a whole food, plant-based diet for 12 weeks, then return to their old diets for 12 weeks, while their symptoms were monitored. However, many of the participants felt such intense relief during the WFPB weeks that they refused to go back, even though the study required it. Eventually, with enough cooperation, the study showed significant reduction of PMS symptoms.
Countries with the highest dairy intake also have the highest numbers of hip fractures.
70-80% of all US cancers are avoidable
In a controlled study published in the journal Arthritis, participants reported significant reduction in pain and improved function compared with the control group after only two weeks on a whole food, plant-based diet.
In a larger study, patients who ate meat once per week increased their risk of osteoarthritis 31% in women, 19% in men over those who didn’t eat meat at all. If they ate meat more than once a week, the risk went up 49% in women, 43% in men.
We never grow faster than in infancy, when we double our weight repeatedly. This is the time when we need the most protein. Never is there a time when we require more. And yet breast milk, the perfect food to support this growth, is 5%-6% protein. You NEVER need more than 5% of your calories to come from protein. Every plant you can name has a minimum of 10% protein. A potato is 10% protein. If you lived on potatoes alone, you’d have 10% of your calories from protein, double what you need to thrive.
Whole food plant-based athletes and body builders who get OFF supplements and protein shakes and get their nutrition from diet alone, increase their endurance by up to 30%.
Coronary artery disease is largely reversible through lifestyle changes alone. In fact, Medicare had to create a new category to cover a WFPB treatment plan for heart patients. It’s supposed to be offered to you as an option to surgery. If your cardiologist isn’t giving you all your options, ask why not. PS, Stents and bypasses and statins do not reverse heart disease. They control the symptoms so you can live longer, but your disease is worsening the entire time and your docs know this. You can only get better by changing your lifestyle.
“Blue Zones” are places where people routinely thrive into their early 100s and diseases like dementia and Alzheimers are so rarely seen they’re basically non-existent. The top common factors in those zones are the very same lifestyle changes we recommend; a diet strong in vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains, a physically active life, a healthy social life, a healthy spiritual life, a healthy approach to stress, lots of water, and good sleep.
Overall, researchers found that people eating a whole food, plant-based diet (fruits, veggies, beans & other legumes, whole grains and avoid meat, dairy, processed foods and oils) are 50% less likely to develop chronic diseases including our top killers - cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
A whole food plant-based diet lengthens the telomeres at the ends of cells, reversing the aging process of DNA.
Dr. Brooke Goldner is reversing lupus (and improving or reversing other autoimmune diseases including Hashimoto’s, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Graves disease) in her patients with her six-part protocol:
Eliminate animal products, which are full of saturated fat, cholesterol, and Omega 6s, all of which create inflammation (the beginning of disease.)
Eliminate added oil which immediately smothers fragile endothelial cells that keep your blood flowing freely.
Eliminate processed foods: they’re full of oils, fat, sodium.
Include lots raw whole plant foods, especially cruciferous plans like broccoli and dark green leafies. (And lots of cooked ones, too.)
Eat foods rich in Omega 3s like chia seeds & flax seeds. We need to balance omega 6s with Omega 3s. Omega 6s allow our bodies to make inflammation, and Omega 3s allow our bodies to remove it. Most of us have too many Omega 6s and hardly any Omega 3s.
Water, water, water. Drink 1/2 ounce per pound of body weight MINIMALLY to a MAX of 128 ounces per day. (So half your body weight in ounces—if you weigh 140, drink 70 ounces of water per day.)
You can read more about Dr. Goldner’s story and her protocol at GoodbyeLupus.com
That’s a little bit
The Campbell/Cornell course is deep and rich and full of wisdom. I’m nearly finished, as I said, and I hope to delve more deeply into many of the topics above, here on the blog. And, of course, the recipes will keep on coming, too.
You can take this course yourself. (Not cheap, but it’s Cornell.) There’s more information at T. Colin Campbell’s Center For Nutrition Studies
This site’s mission…
Is to help people reclaim their health and get their lives back. There is no reason for people my age to be chronically ill with one foot in the grave, and spending half their income on multiple prescriptions that are making them sicker.
It’s all in our own hands. If you stick with me you will be empowered to do it. Step by step, you can get back to thriving good health again. I promise.
THE PROOF
Try it for a month. Four weeks. One month. Start today, and go until this date next month. Mark it out on your calendar.
Here’s a basic how to get started list:
Get yourself a really excellent non-stick pan. This Ozeri brand is my favorite so far. Click the image. (It’s an affiliate-link.) Or start experimenting and find your own favorite. You can also use a quality stainless steel skillet for oil-free cooking.
Practice using heat and motion to cook in your best pan without using oil, butter, spray, anything at all. Get the pan good and hot on a medium high setting. (Burner too high will ruin your pan.) Test the heat by dripping a little water in. If it beads and dances, it’s hot enough. Scoop in the veggies. Hear the sizzle. Stir frequently. When the sugars start getting brown and sticky on the bottom, add a little water or vegetable broth, just enough to deglaze. Practice! You can caramelize onions and make golden brown French toast without need of oil.
Shop for produce. Buy raw vegetables and frozen ones too, for when you’re in a hurry. Include one or two you’ve never tried before, and keep that practice throughout.
Buy whole grains, brown rice not white, whole grain flour not white.
Find hundreds (maybe thousands) of recipes that fit the whole food, plant-based lifestyle at Forks Over Knives.
Don’t fall for the lure of fake, processed, plant-based foods. Just eat real food.
Getting more active is part of this new way of living, too. But nobody had to tell me to add more activity to my days. My energy shot up so high on this eating plan that I naturally became more active. And when I move, I move better. My stride-length has increased; my steps are bouncier; I feel light and easy; I don’t grunt when I walk up the stairs.
I’ve lost 40 pounds in a thriving, healthy way. No counting or measuring or restricting myself. This doesn’t feel at all restrictive, it feels freeing. How many animal products can you name? Now how many veggies, fruits, whole grains, nuts, or berries? I eat when I’m hungry. I eat until I’m full. I’ve fallen in love with cooking and baking.
I got my blood pressure under control and got off meds for it; I stopped snoring; my itchy, flaky scalp condition has vanished; my chronic reflux is gone; I can run again without knee pain. I feel as if I’m aging in reverse.
Try it for yourself, that’s the only way to know for sure if you can do it.
That’s it for today. I’ll pop another recipe up super fast.