Hello kind hearted vegans

feather

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Hello!
I'm 61 my husband is 70. We are vegan whole food plant based lifestyle people. We live in the midwest US, garden extensively, canning/dehydrating/freezing/fermenting, for food. I looked over the forum and didn't see a gardening section and I was a little surprised.

Here is my recent history.
In 2018 I was approaching 59 and I noticed no matter what I did I gained 5 lbs a year and I couldn't get a handle on it. I know, this happens to everyone but why couldn't I get a handle on it? So I just started by giving up meat in the middle of that year, June. Low and behold, my weight gain stopped for a full six months.

To be on the safe side I decided to investigate what was healthy, was it healthy to give up meat? Would I get enough protein? I found out vegetables/grain/fruit, would give me more than enough. Actually eating meat was overkill when it comes to protein.

I read the China Study, the book. More protein is not very healthy at all. It promotes disease, so not eating meat isn't going to do me harm, it's going to help me. All the excess protein has to be filtered out by the kidneys anyways, so eating meat will be a negative, for my health.

I again, went to the doctor and she said, lose a little weight and I agreed with her. I asked her, why is my blood pressure high? I'd asked this question for 30 years. Whether I was thin or heavy whether I exercised or not, walking sometimes 8 miles in a day, for a whole season, my blood pressure was high. She didn't really answer that question. She said, "are you eating healthy?" I said "yes", by all measures in the media, by family tradition, by every measure of any diet known to man, (I thought) I was eating healthy. She never said what the measure of a diet is that can be defined by the word, "healthy".

Why is the word "healthy" such a secret?

In January 2019, my weight gain was stopped because I didn't eat meat anymore. I was going to tackle the next step which was my blood pressure issue. Lots of research on my part. Take oil/fat out of my diet and blood pressure will go down. I was doing damage with eating fat/oil. I also add in hibiscus tea and to fill the gap in hunger fill up on veg/fruit/grain/legume/seeds/nuts. That is McDougall. Have some potatoes, lots of them.

Use rice/potatoes/complex carbs for being 'full' with lots of veg/fruit for the nutrition it provides. Anti-oxidants, polyphenols, flavinols. Add spices and herbs for more. Spices and herbs are chalked full of all the good nutrients. They are almost magical but more than that, studies show they are beneficial to bodies. Use nuts and seeds to get a small amount of fat/oil in a more natural source, nothing refined. Get rid of anything left that is industrial food because it has oil/fat, sugar, and salt.

Salt was another culprit for reasons of blood pressure and the damage it does to produce disease. Just stop the salt, stop being assaulted.

My taste buds changed. Found out later, our taste buds regenerate within about 11 days, so once I stopped the salt/sugar/oil, food started tasting good again. Was it easy, HECK NO, but something had to change.

I started doing research in January 19, about an hour or 3 per day, to start to understand how to live more healthily by eating more healthy. And how exercise speeds up the regenerative process in our bodies so that when we do eat healthy it regenerates even faster.

I ran across McDougall, then Esselstyn, then Gregor, then Popper, then Barnard, and these doctors were all in agreement and had evidence in studies to prove that eating plants, whole food plant based, let's our bodies take care of themselves in a healthy way.

March 19, my husband said, what do you think I'll die from (knowing we'll all die someday)? I said, probably that pizza and hamburgers, cardiac disease. He wasn't going to join me in getting better health because well, he really enjoyed the taste of pizza and hamburgers. I asked him if he was willing to die over it? Are you willing to die with a lb of cheese in one hand and salami in the other hand, go to your grave that way? He said, yes.

April 19 middle of the month. He has a mild heart attack. (It was very painful, he was very scared, we were both scared.) Two days later, he subscribed to McDougall strict, or Esselstyn for his eating habits from then forward. During the next 12 weeks doctor's appointments, lab tests, hospital tests. At first a blockage that could be dealt with by bypass or stent. By 12 weeks, no blockage could be found by the cardiologist and he couldn't sell a stent or bypass operation.

We found out later with research into it, studies and evidence, stents and bypasses are great in an emergency situation but they don't help long term life. In the people that had stents and bypass operations, they lived through the moment, but their life was not made longer by getting them compared to people that didn't get them. (here's your bill $30,000 or $100,000 for that, and try to have a happy retirement if you have any money left)

That's kind of a shocking secret. Stents and Bypass operations are like bandaids for the moment, not a new lease on life.

If the body is not fed healthy plant food, it can't get better, so WE got better. It has been a joy to eat more healthy with my husband. I really like doing it together WITH him. And now it's 2021 and we both eat whole food plant based, strict McDougall or Esselstyn for heart disease.

What are the essential end products? Joint pain and aches and pains, gone. Weight loss, 55 and 45 lbs for us, good BMI's, general anxiety is gone, blood pressure normal, heart disease process, most likely reversed. Husband's total cholesterol level from 200's to 146 in 12 weeks and it's stayed there. LDL at 76. We still monitor cholesterol and ldl every 6 months. Months of digestive issues gone, skin problems gone.

I hope no one puts themselves through what we went through with the heart attack. It was a very tough time.

We enjoy our vegan wfpb'ed food now. We are both thankful for how it has helped us in our lives.

Well, that's the story. It wasn't easy at first but it got easier as time went on. I'm hoping to pick up a few good recipes here and make friends and learn things. I wish you all well, have a great day!
 
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:welcome:
I went vegan for ethical and practical reasons, but follow all the physicians you've mentioned, and have done wfpb on/off with wonderful results! It's a real struggle for me though, as while I make the transition in taste I find it very hard to maintain it, unlike others who say 90 days is a gamechanger! I grew up loving vegan processed foods.
I'm again on a quest to go back to the daily dozen though! I have the new cookbook from the Alzheimers Solution waiting pickup from the library now! I'm 58 and realize I need to take this seriously for so many reasons. Namely, I'm in US and as terrified of medical costs as I am the illnesses!
 
Thank you for the warm reception!
That gardening thread is GREAT, thank you.
Yes it's difficult only in that, we are older and set in our ways. Until we HAD to do what we decided to do!
I like Dr Greger too, the daily dozen. I Love his sense of humor.

We were lucky in we never tried the vegan processed foods, we started everything from scratch. We make everything from scratch, including fruit spreads and ketchup and mustard. Veggies and fruit are canned sugar and salt free. This makes everything simpler.

Today I batch cooked 4 quarts of black bean chili and 3 quarts of broken black rice mixed with brown basmati rice. I saved some black beans for musical brownies I'll make on another day.

The best thing I've found to help us is to always have the refrigerator (and freezer) stuffed with ready to go meals. We eat what we have and focus on our hobbies, that is where our happiness comes from, our endeavors. We both garden, he metal detects, I watercolor paint and like learning about health and nutrition. Those things keep us out of trouble!
 
Thank you for the welcome Blues. Since you are a color I have given your request special consideration.:) I am a new watercolorist for the most part since December. I have only done painting for these almost 6 months and I'm not very confident and I consider myself a learning individual, able to fail miserably quite often but that is part of my learning curve. I will share my chicken since I don't make chicken anymore, I felt the need to make a chicken in paint (and not in the kitchen).
Here it is.
Scan0086.jpg
 
@feather-Gorgeous :master:
We have a creativity thread someone that been quiet lately. You could really give it some life!

You make a good point about "eat what we have and focus on our hobbies, that is where our happiness comes from, our endeavors". I am very much aware that is my problem.
I need to rethink my lifestyle. I ate far better, and was far more active when I was simply vegetarian. I discovered many vices when turned vegan 🙄
 
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wow, thank you for joining us here and thank you for such a wonderful story - it is heart warming and encouraging and I applaud you both!

your artwork is fabulous also and I just know that you are going to make a great addition to this forum!

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
Thank you all again for the welcome!

@silva we did struggle to learn to 'eat to live' instead 'live to eat'. In 2017 and 2018 my hobby was making homemade dairy cheeses, 100 batches, near 400 lbs in total that we ate or shared or gave away. When the focus of finding happiness is too much around food, it's a problem.

We both have many different things we either must do, that we want to do, like cooking or gardening, and things that are optional, like painting, or metal detecting. The reason I cook now, is to fill the fridge. That also helps us from having excuses why we might want something else. We don't cook or shop when we are hungry.

We just eat when we are hungry, move on quickly, focus on the areas of interest or projects or goals. At times, there was a lot of grumbling by both of us. That subsided like cravings.

Today I made oatmeal 'cookies' that are like hockey pucks, we use as snacks or to replace oatmeal at breakfast. He mowed the lawn and we are rigging up a tarp to shield our seedlings from wind and sun as needed, outside on the deck. We live in Wisconsin USA, so planting tomato and peppers in 2-3 weeks. Is there a 'good morning' thread or 'what I'm doing today' thread around that someone can direct me to? Thank you!
 
Hello!
I'm 61 my husband is 70. We are vegan whole food plant based lifestyle people. We live in the midwest US, garden extensively, canning/dehydrating/freezing/fermenting, for food. I looked over the forum and didn't see a gardening section and I was a little surprised.

Here is my recent history.
In 2018 I was approaching 59 and I noticed no matter what I did I gained 5 lbs a year and I couldn't get a handle on it. I know, this happens to everyone but why couldn't I get a handle on it? So I just started by giving up meat in the middle of that year, June. Low and behold, my weight gain stopped for a full six months.

To be on the safe side I decided to investigate what was healthy, was it healthy to give up meat? Would I get enough protein? I found out vegetables/grain/fruit, would give me more than enough. Actually eating meat was overkill when it comes to protein.

I read the China Study, the book. More protein is not very healthy at all. It promotes disease, so not eating meat isn't going to do me harm, it's going to help me. All the excess protein has to be filtered out by the kidneys anyways, so eating meat will be a negative, for my health.

I again, went to the doctor and she said, lose a little weight and I agreed with her. I asked her, why is my blood pressure high? I'd asked this question for 30 years. Whether I was thin or heavy whether I exercised or not, walking sometimes 8 miles in a day, for a whole season, my blood pressure was high. She didn't really answer that question. She said, "are you eating healthy?" I said "yes", by all measures in the media, by family tradition, by every measure of any diet known to man, (I thought) I was eating healthy. She never said what the measure of a diet is that can be defined by the word, "healthy".

Why is the word "healthy" such a secret?

In January 2019, my weight gain was stopped because I didn't eat meat anymore. I was going to tackle the next step which was my blood pressure issue. Lots of research on my part. Take oil/fat out of my diet and blood pressure will go down. I was doing damage with eating fat/oil. I also add in hibiscus tea and to fill the gap in hunger fill up on veg/fruit/grain/legume/seeds/nuts. That is McDougall. Have some potatoes, lots of them.

Use rice/potatoes/complex carbs for being 'full' with lots of veg/fruit for the nutrition it provides. Anti-oxidants, polyphenols, flavinols. Add spices and herbs for more. Spices and herbs are chalked full of all the good nutrients. They are almost magical but more than that, studies show they are beneficial to bodies. Use nuts and seeds to get a small amount of fat/oil in a more natural source, nothing refined. Get rid of anything left that is industrial food because it has oil/fat, sugar, and salt.

Salt was another culprit for reasons of blood pressure and the damage it does to produce disease. Just stop the salt, stop being assaulted.

My taste buds changed. Found out later, our taste buds regenerate within about 11 days, so once I stopped the salt/sugar/oil, food started tasting good again. Was it easy, HECK NO, but something had to change.

I started doing research in January 19, about an hour or 3 per day, to start to understand how to live more healthily by eating more healthy. And how exercise speeds up the regenerative process in our bodies so that when we do eat healthy it regenerates even faster.

I ran across McDougall, then Esselstyn, then Gregor, then Popper, then Barnard, and these doctors were all in agreement and had evidence in studies to prove that eating plants, whole food plant based, let's our bodies take care of themselves in a healthy way.

March 19, my husband said, what do you think I'll die from (knowing we'll all die someday)? I said, probably that pizza and hamburgers, cardiac disease. He wasn't going to join me in getting better health because well, he really enjoyed the taste of pizza and hamburgers. I asked him if he was willing to die over it? Are you willing to die with a lb of cheese in one hand and salami in the other hand, go to your grave that way? He said, yes.

April 19 middle of the month. He has a mild heart attack. (It was very painful, he was very scared, we were both scared.) Two days later, he subscribed to McDougall strict, or Esselstyn for his eating habits from then forward. During the next 12 weeks doctor's appointments, lab tests, hospital tests. At first a blockage that could be dealt with by bypass or stent. By 12 weeks, no blockage could be found by the cardiologist and he couldn't sell a stent or bypass operation.

We found out later with research into it, studies and evidence, stents and bypasses are great in an emergency situation but they don't help long term life. In the people that had stents and bypass operations, they lived through the moment, but their life was not made longer by getting them compared to people that didn't get them. (here's your bill $30,000 or $100,000 for that, and try to have a happy retirement if you have any money left)

That's kind of a shocking secret. Stents and Bypass operations are like bandaids for the moment, not a new lease on life.

If the body is not fed healthy plant food, it can't get better, so WE got better. It has been a joy to eat more healthy with my husband. I really like doing it together WITH him. And now it's 2021 and we both eat whole food plant based, strict McDougall or Esselstyn for heart disease.

What are the essential end products? Joint pain and aches and pains, gone. Weight loss, 55 and 45 lbs for us, good BMI's, general anxiety is gone, blood pressure normal, heart disease process, most likely reversed. Husband's total cholesterol level from 200's to 146 in 12 weeks and it's stayed there. LDL at 76. We still monitor cholesterol and ldl every 6 months. Months of digestive issues gone, skin problems gone.

I hope no one puts themselves through what we went through with the heart attack. It was a very tough time.

We enjoy our vegan wfpb'ed food now. We are both thankful for how it has helped us in our lives.

Well, that's the story. It wasn't easy at first but it got easier as time went on. I'm hoping to pick up a few good recipes here and make friends and learn things. I wish you all well, have a great day!

What a wonderful story! Congratulations on turning your life around and figuring out a kinder and gentler way to live.

Be careful about reducing your salt intake. If you're avoiding all processed foods and buying low-sodium versions of things like canned tomatoes and beans, you can easily end up getting too little sodium. According to Dr. Neal Barnard, your body needs about 230 mg a day of sodium and loses an additional 1300 mg or so in sweat and urine depending on your level of physical activity. So you need to make sure you're getting at least 1500 mg, which is not such a small amount. Also check out what Dr. McDougall has written about this topic.
 
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@poivron, thanks! Yes, we got it covered. With home canning no salt veggies and beans. Most of the food I make is under and un salted. At the table, we salt the surface to wake up flavors. The other culprit for sodium is the sodium in soy sauce, for say, mushroom gravy, for us.
 
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Thank you for the welcome Blues. Since you are a color I have given your request special consideration.:) I am a new watercolorist for the most part since December. I have only done painting for these almost 6 months and I'm not very confident and I consider myself a learning individual, able to fail miserably quite often but that is part of my learning curve. I will share my chicken since I don't make chicken anymore, I felt the need to make a chicken in paint (and not in the kitchen).
Here it is.
View attachment 24384
Thank you for sharing the painting feather.
I hope you will share more ,your confidence can only grow if you are painting works of that quality
 
@poivron, thanks! Yes, we got it covered. With home canning no salt veggies and beans. Most of the food I make is under and un salted. At the table, we salt the surface to wake up flavors. The other culprit for sodium is the sodium in soy sauce, for say, mushroom gravy, for us.
What I was trying to say is that you might be getting too little sodium. Your body needs about 1500 mg of sodium every day, and if you're following a whole-foods plant-based diet and making a good effort to reduce your salt intake, you might easily end up getting too little. Please check out what Dr. McDougall says about salt:
 
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What I was trying to say is that you might be getting too little sodium. Your body needs about 1500 mg of sodium every day, and if you're following a whole-foods plant-based diet and making a good effort to reduce your salt intake, you might easily end up getting too little. Please check out what Dr. McDougall says about salt:
Oh Poivron, I did and do actually hear you, and I heard you the first time. I love salt. It brings alive flavors.
I've measured how much I use each day, well under the 1 teaspoon, but 1500 mg a day. I like McDougall, he is such an old fashioned common sense guy. He just tries to help people with his information.
 
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Hello!
I'm 61 my husband is 70. We are vegan whole food plant based lifestyle people. We live in the midwest US, garden extensively, canning/dehydrating/freezing/fermenting, for food. I looked over the forum and didn't see a gardening section and I was a little surprised.

Here is my recent history.
In 2018 I was approaching 59 and I noticed no matter what I did I gained 5 lbs a year and I couldn't get a handle on it. I know, this happens to everyone but why couldn't I get a handle on it? So I just started by giving up meat in the middle of that year, June. Low and behold, my weight gain stopped for a full six months.

To be on the safe side I decided to investigate what was healthy, was it healthy to give up meat? Would I get enough protein? I found out vegetables/grain/fruit, would give me more than enough. Actually eating meat was overkill when it comes to protein.

I read the China Study, the book. More protein is not very healthy at all. It promotes disease, so not eating meat isn't going to do me harm, it's going to help me. All the excess protein has to be filtered out by the kidneys anyways, so eating meat will be a negative, for my health.

I again, went to the doctor and she said, lose a little weight and I agreed with her. I asked her, why is my blood pressure high? I'd asked this question for 30 years. Whether I was thin or heavy whether I exercised or not, walking sometimes 8 miles in a day, for a whole season, my blood pressure was high. She didn't really answer that question. She said, "are you eating healthy?" I said "yes", by all measures in the media, by family tradition, by every measure of any diet known to man, (I thought) I was eating healthy. She never said what the measure of a diet is that can be defined by the word, "healthy".

Why is the word "healthy" such a secret?

In January 2019, my weight gain was stopped because I didn't eat meat anymore. I was going to tackle the next step which was my blood pressure issue. Lots of research on my part. Take oil/fat out of my diet and blood pressure will go down. I was doing damage with eating fat/oil. I also add in hibiscus tea and to fill the gap in hunger fill up on veg/fruit/grain/legume/seeds/nuts. That is McDougall. Have some potatoes, lots of them.

Use rice/potatoes/complex carbs for being 'full' with lots of veg/fruit for the nutrition it provides. Anti-oxidants, polyphenols, flavinols. Add spices and herbs for more. Spices and herbs are chalked full of all the good nutrients. They are almost magical but more than that, studies show they are beneficial to bodies. Use nuts and seeds to get a small amount of fat/oil in a more natural source, nothing refined. Get rid of anything left that is industrial food because it has oil/fat, sugar, and salt.

Salt was another culprit for reasons of blood pressure and the damage it does to produce disease. Just stop the salt, stop being assaulted.

My taste buds changed. Found out later, our taste buds regenerate within about 11 days, so once I stopped the salt/sugar/oil, food started tasting good again. Was it easy, HECK NO, but something had to change.

I started doing research in January 19, about an hour or 3 per day, to start to understand how to live more healthily by eating more healthy. And how exercise speeds up the regenerative process in our bodies so that when we do eat healthy it regenerates even faster.

I ran across McDougall, then Esselstyn, then Gregor, then Popper, then Barnard, and these doctors were all in agreement and had evidence in studies to prove that eating plants, whole food plant based, let's our bodies take care of themselves in a healthy way.

March 19, my husband said, what do you think I'll die from (knowing we'll all die someday)? I said, probably that pizza and hamburgers, cardiac disease. He wasn't going to join me in getting better health because well, he really enjoyed the taste of pizza and hamburgers. I asked him if he was willing to die over it? Are you willing to die with a lb of cheese in one hand and salami in the other hand, go to your grave that way? He said, yes.

April 19 middle of the month. He has a mild heart attack. (It was very painful, he was very scared, we were both scared.) Two days later, he subscribed to McDougall strict, or Esselstyn for his eating habits from then forward. During the next 12 weeks doctor's appointments, lab tests, hospital tests. At first a blockage that could be dealt with by bypass or stent. By 12 weeks, no blockage could be found by the cardiologist and he couldn't sell a stent or bypass operation.

We found out later with research into it, studies and evidence, stents and bypasses are great in an emergency situation but they don't help long term life. In the people that had stents and bypass operations, they lived through the moment, but their life was not made longer by getting them compared to people that didn't get them. (here's your bill $30,000 or $100,000 for that, and try to have a happy retirement if you have any money left)

That's kind of a shocking secret. Stents and Bypass operations are like bandaids for the moment, not a new lease on life.

If the body is not fed healthy plant food, it can't get better, so WE got better. It has been a joy to eat more healthy with my husband. I really like doing it together WITH him. And now it's 2021 and we both eat whole food plant based, strict McDougall or Esselstyn for heart disease.

What are the essential end products? Joint pain and aches and pains, gone. Weight loss, 55 and 45 lbs for us, good BMI's, general anxiety is gone, blood pressure normal, heart disease process, most likely reversed. Husband's total cholesterol level from 200's to 146 in 12 weeks and it's stayed there. LDL at 76. We still monitor cholesterol and ldl every 6 months. Months of digestive issues gone, skin problems gone.

I hope no one puts themselves through what we went through with the heart attack. It was a very tough time.

We enjoy our vegan wfpb'ed food now. We are both thankful for how it has helped us in our lives.

Well, that's the story. It wasn't easy at first but it got easier as time went on. I'm hoping to pick up a few good recipes here and make friends and learn things. I wish you all well, have a great day!
What a great account !
Well I have come to horror realization there are 3 badies

Salt
Sugar
Fat

And the oils that are processed are badies

So no more salty crisps
No more sugar I use stevia
No more nothing but heart unhealthy omega6 coconut oil

And take loads of vitb12
 
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