4/6/2015 - Gradual Karma - Instant Redemption

After having written the previous entry in March, I decided to wait to actually to post it until after I’d seen for myself that results (some results, any results, though preferably the ones that I was expecting) were going to be possible again. Didn’t want to post a “before picture” if the “after” was going to look the same or (gods forbid!) worse than the original. I hedge my bets, I admit it. I’m a flawed prophet.

So since I’m writing this, and you’re currently reading it, you’ve probably guessed that I did in fact see a difference. And yes, only one month later the “after picture” is far better than I’d even hoped!

Let’s get right to it. First of all, the numbers.

To reiterate, on Feb 26, 2015 I had my cholesterol tested and these were the results:

Total Cholesterol: 185

Triglycerides: 153

LDL: 114

HDL: 40

At that point I also weighed around 175lbs, which was already better than my winter high that was in the 182lb range.

After having cleaned up my diet for a few weeks, I had my blood tested again on April 3rd.

My current numbers:

Total Cholesterol: 113

Triglycerides: 79

LDL: 59.2

HDL: 38

And my weight as of yesterday: 163.4

All I can say is thank you, Plant-Based Whole-Foods diet, and thank you, Dr. Esselstyn!

The Lifestyle (which according to the wisdom espoused in a pretty terrible Metallica song “determines my deathstyle”)

So if you’re interested, how did this happen exactly?

I’m once again following a fat-free, whole-food lifestyle (because it is for life; it’s not just a “diet” and it’s far better to be in that mindset if you’re going to stick with it for the long haul), also sometimes referred to as the RAVE Diet (I know what it’s called but it’s still not a diet). They do allow more nuts than does Dr. Esselstyn, and since I’m following his guidelines I eschew most of them too.*

The guidelines are simple: (I’ve heavily plagiarized these from Dr. Esselstyn’s book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, I hope he doesn’t mind!)

• 1. Don’t eat meat, including chicken, fish, bivalves, crustaceans, etc.        
• 2. Don’t eat any dairy products, even the skim, fat-free ones, or any products that contain them.
• 3. Don’t eat eggs or anything containing eggs.
• 4. Stay away from processed food – this includes white flour, white sugar, processed vegan meat analogues, chips, junk-food of most varieties, etc.
• 5.  No oils or added fat – Not in your cooking, and not in the ingredient list of any of your pre-packaged foods. This includes coconut oil, coconut meat and milk, and avocados.
• 6.  Eat virtually no nuts – Dr. Esselstyn’s recommendation (at least as of the writing of his book) is that if you have no underlying heart condition, you can have a small handful of walnuts a day. If you do have any sort of heart condition or high cholesterol, no nuts for you! (I eat roughly one walnut a day, either crumbled up in my cereal or a salad. It’s amazing how much mileage you can get out of one nut!)
• 7. Stick to all whole-grain products. If it says “multigrain”, “cracked”, “stoneground”, or any other qualifier instead of, or before the word “whole”, leave it on the shelf! Also stay away from semolina and “wheat flour” which are both just white flour.   
• 8. Don’t drink fruit juices. (It’s fine to eat fruit, and to use a little juice in recipes. And of course if you’re blending the whole fruits into a smoothie that’s okay since you’re getting the fiber too. Just try not to overdo it on the number of fruit servings in a day.)
• 9.  Avoid most soy products since they tend to contain excess fat. If you’re going to eat tofu, stick with “light” tofu.  
• 10. Load up on tons of veggies, fruits, legumes, and some seeds. They are the stars of your plate. Also tempeh and seitan make great meat alternatives too when needed! (Just make sure they don’t have any added oil.)  

Those are the basics. I know it sounds like a lot of rules and "don'ts", but they're super simple once you get the hang of it, and well worth any learning curve that there might be. Stick to food in its most natural form and you’ll be good! 

***

Exercise is also great, but I have to admit, these results include virtually no exercise at all.

This is not a flattering story, but it’s not a flattering blog, so I’ll tell it. I recently bought a new car, and our first night together the two of us got into a minor altercation of which the car was the uncontested winner. I’d been trying to get the backseat to release and fold down, (pull the lever, step back, watch it swing down in a graceful arc... or not,) but it hung on tenaciously. I pulled the lever, I pulled the seat, I pushed, struggled, spat invective oaths, all to no avail. It waited to acquiesce (I will swear to my grave that it timed it on purpose) until my torso was right in line with its hard plastic seat belt brace. Suffice it to say that backseats are heavier than I remember them being.

The result was a few bruised and generally misplaced ribs that kept me from any unnecessary exercise for weeks.  

Upon further reflection, it is possible that the car also subscribed to my age-old dictum that exercise kills, and was, in its own naïve way, trying to save me from an even worse fate at the hands of an elliptical machine or weight bench. Regardless of motivation, I am happy to report that the car and I have mended our still-budding relationship and are currently engaged in a passionate, adoring romance.

So What Do I Eat?

Well, to begin with, every morning I start out with a kale or collard green smoothie. Some variation on the above recipes, give or take certain veggies or fruits. The constants are the chia seeds, hemp seeds or hemp protein, flax and buku greens!

It’s surprising how long a well-crafted smoothie will fend off hunger. I assume it’s the wide range of nutrients that can keep you satisfied without cravings for so many hours.

I generally don’t eat at work, other than the occasional apple or orange. If I’m going to be out too late in the afternoon, I’ll bring a second smoothie for lunch, but that’s fairly rare. 

I’ve been making peace with the feelings of occasional hunger pangs. For too many years I picked constantly. At even the slightest twinge of an emptying stomach I would rush to the refrigerator or cupboard or bookbag and grab a handful of nuts, a scoop of peanut butter, pretzels, chips, a hunk of bread and Earth Balance, anything to stave off even the most mild of discomfort. Consequently I’ve been working with my whole relationship to those feelings. Not that one needs to be hungry eating like this! There are plenty of healthy fruits, veggies and other snacks you can grab in a pinch. But I’m trying to go further and change my old eating habits from the ground up.

It is possible when eating lots of fruits and veggies that you will find for a while that you do feel like you need to eat more to become or to remain full. Most likely that will taper off after a few weeks or months, but even so, the caloric difference between a plate of broccoli with hot sauce and a plateful of chips or a handful of nuts is large enough that you’ll likely still lose weight while eating much more frequently.  

Cereal and the Unending Quest for Non-Dairy Perfection -  

My most anticipated meal of the day is my lunch, for which I still indulge in my slightly modified bowl of cereal. Since I was a kid, cartoons and cereal have been the ultimate comfort duo. Some things never, and should never, change. When I get home from work, or shopping, or when it just hits 2:00 pm, I want to fill up an over-sized bowl and chow down in front of a solid half hour of animated absurdity. As a textbook introvert, I need the time for decompression. My me time.

My cereals of choice have changed a bit over the years, but they still serve the same function.

Recently I’ve been using up my backlog of Cascadian Farm's Raisin Bran, which I’ve always loved (but which unfortunately contains added oil, so I won't be buying it anymore), interspersed with Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise with Raisins. The Esselstyns recommend Erewhon Raisin Bran, which I now have on the shelf, though I haven’t tried it yet. To that I add roughly a half to a full cup of raw oats, sometimes ground flax, and always a blend of fruits and berries. The most common are pineapple, strawberries, blueberries (preferably frozen), raspberries, mango, etc.  

More importantly, having finished my supply of store-bought almond milk, I’ve been experimenting with some homemade alternatives. Let the quest commence!

***

The following recipes (as well as the lists of Esselstyn-approved packaged foods) can be found here. 

First up was “banana milk”. A great idea for cereal, though I haven’t quite hit the right combination. The recipe called for a banana, water, and a little vanilla extract. Blend it up and voila, milk, perfect for cereal!

I used a frozen banana so that it would be cold and ready for use immediately, tossed the ingredients in my Nutribullet and gave it a whirl. I’ve tried it a few times now, and even though the bananas haven’t been overly ripe, they do tend to taste it when blended. Perhaps if I’d added maple syrup it might cut the bitter, acrid banana flavor. Once I added some rather sweet frozen blueberries to the blend, but it didn’t make an appreciable difference. Overall, not a successful alternative thus far, but worthy of further experimentation! 

***

Next up I tried “oat milk”. Taking the easiest road, because I’m a man, and a lazy lazy man at that, I tossed some oats in the Nutribullet with water, a date, and a little vanilla. I soon discovered there are two problems with this method. 

Though the “milk” is actually rather palatable, it’s incredibly bland when used on unsweetened cereal. Probably my taste buds will grow accustomed, but for now it’s not hitting the “sweet spot”. For many years I've been using sweetened vanilla almond milk. Even the unsweetened stuff takes most of the joy out of the meal for me. Again, maple syrup would help, but I’m trying to avoid adding unnecessary sugar at this stage.

The second big problem with this method is temperature. If I make it when I need it, then from the heat of blending and the fact that the ingredients are only slightly colder than room temperature at best, I end up with warm cereal milk. Blech. I’ve tried adding ice cubes with the water but it doesn’t make enough of a difference.

The next logical step was to make it ahead and refrigerate it. However, when this milk sits for a while it becomes gluey. Not inediblely so, but I had to add a little more water and re-blend it to achieve the proper consistency. And even at that, when eating it, little aqueous strings of milk would stretch from the spoon to the bowl. (Come to think of it, I need to figure out how to incorporate this defect into making stretchy vegan cheese for the future!)

The last resort was to follow the actual recipe. (Man shudder)

The recipe calls for:

1C Oats

5C Water

1-2 Tsp Vanilla

(I added a couple of dates to sweeten it.)

Bring the ingredients to a boil, then cover and let simmer for an hour. Strain the mixture and enjoy the milk.

Couldn’t be more straightforward.

I just made this for the first time yesterday so I haven’t had much time to experiment yet.

The first reaction is that the strained milk is extremely thick. Like wallpaper paste. It does taste good, so I’m excited to work with it. After a night in the fridge the milk became the texture of thick pudding. This is actually rather nice as you can keep it as a “condensed milk”, and then dilute it as needed. (I intend to try an unsweetened version in cream soups, gravies, etc.)

To make a serving of milk I dropped a blob into the Nutibullet, put in around an equal amount of water and another date, then blended. I’m happy to report that this has been the best option so far!

There is one other benefit to this method. You can save the solid “oatmeal” that you strained out! I suspect it has various uses, but so far I’ve found it to be delicious on its own. I hit it with cinnamon, a touch more vanilla, and some raisins. Toss it in the fridge and you have something that tastes like a cross between rice pudding and bread pudding with no added sugar other than what’s in the raisins and dates! It’s amazing how much mileage you can get out of one cup of oats this way; a week’s worth of oat milk and at least a couple servings of dessert!

I’ll keep you posted on my quest for the perfect cereal milk!

Other Snacks?

I have greatly curtailed my bread intake, a major aid in lowering triglycerides alone. I will still eat Ezekiel breads, and Trader Joe’s has a Sprouted Grain bread which is also fat-free and Esselstyn-approved. My favorite at the moment, though, is from Whole Foods' bakery. They have a wonderful Sprouted Old World Seed Bread with raisins and a variety of (as the name would suggest) sprouted whole grains and seeds. This one taxes my willpower. But with no added oils or sugar, it’s a relatively guiltless treat!

Two Moms In the Raw make raw granola bars that are mostly seeds, dried fruit, and a few nuts. I keep one in my bag in case I really need something to nibble on, but I’ve yet to even finish one whole bar.

I’ve also been snacking on celery or broccoli dunked in hot sauce. Also daikon, radishes, parsnips, carrots… Anything crunchy and preferably spicy. They're essentially a replacement for Garden of Eatin's Red Hot Blues, and other various Doritos-style “nacho” chips. I’m still experimenting with a nutritional yeast-spice blend that’s totally satisfying, but I’ll continue in the name of Science!

I stopped using the microwave a while ago, but I used to love my Presto microwave popcorn popper. It was basically a bowl into which you could pour popcorn kernels with no added oil, and three minutes later have a big bowl of crunchy fat-free goodness. I still feel skeevy about daily microwaving, so I’m seriously considering an air popper. Popcorn is a fantastic mid-afternoon go-to, but damn, I seriously miss my coconut-oil popped death corn.  It’s all about resetting the taste buds. It won’t take long, but there’s always an inevitable period of adjustment.  

And for Dinner?

I’ll be honest, I’ve been lazy when it comes to cooking dinner lately. (Big surprise, I know.) Some dinners consist solely of a massive salad loaded with tons of veggies, nutritional yeast, a walnut, beans, and raw apple cider vinegar. In others I use collards to wrap up various raw veggies and beans, mayo-less coleslaw, etc. Sometimes I have vegetable soup, stiry fry (minus the fry) with black bean spaghetti, anything that I can make that will give me leftovers for at least a night or two because, you know… laziness.

I’ve been lucky on this front lately too. Having somewhat inspired my aunt to dabble in this lifestyle, she’s been experimenting a lot with beans and oats, particularly in sculpting them into old meat standbys, and even in one case, cookies! 

The best so far has been her take on Lebanese Kibbee. Normally a mixture of lamb or beef with wheat, filled with onions, pine nuts, and cinnamon, and then baked, she's started using black beans and chickpeas in place of the meat. It’s shocking how authentic it still tastes with the major substitution. She’s also left out the oil for my sake, but other than that, she follows her old recipe.

Today she made “sausage” for the first time with oats and beans, along with celery, carrots, and onions. With the sage they actually tasted more like bread stuffing than a sausage, but they’re really tasty and a work in progress.

Last night I felt inspired and ambitious. Not having a real recipe, basically I cooked quinoa with rosemary, then threw in some chopped collards just to wilt them. In another pan I cooked purple and sweet potatoes, asparagus, portobello mushrooms, broccoli, yellow and red peppers, cherry tomatoes, and onions, with hot pepper, garlic, thyme, oregano, and Bragg’s Liquid Aminos. Super nutritious supper with two nights of leftovers to look forward to!

Here's a pic of tonight's leftovers! 

For dessert I might have a little fruit, or in one case, I made mango sorbet with just frozen mangos, a touch of maple syrup, cinnamon, and water in the Nutribullet. It was a little thin at first, but when left in the freezer it came to the perfect sorbet consistency without becoming an impenetrable block of ice.

***

This seems as good a place as any to wrap up for now. I’m not sure how often I’ll be updating, but hopefully enough to make it a worthwhile venture.

I just hope to inspire others out there, vegan or omnivore and anywhere in between, to consider your food choices wisely, to consider getting yourself checked regularly, (the CT scan was $49 out of pocket and well worth every penny) and as the old slogan goes, “Eat like you give a shit”. Not just about other sentient beings, or the planet, which are both excellent reasons to go vegan, but eat like you give a shit about yourself too. And more importantly, consider your future self, because she/he is the one who is going to have to deal with the consequences of the choices you make today.  

As always, thanks for reading!



*In case you didn't see my little disclaimer in the last post, here it is again: 

It probably goes without saying, but in case it doesn't, I have no affiliation with any of the doctors, the RAVE Diet, or any of the products I currently buy and occasionally gush about. I have nothing to sell or anything to push. Also, I am in no way qualified to give nutritional or medical advice. I'm simply regurgitating things I've read and heard elsewhere. I'm just a guy looking to turn his own health scare into something positive and empowering for others!