When Brennis got home from the hospital a friend of mine gave me the book
“Prevent And Reverse Heart Disease” by Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. M.D. Dr.
Esselstyn’s approach to using diet to combat and reverse the effects of heart
disease on the body is somewhat radical from a Western point of view and when I
first read the book I thought it was a nice approach for people who had no other
choice but I could never do it. Esselstyn believes that most heart disease in
The United States is caused by a diet hight in fat…we kind of all already know
this but Esselstyn believes that you can prevent and reverse heart disease by
adopting a diet that is largely plant based….no meat, no dairy and most
surprisingly NO OIL of any kind. It’s a very well written and thoroughly
researched book and I really fell in love with it right away.
I had lost about 100 pounds through diet and exersise the year before Brennis
had had his heart attack so I was already eating pretty healthily but as I tried
to adapt recipes to Brennis’ new dietary requirements I found myself turning
time and again to Dr. Esselstyn’s ideas and recipes. It really just made sense
to me.
Slowly over the last year I have done a lot of experimenting. I have slowly
cut things out of my diet that either didn’t make me feel good or just made me
feel bad. As I removed things from my diet I began to feel better and stopped
craving them. Soon I was so in-tune with my body that I knew exactly what I
could eat for energy, to feel full, to get me through a long evening. I began
using food for fuel….not just eating because I was hungry or because it was in
front of me. I was really thinking about what I was eating.
Today I am about 95% vegan. I’m not sure I’ll ever lose the other 5%…but I
probably will. I do eat olive oil and I do eat nuts (which are not on the
Esselstyn diet). I eat mostly whole foods: fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole
grains. I try to eat as little processed food as possible. I have also removed
most sugar from my diet because it was a trigger for me to over eat. I am not
successful doing this every day. Sometimes I see a box of donuts and they speak
to me like only donuts can. 100% of he time I feel almost immediately miserable
afterward because my body is no longer used to eating high fat, high sugar
foods….so I don’t do that again for a while. I also find it very limiting to add
the word “never” to my food vocabulary. I don’t think I’ll “never” eat meat
again. I still like the taste of it and if there is something that someone has
made that I just have to try I will. I just don’t choose to do it very
often.
Once again, these are my choices based on my life. I am only sharing them
with you because it might be something you are interested in. I didn’t take very
good care of my body the first 43 years of my life and I am thankful that my
health is good despite that. I don’t want to live forever….I don’t even
necessarily want to live longer. I really just want to feel good and doing this
makes me feel good.
So I’ll be sharing some recipes on these pages and some things I’ve learned
after losing 100 pounds and being able to keep it off for over a year. I hope
you will try some of the recipes and I hope that if you struggle with weight
like I have all my life that you will find something to help you.
No comments:
Post a Comment