Archive | Eat to Live

RSS feed for this section

A Day in the Life of a Vegan: Meet Bob

September 14, 2012

I’m happy to introduce you to Bob Shinn — just another normal guy going vegan! It’s happening everyday.  Bob recognized the benefits of a plant-based diet after watching the movie, Forks Over Knives. Like so many others after seeing this film, he switched to a vegan diet and noticed the benefits right away. Read on to see how his life has transpired.

Name: Bob Shinn

Age: 53

Where do you live? Colorado Springs, CO

How long have you been vegan? 10 months

Wake up: Between 6:00 and 6:30am

Breakfast:  I’ve never been a big breakfast person, so I start the day with a banana, peach or apple.

Morning activities/work: I usually get to the office around 8:30am. I’m the chief technology officer and a co-founder of an Internet company. Mornings are spent reviewing our progress from the day before and coordinating/prioritizing all software development and IT activities for the day.

Lunch: I eat a light lunch that is usually a homemade soup followed by another serving of fruit. My favorite lunch is a bowl of vegan chili followed by some mixed berries. Immediately after eating lunch, I walk my first four mile loop of the day. My walk takes me into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains so I get to enjoy some beautiful scenery and I usually spot some wildlife along the way.

Afternoon activities/work: Most days my afternoon is filled with emails and calls to customers but if I’m lucky and if things are going smoothly, I can get in a few hours of writing software. This probably qualifies me as a nerd, but designing and coding software is my bliss. I think it’s the creation aspect that appeals most to me. It’s probably akin to what a writer or artist feels when they are in the act of creation. Time ceases to exist when I’m in that mode.

Dinner: My wife Cathy and I have dinner together every evening. She is not (yet) a vegan but she always prepares a vegan dinner for us. She is an accomplished home chef so the dinners she creates are amazing. Sometimes they are based on recipes she has found online and then made her own, and other times she just combines whatever she has handy into a great meal. The variety of meals really keeps it interesting for me. Tonight we had one of my favorites – spaghetti squash with marinara sauce and a side of baked butternut squash and sweet potatoes.

Activities: Right after dinner, we go on another 4 mile walk around our neighborhood. We have a great trail system that cuts through nearby Cottonwood Park so we get to enjoy seeing all the activities going on at the park and the views of Pikes Peak. After the walk it’s time to wind down for the day and catch a TV show or watch a movie.

Lights out:  Around 11:00pm. Prior to my lifestyle change, I had trouble sleeping so there would be times I was up most of the night. Since I’ve been on a plant-based diet, I have had no problem sleeping seven or so hours a night.

Favorite Cause: Since I’ve been walking quite a lot lately, I found a group to sponsor my twice daily walks. Charity Miles has an iPhone application that records my walks and then donates money to Feeding America and my local food bank based on the distance I cover. At my current level, the donation amounts to 21 meals per day.

Favorite animal or vegan book? Eat To Liveby Dr. Joel Fuhrman. This book is very informative and introduced me to some nutritional concepts that I have successfully used over the last few months to accelerate my progress towards reclaiming my health.

Favorite animal or vegan movie? There are many great movies that helped me to reach the conclusion that I needed to be living a vegan lifestyle. “Food, Inc.”, “Supersize Me” and “Earthlings” opened my eyes to how food is produced in our society and were enough to convince me to never eat fast food again and to distrust heavily processed food. But my favorite vegan movie has to be Forks over Knives– This movie introduced me to the research of Doctors Esselstyn and Campbell regarding the health issues caused by obtaining your dietary protein from animal sources. Since I had been experiencing many of the health issues that they detailed in the movie, I saw their recommendations as a road map back to health. Up until then, I wasn’t sure that such a path even existed.

What’s the best part of being vegan? For me it’s the health benefits. When I made the commitment to this lifestyle, it was due to some health problems that I was experiencing. Like many people, I had a very unhealthy relationship with food. I was eating fattening, low-nutrition foods for most meals. I would eat at restaurants for every weekday lunch and at least 3 dinners a week. Over many years I had gained so much weight that I became severely obese and my health had greatly declined. I was battling hypertension and high cholesterol and, despite taking a variety of medications, I was continually getting sicker. I got the shock of my life when my physician ordered a routine EKG and I discovered that my heart was producing irregular patterns. I was referred to a cardiologist who ran me through a battery of tests that showed that I also had plaque buildup in my arteries that would only be expected in someone 80 years old. I was told that I had bad genes and though I didn’t smoke and rarely drank, I would probably only live 10 more years as long as I stayed on all the medications. I didn’t accept the prognosis and I began looking for a way to gain some control over my conditions. I found hope in the promise of a path back to wellness through a vegan lifestyle.

What do you want people to know about living vegan? Living vegan is really easy once you commit to it. The promise of increased health is real. I’m living it right now. If I can do this, anyone can.

I recently had my first annual checkup with my cardiologist since the lifestyle change and he is thrilled with the results I’ve achieved. In just 10 months I’ve lost 88 pounds. I no longer need any of the medications I had been on. I no longer feel sick every day and I have more energy than I have had in twenty years.  All my labs are in the normal ranges for the first time since I got sick and my LDL (bad cholesterol) is so low that my arteries are releasing the plaque buildup that was threatening an early death. Sometime over the next year I hope to have completely removed the blockages just by this lifestyle change.

Comments { 2 }

Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports on Heart Disease

October 22, 2011

If you haven’t seen this documentary, The Last Heart Attack, about heart disease yet, watch it online this weekend. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores ways to prevent heart disease including a plant-based diet. Food is medicine. Eat healthy!

Comments { 1 }

Tofu Ranch Dressing

October 11, 2009

Book 2 of the Set

Several people have also asked for the vegan ranch dressing recipe I have used on the Eat to Live plan. This is my adaptation of the Tofu Ranch Dressing/Dip recipe found in Eat for Health (Book 2, page 163). I switched up the spices in favor of my taste buds. If you keep the base of tofu, dates, and water, you can change-up the spices to your liking too.

Vegan Ranch Dressing
Serves 4

  • 6 oz. silken tofu
  • 3 dates, pitted
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/4 c. chopped green onions
  • 3 tbsp. water
  • 2 tbsp. fresh squeeze lemon juice
  • 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
  • 1-2 tbsp. fresh cilantro
  • 1 tsp. dill
  • 2 tbsp. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (found at Whole Foods and other natural food stores; substitute with low-sodium soy sauce if not available)
  • 1 tsp. cayenne or other hot pepper spice (This may be too spicy for some. A pinch may be better.)

Add all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. This dressing only has about 2 grams of fat per serving.

About fat and salads – Yesterday I stopped by VeganMania to hear Dr. Greger speak. (Dr. Greger reads about 5,000 nutritional studies a year. He knows his stuff when it comes to nutrition.) He mentioned that you need fat in your salad to help with digestion, so low-fat or fat-free dressings are not always a good idea unless you add nuts, seeds, or avocados to your salad. I typically have nuts on my salad, so using a low-fat dressing is fine. What ‘s important to remember is fat is good if it’s in moderation and the good kind of fat, i.e. from nuts, seeds, or avocados.

Comments { 7 }

Eat to Live: 3 Weeks Down, 6 Weeks to Go?

October 8, 2009

Revised, 2010

So I’m three weeks in to the Eat to Live program and should only have three weeks to go. I mean I just signed up for six weeks. But, yesterday I was reading how long it really takes to make a habit. Normally experts suggest it takes 21 days. Some studies have found it likely takes 60 days.

This makes sense to me, since I have failed quite a few times in making positive changes. (I have also succeeded quite a few times!) Who out there hasn’t failed now and again? A prime example would be when I quit smoking many years ago. (Yes, I know. I too can’t believe I used to smoke. I blame it on my mom (not really) but out of four kids, she only smoked when pregnant with me, and I’m the only one who took up the habit — interesting, don’t you think!) When I “first” quit, I used the nicotine patch. That program only lasts like 4-6 weeks. I can’t remember exactly how long, but perhaps I would have been successful the first time or sooner if I focused on it for 9 weeks (or 63 days). Anyway, I’m going to give this Eat to Live plan nine weeks to see if it becomes more of a habit for me to eat this way.

What I’m going for is that when I’m hungry my first inclination is to choose whole, unprocessed foods and not something quick and easy from a package. I also need to be in the habit of planning my meals. Or, when I’m agitated — say someone pisses me off — I choose to practice my yoga or some other positive behavior rather than eat emotionally. Of course, eating emotionally never results in eating healthfully.

With that said, I got off to a shaky start on day one, but overall have been doing pretty good. On the first day, I woke with a headache and popped an ibuprofen by 9am. It was my first day back to work after a week off. Work can do that to me. According to the book, I should have suffered through the pain as it would eventually go away as my body rid itself of toxins through this process. I’m not much into suffering though. I have taken a total of four over-the-counter pain relievers which is a huge improvement for me. I have only had a few headaches over the last three weeks. I’m not certain if it’s the Eat to Live program, the fact that work has calmed down a lot, my new yoga practice, or if it’s a combination. No matter why, I am feeling better! So I’m doing something right.

By the third week, I actually started to wake up with a clear head rather than all the stuffiness I typically feel. This in itself is a big payoff. I have also lost about five pounds which is great, but honestly feeling better when I wake up is more important to me. I would say I have followed the eating plan about 95%, which I feel good about because it is not easy. I have veered off the path a few times. Here are some of my transgressions:

  • Salad dressings with oil. I finally started making my own using the vegan ranch recipe from Eat for Health. It’s pretty good after switched up the spices a bit.
  • Cans of beans with salt although I do rinse them before cooking. I didn’t know until a couple of days ago that Whole Foods sells cans of unsalted beans. How did I overlook that? I know I could buy bags of beans but too much trouble for me at this point.
  • Dinner has consisted of air popped popcorn a few times. Sometimes I just don’t feel like cooking when I get home from work. I’m not a huge fan of air popped popcorn by the way, but I’m a HUGE fan of movie popcorn. I’m adapting.

The first time I popped the corn was an experience in itself. I bought a popper at Target made by ChefMate. Do not buy this product.The first time I used it I had popcorn and kernels flying all over my kitchen. Wow. This was the most poorly made product ever. I wish I had taken pictures to post. It was actually quite funny but obviously I had to return the popper. I imagine the ChefMate product folks testing the product and laughing their asses off thinking how this would be such a fun product to sell. I found a better-made popper at Macy’s by the way.

  • I have eaten dinner out a few times. I have made good choices for the entrée but then had dessert (and it was not for my birthday!).  I did choose raw desserts both times, which at least do not have straight up table sugar but are not part of the six-week plan either.
  • Some days I’ve eaten too much fat, i.e. more nuts and avocados then allowed in one day.
  • Birthday weekend: Started on Thursday with two vegan cupcakes even though my birthday wasn’t until Saturday. A co-worker who is not vegan made me vegan cupcakes for my big day. How could I refuse a cupcake?! I guess the bigger question is why I needed two! What I noticed, since this was the first time I had white sugar in three weeks, is that I had a headache by the evening and it was still hanging around when I woke up. Another pain killer taken. Friday night I had vegan cheesecake. Didn’t like that so much. Saturday on my birthday, I skipped cake and just had vegan chocolate mousse from Whole Foods.
  • Yesterday, days after my birthday was over, I’m still craving sugar. I gave in by 3:30 in the afternoon and had four squares of dark chocolate. Sugar is a tough one to crack but here’s the worst…
  • The most blatant transgression of all occurred on the 21st day. After a frustrating Sunday of phone call after phone call — not a big fan of talking on the phone — I broke down and went in search of potato chips. I was craving something salty which I always knew was my first love over sugar.

The most difficult thing about this diet for me is eating out. I love to eat out and this is when I see my friends. It’s been challenging for me to practice the necessary discipline to eat at home most of the time. The only way to completely manage that I eat what is allowed on the plan is to eat at home. Ughhh. Friends, I’ll see you soon I hope! Nonetheless, accepting these transgressions, I trudge forward. Like Dr. Fuhrman says in his books, just because you get off track at one meal or snack doesn’t mean you can’t get right back on track the next time you eat.

Comments { 4 }

Live to Eat or Eat to Live?

September 12, 2009

ETL_FlatLately I have been eating a lot. I have been living to eat. I have been over indulging in soy ice cream, vegan lasagna, and chips. Fortunately I haven’t seemed to gain any weight (probably due to regular exercise), but I feel crappy. I wake up with headaches and stiff muscles a lot. What I should be doing is nourishing myself with fresh fruits and vegetables. Surely I would feel better then.

I am always trying to eat healthier but I definitely go through phases where I fall off the wagon — vacation time especially. The past two weeks are a prime example. I have eaten just about every vegan processed food on the market. For example, I’ve thought, I’m in the mood for some chips. I’ll just walk over to CVS and pick some up. Or, hey, after I pick up some cat food, I’ll stop by the grocery to buy some spinach and peanut butter zigzag soy ice cream (only because they’ve been out of Chocolate Obsession). Gee, that’s smart. Spinach and ice cream. What have I been thinking! I blame this partly on being on vacation this week but my vacation-style eating began a week before my time off. Go figure.

Some might wonder why I care so much about healthy eating and it may seem like I am obsessed with my weight. Admittedly I am a little obsessed — more so for practical reasons than vanity. Here’s how I see it. I weigh about 10 pounds more than I did 10 years ago, so how much will I weigh in 2019 when I’m 50? If I keep gaining 10 pounds then I’m in trouble. It’s not easy for most adults in this culture, but it just makes sense for long-term health to pay attention to my weight and overall well-being.

Also, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I strived for anything less. When I know better — which I do because I read about maintaining good health regularly — I feel intense guilt when I don’t do better. Over the years my diet has improved tremendously. Fifteen years ago I use to eat french fries at least 3-4 times a week for lunch and drink at least five Diet Cokes a day. I thought water was for showering and swimming — not a beverage! Although I have somewhat enjoyed over indulging these past couple of weeks, I really haven’t. It feels like living under a heavy, cloudy sky. So you see at this point in my life, it’s just better for me to eat healthy. I have often wished I was one of those people who just didn’t care, but I’m not.

A guy I dated years ago once said, “You wish you were perfect, don’t you?” OMG. He was right, I thought. So I do tend to lean toward perfectionism, but I also realize that’s never going to happen. It doesn’t mean I should eat like crap either. Indulging now and then is fine. I take personal responsibility for my health. Just because heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s runs in my family, does not mean I am destined for any of them. I believe if I take good care of myself, then I will be less likely to meet with any of those fates.

You may be wondering where I am going with all this. Recently I read two books by Dr. Joel Fuhrman:

  1. Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss
  2. Eat for Health: Lose Weight, Keep It Off, Look Younger, Live Longer

 E4H_bookcover_1_web     E4H_bookcover_2_web

Dr. Fuhrman is a practicing physician and gives many examples of how people have saved their own lives by healthy eating. He writes from practical experience, not just research. He has treated successfully thousands of patients over the years for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and so on.

Eat to Live is not a new book. Dr. Fuhrman wrote it in 2003. I heard about it a few years ago and finally got around to reading it this Summer after my personal trainer recommended it. (How cool is it that my PT has gone vegan!) Both books are about weight loss but also about healthy eating in general. I don’t mean healthy eating like having a salad now and then or eating a few veggies with dinner. Eat to Live is not for the faint of heart. It’s hardcore. I mean radically healthy eating — consuming pounds of vegetables and fruits daily. An extreme change from the standard American diet (SAD). (Personally I would recommend anyone interested in reading either of these books, go with Eat for Health, a more moderate, phased-in approach to healthy eating then Eat to Live.)

Most people eating the SAD way would give up on this plan before they even got started, unfortunately. For example, Dr. Fuhrman recommends no salt, no caffeine, no sugar, and no white flour. He suggests eating an entirely plant-based, whole foods diet — no processed foods whatsoever and no animal products. If the food comes in a package and has more than one ingredient on the label, forget about it! He does allow for limited amounts of fish on his Life Plan (but not his six week plan as described below), but I didn’t get the feeling he encouraged it. Dr. Fuhrman promotes a nutritionally-dense diet. He calls himself a “nutritarian.”

Since reading his books (but minus the past two weeks), my diet has improved. I started adding kale or spinach to my breakfast smoothies which used to be made with just fruit. I don’t mean adding just a couple of green leaves but stuffing the bottom 1/3 of the blender’s canister with fresh greens. Amazingly, it tastes good. For many years I have eaten salads for lunch Monday-Friday, but now I find myself eating them on the weekends too. My dinners during the week have also changed. I eat more cooked veggies with beans or tofu, or I buy a SoulVeg kale salad from New Leaf Natural Foods on my way home from work. I doctor the kale salad up with tomatoes, white beans, pine nuts, and more nutritional yeast and gobble it up for dinner. Prepared well, raw kale is delicious and one of the most nutritious foods on th planet according to Dr. Fuhrman and many other nutritional experts.

As you can see, I have already made some positive dietary changes. I would like to lose those 10 pounds and end these headaches, so I have decided to experiment with Dr. Fuhrman’s six-week eating plan. Dr. Fuhrman says:

“Get ready for the most exciting six weeks of your adult life.”

Hmmm. Really. I have a feeling it won’t be the most exciting six weeks of my adult life, but it could be the most healthy. Consider his six-week plan a cleanse. After the six weeks, you can move to the Life Plan which allows for indulgences now and then. The six-week plan is very strict. So what will I be eating?

  • Unlimited amounts daily of raw vegetables, including raw carrots; cooked green vegetables; fresh fruit; beans, legumes, bean sprouts, and tofu; eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, onions, and tomatoes
  • Limited amounts daily of starchy vegetables or whole grains (1 cup); avocado (2 oz.); nuts and seeds (1 oz.); ground flax-seed (1 tablespoon)
  • No animal products (easy for me!)
  • No between meal snacks (Excellent! I’m not a snacker.)
  • No fruit juice or dried fruit

I want to test this out because he claims this will work for everyone (which is a big claim!), and by eating this way, you automatically find your naturally perfect weight. As anyone who needs to lose 5 or 10 pounds know, these are the hardest pounds to lose. The last few. In my opinion, it’s easy to lose the first 5 pounds when you have a lot to lose — I know, I lost 25 pounds once — but the last 5-10 are ridiculously difficult. I’m willing to give this a try.

More important to me then the possible weight loss is Dr. Fuhrman’s suggestion that this eating plan could rid me of allergies and headaches. Lately I get frequent headaches — almost to the point where I need to check the “chronic headaches” box on medical forms. I also wake up every morning feeling stiff, stuffy in the head, groggy, and lethargic after 8 hours of sound sleep. I have been living to eat so maybe food is the problem. Typically I blame my headaches on my stressful job. But, I’m on vacation this week, so my stress level is low yet I woke up with a headache and stuffy head each morning until finally I turned on the a/c. Must be allergies and allergy medicine doesn’t work for me anymore. Apparently, this eating plan can change all that. Ultimately the purpose of this experiment is to feel better. Weight loss would be a secondary benefit.

Monday is the big day. A couple of days left to indulge. Yep, today I stopped by New Leaf after my personal training session and picked up kale salad (good!) and tortilla chips (bad!). This morning I had my PT do my measurements and there was a tad bit of improvement since we started about five months ago. I was pleased since I haven’t really put much focus on my diet and have been over indulging lately. My weight was about the same too.  Plus I have developed more muscle over the past five months from strength training, and muscle weighs more than fat. I’ll be curious to see my measurements in six weeks after I complete this project.

Two caveats to the plan: I will not give up coffee yet although I’m not completely opposed to it if I start waking up feeling more energetic and clear-headed. Also, if I want cake and/or ice cream on my birthday, I will have it. It only comes around once a year! Otherwise, I will adhere to the plan to the best of my ability.

With a glass of green smoothie in hand, here’s to eating to live. Cheers!

Comments { 16 }