Eat Delicious Food, Drop Weight Like Crazy, Save Money & Feel Amazing: Just a Few Reasons I LOVE Being Plant-Strong!

Plant-strong eating rocks!!


One thing that I like about my new vegan lifestyle is that it has gotten SO much easier to continue my physical recovery (health & weight loss).  


In Dr. Esselstyn's book one of the parts that really stuck out to me is the section where Ann Esselstyn shares that with this diet there is no "calorie counting" and no "portion-control" dieting techniques involved. (This is good because I don't do diets anymore!)  Its very simple.  If you start gaining weight--eat less starch.  If you are losing weight too fast--eat more starch. And that is it. I didn't really buy that explanation until I started practicing a plant-based no-oil low-fat diet.  I'm not 100% oil-free 100% of the time but I do my best and guess what?  It really is as simple as Mrs. Esselstyn described! 


Why is it simple?


No Calorie-Counting
I tried at first to work my vegan diet the way I worked my food plan before veganism:  weighing and measuring my food, portioning things on my plate so half of the plate was veggies, 1/4 was protein (beans) & 1/4 was starch (grains).  This worked solidly for me in the past--I lost 70 lbs doing it after all & I totally recommend it!  But in my new food plan of low-fat plant-based eating, these tried and true methods never worked because I was hungry a few hours later AND with all the beans I was eating I began to have some unwanted GI side effects which caused me great embarrassment!! 


So after discovering that the World Health Organization actually ONLY recommends protein as 8-10% of your diet (0.81g/kg body weight per day), I decided to stop stressing out about the balance of portions, reduce the excessive use of beans and just eat whatever no-oil, low-fat vegan food I can find.  So far this has been working for me--mostly because I stay away from the processed vegan foods & I continue to maintain my sugar-free, gluten-free lifestyle with a strong preference for anti-inflammatory foods! I also make a conscious effort to eat a WIDE variety of colorful foods--particularly a lot of dark leafy greens.  Its pretty hard to overeat because all the FIBER is exceptionally good at doing what it was designed to do:  fill us up!!  Its also pretty easy to eat reasonably because I'm avoiding all the "Standard American Diet" foods that were designed to addict us!  


Weight Loss Without Effort
Obviously for me since I have an eating disorder, there is effort involved with regards to my emotional and spiritual stability BUT the mechanics of weight loss & physical recovery are SO much easier than the first 70lbs I lost without being a 100% vegan.  I've literally effortlessly dropped 30 lbs in the last few months since starting a 100% plant-based diet with minimal fats.  


I actually think I've dropped more than that because my husband kept coming up to me yesterday and telling me I need to buy new pants because I can fit my fist between my belly button and the waistband they are so big!  I protested and say I just bought these pants 2 or 3 weeks ago--but I guess the weight keeps sliding off.  So I'll head back to Goodwill or Salvation Army sometime this week (and YES I shop there because why the heck would I buy full-priced clothes when I have to keep buying new ones that fit?!  Besides, you can find some gorgeous clothes there in perfect condition.  I even get work clothes there and no one has any idea--at least until I just published it here! :-))  This need for smaller sized clothes has happened multiple times in the last few months.  


As you know from my "Dear 268 Pound Me," I don't weigh myself often so I'll let you know in February or so where I am!!  I still have more weight to lose to get to my healthy weight per medical science so for now, I'll keep doing what I'm doing!


I Eat A Lot
Of course, I work my 12 step compulsive eating recovery program to prevent binge & compulsive eating behaviors, but I do eat a TON of interesting, delicious food.  When I share at work that I'm now vegan as well as the sugar-free, gluten-free from before, everyone looks at me like I have two heads and ask me what in the world I eat?!  Um, Soups & Stews & Pasta & Pizza & Sandwiches & Dips & Rice & Casseroles & Curries!  Oh yeah, I forgot!  I also eat a TON of Fruits & Vegetables!  Then I take off my little tupperware top and let people sample my lunch.  Most common response:  "What was that recipe again?  That's SO good!"  Seriously, you'd think eating fat-free plant-based foods would be tasteless or something (at least that is what I used to think!) but it actually tastes AMAZING if you use great recipes & great cookbooks!


We Save A LOT of money
People always say "isn't eating a vegan diet expensive?" Um, my answer is a resounding NO!  My husband and I have saved SO much money since switching to a vegan diet.  Just think about how much beans, rice, fruits and vegetables cost compared to meats & dairy products?  If you eat 100% organic all the time than it can be expensive but we take advantage of frozen organic veggies which seem to be cheaper than fresh a lot of the time.  We also can't eat 100% organic 100% of the time, mostly because we are on a tight budget (thank you my nightmare of student loans) and there aren't always organic options available where we live so we do the best we can!  To combat the pesticides as best we can, we wash all our fruits & veggies with this organic vegetable wash called "Fit." Just water really doesn't remove any of those pesticides and soap tastes bad!


We also save money by buying dry beans in bulk from our local health food store & we don't eat a lot of nuts or tofu.  We also don't eat any "faux" meats or things like vegan mayonnaise or vegan margarine etc.  The processed items do tend to be more expensive so we stay away from them.  We operate usually on a tight "cash only" envelope system so we can only spend so much on groceries each week!  We cook and bring all of our lunches to work & fix our own snacks, etc.  Planning our food in advance really keeps costs down too.


I Feel Good & Know That I'm Being Good To My Body
With every bite I put in my mouth, I know I'm helping reduce my risk of getting heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes.  With every bite I know that I'm making a conscious choice to live an active, productive life that doesn't end with frailty & a nursing home bound existence.  With every bite I can feel my body get stronger & my energy levels rise.  I don't drink caffeine at all but I have more energy with a plant-based diet than I have in YEARS!  This way of eating is guaranteeing me health in a way no other diet can.  And that feels good.


Ok! So that is why I'm a huge fan of plant-based eating!  Do any of you have stories of your own experiences with a plant-based diet?  I always love to hear some inspiration! :-)
The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions.

Dear 268 Pound Me: A Letter of Weight Loss Advice for the New Year

Happy New Year my readers!  When reflecting on what to write for my 2012 New Year's resolution post I started to wonder what advice I would have given myself four years ago when I weighed over 268lbs (last known weigh-in, likely more).  So I wrote myself a letter.  This was very helpful to me so I wanted to share it with all of you!  As usual, with any advice I give (even to myself! :-))--take what you like and leave the rest.


Dear Me in 2007, 

2007 Me

I know your body is hurting right now and you can't make it up a flight of stairs without becoming short of breath. I know you eat chips & dip while hiding in your closet and sweets when you think no one is looking.  I know that the take-out wait staff in all the local restaurants know your name and what meal you want to order. And I know you go home alone to eat enough food for five people while sitting in front of the TV.   I know you try to hide your secrets from your friends and family because you don't think anyone will like you if you are honest about who you are and what "bad" things you do.  I know that you dream about going to sleep in this body and then waking up thin like an overnight miracle from God.  


But more than anything, I know that you hate yourself for weighing 268+ lbs.  I know you are sitting in your house today, New Years Eve, plotting your strategy to lose weight in the New Year.  As a side note, I also know that you went to your favorite restaurant today and got all your best binge foods to have a "last supper" of sorts before the clock strikes midnight and your new diet begins!


I want to tell you that someday you will be able to laugh with friends who share your disease about the crazy things you did for and with food.  Someday you will even have a body that doesn't hurt every time you stand up and a large size set of women's surgical scrubs instead of a XXX size from the men's section of the locker room.  Someday you will be able to be comfortable enough with your slender body to fall in love and marry a wonderful man.  Someday you will be proud to be a doctor who is living the advice you give your patients. Someday you will actually like who you are--inside & out.  


But that someday is not today.  Today I'm going to challenge you to forget your usual resolutions with weight loss deadlines & detailed plans of how to get there.  All I'm going to ask you to do is to do five things.  


1)  Throw away your scale and the negative self-talk that goes with it.  


Every year you start to lose weight and then one day you get on the scale and discover that you've gained a pound instead of lost one.  You shake this off but berate yourself for being "bad" that week and vow to be "good" from here on.  And then things get stressful at work, you don't have time to cook and you skip the daily intensive workouts.  Then next month you get on the scale and discover that half of the weight you lost in January is back, or worse, you are actually heavier than you were when the year started!  So you give up and go get a "treat" to feel better.  You look in the mirror and are disgusted with your laziness and your inability to have enough will power to change.  


Lets do something different this year.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  So why don't you be a bit gentler with yourself and eliminate the opportunity for self-critique based on numbers on a scale.  


Guess what, you don't need a scale to tell you if you are gaining or losing weight.   You can feel what your body is doing--are your clothes getting tighter or looser?  Are you eating nutrient dense foods or junk?  Do you feel more energetic or extremely tired?  Let these questions be your scale. Weigh yourself every 3-6 months if you have to and tell your friends about your progress in clothing sizes.  Someday you will be able to say you went from a 26 to a 14.   


2) Write down your food plan each night & cook ahead on the weekends.  


You know this works.  So do it.  It doesn't have to be elaborate.  Keep it simple.  Buy a slow cooker.


3) Start eating more and more vegetables & grains until 100% of your diet is plants


You know that dying young is not your greatest fear.  Your greatest fear is becoming disabled and having your family have to care for you.  You know that most people who eat poorly or are obese don't die suddenly--they waste away, losing their independence slowly and painfully from strokes, congestive heart failure, pulmonary edema, GI bleeds, some cancers, depression and severe osteoarthritis.  Don't take chances and put food-based pleasure above preserving your independent lifestyle.  I know you don't like to change but you'll find that you actually really like vegan food when its done right.  And you will learn to do it right.  In fact, you won't even miss meat except at special occasions when its right in front of you.  But when that happens, you will look at your family over the dinner table, picture them having to take care of you as you age and that meat won't seem so important any more.  You will know that you made the right choice.


4) Give up sodas of all kinds, including diet soda


I know you love your diet sodas--especially your Fresca and your Diet Coke.  You gave up regular sodas and other non-water beverages years ago to lose weight and haven't picked it up since then but you think that diet soda is ok!  You may not have read this scientific literature but actually your soda is actively leeching calcium from your bones & changing the biochemical balance in your body to make you gain weight instead of losing it! So give them ALL up.


5)  Most importantly, find a free support group like a 12 step compulsive eating recovery program or form one of your own if the program is not for you 


I know you think you have this all figured out.  And I know you think that weight loss is just about the food & exercise.  Its not.  Its about a lot more than that.  You will discover that it has to do with your emotions and your spiritual center as well.  And to feel comfortable being honest about your overeating behavior, you need some supportive friends who share your struggles.  You need to hear encouragement from living, breathing success stories sitting in front of you.  You need to hear how someone hasn't eaten sugar in 20 years or that that cute guy over there lost 175lbs and you can't even recognize him from before even though you knew him.  You need to know the hard stuff too, that someone else hid in their closet to eat, snuck food from the refrigerator at night or ate until they felt sick but couldn't seem to stop.  


You also need to know that some people's disease is mild compared to yours--they just were tired of failing diets or couldn't manage to eat the food portions they wanted.  You need to know that some people's disease is worse than yours--they eat out of the trash, have been hospitalized multiple times or can't make themselves eat enough to stay a healthy weight.   You need to know that no matter what problems people have with their food, they are all accepted and acceptable.  You need to see others having the courage to be honest and to ask you to be too.


You are not alone.  There is hope for you yet Cat if you are willing to recover.  


You can believe me.  I'm you, nearly 100lbs lighter, in four years.


Love, 
Me

The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions.

An Interview with The Happy Herbivore: Ms. Lindsay Nixon

Today I have the pleasure of interviewing the one and only Happy Herbivore herself:  Ms. Lindsay Nixon about her newly released cookbook THE EVERYDAY HAPPY HERBIVORE!  In case you can't tell by my enthusiastic posts--I think that Lindsay is one incredible chef (or as she says "a recipe writer") and her recipes have really helped me and my husband embrace plant-strong living!


I think one of the biggest challenges about moving to a plant-strong diet is the fear that "nothing will taste good again!" Or that every meal was going to be extremely complicated to make. I'm not going to lie--before I made the choice to turn vegan I had some pretty profound concerns.  But helllllooooo to yummy & easy-to-make food--enter The Happy Herbivore!  Concerns....gone! Meals....delicious!!  


Lets hear what this low-fat vegan magician in the kitchen had to say....


1) You know I'm a fan of your outstanding cookbook, The Happy Herbivore.  What inspired you to create a new cookbook (THE EVERYDAY HAPPY HERBIVORE!) and how is it different from your previous publications?

I was obligated under a contract :-) I'm joking -- I mean, yes, that's true, I had signed a contract to write three books, but I knew after writing my first book if it was successful, I'd write more books for my fans.

I started my blog (and now write cookbooks) with one mission: to show that eating healthy, plant-based meals is easy, approachable, affordable and most importantly -- delicious. My recipes are all no fuss, everyday ingredients, quick and easy. I'm proving that healthy doesn't have to be expensive or complicated or a shore. It's possible -- and fun!

My first cookbook focused on comfort foods and classic meals we all know and love... and Everyday sort of brings it back to the basics and added in a lot of international flare. There is more diversity in Everyday.

2) How do you develop your recipes?  Any favorites in THE EVERYDAY HAPPY HERBIVORE!?

It's a good mix of trying to replicate recipes that I used to eat that were either not vegan or not healthy, I'll create something on the fly or I'll be inspired by an ingredient. For example I saw a beautiful bunch of chard I couldn't pass up so I took it home and created a recipe for it. 

Asking a chef what recipe is their favorite is like asking a parent to pick their favorite child :-)

3)  You made the choice to change from a vegetarian to a vegan diet.  What motivated you to make that choice?

I was motivated by my health and the plight of farm animals. I'd met some vegans who told me if I went vegan (from vegetarian) my skin would clear, I'd have fewer migraines and I'd lose weight -- and p.s. they were right. Then, the more i learned about the horrors of the egg and dairy industries the more I could not support them. The reason I continue to follow a plant-based diet today are long and vast, but it's all still deeply rooted in concerns for my health, concerns for the animals and concerns for the environment.

4) Have you noticed any differences in your health since changing to the vegan diet?

Absolutely. I ran a marathon after having not ran so much as a 5k before within months of going vegan. My skin cleared, I lost a ton of weight, my stomach issues cleared, my hair got shiny, I had so much energy and just was a happier person. My temperament changed; I feel like I'm finally me. {Dr. Cat comment:  WAY TO GO LINDSAY!! Hooray health!}

5)  Why did you become a chef who specializes in low-fat vegan cuisine?  Did you need any specialty training to develop such wonderfully nutritious meals?

I am completely self-taught, a home cook. I pretend to be a chef but really I think "recipe writer" is probably more accurate since I never went to culinary school (but I did go to law school!). Cooking and cooking low fat is very natural for me. I follow a low-fat diet, so it makes sense that I write recipes and cookbooks that support the way I eat at home.


Lindsay thank you SO much for taking the time to answer these questions!  Whether a home cook, a recipe writer or whatever you want to call it--you create delicious, easy-to-make meals that heal our bodies.  What a gift to share with the world :-)  Keep it up!  And folks, head over to Amazon & buy something to make your body feel good--a whole new collection of low-fat vegan recipes in the: THE EVERYDAY HAPPY HERBIVORE!

Coming Up This Week:

• BOOK REVIEW:  "29 Gifts!"
• SuperImmunity for Kids ~Part 2~!
• Practical Stuff:  Kitchen Tools That Help & Products I Like!

Coming Up Next Time on Medical System Tuesday: 

• Tip #9 For The Best Hospital Care:  Pay Attention ~ Insider Tips on How to Get the BEST Medical Care in the Hospital ~

The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions.

COOKING IN BULK TIPS: How to Create a "Cooking Strategy!"

Ok, so in my last post I talked about how you can save time, money and insanity by bulk cooking your food, i.e. cooking on one day to prepare your food for an entire week! 


Anyways, here is the awesome cooking strategy that my husband and I honed after much trial and error in the last year.  It is extremely helpful now we are working the plant-strong Esselstyn diet which relies a lot on homemade foods!


I hope that this helps all of you!  Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas to streamline my process, or please share your own strategies!!  Calling all my busy people out there!!  Let's rock this thing!


STRATEGY FOR COOKING IN BULK!


1) Figure out what you have in your kitchen pantry already (this is the save a lot of money step)


2) Find recipes that list those pantry items as a main ingredient (once again, saving money)
    -Pick SIMPLE recipes (when you are cooking several things at once, don't complicate things any further getting too "gourmet" on you!)
    -Find recipes that you are actually excited to try to eat!  (don't just pick recipes that fit your on-hand ingredients--if you aren't looking forward to eating it, don't cook it!)
    -Double check to make sure that your family will like the recipes you want to make (if my husband doesn't want to eat them, then the whole purpose of the mass cook is lost).
   -Pick enough recipes for variety--we found if we pick only 4 we lose interest at leftovers x2--our magic number is about 7-8 dishes now


3) Make a grocery list


4) Make a Plan of Attack :-): Take a sheet of paper and break down the tasks listed in all the recipes as follows:
    -Long pre-cook items that can slow cook the night before (i.e. beans, grains, etc)
    -Chopping & juicing (veggies, fruits)
   - Mixing (spices, sauces, etc)
   -Assemble
   -Cook (and in what--a pan, the oven, etc)


5) Divide up the tasks between the chefs {try to get your family involved--my friend uses my strategy and has her two young kids do things like mix the sauces and carefully chop veggies (thats the older kid!)}


6) Grocery Shop (quickly only by list)


7)  Cook


8) Pack & Tupperware


Ok--so this sounds a little complicated (mostly because of step #4!)  It does feel that way at first, but the more you do it, the quicker you will get!  And the best reward is to have 7+ new meals ready after 2-4 hours of work! 


See my next scheduled Post for the specific cooking strategy for this week using The Happy Herbivore's recipes!  Feel free to use it yourself because the recipes are YUMMMMMM!!!:-)

Next time:   Cooking in Bulk Example:  A Week of Recipes from The Happy Herbivore

Coming Soon:

• PAIN: How to Heal with Food (Part 2)
• How To Get The BEST Medical Care: Tips to Patients from a Doc
• SuperImmunity Foods for KIDS (Calling All PARENTS!)
• RECIPES & Ideas: Snacks!  YUMMY & Portable Plant-Based Snack Food--all sugar-free, gluten-free & without adding oil or fat!!

The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions.

RECIPES: Soups Galore!!

I'm a big fan of soup--particularly when winter starts to creep ever closer!  Whether you are sitting in the sun out in the Southwest or cuddled by the fire in the Midwest & Northeast, November means that winter is here!  

Soup is a simple way to cook in bulk and have tons of yummy leftovers.  I'm VERY big on maximizing the number of meals we get out of everything we cook--cooking in bulk is the most efficient way for me to eat well and work the hours I work!  An extra bonus of soup is that it is an extraordinary money saver--it costs very little to make soup (particularly when you use inexpensive ingredients like squash, potatoes and dried beans) and it lasts forever! 

Delicious Homemade Split Pea Soup!!

Hilariously I had quite a grand scheme in mind to post a bunch of beautiful photos of all the soups we made last week but I experienced a small wrinkle:  when I went down to check our fridge, we were completely out of the fresh Butternut Squash Soup & Potato Leek Soup!  The only soup not completely consumed was the split pea soup--the largest batch of soup we made!!  So there you go--in our amazing disappearing kitchen I can treat you all to only a lovely photo of the split pea soup :-)

I'll post more recipe variations of my own in the coming weeks after I've tested them more thoroughly--of note, I'm not a chef!  I'm a doctor!  So when I say "recipes of my own" I really mean my own variations on other people's recipes! But for now, please enjoy some of my favorite blogger's soups:

1.  Dr. Esselstyn's son Rip (a triathlete & firefighter who has his own awesome cookbook:  The Engine 2 Diet) posted a fantastic directory of yummy soup recipes that are his favorites on the web: http://engine2diet.com/the-daily-beet/soup/

2.  Another awesome blogger:  The Fat-free Vegan Kitchen has a fantastic recipe for Pumpkin and Roasted Corn Soup!  If you are short on time you can skip a few steps and use canned pumpkin:   http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/11/pumpkin-and-roasted-corn-soup.html 

3.  The Happy Herbivore (beautiful recipes and great nutrition facts) has a wonderful recipe for Red Lentil Curry Soup! I'm never one to pass up a good curry! http://happyherbivore.com/recipe/red-lentil-curry-soup/

Enjoy!!

Next time:  PAIN: How to Treat Everything from Arthritis to Fibromyalgia With Food

Coming Soon: 

• RECIPES: Applesauce (sugar free!!)
• How To Get The BEST Medical Care: Tips to Patients from a Doc

The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions.

Nearly 100 lbs LOST: "Before" and "After" Photos

A nearly 100lb weight loss & counting--Here I am, for all the world to see! (cool note I just noticed--in my after pic--taken 3 weeks ago, the pants are actually too big for me!:-) I will post more photos later down the road!)

Four Years Ago at 268lbs & Now 

On this blog I will share with you what I've learned to reach this point. It seems to work one day at a time when I continue my 12 step compulsive eating recovery program!  

Next time: What do I eat?? Anti-inflammatory, Vegan, Gluten-free, Sugar-free, Oil-free....and yet, YUMMY!

Coming Up:

• The Plan for the Blog:  Using Food to Heal Can Change Your Life
• Recipes:  Soups Galore: Butternut Squash Soup, Split Pea Soup and Lentil-Barley Soup
• PAIN: How to Treat Everything from Arthritis to Muscle Strain to Fibromyalgia With Food
• RECIPES: APPLESAUCE(Sugar-Free!)

The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions.

Some Excellent Resources I Love:

A great movie I can recommend that captures the power of the plant-based diet: Forks Over Knives Some other great resources Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Dr. Leo Galland: Superimmunity for Kids (Amazon link) Dr. T. Colin Campbell: The China Study The Anti-Inflammatory Diet by Jessica Black, N.D. (Amazon link) Dr. John McDougall's Website Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Blog Forks Over Knives' Recipe Book (Amazon link)

The Beginning: Using Food to Heal: My Journey

Today I was searching on the web for recipes to do some cooking on one of my rare days off.  If I don't cook and get organized today, it'll be another week of the occasional emergency take-out punctuated by leftover soups that my husband and I cooked last week.  Its now or never because during the week, neither of us have any energy to attempt creative cooking!

Don't get me wrong.  I love Green Pea Soup, Lentil Soup, Butternut Squash Soup and the ever outstanding Lentil and Barley Soup.  The Lentil and Barley Soup is a creation of my husband, aka The Happy Nurse, because according to him "anything with barley tastes amazing!"  I totally agree but after two weeks of tupperwared soups with varying veggie options, I need to branch out.  

I decided to start this blog because tonight, as I searched for recipes (and found an AWESOME blog of a librarian who shares my food philosophy: The Healthy Librarian ), I discovered how little organized, easy to access information there is out there on healing yourself with food.  Google searching turns up a lot of options that look good, but then if you read closely, most of the food has things I can't and shouldn't eat if I'm going to feel good!  So I'm going to do my best to provide you with organized resources, recipes and ideas to truly feel healthier!!  I'll also share some snapshots of my life as a rehab doctor and some HIPPA-compliant sketches of some of my patient's experiences.

I realize that most men and women searching for recipes may have some dietary restrictions that limit their options, but my husband and I have a few more restrictions when we eat.  We are getting "radical" and choosing to treat our health issues with food rather than needing cardiac surgery, cancer treatment or a cupboard full of meds in the future.


Huh?  I know, I'm an M.D. talking against the idea of piling on the meds!!  My patients are always surprised to hear that I'm not big on the traditional, let me pull out my prescription pad, cut you off from talking and send you out the door, brand of medicine.  Granted, I'm still in my final stages of training in my specialty: Physcial Medicine and Rehabilitation but I'm a fairly passionate person once I find a cause, so I doubt I'll be changing my medical approach anytime soon! But, stay tuned to this blog and I'll let you know!!  As a side note, I'll share more about my field later, and yes, we are doctors (MD's or DO's), we went to medical school and Physcial Medicine and Rehabilitation is a medical specialty just like cardiology, orthopedic surgery or psychiatry!  

For the last two months my husband and I have been eating a no-oil, plant-based Vegan diet according to the Cleveland Clinic's Dr Caldwell Esselstyn's program from his book, "How to Reverse and Prevent Heart Disease."  Our program is well-supported by clinical and scientific research (including such notables as Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, and more).   We started the plant-based diet because my husband has heart disease--intermittent atrial fibrillation--which lands him in the hospital every other year or so.  We are making a choice to change our lifestyles to prevent disability (stroke, cancer, angina, arrythmias) and to live longer, more active lives.

I add my own twists to the plant-based Vegan diet based on a twelve-step program I have been working for four years to recover from obesity and overeating behaviors.  I also fold in some anti-inflammatory diet practices to treat my chronic low back pain and acute neck pain following a car accident a year ago.


I can hear you now....wait Dr. Cat, no meat???????....(I can hear you wailing from here!)..but give me a chance and keep reading....take what you like and leave the rest.

I truly believe that eating this way has given me a new lease on life.  I've lost nearly 100lbs in the last four years.  I've gotten off all daily anti-inflammatory and pain medications.  I no longer have allergies or sinus infections.  Since transitioning to a no oil, plant-based diet I no longer have the GI issues I struggled with for years.  I have more energy.  I laugh more because I don't hurt as much.  I am a better wife and a better doctor.  

Remember, I'm not your doctor and if you follow any ideas I present on this blog, you understand that I will not be held liable for anything I share or recommend.  That said, I can't wait to get started!  Next post will be on what I eat, why I eat it and how you can too!

A great movie I can recommend that captures the power of the plant-based diet:
Forks Over Knives

Some great resources:

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease
Dr. T. Colin Campbell: The China Study
The Anti-Inflammatory Diet by Jessica Black, N.D. (Amazon link)
Dr. John McDougall's Website
Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Blog
Forks Over Knives' Recipe Book (Amazon link)

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