10 things I've learned about changing to a plant-based healthy plan.
1....No one is sure what I'm talking about when I say I am a vegan vegetarian. Even among vegetarians, the term is confusing and misinterpreted. I have been collecting definitions and am up to 11 different styles. At a restaurant, if I am depending on someone fixing a meal for me, it is to my health and benefit to spell it out... Literally. I carry a card addressed to chef, what I can eat and what I can't eat. A thank you at the end. The kitchen is a busy place and the relationship between servers and cooks can be dicy. Some servers would much rather tell me that the chef doesn't do special orders than to go back and try to remember what I said I could eat. The card helps everyone.
2...I did not succeed without support. In solidarity on Day One, my husband joined me while we cleaned out the pantry and frig, while we reread Dr. Esselstyn's book, How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, and while we celebrated the weekly successes. We changed recipes, invented new ones and tried food we had never heard of before. The support spread to family and friends and like-minded bloggers and web advisers. Find support somewhere.
3...A doctor on my side. I really didn't want to talk with my family physician about going on an eating plan that I had just read from a book. He had tried so hard to get my cholesterol level down with statin drugs, 5 different kinds, until we determined that I could not tolerate them. He saw me go through two operations for a blocked carotid artery and like me, didn't want to see a 3rd. He ordered a base-line blood panel to give us an idea of the effectiveness of the plan and has been a great supporter after the cholesterol numbers went from 264 to 190 in 3 months. Other benefits showed up on the blood panel and the scale, as well. He commented that doctors spend very little time learning about nutrition. Some of his patients cannot be helped with prescriptions and surgery.
4....I needed to learn how I can get the nutrition I needed on a balanced eating plan that would provide me with all the vitamins and minerals. Not everyone wants to hear about what I am doing for my health. In fact, I have had a few discussions on how unhealthy it is not to eat the American diet of meat and dairy. Where was I going to get the protein? The calcium? The vitamins? Their questions and concerns helped me to hit the books and just find out how I was going to do all that with a bean, or carrot, or lentils or an apple. Did learn that some supplements have to be included but the rest was right there in the plant food: the same food that made other herbivores strong and healthy. Back to #5 it's good to be able to state that I'm under a Doctor's care.
5....Switching to vegetarian processed food can be as bad as regular processed food. There is something in the early stages of the "big switch" that had me wanting to replace what I liked in the real world with veggie-this, fake-that, just-like-those. Most of the products were either over-salted or over-sugared so I still kept my over-stimulated taste buds actively calling out for more. Solution: less and less processed food and more and more fresh.
6....I am finding vegetarians everywhere. Some of the plant-based eaters are still in the closet, or pantry, or better yet the fruit and vegetable bin. Being a born again healthy eater, I am exuberant about the newness of all the benefits and share them only to find a friend who has lived all her life as a vegetarian, a person who grew up in a Seventh Day Adventists' household making their own seitan and tempeh and folks that pronounce quinoa properly. Once an idea is whispered to the Universe, it opens up and showered down gifts from the strangest places and the most unlikely people. I will say that there are some real militants out there when it comes to organic food verses genetically modified organisms (GMO's) or the strict vegans who do not eat or wear anything from an animal, period. But there are still people who would rather eat what is served than to make a "big deal" out of their food choices. I have not that luxury.
7...No more cravings. No more binges. I am food satisfied. Many times when I was eating a normal American diet, I would eat a big meal that would make me full and uncomfortable but not satisfied. What's that about? My body wanted something, needed something and would eat until it got what it needed even if it had to wade through a lot of food it couldn't use. Whatever is happening now, after a year, works without cravings or binges and the result is the loss of a lot of unwanted weight.
8....Waking up to the world of spices and herbs. Before I got married, my family spice range consisted of salt, pepper, vinegar and mustard. Eating ethnic food and traveling introduced me to more spices which when I had my own kitchen, I added to the cupboard. Spices can be the taste that is missing more than the product it was flavoring. Mexican? Italian? Asian? For me it's in the spices. Herbs are something else. I love to use fresh herbs in salads, especially. The plants are easy to grow and rewarding to harvest. Basil, thyme and chives as well as mint, top my list of favorites.
9....Fueling the machine. The food provides the fuel for my now more active life. I have energy and want to be out in the fresh air, walking and hiking. The gym is a little bit more of a challenge, but a friend and I became gym buddies and encourage each other.
10...I can walk about the planet. When I committed myself to this eating plan, all I could think of is how limiting it would be. We would make it work at home but what about eating out, being invited to friends, and the big one, traveling? That first foot out the door was made so easy by telling the host of my eating plan ahead of time and offering to bring something I could eat. She was very considerate and prepared a wonderful vegan dessert that everyone enjoyed. I purposefully don't use the word "diet" and I do not say, "I can't have that." Those are negative trigger words of deprivation. How many diets have I been on? Lots. Some successful for a while. I waited to hit my goal so that I could get off it and be normal. Now,the message is clear:This is the new normal. As for travel, I have successfully eaten my way through parts of the States, Turkey, France and Ireland with some stellar meals. I am enjoying the eating adventure. Most of all, I am so grateful that I found a pro-active direction for my health.
No comments:
Post a Comment