My personal clothing store and salad and more salad.

During my adult lifetime, I have been everything from a size 6 to a size 22.  After years of up and down and not liking crowded closets, I have settled on having rubbermaids labeled 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and I used to have 18, but I got rid of it last year.  For ever!!!

While I have not gotten back to my weight lifting and aerobic exercise routine I had before my heart problems came up, I am serious about how I eat.  After open heart surgery, I found out I was one of the 26.9 % of people who develop Type II diabetes.  During 2009, I laid off of sweets, to a large degree, and went even lower on salt than I already was.  I cut out red meat, for the most part.  My doctor told me that it will not kill me to eat a piece of cake for my birthday and I have occasionally done so.  Did I mention that I have three official birthdays a year?

In the beginning vegan diet, there was salad to eat. I was hungry 24/7 and now salad is but one part of my diet

Then, I found out that my heart surgery had failed and I had 70% blockage in a vein at the entry point to my heart. I am no longer a candidate for further open heart surgery, so I decided to go vegan.

First, let me say, in no way has this been an easy battle.  The first two months of a plant based diet seemed to be the magical formula.  I lost two pounds a week, but was continually hungry and never satisfied.  It’s the same plant based, no oil diet that President Clinton went on after his heart problem.  Only thing is, I do not have a chef to make the food taste good and the creator of the diet has the wierdest taste buds on earth.  He puts sweet potatoes or sweet squash in everything, along with about 26 more ingrediants) and frankly only sweet and sour chicken is a sweet/sour mix I like.

I am now eating Vegetarian and hoping to work my way back to Vegan.  With the help of three cholesterol busters (medications) and my no meat diet (and there is the very, very occasional hamburger out) I have reduced my clogging from 70% to 50%. You can do that.

Now, if I can just get my body back on the treadmill and weight bench, I can maybe get some of those rubbermaids emptied out to Good Will.

Bon Appetite!

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Following the crowd! or not!

I have always had a problem with following the crowd.  Where other teens would wear the “in” styles, I fought to do my own thing.  My love for the Beatles did not develop until well past the time all the other girls were screaming at them.  I liked Elvis until he got popular.  So, while I have had a blank mind lately for posts, and I find myself checking out the Daily Post at WordPress, I am loath to use their ideas.

It seems to be less loathsome to scroll back a few days and use those ideas.  Like eating.  Which is always on my mind, lately.  So, here I go again. 

What food would I eat if I could have anything I wanted?

Photo from konocook.blogspot.com

I am not sure how much of this craving is the melted butter but I have not had lobster tail in over twenty years.  I do not like shrimp at all, but I have loved lobster tail.

My second choice would be prime rib but I have to tell you that the longer I am on the Vegan diet the less appealing a slice of medium rare prime rib is to me. 

Who would I eat it with?  That’s is just too easy.  I would like to say the Dahlai Lama.

He looks like a jolly fellow,  but I think that I would be tongue tied around him.  It would be a quiet meal.  So, my choice:

Now, that was just too easy to pass up.

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Confessions of a plant eater.

I’ve been plant based,  no-oil, eating since November 14th.  The first two weeks were hell, but it gets easier.  One thing is to find things that are familiar to you, yet within the constraints of the diet.  Take potato chips.  But, do so carefully as I may bite your hand.

I have not added salt to food, minimally in cooking, for years now, yet I reached a point in this diet where I would have killed for a potato chip.  I would stick to plant based eating all day, then the lights would go down and I would eat two bowls of oatmeal, just to fill up.  We have a box of small bags of chips, for the boys.  They love taking some downstairs when they watch movies and destroy things on the computer.  But, those little bags of potato chips were like a siren song to me, as I lay down.  And, before I knew it, I was in rapturous joy over a 100 calorie bag of chips. 

I finally found out that I can minimize that craving by slicing potatoes very thin and frying them in a skillet.  I love pepper and I have done it since I started this diet, but when I added pepper, I was able to reject the chips.

Then there is the matter of pizza.  I now realize the men in this house eat pizza about 60% of their meals.  Do you have any idea how good melted cheese smells?  So, I got out my trusty cookbook and decided to make a plant based pizza.

This  is Polenta pizza.  Looks good right?  How can anything look that good and taste that bad?  Now, to be fair, maybe I did it with the oregano I added to the tomato sauce.   I don’t always have the right ingrediants.  I would also like to mention that there must be some trick to making polenta firm up.  It did finally.  The crust wasn’t that bad but put it all together and blech!

On the other hand, this was great.  I was tired of eating oatmeal for breakfast and just wanted something hot and delicious.  I have gotten in the habit of spraying pam in my cast iron skillet and then seeing what I have to throw in.  For breakfast, it was potatoes, a bit of no-meat sausage (yes, I read, it has oil.  You can’t trust husband to read labels.  The other day he mailed the electric bill without a stamp on it.  I had told him two days in a row that he had to buy stamps first, but—-), onions, garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms, and my spicy hummus.  It was soooooo good! 

So, there are ups and downs.  I may have to buy a slicer to make my potatoes thinner, but this is working.  It is hard to measure the affect on my heart but I have lost seven pounds and I do feel better.  My body just seems to work better on plants.  Gee, bumper sticker anyone?

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Melted cheese will sink me!

Since I have begun a healthy heart diet, I have become obsessed with food and am eating, fortunately small amounts, about eight times a day.  It was pointed out to me, by a snarky grandson/son, that animals who are herbivores, graze.  So, like a cow, I am grazing.  This was as we were sitting at Steak N Shake and they were eating juicy hamburgers as I ‘grazed’ a salad.

Literally, I have not cooked in years.  Disabled husband feels like it is his contribution to the household and has fried up a storm of meat for twenty years now.  This has paid its price on my hips and heart ; a price that I am actively working to reverse.  But, boy is it taking my time.

There are all kinds of new groceries that our refrigerator has never seen and I’m taking up a third of the room with my meals and small containers of stuff.  I have kept the five pounds off (even though THAT is NOT the point of this, just a nice added benefit).  And, that is also despite the fact that day before yesterday I ate: potato chips and pizza.  These are my two Waterloos.  Next time they cook pizza, I’m going to go in my room and shut my door.  Because, once you have smelled melted cheese, all hope is lost.

I swear that I am eating a meal and within twenty minutes of finishing it, I am getting my Reverse Heart Disease cookbook out and starting the next meal.  This usually wraps up by 2pm, when I find I have enough leftovers to finish the evening. 

My blog searches are also centered around food blogs.  I just found Everybody Likes Sandwiches, via salad on the go: chopped waldorf wraps | Everybody Likes Sandwiches.   This had a great idea for using the no-oil corn tortillas I can eat and wrap them around lettuce and apples, etc. 

Gotta run now and eat.

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Memories of Thanksgiving and War Cake

Hope you all had a tremendous food fest, that is called Thanksgiving, here in the U.S. 

TV is on and I just HAVE to say this.  Just how sick is Bridalplasty.  The whole idea makes me sick.  What a sad state this country is getting itself in.  Enough digression.

My fond memories of Thanksgiving are from my childhood, when we traveled to my grandmother/aunt’s house and I spent the day being hugged and kissed by comfy aunts and spent time with my sister (she lived with my grandmother). 

My grandmother was a quiet woman.  I really wish I could remember her voice, but I don’t.  I do remember her whispery reading (something my dad did also) and her piano playing.  I also remember that, if she knew you had a favorite dish that was just a bit different from norm, say the lemon filling in lemon cream pie but without crust (Now who in the world would want to do without homemade pie crust?).  I’m just saying, that if that was what you liked, Grandma had it there waiting for you.

Grandma’s house was full of people and conversation and laughter; especially when the ladies went out to do the dishes while the men slept on the couch.  They were mostly laughing about the men, I think, but they were sure having a good time.

Then, came the time when dinner was at mom’s house and I was one of them helping  with cleanup (when mom would allow anyone to help) and laughing.  It was always extra good when unexpected relatives arrived to crowd the table.

This year, Thanksgiving was particularly quiet.  It was just five of us and we catered it from Cracker Barrel.  After two weeks on my Vegan heart diet, I decided to join in and eat just regular food.  The best was the pizza and chips we had for lunch.  But, they weren’t quite as good as I remembered.  Everyone enjoys Cracker Barrel’s cooking, but I was actually wishing I was still eating Vegan.

Surprised me!  Something about this diet makes me feel lighter inside and like all my insides are working properly.  I know that isn’t a very scientific way to put it, but I’m glad to be back on my diet. 

STATS:  By Wednesday (that’s actually a week and a half) I have now lost five pounds.  Thursday’s meal put it to four.  Since I cannot see inside my arteries, I cannot tell you but I imagine little blocks of them floating downstream.    I made a great three bean soup and adjusted the War Cake recipe (follows).  It is one of the most moist cakes you can make.  It is from World War I and has no eggs, milk, nor butter in it.

This recipe is from a Dear Heloise column, when someone asked for the “eggless, milkless, butterless cake her mother made around 1918.  It is dark and heavy but ohhhh so good.

Mix 2 cups brown sugar
2 cups hot water
 and 2 teaspoons shortening (I used 2 teaspoons of apple sauce) in medium saucepan.

Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup raisins (I used chopped up dates). 

Add 1 teaspoon each of salt, cinnamon and cloves.  I RARELY add salt and did not for this cake.

Boil the above for five minutes after it first bubbles.  Remove from the stove and let it cool.  Let it cool completely.

After it is cool, add 3 cups of flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat but was then out of whole wheat so had to use 2 cups of white.  I would normally at least do 50/50 on that but am now going heavier on the whole wheat.

And, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in 2 teaspoons of hot water.

Mix well

Pour into greased bundt pan

Bake 1 hour at 350 to 375

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Now, I’m cooking – Vegan

Never mind that I have only cooked on holidays during the last twenty years.  Never mind the fact that I do not have a dishwasher.  I am cooking and have found a dish that will be a staple.   Excuse the storage container.  I could have made it much more appealing in a regular dish but then I would have had to wash one more dish, by hand.  Forget that!

This is Butternut Squash & Black Bean Chili.  Anything I tried to do with these winter squashes has been sweet, when I was going for regular meal food.  But, in this recipe, the Butternut Squash took on the chili flavor, like tofu does.  I took one bite and felt so satisfied. 

I found the recipe by googling for winter squash and, sorry to say, did not keep the link.  I did not have all the ingrediants they wanted, so I will post the altered recipe here.  I am also cutting every recipe in half now so that I am not throwing out as much food when I don’t like it. 

So, here is my version of Butternut Squash and Black Bean Chili for VEGAN NO OIL

1 medium onion diced and sauted with
1 clove garlic
1/2 cubed butternut squash
When browned and soft, add:
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 can tomato sauce
1 T chili powder
Vegetable broth to thickness you want
pepper to taste
Simmer 15 minutes.

You can even serve this in a mini pumpkin.  That would have made a great picture.
What I did not have was cumin or smoked paprika. 
They used 2 cups vegetable broth, but I like thick chili and used maybe 3/4 cup.

I am happy too that eating this way has resolved a gnawing feeling that I often have, at night, in my stomach.  Day one and two were agonizing and by day three, it seemed relatively easy.  Anyone have a dishwasher for sale, cheap?

Here, also, is my “Simple No-Tahini Hummus.”  It’s not as spreadable as it should be, but grandson said it tasted good.  I just have to figure out what to do with it.

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Start Simple

Numerous times, during my absence here, I have started posts for this blog, but nothing seemed funny to me or worthy of blogging.  Not that this has ever stopped me before.  I considered using my Vegan challenge to blog and I rather wished I had from day one, but a week in is not too late.  Is it?

I became a Vegan (without oil) — okay, that’s going to be irritating.  I have to find a name for this.  Vegannoil?  Gotta be something better than that.  I don’t mean to belabor the ‘no oil’ part but it is a big part.  There are substitutes for sugar, and eggs, and people are used to Vegans not eating meat, eggs, etc, but where do you find a substitute for butter?  Don’t get me started on mayonnaise.   But, since I am doing this for my heart, there’s no oil.

The book I ordered , Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, Amazon.com: Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure (9781583333006): Jr., M.D., Caldwell B. Esselstyn: Books., was in the mailbox on Sunday, when we actually got the mail.  So, Monday was a good day to start and I immediately looked for recipes that I already had ingredients for.  The first two days were traumatic to say the least.  I made meals using food I had, I gagged it down, I threw big pots of food out.  Mostly because I found out that I did not like sweet winter squash all that much, but there was a bean fiasco too. Not such a great start.  And, I was freakin hungry.  

Tuesday night, I went to the fridge and pulled out two homemade biscuits and looked at them and said to myself, ‘I will never eat biscuits and gravy again.’  That is definitely not the right attitude and I set the biscuits back for someone else to eat.  I found that I was committed.  I was also freakin hungry. 

The diet is no meat, no chicken, no fish, no dairy (How would I live without milk?), no eggs, (not even egg whites), no oil (not even virgin olive, canola or anything with oil in it), and because of that, no nuts, no avocado, no coconut. And, I was still freakin hungry.

I needed to focus on what I could eat:  You do eat whole-grain products (which I love), fruits and vegetables.   

I had skimmed the book when it arrived and marked recipes I thought I might like.  Tuesday night, after I threw out the second large pot of food,  I read it more carefully and found out that they repeatedly state, “start simple.”   Simple, for me:  A piece of whole wheat bread toasted on the stove with Pam,  grapes, bananas,  protein shake made of frozen fruits and Soy milk.  Oatmeal (the bad part was that I like it with butter and pepper on it.)  Amazingly, pepper and soy milk isn’t too bad on it.   Then, I found the Burrito recipe, which I totally overcooked the water out of it, so I salvaged it with Salsa.  Salsa fixes everything.  It worked and I had a food I liked.  It was even better when I found a corn based tortilla with no oil at the store.

I had snacks, breakfasts and now a lunch/dinner.  I was a happy camper.  I had also spent more time in the kitchen than I had in twenty years.  I’m a wee bit rusty.

My end of week one status:   I lost two pounds, my doctor is happy with my decision,  I’m still getting hungry every two hours but now I know how to find something quick to fill it (AND, as a side note, I am filling up more quickly than I ever have.)  I’m not really craving milk.  This is amazing as I generally drank probably 32 oz a day.  And, we don’t want to talk about what this does to your — well, let’s just say, “you will never be constipated again.”

On that note, I’m off to find out if I have finally found recipes for the three winter squashes I have. 

Let me say that I am not getting paid by Mr. Esselstyn to mention his book, or for any other product I have mentioned.  Should I find a way to be paid for this blog, believe me, I will.

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Vegan in a world of men and meat

In 2007, I faced mortality when I had emergency heart surgery and stayed in intensive care for six days.  This post is about a woman learning to be a vegan, and not for altruistic reasons either.  I wish I was that altruistic. A little back story is in order here.

I have this theory:  Two people with intense medical histories should not procreate.  I am the product of a family with cancer and a family with cancer and heart disease:  A double whammy.  I have been fortunate, through the intervention of the medical establishment who has managed to remove just about every non-essential or redundant organ in my body, to have dodged the cancer bullet.   

My brother died at age 46 from non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  He did not believe in going to the doctor and waited for three months after he found a lump.  That, and five direct ancestors and three not-direct-line relatives, and an HMO, took his life.

In 2005, I watched as my mother deteriorated from heart disease.  She survived breast cancer but had/has congestive heart failure and all of her heart valves were/are leaking.  I said, “not me” and began a program of alternating aerobics and weight lifting.  Me, whose mother told me “ladies don’t sweat,” who was always picked last for any sport in gym, who was winded from walking up the library stairs, I was now loving weight lifting.

In 2005 and for nine months, I watched my diet and exercised.  I lost two dress sizes and not a single bleeding pound.  Yes, muscle does weigh more than fat, apparently.  I could now run up the library stairs without a thought though.  I beat it.  I would not suffer what my mother was.  I would be in great health.  Then, I woke up one morning exhausted. 

It progressed for two years until the aforementioned heart surgery.  Sorry, guess it was a lot of back story, but here we are.  Fast forward to early 2010.  I am eating good enough that I have lost thirty pounds, and am eating a fairly low fat diet.  I’ve never been much of a beef eater, although the rare Prime Rib is appealing.  I like turkey burgers, chicken and fish.  I’m happy.  Then, I go to the doctor.

My G.P. is concerned that I am tired again (that seems to be a main symptom of many women’s heart problems.  Cardiologist does another Cardiac Catherization, as the stress test does not show a problem on me.  My blockage is still there.  The bi-pass failed.  The surgery did seem to take care of the spasm that was putting me in danger, though I am also on medication for that.  But, now I am one vein short, if I ever need one.

I am told that I am not a candidate for further heart surgery.  The blockage is at the heart, where a stint will not work.  Since it has not gotten worse in four years, I should just keep doing what I am doing.  WHAT?  Keep my fingers crossed???  That’s not me.

I had recently seen an interview with President Bill Clinton, who decided to do something about his heart blockage.  He went on a vegan, oil free diet.  It is based on a diet you can read about in  Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. 

See more here:  http://www.heartattackproof.com/     and here, a modified version from his fireman son:  http://engine2diet.com/28-day-tools/

So, I started eating what I imagined this diet was, but every night dinner was whatever husband fixed for he and the boys because I was just so hungry.  Then, the book came and the fun began.  Stay tuned.

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