Wholefood Plant Based Diet And Health Journey

MrsStepford

During Lockdown I started taking nutrition courses from universities, online. (I was a college-trained former chef already) and I have completed my first year of a degree course in nutrition. 

I was a vegetarian for about fourteen years, myself. My mother has been vegetarian since 1982. She's the unhealthiest person I know, with heart disease, osteoporosis, anaemia, Raynaud's disease, chronic constipation and migraines

A vegan diet lacks some of the amino acids which we need for protein and body repair work. Vegetarian and vegan diets are usually lacking in Vitamin B12.

 My late father was a vegetarian 1982-2010. Didn't stop him getting heart disease, prostate cancer and osteoarthritis. 

When I was a vegetarian there were zero processed foods for us. Now, there are zillions. It's possible to be an obese or overweight vegetarian or vegan now when years ago, veggie types were usually slim.

Smoothies rarely contain protein. They are often devoid of the fibre which actual fruit and vegetables have. Having a smoothie for breakfast plays havoc with blood glucose, spiking it, even for people without diabetes. Smoothies are a Californian 'health' fad. 

leftatthetrafficlights

MrsStepford said:

During Lockdown I started taking nutrition courses from universities, online. (I was a college-trained former chef already) and I have completed my first year of a degree course in nutrition. 

I was a vegetarian for about fourteen years, myself. My mother has been vegetarian since 1982. She's the unhealthiest person I know, with heart disease, osteoporosis, anaemia, Raynaud's disease, chronic constipation and migraines

A vegan diet lacks some of the amino acids which we need for protein and body repair work. Vegetarian and vegan diets are usually lacking in Vitamin B12.

 My late father was a vegetarian 1982-2010. Didn't stop him getting heart disease, prostate cancer and osteoarthritis. 

When I was a vegetarian there were zero processed foods for us. Now, there are zillions. It's possible to be an obese or overweight vegetarian or vegan now when years ago, veggie types were usually slim.

Smoothies rarely contain protein. They are often devoid of the fibre which actual fruit and vegetables have. Having a smoothie for breakfast plays havoc with blood glucose, spiking it, even for people without diabetes. Smoothies are a Californian 'health' fad. 

Do you have a point you're trying to make???

If your anecdotal evidence is presented to attempt to discredit the WFPB diet, it is spurious 'evidence' at best -  I cannot believe that anyone would be surprised that the vegetarian diet has not prevented any diseases- animal milk and eggs along with the products made from them are massively harmful to health and most vegetarians seem to be unable to eat a meal unless it contains milk/egg based products. There are some health benefits from a vegetarian diet as opposed to a diet including flesh but adding saturated fats and animal protein to pretty much every meal certainly isn't going to reflect any of those in the outcomes.  

Of course there are overweight and obese vegans who live on vegan junk food; junk food is just that - junk - and a person who eats a diet of junk (whether that be corpse based or UP vegan) will be susceptible to all of the health issues that come with eating rubbish - there's no surprise there....

A vegan diet absolutely does not 'lack the amino acids we need for protein and body repair work' - it can lack in vitamin B12 - it doesn't mean that it does though, if you are reasonably knowledgeable about nutrition, you can easily ensure that you meet all your needs; as for the 'smoothies lack protein' comment, all fruit and veg contain protein (although very low amounts in some) so it depends on what you put in them and as it's one part of a daily meal plan, I'm not sure what the relevance is - beans/pulses  grains etc are the main sources of proteins for the majority of vegans which are generally ingested outside of smoothies.

Smoothies are not devoid of fibre (juices are) as the whole fruit and veg are used - it breaks the fibre down, so it's not as good as just eating the whole fruit/veg, but the fibre doesn't just 'disappear'!! Again, it depends on the ingredients of a smoothie to whether it 'spikes' blood sugar levels - if your smoothie has a large quantity of greens in it, you really can't make a huge quantity of sugar (natural or from carbohydrate) from a huge quantity of kale regardless of whether you stick a handful of berries in it or not.....

This way of eating is not about consumption of junk and it's certainly bears no resemblance to a vegetarian diet!! 🤦‍♀️

This way of eating is not a 'fad' diet in any way, shape or form - it is the healthiest diet available based on current scientific evidence (as well as the fact that much of the evidence has been available for well over half a century and is confirmed regularly through new studies) but I am more than happy to look at any genuine evidence/scientific study that opposes that. 

Mnoee

Well, my own anecdotal evidence is that the only vegan I knew in the 80's was hugely obese with heart problems, probably because he ate massive bags of salted peanuts every day. Both then and now it's been possible to be healthy or unhealthy with diets including or avoiding meat or dairy products. 

It's easier than ever to eat unhealthily, but there's more information about nutrition available now than ever before. I was thinking that many recipe sites include nutritional information, which was and still is incredibly rare in cookbooks - unless marketed towards slimming or dieting. There's apps to track micronutrients if that's your thing, plus a whole libraries worth of information freely available online - but both in the past and today the most qualified people still disagree on some things. 

I've suffered from disordered eating in the past and have friends who still struggle with it - so I try not to think in absolutes with food. Nothing is right or wrong, or good or bad. Even water can be poisonous if you have too much. As with many things, moderation is key to a long and happy life. 

leftatthetrafficlights

Mnoee said:

Nothing is right or wrong, or good or bad......As with many things, moderation is key to a long and happy life. 

I'm afraid that I would have to disagree with you @Mnoee - however, given your previous disordered eating issue I can understand your stance. 

Anyway, back to the purpose of this thread...I have decided that as well as documenting my food, I'll be using the thread to reflect on my health journey too - both physical and mental - as it is all intertwined. 

I had some birthday money left so have invested in some new scales today (I got a decent discount on them, so happy with that!!) - they will tell me my body fat %, visceral fat, metabolic age etc, once they arrive I'm going to do all my measurements and document the changes monthly. 

I forgot to take piccies of my smoothie and my lunch today but my smoothie consisted of watermelon, apple, cavolo nero, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, turmeric and mixed berries. For lunch I had a red lentil 'wrap' with a spicy green bean and courgette filling. 

Dinner was a large bowl of rocket dressed with balsamic; millet and quinoa; a watermelon, strawberry, black grape and raspberry salad with chocolate mint; roasted tomatoes with garlic and purple basil; steamed beetroot; sweetcorn (from a cob) and some hommous 



It was extremely nice!! 🤤😁 Much of the food was straight from the garden too - tomatoes, garlic, rocket, beetroot, sweetcorn, basil and chocolate mint so all organic, freshly picked and cheap!! 😋 

leftatthetrafficlights

Food yesterday was exactly the same as Sunday's as there were so many leftovers and Sunday's dinner was so nice!! 😋 

I'm planning on having 'burgers' with sweet potato and salad today - I made the burgers a while ago from a mixture of grains, cannellini beans, oats, veg and herbs (I can't remember exactly what I put in them but I know those were the basics!!) I'll post a piccie later 😉 

I sowed some winter salads and more rocket last week and they are coming through really well now - I'll sow every two weeks now to keep a supply throughout the winter- I'm also going to sow some microgreens with my grandbaby today, they are such a useful addition to salads and very quick to grow so my grandbaby loves doing them 😁 I'm also going to make an attempt at growing mung bean sprouts as I discovered a packet of the beans at the weekend in my understairs cupboard (the joys of having food stashed in various places! 🤦‍♀️) and I've never been successful with previous attempts...

I've swapped up my morning routine a bit now - I've started to go for a walk as soon as I get up then come home, do a yoga session then have my smoothie. As I wake up pretty early I've been done by 8am the past few days (I'm drinking my smoothie as I write!). I'm currently doing the YWA 20 minute practice but intend to start her 'Center' 30 day programme on 1st September.

I have to say that I'm really enjoying the new routine - it kick-starts my day physically but gives me a real sense of calm mentally that carries throughout the day. I live rurally so most of the time on my walks I don't see people or any traffic, it's incredibly peaceful and relaxing. Doing yoga as soon as I get back works beautifully- after the aerobic excercise of the walk, the stretches of yoga feel deeper and more powerful both physically and mentally. 

I actually feel that I've hit the sweet spot with the new routine and way of eating - I feel a lot better in myself, it's easy to do, I have more energy and I sleep better. I have a long way to go before I will be properly fit and healthy but I'm impressed by the affect the changes are having already! 😁

leftatthetrafficlights

So, the scales arrived yesterday and I've done all the measurements. No major surprises but plenty of room for improvement!! 🤦‍♀️ 

I bought the Ultra Processed People book this week and read it yesterday - it wasn't as good as I'd hoped but it was reasonably interesting and reinforced my decision to follow a WFPB diet for the vast majority of the time. I had watched something by the author on YouTube last week and I was surprised about supermarket bread being UP so I made a wholemeal loaf (using date sugar instead of refined white sugar) in my breadmaker and it was lovely plus it kept well. I'll definitely be making my own bead from now on and intend to try a buckwheat loaf today in the breadmaker to see how that turns out 🤞 

I'm starting the YWA Center practice today - my walk and yoga practice are being delayed until this afternoon as I have a visitor arriving between 8 & 12 which is slightly off-putting as I prefer to do them straight away but I'm sure I'll cope 😂 

I have quite a few courgettes to pick today so tonight's dinner will be stuffed courgettes served with sweetcorn and purple beans which also need harvesting! 😋 

leftatthetrafficlights

The stuffed courgettes...
All very lovely and served with beans and sweetcorn picked fresh from the garden😁 

leftatthetrafficlights

I made some buckwheat bread yesterday  - I like it but dh isn't keen 😔 tomorrow I'll be experimenting with a half wholemeal and half buckwheat flour bread to see if he likes that - I've got loads of buckwheat to use up so savings wise, it would be great if if he is happy to eat some form of bread with buckwheat!! If it doesn't work I'll just continue to use the buckwheat as a plain grain/added to soups, casseroles etc.  

I'm going to begin to make a wholemeal sourdough starter tomorrow whatever he thinks of the half and half bread - I need to get more rye berries ordered to do a rye flour sourdough starter so that can wait for a while. I also need to start some injera fermenting tomorrow - I'm planning on doing some lentil and vegetable wat this week 😋😁

Longwalker

leftatthetrafficlights said:

The stuffed courgettes...
All very lovely and served with beans and sweetcorn picked fresh from the garden😁 

They do look yummy to be fair

Im just going along doing my best to eat clean, not always succeeding - this weekend Ive had the kids and grandkids and so many "fussy eaters" there were burgers and nuggets on the menu - I stuck to eggs and salads but Im having a Chinese take away tonight - its been a long hard weekend

leftatthetrafficlights

@Longwalker - I wouldn't worry about the high days, holidays and the occasional cba days!! 😉 it's absolutely about what you do the majority of the time 😁 The stuffed courgettes were absolutely fabulous tbh 😍 I make them regularly during the summer courgette mountain period and change up the stuffing so they are rarely the same 😉 

We've just harvested a load of tomatoes and courgettes so have those roasting in the oven song with lots of home grown herbs and garlic which I will blitz down into a sauce once they've cooked - lentil bolognese will be made with it and probably a spicy bean dish. 

I picked loads of scarlett runner beans earlier - I've cooked them with some courgette flesh, onions and stock and will probably find something to serve with them - in all honesty, I've just eaten a massive bowl of them as they are so may not fancy anything later!! 😂 

I've tried to make a buckwheat/wholemeal bread combo today - I messed it up (too busy playing with trains and my grandbaby so somewhat distracted and overdid the fluid 🤦‍♀️) but the flavour is perfect 🙌 from now on, I can make it regularly but I'll be making a sourdough version once my starter is up and running 😉