The One Week Miracle

I have been on my whole plant based vegan diet for seven days, one week that not only changed my body but also my attitude towards food. I committed to a three week trial and so far, I have no intention to jump off the vegan lifestyle. I learned a lot about the chemical digestive process and how different food works in my body - how complex this impact on my well-being is. Here is what I take with me to the next week adventure:

• I lost 2 pounds of weight last week (I only weigh myself once a week to not get obsessed with the scale). What amazes me more than the considerable weight loss is that I lost on the right places, around my tummy and my waist. My husband is particularly happy that I did not go down in my bra size like during previous diet attempts  LOL.
• I feel energized and not so exhausted anymore
• My glucose readings 4 times a day went down to a healthy 60 - 100 range while I was struggling to keep it under 200 before I changed to this new eating lifestyle - it is too serious to call it a diet. I am already dialing down the insulin units - it is a true miracle for which I am grateful.
• I now learned to read food labels. Not every vegan phony bologna is adequate to consume in a whole plant based food diet and if you are a diabetic like me, it is even more important to make the right choices. I avoid processed food with added oils and sugars and high sodium and eat organic farm to table. Somebody told me that if a label has to state its vegan, its probably not good for you. An  apple does not need a label nor does broccoli.
• After meal glucose spikes is something I have to learn to control because it affects my A1C level in my blood and my health. I changed my routine from exercising before a meal to exercising after a meal. I take a walk after dinner rather than watching TV. I control my portions and avoid eating too much of the food I know is spiking my glucose level. In my case it is any type of rice. I can only eat very moderate amounts of brown rice once a day.
• I have to be prepared to become hypoglycemic by carrying an emergency high glucose pill in my purse. This diet is serious and will cause dramatic changes to my body. I have to keep my physician informed and watch my glucose readings.
• B12 is a vitamin that does not occur much in plant food. I use nutritional yeast in my meals and also added a B12 supplement once a day. I also make sure that I get enough Vitamin D through sunlight every day - shouldn't be a problem if you live in sunny California. 

Everybody have a healthy and fun weekend! I will tell you all about my second week vegan adventure soon! 

Post Meal Spikes - Yikes!

I learned something new today, Thursday, day 7 in my new whole plant based nutrition journey.
I am a diabetic, so glucose readings are important. I have  very low glucose readings in the morning since I started my new vegan diet, 60-90-ies (coming from the 150 - 200 before I ate vegan). Now my routine schedule has been to get up, drink coffee, work out, commute to work and then eat breakfast before work.
During the last days I noticed that I had very high post-meal glucose spikes, and it worried me because it effects the A1C level in my blood which is a) unhealthy and b) will get me chewed out by my physician. I read all my food labels and ingredients looking for the "bad" food that causes the problem but what is wrong with rolled oats, berries, flax-seed, shredded wheat and vegan almond yogurt for breakfast? I questioned my portion control, cut down on my berry intake, nothing helped.

Then I started reading medical reports about this problem and realized that in order to obtain a more balanced glucose level I have to reorganize my routine. This is what happened in my body: My glucose is at an all time low in the morning and probably drops lower when I work out. When I have breakfast, my body gives the commando, "lets digest all the food really fast because poor little Silvia is starving and we need to get these glucose levels up immediately to save her." It doesn't matter that I eat healthy, the effect is a high post meal spike and the spike gets worse the lower my glucose reading is in the morning. Dang it! So today, I got up, had my coffee, had my breakfast and then worked out to take the edge of the spike and ....success! I only had a very little rise in my glucose reading about 1hr after I had breakfast. At lunch, I ate my yummy Ezekiel sprouted grain bread sandwich topped with cucumber slices, sprouts, a raw bell pepper and oil-free humus and then walked to Whole Foods, shopped a few items, and went back to work carrying my grocery. Again, only minimal rise in glucose level one hr after I ate. I think I get the hang of it.

Adventure Dining

My husband joked when he asked me yesterday, on my day 4 eating whole plant based, what adventure meal he would be faced with for dinner.

Indeed, it is a whole new adventure for me to discover new grains, vegetables I never used and learn more about eating whole vegan.

Yesterday during lunch hour I overcame my inner couch potato and walked to Whole Foods from my office. I timed the walk, it takes me 10 minutes one way give or take depending on the two traffic lights I have to cross. This leaves me with at least 30 minutes shopping. 30 minutes is not enough to cruise all the aisles but if I focus on one or two food groups, I have time to study labels and the different products. Money is an issue therefore I also compare prices with products I can get at Trader Joe's, Nob Hill, or even Walmart. The walk during lunch gives me exercise and sun exposure for Vitamin D intake.

I was focusing on grains and legumes yesterday and could not believe how much is out there I have never heart of and never used in a meal. It does not have to be rice and beans all the time. Wheat-berry, spelt, and pink lentils. I felt excited and adventurous when I bagged my choices. When I looked up the different humus brands to find one without added oil, one of the store attendants gave me a great hummus recipe to make my own after he heard that I eat whole plant vegan like he did too. Hummus is based on chick peas and very easy to prepare. I can make a bowl on Sunday and have enough for the whole week. I also found big Forager pro-biotic non dairy plain almond yogurt for my breakfast muesli. Yes, it works with unsweetened almond milk but I prefer the yogurt texture in my muesli. The word "plain" is the keyword for a diabetic like me. An 8oz non-dairy fruit yogurt contains 14 to 16 grams of sugar depending on the fruit content while a plain one has less than half of the amount, 6 gr. This is also true for dairy products like Greek yogurt btw. Whatever diet you eat, go with plain yogurt and substitute your own fruit. You take a whole less sugar in that way.

Today is day 5 and another food adventure. For lunch I packed a vegan sandwich (whole bread with sprouted grains on a low glycemic index or pumpernickel are my bread choices) with cucumbers, sprouts and hummus. For dinner I plan roasted taters, vegetables not decided yet, and a vegetarian burger. My husband adds chicken kebab from the bbq for the carnivores in the family. Even if my peeps adds meat and dairy products, just eating the vegetables and whole grains and fruits with me instead of fries and fat drenched processed food, makes their diet already healthier.

The Alameda County Fair - My First Nutritional Challenge On Day 3

Just because I eat 100% plant based vegan, I am not going all hippie on you. I still love my county fairs, 4H, FFA, horses, and the country lifestyle embracing the 2nd amendment. On day 3 of my whole plant based nutritional adventure, I was going to face a huge challenge: fruit and vegetable drenched in fat and sugar and bbq-ed meat everywhere. This adventure is called The Alameda Country Fair.

After a bowl of muesli (rolled oats, dried raising, amaranth, ancient grains, shredded wheat, rasberries, blueberries,  and silk plain non-dairy joghurt), I joined my husband Clay and my granddaughter Adriana to hit the road to Pleasanton to go to the fair. I packed a banana just in case, but expected to find at least a veggie burger, squeezed juice or such at the food stands. After all, it is a farm fair and naive as I was, I actually looked forward to find cooking demonstrations with vegetables or a vegan booth with products from farm to table in the exhibition halls. Well, I found one organic grocery delivery service based in Sonoma Valley and that was it. Every smoothy was made with sugar and dairy, no juice booth at all, and no, not even a vegetarian burger for lunch. I even had to look a while until I found a bottle of cold water to purchase. Most beverage vendors only sold booze or sodas. I was very happy about the banana in my fanny pack while Clay chowed down a steak sandwich and Addy licked on her icecream.

There must be more vegans than just myself who like to go to a county fair. I think of having a 100% based plant food booth at a fair where I can demonstrate preparing easy recipes and talk about my choice of nutrition. Not sure what it takes to get the license. I have to look into that. A county fair should be about different ways of nutrition and not just selling jewelry and junk.

I am proud that I did not fall off the wagon. I did not cheat on my new way of eating. I enjoyed the fair, went to see the horse races, chilled in the shade while Clay and Addy hit the roller coasters and looked forward to eat a piece of my vegetable lassagne leftover from the day before when we were back home. My glucose was on an all-time low telling me to be more prepared when going on a trip and always have enough food with me to skip a meal. Speaking from glucose, I already had to dial down the insulin units I shoot in the evening because my glucose level in the last two days has been between 60 and 85 and this is a miracle for someone like me who struggled to keep it below 200 most of the time. I am so grateful for this new way to control my blood sugar without any pills and with a lower amount of insulin. I can't wait to see the next lab tests.

Eyeopeners and Things I learn Along the Way to a Healthier Lifestyle

 I started the day with rolled oats, blueberries, cherries and almond milk combined and my cuppa home-brewed cuppa java of course which I always have drunk without milk and sugar, no changes necessary here.

There is so much to learn if you change your diet to a whole plant based nutrition like I did. Don't get encouraged and learn from mistakes. Like every rookie, I went out and thought I knew exactly what to buy. There is a whole industry of vegan processed food we should stay away from because we don't want to substitute one bad eating habit with another. Reading labels is mandatory, do not trust anything it is written in big letters on food packets. Whole needs to be on the pasta packets and, think twice, if you see a non dairy Swiss cheese for vegans, see photo below - sounds right at first glance but once I read the ingredient list, I realized how much saturated fat was in this processed kind of wannabe cheese, 45 out of 70 total calories are fat, and decided to stay away from it.

Instead I bought tofu, cashews and nutritional yeast to replace cheese in whole plant based recipes. It is also cheaper to stay away from the ready and processed vegan food choices and make your own whole recipes. I learned to make oatmeal breakfast jars which can be stored in the fridge for five days. Beans are my friends and there is a variety out there to mix into my salad or meals.

 Another eye opener was the fact that I cannot use oils, not even the good ones in my pantry such as extra virgin cold pressed olive oil or avocado oil. Oil is still fat and highly processed. In order to re-discover the taste of fresh salads and to stay away from extra loads of fat, we do not use oils in a plant based diet. We fry in non-stick pans and substitute cooking oil and butter with vegetable broth for taste. I can start any stir-fry with onions and mushrooms and get enough liquid in the pan to not burn anything. The vegetable broth adds flavor.


Here a few more things I learned along the way to a healthier lifestyle:

Shocker: chicken contains just as much colesterol than meat. Did you know that?

Nutritional yeast gives every salad a nice body and tastes like  feta cheese in it

Leave the seed in the bowl with the mashed avocado - it prevents it from discoloration

Go for whole and be careful when the label says instant.


 

100% Whole Plant Based Diet - Come again?

Today, Friday 6/23 is day one that I commit to follow a plant based diet. NO, not exactly the same like vegan as I learned the hard way: Most bagels are vegan but nope, not really a good food to plan your plant diet around, especially not if you, like me, try to improve your A1c and lose some weight.  A bagle is a good item to ease into the vegan lifestyle though as long as you keep it a rare diet ingredient. First rule: Do not replace organic meat with processed vegan junk food. Rule number two: Focus on what you can eat rather than what you can't eat. I found a great article explaining the 100% plant based whole diet

I decided to start today because following the dietician's simple recommendation to avoid carbs and rather eat protein did not really work for me so far. Not only can't I get my A1c down to a manageable level, I also experience joint pain when I follow a no or low carb diet. Increasing the daily insulin dose to get more hunger attacks and gain more weight does not seem the way to go, at least not for me. I am also blessed that my physician encourages me to not consider pills the best option. I eat Non Gmo, free range, and organic and still feel like crap, tired, and not in control of my glucose. I read up about plant based whole food diet and decided to go for it although I do not think that eating everything but with moderation is a bad rule. I just think that my diabetic lab results need to be improved by a more focused approach and what doesn't kill a elephant, won't kill me either. For three weeks I will follow the whole plant based food concept and then check lab results for any change. This is the only way to find out if this is right for me.

Now, how did I get started this morning? I made up a list of basic ingredients which I always should have at home such as tofu, frozen vegetables, frozen fruit, barley, oats, beans, rice, hummus, little microwave potatoes, and fresh vegetable that lasts a little longer such as carrots and brussel sprouts.

I spent 90 Dollars at Nob Hill and have pretty much everything to get started for a week. I might have to get some extra this and that from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods if I want to try a new recipe. For now I have about five days covered with breakfast, snack and dinner for the whole family. This does not include the meat and dairy, the rest of the family consumes. I hope they will join me soon but I am not forcing these changes on them. I am happy that they eat my food and just add their dairy or meat for now. My daughter is already on board, now we need to convince the granddaughter and Big Kahuna, my husband Clay who is already 75 % into my new plant based lifestyle but it takes more than a day to convince a Texan like him to stay away from steaks.

Today's dinner was Mushroom Stroganoff, a recipe from Whole Foods. The creamy cashew sauce was to die for. My husband gave two thumbs up!  He grilled himself a grass-fed Angus burger with it. Just eating plant based whole sides instead of processed food will be better for him already. I have a good feeling that one day, there will be no meat or dairy in our fridge anymore.