Dead From Diabetes, Then Revived and Helping Others Thrive

Mike Vee, dressed in black, in the days when he was eating meat and processed food and struggling with one health problem after another.

Mike Vee Is Transformed From Dead to Vigorous on a Whole Foods, Plant-Based Diet

Mike Vee is an amazing Facebook friend. I always enjoyed his posts, but when I learned he died in the emergency room and then was revived, I had to know more and wanted to share his story. Mike Vee has been working as a clinical dietitian for 25 years and presently provides medical nutritional therapy through a Federally Funded Grant for people living with HIV/AIDS in Trenton NJ. He reduced the number of meds he takes from ten to zero solely with a whole foods, plant-based diet.

What kinds of foods did you grow up eating?

Growing up as third generation Italian-Americans, our home life reflected this. We would have the prerequisite spaghetti and meatballs, veal and chicken parmigiana, escarole and beans, pork chops, flounder, beef stew, hamburgers and hot dogs and TV dinners. Most of the vegetables we ate came from a can and were heated up to a point of ashen green that shouldn’t be allowed on the color wheel in the scheme of things. My mom liked to bake more than she liked to cook and our waistlines often reflected this.

What kinds of foods do you eat now?

If it is in the plant family, I’ll eat it. Suffice to say, on occasion I do tangle with Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted is Posted in Health at August 9th, 2011 | Permalink | 1 Comment »

San’Dera Prude Finds a New Caramel Popcorn

This Forks Over Knives Patient Shares Her Journey From Junk Food to Whole Food

With her warm smile, San'Dera Prude invites you to share her story in the film Forks Over Knives

The film Forks Over Knives colorfully illustrates critical nutritional facts about a whole foods, plant-based diet. This eating plan can help you reverse just about any chronic illness, from diabetes to heart disease and even cancer. Yet it’s the patients in the film who bring these facts to life and give the movie its emotional impact and power to change lives. Their stories leave you cheering.

San’Dera Prude’s warm smile, articulate sharing, and heartfelt honesty moved me each of the three times I’ve seen Forks Over Knives. I wanted to find out how she became part of the film and learn more about her current success. San’Dera spoke with me recently and generously shared more about how she achieved and continues her new healthy life. (Note: since Forks Over Knives was made, San’Dera has celebrated her marriage and has her new last name of Prude instead of Nation.)

Before she met Dr. Esselstyn, San’Dera’s diabetes and hypertension were fueled by fast food three times a day. She would grab a fast food breakfast if she was running late in the morning. At work, everyone was Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted is Posted in Health at July 26th, 2011 | Permalink | 1 Comment »

The Secret to Ditching Your Prescription Meds

Dustin will be teaching us some much needed lessons in getting healthy without drugs

Dustin Rudolph Shares a Pharmacist’s Take On Whole Foods, Plant-Based Diets

Dustin Rudolph is a pharmacist who prefers plants to pills. His transformation began in February 2009 with a routine visit to his podiatrist, Dr. Sal. He ended up in a discussion on health care reform with this fellow medical professional. He was both confused and intrigued by Dr. Sal’s statement that legislation would really not have a fundamental impact on the nation’s health care practice.

Dustin ended up reading The China Study at Dr. Sal’s suggestion. At first the book’s plant-based diet approach seemed farfetched. Dustin had grown up in rural Montana on a diet heavy with animal foods. He’d also spent six Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted is Posted in Health at July 24th, 2011 | Permalink | 1 Comment »

How To Prepare Over 100 Plant Indulgent Recipes

Chef AJ in the kitchen, testing and putting together whole foods, plant-based recipes

Chef AJ Says To Eat Dessert First – As Long as It’s Healthy

Chef AJ’s book Unprocessed is will show you that the healthiest food is also the tastiest. The author observes “Your diet can be your undoing or your salvation. The difference is the difference between processed and unprocessed food.”

She is talking to you, whether you eat animal foods now or are already 100% plant-based. “A lousy, junky vegan diet, full of oil and sweeteners and fake meats and highly processed grains” saves animal lives, but will not make you into a walking role model of health who others to want to follow. A whole foods, plant-based diet is key to being the inspiring statistic we know can be achieved in research studies on vegan health.

Unprocessed has over 100 recipes, both raw and cooked, that make whole plant foods a delight. When Chef AJ says unprocessed, she means it. All recipes are free of Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted is Posted in Plant-based nutrition at July 9th, 2011 | Permalink | 1 Comment »

Six Reasons to Make Pineapple a Favorite Fruit

The pineapple is an attractive fruit growing on a four foot high plant. Don't you just want to grab it and bring it home?

A Special Enzyme in This Unique Food Has Profound Health Benefits

Although only four feet high, the pineapple plant grows a powerful fruit. This tropical plant, native to South America but now found in warm places around the world, blooms with red or purple flowers. The many small flowers meld together as they produce fruit. So a large pineapple is really a fusion of many smaller berries around a central stalk.

Bromelain is an enzyme that distinguishes pineapples from all other fruits. This enzyme, which your body can absorb intact, has unique and powerful effects to support your health. Pineapple is a special piece of the puzzle in putting together your ideal whole foods, plant-based diet.

To reap the advantages of bromelain, be sure to eat pineapple raw. Cooking or canning destroys this enzyme. An electric knife makes cutting whole pineapple a breeze, or you can buy fresh fruit that is already cut into chunks.

For more bromelain, eat the whole pineapple (minus the skin and leaves). The tougher circle of cells at the center of these fruits (which is actually the central stalk or stem) has more concentrated bromelain than the surrounding tender fruit has.

You can cut the stalk into small pieces or put it into a smoothie where it will be ground up. If you just Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted is Posted in Plant-based nutrition at July 2nd, 2011 | Permalink | 2 Comments »

From Cancer To The Ironman: How Food Makes the Difference

 

Ruth Heidrich crosses the finish line in the Great Aloha Run.

Ruth Heidrich Shares Her Success in Forks Over Knives And Everywhere Someone Can Benefit

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview Ruth Heidrich, Ph.D., one of the star patients in the movie Forks Over Knives. Ruth provides insights into the making of the film and her ongoing work to educate others on the power of a whole foods, plant-based diet. If you have not seen this film yet, grab the first opportunity to experience it. You will see Ruth and several other patients revitalizing their health through diet, not drugs. In this dialogue, Ruth is RH, and I am JS.

JS: For those who are not familiar with your story, it would be great to have a short overview of your diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer and subsequent cancer-free life. I always think of you as the woman who beat cancer into submission with broccoli and oatmeal.

RH: Sitting in the doctor’s office awaiting the results of a breast biopsy, I was positive that this was going to be just a little blip in the road of life, that there was no way it could be cancer. I was a runner for 14 years, had even run marathons, and ate what I thought was a good diet, you know, chicken and fish, low-fat dairy, all the “good proteins.” I was the healthiest, Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted is Posted in Health at June 6th, 2011 | Permalink | 2 Comments »

The Home Run Diet Knocks Out Diabetes

Todd after 7 months on a whole foods, plant-based diet

Todd Rosenthal Shares Recipes and Secrets of His Four-Step Eating Plan

Todd Rosenthal changed his diet “on a dime” in November 2010, plummeting his fasting blood sugar from 310 to below 100 in a month without drugs. He enjoys sharing his success as we discuss what he’s learned.

Todd ate “the Standard American Diet” growing up. His eating habits deteriorated even more when he began working as a small town journalist. Always on the go to cover the news, Todd consumed a diet he describes as “90% fat.” His favorite foods were barbecued ribs, ice cream, frozen dinners, and snack items. Later, when he switched careers to a family-owned business and then Internet sales, he continued the same food habits. Todd notes “I logged a million miles in the fast food lane.”

One visit to the doctor changed all that. In addition to his scary fasting blood sugar of 310, Todd had numbness in his limbs and extremities, low energy, and a constant grumpy mood. “If you don’t change, you won’t be here in two years,” his doctor advised.

The physician’s idea of change centered on taking lots of meds, but Todd pushed back. He researched the drug side effects and grappled with the need to take them for life.

The timing was perfect for a trip from Todd’s Florida home to visit a San Diego couple who are close friends. Tracy Childs and Steve Sarnoff are long-time vegans who advocate a whole foods, plant-based diet. Tracy gave Todd two books to read during his stay. The first was Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted is Posted in Health at June 4th, 2011 | Permalink | 1 Comment »

Why Now Is a Great Time to Be Vegan

Galia and David Myron enjoy drinks out of fresh coconuts. Plant-based can be so enjoyable!

Galia Myron Tracks Generations As Whole Food, Plant-Based Diets Flourish

Want to know more about the health, food habits, values, preferences, or sex lives of Generations X, Y, or Z? How about Baby Boomers or Matures, women vs. men, or green trends? Galia Myron, publisher of the richly comprehensive site demodirt.com, reports on every aspect of demographics as she both follows and observes a vegan path. She especially enjoys covering trends on plant-based diets, animal rights, environmental issues, and health.

Galia observes that, a few years ago, the fastest growing vegan group was boomer men who were motivated by health considerations. Now she finds more young people choosing animal-free diets for ethical reasons. Marketers are also Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted is Posted in Plant-based nutrition at May 30th, 2011 | Permalink | Comments Off on Why Now Is a Great Time to Be Vegan

Six Reasons Portion Control Will Make You Overweight

Why Serving Sizes Undercut Health and Weight Loss

Meals limited by portion control can feel so skimpy.

Run-of-the-mill diets focus on controlling the amount you eat by limiting portions. This is an attempt to fit a manmade, arbitrary concept (“serving size”) into a natural biological system (your body). While this strategy may work for some people for a short time, the long-term outcome is often counter to health and weight goals.

The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 is typical. Some of the serving sizes this report lists include:

• Bread: one slice

• Cooked rice: half a cup

• Cut up vegetables: half a cup

• Fruit: one medium piece

• Cooked beans: half a cup

• Milk: one cup

• Cooked meat, poultry, or fish: one ounce

• Soft margarine: one teaspoon

• Sugar: one tablespoon

Here are six reasons that portion control ultimately will not succeed in getting you to a trim weight and Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted is Posted in weight loss at May 15th, 2011 | Permalink | Comments Off on Six Reasons Portion Control Will Make You Overweight

How to Grow Microgreens for Food and Stress Relief

This microgreen forest rewarded my gardening efforts only 5 days after I had planted the seeds.

An Indoor Microgreen Garden Can Be Inexpensive and Fun

Microgreens are the perfect crop to bring nature into your home – and with tasty results. Microgreens are very young vegetable and herb plants, usually an inch or two high and with one or two sets of leaves. You usually have to wait only a week or two from the time the seed first starts to grow until the time your crop is ready to eat.

You can raise these nutritious, pretty young plants to garnish almost any food. For example, sprinkle some on soups, salads, cooked grains, sandwiches, wraps, and beans. Microgreens add elegance and color as well as Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted is Posted in Health at May 7th, 2011 | Permalink | 3 Comments »

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