View Full Version : I have been plant-based
low saturated fat, and a little bit of seafood for nearly a year.
Due to a health concern, I completely changed my diet nearly a year ago. Now that I am used to it, I find this way of eating to be fairly simple and relatively inexpensive.
The money I save on meat and dairy goes into olives, good oils, great produce and all kinds of goodies.
Have you changed your diet in any big way and how did it affect your health and your life.
I must say I do have to spend a fair bit of time prepping the food, but that is the price of fresh food.
A typical menu looks like this:
Oatmeal and fruit and almond milk
Chickpea, mock tuna sandwich and tomato soup
pasta with soy and marinara sauce
snacks: fruit, crackers and spread, popcorn, cereal etc.
Our diet is plant-based whole foods but not vegan. Meaning, we eat more veggies and fruits than anything else, so if you picture it as a pyramid, plants form the base. Lower on grains and animal products. We eat legumes almost daily. We eat very little wheat (me, none; DD and DH, < 1 serving/day).
Here's what a day looks like for us
Breakfast: dinner leftovers or roasted sweet potato/walnuts and some peas or fruit. DD likes spinach with a little grated cheese, and some fruit. I'll eat almost anything for breakfast except traditional American breakfast foods!
Lunch: salad with a little feta cheese and a lot of veggies. I use the feta in place of dressing. DD usually has a soup in her packed lunch - either a chicken/veg/spaetzle stew, or a bean/veg soup
Dinner: Lots of stir-fries, heavy on the veggies, a little rice. Lots of Mexican-based and Indian foods, too. All heavy on the veggies. Sometimes we have some wild cod or salmon, which we all find to be very filling and 1/2 pound is enough for the 3 of us. Sometimes I will roast a chicken, which lasts for many meals because we have a lot of veggies on the side and I make soup with the carcass. We use cheeses as seasoning on some of the foods. I substitute cashew cream for dairy cream in Indian foods, and tofu for paneer.
I feel like a meal isn't complete if there isn't some form of dark green vegetable present. It's missing in color and flavor.
Snacks: fruit, nuts, vegetables, homemade trail mix, dinner leftovers, popcorn
We eat more potatoes than grains, and more and rice than other grains. We eat a lot of nuts compared to the average American (1-2 servings/day).
I spend a lot of time prepping foods, but none of us has been sick in the past couple of years since we began. DD has had a couple of minor colds - they seem to go away as soon as they begin. I weigh 15 pounds less than I used to, and lost the weight effortlessly when we cut out wheat, sugar, and dairy (among other things) on an elimination diet. I never ate much dairy so it was mostly the impact of the wheat and sugar.
I've been trending low-carb for years now, but over the last months have taken even more care in avoiding grains. I eat a mostly whole-foods diet based on meat, poultry, bone broths, natural fats like butter and coconut oil, vegetables, fruits and nuts, eggs and cheese...with only the occasional detour. This keeps my blood sugar level and my mind humming along, and plenty of high-quality protein supports my bones and immune system. And speaking of immune systems, I've started paying more attention to the issue of gut flora and probiotics, fermented foods and symbiotic bacteria. I'm confident this is best for me, after having tried a few other plans over the decades.
I generally eat two meals with no snacks, plus a fortified coffee drink in the morning (protein powder, gelatin, vitamins, almond or coconut milk or a combination, cream...)
I eat much like JaneV2.0 does, with the addition of a small amount of whole grain foods. Wonderful for my particular body. Plant-based did not serve me.
catherine
3-22-13, 12:11pm
Almost 15 years ago I went from a typical meat-and-potatoes Anglo diet to being a pretty strict vegetarian, although I did eat some fish and shellfish.
I still eat mostly plant-based, but I will eat locally-raised poultry on occasion, and soups made with beef stock, and I also eat corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. I'm not about to give THAT up! And I continue to eat fish.
As far as its effect on my life, I don't know what I'd feel like if I continued in my old ways, but I do feel really good. And I agree completely that the costs of eating fresh foods are offset by the cost of meat.
My eating preferences are based on eating naturally and mindfully.
isn't it amazing how we all eat so differently.
Tussiemussies
3-22-13, 7:47pm
I became a vegetarian over twenty years ago and I felt good when I did that. It still makes me feel geeod and I border on veganism now...In the last two years I gave up all sugar and I really feel better although I wish I had the energy I did when I was younger. I know some people take growth hormone in order to feel the energy of their youth , but it is contriversial.
:)
I eat very much like Jane now - meat, fish, eggs, veggies, fruits, nuts, root veg, few grains or legumes - my health has improved dramatically in all kinds of ways since doing this. I was previously low fat plant based (after reading the China Study) - didn't suit me at all - I got really ill after a couple of years. I became deficient in vitamin A - my body couldn't make the conversion from beta carotene to vitamin A. My fatty acid status went down the pan too.
Kally is right that it is amazing how different our bodies are.
We were mostly plant based until the kids came along - they wanted meat from a young age. So for this season of our lives there is chicken and beef, fish and seafood, and even a little pork when my husband is out of town. I see us changing again in two years when the kids are away at college. We'll probably go back to mostly plant based with a little fish, seafood, or even chicken on rare occassion.
I spent years as a vegetarian, then slowly added meat back to my diet. Last year I spent 3 months on a plant based diet, I can say I felt great, and it helped my arthritis (sp). I still try to stay away from meats, but my one weakness is cheese. I tried the soy versions, rice versions etc. and never found one that satisfied. I've slowly weaned my family off of a lot of the animal products. My husband and I have also turned to local products as much as we can in the NW. We enjoy growing a garden in the summer, and have become much more aware of where our food is coming from, especially meat (he still enjoys it)
I don't want to be a grouch, but I really don't get the plant-based phrase! Is this phrase applied to any diet of which more than say, 60% of calories come from plants? If so, I think most people are eating a plant-based diet. From what I'm seeing on the web, though, "plant-based" seems to be a euphemism for "vegan".
I use plant based because I do eat some fish, so I am not really vegan. i don't think most people are eating a plant based diet at all - the SAD standard american diet is meats, chicken, eggs, cheese a LOT (none of that is plant based)
We eat a ton more of meat than we did 100 years ago.
Another term people use is plant powered. I think vegan says different things to different people.
ApatheticNoMore
3-27-13, 2:58pm
i don't think most people are eating a plant based diet at all - the SAD standard american diet is meats, chicken, eggs, cheese a LOT (none of that is plant based)
Though it may not have always been the case, the SAD at this point is probably processed food. How are we arriving at this SAD anyway? (I see it mentioned all the time yet I'm really not sure). If it's actually supposed to represent what Americans actually eat, taking the food that is purchased in aggregate in the U.S. and then somehow parcel it out and see what the "average" person (which may be no actual person) is eating would seem the best way.
I use plant based because I do eat some fish, so I am not really vegan. i don't think most people are eating a plant based diet at all - the SAD standard american diet is meats, chicken, eggs, cheese a LOT (none of that is plant based)
We eat a ton more of meat than we did 100 years ago.
Another term people use is plant powered. I think vegan says different things to different people.
I couldn't disagree more. The SAD is starch, starch, sugar, and more starch, with some additives thrown in for taste. I can tell you that my forebears (great-grandparents, grandparents, parents) ate plenty of meat of all kinds, along with seafood, and produce from their gardens. My G-Gs ordered up bags of flour and sugar from the grocers on a periodic basis, and coffee. No Feedlot Diet for them. I'd say that--among the middle and upper classes at least--we're eating less meat by far than our sturdy grandparents ate.
What you're describing as the SAD (with the addition of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, bone broths...) could be any low carbohydrate plan, which couldn't be further from what the average North American eats.
"Plant-based" seems to me to be a kind of code too, but really--we're all plant-based, either through our own diet or the diet of the animals we eat.
awakenedsoul
3-27-13, 5:23pm
I have at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. I eat like our grandparents ate. I cook and bake from scratch. I have small amounts of meat or poultry every day. My health is excellent. I eat desserts, too. I keep the amounts moderate. No rules...just enjoying good quality food!
Jane don't forget FAT, that is in there in buckets too. Whatever the SAD, it isn't a very good one.
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/hurtful-food-eat-for-health-the-dangers-of-omission.html
this is one rendition of the SAD. there are all kinds.
I agree the SAD has fat, but people have been strongly warned away from healthful saturated fats, so there's a huge imbalance toward industrial oils like corn oil and others high in omega-6. Of course meat can be part of the SAD, but good quality protein is increasingly (thanks to PETA and others) considered optional, just as natural fats are considered poison. A high starch, high sugar, manufactured food diet can just as easily be vegetarian or vegan as omnivorous, and that's just as SAD, IMO.
Think of what passes for a "healthy" breakfast these days: juice, cereal, skim milk, margarine--in other words, starch, sugar (including lactose), and manufactured oil. No wonder people need a snack an hour or two later. Contrast that with a description today on Tom Naughton's Fat Head, the movie blog of breakfast in Japan: cabbage or miso soup, fried fatty fish, pickled vegetables, seaweed and lotus root. I know which one would nourish me.
ApatheticNoMore
3-27-13, 9:29pm
don't forget FAT, that is in there in buckets too.
Which probably won't shorten lifespan like protein can (protein restriction like calorie restriction in theory increases lifespan) and won't overtax sugar disposal like carbs can (granted people with no prediabetes/diabetes can usually dispose of some carbs - just maybe not unlimited amounts). No doubt "plastic fake fats" like transfats are garbage.
I really just wondered if SAD had an actual existing definition because if it's being used as a contrast much less as a control .... it seems it should. Dividing whatever is bought in aggregate around to the population seemed closest to what would be a reasonable SAD approximation to me. Someone is buying those processed food in the center of the grocery, it's not me, but someone is. :)
Contrast that with a description today on Tom Naughton's Fat Head, the movie blog of breakfast in Japan: cabbage or miso soup, fried fatty fish, pickled vegetables, seaweed and lotus root. I know which one would nourish me.
that sounds great.
Which probably won't shorten lifespan like protein can (protein restriction like calorie restriction in theory increases lifespan) and won't overtax sugar disposal like carbs can (granted people with no prediabetes/diabetes can usually dispose of some carbs - just maybe not unlimited amounts). No doubt "plastic fake fats" like transfats are garbage.
...
Judging by formulas for calculating protein needs, I'm usually on the low side, and I'm not convinced skimping on such a critical macronutrient any further would serve me well. I do think doing some version of occasional fasting--lower intake days, fat fasts, short intake windows--might be helpful for some. Anyway, those starved rodent studies haven't been found to translate to humans, as far as I know.
From Wikipedia, "The typical American diet is about 50% carbohydrate, 15% protein, and 35% fat which is over the dietary guidelines for the amount of fat (below 30%), below the guidelines for carbohydrate (above 55%), and at the upper end of the guidelines for the amount of protein (below 15%) recommended in the diet."
Much of the fat in the SAD is plant oil - corn and soy, maximising their market share. Carbohydrate comes from plants (except for the very small amounts of glycogen laid down in muscle and liver), and in the SAD or SWD, it tends to be highly processed into stuff like toaster pastries and cold cereals, muffins, cookies, breads, doughnuts, waffles, pancakes, icecream (some icecreams contain no dairy products at all!), heavily-sugared fatfree yogurts thickened with gums and starches to give them mouth feel, trail mixes that are more than half M&Ms, and the liquid candy called soda. Sugar is pumped into raw pork chops to tenderize them seeing the meat is so lean it would otherwise be very dry, into raw chickens (the "enhancing solution" contains dextrose), into cold cuts, again for tenderness.
If only half the fat in the SAD is plant-based, then 67.5% of the diet comes from plants. Some at least of the protein must come from plants, but it's not going to be a whole lot, so let's allow only 2.5% of the daily intake from plant sources, which gives a nice round figure of 70% plant-food intake.
So, like I said upthread, we're all eating plant-based diets. A toast!
you are right to point out that you can eat a crap diet whether you eat meat are vegetarian or vegan. For me the emphasis is on whole food and whole grain. I do eat a bit of processed foods, some crackers and some tortillas, but not really much more.
When I read above about all the crap we eat it is sad. Too true, cereal, coffee and juice for breakfast isn't much to write home about.
I eat oatmeal nearly every day and I think it is high time to go and buy a massive bulk order of the stuff.
Nearly a year later and I am completely vegan and I feel great. I may or may not have MS - it is very hard to diagnose, but I just do what I think is best for it. Completely plant based, low sat fat, no chocolate or coconut or palm oil. I guess i have been doing this for about 2 years and all my symptoms have gone away. About a year and a half ago I couldn't walk because my left foot had such bad spasticity. Then in July I sensed I could walk a bit better and went for a walk around the block. Yay.
Since then I have been able to walk just fine and have been doing a lot of walking. I credit the diet, the meditation and the general care for myself with making me so much better.
But what happened along the way - I became interested in the welfare of animals, particularly farm animals. I didn't see that coming - but I am definitely stepping into an activist role. i will be 59 this month, who knew I would be at this point in my life at this time.
I am grateful and very very happy with my diet.
I just noticed my post two above this one. It was over a year ago and i said I was just going to order a bulk order of oatmeal. Good god, I just did this last week, so it took me over a year to actually get that done.
Glad to hear that the changes worked out well for you and you found a good solution and better health, Kally.
kally, it's so nice to hear that you are feeling better as a result of simply changing your diet. I think people often underestimate the power of this change. It takes time and commitment, but it's better than popping a pill, IMO. In my experience, it seems that doctors would rather give someone a drug than suggest they make tough dietary changes. Go you!!!
kally, it's so nice to hear that you are feeling better as a result of simply changing your diet. I think people often underestimate the power of this change. It takes time and commitment, but it's better than popping a pill, IMO. In my experience, it seems that doctors would rather give someone a drug than suggest they make tough dietary changes. Go you!!!
I couldn't agree more; it's amazing how the human body can heal when it's supplied with what it needs--be it food, movement, companionship, support, or something else.
It doesn't always take time, though. I have a friend who literally became pain-free overnight after starting a grain-free paleo-influenced program. She also overcame some MS-like symptoms. She got absolutely zero relief from conventional doctors.
I couldn't agree more; it's amazing how the human body can heal when it's supplied with what it needs--be it food, movement, companionship, support, or something else.
It doesn't always take time, though. I have a friend who literally became pain-free overnight after starting a grain-free paleo-influenced program. She also overcame some MS-like symptoms. She got absolutely zero relief from conventional doctors.
I couldn't agree with you more, Jane! And it goes the other way too. I let my diet drift, starting last year in December when I was taking 21 units for my penultimate semester of my bachelor's degree, so I'd have a light load this semester for writing my honors thesis. I was leaving the house by 6 every morning and getting home between 5 and 7 every evening. Weekends were swallowed at birth by homework. So I stopped making bone broths, started eating too many grains (steel-cut oats, brown rice), ate much less meat because I like to stew bony, fatty cuts with vinegar or wine, and that takes time, and started eating too much fruit for my body's comfort. In March I crashed hard, with a humungous migraine storm and a nasty flare of peripheral neuritis. It cost me three weeks, I caved in and took medication to get it under control.
Now that I'm making bone broths, eating three servings of red meat a week, and getting more butter, my tattered nervous system is healing up. I don't efficiently convert ALA to EPA and DHA, and those are vital for maintaining the myelin sheathing of nerves, as well as the architecture and functioning of the brain.
I couldn't agree more; it's amazing how the human body can heal when it's supplied with what it needs--be it food, movement, companionship, support, or something else.
It doesn't always take time, though. I have a friend who literally became pain-free overnight after starting a grain-free paleo-influenced program. She also overcame some MS-like symptoms. She got absolutely zero relief from conventional doctors.
I couldn't agree with you more, Jane! And it goes the other way too. I let my diet drift, starting last year in December when I was taking 21 units for my penultimate semester of my bachelor's degree, so I'd have a light load this semester for writing my honors thesis. I was leaving the house by 6 every morning and getting home between 5 and 7 every evening. Weekends were swallowed at birth by homework. So I stopped making bone broths, started eating too many grains (steel-cut oats, brown rice), ate much less meat because I like to stew bony, fatty cuts with vinegar or wine, and that takes time, and started eating too much fruit for my body's comfort. In March I crashed hard, with a humungous migraine storm and a nasty flare of peripheral neuritis. It cost me three weeks, I caved in and took medication to get it under control.
Now that I'm making bone broths, eating three servings of red meat a week, and getting more butter, my tattered nervous system is healing up. I don't efficiently convert ALA to EPA and DHA, and those are vital for maintaining the myelin sheathing of nerves, as well as the architecture and functioning of the brain.
Speaking of time, you can make perfectly good bone broth in a pressure cooker in a fraction of the time usually required. I cook mine for 90 minutes.
Hooray for the culmination of your bachelor's degree, Suzanne!
ApatheticNoMore
5-4-14, 2:08pm
It takes time and commitment, but it's better than popping a pill, IMO. In my experience, it seems that doctors would rather give someone a drug than suggest they make tough dietary changes.
Yea but when your sick and in pain it's the hardest to have that type of patience and discipline. When I have a stupid cold or flu or something I KNOW sugar is probably messing up my immunity and prolonging it and yet I'm least able to stay away, as I'm suffering so much from the darn thing I just want some treats. I lose patience eventually treating with diet and supplements things I know an antibiotic or anti-fungal with treat instantly and after awhile of suffering just show up begging on the door of western medicine (or if it's just a stupid virus I can't do anything about anyway just end up taking OTC meds). That's simple stuff though, not chronic diseases, I just try to avoid doctors and the like whenever possible but it's not always possible.
Moral of the story: take care of your health when your healthy as it's much easier then. If I can't even stay away from sugar when I have a cold because I'm so miserable, does anyone imagine I'd stay away if I had cancer (no it would be all THC brownies, all the time ....).
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