Happy Veganniversary to me

One year ago today, Monica called me upstairs and said “Your girlfriend is on TV!”  Of course, she was talking about Michelle Pfeiffer.  Turns out the former Pink Lady was talking to Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN, and they were talking about health.  Ok, I’ll bite.  The Cardinals aren’t on TV so I’ll sit down and watch it.  They talked about how well she looked and whether she had ever had plastic surgery, and then they talked about what she ate.

She professed she was a vegan, and that an interview Dr. Gupta had done the year before with former president Bill Clinton was the inspiration behind her change in diet.  That previous interview was part of a special report Dr. Gupta aired called The LastHeart Attack.  After President Clinton suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery after he was out off ice, he turned to the advice of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr.  So, I had Michelle Pfeiffer, former President Clinton, and Dr. Gupta all telling me that this Dr. Esselstyn was the greatest person on earth; that he had the secret to eternal life.  The Good Doctor wrote a book that simply states “Stop eating foods from animals because they are high in cholesterol, and cholesterol causes heart attacks”  Eat a plant based diet instead . . . veggies, fruits, beans, whole grains, etc.  Get your cholesterol under 150 total mg/dl he says, and you’ll never have a heart attack.  Period.

Well heck, I was bored so I said I would stop eating beef for a few weeks and see what happened.  I like fruits and veggies so how hard could it be?  Next thing you know, I had eliminated all beef, chicken, fish from my diet as well as anything dairy . . . no butter, no cheese, no milk, etc.  Eat nothing with a face or that had a mother.  I ordered Dr. Esselstyn’s book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, and read it from cover to cover.  I researched his website, heartattackproof.com, and I became a disciple.   Within 6 weeks, my cholesterol was down from 200 to 147 mg/dl, and I had lost 30 pounds.  The weight loss has stalled, but my Vegan Vigilance has not. 

Today is my one year Veganniversary and I think I’m here to stay.  My family has been very supportive, and I have tried and found new foods that I had never thought about eating before.  I had never tasted hummus before.  Or guacamole.  Or a black bean burger, or whole grain pasta, or edamame, tofu, Thai Food, curry, Coconut milk, Almond milk, ice cream made with coconut milk, etc., etc.   And I love peppers, all colors, all shapes and sizes.  I can mix myself up a pot of stir fried peppers and onions and whole grain rice, and red and black beans, and eat it for a week.  Courtesy of my wife and my daughters, I’ve had vegan cupcakes, vegan cookies, vegan cranberry salad, vegan apple crisp, and vegan peanut butter cake . . . all made with no dairy products.  Now, they still have plenty of calories (LOL), but they are delicious and contain no butter whatsoever. 

Yes, I miss steak and bacon and Snickers bars.  But my plan is to live to 110 years old.  What the heck; I lived on the bad foods for the first 55 years; now I’ll live on plants for the next 55.  I’m liking it so far.  I’ll let you know how it turns out in about 54 more years.