Sometimes I wonder what the heck I’m doing, preaching about whole food, plant-based diets for preventing and reversing chronic disease. I’m not a medical professional, I’ve never studied nutrition in a post-secondary institution, I’m not a scientist of any kind, and I’ve only been eating this way myself for 2 years. I am a former … Continue reading Your doctor should be telling you this
I’m not impressed by vegan athletes. All those breathless headlines about how this or that highly successful athlete does all this on a plant based diet. Guess what? Those guys and gals eat so much they can’t help but meet all their nutritional requirements. They don’t have to think about it. You know what’s hard? … Continue reading Eating for health, not size
If you’ve read The Pleasure Trap by Doug Lisle and Alan Goldhamer, you will be aware of the motivational triad that drives all sentient creatures. All of us are wired to seek pleasure, avoid pain and conserve energy while doing so. This is the wiring that has developed over the last billion years and is … Continue reading How to keep your inner caveman happy (without going paleo)
One of the many positive side effects of eating only whole plant foods is a noticeable improvement in mental wellbeing. It is common to hear people referring to a “lifting” or “lightness” when they describe their experience with switching to a wfpb diet. But it isn’t just anecdotal reports. Science, psychology and culture all play … Continue reading Six reasons your mental health improves when you eat whole plant foods
I sometimes worry that some folks may be put off the idea of switching to a wfpb diet because they fear having to become a vegan. In fact, being vegan may not improve their health.
If you follow me on Facebook (you really should, I post lots of interesting things there) you'll know that I post a lot of articles that tout the connection between a healthy gut microbiome and our health. Often, there's an explanation of how we came to have the particular microbial makeup that we do. Whether … Continue reading The care and feeding of your microbiome – a quick guide
A few years ago, I had a truly dreadful battle with some kind of gastrointestinal virus. It attacked me suddenly and within a few hours I found myself puking up blood into a garbage can at the triage desk of my local emergency room. It provided rather dramatic evidence that something was very wrong. I received some … Continue reading On quitting a club I never wanted to join; and is it better when a nurse feels sorry for you, or not?
Everybody knows that lung cancer patients with cirrhosis of the liver rank lower on the disease hierarchy scale than little kids with genetic illnesses like cystic fibrosis. There's an unspoken rule that the more self-inflicted your sickness is, the less sympathy you get from society at large. You've got the flu? Poor you. The clap? … Continue reading The double edged sword of being able to reverse chronic disease with diet
Many years ago, before the Food Network was really a thing, I used to watch a program on television called Two Fat Ladies. Every episode they would prepare a lavish meal for a group of nuns or gamekeepers or the officer's mess. Each dish was more decadent than the next and involved multiple kinds of … Continue reading Give yourself the gift of loving whole plant foods.
A year ago today, I jumped into the whole food, plant-based (wfpb) lifestyle. I'm excited about this anniversary because it was literally a life-changing event for me. I've written before about how I completely reversed my debilitating angina and lost weight, but I thought I'd show my progress over the last year by the numbers. … Continue reading Happy Plantiversary to me!
No Spring Chickpea: The Plant-Based Midlife Rejuvenation Project 