The Last Heart Attack

On the weekend in the US, CNN aired this show - "The Last Heart Attack". It features more footage of Bill Clinton talking about his dietary change and discussion with a number of doctors who advocate plant-based whole foods diet to prevent and reverse heart disease, including Dr Caldwell Esselstyn, who I posted on previously. Check it out, and please pass on to anyone you know who has heart disease and could benefit from learning about how they can make themselves heart attack proof no matter what their genes or prior medical history.

Chocolate brownies

The first recipe that sparked my interest at Happy Herbivore was the black bean brownies; I am not alone - apparently this is her most popular recipe. The prospect of making a chocolate brownie with no added oil, low GI and high in fibre is probably quite appealing. Plus, the novelty factor of using beans as the base and being completely free of animal products! This is the second time that I have baked them. I decided to make a couple of minor changes, including the addition of some walnuts to add a little more texture.
 

Make yourself heart attack proof

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my line of work is the opportunity to regularly hear other scientists talk about their research - although this is normally in chemistry, I often get inspired by scientific talks in other areas. The video above shows the author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, Dr Caldwell Esselstyn - a medical doctor, or physician as they say in the states - giving a talk at a healthy lifestyle expo, so the science jargon is largely absent. I found his book remarkable and if you can in any way find the ~ 1 hr it takes to watch this video, it gives a great summary of the book's contents. With heart disease the number one killer in Australia, I urge you to watch this video and take heed of Dr Esselstyn's words. If you want to know more about him or his book, he has a website here; I can lend the book to anyone who is interested - if you live in SEQ, Redcliffe library also has a copy, however Brisbane City Council Library does not.

Take the pressure down, Pt. 2

Courtesy Walking Melbourne.

In my previous blood pressure post, I put forward what I believe to be the best way of addressing the problem through diet, and a link to an inspiring talk by Dr Dean Ornish. The main reasons why high blood pressure is a concern are the dramatically increased risk of stroke, heart attack and kidney failure. So, what causes high blood pressure (hypertension)?

Name change?

No, not me! I was thinking about how it is a shame that I would like to spread the word about how good health can be achieved through what you eat, but to do so inevitably boils down to lots of posts about chronic diseases and how to avoid them. It would be nice to focus on the positives - I'll share more about my personal experience of transitioning to a whole-foods plant based diet some time soon, but for now, I got to wondering about this whole chronic thing.

Animal protein and cancer

His book, The China Study, goes into so much more detail, but if you haven't read it yet, the video above, featuring the author - Emeritus Professor T. Colin Campbell, is a good primer. This is focused on cancer, but the book covers a host of other chronic diseases.

Hugh Jackman - the Vegan Wolverine?

Well, almost..

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/big-buff-and-vegan-packing-on-muscle-in-a-healthier-way/article1709172/

Take the pressure down, Pt. 1

Farnham fans anyone,.. anyone?..

We had a great evening last night at our family's "Christmas in July".. in August! Basically an excuse to eat lots of hot food while the weather is still cool - this year all vegan for the first time for me, including a rich chocolate bundt cake from Veganomicon, with Cocoluscious vanilla choc chip ice cream. Mmm!

The subject of high blood pressure - hypertension - came up, and naturally I recalled many references about whole foods plant-based diets helping blood pressure in the books/websites/etc I have been reading of late. "To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail!" But, I wanted to double-check my facts before saying too much at the time.

The problem with most GPs when offering treatment options is that they don't mention what is the optimal way to treat the problem through diet:

Tomatoey pasta passes the toddler test

Ideally I'd like to make and eat lunches with lots of raw salad veges, beans and so on, but on a cold and wet day it's nice to do something hot but easy using only three ingredients. This is as simple as:

1) Cook wholemeal penne
2) Smash, peel then roughly chop some garlic (I do one clove per person, but we are garlic fiends)
3) Sauté the garlic using a little water to prevent browning
4) Add passata to garlic - I used exactly one "splodge", which I'd estimate at 1 cup for three of us
5) Simmer tomato sauce until pasta is ready
6) Drain pasta and add sauce to it
Done. This is in the Italian style of just enough sauce to "coat" the pasta, rather than drown it. Very easy to do and best of all it passes the toddler test, with lil VM launching into it with gusto. The passata has some salt, but not as bad as pre-prepared pasta sauces.

Bill Clinton's plant-based diet

Bread for $2.21 per loaf

This homemade wholemeal bread costs $2.21 per 750 grams, according to my calculations, and tastes better than most commercial breads.

Flexible thinking

Not me! Image courtesy of Wellcome Images.

“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do sir?”
  -- John Maynard Keynes

I guess it can seem pretty strange to others when someone you've known for years, sometimes decades, as an omnivore - eating a typical Western diet - goes vegan. For me, it's because the facts have changed, or at least my appreciation of them.

Yoghurt surprise

Here's a yoghurt that has no disease-promoting animal protein, cholesterol, less than 1 gram saturated fat per serve, no lactose and has health-promoting omega-3 fatty acids, phytochemicals and dietary fibre, and is made less than 10 km from where we live! Plus, I think it tastes good.

MS genes - the loaded gun

There was a big news item today about a huge research team finding 57 genes associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). This debilitating disease recently claimed the life of a close friend of my family, so I was very interested to hear today's announcement. It's certainly a major achievement. One of the key overall findings: a great deal of overlap with genes associated with other autoimmune diseases, like type 1 diabetes. This calls into question some alternative theories on the cause of the disease. But, are genes the cause of MS?

Aztec Corn Salad, from Happy Herbivore

We made this Aztec Corn Salad from the Happy Herbivore tonight with some left over cooked black beans, click the link if you want to see her recipe (and a much more appetizing photo.)

Cheap house, anyone?

Saw this today on my walk to work. I guess we live in a rough area if you can't even give houses away!

PS Out of shot to the left is a suitcase - I presume they are throwing it in with the house to sweeten the deal.

Chia bread

I usually bake a couple of straightforward loaves of bread each week in our bread machine - pretty much the same wholemeal recipe each time, sometimes with grains and seeds. However, as part of crowding out non-veggie foods, I've been busy trying as many new foods as I can, mostly buying first and working out a use later. Chia seeds are one thing that has been hanging around a while looking unloved. I decided to try it in a bread, despite having read somewhere that it forms a gel in water (must be some interesting chemistry going on there...) - probably not good for getting a well risen bread. Sure enough tonight's loaf is somewhat err.. vertically challenged. The photo probably doesn't do it justice - it's really dense. I was thinking about donating it to my niece as the first brick for her new house, but it looked a bit like a delivery car, maybe a baker's van?

Crowding, not cutting

When I first considered changing to a vegan diet, I mostly thought about everything I'd be cutting out - although for me, meats weren't a big issue in terms of taste. I was vegetarian for about 3 years in the UK in the late 90's, and I did ok, mainly reverting because of laziness. Eggs and dairy are another matter - they're in so many things, and some of my favourite omni foods are egg or dairy based,.. creme brulee for instance. So I took the easy way out and told myself that I wouldn't rule out having dairy or egg foods once in a while for special occasions. Time will tell - health-wise, I'm sure there is little difference between 100% and 99% vegan. However, since then I've read and thought much more about the ethical side of vegan eating, and I wonder whether I really want a "special occasion" to involve foods that involve animal cruelty. Perhaps over time I'll find rich, indulgent vegan foods for special occasions - have your cake and cruel-free too.

In the meantime, for the princely sum of $0.99, I bought "The Ultimate Vegan Guide" for Kindle a few weeks ago. It's a fairly short and easy to read sort of "how-to" guide, with some useful every-day tips and tricks. The author, Erik Marcus, is frank about his own transition to eating vegan and the obstacles along the way. The part that really struck a chord with me was in the third chapter, "Crowding, not cutting":

Here is the most common mistake that new vegans make: they switch to this diet believing that it's all about discipline and cutting things out. They grit their teeth and give up hamburgers, cheese pizzas, yogurt,.. And in place of all that, they eat celery sticks. Well, that's obviously a recipe for disaster. So let me suggest an alternative: don't cut out non-veggie foods, crowd them out.

I think it's great advice and I've taken it to heart. For me, the big positive culinary change has been re-discovering the joys of eating fruit - lots of fruit. I love fruit - almost everything, but before I would rarely eat more than one or two serves a day. The main reason is that when there are Tim Tams and cheese in the house, fruit just doesn't win the laziness or sugar/fat craving stakes. Now, I often have about 5-6 items of fresh fruit a day and really enjoying it. One of the great finds for me has been grapefruit - we've been buying the red-fleshed ones. I guess I had tried them occasionally in the past, but they're so good, I wonder why didn't I eat more before!

Protein - what's in a name

Watched the final, painstakingly long, Masterchef episode tonight with Mrs VeganMista, aka VeganMissus (admittedly she isn't vegan and we ain't married!). Also did my ironing for the week at the same time - who said blokes can't multi-task? Something cropped up again on Masterchef that has been annoying me for some time. The hosts, talking about what ingredients the contestants have, talk about "protein" when referring to animal products, or meat more specifically. Why on earth?? Protein is one of the three macronutrients, the others being fat and carbohydrates. On a weight for weight basis, meats contain a significant amount of protein, but they are not entirely protein, and more importantly, they aren't the only source of protein. In fact, almost all unrefined plant foods contain protein and it is well nigh impossible to structure a vegan diet that has sufficient calories, yet is lacking in protein. The medical condition associated with lack of protein is called kwashiorkor. When was the last time you heard of someone in Australia with that? I struggled to find data about it in Australia. I did find that 8 people died from it in the USA in 2003. Meanwhile, roughly 7 million aussies are overweight or obese.

In his book, Eat to Live, Joel Fuhrman makes a good case for why foods are better compared on a per 100 calorie basis, rather than per 100 grams. The bottom line is that a person needs to take in a certain number of calories per day to keep a healthy weight. The mass of food needed to get those calories is irrelevant. On a per 100 calorie basis, many plant foods, including broccoli, spinach and kale, have more protein than a sirloin steak!

But, back to Masterchef - according to nutritional data websites like this one, the percent of calories from fat in eg. a steak or salmon fillet can be more than 50%. Why doesn't Masterchef refer the contestants to the "fats" in their ingredient boxes? (BTW, eggs and cheese (brie) are 63 and 73% fat in per calorie terms.) The main reason why this reference to meats as "protein" annoys me is that it continues the long-standing misconception that meats and other animal products are necessary in order to obtain enough protein. The common approach of structuring a dish centred around a meat caters purely to taste preferences, not human nutritional needs. In fact, the opposite is true - lower animal protein intakes are correlated with better health (lower rates of chronic disease).

First recipe - my everyday oats

Here goes - my first recipe online and it's (drumroll please...) porridge! And with terrible pictures to boot.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Traditional Oats (aka "Rolled" Oats)
• 1 cup water or non-dairy milk or mixture
• 1/2 or whole ripe banana, mashed
• 1 heaped Tbsp ground linseed (flaxseed)
• 4-5 prunes, chopped
• non-dairy milk, extra to serve

 

Place oats and liquid(s) in saucepan and bring to the boil. While waiting, mash the banana with a fork in the bowl you are going to eat the porridge from. Chop the prunes and add to the bowl. Meanwhile, boil the oats over moderate heat until they thicken (around 5-8 mins). Once cooked, add to the banana and prunes. Top with ground linseed - I normally grind whole linseed in a spice/coffee grinder in largish batches and store it in a zip-lock bag in the freezer. Add extra non-dairy milk (fortified soy in my case) to taste and then mix everything around to get things to edible temperature. Gobble up!

Well, it's not exactly haute cuisine, but I find this breakfast delicious and can happily eat it day after day. The banana and prunes give good sweetness without adding sugar. Linseed (flax) is the best plant source of omega-3 fatty acids - they need to be ground to properly digest. I find they don't add anything substantial, either positive or negative, to the flavour of the porridge. Eaten as the ground whole seed, they also provide beneficial phytochemicals. We've been having oats for breakfast in winter for a few years now. I used to have brown sugar then converted to topping with prunes. Although its a recent addition, I like the way the mashed banana gives a sweet banana-y taste to every bite but keeps the consistency the same. Bananas are so expensive lately in Australia, that its a bit of a luxury! One last thing - by far the best supermarket oats are Carmen's (they also make delicious muesli and muesli bars). You wouldn't think there would be much difference between oats, but all the other brands we have tried are far inferior. Carmen's just seem to have the perfect texture - when cooked they keep a bit of chew.

So, there you go - my everyday vegan porridge. I think breakfast is the easiest habit to veganise. I used to have lactose-free dairy milk on porridge. It took a bit of experimentation to find my favourite soy milk - those with added vege oils I disliked the most and you really don't need to add refined oil to anything, the one I've settled on is also fortified with a few vitamins, including B12. I've never been a big fan of soy milk - it has a certain back of the palate unpleasantness, so at first that change was tough, but I soon stopped being so aware of it. The addition of mashed banana completely got rid of that taste, so that was a big win, and now I like this version of brekky more than what I ate as an omnivore.

One book too many...

I've always been interested in nutrition - actually I think most people are to some extent, hence the constant media coverage of the latest health studies. Also, like lots of 30-something parents, I started feeling less healthy than I wanted to be. So, I started reading in-depth about nutrition and health. In May, I read a book that completely changed my viewpoint - "The China Study" written by T. Colin Campbell and his son. I couldn't believe that I didn't know, or hadn't fully appreciated, the extent to which animal products are linked to chronic diseases. The book is very well written and the scientific case for optimal health linked to a whole foods, plant-based diet is overwhelming. So, that's the main catalyst in how I decided to make a big change to my eating habits by cutting out all animal products and relying on unrefined wholefoods where possible. Campbell is careful to not describe his recommended eating habits as "vegan." This seems to be because he doesn't want his health message to be confused with the (often) ethically-centred vegan "cause." I can certainly understand, because the word vegan smacks of extremism to a lot of people. But, at least vegan is succinct -  WholeFoodsPlantBasedDietMista would be a bit of a mouthful for my new blog name. I would recommend anyone and everyone to read The China Study, even if you have absolutely no intention to modify your diet - it puts a lot of the fragmented stuff you hear about nutrition and health into perspective.

Minimal manifest

OK, so the point of this blog is to give me somewhere to put down my random thoughts on food, nutrition and whatever else takes my fancy. At this stage, I imagine there will mainly be posts about the food and nutrition info I've recently read, and recipes that I've made/used/modified, that fit in with this. My big concern is a lack of time, so I'll probably go super-dodgy, low-budget but time-efficient. There's no way I can get good quality food photos (check out some of the food photos on Oh She Glows in the Blogroll) on here without spending heaps of time. Maybe one day I'll learn how to use a camera properly... and "plate up" attractively for that matter!

PS If anyone has a suggestion for a better name for this blog - let me know in the comments.