Category Archives: diabetes

Whole Food Plant-Based Diet can prevent and cure diabetes

Something Bad is really Good!

I have joked for years that the only bad habit I had left was drinking coffee. It always seemed like giving up that treasured morning cup of joe was a bridge too far. My rationalization was that that I was getting too old to give up one more thing!  I mean, is there anything better than that first cup of coffee in the morning?

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Music to my Ears

We are having a wonderful time – eating, walking and listening to music. Blues and Jazz.

This McDougall moment came in my email and it was also music to ears. In a different way, but still. . . Here Dr. McDougall eloquently states my belief about being a smart consumer of medical care.  Watch it and enjoy!

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Vegetarian Diet Reduces Risk of Fatal Heart Disease by One-Third

healthinsA new study reported in Medical News Today, and  published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concludes that a Vegetarian Diet reduces the risk of dying of heart disease by one-third!

Starting in the early 1990s the study followed 45,000 Europeans who volunteered for the study.  34 percent of volunteers did not eat meat or fish. Hospital admissions and deaths were tracked and during the study. The final tally showed a total of 1,235 identified cases of cardiovascular disease: 1,066 by hospital admission and 169 by death.

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Pre-Diabetes, Diabetes and a Plant-Based Diet

Here is the last part of my husband David’s story about his retreat from heart disease and pre-diabetic condition. He used a plant-based diet regain his health.

I was fat. My belly was distended and my body fat index was over thirty so I qualified. I was more than fifty pounds overweight.

My blood sugar was over one hundred and at one point above one hundred and fifty. My triglycerides were also higher than they should be in a healthy human being. My doctor told me that I was definitely in the pre-diabetic class. He warned if I didn’t change my diet and lose weight I would be a full-blown type 2 diabetic within 2-3 years.

He stressed losing weight because fat is an early warning sign for diabetes. Curing it is the main concern if you are showing early symptoms as I was six years ago. And yes, it is possible to cure type two diabetes no matter what any “expert” has to say. (more…)

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Heart Disease, Diabetes and A Plant-Base Diet

Here is the beginning of my husband David’s story about his retreat from heart disease and pre-diabetic condition. He used only natural methods and diet to regain his health. Sit back and enjoy

imageLiving in a simple world is easy.  All you have to do is ignore reality, which is annoyingly complex most of the time. I am, in fact, guilty of using this coping method. I’m telling you this before Genene can take up the subject and tell on me.

I am the one in this household who after having a stent placed in my left anterior descending artery to my heart gained  thirty pounds of unneeded lard. Probably some of which was deposited in my arteries. (more…)

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2013, The Obesity Epidemic and Plant-Based Nutrition

“This is another fine mess that you’ve gotten us into, Stanley.”

In case you were culturally deprived when you were young, that quote is a rather famous accusation voiced frequently by Ollie in the Laurel and Hardy comedies. About the only thing that I never heard Oliver Hardy blame Stan Laurel for in those movies was his weight. Obesity was not viewed as a national health crisis in the twenties thirties and forties, hunger was closer to home for a lot of our population.

The weighty have always been among us. They have never been as dominant in numbers as they are today. Along with the new fat epidemic comes symptoms of ill health that worry us (a lot) when we exhibit them. Added to that are diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes; all common problems related to the obesity. (more…)

Posted in additive-free food, diabetes, excitotoxins, Food Additives, plant based diet, processed food, weigh loss, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

I Quit Sugar!

At least once a week someone asks me how in the world I  quit sugar. I can’t tell you how many people talk to me about quitting sugar in any given week. They have read Sugar Blues. They know it is an addiction. They can tell me all the reasons they should quit. But the actual quitting? That is a whole other thing! Most people try (and fail)  many times before they actually do it.

I know I did! I decided to quit eating sugar 30+ years ago. It was one of those obvious sort of decisions. I was in terrible and chronic pain and finally at the point I was willing to do ANYTHING to feel better. So when this very old chiropractor told me that my pain would be considerably less if I quit sugar, I did it. At least for a few days. . . then for a week and then a couple of weeks. You get the idea. (more…)

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Plant-based or Plant-Strong with Rip

There is a marvelous video that my friend Elizabeth brought to my attention. She posted the link yesterday on Facebook. I took a look and decided it is too good to pass up.

Rip Esselstyn is a former All-American swimmer, pro-triathlete and retired Firefighter.  Inspired by his father (Caldwell Esselstyn), he persuaded his Austin Fire Department’s Engine 2 Company to adopt a plant-based diet. The story is written in his best selling book:  Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter’s 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds. (more…)

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The Journey From the Standard American Diet to a Whole Food Plant-based Diet . . .

Remember that old Alka Seltzer ad with the guy groaning that he couldn’t believe he ate the whole thing? To me it is a most graphic reminder that what we eat directly effects how we feel.

All of us are good at remembering the connection of food and feeling in the short run. The problem is come when remembering to connect the information to our overall dietary habits and quality of life. (more…)

Posted in diabetes, diary-free food, gluten-free food, John McDougall, plant based diet, T. Colin Campbell, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based Diet and Chronic Disease, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Green Tea – a Whole Food Plant-Based Beverage!

I am not a fan of bitter. I don’t really like quinine, arugula, bitter chocolate or Starbucks coffee. Until recently I would have included green tea on that list. In my mind it is associated with that bitter stuff you get in Chinese restaurants.

Green tea, however, has always been one of those things that I have thought that I “should” like because it is so good for you. Or so I have read. (more…)

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