My Actual Diet – Way of Eating (WOE)
7 Jul. 2020
Up until July 2017 my diet was pretty similar to the SAD (Standard American Diet) with a Kiwi flavour, except I am (or was?) allergic to kiwifruit (originally called Chinese gooseberry!).
I grew up on a dairy farm where we had fresh milk and cream, home kill beef, lamb and pork. At one stage we had a half side of cured bacon hanging in the outside laundry where we could cut of a half inch (1.3 cm) slice and fry in beef fat with our homegrown eggs, yum at the time! Of course, we did have lots of homegrown vegetables as well, potatoes baked or boiled, cabbage, cauliflower, peas and beans, home grown rhubarb and lots of fresh, unpolluted air.
I tried a vegetarian type diet in my mid-twenties for 6 months. I found it freed up my running mid to long distance. I placed 4th in the Wellington Marathon champs and 14th in the Nationals with 2hrs 48 or so times. However, running cross country over hills I found I had no control going downhill – very dangerous on steep bush tracks! – and I felt I had lost power in my legs for going uphill, so I bailed on the diet after 6 months. As I have not yet resumed running since I started this diet now, I cannot re-evaluate that, I am still really rehabilitating after my bypass and I am 73+ now. I am feeling weak in my thighs a bit. However, there are plenty of athletes plant based now, such as Novak Djokovic, Scott Jurek, Rich Roll, so I guess my earlier efforts at vegetarianism were a bit amateurish, without any research base or guidance like we have now.
My main template for now is mostly WFPBNO – Whole Foods Plant Based No Oil. My goal model 100% compliant McDougall as in www.drmcdougall.com with John & Mary McDougall, very similar age to me. My first inspirations were from the China Study Diet by Dr T Colin Campbell. A friend at work, Peter Miller, (an artist), referred me to this in April 2017 when he heard I needed a triple bypass. I use the Campbell exception occasionally when I eat meat in some situations, keeping in mind his finding that he could turn heart disease and cancer on and off in rats by going over or under 5% of animal protein. I have taken that as daily.
If you want to follow this diet you can get all you need from Dr McDougall’s site, all free stuff, including thirty years of articles, free recipes, newsletters. See www.drmcdougall.com . He is the expert; I am an amateur in comparison. My point of difference is helping with motivation and purpose through Jesus, and my real-life experience.
You can also learn lots of free recipes and people’s experiences thru his associated Facebook page, McDougall and Friends. I am also a member on Facebook of Forks Over Knives (meaning eating good with your fork and avoiding the surgical knife!), with over 300,000 members. Also like the group 100% Esselstyn Nutrition Forum on Facebook, which is also WFPBNO, but focuses on heart disease and advocates 6 portions of green vegetables every day to bathe your arteries in nitric oxide and help reduce arterial plaque. Another good source is Dr Michael Greger’s site www.nutritionfacts.org which gives comment and analysis on the latest scientific studies. All these doctors have books as well.
These sources all emphasize health is the primary goal, losing weight is a result of healthy eating. You can be healthy and slim on the outside but still have blocked arteries or cancer. Using this diet to lose weight have helped many with these diseases and many others, like rheumatoid arthritis, Type 2 Diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and several others.
This reminds me of 2 of my running associates, 1 was a national rep, another good provincial level. Both were skinny as, never fat, still active runners, who died in their early fifties. To be fair, I don’t know the exact cause of death, but suspect heart issues.
Exercise helps too – another blog, another day. However, I like the statement pinned up in my old gym in Papakura CLM “You can’t outrun your fork”. I haven’t rejoined since my bypass because I have a new health challenge, 3 aneurysms, 1 in a critical place. That is an abdominal aortic aneurysm, now 3.4 cm wide. A normal aorta is 2.0 – 2.6 cm wide in a man. However, it’s not critical till its 5.0 cm – about 2 inches, but it’s not wise to go to the gym where part of the way of doing is to maximise your weights in the last set of reps.
In my swimming, I avoid flat out speed. However, exercise is still recommended. I also have a 2.6 cm aneurysm in my popliteal artery just behind my right knee. This is getting too close to the 2.5 cm level recommended for bypass surgery, to be decided in next 6 months. Thank you, Jesus, by your stripes I was healed (2 Pet 2:24)!
For me, this diet looks like cooked oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, variation of lunch, yesterday was 1 cooked corn on the cob. Dinner varies too, roast potatoes, kumara (sweet potato NZ version), onions, carrots and greens from my garden like broccoli, kale, silver beet. Late night I often have hot chocolate or Milo (yes, sugary), with 2 pieces of dark chocolate. I cook up my 4 days’ worth oatmeal into porridge with apples, sultanas and dates, pinch of salt. On the first day of cooking before refrigerating this mixture is also good for snacks. I add no sugar now. In season I cook rhubarb from my own garden. Rhubarb is actually a vegetable; I use it as fruit. I cook it with apples, sultanas and dates, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom spices to taste, half a teaspoon each as a middle guide. I used to add sugar but now don’t need it as my taste buds are changed. You might want to set your own level of sultanas and dates as these are calorie rich but good as replacing refined sugar. I also add fresh bananas to my mixture of porridge and fruit. To lubricate my breakfast I use soy milk, coconut yoghurt, soy yoghurt, almond yoghurt and kefir. Some Kefir is actually dairy, but I like the probiotic effect and I dilute with soymilk. If you are real anti dairy just don’t use it. I am just being transparent here in admitting I use kefir. However, I have now found plant-based kefir!
I confess I am a lazy cook. My wife Lee is still a part time vegetarian and still eats animal protein and sugary stuff. She does cook vegetarian from time to time, but I am my main food preparer. My lazy meal at night is 2 or 3 potatoes microwaved in a cook bag and frozen mixed veges steamed. I use a packet vegan cheese sauce (dairy free), mixed with chickpea flour (besan). A lazy lunch is some near compliant thick bread toasted topped with tomatoes and hummus. I have tried making Ezekiel bread, tasted good and didn’t add weight, but not yet acceptable sandwich slices, trying again soon. I eat fruit as snacks but McDougall and Esselstyn limit to 3 pieces a day for reasons of weight control and keeping triglycerides low.
The fact is, there is heaps of free stuff on the internet. As above, www.drmcdougall.com is the easiest source. Joining his Facebook page, or Esselstyn 100% or Forks over knives pages will give you heaps of variety and simple recipes and ideas. I will do recipes on my website and FB page to come, and maybe a recipe book in the future, but that’s a good year away right now.
If you are a Christian, pray to God for advice, He knows you best.
The other side of the coin is to resist offers from well meaning friends and family of non-compliant and bad food. The old trick of don’t offend them and get fat and unhealthy instead. You must be strong; this is important! The most common thing is “where do you get enough protein”? The smart answer is to ask them how gorillas and elephants get their protein. Most people in NZ and USA eat too much protein and its bad for your kidneys. But the most important fact is our education in food has been sadly lacking. Most foods are a composite of the different elements. Spinach and silver beet steamed have about 2 % protein. Potatoes and sweet potatoes, kumara have 2% protein in 100 grams of boiled in skin potatoes and protein is nearly 8% of the dry weight. 100 grams of cooked potato is 76% water. It is good quality protein, plus there is fibre, Vit C, folate (B9), potassium and Vit B6. A 213-gram russet potato will give you 9% of the recommended daily allowance of protein, which is 69 grams for a 6-foot (183 cm) man aged 50 and is low-active. So, 11 potatoes in 1 day will give you all the protein you need, with no animal protein, no cholesterol and a good amount of fibre towards your desired level. The 100 grams of boiled potato will also give you 20 grams of carbohydrates and 0 grams of fat. Then you have to consider what you put on it! I used to add lots of butter, that’s why I ended up in the op room! Now I add a vegan cheese sauce. There are some good versions out there, but I am lazy right now and use Angel Food Dairy Free Cheesy Sauce Mix 25% and 75% chickpea flour to cut down the salt and calorie content and the cost.
A sirloin steak grilled of 255 grams has 30.6% protein, or 78 grams, just over the RDA allowance.
It also has 6 grams of fat, or 2.4% fat. Ribeye steak has 50g more fat. If you cook in butter or fat, then that quickly goes up. If you add tomato sauce or ketchup then you get more sugar, salt & calories.
You must be careful and check your sources and figures on these items.
See Dr John McDougall’s newsletter on protein:
https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2003nl/dec/031200puprotein.htm
He shows how the myths of protein started, how plant-based diets do in fact supply all the protein we need, and how all the amino acids needed are provided in a plant-based diet. I thought that too way back in 1974 when I tried vegetarianism. This assertion that plant-based protein does not supply all the necessary amino acids to digest plant protein is still trotted out on many websites and books.
According to Dr Greger, the biggest problem is lack of fibre in diet. 97% of Americans get enough protein. 97% of Americans don’t get enough fibre. See his video:
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/do-vegetarians-get-enough-protein/
So, this is enough for you to get the idea.
Email me any queries or helpful comments for the book: mpinkham@ps.gen.nz