Five Months In
This weekend my wife (Kim) and I will eclipse 5 months of eating a whole-food, plant-based diet. Five months ago (January 3rd) we threw out the meat, dairy, eggs and processed foods and focused our eating on plants. Reflecting on the last 5 months there are several thoughts worth writing down and sharing on this change and what it’s meant to me and my family.
The Beginning
This journey started simply. I wanted to change. I was tired of feeling just so so and knowing that 45 was just around the corner and that I was within 10 years of when my Dad had his first heart attack I kept thinking that I wasn’t doing everything I could to be healthy. Thoughts varied on how I could be healthy but centered on one central statement: I want to be able to look my family in the eye on my last day of life and be able to say I did everything I could to be here as long as possible.
That mantra filled me and I started reading and listening (podcasts are a habit of mine) and watching anything I could. One thing that came up time in again across mediums was the documentary Forks Over Knives. Not only did I hear of the lives that were changed as a part of the film but writers and podcast hosts and guests talking about the changes that a whole-food, plant-based diet made in their health. Kim and I wanted the film together and decided to go all in (we don’t do anything small).
Date night at Spiral Diner in Fort Worth
The Results
Although the journey is one in which lessons abound that’s another series of posts for another time. Here’s what the past 5 months have meant for me:
More energy
Better sleep
39 lbs lost
BP regularly 115/70 (formerly 130/90+ even on meds)
Reduction of blood pressure medications (2) by half
Regular running/cycling sessions
Rare headaches
Measure of elasticity of the inner walls of my arteries has dropped by half (meaning they are twice as elastic and half as likely to cause heart disease or stroke)
Already I can see and feel that I’m able to live my new mantra and my kids see it too. For the first time in their lives I am below 200 lbs and my goal weight of approx 165 is well within reach.
The Practice
Eating a whole-food, plant-based diet isn’t a silver bullet but a decision made daily. On any day I could choose to forego my decision and have something less healthy. For me the temptation hasn’t been there because I’m focused on each meal adding to my life so each opportunity to eat becomes a chance to celebrate a promise made.
For those looking for a recipe of success there are a few things I’d offer:
Plan your meals — Kim and I talk daily about what the next day’s meals are going to be and plan for dinners to become the next day’s lunch. Automatically makes meal planning easier.
Keep it simple — we spend LESS time cooking than we did previously with breakfasts and lunches taking mere minutes to prepare while dinner might take 20–30 minutes.
Do it together — I would not be successful without Kim (at anything) but especially with this life change. Her support and participation mean everything to me. Together we are deciding to live more fully and (hopefully) longer.
Tell Everyone — Share your change in habit with everyone and you’ll be amazed how hard they will work to ensure they are supportive. And share the journey. Simply sharing my own journey has caused several friends to give it a try…and they’re changing themselves in the process.
Invest in a meal planner — There are several out there and they’re $100/year. May seem like a lot but it works out to less than $2/week and you get thousands of recipes. Here are my favorites:
Rich Roll (meals.richroll.com)
Engine 2 (mealplanner.engine2.com)
Forks Over Knives (my.forksmealplanner.com)
NOTE: Each of these planners has recipes with nutrition facts, grocery lists and can even tie into grocery delivery services to make eating healthy easier
What started out as a vague desire to live out a promise to my family has changed how I approach food completely. It can for you to when you’re curious enough to see if food can be, as Hippocrates said,
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”.