April 9, 2024
Attendance: Donna, Janette, and myself. We were missing quite a few people who wanted to come but had other commitments or were sick. I didn’t want to cancel, because I want this to remain consistent and by posting our notes, people can keep up if they choose. Donna joined the group tonight and was excited when she left with some new knowledge. She said she’d be back.
Snacks and Wine:
Fruit (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries) and we drizzled chocolate balsalmic vinegar on top.
Veggie Tray
Cannonau Wine –
With only a couple of us, we caught Donna up about what we’ve done in the last two meetings and then went in to watch some videos.
After these two main videos, we got caught going down a rabbit hole watching recipe videos – We decided that Carleigh Bodrug was our favorite but her videos are too fast. We also want to buy her new cookbook – Scrappy Cooking (see videos)
Research Homework Assignments – No Homework assignments per say this week. But, Janette has a great idea for our June meeting regarding Exercise. You won’t want to miss that meeting! June 11th.
Next meeting Tuesday, May 14th.
March 12, 2024
Attendance: Brenda, Kim, Janette, Lori, Laura, and myself. We were missing several who wanted to come but had other commitments. We shared snacks and wine and watched a short video by Dr. Michael Greger. and then had a discussion and brainstormed topics that we’d like to learn more about at future meetings.
Snacks and Wine:
I don’t remember.
We had introductions and got some snacks to watch a Dr. Michael Greger’s video.
We also looked through cookbooks and discussed some of our favorite recipes.
Went back to the table and discussed our thoughts on the video.
Research Homework Assignments – No Homework assignments per say this week. But, after looking though cookbooks we thought it would be good to try something we have never made or try a vegetable or fruit we had never eaten.
Brenda: Bread and some sort of preservative derived from human hair supposedly!!! 🤮 She read it somewhere?
Her findings:
amino acid called L-cysteine, which is used to lessen dough mixing times as it extends a bread’s shelf-life. Sounds great, you say. We all love a good amino acid to help our bread stay fresh for longer.
But wait, there’s more. L-cysteine is derived from protein found in
duck feathers, pig bristles, cow horns, and human hair.
Here is a list of Aunt Millie’s breads that do not list dough conditioners and do not use ADA – a chemical linked to tumors and banned in other countries:
Aunt Millie’s Hearth 100% Natural 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Aunt Millie’s Hearth 100% Natural Potato Bread
Aunt Millie’s Hearth Fiber For Life, 12 Grain Bread
Aunt Millie’s Hearth Fiber For Life, Ancient Grain Bread
Aunt Millie’s Hearth Fiber For Life, Honey and Crunchy Oat Bread
Aunt Millie’s Hearth Organic Indian Bread
Aunt Millie’s Hearth Organic 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Aunt Millie’s Hearth Whole Grain Deli Rye Bread
Aunt Millie’s Hearth Whole Grain 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Aunt Millie’s Swirl Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Aunt Millie’s Swirl Cinnamon Bread
Aunt Millie’s Hearth Classic White Hamburger Buns, 8ct
Aunt Millie’s Hearth Classic Sesame Hamburger Buns, 8ct
Aunt Millie’s Hearth Classic White Hot Dog Bun, 8ct
Aunt Millie’s Big & Fluffy Butter Dinner Rolls, 12ct
Koepplinger’s Recipe Country Style 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Koepplinger’s Recipe All Natural Cracked Whole Grain Wheat Bread
Koepplinger’s Recipe All Natural 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Koepplinger’s Recipe All Natural Healthy Whole Grain Bread
Koepplinger’s Recipe All Natural Split Top Wheat Bread
Janette: Why Cheese is so addictive. She explained that because of a chemical called casein, which is found in dairy products and can trigger the brain’s opioid receptors, the same type of effect that produce dopamine in your brain. She will have more to follow up on this next time.
Cheese is addictive, Barnard said, because the dairy proteins inside can act as mild opiates. Fragments of cheese protein, called casomorphins, attach to the same brain receptors as heroin and other narcotics. As a result, each bite of cheese produces a tiny hit of dopamine. He calls it “dairy crack.”Mar 7, 2017
Next meeting Tuesday, April 9th.
Last night (Tuesday, February 13, 2024) was our first discussion group meeting for My Healthy Manual. Each person received their own “Manual” to take notes in. This type of group is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. It’s focus is to gather a group of women to come together with lots of different ideas, perspectives, and knowledge who want to empower themselves to learn about longevity tactics and science based research regarding what we consume, in not only foods, but other aspects of living, to set ourselves up for a quality of live as we move into the next phase of our own lives. I explained that when John and I started back in 2020 we really went full in and now that we have learned a lot (still tons more to learn and retain better, at least for me), we understand the “why” behind foods and the benefits they can have. Now that we understand better, we know that we can stray off the beaten path every so often and the body can take that on a lot better than it could before to clear out the “not so good” stuff a lot quicker to maintain more of an overall healthy body. It’s difficult to talk about food because we have a relationship with it. We love to eat and it tastes good and the marketing of our food continues to get better and better, but look around, we are still seeing more and more disease effecting our society. Where can we make a difference in our own lives.
The group is designed so that if people can make it one month and not the next, that’s okay. These Blog posts will serve as a recap and notes of topics covered for anyone to stay in touch.
Attendance: Brenda, Kim, Janette, Sheila, and myself. We were missing several who wanted to come but had other commitments. We shared snacks and wine and watched a short video on the Blue Zones and then had a discussion and brainstormed topics that we’d like to learn more about at future meetings.
Snacks and Wine:
Siete Grain Free Tortilla Chips (Dip Chip) Made with Avocado Oil. (Kim)
Various Dips for the chips (Kim)
Sweet Pepper Poppers stuffed with Mango Salsa – Very good. + Wine (Janette)
White Wine (Shiela) – saved for next meeting
White Wine (Janette) – saved for next meeting|
Cannonau di Sardegna from Italy Red Wine (Gina) – This wine has the most powerful antioxidants and the people of Sardinia drink a glass everyday during daily social time with their friends.
Mini Pea Pot Pies – Veggie with Jasmine Rice (Gina) U-Relish + added broccoli and cauliflower and salt to taste. I got this package of mix at the Carmel/Broad Ripple Farmer’s Market.
We had introductions and then watched a short video on the Blue Zones and then went back to the table and had a great discussion. Shiela works with in elderly care and she recognized a lot of similarities and differences that Dan Buettner touched on in the video.
After our discussion, we brainstormed topics that we felt like we wanted to learn more about or struggle with and we organized them into categories.
A
Supplements/Vitamins
Meal Planning/Prep
How to get family members on board
Bring your favorite thing: tool, kitchen tool, helpful
Favorite Stores – what do you get there that you like.
Alternatives to just drinking plain water (Kim tried water with flavored balsalmic vinegar (blueberry + a few fresh blueberries) Studies have also shown that drinking 2 T of Apple Cider Vinegar a day can help reduce your belt line.
Recipes / Variety of foods
Brain Health
Family Stress
Fun Facts
Exercise
Research Homework Assignments – During the discussion, a few things came up that we needed for research on so those were assigned out those who either brought up the topic or someone who knew something already they could expand upon and show the evidence. They have to come back with at least three different sources regarding their topic.
Brenda: Bread and some sort of preservative derived from human hair supposedly!!! 🤮 She read it somewhere?
Janette: Why Cheese is so addictive. She explained that because of a chemical called casein, which is found in dairy products and can trigger the brain’s opioid receptors, the same type of effect that produce dopamine in your brain. She will have more to follow up on this next time.
Next meeting Tuesday, March 12th.
Go to Website
INGREDIENTS
SCALE1X2X3X
- 2 – 3 poblano peppers *
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 Tablespoon WFPB flour (or thickener of choice) *
- 1 – [ 14.5 oz. can ] petite diced tomatoes (or fire roasted tomatoes)
- 2 cups vegetable broth *
- 2 cups unsweetened plain plant milk
- 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
- 1 – [ 15 oz. can ] black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 – [ 15 oz. can ] or frozen corn, drained
- 3 cups red or white baby potatoes, halved or quartered
Seasonings/Spices:
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 Tablespoons dried minced onion flakes
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon coriander
- 1 ¾ teaspoon sea salt (+/- to taste)
Other Optional Ingredients/Toppings:
- Chopped avocado
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime wedges
- Tortilla chips
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the oven rack to the top and set the oven to high broil. Place the poblano peppers on a baking sheet and broil on high, turning occasionally until the peppers are soft and the skins are dark (black). This takes about 10-12 minutes. Immediately place the peppers in a glass container and cover with plastic wrap or a tight-fitting lid to sweat the peppers. This helps with removing the skins and seeds. Set aside.
- In a large ceramic/enamel-lined Dutch oven or similar stock pot, add the finely minced onion; sauté over medium heat until they begin to soften, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add a tablespoon or so of water if the onions start to stick and/or to prevent burning.
- Add the minced garlic sauté for 30 seconds, then sprinkle the flour over the onions and garlic and sauté for 1 minute, then add the dry spices (onion powder, garlic powder, dried minced onion flakes, cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, and sea salt) and sauté to release their fragrance, about 1 minute.
- Then add the vegetable broth, unsweetened plain plant milk, petite diced tomatoes, corn, baby potatoes, stir well to thicken, and cook (uncovered) over medium heat for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, take the cooled poblano peppers and pull the stem off and discard; then tear open one side of the peppers and scoop out the seeds (discard), then lay the peppers out flat, charred skin side up, then pull and scrape off the charred skins and discard; then dice the peppers, and add to the stew.
- Then add nutritional yeast; cook uncovered until the potatoes are almost tender, about another 25 minutes, largely dependent on the size of the potatoes. Then add the black beans and continue cooking until the potatoes are tender.
- Test the flavors, add more spices, if necessary, to achieve the level of flavor you desire.
- Top individual servings with freshly chopped cilantro, lime wedges, avocadoes and serve with tortilla chips (if desired)
NOTES
*Poblano Peppers: If you like a lot of heat use 3 poblano peppers, if you wish moderate heat, use 2 poblano peppers.
Our Beginning Recipes
Lately I’ve been asked from several people what kinds of recipes to start out with to begin to eat less meat. One might think that this would be a simple ask since I’ve been doing this for over a year. However, it is not. There has been a big learning curve and a lot of prep and a willingness to introduce new vegetables, fruits, or other staple items that I was unfamiliar with even existed.
Funny story: Our daughter Andrea came home for Thanksgiving and opened up the pantry to get a snack (like she had been use to doing when she lived here) and said, “What’s going on in here!!! You don’t have anything good anymore!” and shut the door very disappointed.
“Andrea, there are a lot of great things in there for your body.” I said.
“Yeah, like I’m going to grab some good ol’ Flax Seeds for my snack – Yum! Boy, these Flax Seeds are so good – Right—?”
It’s true, we have Flax Seeds, Chia Seeds, Dates, Pumpkin Seeds and a ton of other things that help complement a dish, but not things that you can just “snack” on. I never had heard of Flax Seeds before – not to mention a ton of other things that reside in our kitchen pantry now.
Giving out a list of recipes is also a hard task because I am not sure what kind of tastes people have or what they are willing to try. Your body is amazing and after time your taste buds change and the things you liked become less enticing or even taste as good as you remember. John and I had dinner recently and he got his favorite, Louisianna Gumbo loaded with chicken and smoked sausage severd over a bed of steamed rice. The day after I asked him if he had felt boated after eating that. He said that he didn’t feel bloated, but it just didn’t taste as good as it once did.
So, when it comes to “give me a few recipes” that’s difficult. However, I will try to give you some of the basic ones that are good though that we started out with. I actually don’t like to use the word “Vegan” in the recipe title because I feel as though that gives an idea to most that “Oh, it’s healthy! I don’t want it then.” When, actually deep down we really know that “Healthy” is what our body craves, but we are marketed to, and therefore, programmed to want the stuff that is “not Healthy.”
I think you will find that once you start looking at different Plant-Based Recipes, you’ll find yourself going down a rabbit hole. I spend a lot of time looking at recipe sites and have joined many different groups on Facebook that all have great tips for creating wonderfully healthy meals. Some of them are:
FACEBOOK Groups I belong to:
- Plant Based Air Fryer Recipes (Vegan)
- Easy Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes
- Blue Zones Lifestyle
Recipe Sites
- Forks over Knives
- Blue Zones Recipes
- Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook
- T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies Recipe Page
- Dr. Gregor – NutritionFacts.org Recipe Page
Follow my Meal Planning Calendar
I have been trying to plan meals ahead for the week by using a Google Calendar that is linked to this website. It is in an effort to help me find recipes quickly that we like and that we can repeat over time. Like everything, this takes time and planning too and that sometimes is hard to find.
I have tried to provide the link to the actual recipe site I found it on or copy and paste the ingredients and instructions directly on the recipe event
Feel free to follow this for more inspiration and sometimes I may comment on the actual recipe to indicated my variations or if we would add it again to our rotation.
Hope this helps anyone who is curious about cutting down on their meat consumption.
CHILI
(Although it is best to stay away from processed and canned foods, this is a great one because it cuts out the ground beef and has a ton of beans and veggies.)
You can use a crock pot or a big stock pot to make this in.
It’s up to you how much you want to add to your own chili depending on how many days you want it for or how many people you are feeding.
Onions – chopped/diced
Peppers – chopped/diced
Jalapeño – if preferred how hot you like your chili
Canned Beans – Variety of preference (with the juices too)
Canned Diced Chili Ready Tomatoes (with juice)
Chili Powder to taste
Chickpea Sandwich Spread
This is the exact same recipe that you probably make with shredded chicken, but substitute 2 cans of Chickpeas. You should drain the cans and then rinse the beans to clear off some of the little skin from the beans (they don’t all have to be off) and then mash them either by hand or in a food processer until they are just mashed a bit but you can still tell they are beans.
Then add all your other ingredients together to taste. My own recipe is as follows and I just eyeball and taste till I get it right.
- 2 cans Chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
- Vegan Mayo – enough to mix well
- Dill Pickle Relish – about a Tablespoon or two full
- Juice from a Dill Pickle Slices Jar – just enough to get it a bit more wet and to taste the dill. DON’T over pour or it will be too watery.
- Red Onion – very finely diced
- Celery – very finely diced
- Mix all and taste adding a bit of salt as needed.
Put it on whole wheat toasted bread with fresh Spinach or put it in a whole wheat pita pocket
Lentil Sloppy Joes
This is another good beginner transitional recipe. Rather than using Ground Beef for sloppy Joes, just substitute cooked Brown or Green Lentils. Usually about 2 cups is enough.
If you have your own Sloppy Joe recipe just use it. I make mine super easy.
Lentils + Baby Back BBQ sauce.
We put it on whole wheat buns or sandwich thins with fresh spinach, dill pickle slices, and a tomato slice.
Lentil Sloppy Joes
This is another good beginner transitional recipe. Rather than using Ground Beef for sloppy Joes, just substitute cooked Brown or Green Lentils. Usually about 2 cups is enough.
If you have your own Sloppy Joe recipe just use it. I make mine super easy.
Lentils + Baby Back BBQ sauce.
We put it on whole wheat buns or sandwich thins with fresh spinach, dill pickle slices, and a tomato slice.
This is another good beginner transitional recipe. Rather than using Ground Beef for sloppy Joes, just substitute cooked Brown or Green Lentils. Usually about 2 cups is enough.
If you have your own Sloppy Joe recipe just use it. I make mine super easy.
Lentils + Baby Back BBQ sauce.
We put it on whole wheat buns or sandwich thins with fresh spinach, dill pickle slices, and a tomato slice.
Garlicky Bok Choy Noodle Soup
- 3 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into ¼-inch cubes ** You need to get a lot of the excess water out of the tofu first by wrapping it in paper towels and putting something heavy on top to squeeze out the water. Repeat this about three times. Let the heavy item rest on top of the tofu about 10-15 min each time – so this should be done prior to starting the rest of the dish or can be done while you are cutting the vegetables up.
- 4 cups no-salt-added vegetable broth
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 6 ounces dried brown rice pad Thai noodles ** I make these separately and don’t get them all the way done because I am going to put them into the soup and they will cook the rest of the way then. I don’t like putting them directly in the soup at first like this recipe says because I think they get overdone.
- 12 baby carrots with green tops, halved lengthwise, or 2 cups bias-sliced carrots ** I make mine very thin.
- 2 heads baby bok choy, halved lengthwise. *** I actually buy about 6 or so BABY Bock Choy. They are easier to cut and I can find them easier for some reason.
- 12 thin spears asparagus, trimmed
- 1 cup fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, or any other mushrooms, sliced
- 4 scallions (green onions), green tops trimmed and cut in half lengthwise
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- **** I usually add about a Tablespoon or more of White Miso Paste to mine.
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a 5- to 6-qt. Dutch oven combine 4 cups water, the broth, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 10 minutes to allow flavors to meld.
Add noodles, carrots, and tofu. Simmer, uncovered, 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add bok choy, asparagus, mushrooms, and scallions. Simmer, uncovered, 1 minute more. Serve in shallow bowls with lime wedges.
New Year’s Day Soup with Black-Eyed Peas
- 2 leeks, trimmed, halved, and sliced ** These look like great big Green Onions
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ 32-oz. containers low-sodium vegetable broth
- 4 cups chopped stemmed collard greens
- 2 15-oz. cans no-salt-added black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
- 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
- 2 teaspoon Italian seasoning, crushed
- ¾ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a large pot cook leeks, celery, carrots, and garlic over medium 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water, 1 to 2 Tbsp. at a time, as needed to prevent sticking. Add the next seven ingredients (through crushed red pepper, if using). Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until vegetables are very tender.
- Season to taste with red wine vinegar. Sprinkle with parsley. ** I don’t use the Red Wine Vinegar. Didn’t like the flavor afterwards. You could always put some in a bowl and then put a drop or so if you want.
Black Bean Soup
1 T Olive Oil or substitute Veg Broth
1 Chopped Onion
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 Carrot chopped and diced
2 stalks of Celery chopped and diced
8 c. or 2-3 boxes of Vegetable Broth
2 Cans Black Beans – drained and rinsed
1 tsp. ground coriander
¼ tsp. Cayanne Pepper
1 T Balsamic Vinegar
- Heat oil in large skillet and and onion to saute
- Add garlic, carrots, celery and cook until soft
- Add broth, beans, coriander and cayenne pepper
- Cook until vegetables are soft
- Stir in Balsamic Vinegar near the end before for serving.
Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup
INGREDIENTS
- 32-oz. container low-sodium vegetable broth
- 16 oz. dry green split peas, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 medium fennel bulb, cored and chopped
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 1½ teaspoons smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- Sea salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker combine vegetable broth and 3 cups of water. Add the next seven ingredients (through red pepper flakes); mix well.
- Cover and cook on low 8 to 10 hours (or high 4 to 5 hours). Stir in vinegar. Season with salt and black pepper.
Penne Pasta with Zuchinni and Chickpeas
This is an easy one too. Again rather than having maybe chicken chunks in a pasta or ground beef, substitute chickpeas. We like this receipe and sometimes will just add our favorite spaghetti sauce (from a jar) to it.
- Onion
- Garlic – minced
- Zuchinni
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Peppers (if desired – chopped and diced)
- 1 can Chickpeas
- Cook Pasta separately not cooking till they are all the way done, but close.
- Sauté onion and garlic (amount per taste) in vegetable broth
- Add peppers (if using them) and continue to sauté until they are soft.
- Add zucchini chunks and continue to cook
- Add sauce and continue cooking.
- Add noodles to pan
- Add Chickpeas and put a lid on to continue cooking until pasta is at desired tenderness and serve with toasted Sourdough garlic bread.
Steamed Vegetables
Steaming fresh vegetables are great to have around.
We like to steam
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Brussel Sprouts
- Kale and Spinach – only until it just slightly is wilted and then I like to sprinkle it with a tad bit of high-quality Balsamic Vinegars
Fresh Fruits
The key to eating Fresh Fruits is that you have to prepare them so that when you open up the refrigerator, they are ready to go.
Grapes – Clean and pull grapes off stem
Oranges – Peel and cut into slices and put in bowl
Berries – wash and we just keep them in the same plastic container that they came it.
Strawberries – wash and destem and keep them in the same plastic container
Apples – these are sort of tricky. We usually just have the whole apple, but every now and then I cut them into slices and put a little lemon juice in the bowl to try and keep them somewhat fresh. Try to eat these quick
Follow my Meal Planning Calendar
I have been trying to plan meals ahead for the week by using a Google Calendar that is linked to this website. It is in an effort to help me find recipes quickly that we like and that we can repeat over time. Like everything, this takes time and planning too and that sometimes is hard to find.
I have tried to provide the link to the actual recipe site I found it on or copy and paste the ingredients and instructions directly on the recipe event
Feel free to follow this for more inspiration and sometimes I may comment on the actual recipe to indicated my variations or if we would add it again to our rotation.
Hope this helps anyone who is curious about cutting down on their meat consumption.
My Health Manual to My Healthy Manaual
Being born with congenital heart defects, along with several other medical issues, it was imperative that my mom kept good records of who my doctors were, my appointments and surgeries right from the day I was born.
Managing my life was a lot for parents to handle, who also ran their own wallpaper store in our house. When I look back and think about how that must have been on my family, I don’t know how they got through, other than their strong faith in God and turning all their problems over to Him in prayer in His healing power and then following through on what they could do as believers.
At the age of six or seven and the records (and bills) had continued to pile up. More file folders were added to my mom’s filing cabinet. Thankfully, from the end of 2nd grade to my young adult life, I lived like any other kid and was able to do just about anything I felt like and didn’t take any medicine. The medical records were basically just follow-up appointment summaries, which indicted that I remained stable — only having a very unique heart murmur (which I, was and still am, very proud of and a known diagnosis of congenital heart issues.
Around 1998 I had to have another heart surgery and then had some other issues in 2004 (non-heart related) and 2006, which was a turning point for my current heart issues. The records started piling up again. My mom wasn’t as diligent as she had been in my younger years since I was older and was going to these appointments alone or with my husband, John. In 2010 my mom passed away and I was faced with realizing that I probably should know my medical history better and keep up to date with my medical history. For those of you who have to go to the doctor(s) often, you can relate to those long forms that ask you all about your medical history. They want to know your whole medical history life. This is a painstaking process for someone like me. I tend to skip a lot of questions or just say “No” to many of the boxes because I don’t want to back it up or don’t really know what I have to write down.
I started to reorganize the records my mom had and knew that I was missing a lot of information, so I contacted all the hospitals and doctor’s offices I had been to and requested all my medical records. I remember going down to Riley Children’s Hospital Medical Records office and picked up the biggest chunk of the records I ever saw. These were from the day I was born all the way through the age of 26. Now what? So, I went to work and began organizing them into binders.
Around 2015 I thought about starting a Blog website to tell my story though a medical perspective. I thought it might be of interest to people in the medical field who were studying cardiology. They might find it interesting. My mom said several times, “you could be in some medical journal somewhere and we don’t know it.” In addition to this thought about the medical professionals, I thought there might be other people who also have a pile of medical records and I wondered how they managed them. I sort of hoped to start a discussion on how best to organize all these personal documents, not only for themselves, but for their families.
However, I soon realized that all the medical jargon was a bit too much for me to decipher and I should stick with what I was being told to do by the doctors to avoid adding any more surgery records to my binder. The main recommendation I was to follow was a Low Sodium Diet. So, this is where I started this Blog site. I also added many of my own funny experiences of hospital visits — life stories of how I got through some tough times.
As you can see on this website, there is a Low Sodium section in the Menu; and it’s not that helpful at this point because I wasn’t too committed to keeping this site up. I found that I only really wrote when I was sort of going through an issue. It was really just for me to tell these stories to a few interested family members and friends. My heart failure doctor thought it was a really good idea and wanted me to keep it up, even when I was feeling good.
This site sat dormant for a long time until recently. As noted in several recent posts, John and I started becoming interested in what a Plant-Based diet was all about. This would basically take care of the Low Sodium Diet without all the stress of saying, “Well, I can’t eat that, or that, or that, because it’s got too much sodium.” The five plant-based food groups: Vegetables, Fruits, Whole Grains, Legumes, and Nuts and Seeds contain hardly any sodium. Seems like a win-win.
Also, in researching this style of eating, we realized that it would also ward off, or in some cases even reverse typical chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, some cancers, prevent Alzheimers; and other medical conditions that people take medicine for to feel better.And, to top it off, it’s a great weight-loss program. Again, seems like a win-win.
My focus switched from not only opening up about my health journey but wanting to encourage others to take an interest in their own preventive steps to increase the chance of not being faced with medicine bottles in their faces and not feeling good. I am fairly certain that I won’t be able to eliminate my heart failure since it’s a congenital defect, but my goal is to avoid all the other risks and maybe get off some of my medicine. On top of that, why not increase my longevity so I can be a great wife, mother, friend, cousin, niece, and grandmother (when that time comes).
In order to do this, I knew I would want to improve the look of this website (which still remains a work-in-progress while I work out the kinks). I had been using a free generic WordPress site that had a lot of limitations. However, in doing that, the website’s domain name needed to be switched from “myhealthmanual.wordpress.com” to “myhealthymanual.com.”
At first, I was a little upset about not being able to use the “health manual” name, but soon accepted that it actually might be a better choice. Since I was evolving, the site and name could too. The “My Healthy Manual” morphed from what was based on lots of medical records and how best to organize them, into a manual on how to live a healthy lifestyle with lots of resources, tips, and science backed research to help avoid making the “Manual” grow, other than adding checkup reports periodically. So, it transitioned into a “Healthy Manual.”
All that being said, I encourage you to join me (us) in this journey. My intent is not to judge or change the way you eat or live. Through my story of change, successes and failures, stories, I want to offer “food for though” and provide science backed research as to why we are doing what we are doing, Maybe when you’re ready to investigate if this might be something to at least try, you will have someplace to start. It’s all about you and your loved ones how to start your own “Healthy Manual” to avoid having a “Health Manual” to lug around. Let’s all live a healthy life together!
Food for Thought — NutritionFacts.com
Have you ever thought about nutrition facts regarding the food you are eating? Also, when you hear the news about this food is good for you and this food causes cancer or other issues, have you ever wondered, “How do they really know that? Where are they getting their information? And, how accurate is this information that I should follow it?”
I often wonder these questions. I remember one time my Dad telling me, “Well, they say eggs are bad for you now. They use to say eggs were good. I can’t keep up with them. I’m just going to keep on doing what I’m doing and eat eggs!” I laughed at the time and agreed.
Most recently in our research about living a healthy lifestyle regarding food and exercise we found a guy by the name of Dr. Michael Greger, M.D. FACLM. He was on a YouTube video that I watched. He was an interesting guy because on the Zoom interview, he was actually walking on a treadmill the whole time. At first I found it annoying and rude, but during the interview, he was asked why he walked on treadmills during his interviews. He was determined not to remain sedentary the whole day. That was his day to do interviews (he had I think 11 that day) and if he would sit for all of those, that wasn’t good for his body. That fell inline with the Blue Zone philosophy of them always remaining active throughout the day.
How often do we just sit for hours on end? I do. He has a point about constantly moving. So, he peaked my interest and I searched him and found his website that he discussed in the interview. He has made it his life’s mission to find the research done regarding nutrition and food, read, digest and then deliver the results of these health studies so that we don’t have to. His site is amazing and has so much fantastic information to sift through – most you can watch in short informative clips. I have really enjoyed learning more about nutrition from him. John and I look forward to learning more so we can make better choices regarding eating habits based on the science to remaining healthy and improve longevity and avoid chronic diseases as much as possible.
I’m sure that I will refer to him more than once or twice in upcoming posts, so I wanted to introduce you to him.r
https://youtu.be/G9Z-gKAvzOY Go to NutritionFacts.orgContact Info
Regina Rexrode
regina@myhealthymanual.com
JenniferFriend
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Don’t Whine about Drinking Wine…
Throughout my adult life, I have enjoyed the occasional beverage. In my college years, the ‘go to’ was Little Kings and cheap wine. During my early years of dating and marriage, I enjoyed beer and mixed drinks – oh, and of course, the margaritas at Chi Chi’s!
As I grew older and started meeting new friends who were drinking wine, I revisited wine drinking. I still have not been on a winery tour or become truly educated on the topic of wine. So with this lack of knowledge, I would say things like, “I only like red wine,” or “I don’t like dry wine” or “I like only sweet wines.” For a long time, my favorite wine was a Moscato that I found at Olive Garden. (You can see that the chain restaurants had a bit of power over me during this time of my life.) As I matured, I began introducing my taste buds to various different types of wines that were offered at gatherings – in moderation of course!
Since learning about the Blue Zones (5 areas around the world where researchers have discovered higher concentrations of people that live well beyond the normal life expectancy), I discovered there was a specific wine that many individuals on the Italian island of Sardinia drink every day. It is supposedly one of the healthiest wines in the world – Cannonou di Sardinia. They average about nine ounces spread throughout the day and almost always as part of gathering with good friends.
According to an article on the Wine Searcher website 1. ” Cannonau di Sardegna is a DOC (2) from the Italian island of Sardinia. It is made from Cannonau, the local name for the Grenache – one of Sardinia’s most successful wine grapes…. Cannonau di Sardegna wines have attracted considerable attention in the last few years, not necessarily for their quality, but for their association with longevity. Sardinian locals tend to live well into their 90s and in many cases to over 100, and diet on the island is usually given as a key factor in this. Cannonau de Sardegna wines tend to be high in anthocyanins and polyphenols, antioxidant-rich compounds which have been linked to heart health.”
GO TO TIME PLACE 26:14 – 18:43
I set out on a mission to find this wine. I called liquor store after liquor store and nobody had heard of it. Finally, after a long search, I found it. The price point was a bit higher than I’m use to paying for a bottle of wine. I consider it an investment in my health. And, it lasts several days since I’m only drinking about 4 ounces a day in the evenings, usually with John at dinner.
2. DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) is the main tier of Italian wine classification, and covers almost every traditional Italian wine style. There are around 330 individual DOC titles, each with a set of laws governing its viticultural zone, permitted grape varieties and wine style.