All of you have been asking how things have progressed since we started this homeopathic vegan diet 60 days ago. I am pleased to report that Aleta has made a couple breakthroughs. Interestingly enough, we are finding that meat is not the causing Aleta’s pain. It is actually vegetables. Yes, that is right. Specifically nightshade vegetables.

These vegetables contain glycoalkaloids which are essentially poison. Most people can obviously digest these vegetables without issue. For those with rheumatic diseases, these substances can cause inflamation in the joints. This has yet to be proven medically, but there are many people on the Internet who have posted successful results of this homeopathic approach.

After 60 days of avoiding all meat and dairy, Aleta and I both have more energy, lost 15+ lbs a piece, have little to no heartburn or bloat, and simply feel better. However, Aleta’s pain did not fully subside. About 1 week ago, she did a hard cut on nightshade vegetables. Within days, her wrists and joints felt better. For the first time, she actually was able to be a couple days late on her weekly shot of Enbrel. Normally, she starts to get sore by day 6 of her weekly treatment.

The nightshade discovery has been the biggest breakthrough in Aleta’s treatment since she started taking Enbrel. Enbrel is not a cure, however, nor are all the treatments she has had to date. They have all been about pain reduction and not healing. Our vegan diet is turning out to be the best homeopathic healing choice so far. We are not throwing our hands up in victory nor are we returning to a diet of copious cheesburgers anytime soon. We are staying the vegan course.

Stay tuned…

The most common question people ask us about our vegan diet is “What about X, how do you get enough of it?” The “X” is usually protein or iron or some other critical nutrient. Here is a power drink that Aleta and I slam down every morning before we start our day. The shake has all the ingredients I talked about in the “Superfoods for Vegetable Haters” posts. The recipe is below:

• 1 cup vanilla soy milk
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tbsp chia seed
• 1 tbsp hemp seed
• 2 tbsp flax seed
• 1 tbsp blackstrap molasses

Pour the soy milk and water into a shakable container. Grind all the seeds in a coffee grinder and pour into the cup. Add the molasses last. Seal your container and shake until your arms fall off. Open the container and slam down. It will taste like a sugar/gingerbread cookie.

Below is a comparison of what you just drank to an 8 oz trimmed (1/8 inch) sirloin steak.  All I did in creating this chart was use the facts printed on the nutritional labels of all the food ingredients.  Obviously, this drink does not substitute the satisfaction of gnawing on a juicy steak over a bottle of red wine on a Friday night. Still, the nutrition speaks for itself. The one thing the steak has over the shake is the concentration of protein. Still, the shake gives you 25% before you start your day with 3 meals left and plenty of nutrients to get your brain engaged (think twice about coffee, this is a natural stimulant).

This is my 4th and final installment on really small foods that pack very large punches and avoid you having to eat 50 lbs of salad a day to get nutrition. I have previously talked about chia, flax, and blackstrap molasses. My fourth installment may sound kinda illegal, but it isn’t. Shelled hemp seeds. They can be obtained (legally) at your local health food store. They usually come in the form of a toasted snack or simply raw.

I prefer the raw seeds. They are tiny little guys and very soft. These seeds are considered a complete protein, a source of omega 3/6/9. One tablespoon is loaded with protein and significant nutrients (click on each to see why: vitamin E, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, and maganese). Grind these up in the coffee grinder and mix them in anything: smoothie, peanut butter, cookies, pancakes, etc. I buy Ruth’s Soft Hemp here at the Akins, the local grocer. An 8 oz. bag will run you $11. Much cheaper than the illegal alternative (or at least from what I remember in my college daze).

A common misconception about eating vegan is that you do not get enough iron or protein because vegans don’t eat meat. I have posted about this before (see iron and protein). The bottom line is that there are plenty of iron sources out there in vegan foods. Flax seed is not only a rich source of iron, but also omega-3 (for lowering cholesterol), protein, fiber, and antioxidants (anti-aging). This is one of the power foods I rely on every morning before I head to the gym.

You can buy flax seed at many grocery stores. You can either get whole seeds or ground seeds. If you get whole seeds, you have to grind them as the flax seed shell is to hard to digest and you will simply pass them out. Eating two tablespoons a day will give you about 40% of your iron intake, some calcium, and a good does of protein and fiber. You can safely throw it in anything. Mix it in your morning smoothie, peanut butter, oatmeal, brownies, etc. You can also use it as an egg or butter substitute in baking recipes.

The next superfood is quite a shocker and the last thing you would think of when you hear the word “salad”. In some ways, it is a vegetable haters dream because it has to do with the antithesis of salad, and that is sugar! Well, molasses to be exact. Am I suggesting that there is a superfood made of sugar? Yes, I am.

Backstrap molasses is the next superfood. Many of us don’t know or have much of an appreciation for this food item. It is either something we put in our slang to explain “slow” or something we know makes a gingerbread cookie taste really good.  Before you get all excited, I will disclose that ultimately you are still talking about sugar. Don’t go buy a jar of it and mix it with ranch dressing and call it salad.

Backstrap molasses is the byproduct of the third refining process of sugar. The reason why it causes positive attention is that it contains a high concentration of the original nutrients of the sugar cane plant. We all know that refined sugar is naturally devoid of anything healthy. That is because the last stage of refining removes all the nutrients. The byproduct is the brown sweet syrup backstrap syrup and the product is that pure white stuff you put in your coffee.

Backstrap molasses is a great source of calcium and iron. We all know calcium is required for strong bones. We all know that as we age (especially women) calcium is harder to come by. We also know that children (especially teenagers) need calcium during their growth years. American’s main source of calcium is in milk products followed by fruits and vegetables. One teaspoon of backstrap molasses has 20% of calcium. That is pretty decent for a non-salad.

So, pick up some backstrap molasses at the health food store and throw some in a smoothie, batch of cookies, baked beans, or pancake mix. It is a little potent in terms of flavor. Like I said, it tastes like grandma’s ginger cookie. It is definitely not a salad replacement by any means as it is also devoid of any significant source of protein and fiber. It will also give you some reassurance when your finicky kid is staring at his vegetables night after night and making the whole dinner experience for you…you guessed it, slow as molasses.

Many people here in middle America don’t even know what the word “vegan” means. Once I explain, they say “Oh, you eat a lot of salads and want to save the animals”. For some, this is true. For us, neither of these are true. The idea of eating salad around the clock is enough to make me contemplate heading to the Siberian goulags for a better meal. Our children would also be emotionally scarred and melt down at their first school birthday party at the sight of pizza. “Does not compute. Does not compute. Does not compute.”

If you have picky eating children or a “salads are for sissys” kinda husband, I want to introduce you to a bunch of superfoods you can sneak into just about anything. I would have never come across these foods had I not started eating vegan. The reason why I stumbled upon these foods is because I started studying how to get a daily balanced nutrition without animal products and without having to gorge myself on raw broccoli (yeah baby). What I found is that you can get a whole lot of your protein, fiber, carbs, and vitamins from a couple very small sources. These food pack vegetable power in 1 teaspoon doses. For those of you who want to balance out your nutrition (vegan or not), you can incorporate these throughout your day and boost your nutrition by 50%.

The first food is closely related to your Chia pet from the 80′s. “Cha-Cha-Cha-Chia Pet!” Remember? Well, you can eat part of your Chia pet. I am not suggesting that you buy one, bust it with a hammer, and stir it in a soup. Specifically, I want to talk about the chia  seeds that you spread all over a Chia pet. Chia seeds are the first power food I want to discuss. These seeds have ancient roots and were known as an energy, strength, and endurance food for the Aztec indians.

Chia seeds pack 8x more omega-3 than salmon and 30% more antioxidants than blueberries. A tablespoon serving has 17% of your fiber intake, 5% of your protein, and around 10% of your different mineral requirements. It’s completeness in nutrition makes it a great morning energy booster. This is what you do: the tiny seeds can can be ground into a fine powder (your coffee grinder) and put in just about anything as they have little to no taste. Put it in a morning smoothie. Drop the powder into your pancake mix. Mix it with some peanut butter and spread it on your toast. Stir it in a glass of water or OJ.

You can pickup white chia seeds (Salba seeds) from http://www.salba.org OR you can just head to Whole Foods or a decent health food store and pick up a bottle. A decent sized bottle will run you between $15 – $25. And if you get bored with them, you can always rub them on a piece of clay and try to grow a Jerry Garcia head.

Peanuts, to be exact.

We started eating almond butter a couple years ago simply because it was not as “strong” as peanut butter, but it also packed all the nutrition with less saturated fat (make no mistake, it still has fat. Almond butter is expense in general ($6 as opposed to $2.50 peanut butter) , but ridiculous in the two stores in Tulsa that sell it ($11+). This has caused me to pick it up at Trader Joes in CA on my biz trips.

Since I have already started throwing nuts in a blender, I decided how hard would it be to just make my own nut butter of some kind. So, I threw a handful of almonds, pecans, flax seed (gotta have the flax), and walnuts into a blender. They chopped up to a sticky powder. This was hardly spreadable. Instead of pouring oil into it to make it more “creamy”, I opened a can of conconut milk and threw it in. That definitely worked. I finished it off with some cinnamon and sugar to add a little sweetness.

When it was all said and done, I took a wiff of the stuff. It smelled like a cross between maple pancakes and tropical something. When I tasted it, I was shocked at how well all the flavors came together. Since then, we have been making a batch a week and just kinda throwing it on bread, in cereal, or even in my smoothie. Compared to peanut butter, it has a wider spread of protein, nutrients (especially calcium and iron), and is very “basic” (as in chemistry) to neutralize stomach acid, a natural antacid.

I finally received my blood results from the doctor (click here for original post). These are the results BEFORE I started the vegan diet. Well, that is not entirely true. I had my blood drawn 4 days after I started as that was the first availability to do so. In any case, here are the results:

Sodium: Normal
Potassium: Normal
Glucose: Normal
Triglycerides: 50 (wow)
Cholesterol: 193 (47 HDL 136 LDL)
CBC (complete blood count): normal
CRP (inflamation, cancer, auto-immune test): normal
Weight: 197
Blood Pressure: 130/78
BMI (body mass index): 26

I was a lot healthier than I thought going into this (or just 4 days of the vegan thing had a significant impact). In any case, I was shocked at how low my triglycerides were. This is the level of plaque-like stuff you have floating in your bloodstream that risks clotting and hardening your arteries. Diets hight in cholesterol and saturated fats (which make more cholesterol) spike these levels. High levels are 150+. Mine has been at 170+ in years past. It is now at 50. Soluble fiber is clinically proven to be the triglyceride buster. Whole grains, nuts, seeds, and the skin of fruits (especially apples) are high in soluble fiber. Since the last time I had my blood checked (Jan 2008) with my triglycerides at 130, I have been drinking the morning flax seed shake with psylium and my whole family has been drinking fruit smoothies (we make them with soy yougurt now). These two actions have boosted my intake of soluble fiber and almost 1.5 years of the practice have paid off.

In any case, these numbers were surpisingly good. To be continued in September…

Also knows as “lbs” or “pounds”. I know many of you are dying to know if we have both lost weight. The answer is yes. At the start of our 3rd official week eating vegan, we both have lost 5 lbs or “El Bees” as Aleta calls it. The first week, the bees pretty much melted away at the rate of .5 per day. This slowed a bit the second week, down to 1 bee. Considering we are both getting our daily intake of protein and hitting the gym regularly, we should be on track to gradually taper off a couple more, but nothing too drastic. I have read multiple articles (you can google) in which people experience moderate weigh loss or even gain weight.

Being a vegan does not warrant eating whatever you want. You can easily consume 2000 – 2500 calories a day as a vegan and if not careful, most of those calories can come from carbs (too much rice and pasta) or fat (soy cheese/milk/ice cream, too much oils). Unquestionably, however, is the lower saturated fat and cholesterol. It is very difficult to load yourself on saturated fat as a vegan and next to impossible to find anything with cholesterol. You may not lose weight, but your heart, stomach, liver, and kidneys will thank you for it later.

Increasing fiber intake is not without it’s side effects. We’re getting used to the almost 100% increase in fiber. Let’s just say that my boys think it is the coolest thing as I am a constant noise maker for them. Here is an interesting article that explains why increased fiber leads to increased gas. My estimates are that we are eating 30 – 35 grams per day now (30 is the daily allowance). Interestingly enough, most Americans eat half of this. I would safely assume we were in that category before eating vegan.