Living The Plant-based Diet Lifestyle

I was happy to learn that my arteries are not even clogged at all when the did the heart catheter examination before the pacemaker procedure. The doctor said that my arteries were clean as a baby’s, or words to that effect.
It is known that eating vegetables will keep the plaque from lining your arteries, and I attribute my good artery health to all of the veggies that I eat.

Even though I think that humans were orginally designed to be vegans, the Bible specifically later gave us the choice of also having animal products as food; so my idea is that the best thing is just to get plenty of veggies and greens, and stay away from processed foods.
Unless we go out for a burger and fries, we really do not eat much fried foods normally. Bobby eats more meat than I do, but he also works out harder, and burns up all of that heavy food.

Since I joined the pacemaker groups on facebook, I was shocked at how many younger people are having to get pacemakers nowadays, and this is a procedure that I mostly have related as being for the older people , and not younger ones, unless they had some kind of congenital heart defect that necessitated the pacemaker.

 

This is SO true, @Bess Barber , and I have just been reading about some of the things that are being given to animals raised for food, and how the meat/dairy industry pretty much controls what is allowed to be used as feed or supplements.
Since the main goal is to get the animal as big (and as fat) as soon as possible, they are fed foods to accomplish that, rather than what would have been a natural food source for them.
Corn and other grain are fed in large quantities to fatten up the cow or chicken, plus antibiotics, which have also been proven to make the animal grow faster.
Antibiotics kill the gut bacteria, both beneficial and harmful ones, and apparently , killing the good ones makes the animal gain weight faster and put on fat. Since they are raised in such awful conditions, they also need the antibiotics to keep them alive long enough to kill, as awful as that sounds.

I have been having my green smoothies ever since I got back home from the hospital, because I want to give my heart (and body) the most nourishing and healing foods that I can give it while it is recovering from all of the tests and procedures of getting the pacemaker.
I am working on adding more fresh foods , and less animal foods into my diet, and going to keep doing that for a while , because the green smoothies are just making me feel so good every day, and I am starting to miss them if something happens and I don’t get it in the morning.

 

This is indeed.a valid point, @Ed Wilson .
The problem being that , regardless what kind of diet a person chooses to follow, you can eat either healthy, nourishing foods, or unhealthy junk foods, and this applies to both meat-eaters and non meat-eaters.
Most people tend to define the terms of both vegan and vegetarian by what foods a person does not eat, rather than what foods that they do eat.
A vegan is termed as someone who does not eat any kind of animal products at all, and a vegetarian is about the same, except that they sometimes also eat eggs and dairy.
Obviously, a person could live on Twinkies and Coca-Cola and peanut butter sandwiches, and be considered either a vegan or vegetarian. This is totally an unhealthy diet, and they are certainly not getting enough protein, vitamins, fiber, or any other important nutrients in their diet.

A plant-based diet, on the other hand, means that the person is actually eating vegetables, fruits, and greens, as well as whole grains and legumes; so they are getting plenty of all the above nutrients.

 

I think that I am really enjoying this plant-based diet, and I feel good ! I still have some meat, fish, dairy foods, so I am not being a vegan or vegetarian; but most of my meals are plant based, and the meat is more of an addition and not the base of the meal.
I still have milk in my morning coffee, or in the afternoon tea sometimes, too, and I have fresh yogurt in my green smoothies each day, for the probiotics.
My main meal is around noon (10-3) and then maybe an apple, bowl of all-bran, or something light in the evening. I seem to be eating less food, or at least less high-calorie foods, but the soups and salads fill me up, so I don’t feel hungry, and when I do, it is okay to have more of this kind of meal.
I think that each person has to make their own decision about what foods make them feel the best, but for me, the more whole fresh (and mostly raw) foods really help me to feel better and also enjoy what I am eating.

 

Not at all, @Steve North . I eat a lot of greens, and they make your digestive enzymes work even better, as well as the fact that all raw food has the natural digestive enzymes still in it, which it doesn’t have once it is cooked.
I eat some of my greens in salads, and some of them blended into my daily green smoothies.

Since I am eating Whole Foods, most of the same junk foods are eliminated as when I was doing the low carb diet, so except for the addition of some fresh fruit for the smoothie, I eat basically the same foods as I was eating for low-carb.
I ate as much raw foods as possible when I was eating low carb, so for me, this is really not much different, except that I am getting healthy protein from greens instead of mostly from meat products, and eating less animal-based foods.
Because I am still recovering from the pacemaker procedure, I want to give my heart the best chance possible to heal, and all raw fruits, veggies, and greens are very anti-inflammatory to help with healing.

Here is an excellent video about the extreme health benefits from eating a mostly plant-based diet. It is very interesting to listen to (not boring), and explains things very well.

 

I totally agree with you, @Steve North . Not only about the unwanted weight from eating unhealthy foods, but also the damage that it does to our bodies.
Too many people our age (and even younger ones) have to ingest pain pills every day because they eat unhealthy/inflammatory junk foods that cause the joint pain and arthritis, and other illnesses.
Even with eating a strict low carb/ketogenic diet, I stopped losing weight, and had no energy, mostly due to the heart getting worse, and thyroid problems.
Now that I have the pacemaker, I am hoping to see an increase in energy again, and get back to a better weight.

I think that I have probably tried just about every diet that came along , over the years, and finally settled on the Atkins style of eating, because that seemed to work the best.
I thought it was the high protein from the meat/cheese/eggs; but actually it probably had a lot more to do with not eating high-carb junk foods , and replacing them with healthy salads and veggies.

Now, I am trying to go by the guideline that if God made the food, I can eat it; but if it was processed by man, then I don’t eat it.

 

I made my veggie patties and then froze them, so whenever I want a veggie burger, all I have to do is pop one on the stove and make my burger. This is what I am having for my main meal today.
Veggie burger deluxe with cheddar cheese and Dave’s Killer Bread.