Friday, March 23, 2012

Good Movie - Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

This is one of the first diet documentaries that I watched and now own in my collection.  I am on over 13 pills a day morning and night due to high blood pressure, MS, gastric reflux, asthma, allergies, and over grown prostrate. Over the last 4 years, I have spent approximately 80-90 days and how many countless hours in a doctors office due to my health issues.  Time to wake up and consider my diet and possible causes to my health issues.
Sure cannot hurt to eat healthier?






This video was uploaded to You Tube and following is the description:


Uploaded by  on Mar 7, 2011
100 pounds overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe Cross is at the end of his rope and the end of his hope. In the mirror he saw a 310lb man whose gut was bigger than a beach ball and a path laid out before him that wouldn't end well- with one foot already in the grave, the other wasn't far behind. FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD is an inspiring film that chronicles Joe's personal mission to regain his health. With doctors and conventional medicines unable to help long-term, Joe turns to the only option left, the body's ability to heal itself. He trades in the junk food and hits the road with juicer and generator in tow, vowing only to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for the next 60 days. Across 3,000 miles Joe has one goal in mind: To get off his pills and achieve a balanced lifestyle. While talking to more than 500 Americans about food, health and longevity, it's at a truck stop in Arizona where Joe meets a truck driver who suffers from the same rare condition. Phil Staples is morbidly obese weighing in at 429 lbs; a cheeseburger away from a heart-attack. As Joe is recovering his health, Phil begins his own epic journey to get well. What emerges is nothing short of amazing - an inspiring tale of healing and human connection. Part road trip, part self-help manifesto, FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD defies the traditional documentary format to present an unconventional and uplifting story of two men from different worlds who each realize that the only person who can save them is themselves.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Good video - Hungry For Change

I watched a great video last night.  Lately, I can not seem to get enough documentary films about food.  If you ever see one that you think that I may enjoy please share it with me.  Over the next few days, I am going to add trailers to the films that I have enjoyed and found in anyway interesting and helpful.

The first one is the one that I watched last night...




As uploaded on You Tube by FoodMattersTV on Feb 24, 2012

Their description of the movie is as follows:

A Documentary Film About Creating Lasting
Weight Loss, Abundant Energy and Vibrant Health
"This inspiring film has the power to transform your health!" - Anthony Robbins, World Renowned Peak Performance Expert. 

Join the world's leading experts in Nutrition and Natural Medicine in this FREE Worldwide Online event. So what is stopping us from getting this?

From the creators of the groundbreaking documentary FOOD MATTERS comes another hard-hitting film certain to rock your world.

HUNGRY FOR CHANGE exposes shocking secrets the diet, weightloss and food industry don't want you to know about. Deceptive strategies designed to keep you craving more and more. 

Could the foods we are eating actually be keeping us stuck in the diet trap?

In this free online premiere event you'll discover: How to navigate your supermarket - what to buy and what to avoid The real truth behind "DIET", "SUGAR-FREE" and "FAT-FREE" products How to overcome food addictions and cravings Why fad diets dont work What food additives to avoid and how to read labels What is fat and cellulite and how do we get rid of it for good The most effective detox and cleansing strategies, and How to eat for clear eyes, glowing skin and healthy hair

Find out what's keeping you from having the body and health you deserve and how to escape the diet trap forever.

Featuring interviews with best selling health authors and leading medical experts plus real life transformational iestories from those who know what it's like to be sick and overweight. 

Learn from those who have been there before and continue your health journey today.

Register below to watch the film online during the Free Worldwide Online Premiere, March 21-31, 2012. 

The DVD will be available for purchase exclusively on this site from March 21st onwards. By registering your details below you'll be notified when the DVD goes live.

"This film is vitally important to you, your family and the future well being of our nation. Watch it and apply what you learn. It may save your life."

- Jack Canfield, Co-author of 'Chicken Soup to Inspire the Body and Soul' & featured teacher in 'The Secret' 



Go to http://www.hungryforchange.tv/ to sign up for a FREE WORLDWIDE ONLINE PREMIER of the movie. it is showing from March 21 - 31, 2012.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Harvard’s Meat and Mortality Studies

                               (click on title for full article)

Yet more studies showing a plant based diet is better for you than the traditional meat diet that most people consume including myself until the last year or so.  This is what I am questioning????



Monday, March 12, 2012

What is Multiple Sclerosis

Chili w Quinoa (nutritional information included)





Chili w Quinoa (nutritional information included)
Servings: 16
Yield: 128 ounces
Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Start to finish: 2 hours 40 minutes

 Yield and Servings are approximate as well as times...


4 cups Quinoa, Prepared in Vegetable Broth
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon chili powder1/4 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 dash liquid smoke flavoring
1 clove Garlic
1 medium Onion, diced small
2 medium Carrot, diced small
2 stalks celery, diced small
1/2 medium Red bell Pepper, diced small
1/2 medium yellow bell pepper, diced small
1/2 medium orange bell pepper, diced small
1/2 medium green bell pepper, diced small
5 ounces baby Bellas, rough diced
1 bag corn with red and green peppers
1 cup v-8® vegetable juice
2 cans Crushed tomatoes
2 cans diced tomato
1 large can chili beans in zesty sauce
2 small black beans, canned
2 small garbanzo beans, canned
1 small pinto beans, canned
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon chipotle pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 ounces beer
3 cups v-8® vegetable juice
1/4 cup Brown sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder, I use instant espresso coffee
3 bay leaves, whole
1 bunch cilantro, chopped fine


1. prepare quinoa with vegetable broth and add chili powder, red pepper flakes, cumin, cinnamon, onion flakes, oregano, and a dash of liquid smoke.  Bring to boil for 3-4 minutes and add frozen corn with red and green peppers, boil for 2-3 more minutes.  Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 15-20 more minutes.


2. Heat a large soup pot, add 2-3 teaspoons of vegetable oil and when it is hot add onion, saute until translucent. (2-3 minutes) add carrot, celery, and bell peppers, saute another 2-3 minutes and add garlic, saute until fragrant then add another dash of liquid smoke.  De glaze pan with beer and 1 cup of v-8 juice.


3. Add all cans of tomatoes, one at a time.


4. Slowly add beans one can at a time, starting with red kidney/chili beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, and pinto beans.  Then add the rest of the V-8 juice.


5. Bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer.  Add seasonings one at a time and stir in completely.  Simmer for 30-40 minutes, adjust seasings to your desire. Stir in one bunch of chopped Cilantro and serve hot.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 299 Calories; 4g Fat (12.1% calories from fat); 11g Protein; 56g Carbohydrate; 8g Dietary Fiber; trace Cholesterol; 701mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 3 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.


Nutrition Warnings:


    Onion:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     Carrot:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     Red bell Pepper:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     yellow bell pepper:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     orange bell pepper:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     green bell pepper:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     baby Bellas:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     corn with red and green peppers:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     Crushed tomatoes:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     diced tomato:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     chili beans in zesty sauce:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     black beans, canned:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     garbanzo beans, canned:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     pinto beans, canned:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     bay leaves, whole:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.     cilantro:  MasterCook assumes an average 'whole' size of this ingredient.


(Nutritional information will vary depending on brand of canned goods used, or variance of seasoning)


Death By Bacon? Study Finds Eating Meat Is Risky

A friend of mine just posted this article on Facebook and since I am studying different diets and reducing my meat consumption myself, thought that I would share this article here as well:


"The study found that people who replaced one serving of red meat with alternative sources of protein decreased their risks of premature death. Choosing chicken and other poultry decreased the risk by 14 percent, fish decreased the risks by 7 percent and legumes decreased the risk by 10 percent."


may not be used without his permission

March is MS Awareness Month

Saturday, March 10, 2012

My thoughts on Diet

Diet is not a four lettered word, it is what we eat: it can be healthy or it can be detrimental to our health.







To Vegan or Not to Vegan? That is the question???



I am starting this blog as I begin this journey of exploring my diet.  I have followed a "flexitarian" diet now for a few years.  I am interested in the Mediteranean Diet, eating healthy, and losing weight.  My medical history and background is as follows.  I have High Blood Pressure, bouts with Bels Palsy, Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, and am overweight.
In the last 4 years, I have lost over a 100 pounds, going from almost 350 pounds to last week, I was 235.  I had noticed some time ago that red meat was not agreeing with me, so I reduced my red meat intake drastically.  About 3 years ago, I went to the Hospital when my employer was concerned that I may have been having a stroke.  It turned out to be Bels Palsy but my Blood Pressure was way high and my kidney functions were not right.  So they admitted me to get my BP down and Kidney functions returning towards normal.  I was sent home after a few days and went to the doctor's office.
My doctor's nurse took my BP and said that I needed to return to the hospital.  Which I did and was admitted, that evening my lungs filled with fluid and I awoke 4 days later in ICU and intibated.
Talk about scary!  I then got serious about my diet and taking my medicine.
Things were starting to look up when in Jan 2010, while out with my girlfriend, I got out of the car and had a vertigo attack.  Once I got my balance, we went into get out lunch and went on with our day.  I dropped her off at work and was going to rest in the car as I had a hour and a half before I needed to be at work.
Within 10 minutes I began to experience Nausea and lost the contents of my stomach.  As a cook, I cannot work if I am trhowing up. So I called in sick and told my girlfriend that I would pick her up at 10 pm that evening and that I thought that I was getting the stomach flu that she and her children had had the week prior.
On the way home, I lost my stomach contents 4 times, to get home and have a hard time walking into the house and letting the dogs out to use the restroom.  I passed out and awoke 3-4 hours later to realize the dogs were still outside.  By this time I was unable to walk and had to crawl to the door to let them in.  I had also developed something else besides the vertigo and nausea, now I could not see.  By this, my eyes were jumping like looking at an old time film that had broken.  ( I was told this was Nystagmus)
So when I sat up, I would fall over and when I opened my eyes, I would get deathly ill!  I also realized my girlfriend had been trying to reach me and I called her back.  Thank God for speed dial or other wise I would not have been able to see my phone to dial a number.
I told her how sick I was and she said her son would come and get her and I told her that when she got home that I would have her take me to the hospital.  When she got home, she and her son walked me to the car and we went to the closest hospital.  There I sat miserable, unable to open my eyes without puking for 16 hours before I was seen.  (They thought I was just sick with the stomach flu.)
I was admitted and after days of multiple test the hospitals neurologist told me that she thought that I had MS.
MS, what was that?  No cure?  After a week, the nausea had gone away and after 8 days, my vision was heading back to normal and now I was walking with the aid of a walker and a Physical Therapist.
They sent me home with orders to come back in a couple days for a spinal tap.  Which gave me a headache from hell and I was admitted back into the hospital for three days to be on a morphine drip which took my headache away and I was sent back home.  While in the hospital the spinal tap results came back and the hospitals neurologist came in the room and once again told me that I had MS and basically left with the orders to see her in her office in two weeks time.
I was not happy with this doctor and sought a second opinion when one of my HS classmate mentioned that another classmate of our was a doctor, a neurologist in fact, who happened to be practicing in my town where I was living currently.  This classmate who was now a doctor and a neurologist was Michele DeWerff and was the Valedictorian from my graduating class of 1986 from Nokomis HS in Nokomis IL about 90 miles away from St Louis.  What are the odds, someone I grew up with, spent time in HS with, was just the doctor I needed!!!
I then began to search her out, found that she was associated with the hospital I had gone to.  I called her office and was told there was a waiting list to be seen and I could make an appointment for 6 months from then.  That just would not do!  So I called my people and had my people call her people. (My mom is a retired teacher and her mom is a retired teacher) HAHA
Her mother gave my mother the number to call her office directly and when I called I was told that I could be seen in a month.  Better but to be seen it had to be on a day when my then girlfriend was working and since I could not drive at this time, I asked to be seen on another day.  Her receptionist said let me talk to Michele and we will call you back.  They called back within 20 minutes and I was seen the next day!
Michele ordered a 3rd opinion with Washington University MS Clinic and it was scheduled for the next month and we began the process to get lined up with Avonex.
Two and a half years later, I am still working and attending school full time in pursuit of three degrees.  First of which I am close to completing.  Which is as a Certified Culinarian, second will be Certified in Baking and Pastry and my BS will be as a Dietitian.  I am passionate about food, good food and have become passionate about healthy food.  Have lived on a low salt/low fat diet for a few years now.  Most Americans consume over 3000mg of sodium a day and it is suggested we only consumer 2400mg and someone on a low salt diet should be on 1500mg.  Some days my intake is less than 500-1000mg and I try to limit more than that.
Lately, I have been considering diet and a friend, Chris Petty who had been a Vegan for over 12 years encouraged me a little over a year ago to begin writing some Vegan Recipes.
I have always had the opinion that Vegan and Vegetarian should play a vital part in all menus planned as they are becoming a growing and vital part of society and by not including Vegan and Vegetarian menu items, you would be excluding a growing segment of society.
Many people choose Vegan or Vegetarian diet for reasons of not harming animals but some do for health reasons. That is my reason for exploring a Vegan, Vegetarian, Raw, or Juice Diet, I seek to improve my health and lose weight.  As I explore the diets, I have seen many movies which exclaim that a Vegan Diet, will aid the body in healing itself.  Why not try it, can not hurt, I eat healthy, lose weight and if a side product is my body heals itself..... BONUS!
In this blog, I will explore diet - Vegan, Vegetarian, Raw, Juice, Mediterranean, and "healthy".
I will discuss recipes, books, restaurants, school and friends food.  I value any and all input, questions, comments... encouragement, cheers, and reflections.  Share your stories, ideas, and dreams.
I will post recipes, recipes that I have found, converted to vegan, or ones I have made my own by tweeking them.
As I close let me share some movies that I have found interesting and helpful:

                                    (Taken from Skip's Recipe Box)
There are many films and documentaries about food and healthy eating.  Ones in which I have watched and have found interesting are:
1.    Supersize Me
2.    Eating
3.    Food, Inc.
6.    Food Matters


A cookbook that I am enjoying is:

The Part Time Vegan