Hi! I’m Jacquelyn Rummel
I am a person just like you! If you are on this page, you are looking for answers and inspiration. You want to be healthy and avoid the painful declining years! I call it, “Staying off the medical merry-go-round”!
When I adopted a whole food, plant based (WFPB) lifestyle, I found this way of eating to be quite a transition! Luckily my husband Harry is on board too and never wishes to return to our old way of eating!
My main motivation for this lifestyle was to regain my health. Toward the end of 2017 I had some serious health issues which I will describe later in this page. I honestly believed I was dying and had to do something!
The prospect of taking a bunch of prescriptions for the rest of my life and dealing with the side effects didn’t appeal to me. I didn’t want to spend my golden years in and out of hospitals. Nor did I wish to risk a stroke or heart attack.
To me, it is obvious that food has a direct impact on one’s health, so I started to do some research.
With so much conflicting information out there, it’s easy to make the wrong choices for your health. I’ve been trying to make the smartest choices for my health for decades and been on the wrong path too many times to count.
On September 15, 2017 I watched the What The Health documentary. The next day I started on my journey back to health while enjoying a whole food, plant based, lifestyle!
Where to Start? Inspiration!
From the Forks Over Knives video, I researched all of the doctors in the documentary and started reading!
The first book I read was by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. MD and T. Colin Campbell, Ph. D., Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. That led me to The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. Game changing reads, both of them!
How Not to Die by Michael Greger, M.D.. was a great read as well! Much less technical!
Another plant based doctor I found was John A. McDougall, MD. McDougall believes the diet should be plant based with starches like potatoes should be more prominent in the diet. I read his books, The Starch Solution and The McDougall Plan then followed his program in the McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss. It convinced me that I could include potatoes and sweet potatoes in my diet.
Forks Over Knives has a documentary where I discovered their whole series of books by various members of the family.
The Engine 2 Diet was written by Rip Esselstyn. Rip is a fire fighter who challenged his fire house to try a whole food, plant based, diet with a huge success. The instance of heart disease if very high for fire fighters. Showing them how they could improve their health with diet was inspiring!
Forks Over Knives has a web page where they offer meal plans, recipes and cooking lessons.
I was inspired to obtain a certification from the professional series of the Forks Over Knives cooking class. (They appear to have only one class level now). Their cook book’s are among my favorites.
While all of these doctors mostly prescribed a whole food, plant based diet, there were a lot of similarities and subtle differences. Campbell and Esselstyn both believe that NO OIL should be consumed. All seemed to agree that high fat foods should be omitted or severely limited until optimum health is obtained.
What A Change!
After six months, I had lost 55 pounds. I have hypothyroidism and losing weight had always been difficult for me. When I changed my diet, the weight just fell off!
The dizziness was gone, and I had more stamina than I’d had in years!
My blood work was normal! Blood pressure? Perfect!
My cholesterol was just slightly high, but the good cholesterol had gone way up and the bad had gone way down so the doctor was no longer concerned about my cholesterol.
I joined a Pilates class to get some exercise then bought a Total Gym so I could do my Pilates at home and get back my strength!
This was a big change for me considering I could hardly stand a few months prior!
July 4, 2018 was my 15th wedding anniversary. I tried on my wedding dress and it fit! It was so much fun to pose for my husband!
I never thought I would have a waist again much less be able to wear my wedding dress or size 6 jeans!
Healing takes time!
Despite my weight loss, my high blood pressure persisted.
High blood pressure could be related to heart disease or a sign of a fatty liver. I started reading every thing I could find about high blood pressure and liver disease. By the way I found hibiscus tea to be very helpful in regulating blood pressure.
Ocean Robbins was hosting the Food Revolution Summit and a lot of doctors and specialist were going to be speaking. I signed up and looked forward to hearing the speakers.
While listening to the Food Revolution Summit, I discovered Anthony William. I was so impressed with what he had to say I bought two of his books while listening to him speak.
Anthony’s books were so informative and inspiring! I felt that I was finally getting answers to questions I’d been asking for decades! His Thyroid Healing book really put me on a path to better health.
After one year, I was completely off of all medications….including Thyroid medication! I do take a supplement though. It is much safer than the steroids prescribed for Thyroid disease.
Re-learning to prepare food all over again!
Before I went WFPB, I fancied myself a home gourmet chef! Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Moroccan, Indian, Turkish, Lebanese, Caribbean, Greek were some of the cuisines could make in my kitchen. The high fat, caloric part of French cooking was mastered in my home! Like Paula Dean, I loved my butter!
However, much of what I knew didn’t work anymore! I had to learn to cook all over again!
In nearly every cuisine, the flavor comes from meat or dairy and the flavor often differs by cooking method. I realized I had been relying on cheese in nearly every dish I made unless it was Asian. I needed to up my game using herbs and spices to flavor food!
Cravings are very real when you are withdrawing from sugar, dairy and meat. I felt I needed to try new foods to help reduce my cravings. Poor substitutes for food that didn’t taste like meat or dairy were not satisfying to me. 
I decided to lean toward Japanese food for my transition! This opened me up for Thai, Korean and Vietnamese as well.
Japanese food is usually dairy free, mostly raw and can easily be made without animal protein. Dashi is a broth that is Japanese staple but often has bonito flakes. Kombu and dried Shitake mushrooms makes a very flavorful vegan dashi.
Although I created some rather elaborate Japanese dishes, I found it mostly to be fast and easy! Many of the salads are raw. Soups are usually a salad in broth! Beautiful plating can make it look intimidating but it is certainly not difficult to do!
I highly recommend trying some of my Japanese recipes and incorporate them into your weekly menu plan.
Japanese mixed salad  |
Japanese Crysanthemum |
Parsnip “Crab” salad |
Japanese pickled salad |
Can you relate to my health issues?
My main motivation for this lifestyle was to regain my health.
I’ve documented some of my few health issues here as you may be able to relate. It helps to know what to expect.
Health News
Obesity seems to be the number one health concern for everyone because it can lead to diabetes, heart disease, liver problems, and a host of other diseases. Recently I learned there is a serious link between obesity and ill effects of Covid-19. Anyway, I was at least 70 pounds overweight and it seemed impossible to lose weight!
My high blood pressure was extremely high. High enough to take medication. What bothered me is that my dose kept increasing and my prescriptions were continually recalled. There were the side effects as well! Blood pressure medication can affect the kidney’s and mine were already functioning at less than normal.
I had high cholesterol and triglycerides. (Who isn’t battling that?)
My pancreas was working at 75% capacity. Liver enzymes were 10 times higher than the high range of normal. I was had a 4 mm kidney stone and sludge in my gallbladder. I also suffered from restless leg syndrome, diverticulosis, tinnitus and vertigo. I suspected diabetes as well as my fasting blood sugar was 110 on average.
Because of my frequent headaches, and arthritis in my feet, hands and neck. I was in constant pain. My whole body hurt all the time. A walk to the kitchen would find me winded and I couldn’t stand longer than ten minutes at a time.
I was constantly dizzy! Even while seated the room was spinning! It took me hours to prepare meals because I had to sit down every few minutes. A fall to an older person could be the start of a swift downward spiral and I had some pretty hard falls.
Once I was so dizzy that I fell and cracked my head on a table and knocked myself out!
The potential of breaking a hip or something was very real! I bought a cane! I was afraid to drive here because I might pass out at the wheel.
Besides all that, my skin was oily and bumpy. My hair was completely gray and falling out. I had no hair on my legs! While not having to shave seems cool, no hair on the legs is a sign of circulation problems. My hypothyroidism contributed to my hair loss as well.
This was me at 63 before going WFPB. I felt like I was 100 years old! WFPB living gave me my life back!
As of October 2020, I am completely free of medication! My blood pressure is great! My Thyroid seems to be working ok. My nails are in the best condition they have been in decades. Unfortunately my silver hair seems to be returning to it’s chestnut brown cold. I kinda got used to the silver!
Wish to connect? Email me here!
I am glad you enjoy. Thanks for sharing.
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