Where have I been?
It is time to admit that I’d taken a sabbatical from Snap Pea Sheep.
I have not been 100% plant based in almost two years.
Consequently, I felt like a fraud posting to my own website.
True, I still avoid processed foods, GMO’s, chemicals I cannot pronounce, and junk food. However, I have relaxed somewhat on meat, poultry, seafood and dairy and allow myself limited amounts. Sure, I still eat whole food, plant based 90% of the time.
I am ready to return to the best diet I can!
One thing I know, even cheating a little still causes problems.
As Dr Colin Campbell says, you will still get sick but a little slower.
What I realize is, the older you are, the slower the changes.
All progress gone!
So what happens when you cheat?
It shows.
All of the progress I made going plant based has me right back where I was in 2017, only 6 years older!
I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high triglycerides. I am potentially pre-diabetic, meaning I am starting to show signs of insulin resistance,
It is time to get back to the Snap Pea Sheep life!
What happened?
I started Snap Pea Sheep in 2017. Eating a whole food, plant-based diet had a profound effect on my health. There is no question in my mind that eating plant based is the answer to good health.
My weight dropped 85 pounds. My lab work was perfect. I felt good, had stamina and I was taking weekly Pilates classes.
But….
My social life suffered greatly though. It was extremely difficult to find anything to eat in restaurants. Some vegan places exist, but there are few choices while friends and family want to eat animal-based meals.
If a restaurant offers animal and plant food, likely they are prepared on the same grill. Even if a restaurant is exclusively plant based, they use products that may be unhealthy such as cheap oils, artificial flavors, artificial colors, chemical additives, GMO additives, and commercial grade products.
No slam to restaurant owners. They don’t know. A lot of regulations on food we can buy at the grocery stores don’t apply to restaurant grade food. As a result, the products are loaded with GMO’s , chemicals and harmful oils. Some restaurants use cottonseed oil. It is a textile that is not even regulated by the food industry.
I finally got where I would go out to eat with friends and family and do the best I could. Occasionally I would select seafood, chicken or maybe dairy because it was the healthier option on the menu.
It was either compromise or suffer total isolation from my family and friends.
To me, enjoying my friends and family is more important than keeping my stringent diet.
Being Plant-based is lonely.
Being plant based pretty much dictates that you prepare your own meals.
To eat food prepared by someone else could be a compromise of your diet. It’s not just important to disregard animal products, you have to avoid processed food, commercially prepared products, GMO’s, pesticides, artificial additives, undisclosed products hiding behind the “natural label” or GRAS (generally regarded as safe).
The ignorance of what these products can do to your health is astounding. The denial of diet having to do with one’s health in the medical field is rampant.
There is a propensity of privatized health care to dispense with long term drugs rather than lifestyle change.
Even if you know what to eat and can choose the right things, it is not always attainable or affordable. A jar of peanut butter full of corn syrup, artificial flavors, rancid soybean oil and excessive amounts of sugar and salt is about a 1/4 the cost of peanut butter made with 100% peanuts.
False and deceptive labeling
Just because a product says organic does not mean it is.
I have a jar of organic artichokes sitting in gGMO citric acid as I write this blog. Citric acid is a GMO product. Rinsing the artichokes might help but I have to wonder what else isn’t really organic.
Although it has been proven that high frutose corn syrup is the underlying cause of diabetes, manufacturers rename undesired products or just hide it under “natural”. HFCS, Aspartame, MSG and a host of ingredients that have no business in our food, don’t even have to be on the label anymore.
Organic is phasing out.
Don’t believe it? Big food is trying to shut down small farmers. As it is, government farming grants only go to the giants. If they can’t force them out of business through regulations or competition, they shut down the supply to the merchants.
Customers have gotten to where they want all produce available year-round.
Merchants get supplies from hot houses, labs and farms that rely on fertilizers and pesticides that enable them to be provided year-round. In the meantime, the merchants shun local produce because it is not sustainable year-round and they have to be committed to their year-round sources.
The FDA has also made it increasingly difficult for organic farmers to get organic certification. There doesn’t seem to be any restrictions on GMO’s, often hitting the market without any testing whatsoever. Since GMO’s require no labeling and Organic’s require extensive rules, organics are simply not labeled anymore or too overpriced to purchase.
Not only do we have to worry about whether we are plant based or not, we have to worry about the source of everything we eat!
What happens when you can’t?
Even if you cut out your social life and prepare your own food, what happens when you get ill? What happens when you can’t be on your own anymore and have to depend on someone else?
Well, I caught Covid in March of 2020, and it was long covid. I had a series of setbacks that severely impacted my health. I was no longer able to prepare meals on a regular basis.
This was a big reason for my backsliding. I just could not function!
After recovering from a Covid related gallbladder surgery, I then started having neurological issues that led me to get a breast explant surgery.
I had to detox but I didn’t have the energy. It was a catch 22.
Although I knew I needed to eat better than ever to get well, I had too many health issues to prepare my own food.
Many of the detox plans out there rely on supplement sales, meal substitutes, meal kits, etc…I tried several. The condiments and sauces come in containers with no list of ingredients. Whether ignorance or total disregard, these condiments are likely store bought and not fit for human consumption.
My diet was seriously compromised as we settled for take-out and easy to prepare foods. We allowed dairy back into our diet because it was in literally everything. If we went out, we would occasionally have meat, chicken and fish. It wasn’t a lot, but these kinds of foods are addictive.
They also had a negative effect on our health.
Europe has a different playing field!
We’ve had people from other countries say our food in America is crap. After I visited Europe, I agreed.
They are right. You can’t trust anything you get from the store or restaurants. (This is not a slam against restaurant owners).
I was not aware though just how different food is in other countries. We went to Europe this summer and I was astounded by the food! I ate food I would NEVER eat in the states.
I had no restrictions on myself but didn’t feel I had to be wary of anything regardless.
Just as my strength was coming back, I caught Covid again on the trip in July 2023. We were in Bologna Italy, Ravenna Italy, caught a cruise and ported in Croatia, Turkey, Santorini Greece, Rhodes Greece, and ended with a two-night stay in Athens Greece.
By the time I was in Athens, I had full blown covid. We didn’t know until we returned to home (via Paris) and got tested.
My second bout with Covid knocked me down again.
Now my health is very compromised. I turned 70 this year. My health is probably much better than it would have been if I had never changed my diet, but I am showing signs of pre-diabetes and high blood pressure.
When I was plant based, I had perfect lab work!
So, start back on the Snap Pea Sheep diet?
Not so fast!
I am doing what I can. I usually make a salad and soup every day for lunch. About 4 times a week, I make a dinner of three to five dishes that I just pop in the oven until done.
With pre-diabetes, I am more mindful of avoiding the “white carbs” like white rice, pasta, baked goods, bread and sugar. It’s important to balance these foods with protein, leafy vegetables and complex carbs like sweet potatoes.
A typical meal might be pinto beans, roasted cabbage or cauliflower, okra and tomatoes, turnip greens with turnip or rutabaga, a green vegetable like asparagus or broccoli. All of these can be thrown into a covered dish and baked or steamed.
Reading through several diabetic cookbooks, I was dismayed that even so-called vegan books had bacon, eggs and dairy in the recipes.
The authors obviously believed animal protein needs to be included in every meal and think beans, nuts and grains, or processed products like tofu, tempeh or seitan, are the only plant-based proteins.
What about the isolation and having to cook all the time?
The other thing that nags me about a 100% plant-based diet is how much it isolates people from a social life.
Live to be 100 is a documentary series about a study of Blue Zones. Blue Zones are areas of the world that have the longest longevity. According to Blue Zones, it’s not just food that enables these people to live long and healthy. Read my article here.
Blue Zones
Activity, socializing, belonging. spirituality, sense of calm, and appreciation all play a part as well. Not only that, blue zone people are not always plant based. When they do eat animal products, it is very sparingly. The commonality among these people is not the food, although clean, locally sourced food is a common denominator.
In Blue Zones documentary, they tried an experiment to turn areas in to blue zones. Fort Worth has an experimental Blue Zone community, and it is only 40 miles from where I live. I intend to learn as much as I can.
It’s important to me to be as healthy as I can be. I want to be self-sufficient and not riddled with disease. Also, I do not want to spend all of my retirement on our very poor medical system.
Enter the Mediterranean diet – again!
The Mediterranean diet is also making news again. To me, it can go hand in hand with the Blue Zone lifestyle. Mediterranean shares the same concepts. Locally sourced food, no processed food, little meat and dairy, and focused on plant based for the most part.
Mediterranean food encompasses many cuisines. It’s not a license to eat a huge bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. I have to admit when I first heard Mediterranean diet 30 or so years ago, I ate pasta nearly every night. USA portions!!!
Coupled with the Blue Zones, Japanese and South American food can also be included in this way of eating.
It’s another subject but…
The American diet is designed to make us sick. It is not a mistake that the average American over 60 have at least 3 prescription medications. Most of these medications are prescribed for life!
Private health insurance is designed to pay for the little stuff. Nothing major. We have a broken system when a committee decides whether you need a lifesaving operation or not. Especially when their paycheck is based on contributions to the bottom line. The goal is to run cheap tests and prescribe medication. Make no mistake.
When on Medicare, we are subjected to a standard care that basically keeps us drugged until we die. There is no preventative healthcare, no solutions and often, no diagnosis.
It’ s up to you!
YOU must monitor your own health. Make adjustments you think are right and attainable.
How many times have you decided on a plan that you find overwhelming?
Say you decide on some supplements. If you aren’t used to taking a handful of pills every day, you will just as quickly stop when you think it is too much trouble.
Set a time, take portions. Set small goals a little at a time. Master the goal and make it a habit, then add a new one.
No one decides to walk a mile or run a marathon day one. Do what you can do but do it consistently and increase the duration when you are ready.
What is the Snap Pea Sheep way now?
My recipes will continue to be as healthy as I know to make them. The majority will be whole food, plant based.
Some recipes may include animal products, but they will be infrequent, low fat and balanced.
My posts will have challenges that will help you change to a healthy lifestyle, not just a diet.
Continue to educate myself so I can share what I learn.
I intend to embrace Blue Zone, Mediterranean, Healthier plant-based cuisines that add to my arsenal and yours.
How to reach out.
Expect to see changes on this website soon, I will soon be on You Tube and Pinterest as well.
I would love to hear your comments, but I get loads of auto comments that are just scams and ads.
Go to my comment post and send me a line. Click here!
