I highly recommend everyone read this Book... WARNING: This little review suggests a Whole Food Plant-based lifestyle can change your life!

[GuacamoleKindaGirl]

I really wanna raise a point / suggestion., I really don't want to end up in a online argument., if you disagree with me, fine - move along, if you have any genuine questions, if I can help, or look up some additional material then obviously I will...

Soooooooo. I would like to talk about Health and well being from the point of view of food...((insert dramatic eye-rolling here as YES I am going to suggest a whole foods plant based lifestyle...whooooo! A mouthful!!))

I'm currently reading a book with the seemingly odd title; "How not to Die" by Dr Michael Greger... what this book does is, it takes leading health (death) issues such as Heart Disease, Lung Disease, Liver Disease and for each presents factual medical studies that have proven how food plays a much bigger role in stopping - and in lots of cases reversing damage....

OK so obv I'm no doctor and I don't want to make too many bold statements here., BUT this book, if you're remotely interested, is amazing - if you're not convinced, try watching widely available doccos such as, "Forks over Knives" or "Plant Pure Nation" (believe both on Netflix and such like...) both cover many of the same topics and you might find it sparks your curiosity to read more...

The main point I'm raising this here, is there is a specific chapter on mental health / depression / suicide and the link to the choices you make between the foods you eat and your physical and mental state.... IF you are at all curious pls read. I cannot summarise everything and do it proper justice here...

So I've found a YouTube link here: youtu.be/HXGkk7UI-Ys(Not working as expected?) to the Author, Dr Michael Greger introducing this book and if you want more info his website here: nutritionfacts.org/

Finally,. D'uh! This is a personal recommendation,. I have NO links to this book or Doctor,. I have been watching doccos/informing myself and genuinely believe in "this stuff" and as such wanted to share...

If it even / only helps one single person then I'm happy!!

Thanks ✌🏻️

[Hidden]

Hi that's interesting. Are you following the advice yourself and is it helping you? x

[Photogeek]

Ha ha I think the Title is hilarious. How to live? Might be better. Will have a look

At it. Everything in moderation is my philosophy and people can be unhealthy even if they are vegan or vegetarian, there is no best diet.

Hannah 

[GuacamoleKindaGirl]

I wanted quickly to reply to @Photogeek to encourage you to check out "Whole Food Plant Based" in both this book and in the book "Whole" by T. Colin Campbell - ., they do not state veggie or vegan - but Whole Food Plant Based., as yes it's all too easy enough to call yourself veggie or vegan and survive on little more than junk food...and STILL think you're being healthy - when in fact you're not... Anyhoo I'm no angel, but the more REAL food we can eat and the LESS highly processed crap we consume the better... 

...again I can't do the works of many people., loads of studies and research papers justice here so check out the doccos and books - if curious...

 

[GuacamoleKindaGirl]

Reply to Hidden  TBH I'm not entirely sure what my "thing" is., I believe I do have, erm., "issues" but I think I need some time to figure myself out before putting a label on it...sorry not quite the reply you were probably expecting! However, I do genuinely believe what we feed/nourish our bodies with, can and DOES have a profound effect on our mental health and well-being... ✌🏻️

[Hidden in reply to GuacamoleKindaGirl]

My reply was honest and not questioning or mentioning 'issues'  or 'labels'  nor was I having a dig at you.  I was just interested if you had done it yourself and if it was helping you.  x

[GuacamoleKindaGirl in reply to Hidden]

Oh my gosh!! I wasn't being snippy!! Sometimes I'm just crap at "communication" // and I dunno i'm just not too sure I can best answer this question!! But yes ok I do see the contradiction., so OK YES I feel a million times better for changing my diet but I can't help but think that's more a social conscious thing or almost akin to a vegan/ethical point of view - that is to say I know my body can function on a predominantly plant-based diet and that makes me super happy - but I do rely too much on processed foods (think veggie sausages and the like...) So I feel like I still have a long ways to go...again sorry not sure I'm answering your question coherently... 

I think in a nutshell YES it helps., I feel generally more positive - elated even sometimes - but I still struggle with some things., I'm working on those... xx 

[Hidden in reply to GuacamoleKindaGirl]

Phew I was thinking we had a right one here lol.  Glad to see I was wrong....thank you. 

Are you a veggie then?  I haven't eaten meat for most of my life but I do eat fish.  I wish I could stop that but it would involve too much thinking about,  how to get the proper nutrition so I take the easy option.    I do understand this very well from an ethical viewpoint,  as to me eating animal flesh is awful but I don't have a go at those who do - this is just my opinion.    

I think we all know we eat too much processed food these days,  and the healthier option is always more fruit,  vegetables, with some fiber as well.   At least you are doing most of what makes you healthy so more power to your elbow.  x

[GuacamoleKindaGirl in reply to Hidden]

Hey Hidden  fab to get a "phew" - speaking like this,. Via a forum or whathaveyou looses some of the nuances or 'flow' of an actual convo, so yeah we cool... !  

Anyhoo I've been veggie for a few years, but after watching a few food doccos and reading more, I couldn't continue with eating milks/cheese *though I still eat odd bit of conventional chocolate ((I'm workng on this!!)) as time goes on, i have come to not like Veggie and Vegan - as they imply so much more ((and I'm trying to be respectful, gosh I'd hate to announce I'm vegan as hell, I still wear wool / leather etc..)) so I prefer and genuinely like "Whole Foods Plant based" term...though YES I do need to take stock of my choices (the convenience / processed crap mentioned already...) as well as - and again this is coming from the "How not,to Die"-book but the mix - or ratio - of what's on my plate., and for example including more beans and legumes - seems to be a BIG lesson I can learn from this book --- so simple really! Deffo upping my fruit intake (which is already pretty decent) but probably more citrus wouldn't go a miss....

In regards to eating out / restaurants I can see why someone might wanna still have fish as an option... ( a buddy of mine does this...) BUT in regards to food / nutrition I genuinely believe there's no need.... I think NEED more so than taste or convenience is what I was trying to get to before when I was saying about moral / ethical reasons...I've just got to the point where if something can be plant based or veganised, then why not - erm,...

gah! Not clear ....

-- OK take milk, my whole life milk has been pushed as healthy...TV, school, wider advertising campaigns etc etc...but actually it really isn't healthy - and worse - it's pretty cruel... Nowadays the choices or alternatives are so amazing I just cannot think of one good reason to not choose an alt. ((rice milk, almond milk, hazelnut milk, coconut milk, hemp milk etc etc...)) 

-'did that make sense...? 

OKOKOK time for my snoozes! (Lol  Yeah I'm so lame....) so OK pls do let me know if what I've said hasn't made sense!!! I do tend to have a somewhat dyslexic-esque back to front way of thinking / sentence construction ... 

;)))) 

[Hidden]

Hi, I've made improvements in my diet since I've been ill. I take more vegetables these days and have cut 95% of processed foods from my diet. I feel it's helped a lot, but I still eat meat and I have cut out bread and pasta as well. I try to buy organic when I can afford it and last year I even grew my own salad leaves and tomatoes. Slugs got most of the salad leaves, but I am going to try again this year. I am also adding herbs to my gardening attempts this year.

Our diet certainly has to have an effect on our mental health if you think about in terms of if you just processed or junk food all the time the chemicals in those foods have to have an impact on your mental health as they will leak into your brain. So a good all round healthy diet is the way to go.

Thank you for suggesting the book.

[GuacamoleKindaGirl in reply to Hidden]

Hi Hidden  thanx for replying! Sounds like you've done so much - I too have tried growing some veg and yup some were munched by the slugs not me annoying! I found KALE grew the best and must get a wriggle-on with organising and do again! Deffo gimme ANY advice of any successes you've had...I'm pretty sure non of my fingers are naturally green., least of all my thumbs!! 😆

Forgive me for "banging-on here" BUT I feel as you've already made so many positive changes thus-far 'cutting back' (ie meatless Monday type things...) or 'cutting out' entirely on meat *might be* the next logical step (?) - I cannot stress enough to look towards doccos & books I've mentioned as the explanations are much clearer than anything I could summise...but in each and every example cited the *positive* of fruit, veg, legumes, beans and nuts outweigh anything that you may think meat offers.... 

- I wrote waaaay more but think went a bit off-piste., ha!  

[Hidden in reply to GuacamoleKindaGirl]

Hi, I can recommend Ton Thumb tomatoes, you can grow them on a window sill and they are more of a bush/trailing tomato so no need for canes. They taste really good as well.

Chives are good to grow and the slugs don't seemed to like that. You can get a garlic chive. Peppermint is easy to grow and there are lots of different varieties of mint, best planted in pots as they will take over your garden. Chard is easy to grow, but slugs do like that.

I do have vegetarian days I'll take a note of all your referenced materials and will have a read.

I decided I want to try natural ways to get better along with the medication I was given because I didn't just want to be on medication without changing my life style to help me eventually get off the tablets.

I love kale, I use it and baby spinach everyday in smoothies I make.

Take care.

[ladeda]

Hi, if you want to move on from that book to another, I can highly recommend Marc David's book 'Mind/body Nutrition. To get the gist of it there are clips on YouTube. 

I found he puts everything in perspective, that there is no such thing as bad food as everything has some  nutritional values and is not in itself conspiring to damage us, but our awareness and eating habits is where the problems lay, just as no diet or food can be right or necessarily wrong for everyone and we would be better just taking the gems of information that good diet books offer only if it's pleasurable  and not a struggle to do so, the key is awareness and learning to pay attention.

It's full of humour and common sense and very easy to relate not just to food but to a lot of other issues in life.

Well worth a read along with so many other good books

[GuacamoleKindaGirl in reply to ladeda]

Hi ladeda  thanks for the recommend I'll check it out,. BUT there is such a good thing as bad food or a bad diet,.so apologies but your intro has be a little baffled?.. 

The book that I'm recommending is from an American perspective, but I think the Standard American Diet (SAD) is not too dissimilar to what the average Brit probably consumes too... I think what Dr Greger does is take that SAD and show links from that to each one of the major diseases/causes of illness and death in US and focus on each individually,..... (((Heart Disease, Liver disease, Lung Disease, Brain disease, Digestive cancers, Infections, High blood pressure, Diabetes, Blood cancer, Kidney Disease, Breast Cancer, Suicidal Depression, Prostate Cancer, Parkinson Disease...))  

So OK with all that said the occasional bit of junk food, a burger even(?) probably won't be hugely detrimental IF, if your norm is WFPB... However I cannot imagine anyone who's made such dramatic changes in their diet ever wishing to go back to junk... (Does that make sense?) and if the logic of 'one little burger won't hurt' then spirals to every other meal being junk - then eeek that's no good.....maybe it depends on the individual / person, I know people who've smoked, quit successfully and then have the odd one at a social occasion, obviously smoking is bad but the odd one... I just know for me, I wouldn't be able to stop at one... ((Does that make sense??)) 

OK eeepers! Running late... Gotta dash... 

 

[ladeda in reply to GuacamoleKindaGirl]

Exactly, its moderation and attitude in what we consume that matters and learning to pay attention.

Have a lovely day