Tag: Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn

I wish I had…

On By Heather O'ConnorIn cookbook, nutrition, plants, vegetablesLeave a comment

Lately, I have thought of all the things I wish I had done. I have the time now. California is in “shelter at home” situation to slow the rate of infection of the Covid-19 viral infection. It’s better to be prepared for the worst and be happy if it eases up sooner. You’d call me a pessimist. That’s OK with me.

To make it through this challenging time, I have to learn to think a bit differently. I am especially interested in immunity for good reason.

Below is what I made from the “Forks Over Knives” App after I searched for my main ingredient, bok choy. It had the high immunity ingredients of garlic, fresh fresh ginger, Shitaki mushrooms, leeks, onions, celery, bok choy, broccoli, edamame, jalapeño peppers and Chinese Five Spice powder and was delicious.

I wish I had changed my lifestyle and eaten plants consistently years ago. I could have skipped the knee and hip replacement, high blood pressure and depression.  I eat plants now. I avoid all animal products. I have since learned that my body functions much better when avoiding all animal products and alcohol ( a Class 1 carcinogen). I am much healthier now! And so will the planet Earth be too! 

Wild Mushroom Pho

As you can tell, I dive into all the information that I can find from the websites that I follow. I feel like a sieve filtering out all the junk and saving the valuable information for you and me.

After watching the movie which is available on Netflix, “Forks Over Knives,” I started following the people that I’ve mentioned in previous posts and on other areas of this blog. Here are a few people to check in on and even sign up for their newsletters to stay healthy. Please do! Especially important at this time. 

Dr. John McDougall is a favorite. Check out his YouTube videos for dealing with the Coronavirus. Very interesting! I’ve gone to his “Advanced Nutrition Weekends” and even a week of nutrition study and travel to Kauai. From there I met others such as Drs. Esselstyn, Greger, Fuhrman, Ornish, Goldhamer,  and many more reputable physicians. I am totally convinced that this will serve me well through this difficult time of Covid-19.

The reason that I’m so convinced and am working so hard is that I’m in the high risk age category, 77, but since I have no chronic diseases of aging (obesity, diabetes, heart condition, cancer, etc.) I plan to be  around for a long time. No reason not to put in my best effort! I expect you will too!

Until the next sketch, Heather

Peppers…

On By Heather O'ConnorIn nutrition, pastel, plants, podcast, websiteLeave a comment

I told you to expect posts on nutrition or artwork. Here is a combination of the two. Last Saturday, I took a pastel workshop with Otto Sturcke which ended up being a well focused 4 hours spent on noticing the intensity of the red, yellow and green peppers. So satisfying to me because it made the thought of eating real plants so delicious.

Green, yellow and red deliciousness

Now… what to do with them? Next step is to raid the refrigerator. What do I have? Brown rice, three bean chili, sweet and yellow onions, tofu, beet greens (Dr. Esselstyn would be pleased), oregano from our garden and lots of other things that just don’t sound like they should go into a pepper. That’s it, “Stuffed peppers.” Now all I have to do is find out what spices to add. On a search for a vegan recipe, I found Ceara’s Kitchen had a really nice one that could help me through the timing and assembly steps. Helpful photographs too. One thing I will do is to keep it simple by eliminating a few things and add the things that I think will make it tasty. I do not add oil, but sauté in vegetable broth like she does. Recipes like this can be very forgiving. One of my favorite things to add would be some corn kernels.

This would be a fine dinner as a way to avoid eating a chicken. I raised chickens years ago and loved the variety of breeds that we received from Murray McMurray Hatchery. My 5 year old son and I sold eggs to neighbors and had the joy of seeing how a fluffy chick became a handsome breed of chicken and went on to laying eggs. At this time, I’d keep them was pets and wouldn’t dare to eat them. Unfortunately, factory farm raised chickens are extremely high in fat and processed under conditions that you wouldn’t expect. And you thought they were safe? Not at all. Check out this website in the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine, PCRM. So, it’s stuffed peppers tonight!

Until the next sketch…peace and good health, Heather