Health Benefits Lead to Surge in Vegan Diet Popularity

Having gone through bypass surgery and stent insertions, former President Bill Clinton decided to radically change his diet based on Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's research into plant based diets.  President Clinton is now a strict vegan and this article in U.S. News documents the growing popularity of a plant based diet.
'Me, Give Up Meat?  Vegan Diets Surging in Popularity'

Daily Supplements

If you're thinking about going vegan, one of the things you should consider is the use of supplements to ensure that you are meeting your daily nutrition requirements.  Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn recommends the use of the following:

• A daily multivitamin
• 1,000 mcg of vitamin B12 daily
• 1,000 mg of calcium daily for those over 50 and 1,200 mg for those over 60
• 1,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily for those over 50
• 1 tablespoon of flaxseed meal daily to supply Omega-3 fatty acids

You can mix the flaxseed meal in with one of your meals if you like.  I add it to my Oatmeal Quick Meal.

Personally, I take 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily.  There has been a lot of interesting information about vitamin D that has come out over the last few years and anyone interested in learning more would be hard pressed to find more information than is contained on the Gibson Research Corporation's site.  Steve Gibson makes available his audio podcast detailing his painstaking research into vitamin D as well as links to many clinical trials and studies.  You can find this all here:

GRC Vitamin D Research

Potatoes and Vegetables in Tomato Sauce

This is good on it's own or as a complement to another dish.

4 potatoes cut into small chunks

1/2 onion

1 bell pepper chopped

1 hot pepper chopped (optional)

2 large or 4 small mushrooms chopped

1 large or 1 small tomato chopped

Tomato Sauce

Black Pepper

Garlic Powder

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a bowl, mix potatoes, onion, peppers, mushrooms, and chopped tomato.

Add desired amount of Tomato Sauce, sprinkle with black pepper and garlic powder to taste and mix.

Place in a casserole dish and bake uncovered for  about 50 minutes to one hour, remove, and serve.

Making Some Changes

Almost a year ago, I purchased 'Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease' by Doctor Caldwell B. Esselstyn.  At the time, I was also trying to get back into my normal exercise program that I had pretty much abandoned as I tried my hand at backyard gardening last summer.  The day after I started on the Esselstyn program, I tweaked my rotator cuff in my right shoulder while doing push ups without a proper warm up.  This was in September of 2011 and I wasn't able to resume workouts until early in 2012.  Despite my lack of exercise, I experienced a dramatic loss of weight on the Esselstyn plan without curtailing the amount I was eating in any way.  I also noticed my energy level had increased quite a bit and my thinking seemed to be sharper.  One strange thing I noticed is that the Plantar fasciitis that I had suffered from for years suddenly disappeared.  This may be a coincidence but I had tried many different pairs of work shoes over the years to try and relieve the suffering I experienced by being on my feet at work all night, an experience shared by many of my co - workers.

Now I'm exercising again and still following the plan.  I still haven't lost my love of eating like a pig so I've been trying to come up with some vegan recipes that mimic closely the foods I've always loved to eat.