Tomorrow I Start My Plant-Based Journey

Friday, December 29th, 2023 – 11:16 PM

In Pure & Whole buying vegan food

There were a few days I didn’t think I would be able to start my plant-based life because I felt the Philippines did not have enough to offer in the way of vegan choices. I was worried about the limited amount of fruits and vegetables and the scarcity of the things that most people take for granted in other countries like the USA.

Boy was I wrong.

It really depends on how badly you want to do a thing. Last night, I watched a documentary called, “Eating You Alive,” and it scared me because I saw people in the same boat as me having cardiac event after cardiac event. I had a heart attack almost two years ago and got a stent and angioplasty. I take statins for my cholesterol, but I am overweight and have not been able to lose weight and get healthy, even though that is one of the things my cardiologist said I needed to do.

I still have diabetes and hypertension. There is no way I was going to live another 10 years, much less the 30 years I was promising my family. I am co-morbid, and I wasn’t being serious enough about my health.

I started reading Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn’s book, “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure,” and made it halfway through when I committed to myself that I was going to do the plant-based diet he suggests. There is no meat, milk, eggs, oil, avocados, or nuts - just whole foods, plants, seeds, whole grains, and fruits.

I am going to heal my heart, lose weight, cure my diabetes and hypertension, and get healthy for the first time in my life.

When I woke this morning I had a fire in my belly. I had joined an online group for vegans in Iloilo, and while I was at mall, scrolling through the posts, I saw one for a store called Pure & Whole, which had vegan food. The great thing was that I was 100 feet away from it and didn’t even know it.

I found chia seeds, flaxseed, nutritional yeast, brown and black rice, spirulina, vegetable stock, quinoa, as well as a few other things that will help me. After the mall, we went to S&R, which is the Costco of the Philippines and I found rolled oats and oat and almond milk. The last stop was the grocery store where I got vegetables and fruit, tofu, beans, raisins, lentils, and mongo beans.

I now have everything I need for the next few months until I go to China. All I have to do is replenish the fresh fruits and veggies each week and I am set.

For breakfast, I plan on having a bowl of hot rolled oats with Chia seeds, flaxseeds, and raisins with a little dash of oat milk and papaya. For lunch, I am going to cut up some fresh veggies and tofu, mix it with stock, cook it with no oil, add some spices, and put it on top of quinoa or brown rice. I’ll make enough and have the same for dinner.

I have the food for the week planned out and I must say it does sound delicious. The only thing I am worried about is New Year’s Eve, where the family is planning on a pork belly. I haven’t decided if I want one last piece of meat before I go meatless. I’ll just play it by ear.

I can ease into it in the next few days and start 2024 on my plant-based journey.

I had planned to ease into the lifestyle by replacing a few meals at first, but that documentary scared me shitless and I decided it was all or nothing. I want to start the new year on a good foot, so here we are.

It wasn’t a hard decision, because if you think – it is a choice between dying in the next few years or potentially living another 30 or 40 years. I want to live so it’s a no-brainer.

So far, mostly everyone has been supportive, just shaking their heads at me. Giving up meat is a big deal, and I am sure most people I know are expecting me to fail.

But, I won’t.

2024 is my year. It is the year I get healthy and the year I become financially successful. This is the year I travel, write, teach, and explore China.

I am not going into this planning to fail. I will get healthy or I will die.

What would you do?