It's time for Cliff Notes again and I'm so excited that Cliff is sharing part of his journey with you. When Cliff and I were first dating and early in our marriage he always cooked for me. I'd come home from work and he'd have dinner in progress or on the table. It was almost always some form of meat + starch (taters, bread n butter, white rice, etc) and maybe some kind of veggie. The meals were made with love and I loved every second of it, there were no complaints coming from the girl with the full mouth. We've come a long way since leaning into those first meatless meals in 2008 and our milk substitute test in 2011 (I now make our own almond milk each week). At the time it felt like such a HUGE change from the way we were both raised. I stand in awe of Cliff for being willing to make such huge changes on behalf of his health (I make a pretty strong case for wanting to keep him by my side for as long as possible). I feel so strongly that this experiment will make a difference in his numbers. So without further adieu I'll turn you over to Cliff! To my completely healthy and happy husband! Lacy
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Two weeks ago I received some troubling health news that I had already known but I guess, had to hear it again. I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. My predisposition for these two common maladies has both a genetic and a lifestyle component. My father had both HTN (hypertension) and CAD (coronary artery disease) AND he ate rather poorly most of his life…lot’s of mayo and salt. However, I was raised on health food from my mother’s direction and made most of my meals myself since I was about 21 years old.
Still, here I am.
I was on medication for both diagnoses in the past but I have always wondered if I could reverse this trend using diet and exercise. It is a wild adventure that I was contemplating (somewhat skeptically) because I was raised in a clinical medicine environment. Everything was approached from the standpoint of medication first and THEN diet and exercise. It was a foregone conclusion that you would take the meds would work and then support with the other options.
Can I control this without modern pharmacological technology? We’ll see. So far, halfway through, I have seen a reduction in my blood pressure and my weight has dropped from 187.6 to 181.4 in two weeks. I crave comfort food but then I’m glad when I don’t eat it. I find that I’m less judgey about other people and that is probably coming from a new sense of self confidence. My workouts are picking up and the energy level is consistent. So overall, I feel better and my wife and friends say I look better.
I have missed cheese and eggs the most. My newest, best friends are the meatless meatball and potatoes! Funny right? I was raised on meat and potatoes and so it makes sense that I'd run back to those. I have to say if skipping the meat, eggs and cheese lets me drop weight and keep off of the meds I think it could be habit forming, plus Lacy's made it really easy making almost all our meals and sending me out the door each morning green juice or smoothie in hand!
I’ll post an update in another 15 days with the final tally!
Cliff
p.s. food I'm most looking forward to post vegan experiment = sushi!
