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As I’ve gotten into the Whole Food

Plant Based lifestyle I’ve started using a lot more fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices. I started making smoothies for breakfast. One suggested ingredient is mint. I found that buying mint at the story seemed a little pricey. So my wife went to the nursery and found that we could get a plant amfor the price of one pack of mint at the store. We planted it in a small pot. And eventually added “chocolate mint” and another variety (which I don’t know the name of). There are now four mint plants growing in the pot. Each morning I use siscors to cut 4-5 inches of fresh mint right off the plant and put it directly into the blender (after rinsing) with the ingredients for my smoothie.

The result is delicious fresh tasting smoothie.

There are many uses for mint. For example I started putting a few springs of mint into the water bottle I use daily. The mint flavor of the water is very refreshing.

There are a number of herbs you can easily grow yourself at home. It’s fun to grow them and is something you could do with your family.

Currently we have mint, basil and a bay leaf tree that needs to grow for about a year before it will produce leaves we can use to cook with!

I have switched to a Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle. In a brief summary this means I have eliminated animal products including all meat and dairy. I have also eliminated processed food including oil. The plan focuses on vegetables, beans, nuts and whole grains. There are a number of summaries online. A good one is https://www.forksoverknives.com/what-to-eat/

I have found that Dr. Greger’s “daily dozen” and “green, yellow, red” light approaches have really helped provide a guide of what to eat.

So what do I eat on a typical day?

Breakfast

I have several basic “go to” breakfasts,

Smoothie – make it with three or four fruits like any of apple, orange, strawberry, cherry, mango, pineapple, bananna. Plus two greens like kale, spinich, chard, mustard greens, etc. Then add carrot, beet if you like. Add two tablespoons of flax seed. Almond milk. Blend in high speed blender. You can add other things like half an avacado, etc. I play around with different ingredients to get different tastes.

Oat Meal – I am not talking quaker or instant from a packet. I buy raw oats in bulk from the store. So there is nothing added to them. Boil water. While the water is coming to a boil mix up half a cup of oats with two tablespoons of flax see, some matcha green tea and cinamon. I also like to add blueberries to this mix. Pour boiling water over, stir, then put a small plat over the top and let sit five ish minutes. While it sits cut up whatever other fruits you want to put on it. Like a half dozen strawberries, blueberries, banana. Add the fruit on top. Serve with almond milk

Cold cereal – Ezekiel 4:9 and Engine 2 have some that are no sugar added

Lunch

Salad – I prep salad on the weekends by chopping up peppers, carrots, zuchinni, squash, etc whatever you want and putting it in containers in the fridge. Then you can quickly make a salad by putting a bed of greens and whatever combination of items you want.

Rice and Beans – I prep batches of rice and beans. Beans are soaked and then cooked. Rice is bought in bulk and cooked. Do not even consider white rice. Only brown, or other dark rices like black or red. Brown rice is very cheap in organic bag at CostCo. I buy big bags of uncooked black beans at costco as well. I prep the rice and beans and add kernel corn. Then you can freeze these in the freezer. Take it out and microwave to eat. Top with spinish and / or kale and avacado and salsa if you want.

Left overs – I eat a lot of dinner left overs

Dinner

This is where we have learned the most about creative cooking. Pretty much we can make anything that we’ve eaten before. We just make it using Whole Food Plant Based approach. We are starting a list of recipies we have tried which includes

Quinoa Tacos

Home made spaghetti sauce over Edamame pasta

Veggie Lasagna – https://vegetariangastronomy.com/vegan-lasagna-recipe-roasted-veggies/

Tostados

Vegan Chilli – http://eathealthyeathappy.com/killer-vegan-chili/

Navy Bean Soup

Snacks

Nuts and seeds (I probably over due it a little, but the goal is up to ¼ cup per day)

Smoothies with bananna, strawberry, etc

Veggies: carrot sticks, celery

Fruit: any fruit. But you can do things like cut up an apple and then dip it in almond butter!

Some of our favorite recipe sites are highlighted throughout this site.

I was walking on the trail by my house one morning. I can walk a pretty good clip compared to some people. So while I was walking I was catching up with others who we’re walking slower than me. Each time I’d catch up with someone I’d slowmy pace for a few minutes and talk with them. One man and I got to chatting about walking and he told me he walked ten miles a day. He said he liked walking because it was less stress on his knees than running. I agreed and pointed to the scar on my right knee – a constant reminder of knee resurfacing surgery that was done October 2016.

When he saw my scar he said “at least it was just your knee. Mine are from my heart” and then he pointed to his legs. Both calves had 8-10 inch scars on them. He told me that was from having double bypass surgery 20 years ago.

He said the scars are reminders to him to exercise and take care of himself. He also said he was frustrated because he wasn’t losing weight despite walking ten miles a day. I gave him my phone number and told him that eating a Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle could reverse the heart damage already done. I hope he will call and I’ll be able to provide him more information.

These scars can be powerful motivators. Seeing the scar each day reminds us of what happened to cause the scar and helps us think of improving our lives to perhaps avoid what would have caused it.

When considering a lifestyle change to improve your health inderstandijg your why is important. If you knew what you ate would make you sick in five to minutes you’d probably think twice before eating it. So why is it then if the evidence indicates that some foods will make you sick in ten, twenty or thirtybyear so many ignore the evidence.

For me it was seeing the end of my mom’s life and wanting to live longer than her that convinced me to change my habits now and adopt a Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle. I don’t see it as giving up anything. I see it as choosing a healthier tomorrow. Yes, I could have a scoop of ice cream or a bacon cheeseburger. But I’d rather live long into my ninties and hopefully to 100 and beyond with my health and mind in tact!

Ok. I’ll say it. I love my Fitbit! Not because I need to be rewarded for everything I do like badges that you earn for walking 25,000 steps a day. Not for showing me that I walked 12,221 steps in one day. Or even because it shows me how many miles I walked in a day.

 

Yes. I like all those features. And I recently increas d my daily goal from 10,000 to 12,000 steps a day. But for me the benefit of the FitBit is simply a guage as to whether I’ve “been active” or not during the day. There are days when I go to the rec center in the morning before work and hit my step count goal by 10am. There are other days when I don’t hit 3,000 steps before lunch. On each day I can then guage if I need to be “more active” or less active the rest of the day. Of course there is likely no negative of being more active. But it’s a good way to track if I’m getting some exercise throughout the day. While I like to incorporate going to the rec center into my routine and I use those times to hit the cardio on an elliptical, shoot some baskets and lift some weights, I also like to spread out exercise throughout the day by going on three or four walks a day giving me a chance to strecth my legs rather than sitting at my desk all day.

Dr. Michael Greger includes daily exercise in his “daily dozen”. I encourage you to check out details of his explanations. You might find a FitBit or other tracker is valuable to help you stay on track.

I had seen advertising for the Impossible Burger mostly on Facebook. It’s a new company making a plant based burger which is supposed to look like, have the consistency of and taste of real meat. A couple weeks ago my company was taking us out for a team building event and the place originally selected had the Impossible Burger on the menu so I had hoped to try it out. At the last minute that venue changed and we didn’t go there after all.

So while looking for a place to meet a friend for lunch I noticed that the Liberty Burger in Las Colinas had the Impossible Burger on the menu. What’s great about this is while I choose the Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle and wish all my friends and family would too it gives options of places to eat to accommodate me and them. It turns out Liberty Burger also has a veggie Patty that they make in house so next time I’ll try that.

The Impossible Burger definitely lived up to the billing. It did look like, have the consistency of and taste of real meat. I actually asked to verify. The server confirmed and he even knew information about the Impossible Burger and how they are made. I enjoyed the burger and would likely order another one sometime.

A couple things to note though. First, the Impossible Burger should not be considered strictly Whole Food Plant Based because the ingredients include oil. I looked at this as one of those green light, yellow light, red light moments that Dr Greger talks about where having a little yellow light or red light food may make sense from time to time like in this case to meet a friend for lunch.

The other thing is the Impossible Burger has gluten in it. So if you have celiac or gluten sensitivity please avoid this. It’s actually one reason why I had the Impossible Burger with a friend is Mande doesn’t eat any gluten due to her Celiac and therefore it’s not an option for her. So going without her to try it made sense.

Traveling and continuing the Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle can present challenges and opportunities. It can be a challenge to find place to eat out that accommodate the lifestyle. At the same time being in different parts of the country present opportunities to try new restaurants and food that we wouldn’t get to try at home. This is our second trip since being 100% WFPB. Plus traveling with our kids who prefer a some meat makes fidning a place to eat even more challenging to meet (ha ha) everyone’s needs.

This adventure didn’t disappoint. Staying in an AirBNB in Washington, DC we searched Google maps for a few minutes and located Bare Burger about a quarter mile away. What’s interesting is living in Dallas it’s hard to find a place with any vegan options. Here we are out of town and there is a place closer to us than the major cross street in our neighborhood at home.

One we were seated and looked at th menu we found that Bar Burger had not one, not two but a whopping six plant based burgers to choose from including the Impossible burger (which I had had last week) and the beyond meat burger. However the others were all made in house so we both opted for them.

I had the sweet potato and kale burger wrapped in collard greens. This was a really unique way to serve the burger. Rather than most “burger on lettuce” options this actually had a very nice presentation being cut in half and served on a squer!

Mande choose the black bean and

corn burger on a gluten free bun. She added the vegan American cheese to try it out.

These burgers did not disappoint. If you find yourself in Washington, DC or another city with a Bare Burger location be sure to check them out.

Welcome to Journey to One Hundred and Beyond! We have started this site to share our journey to lose 100 combined pounds as husband and wife. We wanted to document our journey with hopes that it might inspire others to not just lose weight but also live longer healthier lives.

You see the journey is not meant to end once we’ve lost 100 pounds. That’s the point of beyond. Ultimately the two of us will lose more than 100 pounds. We already know of several others who have been inspired. One has lost 35 pounds and another 20 pounds. Like us their journey is just getting started.

This is not just about weight loss. Weight loss is just the visible sign of the healthier you. Following a Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle is also shown to improve blood work, reduce risk of cancer and other devasting diseases.

As we live longer and healthier as a result of our food choices today the thought of live to 100 and beyond becomes conceivable as well. My grandfather lived to be 97. While that is a good long life it shocked us because he had been planning his 100th birthday at least since he turned 90. While my mom and dad lived 83 and 75 years respectively and lifespans tend to be getting shorter there is still not reason to believe living to 100 and beyond while being healthy and of sound mind would not be out of the question.

So welcome! Join us on the journey. To one hundred and beyond!