Quick and Simple Explanations by Dr. Esselstyn

Dr. Klaper - Beyond Cholesterol - Freeing Yourself from the Tyranny of Your Cholesterol Numbers

I've seen some of these slides and graphics in talks by Dr. Esselstyn, also, especially the part about "foam" cells developing. It may have been in Dr. Essy's presentation at last year's Plantstock. 

Dr. Esselstyn at the 2019 Holistic Holiday at Sea

Dr. Esselstyn -Nutritional Reversal of Cardiovascular Disease: Fact or Fiction

This talk was part of The Real Truth Symposium on February 9, 2018, but was just put on YouTube the other day.

This lecture not only explains the entire history of Dr. Esselstyn's eating guidelines, but goes over in detail what happens in your coronary arteries, including the function of all the little cells found in the space beneath the endocardial cells (Foam cells? Wow!). He Talks of all his guidelines, including the newest ones that incorporate high nitrate greens 6 times a day and why it's so important to have acetic vinegars, preferably balsamic, with them.

This is THE video to watch if you have heart disease and want to reverse it, or just want to prevent heart disease - or any the other diseases of humanity, from arthritis to cancer!  

A word of warning - because it was a free conference and had a lot of sponsors, a lot of advertising pops up as banners across the bottom of the screen telling you who various sponsors are. After the first few you learn to just tune them out.

Just ONE High Fat Meal Does THIS

Do Not Cath - I Will Sue, from the September 2016 ASW

Lima Bean Stew

I decided to make something different for today, and with some of Dr, McDougall's recent webinars focused on heart health, I decided to pull out The McDougall Program for A Healthy Heart and look around. The book is currently out of print, but you can get used copies of it from many on-line book stores, and Dr. McDougall is also selling a PDF version of it on his web site. The 20% off all digital books sale is still going on so you can grab this for only $8.

Lima Bean Stew looked good, but before I started a new post here about it I searched and saw I did a quickie post about it back in 2008. Unfortunately, the link to the recipe itself died along with Geocities, so I guess I better share it again:

Lima Bean Stew
Serving Size: 8     
Preparation Time 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour

  1             medium  onion -- chopped
  1             medium  green pepper -- or red, chopped
  2             stalks  celery -- sliced
  2             medium  carrots -- sliced
  8               cups  water
  3               cups  frozen lima beans
  16            ounces  tomato sauce -- canned
     3/4           cup  barley -- uncooked
     3/4           cup  brown rice -- uncooked
  2        tablespoons  soy sauce, low sodium
  1         tablespoon  parsley, freeze-dried
  1           teaspoon  dried basil
     1/2      teaspoon  paprika
     1/2      teaspoon  dried oregano
                        fresh ground black pepper -- to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 60 minutes.

The McDougall Program for A Healthy Heart (page 350)
McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook (page 90)
John McDougall, MD and Mary McDougall

NOTES : This may also be made in a slow cooker. Add all ingredients at once and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. We have let this cook as long as 8 hours with no adverse results except for softer vegetables.

Instead of chopping up a bunch of fresh veggies, I used a container of mirepoix - a carrot, onion, and celery pre-chopped mix from the grocery store - and added some frozen onions, because we love onions in this house.

The tomato sauce is Hunt's no-salt added version. I was so happy when I saw our grocery store decided to stock not only the small 8 ounce size cans of this but also the 15 ounce and 28 ounce cans. It makes it so easy now to make home made, no salt added pasta sauces.

Since the ingredients read green or red pepper, I opened a small jar of sliced pimientos and used that. No pepper skins glueing themselves to my upper palate to worry about.

The lima beans. I had belonged to the Rancho Gordo Bean Club for a year and a half. I didn't immediately renew after the first year and missed one shipment while on the waiting list, then renewed for another quarter and dropped it again. Why? First off, the beans are delicious and definitely fresher than you would ever find in grocery stores. I quit twice because of lima beans. I'm not that big a fan of them, but in the 5 shipments from Rancho Gordo I had gotten 6 bags of lima beans. There aren't the cute little baby limas, either, but honking, gigantic creamy white ones, with skin so thick you can use them to make shoes out of. OK, slight exaggeration. I still had 4 bags of lima beans left in my pantry and figured I better start eating them before they become as old and hard as grocery store beans, so last night I set a bag of Royal Coronas out to soak overnight, and this morning cooked them up in the Instant Pot. It made up 6 cups of beans, so 3 were set aside for this recipe, the others I split in half, put into freezer bags, and when cool, put into the freezer for the next time I need lima beans for anything. If I plan on making more recipies from this book, they'll get used, because Mary does seem to like using lima beans in her older recipes.

Everything got popped back into the cleaned Instant Pot and put on Low for 6 hours. I can never remember if the vent stays open or closed when slow-cooking in this thing. When I used the 6-quart as my primary pot I didn't have any problem - I had purchased the accessories package had had the glass lid that I used. But the 8-quart doesn't have a glass lid, and none of my other pot lids really fit it, so I'm stuck with the regular lid. Even with the valve closed, the house smells great. I can't wait until dinner time!

Here's a photo at the 4 hour point, fluffed up so you can see the ingredients and not just tomato sauce:

I apologize for the fuzziness of the photo. My son said the steam kept clouding his iPod lens.

I really should use these older books more. Some of these recipes are fantastic!

Couldn't Get to the ASW? Here are 2 of Dr. McDougall's Talks for Free!

Maybe he'll share some more as time goes on.

These are more formal versions of topics he covered during recent webinars. 

Next Scheduled McDougall Webinar - Cholesterol

Thursday, May 5, 2016 at 11 a.m. PST

Title: Cholesterol & Heart Disease

Description:  In this live webinar, Dr. McDougall, MD, answers YOUR questions regarding the controversial and even confusing topic of cholesterol and heart disease.

Presenter: Dr. John McDougall, MD

Host: Moderator, Gustavo Tolosa, DMA

Register Now

Dr. McDougall Webinar: Cardiologists Acting Criminally

Cardiologists Acting Criminally.

In this live webinar, Dr. McDougall, MD, will discuss why some cardiologists withhold life-saving information from their patients.

The scary thing is, what Dr. McDougall described as what the cardiologist says to the scared wife is *exactly* what my husband's cardiologist said after his cardiac cath, including the bit about his blockage being so bad he could drop dead at any minute! Almost word-for-word!! His doc refused to even discharge him from the hospital after his cath, made plans for ASAP transfer to the university hospital where he would have his CABG surgery, and insisted he go by ambulance with a full cardiac team. If we knew then what we know now about 100% blockages, he would never had had the surgery and just gone 100% Esselstyn, as he's been doing since his post-op discharge a week later.

Register for the Next 2 McDougall Webinars

Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 11 a.m. PST

Title: Making the Change – Why people resist cost-free health

Description:  In this live webinar, Dr. McDougall, MD, will discuss why people are hesitant to change their diet even if they will save thousands of dollars. Q&A will follow.

Register Now

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Thursday, April 28, 2016 at 11 a.m. PST

Title: Cardiologists Acting Criminally

Description:  In this live webinar, Dr. McDougall, MD, will discuss why some cardiologists withhold life-saving information from their patients. Q&A will follow.

Register Now

Why A Plant Based Diet is Best for Heart Disease

A great demonstration on how the heart works, how it's harmed by a SAD diet, and how a plant-rich diet can lower the risk of heart disease. Yes, it's an ad for his new book, The End of Heart Disease, but everything he says goes for the McDougall and Esselstyn food plans, too.

New Episodes of Healthy Living On-Line

The newest episodes of Foody TV's Healthy Living Series are on-line. For some reason there is no #7, not on Foody itself or their YouTube channel. Maybe it'll appear in the future?

The recipes for the original 6 episodes can be found at the Foody web site, and hopefully the recipes for these 4 new ones will join them soon.


Lesson 8 with Wendy - Look and Feel Your Best
Butternut Squash and Quinoa Chili, Oven Ratatouille



Lesson 9 with Hans Diehl and Shayda - Medical Institute
Millet Pudding, Fennel Salad




Lesson 10 with Lindsey (Happy Herbivore) - Bar Food Twist
Cauliflower Buffalo Wings, Peanutless Peanut Sauce




Lesson 11 with  Dr. Joel Kahn - Heart Health
Broccoli Bisque, Zucchini Pasta with Quick Sun-Dried Marinara Sauce

A Little Shocker, or You Can't Out-Exercise a Bad Diet

This past Monday, my husband and I had to see our primary care doc for labwork that his cardiologist wanted done and some med renewals.

Our first shock came when I found out the doc we'd been seeing for about 25 years has left the family practice, preferring to concentrate on his faculty duties and overseeing an intern program at a hospital local to him. He had been threatening to leave for a few years now and was only at the office about 3 hours a week as it was. At least he can now walk to work, a fact that comes in very handy if we have another winter like the last 2.

Shock number 2 came when the doc we switched to, formerly all gruff and down-to-business, was all mellow yellow, seeming genuinely interested in what we've been up to both personally and medically, since he last treated any of us. This was the doc we first had when we switched to that practice when our old doc died in a car crash, and he was the doc at my bedside examining our son when he was just a few minutes old almost 32 years ago. When he decided to concentrate on sports medicine we switched over to his brother, who preferred the more general family medicine. He was heavily into a few sports himself, winning medals for his running and biking, and while he didn't run any major marathons, he was present at every NYC Marathon since its inception and at least 15 years at the Boston Marathon. He was there for the bombing and even got an award for his work treating victims at the scene. The walls of his room at the office are decorated with medals, certificates, and photos from all the races he's participated in, as well as autographed photos from different pro athletes he's treated.

Anyway, he was glad to hear about our diet, and said because of it, he'll most likely take my husband off all his gout meds after seeing the labwork. He would prefer to take him off the statin, too, but knows that his cardiologist insists all his patients take one, and since it's about the lowest dose possible already, said it won't do him any harm. As for me, he renewed my asthma meds, discussed reducing the omega 3/DHA/EPA med I was put on for my triglycerides, and said with the cholesterol levels I had, that as long as I keep on this food plan probably don't need the red yeast rice, but again, realized the cardiologist would probably put me on a statin if I wasn't on it and said to just cut it down to half the amount I was taking. No new labwork for me because it was so good in January insurance won't pay for it again until after a year has passed. He also told me to cut my Vitamin D was down from the dose his brother had me on. He said with winter coming it's best not to stop it completely, especially with my history (first lab test showed below 4, normal is over 20). We got our "atta boy" and "atta girl" and sent on our merry way.

Next shock concerns the lab work & med renewals. In the past, this practice insisted on coming in to be examined and then they'll renew meds or order labs, or order labs and renew meds after getting the results. We always had to then make another appointment to get those lab results. They didn't believe in giving them out over the phone and would insist on seeing you face to face to explain the results. But not now. The doc said to just call the office to get the results. Wow! This is going to be a big time and money saver!

Shock #4 involves coming into the 21st century. The company that now runs the practice had been dragging its feet in giving them the necessary hardware, but by federal law says it has to be up and running before the end of the year. That also means they'll finally be able to put things in the already established on-line patient portals, like lab and test results, prescription renewal and appointment and referral requests, so all that can be done without an office visit in the future.

But the biggest shock of all came the next day while my husband was gabbing with the office manager while waiting to get his labs drawn. She apologized for the confusion around the office, how harried and rushed she is, because things haven't been the same since (our old doc) left in June and (our new doc) came back after his heart surgery in September, that they're having a hard time catching up and getting caught up with everything.

WHAT?

It seems our doc, Doctor Tall, Thin and Athletic, had a triple bypass back in July. One artery 99% blocked, the other 2 not far behind. After discussing my husband's CABG and follow up stress tests with him the day before we're very surprised he didn't mention anything about his own. No wonder he had a completely different attitude this time! Nothing like a near-death experience to make a person slow down and enjoy life a little. And no wonder he had heard of and approved of the Esselstyn diet.

So, the point of this rambling post? You can't out exercise a bad diet! This man has been very active and lean for the 35 or so years I know him. OK, his whole family, including brother, sister, parents, grandparents, cousins, are all tall and lean, so genetics. But he's also always been active. I did mention his running and biking above, right? This was such a shock! As Doctor McDougall always says:

IT'S THE FOOD!

The Word Really IS Getting Out!

I love comic strips. As a child of the 50's and 60's, I grew up on them, and even now start every morning reading all my favorite strips. Yes, they're on-line instead of in newspapers now, but because of that I've found more comics to love than ever before.

Non Sequitur is one of those strips. Sure, they sometimes go off in tangents I don't care about, like the old New England fisherman rambling on about mermaids now and then, but it's usually pleasant enough.

On November 10th the artist started doing a story line that led up to a character's heart attack. Look at what today's strip is:

When comic strip artists start extolling the virtues of a plant based diet you know it's gone mainstream!

Dr. Gupta Interviews Dr. Esselstyn

 Hmm, the "embed" code doesn't appear to work.

Well, if it never appears, here's the link to the clip.

VeganMoFo Plans Already??

The people on the Post Punk Kitchen forums are making plans for VeganMoFo 2014, Already?!?! I'm still having post-traumatic stress about this past winter's weather and now an autumn activity is coming up fast??

ARGH!!

 If you never heard of VeganMoFo, click here for an explanation of what it is, where the name came from, and what people do during it. As you can see by the icons on the left side pf this blog, I've been a participant for a number of years now, always doing McDougall-safe recipes.

This year, I'm debating whether or not I even want to participate. With the thousands of people signed up, it's hard for even a handful of them to discover new blogs, and very few people look to the ones in the Healthy/Whole Foods category - most are looking for desserts or specialty topics, like Movie Foods, or Soups, or Super Hero Cakes, or whatever. I really have no excuse except for ennui. I mean, I participated last year while caring for my husband who had open heart surgery a few weeks before! I'm certainly not too busy this year (and I hope it stays that way - knock wood).

If I do sign up, then comes the agony of choosing a topic. Sure, it'll be something McDougall-related. Last year, thanks to my husband's CABG surgery at the end of July, the topic was heart healthy meals, with recipes taken from Dr. Esselstyn's Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, Dr. McDougall's The McDougall Program for A Healthy Heart, and even Dr. Fuhrman's book, Cholesterol Protection for Life. This year will see the release of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook on the second day of VeganMoFo, so that's no good for this year. I've had a number of topics on my mind over the years - all potato recipes, soups, bowls, recipes from one particular McDougall book or another, even all Jeff Novick recipes. Well, in 2012 I did about half the month with Jeff's recipes. Even I'm getting a bit sick of looking at them now. I promise, no Jeff this year. LOL

Earlier today I posted a recipe from Mary McDougall that she has said a number of times is a McDougall family favorite. She and her daughter Heather have done a number of McDougall newsletter articles sharing their favorite family recipes. Almost every one of those favorites are also favorites in this house, too. Perhaps this will be a good topic if I do decide to sign up this year. I can easily find 30 recipes that I love to make from those lists, many I've never shared on this blog.

Sounds like a plan!

I guess you'll find out for sure on September First. I could always surprise you with something completely different, too.

Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook Coming Soon

From the Esselstyn website:

Spreading the word about plant-based eating has become an Esselstyn family affair. Ann Crile Esselstyn and Jane Esselstyn are a mother-daughter team with decades of experience developing delicious, healthful dishes—including the recipes for the New York Times bestsellers Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, and My Beef with Meat by son, Rip. Now, Ann and Jane are pleased to announce the release of their cookbook.

The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook is filled with stunning photography and more than 125 plant-based, oil- and nut-free recipes that make it easy to make your heart healthier, one delectable meal at a time.

ON SALE SEPTEMBER 2014 
Preorder today:
Amazon • Barnes & Noble

Mayonnaise??

With the summer season now upon us, and being this is the first year my husband is going to be home - and healthy - for it, I'm guessing he won't want to eat seitan sandwiches or have soup every day, so decided to look into some McDougall sandwich spreads and salads.

The main part of most of those recipes is the mayonnaise, so I took a look at all of the mayo recipes throughout the years to be associated with the McDougall program, from the earliest mention in a newsletter with a recipe by McDougall cooking instructor Alex Bury in a July 2005 newsletter, to the latest incarnation in the Kid Friendly Snack, Dips and Spreads article with recipes by Heather McDougall in February 2013, which is the same one posted by Mary McDougall back in a 2005 newsletter, which is the same one in the McDougall Made Easy DVD. In fact, Weight Watcher's mayonnaise was even mentioned in one cookbook as a good alternative because, at least at the time, it was egg and oil-free. IDK if this product even exists anymore. I know another alternative, fat-free Nayonnaise, no longer is.

The McDougall recipe is the one I made up. I figured it's been around McDougall circles the longest so it stood the test of time. It must be good, right?

Tofu Mayonnaise

1  12.3 ounce package firm lite silken tofu
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate.

This will keep in the refrigerator for at least 1 week.

The instructions I used said to drain the tofu in a fine sieve first, so I put the package of MoriNu tofu into one of those reusable coffee filters. I never used it for coffee but for straining non-dairy milk. It's really fine. After about 2 hours I got over an ounce of liquid out of it and decided that was enough.

Now to blend everything up in my food processor. It didn't take long to break down and become smooth, I put it all into a pint Mason jar, but before putting it into the refrigerator handed the jar and a spoon to my husband and told him to taste it and tell me what he thinks it is. His guess was unsalted creamy cottage cheese. I said it was supposed to be mayonnaise and he said he would never had guessed that in a million years. I asked his opinion because, as I've said a few times lately, with this cold my taste buds are a bit off, and he's had mayo more recently than I have. It's over a decade since I last had some but only a year or so for him, just a few months before his CABG surgery. I hoped it would acquire some taste overnight in the refrigerator.

It didn't. Hubby suggested adding sugar and paprika so it would taste more like Miracle Whip, a product he always liked more than plain mayo. When asked if he would be the guinea pig and tell me when it got close, he rescinded the suggestion. In fact, he said he no longer wanted me to try make any kind of sandwich salad or spread, that he's lived this long without any tuna or egg salad, real or fake, that he'll be just as happy for the rest of his life continuing to do without them.

I mixed some with ketchup and used it as a spread on a whole wheat roll when I made an onion, lettuce and tomato sandwich. Like that it wasn't bad at all. Maybe tomorrow I'll mix up some more of this concoction and add a little vinegar and water and shake it all up and use it on a bowl of rice and veggies at lunch time.

But I know I won't be wasting any more tofu or garbanzos trying to make a sandwich spread out of it. My husband's mind is made up and tightly closed to the idea. I guess it's back to seitan sandwiches, soup, and the occasional container of leftovers until I can find something else to make. There are loads of non-sandwich spread related salads out there for the trying. Temps already hit 90 degrees here in NJ so it's going to be a long, hot summer, and I really would rather not light the oven every 2 weeks for 90 minutes at a time to make more seitan for him!

More Engine 2 Extra Videos - Curry and Iron Chef

Coaches Ami and Natala making curry.


Curry from engine 2 diet on Vimeo.

Another quick dump and heat recipe that looks like one of Jeff's SNAP recipes but with a twist. Mango in curry? Hmmm. I still don't know why the tortillas were mentioned. I thought they may try to serve the curry in them, but no.


Now for Iron Chef 1:

 
Iron Chef 1 from engine 2 diet on Vimeo.

This is the one I wrote about yesterday, with the kale, sweet potatoes, black beans and mango. I plan on making it not this coming week but the week after - IF the doc says my husband can eat beans again. If not, I'll make it but leave them out. It looks hearty enough to be a meal without them.


The next one is called "Iron Chef 2"
 
Iron Chef 2 from engine 2 diet on Vimeo.

This one starts off with leftover potato, quinoa, some beans, canned tomatoes, spices and tortillas. Looks like a lot of leftover-over meals I've made over the decades. LOL

And it's not your eyes - the focus does go out now and then and the video gets blurry.

Can someone tell me what's added at the 5:55 mark? Natala says "Add some ___" and Ami dumps in something from a bag. I have no idea what is said or what's being dumped in. It looks a bit like rice or some other grain. Oh, how I wish these videos were captioned for semi-deaf people like me! :(