Mastering Diabetes

On November 1st I was diagnosed with Diabetes. Which is disappointing in general but particularly for me as back in 2014 I went full on whole food plant based largely because I was obese and pre-diabetic. I was able to drop my weight from 192 to 137 at my lightest but generally around 145 - 150. All my biometrics came back to what is considered normal parameters - Total Cholesterol under 0, LDL under 100, cholesterol ratio around 4.1. Glucose under 100 or a touch over upon occasion.

Well fast forward in time and injuries, changes at work(generally for the positive but disruptive to my schedule), and then the pandemic knocked me out of my patterns. Particularly with the pandemic I became more sedentary and I "pampered" myself with vegan food. I want to emphasize I did not go back to eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) but just loosed up to eat vegan. I also ate more and some of those bad lifestyle patterns came back to roost - sitting in front of the boob tube after work for a couple of hours.

Intermittent Fasting - Gonna give it a try

So I am going to give intermittent fasting a try. I don't really like the name or the fad but the practice of it seems to make sense for me right now. As you know fro my last post, I am slowing pulling together what I want my goals to be for this next year. I have already begun the process of starting the transition to getting up earlier again as I've fallen back to my night owl ways. In fact, I got up at 5am today, yay for me. Getting up to do my Morning Sadhana consistently will take time and I should be getting into the swing of it as it begins to get lighter in the mornings. However that does mean I'll need to be getting to bed earlier than I have been. This in turn impacts when I should eat dinner. So I've been thinking about that.

Coming Down to the Wire

It's coming down to the wire - it is almost the new year and I haven't figured out my goals yet. I know it will be similar to the goals I have set year over year for the last couple of years. However, 2020 was such a failure that I may need to step back my goals a little bit. I'll still have a mix of yoga and whole food, plant-based goals but I think for 2021 I may be a little bit more specific about achieving certain milestones. For example, taking a 300Hr yoga teacher training, and/or getting a certificate in Plant Based Nutrition probably from eCornell.

Started Okinawa Program

I actually read the Foreword and first Chapter of The Okinawa Program. I read this book in the early 2000s when it was first released. I may have mentioned in my earlier post on it that I lived in Okinawa at the time the book was released and I've met all three of the authors as well as Dr. Weil who wrote the foreword. As I suggested in that previous post, the Okinawa Program does say it is not simply diet, but exercise, spirituality and community that help define what makes Okinawans so long lived.

What I'm Reading: The Okinawa Program

I finished Your Survival Instinct is Killing You the other day so it is time to pick up a new book. I have decided to re-read The Okinawa Program. It is a book I read almost two decades ago while I still lived in Okinawa. The Okinawa Program is a book that presents the results of a 25 year study conducted by a Ryukyu University professor conducted in to the longevity of Okinawans. With this English language book revealing the results of that story, Dr. Suzuki collaborates with twin Drs. Bradley and Craig Wilcox. The foreward is by Dr. Andrew Weil.

Since I have read this before I pretty much know what is in it but I hope to take it slow so and take detailed notes so that I can start to weave a story that ties together this book, The China Study by Colin Campbell, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell Esselstyn, How Not To Die by Dr. Greger, etc. from all of the doctors I have met since switching to a whole food, plant based lifestyle in 2014. I hope to take the eCornell Plant Based Certificate program so that I get a really good grounding in the science of a whole food, plant-based lifestyle.

2019 Intention - Summary : It's a Matter of Balance

This post will recap all three of my 2019 Intention posts, wrapping them all up in a nice little theme. And adding perhaps one or two more intentions for the year. I also intend to keep the door open for some additional goals and/or things I may want to add as go through the year. To start with here are the links to previous 2019 Intentions posts.

2019 Intentions

Part I Journaling #journaling

Part II Meditation #meditation

Part III Reading #reading #spiritualreading

Part IV Yoga Studies #yogastudies #yoga

As you have already guessed from the title of this post, this year will be about regaining balance or perhaps establishing balance. Let me explain.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #29

Hey friends, it's been a while. I got out of the habit of doing the blog posts, not sure why. I am here to try and rectify that because I think it is important for me to have some discipline and rigor in my life. My goal for this blog, I guess, is to be a record of some of my thoughts and activities. Not earth shatteringly important to anyone other than myself maybe and that's okay. This blog, dear reader, is really for me.

The last time I posted we had just finished an unofficial Engine 2 Seven Day at Hyland. Well, coincidentally we are on Day 5 of our second Seven Day Rescue! And we have two more coming up, one in May and one in June. It's pretty awesome that Hyland stepped up and added it to their currently wellness initiative called the "Whole Hylander". It looks at wellness as more than just diet and excercise, but also community, mindfulness and financial well being.

I have also taken up a larger role in PlantBasedCLE as the previous President stepped down. She stepped down for the best of reasons, she is a victim of her own success, and Engine 2 where she works is giving her more and more responsibility. Which unfortunately for us means she has less time to dedicate to the organization. I have stepped in as President with my high school buddy John as Vice President. We created a new board of directors and re-started monthly meetings and activities which we had paused over the holidays.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #26 and #27

So I missed a week. Thank goodness it wasn't an resolution for this year or I would have already failed. Luckily, I don't really do resolutions anymore. I am going more for intentions. A friend of mine shared hers with me they were really well constructed. I still am working out doing mine right. For now they are more like a task list. I will share them in detail at some point, just not today. They are all centered around two main things with a little 12 steps stuff. Those to main things should not surprise you if you know me; Yoga and Whole Food, Plant Based eating.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #21

This weekend started off with my Sober Yogi Hour followed by a Life Is Good discussion. Took my weekly infusion of Marni Task goodness on Saturday morning before teaching at Fitworks in Highland Heights. Sunday I headed out early to take Lori Palmer's yoga class at Soul Stretch in Westlake.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #20

So this was a "long" weekend since it was Thanksgiving. I subbed on Wednesday night at the Highland Heights Fitworks which was pretty fun. For Thanksgiving, I pretty much cooked all day long and took it all down to Mom's apartment and Judson Manor .and we had a really good time. We had an extensive conversation with Mom about how she is struggling with the transition to her new abode. As nice at it is it's not the house she lived in for 25 or 30 years of her life. It was really good to get "real" with her.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #19

Started the weekend off doing a triple upping the ante from last week. I took a class at work and then two at 3 Sisters. Taught my class at Fitworks and spent most of the day reading and planning for Thanksgiving. Sunday Morning I started re-reading the Big Book after 20 something years. I recently finished Yoga and the 12 Step Path by Kzcy Hawk. Then later Sunday morning I went to my teacher's, Marni, class at Cleveland Yoga.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #16

I spent my weekend volunteering at the Engine 2 sponsored 2Forks Weekender here in Cleveland at the Downtown Marriott hotel. The amount of information was absolutely staggering. There were times that I felt such a disconnect to the rest of society, that such critical, lifesaving information is not more widely known. There shear amount of data demonstrating the overwhelming benefits of a whole foods, plant based diet is almost overwhelming.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #12

So Friday night I taught my first Community Class at 3 Sisters Yoga + Fitness and had my first class as the "permanent" yoga teacher at Fitworks in Highland Heights. Spent the rest of Saturday cleaning out closets and getting rid of clothes which is what happens when you lose 50 pounds in two years. Sunday was a fun day with a Marni class (of course), lunch with my friend Jenny, and trying my hand out at Lentil, Chard & Sweet Potato Curry from Forks Over Knives. It was delicious!

Welcome to this week's Tao Te Ching verse. See here for what this is all about. 

Verse 12

Colors blind the eye.

Sounds deafen the ear.

Flavors numb the taste.

Thoughts weaken the mind.

Desires wither the heart.

Memorial Day Weekend 2016

Had Caitlin Hawkins​ and Barbara Hawkins​ over yesterday for Memorial Day, my birthday, George Hawkins’​ birthday, my graduation from Marni Task’s​ Jivasara Yoga Teacher Training and Caitlin's graduation from grad school at Case, the finding of an apartment, and landing a job here in Cleveland!

Since it was Memorial Day weekend, I wanted something "traditional". So I decided to try carrot dogs as a replacement for the typical hot dogs. To be honest, I was skeptical. In addition to the fact that I'm not really a fan of trying to recreate "meat" foods with veggies, since that's like an alcoholic drinking near beer (not really a good idea) I'd rather just go straight for a new thing altogether.

Much to my surprise, though, it was actually really good. The liquid smoke I think is really what makes it, but I topped it with arugula, mustard, Ketchup and caramelized onions.

I also tried out two new recipes this time from the PlantPure Nation Cookbook. Three actually since one them called for Tofu Cashew Mayonnaise also from the PlantPure Nation cookbook. The first was a Thai Tofu Wrap which was only okay. It'll be good if I can figure out something else but it needs a little more moisture, more of a kick, and more peanut butter maybe. It called for Sriracha which we didn't have so I used Cholula which we did, but probably not enough.

You can see the wraps on the plate covered in saran wrap. There's a pun in there somewhere.

The second recipe used a quarter cup of the Tofu Cashew Mayonnaise. For my fellow no oil friends, this recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of tahini. I bought tahini that had no extra oil added but it was still quite oily. I like the flavor of tahini I just don't want the oil. But for yesterday I used 1/2 teaspoon of tahini.

Other than that though the tofu cashew mayonnaise was fantastic. Here's the recipe

Recipe

1/4 raw cashews soaked for 2-3 hours

7 ounces extra firm tofu

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I used less)

1/2 teaspoon tahini

4 teaspoons lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar (I bought the Braggs because of Theresa's comment at the last PlantBaseCle meeting)

2 1/2 Tablespoons Agave Nectar (I only used 2, but will probably use 1 next time)

2 Tablespoons Water

1/4 teaspoon xanthum gum (I didn't have any so I used potato starch as a kind of binder

Tweak to your heart's content, particularly perhaps just grinding sesame seeds up yourself will reduce the oil.

I used this mayonnaise for the Eggless Tofu Salad. For what it is worth I never really liked egg salad so I don't consider this a replacement :-) The Tofu Salad was fantastic, the dill adding it the perfect flavor. The bowl bigger bowl in the picture to the left is a Quinoa salad my wife Arisa featuring Chayote.

I used my friend Lori Palmer’s (website) suggestion to make "chips" out of Engine2’s Sprouted Ancient Whole Grains Tortilla (you only need to bake for maybe 5 minutes, I had mine in a just a little bit too long), and used them to scoop the tofu salad. Thanks Lori that was a fantastic suggestion!

For scheduling reasons we started earlier than we would have normally and we finished earlier as well. Which was just as good because by the time we would have normally just been settling in to eat we were inundated with rain.

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Links For A Friend

I have a friend that recently disclosed that they experiencing some issues that sound to be dietary related. Or perhaps their cures are. The person is seeing a nutritionist that I know so I'm feeling good about the information they are getting. I did want to provide some links as well and decided to do it via this blog so others might see it as well.

In general, I strongly recommend nutritionfacts.org. This site contains work by Dr. Greger to review various scientific data "so you don't have to". You'll get that if you watch this behmoth of a video which is over an hour long. And the content, oh my. It's incredibly informative, but it's long. The video is called Food as Medicine and was released on August 23rd, 2015.

Plant-Based Lifestyle

So a friend came up to me recently and asked me how I did it. It, you ask? The implied question really was on multiple levels. The first implied question was how did I lose the weight that I've lost, was it really only diet and which one. The second implied question was about my diet and how I stay plant strong, plant perfect or what have you. At the time I answered it well I think but upon thinking about it could have put more thought into answer better.

This post will attempt to describe what has really made me successful up til now - and hopefully out into the future.

2015 Year in Review

If you have been in and social media site in the last week or so you have been probably been bombarded with year in reviews which randomly select pictures you have posted over the last year to create a montage of the last year. So you know it's that time of the year again. You would also know it is that time of the year again since I have started posting on this blog again. :-)

In January of this year, I posted my goals for the year, here. I did not say resolutions because that seems to imply binary, yes or no. You either did it or not. Resolution doesn't need to be binary but that seems to have become the norm. So in my post I called them targets. So let's review them to see how we did.

Moderation is the Key?!

So one of the comments I hear from people when I respond to what I eat is that my diet is so extreme. Actually I hear that from my family, particularly my Mother. They believe that moderation is the key. For those people, check out the following video which is relatively old news but I keep coming back to it. The shear number of usable quotes, data and information is amazing. It is a *long* video of 1 hour 15 minutes but it is so worth watching.

The Target Goal Is Dead Long Live The Target Goal

I think it is safe at this point to say that I have achieved my initial target weight. I weighed in at 146.8 this morning. I think the scale is a little wonky since yesterday though. Yesterday morning I was like 148.something and then later in the day it was saying I was 144. Right after Arisa had wiped the scale with a cleaning cloth. But also right after yoga so it's not inconceivable. Could have been water weight loss.

Anyway, I think it is safe to say that I have reached my initial target weight of 150 pounds. And I did it while I was still 50, so I finally completed my 2014 Resolution.

Yay!

Okay, enough celebration

There are Numbers

Then there are numbers!

Yesterday, I was finally able to get an updates biometrics test. I was hoping to get it at the same time as the Holiday Hold weigh-in but a change for expanded services in the Wellness Center at Hyland delayed that until just recently. But yesterday I was able to get the test done.

But first a recap just in case you forgot.