Preventing Heart Disease

I woke up this morning, filled with resolve that I would begin a plant-based, non-fat diet, in order to remove any possibility of heart disease, as promised by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D., in his amazing book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.

I had soaked quinoa the night before so I could make pure-health, sounds-delicious raspberry lemon pancakes (thank you Gabby from Veggie Nook at Wendy Polisi’s Cooking Quinoa!).    How could my 16-year old resist? Just 1 T. of flaked coconut, not the 2 the recipe called for, and I virtuously left out the 1T. of coconut oil. I never realized my soy milk had 4 grams of fat in a serving, albeit non-sat, still..  well, I am transitioning. I thought it was a brilliant idea to switch the egg out for 1 T. flax meal (I used organic golden) + 3T. of water, bringing in lignans and fatty acid 3s. Anyway, she had the flu today and no appetite and would not even look at them so I won’t take it personally. I ate three of them immediately, and felt smug and satisfied.

Then, inexplicably, I started to mourn the loss of freedom to eat eggs, and I had just bought eggs laid by grassfed, free range hens, each of whom have their own 106′ to roam in. They were exorbitantly priced(don’t ask) eggs, in an eye-catching carton with an awning and a tiny newspaper inside. This was two days ago, before I read the book. And I had bought butter, sweet cream butter for baking, and divine Irish butter in tubs, soft and easy to spread and why is butter so bad anyway? It has many benefits..I just read about them on the Internet so it must be true!

Then I remembered the pictures in Dr. Esselstyn’s book. Blocked arteries opened back up after only a couple of months of the plant-based diet. I have a special, bio-individual need to be concerned. Even though my ratio is lovely, my LDL’s are higher than desirable(currently 120).

Does that not mean fat in the arteries? I’m motivated again. The only problem is, if I don’t plan ahead, like for the whole day, I falter. Like today, after my entirely virtuous breakfast, I had to get some food in my daughter who, as I said, had the flu and she hadn’t eaten in 24 hours. Scrambled eggs and sour-dough toast with butter(those Irish tubs) and of course I joined her.The fat grams shot up.

Now, previously to having read this book, I believed that, if you rarely ate fried foods, or a lot of highly-marbled meat, or very much dairy – I can’t say never, we live in the over-privileged land of temptation – and have a productive amount of physical activity, you could enjoy good health. Or even if you were  fat-responsible in your eating choices, selecting grass-fed beef and low-fat organic dairy, easy on the nuts..

The book says, NO! You cannot eat fat, you are pouring gasoline on the fire that is the current inflammatory condition most of us have developed..for most a slow-burning fire that will erupt at some time or another in our lives. For many, the first symptom is death. Now that should be enough to elicit proper behavior; I just don’t know why as soon as I decide I’m giving something up, it takes on an entirely new appeal.

Knowing and not doing is not knowing, Oh, dear.

Lemon Raspberry Quinoa Pancakes

Ingredients (~12 pancakes)

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 3/4 cup almond milk
  • 2 tbsp shredded coconut
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp flax seed + 3 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 tbsp coconut sugar
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup frozen raspberries, chopped small
  • coconut oil for the pan

Instructions

Soak the quinoa in water overnight, or for a few hours. In the morning, drain and rinse well.

Heat a large pan or griddle over medium heat.

Get all your ingredients ready so you can add them in all at once.

Add the soaked grains to your blender and add all the other ingredients except the baking soda and raspberries and blend until smooth. Add the baking soda and blend quickly to combine. Pour the batter into a container with a spout for easy pouring and stir in the chopped raspberries.

Grease your heated pan with coconut oil. Pour batter into pan, making medium sized cakes. Cook until bubbles cover the entire surface of the pancakes and the edges appear dry. Flip and cook for another couple minutes. Continue until all the batter is used. Serve warm with maple syrup.

Amy Polisi shared this wonderful recipe; visit her website for more fantastic quinoa recipes and a free quinoa cookbook: http://www.cookingquinoa.net