Sunday, March 30, 2014

My typical "usually vegan" diet 2014

Ninety percent of the time all I eat is smoothies; beans, rice, and potatoes with veggies; and oats with raisins.
  No oil and no extracted sweeteners (sugars, nectars, or honey).  I routinely go a week or much longer without eating anything else.

My smoothies have home-frozen whole banana, home-frozen pineapple, packaged-frozen berries and mango, baby carrots, raw spinach, and occasional home-squeezed grapefruit juice.  Sometimes I buy a quart of plain yogurt and use it within a month partly in my smoothies.  Other times I don't.  I love plain yogurt, but I'm not sure whether it is good for me.  In any case, I never eat more than a couple of tablespoons (30 ml) of yogurt per day.

My beans, rice, and potatoes are cooked (after pre-soaking beans or rice) without oil and with onions, salt, and garlic.  I make and refrigerate 2 gallons (8 liters) at a time.  I add veggies from frozen blends or spinach, curry powder, taco seasoning, or other carefully selected spices at meal time. Sometimes I add bottled salsa that has a little sugar in the ingredients.

My oatmeal is steel cut oats that I pre-soak and cook in the microwave oven and refrigerate 1 gallon at a time without oil or salt.  I add raisins, heavy cinnamon, or both or a little salt or nothing at meal time.

Sometimes I make gluten-free pancakes for myself and my sons using 2 cups Winco Baking Flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, (mix dry ingredients), 2 cups water, 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons honey.

Sometimes I pop corn in an air popper and eat it with taco seasoning, salt, and garlic powder.

I less than monthly eat chicken, fish, or cheese at home or at a restaurant.

I weigh 158 lb at the moment (after some good hikes), and I have weighed 152 for most of the past three years (I am 6' 0" tall).  My total cholesterol has averaged 180 for the past 10 years, and most recently this year read 154.  My blood pressure consistently reads well below 110/70.

4 comments:

kdhaws said...

Very nice and simple way of eating! This is not only a great way to avoid obesity but leads to a much lower rate of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and any of the other "diseases of affluence".

Thomas Gail Haws said...

Thanks, Dad. It is simple, hearty, and enjoyable.

Anonymous said...

Hi Tom,
That seems like a great, inexpensive diet. I'm going to give this a try. Are you still eating this way a few years on?

Incidentally, found my way to your site via the info on gum disease and have really enjoyed reading about that and your info on diet and fasting.

Thomas Gail Haws said...

Thanks for commenting. These days I eat very similar. I've added peanuts for fata and protein. My typical dishes are

1 quart of steel cut or scottish oatmeal: oats, peanuts, apple, dates, raisins, cinnamon

Smoothie: banana, blueberries, mango, other berries, carrots, peanuts, dates, plain yogurt

Potatoes, rice, beans, lentils, and/or corn tortillas with garlic, basil, chipotle, rosemary, salt, curry powder, italian seasoning, pizza spices, etc.

Watermelon, cantaloupe, or grapefruit