Fruit and Veggie Fans - Merge

 

Blueberries are famous for their use in blueberry muffins, blueberry pie, and cardio medicine. We had a retired couple in Moline called "the berry lady." I guess "the berry couple" sounded awkward. My mother sent me down to buy whatever was in season. I had to walk uphill, both ways, in the snow.

My own berry gardening was prolific. Ask any squirrel. I did well with raspberries, because they were prolific. I often noticed something moving when I coated them with sugar and cream - my mother's recipe. Some people would get freaky about this, but the movement just came from the insect bugs that love raspberries. I tried to reason with people - "They live from raspberries, so they are the final stage, raspberries in another form." That never satisfied the squeamish. 

I saw blueberry canes moving in our yard in sunny Springdale. Nothing else was moving - no wind. Then I saw the tail of a squirrel, marching away from his breakfast blueberries. 

I could buy more blueberries at Walmart than harvest them outside the kitchen door, so I gave the plants to someone who really wanted them.

Buying blueberries is easier than eating them. I found the solution - merge them with the daily vegetable dish, which I warm up on the stove from frozen, inexpensive kinds of vegetables:

• Chickpeas for protein and fiber
• Onions and green/red peppers 
• Peas for protein and fiber
• Cauliflower for brain food
• Mixed vegetables (sometimes)
• Tomato paste for flavor
• Walnuts for cardio

I kept forgetting to eat blueberries, so yesterday I rolled a bunch into the daily vegetable merger. Wow! I am looking forward to that again. They were perfectly delicious. Blueberries are supposed to make veins and arteries more flexible and therefore better for circulation and heart issues. 

Physicians may laugh, but these are the results of making vegetables, fruits, and nuts the majority portion of food I eat daily -

1. Lost 30 pounds, still coasting downward
2. Blood sugar went from - O NO! - to normal
3. Blood pressure became normal
4. Vision test improved - startling the eye doctors.

I added "gym three times a week" to the daily walk with Sassy. That is handy, because the route includes all kinds of convenient stops. There is no substitute for exercise, and it does not take long for a sedimentary lifestyle to become couch-bound. 

Joe Pye Weed Is Back!Flowering

 

The Joe Pye buds appear before the plant reaches 6 or 7 feet. Meanwhile the foliage has a musk fragrances.

The tiny Joe Pye blooms have a vanilla scent on top of the musk plant fragrance, attracting pollinators with the scent and pollen.

 The flowers turn fuzzy when pollenated and tiny seeds form

This year I began cutting Joe Pye down by half, because they were spreading upward and sideways, with stalks that fanned upwards and blocked the competition, sometimes too well.

The 50% Joe Pye began growing new buds and flowers after the trimmed them back. Butterflies and hummingbirds are still enjoying the garden, and fragrances remain, though not as strong as before.

Jesus, the Lord of Creation, has designed plants to be prolific, in spite of losses. We all know but somehow forget that picking beans, tomatoes, and peas will mean even more of the same. Left alone, the fruits finish the seed-growing process and dry up for the year.

Various people ask me how the good habits of beans, greens, fresh fruit, and nuts are working out. I stopped at 195 to do a binge or two. Now I am sticking to the basics and avoiding the dessert-ice cream food group. A number of friends have lost weight, too.

Medicine Is Often Not a Treatment - 

Fresh Produce Is

Americans are over-prescribed, because it is a pattern and a profit-center for many. Insulin is a problem, not a cure, and I shudder when I hear about alternatives to insulin, which is at least the best worst. Someone wondered about my reference to rubber band surgery for obesity. She was not aware that the digestive system is shut down with a supposedly removable device. That is like hiding the money from an addicted gambler - not going to last.

The Fuhrman books, which I read almost every day, have stunned me with the amount of nutrition and appetite suppression in the four groups - 

1. leafy greens, 
2. most vegetables, 
3. fresh fruit, 
4. seeds and nuts.

This is most striking. Combining two prescriptions can kill or disable a patient. One prescription alone, like insulin, can start a downward trend. But our divinely engineered bodies (John 1:3) combine food with material recycled in our bodies, into the best possible therapy.

Hunger cravings - which I have experienced - let us gain weight without remorse...until later. Binge medicine - leafy greens, fresh fruit, nuts, vegetables - will turn off the belly's desire for sweets, desserts, or too much food. Today I ate plain raw spinach to kill the craving for toasted New York rye bread and butter. That worked, so I fixed a quart of beans and turnip greens, which also worked. I had apples for dessert to forestall a munity in my digestive track.

The Big Four listed above - not One-a-Day - have dozens of built-in cures from the basic vitamins we all know. Add lesser-known minerals, plus trace elements, plus the phyto-chemicals in those created and unprocessed vegetables.

We need dozens of supplements to equal (perhaps) the benefits of the Big Four, which taste so much better than pills.

The least bit of exercise will get our bodies used to regular exertion. Sunshine gives us a dose of Vitamin D3, which combines with nutrition in the body - to do even more.

Take the Spinach Challenge - Filling Up without Calories - Loaded with Nutrition

When the doctor scared me into dropping ice cream as a significant factor in meals, I began to drop various fat-forming foods:

• Bread with butter
• Desserts in general, cookies, candy
• Processed meat with lots of salt and fat
• Eggs and cheese, both satisfying and fattyfying.

I lost 35 pounds but stalled below that level. I knew from daily weighs that a raw spinach day meant losing a pound a day, but I also backslid, a typical reaction to losing weight and celebrating the wrong way.

Fuhrman's positive response is to fill up on spinach and similar greens, which are super-beneficial and almost calorie free. I bought spinach boxes at Walmart and forgot to use them daily.

So I have switched to morning spinach (no blobs of dressing on top) and a huge apple for dessert. My childhood loathing of salad dressing returned and rewarded me with a simpler spinach response.

My first trial was this - I was very hungry and wanted a binge reward. I had none at home, due to poor planning. "Maybe I can get stuffed on fresh, raw spinach," I told myself. 

I got the largest bowl out and packed it with very fresh spinach. As I ate, I felt a mild euphoria and no hint of stuffiness. The spinach almost immediately extinguished my hunger, without my feeling stuffed and guilty (as in PBJs). 

Today I began with black coffee and waited to feel a bit hungry. Beans and veggies could have been rustled up fast, but that removes the spinach effect.

I got out a huge serving dish and filled it with fresh spinach, about 1/3 the box. I put a large apple on top for dessert. Both were delicious and fun to eat. The famine switch is reversed and my energy is very good.

Spinach 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits

"Nutrition facts

The nutrition facts for 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of raw spinach are (1Trusted Source):

• Calories: 23
• Water: 91%
• Protein: 2.9 grams
• Carbs: 3.6 grams
• Sugar: 0.4 grams
• Fiber: 2.2 grams
• Fat: 0.4 grams

Carbs

Most of the carbs in spinach consist of fiber, which is incredibly healthy.

Spinach also contains small amounts of sugar, mostly in the form of glucose and fructose (1Trusted Source).

Fiber

Spinach is high in insoluble fiber, which may boost your health in several ways (2Trusted Source).

It adds bulk to stool as food passes through your digestive system. This may help prevent constipation.

Vitamins and minerals

Spinach is an excellent source of many vitamins and minerals, including (3):

• Vitamin A. Spinach is high in carotenoids, which your body can turn into vitamin A.
• Vitamin C. This vitamin is a powerful antioxidant that promotes skin health and immune function.
• Vitamin K1. This vitamin is essential for blood clotting. Notably, one spinach leaf contains over half of your daily needs.
• Folic acid. Also known as folate or vitamin B9, this compound is vital for pregnant women and essential for normal cellular function and tissue growth.
• Iron. Spinach is an excellent source of this essential mineral. Iron helps create hemoglobin, which brings oxygen to your body’s tissues.
• Calcium. This mineral is essential for bone health and a crucial signaling molecule for your nervous system, heart, and muscles.

• Plant compounds

  Spinach contains several important plant compounds, including (4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source, 8, 9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source):

  • Lutein. This compound is linked to improved eye health.
  • Kaempferol. This antioxidant may decrease your risk of cancer and chronic diseases.
  • Nitrates. Spinach contains high amounts of nitrates, which may promote heart health.
  • Quercetin. This antioxidant may ward off infection and inflammation. Spinach is one of the richest dietary sources of quercetin.
  • Zeaxanthin. Like lutein, zeaxanthin can also improve eye health."
• APPLES - Popular and Satisfying 

Reverse the Use of Food Categories for Good Blood Test Results. Suggestions for Mr. Green

We have a simple way to look at our health - the blood panel. After drawing blood, the diagnostic machine produces the mysterious numbers and explains what they mean.

The bad cholesterol is too high? Start eating one handful of walnuts or almonds each day. The good cholesterol will remove the bad stuff for great results on the next test. Avoid the party nuts with sugar or salt added.

High blood sugar on the A1C? Replace desserts, candy, and sodas with fresh fruits. Diet drinks are just as bad as sugared drinks: avoid them.

Blood pressure too high? Losing weight is the easy way to start lowering the numbers. Reducing meats, fish, milk, eggs, and cheese will lower the movement of fats from the plate to the waist.

Food cravings? Leafy greens - like spinach - by themselves will stop the eat-a-loaf-of-bread, box-of-chocolates, half-a-whipped-cream-cake food cravings. For example, note what happened after your last magical diet was over. Yes, several family members and the cat were knocked down in your mad rush to the freezer for ice cream.

A lifetime of bad food habits? That takes time to reverse, because we get away with a lot until we reach 60 or so. Weighing each day is a good way to track results. The first 5-10 pounds are easy. The rest of the loss comes from reducing the cravings for sweets, fats, and salt. 

Poor Folks Food - 

God's Answer to Obesity

My first grocery store stops after fresh fruits (apples, oranges, blueberries) are the frozen vegetables aisle, then the beans. I buy chopped frozen kale and collards, both super rich in nutrients, very inexpensive.

The best beans to buy for nutrition are the chickpeas. When they are out, I get garbanzo beans (a joke, they are the same, but sold under both labels). They satisfy hunger and have a zillion good qualities - plus they are cheap.

Poor people get by on beans and greens, which means they get the best nutrition while the upper classes are going to the doctor to get medicine to turn around their bad blood test results.

In Short - 

Reverse the Eating Machine.

1. Eat small amounts of meat, milk, cheese, and fish.
2. Eat large amounts of leafy greens, fresh fruit, beans, and nuts.

Fuhrman Has the Key to Food Craving. No More Dessert Zombies

I saw that look when we ran out of chocolate cream-filled berliners. "YOU ARE OUT? When will you have more?"

The overall Eat To Live argument is sound, because Joel Fuhrman replaces the processed salt-fat-sweeteners of the American menu with the old-fashioned greens, beans, and fruit of common sense nutrition - God's Creation.

Some have asked, "What about craving food?" I got to know that while dropping down to 195, after being at 224 and higher. At 195, I would grab a bag of kettle corn (sugar, salt, fat, high glycemic popcorn) or crave PBJs (sugar, salt, fat, bread). In a few days the scale screamed 198, or did I?. 

I realized I hated salad dressing - not plain fresh spinach, which is crunchy and good, loaded with nutrition, a super-food. Now I am eating spinach early in the day, no matter what, and eating a huge crisp apple as dessert several times a day.

1. Packed full of vitamins

It is a challenge to find other plants that can compete with spinach in terms of the range of valuable vitamins and minerals they contain. For example, spinach is an excellent source of calcium, magnesium, and iron. It also serves as an excellent source of vitamins A, B6 and C and niacin and folate. This is far from a complete least of all the important elements that spinach brings to healthy bodies. Another significant fact about spinach is that it has a very low amount of fat.

2. As good as a gym for muscle building

The cartoons illustrate how eating spinach causes Popeye to develop huge muscles on his arms. The physical transformation of spinach eaters lacks this drama in real life, but the cartoonist's association between spinach and muscle building is not simply a whim of fancy. Spinach contains a compound called Factor C0-Q10 that has muscle-strengthening properties. This could help those arm muscles develop, but scientists find that it is especially beneficial for the heart muscles. C0-Q10 is already in use for certain heart disease treatments.

3. The vegetable that helps improve vision - lutein - tomatoes have it too

If you ask people to name a vegetable that is good for eyesight, the carrot is the one they are most probably going to mention. Folk tradition contains the belief that carrots help you see in the dark, but maybe spinach has comparable properties. Researchers have discovered that it contains lutein and other elements that protect against vision loss. There is scientific evidence that eating spinach can stop the progress of the Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) that damages the vision of the over 60's age group.

Returning to pure spinach salad, I have now gone down from 198 to 191, with craving stopped by spinach, fruit alone, or spinach and fruit. Pineapple is a superb late night dessert and not loaded with sugar. Oranges are just as delicious. Ripe pears, papaya, blueberries, and other fruits are always available in variable amounts. 

Sugar-grease-pastry desserts actually numb the mind. I know, because I observed so many dessert zombies come into the donut shop and ask for donuts, Danish rolls, cookies, fudge, and peanut brittle - that hollow, vacant eyed, possessed look.

The cost is never an issue for the dessert zombie. Restaurants thaw frozen desserts from a service, so they talk about "getting it ready," which means warming it up. 😁 Desserts cost many times what the meal does, if people just take a look at size, cost, and value per ounce. 

Panera bread is another example: sweet bread and desserts to attract - salads for virtue signaling.

Since good foods are medicinal, we should carefully consider, with a doctor's supervision, over-the-counter remedies. I stopped daily Benadryl (allergies, sleep inducer) when I saw that it increased blood pressure and eye pressure. Blood pressure went down and sleep was easier. I slept better and no longer have antihistamine hangovers.

Could You Spare a Few Minutes To Talk about...Fiber?

This is so funny. The over-the-counter medicine companies want to sell us various forms of fiber - pills, powder, fibrous food products. They are as appealing as burlap. 

What we need the most is also what we shun, so we can eat food that spikes our blood sugar. The non-fiber foods leave us craving for more high glycemic foods, like Jello, popcorn, corn, white bread, snack foods, white rice, breakfast cereal, white bread, and a rainbow of candies and desserts. Salt and sweeteners are added to make the flavorless and cheap foods more appealing.

Fruit Fiber - The Dessert with a Peel

Slowly I realized that all those delicious fresh fruits are sweet but bind up their sugar in fiber - the difference between apples and apple pie, the latter begging for whipped cream or ice cream, yea even cheese (a Midwest delicacy).

Sceptics and grouches may name a few sugary fruit, like grapes, but how many people gain 100 pounds from binge eating grapes? Few, I am sure. 

My main fruit is raw apples, several a day, but I also love ripe pears. Blueberries seem very sweet but are not sugar bombs. Besides, they are heart medicine. Whole pineapples recently sold for $2.50 each. All it takes is a serrated knife to slice them horizontally, then eat everything except the triceratops skin. I was recently introduced to papaya, which also balances sweet juiciness with fiber, plus other benefits.

If fruit is past its prime, I share it with birds and squirrels. Lately birds have been flying down to my feet and looking up at me.

 “Blessed are you, Lord God, maker of all living creatures. You called forth fish in the sea, birds in the air and animals on the land. You inspired Saint Francis to call all of them his brothers and sisters. We ask you to bless these animals. By the power of your love, enable them to live according to your plan. May we always praise you for all your beauty in Creation. Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures! In Jesus' Name. Amen.”

Raw Vegetable Fiber 

The vegetables I eat are raw, most of them frozen and simply warmed up from the freezer or de-canned and warmed (chickpeas, lima beans, tomato paste and sauce).

This combination of beans and vegetables is the key to protein, a wealth of nutrition, and long-term satisfaction. I had to give up bread to continue the downward weight trend, and I found bread a trigger for craving and a gateway drug for butter, jelly, and peanut butter. I am at 192 pounds, the lowest weight since I was awakened to nutrition.

Leafy Greens

I was avoiding leafy greens because I do not like salad dressing, never did. I tried using chopped frozen greens, but that did not help. 

Raw leafy greens fill the stomach but not the calorie counter, and they are astonishingly nutritious for their weight, plus some added benefits. Spinach is a super-food in the leafy green category, and I love it, so I eat one or two bowls of spinach every day. Yes, I know the joke, without dressing, or Honeymoon Salad, lettuce alone.

Craving Is for Real, Man

Craving food, usually the wrong food, is the great fear of those wanting to change their habits. Diets, which are disasters parallel to fiber pills and powder, generate overpowering cravings for candy, desserts, and snacks. So I have heard. 

If we always eat what we have always eaten, we will always get fatter because we always age. We have to give up groups of useless food and address craving with good food - 

1. raw fruit - fiber!
2. mostly raw vegetables - fiber! 
3. leafy greens - fiber!, 
4. nuts and seeds. 

I dropped ice cream and colas first, slowed down cookies, and finally stopped buying bread. This gave me a blood sugar drop (A1C) to normal, blood pressure near normal, and weight loss of 32 pounds. Yes, I still eat meat every week.

I now answer craving with two helpings of fruit or eating one or two bowls of spinach. Yes, that works very well and the craving for all the Melo-Cream delights disappear.

Eat To Live, by Dr. Joel Fuhrman was no help to me - for years! That is because I never read it. I found a brand new, forgotten and unread copy in my own library and read it. I bought copies for others, and read it again.

I also get good advice from members and friends.

Eat Your Medicine! - Your Midnight Icha-peek

My parents loved desserts, so they launched my career in the bakery business with my own cake for my first birthday.

The new battle cry, after reading Joel Fuhrman, is "Eat your medicine!" I had a big laugh with one couple about that. If we put the favorite food items for Americans - loaded with sugars, fats, and salt - on one table, and the healthiest foods - packed with nutrition - on the other, the choice would be more obvious.

I weigh myself on a digital scale each morning, so I can get immediate results from the previous day's food. Yes, I have slipped two pounds and worked back to the lowest weight quickly. I have concluded that butter remains a gateway drug for bread-eaters, so I have tossed the last loaf of cheap bread out for the birds. They love it.

The scale is a warning, the Law, but the fresh foods are all positive, created from Day One to keep us healthy. I enjoy refreshing my nutrition memory by looking up "the nutritional value of" and studying why I am eating a wide variety of beans, vegetables, fresh fruit, with nuts and some seeds.

Some people hate lima beans, they have have shocking high values for various minerals. Try this lima link.

Chickpeas reign supreme - look at these garbanzo values, lots of zinc. I am rust-proof now.

One part of changing habits is filling up on greens, which have almost no calories until people put dressings on with a snow shovel.

Another part is feeling satisfied without fats, a good solution with beans, which are rich in protein and other key ingredients for health.

I finally got wise about various sources of fiber, which keep us full and also slow down food burning. We tend to deny that desserts do the opposite.

This became my nightmare, forced into papal donut tyranny.

Lots of raw food combos are delicious and packed with nutrition, going far beyond a list of vitamins. There are many medicinal substances in plants, fruits, and seeds. The irony is replacing inexpensive foods with highly promoted and expensive over-the-counter cures. 

People gasp at the price of fresh, good apples and eat drive-through sandwiches at $5 each. But the sandwiches have sugars, salt, and plenty of fat - added value! A $5 McDonalds quarter cheese with bacon will buy a box of spinach leaves that will last six or more large salads. The sandwich has almost no nutrition, protein plus the things we do not need. Spinach leaves have lots of benefits.

Fruits at home right now are:

• Blueberries
• Oranges
• Apples
• Papaya - lots of Vitamin C
• Fresh pineapple

Desserts will kill our appetites for fruits, but fruits do the same for desserts. Since being overweight causes or contributes to so many health problems, it makes sense to spend less and get more from shopping.

 At the age of four I was an unpaid model for the annual donut calendar. A glazed donut uses all the main food groups - sugar, white flour, grease, and salt. These are diet glazed donuts, because the hole in the middle decreases the total calorie count.

Switch to the Medicinal Value of Fresh Fruit, Vegetables, and Greens. What I have Learned from Eat To Live

 

This Eat To Live book was in my library, unread.

 The End of Heart Disease gave me insights about blood pressure and cardio issues.

I have been discussing nutrition with members and friends. I have kept my weight loss and changed most of my horrible eating habits, and I am continuing to improve in areas of overall health.

Here are some permanent changes:

• I no longer eat ice cream, except when it was offered to me with an apple dessert - on my recent trip. Ice cream is such a double-whammy on blood sugar and weight that it no longer appeals to me.
• I eat much fewer desserts and typical American food items because fresh fruit is always available in abundance. I relish apples, pears, and fresh pineapple.
• I seldom drink Diet Dr. Pepper. I do not drink diet colas for energy. Potassium from food is far better for energy.
• I exercise more and also use the garden for additional exercise, relaxation, and superb roses.
• I eat some chicken several times a week.
• I really enjoy chickpeas, especially when Walmart is out of garbanzo beans.
• Weighing myself every day helps me pick the right foods for the day. 

 

Thinking Ahead

I plan on eating a lot more spinach greens to further curb bad habits learned from growing up in a bakery. I do not think the Fuhrman plan is difficult to follow. It only takes switching from

1. expensive processed salty, fat, sweetened foods to 
2. inexpensive greens, beans, fruits, and nuts.

Fiber and Craving a Return to the 

Olde Menu

The problem of craving comes from eating fast foods and desserts. Those delights give us an instant boost and make us droop a bit later. The solution is not more sugars, fats, and salt, but vitamins, minerals, and fibers, plus the little-known plant nutrients. Fiber moving slowly through the body gives a feeling of food satisfaction, a steady supply.

 "There's a new diet out there, and they promise it will work even better than the last 37 fads. Forget Fuhrman. His books are too informative."

Food as Medicine

I remember the day when a customer asked for various diet sodas (none stocked) and settled for six chocolate cream-filled berliners. I was an active participant in this vocation.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, treating food as medicine. Of course, all food has medicinal value, but some is bad medicine, the rest are good medicine.

This morning I had a can of garbanzo (chickpeas) mixed with various frozen vegetables, cooked on a natural gas stove. Garbanzo provided the complete protein and fiber, plus other nutritional ingredients. The frozen vegetables this morning were:

• Chopped frozen collard greens,
• Green and red peppers, plus onions,
• Peas,
• Mushrooms, and
• Canned tomato paste for flavor and low calorie nutrition.

There are lots of choices in these categories, such as adding milled flax seed, walnuts or almonds, and side dishes of oranges, apples, prunes, and blue berries.

Everything listed so far has lots of nutritional across a broad spectrum of low-cost food. One should price a quarter-pounder versus the same money spent on frozen vegetables. No one can eat a quarter-pounder worth of frozen chopped collards. That is also equal to four (4) cans of garbanzo beans. The quarter-pounder is mostly fat and salt, with sugar added - because we all love the sugar-fat-grease  foods.

Panera is a fun place for breads and desserts. They go stale quickly so they must be eaten quickly (my excuse). Bread products are close to dessert. A breakfast of toast, butter, and black coffee has very little nutrition but lots of calories from flour and butter, even without jelly. Cinnamon invites sugar, which may already be in the bread and coffee

Several people have been changing more habits than nuns before a Day of Obligation. They feel much better from eating good food, and they lose 15 to 30 pounds without much trouble. These are some habits which are natural for me now:

1. No ice cream or desserts, with very few exceptions. I did not have any ice cream from December until the trip to DC. Someone enticed me to eat ice cream and dessert twice.
2. I weigh myself almost every day. That is encouraging and sometimes a warning. From 224 pounds to 195 is fun, and I enjoyed the cooking practice,
3. Usually, I have much smaller portions of whatever I eat, which comes from eating slowly.
4. I am getting more exercise all the time, which burns the fat. Anyone taking away fat, sugar and white foods (white flour, white rice, white whipped cream) will benefit.
5. I am much more careful about the foods I eat and favor the low cost frozen items over the salty, greasy, and sugared ones.
6. No more take-home colas, yes some McDonalds with Sassy Sue. Infrequent fast-food stops. No hard candy. No donuts. Very little chocolate.

Perkatory - Food Craving. Two More Furhmans Given Away

My father said, "When you start to drink coffee, do not add sugar or cream. Then you will never have to ask for it or look for it."

When a long-time friend stopped by, we talked about craving food, being overweight, and how to address the problem. He went home with two Fuhrman books.

I continue to lose weight, now down to 195 pounds. Yesterday, I ate a large bowl of spinach, two or three apples, some prunes, two big slices of fresh pineapple, a piece of chicken, a Southern biscuit and later - a sauce-pan of garbanzo beans, mushrooms, tomato paste, broccoli, almonds, and blueberries. 

Fuhrman is right - sticking to his common sense foods makes us hungry for it, not craving the self-destructive standard presentations of salt, grease, sweeteners, and food-fats. Prepared food is bound to be 

• heavily salted, 
• loaded with vegetable fats,
• sweetened with corn syrup or artificial sugars,
• low in nutrition.

Another irony, which I thought about, long before Fuhrman, is the promotion and deception of modern medicine.

The first and primary advice of a physician is, "Try this pill" and if that does not make a difference "Try this pill with the other one." Every man-made medicine has side-effects. Until WWII was over, almost all medicine was herbal. The manufacture of a mold, penicillin changed that.

I am not condemning modern medicine but the simplistic urge to try something, thanks to the endless promotion of the pharmaceutical companies. My doctor did not say, "Change your eating habits, fatso" but listed a number of pill products that are even worse than insulin. Yes, insulin has to be used in many cases. However, a diabetic expert inhaled sharply when one medicine was named, the same one used when a member died suddenly - many years ago. That broke her husband's heart.

My doctor did one good thing for me. He smirked when I said I would lose 20 pounds, doubtless because such a miracle had not happened yet. I wanted to make it 30 pounds.

Craving - Not Crazy

The big question asked was, "How can I stop the craving?"

Every marketed diet will perhaps take off weight until the starvation demons insist on the old ways again. Craving is powerful. 

Several things have worked for me since Christmas. Craving blockers are:

• A huge pile of greens with a tiny bit of dressing.
• Garbanzo beans combined with asparagus, peas, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, almonds, tomato paste, broccoli, and various mixed vegetables.
• Two big apples, or two slices of pineapple, or berries and almonds, or walnuts, or two oranges.

I had to give up ice cream, almost all desserts, excess slices of bread, cheese (a fat), hard candy, and other delights of the taste-buds but ballast on the human body.

Balanced Research - Matters in Nutrition Too

I looked up Joel Fuhrman on Wikipedia, partly because Wiki causes some joking among us. I learned quickly in blogging that finding a good explanatory source for a given topic was going to have me combing through boring, academic journal articles or locked up precious articles. Wiki is fairly general and often has important footnote links to extra information. My defense in using Wiki is: "I start at Wiki and work toward the truth."

I finally looked him up, and the Wiki piece looks like it was funded by Brach's Candy, KFC, and the animal and factory oils aisle at Walmart. It is a seething, angry, here's-another-caustic attack article.

Admission #1 - All my life I knew nothing about nutrition, other than vitamins, proteins, etc. 

Admission #2 - I ate what I wanted and never suffered from it, until my pancreas went beyond its 70 year warrantee. 

In my own library, I opened a brand new copy of Eat To Live, by Furhman after I found my blood sugar (A1C) had reached higher than the previous year. I also knew  - from decades of experience with a diabetic - that insulin is not an answer.

I thought the basic Fuhrman suggestions were quite good and sensible, not fanatical. To test them, I looked up those charts on the "nutritional benefits of..." for all those vegetables and fruits he praised and promoted. They come from various sources on the Internet, and they back up the wonder of vegetables and fruits, not to mention nuts and seeds.

The collection of healthy foods is so great that I can avoid what I do not like and enjoy much more of what I have always liked - asparagus, peas, beans, spinach, tomato (paste), onions, green peppers, oranges, prunes, and apples.

I followed the Furhman suggestions (the initial six week plan) and eliminated ice cream, all desserts, overuse of bread, and soda pop. I lost about 30 pounds and saw my blood pressure drop to normal, no longer using bp medicine. I replaced high fat, high sugar, high salt, high grease foods with greens, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. The fact is - the foods I favored left little room for nutritious food. Four fruits a day when I could have PBJs? One excludes the other.

I backslid a bit but still weigh every morning to avoid the "I can lose it again" excuse.

The healthiest plants for us defeat the major causes of illness, especially among the older ones among us, but also among the very young. I get sick when I see morbidly obese young children, because they will start paying the price very early. Arkansas is famous for sweet tea, gravy biscuits, and morbid obesity.

So here is a little test, reflecting my previous ignorance:

1. Why is spinach good to eat?

2. Why would anyone eat chickpeas?

The younger and ignorant blogger would say, "Spinach is fiber, and fiber is good for digestion, but why would anyone eat chickpeas?"

Spinach super-star status -

Health benefits of spinach -

1. "For example, spinach is an excellent source of calcium, magnesium, and iron. It also serves as an excellent source of vitamins A, B6 and C and niacin and folate."
2. "Spinach contains a compound called Factor C0-Q10 that has muscle-strengthening properties. This could help those arm muscles develop, but scientists find that it is especially beneficial for the heart muscles."
3. "Researchers have discovered that it contains lutein and other elements that protect against vision loss. There is scientific evidence that eating spinach can stop the progress of the Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) that damages the vision of the over 60's age group."
4. " Spinach is one of several vegetables that someone who often suffers from stomach ulcers ought to start eating regularly."
5. "It is extremely low in fat and calorie content, but it is also packed full of nutrition."
6. "Some recommend eating red meat to boost iron but eating spinach has many health advantages over getting iron from red meat — spinach is low in fat, and it lacks cholesterol content."
7. "The generous amounts of antioxidants in a portion of spinach improve the body's capabilities to resist the attacks of free radical compounds against cell tissue."
8. "The nutrients and antioxidants derived from eating spinach have a key role in maintaining hair condition. In particular, its calcium, potassium, iron and magnesium minerals combine with vitamins B, C, and E to promote hair growth. The boost to iron levels also removes one of the more common hair loss causes. Also, spinach helps combat hair loss because its folate content enables the body to produce more red blood cells, and the iron ensures a good oxygen supply to these cells."
9. "Natural medicine experts state that besides easing arthritic and gout pains, it protects the heart from inflammation, and might even have a role in cancer prevention."
10. "Pregnant women do well to include spinach in their diet. Spinach supplies folate that is essential for normal fetal development. Spina bifida and other serious congenital disabilities sometimes develop due to a lack of folate. Spinach also benefits women through its high vitamin A content."

Chickpeas? You Must Be Kidding!

Healthline

"Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, have been grown and eaten in Middle Eastern countries for thousands of years. Their nutty taste and grainy texture pair well with many other foods and ingredients. As a rich source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, chickpeas may offer a variety of health benefits, such as aiding weight management, improving digestion, and reducing your risk of disease. Additionally, this legume is high in protein and makes an excellent replacement for meat in many vegetarian and vegan dishes."

1. "Chickpeas also provide a variety of vitamins and minerals, as well as a decent amount of fiber and protein. A 1-cup (164-gram) serving of cooked chickpeas offers:

• Calories: 269
• Protein: 14.5 grams
• Fat: 4 grams
• Carbs: 45 grams
• Fiber: 12.5 grams
• Manganese: 74% of the Daily Value (DV)
• Folate (vitamin B9): 71% of the DV
• Copper: 64% of the DV
• Iron: 26% of the DV
• Zinc: 23% of the DV
• Phosphorus: 22% of the DV
• Magnesium: 19% of the DV
• Thiamine: 16% of the DV
• Vitamin B6: 13% of the DV
• Selenium: 11% of the DV
• Potassium: 10% of the DV

2. "The protein and fiber in chickpeas may help keep your appetite under control. Protein and fiber work together to slow digestion, which helps promote fullness. In addition, protein may increase levels of appetite-reducing hormones in your body."

3. "Chickpeas are a great source of plant-based protein, making them an excellent food for people who don’t eat meat or animal products. A 1-cup (164-gram) serving provides about 14.5 grams of protein, which is comparable to the protein content of similar foods like black beans and lentils."

4. "Chickpeas may aid weight management due to their filling effects. The protein and fiber in chickpeas may reduce your appetite, which may then lower your calorie intake at meals.

Trusted SourcIn one study, those who ate chickpeas regularly were 53% less likely to have a body mass index (BMI) over 30 and more likely to have a lower waist circumference than those who didn’t eat chickpeas (14

Trusted SourceWhile BMI remains a common health metric, keep in mind that it’s limited in its effectiveness.

Nonetheless, another review found that those who ate at least 1 daily serving of legumes, such as chickpeas, lost 25% more weight than those who didn’t eat legumes."

Trusted SourceThe protein in chickpeas may help promote fullness and keep your appetite under control. Protein is also known for its role in weight management, bone health, and muscle strength

Etc. etc.

 This happy graduate of the Nutrition Academy will lead a healthier life, as long as the treats keep coming.