@pundit999 - Happy to share! Below is some more information as you requested. It is super long. Hopefully it helps and doesn't sound like rambling.
When did you feel a differenceEnergy - We noticed the difference immediately in terms of energy. We went from feeling drained by 2 pm to being energized all day long. I would normally sleep for 8-10 hours but after going plant based I naturally wake up rested and refreshed after 7 hours. No alarm clocks. My parents say the same.
Health - I noticed a difference in my asthma straight away. We used to cook everything in a little bit of olive oil whether it was veggies, marinara sauce or something more complicated. Every night I would huff and puff. As soon as we cooked without oil the huffing and puffing went away.
Dad noticed an improvement in his arthritis within 2-3 weeks. His left hand used to freeze up and he would be unable to uncurl his pinky finger on really bad days. After 2 weeks he noticed that he was able to open his palm up completely and now he doesn't even talk about bones hurting because they don't! According to mum, the snoring has become less noticeable too due to the weight loss.
Mum tests her blood sugar daily and noticed a drop within a month. When we began as a family to eat a plant based, aka villager diet, her measurement was around 180-200 depending on the day and work stress. After 4 weeks it was down to 150, then 120 (where she is now. In her latest check up, the Dr has told her that she no longer needs meds, her cholesterol is excellent and so is her kidney function her other diabetes metrics are all hovering around average for a non diabetic. At the next visit the Dr. expects the blood test to read like that of a non diabetic.
Weight - within 9 weeks we noticed weight reductions in one another but not ourselves. e.g. my mum would tell me I lost weight even though I didn't notice it myself. After 3 months we all noticed weight loss in ourselves because we needed new clothes/belts.
Miscellaneous - Food tastes better. We actually notice the fireworks of flavors on the palate in a more discernible way than before. We also don't diet. We eat as much as we want without over eating.
Breakfast is usually soy chai with oatmeal (recipe below) or soy chai and toast with a side of fruit. On the weekends we mix it up with pancakes, french toast, upma, parantha, idli etc... (all whole grain, including brown rice basmati)
Mid morning snack - usually fruit and some nuts or an all veggie homemade juice
For lunch we have soy chai and a sandwich, cereals spiced with Indian flavors, paratha with leafy greens added, baked samosa etc...
Afternoon Snack - soy chai, nuts, veggie juice, or raw veggies that are being prepped for dinner
Dinner -
1 - 3 times per week: consists of salad followed by, 1-2 veggies cooked Indian style with roti, some kind of lentil soup or soy kadhi, brown rice basmati and dates or banana and raw honey as the sweet.
On the nights we are not eating a traditional Indian meal, we have:
Tacos, burritos, fajitas, or enchiladas
Lasagna or other veggie and pasta combo,
Brown rice / buckwheat noodle and veggie stir fry, with or without marinated grilled tofu
Lentils and rice / naan,
Grilled seasoned veggies - For this we get all the green and yellow veggies we can and grill them on a panini machine. Throw in some mushrooms, pineapple and cherry tomatoes.
Brown rice veggie sushi - good sushi restaurants have a great selection of veggie sushi
Pad Thai, Drunken Noodles, Red Curry with veggies and brown rice
Difficulties:Challenge #1: Giving up Chocolate
Solution: We have adapted recipes from the McDougall newsletter as well as all the Indian ones. For example, I love shikhand (sort of like pudding) which is traditionally made with full fat milk. I follow the same process to make vegan shikhand but I use silken tofu instead. It only lasts a few days so I make it when I want to eat it. It can be frozen and eaten like ice cream too
Full disclosure, I cheat and eat chocolate once per month. My parents are much more self controlled than I and don't eat it at all. I also find that Mehdjool dates satisfy my chocolate craving.
Challenge #2: Replacing bread / chapatis (roti) / naan / Parantha etc..
Solution: We already ate whole grains for the most part so this wasn't too bad. Giving up flaky french bread was a bit difficult but the bread we eat now tastes better I think.
Costco bread(yes, the warehouse store). We buy their LaBrea bakery bread. It is whole grain, baked fresh in the store daily and contains no added sugar or oil. We use it for paninis, toast, and sandwiches.
For the Indian breads we found a whole grain flour at the local Indian grocer that has a blend of 7-9 different grains. Anything we make with this tastes great and turns out nice and soft. We follow the traditional recipe but omit oil and add flax in most things. For roti, we just use flour and water, no oil at all. They turn out great.
Challenge #3: Thinking differently than we were used to
Solution: As a family, we thought we had to cook certain things in oil. No oil and the food would not cook. What we found was the opposite. It is possible to cook without oil and food tastes better. Simply cook on a lower hear and use water instead of oil if you notice things sticking to the pan. For example, to temper spices for Indian and Mexican cuisines without oil, we use a ceramic pan and let the spices turn golden brown, then we follow the normal recipe.
Challenge #4: Willpower / Dieting. We are not dieters so we were a bit concerned about portion control and eliminating items from our vegetarian diet.
Solution: Get creative and be flexible. We have resorted the internet a lot. We find recipes on fat free vegan, in vegetarian magazine and other places. Then we omit the dairy and oil if there is any included in the recipe. We have also learned a lot from raw cooking. Lastly, we don't limit our sources. I will find a recipe anywhere and then adapt it to suit my diet. For example, teriyake steak sound good? I took the recipe and put tofu in place of the meat. Now it is a family favorite. Even my mum who previously refused to put tofu anywhere near her plate loves it.
Unfortunately, my laptop died so I am not able to share bookmarks but will be happy to if I am able to recover them.
Challenge #5: Now that we have seen the results, we are feeling as impatient as we did on day 1. We want to see the next 6 month of results now.
Solution: We are trying to be patient, more active, grow our own vegetables, etc...
Reasons for Success:Giving up dairy was easy after we heard it described as liquid flesh in a documentary.
We follow Dr. McDougall's guidelines of starch based meals and begin each dinner with salad. However, we are not militant about this when the veggies for the meal are yellow and/or green. We try to include at least one yellow or green veggie with each meal as part of the main course. This really fills us up.
Set goals and celebrate when they are reached. When I started down the path to plant based living, no body in my family thought I would last a month. They thought this with good reason. I ate ice cream, chocolate, cheese and butter every day without a miss and without thinking twice. The three of us decided to try the new lifestyle for 6 months and see how it went. 6 months came and went. We were not craving cheese, butter or ice cream!! Sounds corny but the real celebration was the sense of success from the results in my mum's diabetes. In addition, about 1 month in, my dad felt so great he was singing the praises of his new found ways to everyone who would listen. Not to sway them to join in but to share how great he was feeling.
We are not dieters so weight loss was not our primary goal, getting healthy was. Losing 1 lb per week was acceptable to us. We consume natural fats in their original forms, avocado, nuts and beans like chickpeas and red kidney beans. This has helped tremendously as we feel there is more variety in what we eat.
We are allowed starch so the fact that every meal has rice and/or some form of bread makes us feel satisfied. We don't roam the kitchen after hours for snacks.
There is no way we could have succeeded without Indian food. After I had been eating plant based in my own way for 3 months, my parents decided to join. My mum wanted to go all in and follow Dr. McDougall's detox plan for 2 weeks. My father and I lasted less than a week and were ready for mutiny. Being used to Asian flavors, we found the food way too bland (no offense to anyone who enjoys it).
Recipes (I will post more in a separate update):
Shikhand recipe - This is going to be terrible in terms of measurements because I made it based on what I know it should taste like. So, I am not certain of the measurements.
Strain 16 oz tofu and blend until smooth (I used a magic bullet)
Mix the following by hand into the silken tofu from above step until uniformly mixed
Ground cardamom
Ground nutmeg
Powdered brown sugar (I buy sugar in the raw and powder it in a magic bullet to get a confectioner sugar consistency)
Chopped pistachios
Few stands of saffron dissolved in 1/2 tspn of hot water
If you want to eat this like ice cream, throw the mixture into a churn and let it harden for a bit. Or simply put into a container and freeze like my dad does
Oatmeal RecipeI also make oatmeal in a similar manner (no blending of course) and it tastes really great.
Oatmeal
Chopped dates
Chopped walnuts (2 tspns)
Shred one slice of apple
Ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom
As much water (cold or hot) as you like depending on the consistency you prefer
Potato Chips / French FriesEven baked chips from the store have oil in them. We began research online and experimenting at home on how to make potato chips. The final verdict, use a potato peeler to make slices, put them on parchment paper, season and into the microwave. We limit ourselves to one small potato each. The day we have chips we don't eat potato in other meals. We do something similar for french fries and kale chips but in the oven.
Not a pretty thought.
