First published in Seaport Scene



After a large plate of porridge we have a small dish of sautéed mushrooms and spinach, eaten on toast.  

Here is the basic recipe for mushrooms and spinach, to which can be added any number of other ingredients such as tomatoes, cooked potatoes or any other left overs.

Saute in hot vegetable stock, adding just one spoonful at a time

• 1 cup chopped mushrooms 
  

Add and continue to cook

• 1 handful chopped spinach (or any other similar green)
  

Add a little of one or more of the following, to your taste

• Chilli sauce
  
• Soy sauce
  
• Lemon juice
  
• Salt and pepper

Having been fully satiated by a breakfast of porridge, apple pieces, toast and the above dish, we can face the day without resorting to any further food for many hours and we continue to lose weight.

Some people tell me that they have not got time to prepare such a meal, but I have timed myself through all the processes of creating a two course breakfast and the time applied is no more than 10 minutes in total.  The problem is not time, it is arranging the processes so that they don’t take extra time.  And what is 10 minutes a day to save a life.

No Oil.  That is the shouted call from Dr Esselstyn.

For a more detailed explanation click here  

The only way of avoiding trans fats is to follow a plant based whole food diet

This short video explains why even using virgin olive oil is dangerous to our health.

A Vegans Body is Physiologically Comfortable.


How many of these 10 items would your body tick?

A vegan’s body

1.       Is slim and light-weight

2.       Is active, despite its years

3.       Is well fed, at the lowest financial and ecological cost.

4.       Has an alimentary canal that handles food with simple regularity, without indigestion or bloat.

5.       Is devoid of all arthritis, sore knees, backs and shoulders.

6.       Has low blood pressure and low cholesterol.

7.       Is free all pills, prescriptions and drugs.

8.       Has no fear or threat of cancer, dementia, diabetes and other non-communicable or auto-immune diseases.

9.       Has confidence that, barring accidents, it will ultimately die of old age.

10.   Has a happy mind

Some years ago, I was privileged to survive a near death experience; my body ran out of oxygen, due to a pulmonary embolism (PE).  On the way out, I saw from afar, myself going down a sheep drafting race, with a pen for the dying on the right and for the living on the left.  It was my call as to which way the gate would swing.  As I got closer, I could see my family and friends either fussing around my body and in other parts of the driveway, waiting for an ambulance.  The sight of my young family, who presumably would grieve my passing, brought me to the hard decision to go left; turning right was so invitingly simple and calming.  From that moment on, everything transformed into a fierce, internal concentration on living.

Subsequently I lost all dread of dying and even now still know the peace associated with slipping into the dying pen.  My fear is not of dying, but of dying prematurely, in particular of dying from a debilitating or agonising non-communicable disease.  The sense of a wasted life, or part of it, would be devastating, compared to the contentment of knowing that I was to die of old age.

Living into old age is only a worry if one’s activity or cognitive levels are severely reduced, otherwise the pleasures of seeing grandchildren married and great grandchildren growing up before finally slipping gently through the right hand gate, are well worth pursuing.

All it takes is to become physiologically comfortable by eating the right foods, allowing those foods to naturally enhance the best of body and brain activity and to avoid doctor’s prescriptions for cures of almost all non-communicable diseases.

I feel I am well on the way to this nirvana but remain aware that my previous food habits may disappointingly catch up on me, or that my new found energy may result in an energy related accident; what a pity.

I have just watched a video on nuts by Dr John McDougal.  In it he mentions the fact that the world could never survive on nuts as there would not be enough trees for the 7 billion of us.

It seems that nuts that we harvest and crack ourselves are acceptable because that would limit our consumption. 

This got me thinking about a simple criterion we can apply to what we eat.  Perhaps we should asses everything we buy according to how it fits into feeding all of us.  

We might think that meat, milk and fish are ok, so long as we do all the work of raising, slaughtering, butchering and cooking them.  Few of us are prepared to do all that work and, if everyone did, we would need an extra couple of worlds to grow sufficient produce; so animal protein cannot possibly feed all us 7 billion.  

The simple conclusion is that we can feed the world, and maintain a much higher level of vital good health, if we all stick to plant based whole foods.