Ah, 2am and I’m awake and enjoying my coffee. I have been on a whole food plant based for three weeks and have almost dropped five pounds. I also feel great. I’m sleeping better without sleeping aids or pain pills, although I didn’t sleep as much last night I still feel great.

I was vegan for ethical reasons but didn’t pay much attention to the nutritional aspect of my life style, which is why I got anemia. I was also gaining weight and my arthritis was bad.

Yesterday was the first time I didn’t take my acid reflux medication. No reflux, yay. I would love to be off that. I feel good that at 77 I only have two prescriptions. I do have an inhaler but I don’t count that because I don’t swallow it. 

Anyway the secret to WFPB is no sugar, salt and oil. Also no processed food. I think the hardest part was giving up my sweetener in my coffee. I went from sugar to date syrup, which was good but expensive and not easy to find, to agave. That’s been me since I was fourteen. So for the last two weeks coffee with almond milk.

This has helped me to finally give up sugar. The only sweetener I use in cooking now is pure maple syrup.

I use to put tons of butter on my noodles and mashed potatoes. I also would sauté in it. No more. I sauté in a bit of water or broth.

I’m also starting to enjoy the real taste of food and I’m using more spices and herbs now too. I’m eating every day; grains, beans, cruciferous veggies and some fruit. I still don’t have my bottom teeth but my top teeth have been removed so no more pain.

I’m doing a junk journal series called #faithfridaypeace. It last seven weeks. We are suppose to do a series of seven video over seven weeks and I have already finished mine.. I’m on youtube@paulamoors. I have 44 subscribers! How exciting. I love teaching people .

 Well it’s been a while and. A lot has happened. I didn’t get the stick; well I did get it but I did not succeed in learning how to drive it. Fortunately my kids gave me one last year. A beautiful CRV. 2013 in great shape. The largest car I’ve ever had. It is a joy to drive.

Other things have happened..I was vegan for four years but became anemic so I went back to meat. I was not happy about this for ethical reasons but I did anyway. The main reason I went back to meat, eggs and dairy was because I have no bottom teeth so I couldn’t eat most raw fruit and veggies. It was hard to eat iron rich foods and iron supplements upset my stomach. 

I am no longer anemic so have not only gone back to being vegan but just recently decided to try WFPB.

That is whole food plant based plus no salt, sugar, oil or processed food.. I have arthritis really bad in my hands and I’ve been reading about foods that make it worse and make it better. So here I go. I have fallen back on some of my healthy vegan foods and stopped eating the not so healthy vegan foods. There is a lot of vegan junk food out there!

Not to mention I could not lose weight on a vegan diet. I’m not grossly over weight but I am over weight. At 5’21/2” I weighed 140 pounds. Not good.

There are some great books and video YouTube videos about WFPB and the way animals are treated. It’s really horrendous. I just finished reading the Starch solution by  John McDougall. It’s not potatoes that are fattening it’s all the stuff you put on them. So I’ve been making them and also a big batch of my mushroom gravy. I put this gravy on potatoes, brown rice, I mix it with brown rice gf pasta. I love it. I’m also gluten free by the way.

Anyway here is my recipe…

Mushroom gravy

About 8 ounces of mushrooms half of a small onion slice.both and sauté in a bit of water. The moisture from the mushroom will aid in the sautéing process. Sauté until they are soft. Add two cups of broth. I use low sodium BTB veggie paste. Add one tsp garlic powder and one tsp thyme. Pepper to taste.

Simmer for about 30 minutes. I use an immersion blender to blend everything. You can also use a blender. Thicken it with about two tablespoons of cornstarch and a a little water, simmer for about ten more minutes until thickened. Add more broth if you want it thinner. I store mine in quart mason jar. It keeps really well and it was a way that I learned to like mushrooms because they are super good for you.

I am weaning myself off sweetener. I use agave for my coffee but I’m going to try getting off of it. For desserts and sauces that use a sweetener I use maple syrup.

Some other videos to watch is Neal Bernard. The Esselstyns, Physicians committee. However I am stressing WFPB.  I haven’t been on this for very long. About two weeks but I’m already losing weight. Just a couple of pounds but I’m encouraged. In  May I’m getting lower dentures so I might even be able to eat salads again.

I’ve also gotten into junk journaling which is journaling with ephemera. Ephemera is pockets, tags book marks, pretty things. If you are interested you can see my channel on YouTube @paulamoors. I started it for beginners and I’m enjoying it..