Vegan challenge
When I was 12 years old I got a school assignment to do an interview with someone who was chronically ill. Coming home from school I asked my parents if they knew someone I could interview. My dad responded and said ‘Well, I am chronically ill.”
Up to that moment I had no idea. For my school project I interviewed my dad about his disease named Polyarteritis nodosa, an autoimmune disease that is known for chronic inflammations of small and larger arteries. Due to this disease my dad took prednisone and methotrexate for 30 years. The inflammation plus the use of medicines for such a long time had a huge effect on his health. He had to get both of his knees replaced by protheses and suffers from gut health due to medication. His blood pressure was very high and he was suffering from different skin problems.
With all my research on food, health and wellness I found out that our foods have a huge huge effect on our health. I dove deep into our current diets and the recommended diets to heal his gut health and research showed a whole foods vegan diet seemed mostly recommended for improving gut health. Showing him Game Changer did the trick and he was open to try a new diet.
December 2019 I challenged him to go on a 14 day vegan diet with me. I was going to do all the preparing, researching and cooking. All he had to do was eat. We both got out blood values tested, measured weight and our blood pressure.
First time taking blood at CMED. Thanks to our amazing nurse Toko (almost) painfree.
We had 3 meals a day packed with vegetables, nuts, seeds and legumes and good carbs. We didn’t change our coffee routine and occasionally had a glass of wine. We didn’t want to change everything at the same time to really look at the results of changing the foods. We consumed no refined sugars and a very little amount of processed foods.
Scrambled tofu for breakfast!
Blood Pressure Results
We started off as optimistic realists but we were blown away by the results. After After just 4 days of changing diet his blood pressure got down from level HIGH to level ELEVATED. In 14 days his blood pressure was back to level NORMAL.
|
DAYS |
SYSTOLIC |
DIASTOLIC |
STATUS |
|
Day 1 |
153 |
95 |
High |
|
Day 5 |
128 |
76 |
Elevated |
|
Day 10 |
126 |
76 |
Elevated |
|
Day 14 |
120 |
75 |
Normal |
Analyses of our blood values
Weight
By consuming less processed foods and no refined sugars he also went from 82,7 to 79,9 kilos. Meaning he lost almost three kilo’s. We were eating the same size portions as before, just different foods.
Blood test results
We tested our blood in a laboratory in CMED, a diagnostic center in Malawi (where my parents live).
Also the blood test results were great. The inflammation rate was lower and the cholesterol decreased a significant amount.
Conclusion
More importantly then the values is how he was feeling. “Already after a couple days I felt my energy was increasing. I woke up better and my body was less hurting. Plus, the food was great. We Dutch people normally eat the same sort of vegetables, potatoes and meat. This vegan diet introduced me to a whole new world of flavour, texture and dishes. This challenge didn’t only made me feel better, it also contributed to my personal interest in food and cooking.”
After this challenge he decided to change his food patterns. More than a year later my dad is still a vegetarian and hangs out in the kitchen more than ever.
For me, this challenge showed the power that food and taking good care of yourself can have on your life. I am not a dietist, nor a certified nutritionist. This is not a claim that a vegan diet will do this for every person. But I feel it is time to take responsibility for what we consume and how it makes us feel and its impact on the planet. There is tons of research online from amazing professors on different types of diets. Experiment, try what works for you and start feeling better. Seeing this huge change within my father motivates me more, to bring good research and products to people who want to invest in good health. Because it is when you feel good, that you have a great impact on everyone and everything around you.
Plant Based diet for treatment of Coronary Artery Disease
“Though current medical and surgical treatments manage coronary artery disease, they do little to prevent or stop it. Nutritional intervention, as shown in our study and others, has halted and even reversed CAD.” The Wellness Institute of the Cleveland Clinic, Lyndhurst, Ohio
Want to know more? Read their research here https://www.mdedge.com/familymedicine/article/83345/cardiology/way-reverse-cad?sso=true