Since Bob retired October 31 2016, we seriously love spending everyday together. No kidding! We sit at the breakfast table also known as the dinner table and have breakfast and do our Bible studies and then sit again together for "dinner" as they call a bigger midday meal in the South. Then at supper time we have whatever we want.
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Leaving off on L'chaim, Bob was still living in Maryland for the remaining 3 months before he drove truck #2 down to Texas on November 6. He came for 1 short weekend visit smack dab in the middle and I broke the news to him before he got here.

"Um...you need to know, I stopped eating meat. I feel so much better and wait till you see how much weight I've lost."

He said, "Okay! Great! Can't wait to see you Baby!"

Boy that was easy. Actually Bob's been easy for the entire 36 years (March) that we've been married. I could put a cold shoe on his plate and he'd trust me that it was delicious.

This afternoon, I knew there weren't any leftovers in the fridge so when he asked, "hey Babe, what's for lunch?" I said, "well, there isn't anything, so I better get movin." And I quickly went through my brains recipe file...and remembered Mac & Cheese!

Do you know how hard it was to change my thoughts about food, once I changed over to plant based? 

REALLY HARD! 

I'd pass grains in the grocery store with evil thoughts....I'd just trained myself to eat Paleo (dead animal flesh) for gosh....well over 10 years. Not to even mention that we ate animal flesh like most Americans...3X day! I just kept eating dead animal flesh and I kept gaining weight and the inflammation was evident in my face. 

I'd even find myself starring at the meat or seafood...and putting it in my cart! It probably took well over 6 months after the change for me to not even give meat a second thought and not accidentally pay for it! 

Now we eat Mac & Cheese and enjoy every single bite! 

No, it's not dairy cheese AND it's certainly NOT "vegan" cheese from the store...we eat real food...not manufactured food...it's an awesome Son In Law & daughter tested and proven delish plant cheese made with potato, carrot, onion, nutritional yeast, cashews.....and NO guilt!

We love this stuff! I'll make the cheese just so we have something healthy to snack on. With homemade fat free tortilla chips, it hits the spot for that yummy crunchy snack. It really is the best queso dip I've ever had! 

I find that I cook a lot more now and actually enjoy it. We eat a lot of great food....mostly Bob gives an encore and others....not so much! But he eats it at least once!

We don't eat Plant Based Mac & Cheese very often...maybe 1X month. It's pretty high in fat with the cashews and coconut milk and the WFPB way of eating is low in fat, especially saturated fat. But since neither of us has CAD (cardio vascular disease), we can get away with it once in a while. 

If you need help finding good WFPB recipes, I've collected and tried many on my Pinterest WFPB board. 

*One BIG distinction between WFPB and Vegan....is that WFPB is REAL FOOD made from plants and generally low in fat. Vegan foods are high in fat and manufactured...I mean, Oreos are Vegan!!!  There are some well meaning FAT vegans! The chef for Dr Pam Popper's organization weighed in at a whopping 450 lbs and he was VEGAN! Thankfully he's down considerably after she helped him see the difference.

I challenge you.....do you want to see a health issue turn around? Are you looking for that cure to your disease? Are you feeling sluggish and tired all the time? Is your skin showing signs of oxidation? 

Join us old folks and live well! I want to die after I've been used up and poured out...not propped up and kept alive with Rx. 

​Let Food be your medicine!

I'm 59 and full of life and energy! No make up...first thing in the morning before my walk. No more bags under my eyes. No dark circles. Just clear vibrant skin!

Come on! What are you waiting for?!

References to help you:
Dr John McDougall
Dr Colin Campbell
​Dr Michael Greger
Forks Over Knives

My earliest memories of gardening are from my childhood. My parents had a garden at our childhood home. I don't really remember helping Dad in it but I remember rhubarb...that's about it...rhubarb. Both of my grandparents had big gardens. They grew all of their food except meat. I remember the best Lima Beans & Corn, the best berries, the best tomatoes, the most beautiful roses. The best life had to offer.

​PopPop Heath grew the very best watermelons in his lower Delaware sandy soil. He'd take me out to the garden pick a watermelon and then proceeded to cut open a big juicy watermelon and tell me that we were only going to eat the best part...the heart. So we did! Then he buried the rest. At their home, after a delicious dinner, PopPop would say he was going to "bury his garbage"...I now know that he was creating a compost pile...to him it was just a part of daily life...collect your kitchen waste and then bury it. I'm sure he amended his sandy soil with that very same compost. I think of him every time I "bury my garbage"...which somedays, living on a plant based diet...is quite often. I sometimes use compost trenches, sometimes I toss in a bin and just keep piling it in...hoping it's going to break down with the help of a few worms...and I have a worm farm in the garage. The worm farm has been working it's magic for about a year and I'm ready to sift the soil and remove as many of my red wigglers as possible. One sad fact here....we have no worms in this sandy soil. None! 

I remember my first garden back in Maryland. We weren't even finished building our home and I hand turned the sod to plant a garden that was only tended every few days or once a week, depending on how often I was able to go out to the building site. Our ground in Maryland was a clay loam...more loam than clay, but we always had 6-8" of top soil. Always!

Coming to Texas was a completely different ballgame! Texas literally kicked my life long garden butt this year! 

I had several factors stacked up against me.

1. Sand...everywhere I look it's a sea of sand...but no beach! Some areas Sugar Sand...others a little loam.
2. Shade...one important factor buying this place was there was no grass to cut (weeds...yes...grass...no..lots of shade)
3. Heat + Sand=thirsty plants
4. BUGS! OMGOSH I HAVE NEVER seen so many bugs. Fire Ants!!!!! Grasshoppers as big as my thumb...no joke!

Exercise alone isn't enough to ward off the big C. A whole food plant based diet is a step in the right direction and adding a morning walk can lower my risk of developing cancer....and heart disease and diabetes. I've been reading Food Over Medicine by Pam Popper. It's known that diet promotes our ability to develop cancer. Yes....I said, "our ability". Cancer cells are just cells that have been fed to go rogue. We all have the ability to develop them. 

I often say, "healthcare is at the end of our fork".

Studies show that a moderate/brisk walk can lower your risk of developing breast cancer and other types of cancer. So, I've added a morning walk to my day just to reduce my risk even more than I already have by eating a WFPB diet. Breast cancer doesn't even "run" in our family genetic make-up, so it's not that I'm aware of a genetic expression that I want to turn off. However, carrying extra weight does. And weight is one of those factors that has been associated with developing cancer. 

Although that is my primary reason...it's not my only reason. 

Living in a forest we don't get to see the sunrise or set anymore.

The word that hit me as I was walking this morning as I finished up The Magnolia Story by Chip & JoAnna Gaines on Audible, was the word, Intention. Now, that word has been way over used...but when you come right down to it....it's a good word that drives a lot of things home. 

I have to be intentional to see the sun...although it shines down in the opening around the house and my garden...it's not something we have shining in our windows anymore....a good design plan by the builders, especially in the Texas summer heat. 

When I glanced out the window this morning and saw it shining down the power line....I put my shoes on quickly so I wouldn't miss the best part of the day! 

I won't go out too early because...well, we've got some big critters here. Granted they might run at the sight of me...I really don't want to test that theory. 

I keep seeing big paw prints in the sand when I start out up the power line. Bob thinks it's most likely coyote prints. We recently saw 2 very large coyotes at the top of a hill a couple miles from our house...they were scoping out the cattle one early morning. They were the size of a large dog and could probably take down a small calf. 

I swap howdies with the horses  on the corner and then head back this way on our lonely country road. One early morning I spotted wild hogs in the pasture next door....I don't have any intention of running into them! I've tried to formulate a plan if I did...but frankly...I don't pack any heat while walking, so as Dad would say, I'm up the creek without a paddle. 

Then I walk down our long driveway into our pine grove and thank God for another day in Texas. 

As Fat Man Rants says, "Just do a little more today than you did yesterday."