Dispelling Food Fears

Let's get a couple food fears cleared up with measurement, not myth.

I've followed a whole-food plant based (essentially vegan) diet for the past four years after discovering that I had severe cardiovascular disease. Plants appear to be the ideal fuel for the human machine I'm operating. I tried statins and found that they can have some extremely negative side-effects including: severe pain, and muscle, liver and kidney failure. I kind of like my muscles and internal organs and am not a big fan of pain, so decided to optimize my diet rather than accept the collateral damage.

But isn't high cholesterol genetic?
A propensity to high cholesterol may be genetic. I own a particular set of genes and don't expect to change them. But daily food choices can have at least as strong an influence as genetics.

On a plant-based diet I've maintained excellent cholesterol numbers that are 10 - 20 points lower than I used to average on what was already a good diet that included modest amounts of fish, chicken, and very rarely some beef. On a plant-based diet I have every expectation of gradually reversing the effects of cardiovascular disease.


Don't you lack calcium, protein, and iron?
I get all I need from plants. No meat or dairy is needed. Check the facts:

But isn't it impossible to build muscle without meat, or milk?
Let's go for a bike ride in the Sourlands and you can decide.