As I mentioned last time, one of the health concerns I had been dealing with for most of my adult life was high cholesterol, the propensity for which I inherited from my dad. Having said that, the only thing I had ever done to combat this was to take a statin drug daily, at the direction of my doctor. Even though I'm not aware of any negative side effects from the drug I was taking, there's still a part of me that wishes my doctor would have prescribed broccoli instead of a pharmaceutical product. But doctors rarely do that.

But there was another more insidious health concern chomping its way around the edge of my conscience like those old "Pac Man" characters. As I also mentioned last time, I am the only member of my family of origin (the family I was born into, not the one I've made for myself) not to have received a cancer diagnosis. Yet. 

In the back of my mind, I knew I was playing a dangerous game of Russian roulette. But what could I do to stop? After all, my lot in life was based on genetics, wasn't it?

Here's the thing:  my sister was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer (the details are not mine to share, so I will leave it at that). Her prognosis was not good; her doctor told her that it was unusual for people to live five years after getting the diagnosis she got. To her credit, though, she did not accept that as her final answer. While undergoing chemotherapy, she decided to also seek treatment in holistic healing. The practitioner she engaged directed her immediately into a vegetarian diet. She eventually took it one step further and became vegan.

It was ironic because when we were growing up, she only liked meat and potatoes. She had invented many creative ways to avoid eating vegetables (the dogs always sat at her feet at the dinner table...coincidence?). So, my sister the carnivore turned vegan. As much as she loved meat, she decided she loved her life even more.

And the thing that amazed me even more than her transformation was the fact that it worked. The woman who was given no more than 5 years to live has now passed her 10-year mark and is still going strong! They even dared to use the "r word":  her cancer has gone into remission.

Of course, my sister's outcome is not a guarantee that anyone else's cancer will go into remission simply by swapping steak for tofu. Every person's situation is different (so please don't sue me if broccoli doesn't fix all that is broken in your body!).

Anyway, after my sister received her diagnosis, I began wondering when I was going to get similar bad news since I was the only one in my immediate family who had not had that dreaded discussion with my doctor. It had occurred to me that I should also consider a plant-based diet.

Should.

The conviction of that word bounced around in my mind for several years. Like many of us, though, I had numerous effective justifications that turned out to be great pals for helping me stave off a course of action that I knew would be better for me. Even worse, on top of my sister's outcome, I harbored a suspicion that a plant-based diet would probably also improve my cholesterol problem.

However, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I mean, nothing but vegetables?? Blech, no thanks. I love bacon, steak, ribs, and just about any meat either barbecued or smoked.

But then I met Dr. Michael Greger. Well, not really, but I did encounter him through the pages of his book, How Not to Die:  Discover Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease. I didn't know much about it, but with an intriguing title like that, I had to give it a read.

Dr. Greger's pages jumped on the bandwagon with that awful, persistent word, "Should." Although of course not nearly as engaging as a good novel, the book was nevertheless intriguing and informative. He definitely got my attention when he said that many of the top 15 leading causes of death in the U.S. are preventable—and even in some cases, reversible—by switching from the Standard American Diet (SAD) to a plant-based diet. This list included heart disease (the #1 killer)—to which high cholesterol contributes—and many forms of cancer. So there it was, a direct connection between the food I was eating and my two primary health concerns.

As Dr. Greger said, "That one unifying diet found to best prevent and treat many of these chronic diseases is a whole-food, plant-based diet, defined as an eating pattern that encourages the consumption of unrefined plant foods and discourages meats, dairy products, eggs, and processed foods. In this book, I don’t advocate for a vegetarian diet or a vegan diet. I advocate for an evidence-based diet." (Greger MD, Michael; Stone, Gene. How Not to Die (p. 12). Flatiron Books.)

I brought up the idea of going vegetarian or vegan to my wife, who does nearly all the cooking in our household. I wasn't sure how well the idea would go over, especially since she already accommodates my gluten-sensitive dietary needs. The first pleasant surprise was that she was willing to give it a try. The only condition was that we agreed we would not judge one another if one of us occasionally decided to opt for some meat at any given meal.

As she started finding vegetarian and vegan recipes, the second pleasant surprise was that there are many delightful, delicious options out there. She discovered spices that had just been taking up space on her spice shelf when these new recipes required them. Cumin, for example, has become a new favorite in her recipes—it's funny because it smells like stinky feet when she's preparing the meal, but it's actually quite tasty (it doesn't taste like stinky feet).

Without any experience transitioning to a plant-based diet, we encountered some questions along the way, such as whether to stick with vegetarian or to go completely vegan, could we eat honey, and so on. We decided that since we were doing this for health reasons, there was no need to adhere to a particular label for our diet. So we enjoy a lot of vegan meals, but we also cross over into vegetarian when the mood strikes us.

Something else we found is that when you are following a plant-based diet, you need to take care to consume enough protein. There are many important reasons why protein is essential in your diet, not the least of which is that it helps keep you from feeling hungry all the time. For me, this has meant making sure that I have a supply of healthy nuts and seeds available to add to meals or for a small snack. In my research, I've found that some of the healthiest nuts include walnuts, almonds, and Brazil nuts. For seeds, pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and sunflower seeds are great additions to salads or Greek yogurt (which is vegetarian but not vegan). Chia seeds, ground flax seeds, and hemp seeds are terrific additions to smoothies or a bowl of oatmeal.

There are also a number of legumes readily available that provide a lot of protein. A couple of my favorites are chickpeas (so hummus counts) and black beans, but there are many other choices as well.

Another adjustment I decided to make after trying a mostly vegan but sometimes vegetarian diet for a while was the occasional addition of fish to my plate. This dietary approach is known as "pescatarian". For one thing, this addition is another way to make sure I am getting enough protein. For another thing, it makes it easier to find menu options at "regular" restaurants since many decent (or better) restaurants will have at least one seafood choice. I have gravitated toward salmon, both because of a taste preference and because it has several health benefits, which I'll cover in another article in this series.

As I mentioned earlier, I definitely have to be more intentional about eating enough protein. What I'm doing must be working, because I feel more energetic now than I have in years. I generally walk or hike at least 4-5 miles a day, 7 days a week. And lately, I've been bumping that up to at least 6 miles a day. I rarely feel fatigued.

You don't have to take my word for it. Ultra-athlete Rich Roll has won many ultra-marathons and ultra-triathlons while following a plant-based diet. He describes his transition from an overweight, unhealthy middle-aged alcoholic to one of the world's fittest men in his book, Finding Ultra:  Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself.

The first—and maybe most important—thing I'll point out is that since I started my plant-based diet about a year and a half ago, I have seldom felt deprived, mainly because there are so many tasty alternatives available. Of course, I'd be dishonest if I didn't admit that there are times when I miss eating meat—I particularly love bacon and various barbecued meats, so whenever I smell any of them cooking, my mouth really waters. But then I remind myself of the health benefits from avoiding those foods, and I move on. And over time, I find myself craving those things less and less.

As it pertains to my heart health, one of the primary motivators for adopting a plant-based diet is to stop taking my cholesterol-lowering statin medication, and my cholesterol levels have reached the desirable range without it. I feel good about having taken proactive steps toward reducing my risk of getting heart disease.

Regarding my concern about cancer, only time will tell if I have taken enough action—and acted early enough—to avoid that dreaded diagnosis, but I certainly feel better about my odds now than I did before changing my diet.

So here's the bottom line for me:  I haven't felt this good in probably at least 20 years. I have abundant energy. I've been able to lose weight (but more on that in my next article). In spite of a stressful "day job", I don't feel stressed out. I feel well equipped to handle whatever may come my way. I feel stronger and more resilient. I don't know how much of this can be attributed to my transition to a plant-based diet, as compared to other lifestyle choices I've made—but then again, making a change as fundamental as my overall diet has given me the confidence and fortitude to make other positive changes as well.

If I had to make this decision all over again, I can tell you with complete confidence and honesty that I absolutely would make the same decision to switch to a plant-based diet. I would only wish, like I do now, that I had done it much earlier in my life!

So what about you? Are you willing to try a plant-based diet? Do you have a health challenge that could potentially be overcome by adopting a plant-based diet? Even if you don't, could you benefit from more energy? Or does a longer health span (not just life span) appeal to you?

If you'd like to give it a try but are unsure if you will really be able to find suitable options to enjoy, then I challenge you to simply try it for a week. Search the web for vegetarian and vegan recipes—there are many delicious ones out there! If you go out to eat, try selecting a restaurant with vegetarian / vegan options on the menu. You won't start enjoying the health benefits right away, but taking the one-week challenge can help you see that you're not going to starve to death, and that there are plenty of tasty plant-based options available to you at home and at restaurants.

Another idea is that you could try scaling back how frequently you eat meat. Instead of having it every day, you could try having it only 2 or 3 days in a week. Again, you won't see the full health benefits of a completely plant-based diet, but it should still help improve your overall health.

However you decide to approach it, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that it's up to you to proactively take ownership of your overall health. Nobody is going to do that for you—not your doctor, not your spouse, not even me. It's up to you to make yourself feel better tomorrow than you do today—and you can do it, one bite at a time!

This time I have described the next step in my journey to take control of my health. Stay tuned next time, when I'll talk about what I did next in my "Why I Feel Better at 58 than I Did at 38" journey. Until then, happy healing!

Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash