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#NSNG Technical Shirts
I’m excited to announce that I was a guest on the Angriest Trainer podcast! Check it out here…
Angriest Trainer 185: The Vegan Episode!!! (53:30 minutes)
According to my phone records, this experience was my “15 minutes of fame” (+2 minutes). It’s crazy to think that “little old me” would end up rubbing shoulders with some influential names in Hollywood. Pinch me!
I’m so very thankful that I was given this opportunity to “tell the world” my story of vegan transformation. At the same time, I was completely outside my comfort zone and super nervous. I’m extremely introverted!
Despite my fright, I wasn’t about to blow my chance to effectively speak up for the animals– especially considering that the vast majority of the Angriest Trainer’s fans are not vegan.
For this occasion, I did 100 Saadatjoo push-ups and I poured myself a little shot glass of Villa Cappelli olive oil. I didn’t want a dry mouth!
Villa Cappelli is a sponsor of the Angriest Trainer Podcast. It’s the best olive oil and has the “Puglia pinch.”
BTW– Do you even know about this podcast? Let me explain:
The Angriest Trainer is Vinnie Tortorich… AKA “Hollywood’s Go-To Fitness Trainer.” Vinnie’s simple, but effective approach to getting rid of unwanted body fat is…
“No Sugar, No Grains” – NSNG
I found out about Vinnie Tortorich and the Angriest Trainer podcast because I started listening to the Rich Roll podcast. Rich had Vinnie on his podcast (RRP #12). Vinnie is not 100% “plant powered,” but he is funny and informative. Naturally, I started listening to Vinnie’s podcast, too.
Right away, I appreciated Vinnie’s acceptance of vegans. And more– I realized that the NSNG dietary approach is quite accessible to vegans. (NSNG does not necessarily mean “low-carb.”)
By following this approach for just a short time, I’ve become more lean than ever before, but without being hungry. It really does work. Check out my pages, “What I Eat,” and “#PPNSNG Kitchen” for more details.
“Put Life into Living and Do it with Enthusiasm!” – Vinnie Tortorich
A Facebook group called “Vinnie Tortorich’s No Sugar No Grains” was created for fans of the podcast. This is a place for people to support each other, share recipes, and seek advice about all things NSNG. Endurance runners and triathletes in the group discuss how NSNG improves athletic performance. It’s all about becoming “fat-adapted.”
I know this might come as a shock, but in the Facebook group, vegans and omnivores actually co-exist without killing each other. (GASP!) It’s pretty refreshing.
I joined the Facebook group 6 months ago. Initially, I admit it was a stretch for me to purposefully place myself where I knew I’d see animal-based food and read discussions about animal products on a regular basis. Although it was difficult, I joined for 2 reasons:
- I wanted to add a vegan presence to the group.
- I wanted to demonstrate that NSNG can be done quite easily without consuming animal products.
Over these months, I’ve found that the vegan NSNG perspective is still needed. I’ve observed that many former “plant-based” people end up going back to eating animal products as a result of listening to the podcast (in particular, bacon, eggs, and high fat dairy). This is hard to witness and makes me very sad.
In order to support other vegan NSNG fans who prefer not to see animal-based food pictures or enter in discussions about animal products, I joined with 2 others (B.J. & Ciry) to create a dedicated “Plant Powered” Facebook group. (B.J. was the happy-go-lucky Texan interviewed before me on “The Vegan Episode!!!” Check out his blog, “Living Better.”)
Honestly, I’m hoping that the supportive environment of the PPNSNG group will help stop the trend of folks returning to eating animal products. I do sincerely thank Vinnie for talking about the plant powered group and stating in his own voice that NSNG and vegan diets can go together.
Join me at “Vinnie Tortorich’s Plant Powered No Sugar No Grains.” You don’t have to be vegan or 100% plant powered to be a member.
Finally…
Read “Fitness Confidential,” by Vinnie Tortorich and **Dean Lorey. It’s really the best way to get to know Vinnie. It’s part weight loss/fitness manual, part memoir, and part survival story. (Literally, Vinnie survived cancer and then finished “The Toughest 48 hours in Sport,” the Furnace Creek 508 Bicycle Race.)
Who knows?– It might just inspire YOU to find out what you’re really capable of. It had that effect on me!
“Fitness Confidential” – By Vinnie Tortorich & Dean Lorey
(**Dean Lorey was in the opening segment of the “The Vegan Episode!!!” (although he’s not vegan). He mentioned his upcoming new show on CBS this Fall called “The Crazy Ones.” It stars Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar. I’m planning to watch it!)
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Every day that I go to work, I nearly go crazy…and here’s why…
Chicken Lasagna with Creamy White Sauce
The food. Nursing home food. It’s the same everywhere, so I‘m not picking on my employer. In my 15-year career as an Occupational Therapist, I’ve worked in at least a couple dozen Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF). Hospital food is no different- I’ve worked in plenty of them, too.
The food at all of these places for sick and functionally impaired folks is abysmal. Can we really call it food? Make no mistake- this is a system-wide “healthcare” (i.e.- “keep you sick”) problem. Shall we thank our government and the USDA?
Here is an average diagnosis list for the typical patient I see in rehabilitation every day: HTN (high blood pressure), Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol), CAD (coronary artery disease), DM (diabetes), OA (osteoarthritis), and dementia.
Many have a history of CVA (stroke) and/or cancer. Also, recurrent “antibiotic resistant” urinary tract infections are all too common ( MRSA – Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus).
This week I met a relatively rare specimen. She’s a “younger” woman (i.e. 70 years old) who fractured her leg while pruning a garden tree. She said to me, “I eat organic. I juice my vegetables. I eat kale.” She was “horrified” (her words) to have been served a hot dog and french fries for dinner on her first evening (with cake for dessert!) I truly felt her pain.
Now, let’s say you were admitted to the SNF with a CABG x 4 (a four-vessel Coronary Artery Bypass Graft) at mid-morning that same day. What did your nurse’s aide bring you for lunch?
“Beef Pot Roast, Baked Potato with Sour Cream, Green Beans and Strawberry Bavarian Cream with Whipped Topping.”
Translation?
Lunch: beef, white potato, dairy, vegetable, white flour, sugar/HFCS, and oil/trans fats.
Dinner: high-sodium/high-fat/high-Nitrite animal trimmings, fried white potato, refined flour, and refined sugar.
The menu comes from “Dietician Consulting Service.” I guess these would be the Dieticians who promote chronic illness and death? Gee whiz, I must be naive to assume that a Dietician’s JOB is to develop menu plans with good nutrition.
I still have a menu from last summer, when the residents/patients were served grilled cheeseburger, french fries, and a root beer float for lunch, and then 3-cheese macaroni and cheese, peas, dinner roll with margarine, and an ice cream bar for dinner. I kid you not!
Can you believe that the daily meal plans consist primarily of meat, dairy, refined flour, white potatoes, refined sugar, unhealthy fats, and a very little vegetative matter? This is a healthy, balanced diet?
Not according to my lady patient with the lower leg cast. She must go out of her way to secure her own nourishing food. Your new coronary artery graft doesn’t have a prayer. There’s a very good chance you’ll become “vegetative” if you eat these non-nutritive substances.
Got fiber? Nope. Add your pain medications into the mix, and you’ve got some serious constipation. (No problem- you can rely on Milk of Magnesia, enemas, and/or manual fecal extraction.)
Veggies- WHERE ARE YOU?!?
The “Dietician Consulting Service” menu is devoid of nutrient density. It’s critically low in whole fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, beans, whole grains, and nuts/seeds. It’s critically low in fiber, phytochemicals (“phyto” means plant), anti-oxidants, and anti-inflammatory compounds. It’s disease-promoting and death-promoting.
I haven’t even mentioned the fact that the animals eaten every morning, noon and evening of every day, of every week, for every meal on this menu come from the worst of the very worst of the Hell holes called factory farms.
Now…are you surprised that going to work makes me nearly go crazy?
Freeheel Vegan 