Full Day, Full Log: Fiber Fueled, Dr. Michael Klaper, & PBWF Taco Tuesday
5.27.2020
Ian has a gift with words and came up with a keener one than “harpy” (<—I have a bad habit of framing myself in negative language), to describe this passionate howl: klaxon.
A klaxon is a “loud warning horn”.
The last few posts have been especially incendiary, because as I have been taking a deep breath in and sorting out how to clearly express the imperatives of forward movement (and all my inner howling in frustration for kin and loved ones not doing so), I’ve received varying voices repeating similar requests to hold back this broadcast.
I cannot.
There is health, strength, kindness, and planetary healing in your future if you move forward to plant-based whole-foods. It is a scientific, categorical fact.
Continue for: a Pre-K kiddo building Lego squids and drawing shai-hulud on his schoolwork, “Fiber Fueled” by Dr Will Bulsiewicz, the ever inspiring Dr Michael Klaper (a 72 year old PBWF doctor whose current mission is educating/illuminating medical students about the importance of nutrition & how food affects us all), a family leading by Lifestyle Medicine and Plant-Based Whole-Food example, and a full day of PBWF family feasting.
Live Kindly, Feast Kindly, Grow Forward.
Q’s Morning Chalkboard: it was going to be in the 90s, and this was letting him know he could go swim in the neighbor’s pool with Ian.
Plant-Based Kiddo Breakfast (made by Q): cacao oatmeal, cashew cream, 1 tsp peanut butter, and nectarine.
Concerned that plant-based whole-food diets may leave your kid weak and neurologically impaired? There’s research to show that your mind will be keener.
Here seen: my pre-k kiddo setting up a squid Lego by himself. He’s been so driven to complete this, that any moment he isn’t drawing or rattling off tentacular narratives, he’s perched over this table.
I figured this fit well within some of the directives for homeschooling, so he spent time finishing this before moving on to his daily worksheets.
Hard work and well-earned pride! <3
One of the David Barber drawings of the day . (He’s been doing north of 3 every day.)
He and I have frequent back-and-forth discussions about the trajectory of his stories and how they often lead to some manner of clash or battle.
With this one, he said, “Mama, you’re really going to like this one. That sailor right there found this colossal squid in an aquarium that was too tiny for it, so he rescued it, and they are going to sail to the deepest part of the sea and then he’s going to release him.”
…and then 2 pictures later “over the Mariana trench a Mind Flayer rose and attacked the boat and the colossal squid had to fight back!” (<—insert Mama Bear eye-rolling, head-shaking, sighing, and heart-squeezing.)
What are you reading these days? Supporting your local bookstores? We received the following books from my old beloved river’s end bookstore (<—worked there for years during and just-after college).
This Fiber Fueled book is written by the amazing gastroenterologist Dr. Will Bulsiewicz. I’ve listened to three of his podcast interviews now, and I think they should be required listening for best health. His interview on the Switch4Good podcast is my favorite of them all.
You’re not fully understanding your body if you haven’t gotten into the research surrounding your microbiome, that research is all pointing to animal products degrading your microbiome and causing you a feast of diseases (well illuminated by Dr B in all of those podcasts, and now more so in the book), and this epidemiological wizard is also brilliant at describing the mechanisms in play and how to get the best out of your gut so you are the healthiest/happiest soul you can be.
Remember: gut health is mental health too!
Dune is something Ian has read many times, is one of his favorite books, he’s spoken so much about it with Q that Q knows a lot of the characters (and as seen below, knows enough about sandworms to call them “shai halud”), but we could find no copy of it in the house. I’ve been running out of fresh books for Q (we were previously a library loving family and our libraries have been understandably closed), I was interested in giving it a read myself, so I ordered this with the intent of reading Q a few pages each night after we wrap up picture books. [We got 8 pages in last night and then I moved on to Fiber Fueled.]
I have to hand this back in to his teacher in his homeschooling packet, and I keep laughing out loud while imagining how this is going to be received.
To beat the 90 degree heat, I did yard-time early: went out and watered our withering flowers for all these sweet pollinators.
Plant-Based Whole-Food Lunch Prep with a Pre-K Kiddo Serving Himself
Taco Tuesday Lunch: siete shells, black bean chili, arugula, avocado, quick-pickled cabbage, and hot sauce.
If you find yourself thinking that all this nutritional information is from thin-air or not supported by science, you should take a breath, go look at the many resources and studies I’ve posted, but most importantly: give yourself the space to listen to this great podcast interview with Dr. Michael Klaper or go watch his brilliant and brief TED Talk.
The Rich Roll Podcast is a sweet balm of mind-opening/heart-opening data, and Dr Klaper explains in down-to-earth tones how our Standard American Diet leads to disease, he explains how he was in the same boat and illuminates why/how he changed toward plant-based whole-foods (<— back in the 80s!), and he’ll inspire you to step forward.
The reason your doctor may have never asked you what you’re eating, and/or subsequently connected the dots to that diet and disease, is that our doctors are not taught about this connection (this is one of the things Dr Klaper discusses in detail <— ie the lack of nutritional instruction required in medical school and thus doctors having no framework for understanding the mechanisms between consumption and disease risk). We are painfully behind the ball and that delay is causing sickness to spread throughout the country.
Doctors like Michael Klaper have been sounding the alarm for DECADES. He’s 72, is thriving (no medications, no illnesses), and he’s using his energy to now give lectures at our leading medical universities so that he can wake up our next batch of doctors. He’s one of my favorite souls on this planet because every time I listen to him I learn something new, and am amazed at his capacity of knowledge, energy, and compassion.
Who is Rich Roll and why is he in a place to be discussing health with doctors? “Rich is a 50-year old, accomplished vegan ultra-endurance athlete and former entertainment attorney turned full-time wellness & plant-based nutrition advocate, popular public speaker, husband, father of 4 and inspiration to people worldwide as a transformative example of courageous and healthy living.”
If you’re a runner, you may want to check out his book, “Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle-Age, Becoming One of the World’s Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself”.
After writing more manifestos, helping Q with schoolwork, and feeding us, I went back out to gather some mint (growing like a sweet weed in our backyard), and headed back inside to avoid the heat and work on some more fridge fuel.
My dad dropped us off a big watermelon and one of my favorite things to do with watermelons is to dice them up, and cover them with a mixture of mint, lemon juice, and a little salt.
Should I do a recipe for this, or straightforward enough?
I was able to prep half that list before getting pulled in varying directions and eventually tabling some items for today, because I had a 6PM deadline to be in our Onondaga Board of Education meeting [<— that’s one of the other things I do aside from klaxon clanging. :-) ]
Here seen a solo PBWF dinner: polenta, pesto, balsamic tomatoes, arugula, with a raspberry smoothie and a brownie for dessert.
Other fun thing about plant-based whole-food eating (aside from better health, greater compassion, and planetary healing)? You can eat all this deliciousness.
Zoom and Camera Frustrations.
Anyone else have a computer whose camera will sometimes just not work at all until you restart? At first I couldn’t get the camera to work properly on our laptop, and when I went upstairs to the desktop it kept giving me this black part (despite the fact that my video was on, as seen by the pull-down). I had 4 different restarts before the folks were able to see this googly mug.
Wrapped our Board meeting, went down to check on my sweet family, brought Q up for nightly reading (including that entry into Dune), and then dived into this delicious book.
If any of the above resonates with you, I highly recommend ordering this book right now. We could do a nutritional book club even. :-)
I was beat after a long day, yet I still got 27 pages into this before I finally shut myself off and went to bed. (Why not keep reading? Sleep is also integral for a healthy microbiome)
Dr Bulsiewicz is so dang relatable, down-to-earth, and informative! <3
Here’s a good example of me laying out a list of things I want to cook and then life getting in the way and not accomplishing the goal. You move forward and tackle it when you can (today). :-)
Loved that Q quote of him setting up a playlist for his Lego work, “Here’s how it’s going to go. I’d like to listen to: “The World Ender”, “Skeletons of Quinto”, “Ghostly Kisses”, and “Yawning Grave”. :-D
