The 90% Solution

H Robert Silverstein, MD, FACC

After 47 years as a cardiologist with 200,000 patient visits, I can firmly say that vegans are my healthiest patients. I certainly agree with you it is not easy. My position is that 90% vegan which is 19 of 21 meals a week will do just fine. Foods should be, prior to preparation, ideally organic and unprocessed whole foods exactly as they grow up out of the ground and in the field.

The struggle is real and for many a constant battle.  When people find out I’ve lost over 200 pounds they all want to know how.  So I usually spout off a few words of wisdom with the knowledge that the person who asked really wasn’t listening to what was said.  I know this because my thoughts and words have already been dismissed.  Everyone wants the easy way out.  Can I take a pill to lose weight?  What if I just eat kale and nothing else?  What diet were you on?  What do you think about surgery?  I smile and walk away shaking my head.

Losing weight is hard work.  Keeping weight off is even harder.

In 1975 I dropped down to 163 after ballooning up to 370 plus.  Earlier this year I was bouncing between 200 and 205.  I was headed back to hell and decided I needed to get serious about keeping my weight off.  For me, this meant getting serious about my food choices.  So I took a deep breath and leaned in hard back to my vegetarian ways.  I started making better choices and limited my meat and dairy to about two meals a week.  Roughly 90% of my calorie intake comes from non-animal sources.

Today I was 184.4 at weigh-in.  It’s a lot better than 200 but I’ve still got a ways to go.

The Boss and I went out for lunch today.  We tried a new place called Barrios in OKC near where The Doctor lived when he was in medical school.  I am not a “foodie” but I just had to take a picture.

 

Ok…I had a bite of the Roasted Chicken with Poblano Cream & Smoked Tomato Pico.  So lunch technically wasn’t completely veggie.