May 2, 2008

I just got a great new book, Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes.

I was diagnosed with diabetes after I had the famous stroke in 2005. Afterwards, I changed my diet, became a vegetarian. I had the best results with a low-fat vegan diet, which is championed by Drs. Joel Fuhrman, Julian Whitaker, Dean Ornish, and Neal Barnard. Eating this way really takes care of blood sugar, and high blood pressure. I am OFF Metformin.

Diabetes is an insidious killer. I want to be healthy so that I will be around to be with my Rosie in her middle age.

This diet is strict for those who love fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates. I don’t love the old way of eating more than my life. Like I always tell my kids, “Dysfunction is stronger than life.” I’ve seen so many people slide toward the gravestone because they can’t seem to change their eating habits. Strange, isn’t it? I’m not going to be one of them. I love being healthy. I love how it feels to have my blood coursing through my veins, how I don’t easily get sick. Five years ago, this was not the case. Now though, I know that “health is wealth.”

Tonight I am making pizza with whole wheat flour. My side of the pizza will have a fat free topping from the health food store. I expect that it will be very good. I’ve also made pea soup and garbanzos as staples.

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Our visit with Anne-Adele and her husband Ed was fabulous. She is such a wonderful person. Plus, she loves my cooking. I remembered this about her, all of a sudden, when she was sitting next to me. She leaned over and touched my arm, “Kathleen, this is so delicious!” It was such an Anne-Adele thing to do.

I served garbanzo, pea and potato curry with brown rice. There was also hummus and tabbouli, lavash bread and whole wheat pita. Then we walked all the way to the harbor and back, talking non-stop and admiring all the beautiful architecture and flowering trees.