Vegan Diet and COVID

There have not been too many studies on the benefits of a healthy diet for protecting against COVID infection severity and duration.

But there is THIS ONE.

If it's backed up by future research, vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian diets appear to be protective against COVID.

In no way whatsoever does that imply that you should not get a COVID vaccine. Let me be very clear - you should DEFINITELY get a COVID vaccine.

The End.

A Fortnight of Fitness: Day 6

Fantastic day! It was a holiday and, notwithstanding crap weather, my wife and I had a fun time. We slept in. We made breakfast smoothies using a new Nutribullet blender that Deborah had ordered online. I also had my usual oatmeal porridge. In the early afternoon, we paid a visit to my buddy Stefan's house to visit with him and his charming one year old toddler, Teddy, before running a few errands and then going to the gym. We worked out on the exercise floor for about 45 minutes (stationary bike for me, as usual) and then swam for 15 minutes or so in their 25 meter lap pool. We went out for dinner at the Great Dane, seeking plant-based whole foods, per the guidelines of our current two week fitness challenge. It is one of the few restaurants in Madison WI that has mostly vegan options (we can't even do eggs or cheese on this challenge). There may have been a light amount of butter on some bread that accompanied one of the dishes, but otherwise I think we stayed within dietary specifications. Pretty wiped from our gym workout, we returned home after dinner to relax for the evening.

I weighed in at 217 pounds this morning, up a pound from yesterday (Day 5), which surprised me a bit, because I exercised and stayed well within dietary guidelines. My blood pressure was 125/80 when I measured it before bedtime. I attribute the slight elevation to being aggravated about having to clean up some poop that my dog Foster decided to deposit in the house, after also accidentally stepping in it and tracking around the house. Grrr.

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A Fortnight of Fitness: Day 2

Veganism is tough. I won't lie about that. Last night for dinner, on Day 1 of this current fitness challenge to adhere to a plant-based, whole food diet for a fortnight (two weeks in the vernacular), I made a vegan chili and some black beans and brown rice, accompanied by a salad. I wasn't my best work, flavor-wise. Part of this could be the fact that my taste buds have been neutralized by the awful tasting zinc lozenges I have been sucking on due to a recent cold. In fact, that's probably a big part of it. That being said, Deborah did not seem too impressed with my culinary skill either, although she said she thought the food was overly spicy, rather than flavor-less. Perhaps I was overcompensating for my own lack of gustation. Hopefully, my vegan cooking skills improve over the next 13 days. But if they don't, at least this is just a short term challenge that will be over soon enough.

This morning, I weighed in at 220 pounds, down two pounds from yesterday. That was not unexpected given that yesterday's weight was artificially inflated due to the birthday pizza we ate the evening prior to starting this fitness challenge. Still, it is trending in the right direction. My blood pressure was a bit elevated at 133/79.

Qualitatively, my mood is not great. Part of that is my disappointment that my vegan cooking attempt was not more successful yesterday. Also, the weather outside is dreary and the forecast indicates increasing dreariness along with plummetting temperatures over the next couple of days. On the bright side, I got to walk one of my favorite dogs this afternoon, for a neighbor client. It's an Australian shepherd puppy, full of energy and incredibly bright. I also got to the gym for a decent workout, although I spent some of my time on the exercise bike shopping for textbooks for this semester of grad school, which was financially a bit demoralizing.

A Fortnight of Fitness: Day 1

Last night, Deborah and I watched the documentary "Forks Over Knives," which is pretty much the film version of the book, "The China Study," touting the strong scientific evidence that a whole food, plant-based diet is optimal for health and can prevent or reverse chronic diseases, like heart disease and diabetes.

It came out in 2011, but surprisingly I wasn't made aware of it until recently. It's a very watchable film. It doesn't get boring or bogged down in political ideologies too much. It pretty much just follows the history of some of the strongest scientific research to date on the health benefits of plants, and its proponents (one of whom is the author of "The China Study"). Most of this evidence doesn't make it into the popular press because the food industry is a major gatekeeper on corporate mainstream media and the advertising that underwrites it, and frankly veggies don't sell. The food industry makes its profits on value-added processed foods, as well as meat and dairy, all of which are strongly linked to the prevalence of chronic diseases (especially dairy).

Now that the holidays and my birthday are behind me, I am going to attempt a fitness challenge for a fortnight, where I adhere to a strictly plant-based, whole food diet and measure the results quantitatively (weight and blood pressure) and qualitatively (energy levels, mood, focus, etc.). I will continue to do everything else as I normally would, like going to the gym three to four times per week for a moderate aerobic workout.

I weighed in this morning at 222 pounds, my baseline for this challenge, and about seven pounds over my pre-holiday/birthday weight. Last night's birthday pizza did not help and may have artificially inflated my baseline, which is usually about 215 pounds. My target weight is 199 pounds, and I have not been at this weight since before I can remember...but probably before college.

My baseline blood pressure today was 126/83, using a Walgreens brand consumer blood pressure gauge my wife has that seems to be somewhat accurate. That's slightly high for me. I'll also attribute that to the pizza.