American Heart Month

It’s so interesting to me that everything similar things seems to happen all at once. For example this past weekend I was in the mood for some good soup and noticed a great recipe from Kathy at Healthy Happy Life blog. I decided I would give it a try and loved how the soup turned out. A day later I noticed the same recipe posted on Facebook and on Dr. McDougall’s blog. So the recipe has definitely made its rounds. Here it is - give it a try!

Rustic Tomato Rice Kale Stew

28 oz. can of fire-roasted tomatoes
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup nutritional yeast (or to taste)
1 bunch of kale (I used dino kale)
1 1/4 cups rice, cooked (I used white basmati rice)
3/4 cup frozen pea + sliced carrot blend, organic
2 bay leaves (remove before serving)
1 heaping tbsp chili powder
pepper/salt to taste (at least 1/2 tsp salt)
1 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves, chopped
2-4 pinches of cayenne (to taste - adds warmth)

Directions:

1. Rice: If you do not have cooked rice on hand, you will need to cook ahead of time and set aside. (You could also add rice directly to boiling broth + more broth or water and cook for a longer period of time, but that was not the method I used.)
2. Add your tomatoes to a blender or food processor. Blend on low until smooth. Add in 1 cup of veggie broth the ease the blending a bit.
3. Pour the tomato mixture plus remaining veggie broth in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil.
4. Add in the spices, bay leaves, frozen veggies and reduce heat to simmer. When the frozen veggies have broken up and appear cooked through add in all remaining ingredients like the finely sliced kale and rice.
5. Season to taste adding more spice and salt if desired.

It’s like that with other things going on in my life. A couple of weeks ago I ran in the Heart Breaker 5K to support research on heart disease--after all this is American Heart Month. I felt it was important especially since I am someone who knows first hand about heart disease. Check out my story & video on my blog. 

After the race a group of us was sitting having some goodies provided by the event which consisted of oatmeal and fruit.  As we were talking about heart disease I shared my story to the group. My friend, who ran in the race with me, kept saying “I didn’t know you had a heart attack!”  She had no idea that I had had a heart attack and two separate heart surgeries.  A wonderful man across the table shared his story and how he has changed to a vegan diet and now runs in 10 races a year. Good for him!!! There is hope for those with heart disease if you adopt a plant-based vegan diet and active lifestyle. This is why I write my blog. I want to share my story with as many people as I can in the hopes that they will be able to turn their health around and prevent heart disease from progressing in their life.

On another note, this month is also Black History Month and even though I am not African American I have some very important people in my life who are.  One person in particular has a family history of diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, etc.  According to The American Heart Association African Americans are twice as likely to have a first-ever stroke compared to caucasians and the statistics show that cardiovascular disease kills nearly 100,000 African Americans annually in the United States. Read more: Click Here

There’s a lot of reasons for these statistics one of which is diet. So many of my friends can’t seem to give up traditions such as soul food.  I read an interesting article called “400 Years Later And Still Slaves To Soul Food” by Ayinde Howell. 400 Years

People who consider a plant-based vegan lifestyle radical do not fully understand the impact food has on health.  Fortunately for those of us who have changed to a plant-based vegan diet, the evidence weighs in our favor of living a long, healthy, quality life.  This brings me to my next topic…

A few months ago you might recall that I visited Las Vegas and wrote a post about the Heart Attack Grill that I saw on Fremont Street Las Vegas Trip. It appears that the unofficial spokesperson for the Heart Attack grill passed away from a heart attack while waiting for the bus outside the diner. Apparently, he visited the diner every day. How unfortunate! 

All evidence continues to point to the importance of adopting a low fat plant-based vegan diet in order to maintain health and longevity. What are you doing in February to take good care of your heart?