Eating for Health & Longevity – Considering a Vegan Diet

By Lisa Payne

About five years ago my husband got reactive arthritis. It’s very rare and his case was caused by food poisoning. Three months after his diagnosis, his pain was so bad that he was forced to use crutches to get around. I remember his skin looking gray from the pain, and it took him ten minutes to get from our bed to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It was really scary. We had no idea if this was our new normal.

Through all of this, the thing that stands out the most to me is that he never complained. He tried to live life as normal, help out when he could, and he was always kind. If I was in that much pain for that long, I think I would have been crabby every day. I had so much respect and admiration for his strength and humility. He wasn’t going to let the pain define his life. And it took about a year to fully recover.

Reactive arthritis can come back in a small percentage of people. And unfortunately, it did for Doug about a year or so later. It wasn’t as debilitating and he recovered more quickly. After that he started watching documentaries about food to see if there was anything he could do to reduce the inflammation in his body which may fight off another flare-up. He didn’t want a third or fourth or ANY future episodes.

He quickly learned that eating vegan was something that may help. Heart disease also runs in his family, and having young kids, he wants to live a long life for them. He has been mostly vegan now for almost two years and he has never felt better. His inflammation is pretty much gone, he could drop his cholesterol meds and he unintentionally lost weight. His mind is also clearer. I could go on and on with this topic, but you get the gist.

To show you that eating vegan can be easy and delicious, here is one of our favorite recipes that our whole family loves.

Vega nGreen Chili Skillet Tots

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

• 1 pound ground impossible beef

• 1 small onion, diced

• 1 cup shredded non-dairy cheddar cheese, divided

• 2 cups frozen tater tots or veggie tots

• 3 cups vegan green chili (can find in grocery store Mexican foods aisle), warmed

• Cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2. Heat oil in large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add impossible beef and onion. Break it up to resemble ground beef. Cook about 5-8 minutes until fully cooked. Remove from heat.

3. Spread mixture into skillet along with one cup of the green chili. Sprinkle with ½ cup cheese and arrange tots evenly over the cheese. Coat tots with cooking spray. Transfer to the oven.

4. Bake 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and bake again until cheese is melted and tots are golden brown, about 5 minutes more.

5. Serve in a bowl with warm green chili poured over the top. Top with diced tomatoes and vegan sour cream if desired.

If you have any questions on this topic or would like more recipes, feel free to email me at lisa@paynefam6.com