Short backstory

Back in 2005, after years of unplanned eating and cavalier coping with stress, I had a stroke. It was a small cerebral hemorrhage above above my right eyebrow. I was airlifted to a major hospital and into the testing fray I went! Sedated and on a ventilator, the next bad obvious thing happened, I got a lung infection. I almost died. After the hospital, rather overwhelmed, I sought my own answers to my official diagnoses, diabetes and hypertension.

The stroke took away scads of foolish knowledge and people I wasn't attached to. I was lucky. A bleed in another part of the brain could have left me deprived of speech or motion.

Back at home after two and a half weeks of ICU and sedation, I felt as though I had been in a truck accident. Depression and fear where knocking at the door, and I leaned against it and took action, which is my usual method for coping with impossible situations. Soon after, I embraced low fat vegan eating according to the work of Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Dean Ornish, and Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Look up any of these doctors and jump in, if you have similar concerns.

My blood sugar responded well. They were normal. I was exercising every day.

Then, gradually, I fell off the food plan.

The weight I lost came back. The blood sugars went up. It is now 2012. A few short weeks ago, I returned to the Philippines, the land of my mother and my childhood for three glorious weeks. Diabetes is more common amongst my friends and family than I thought. Back at home, the message that reverberates is that diabetes is a ravaging disease that harms in silence.

Yesterday I returned to the low fat vegan eating model. My main motivation is life itself. It is so much fun to be alive. I have so many things to do. So many places I want to see. I enjoy my family so much.

What better motivation could there be?

Yesterday I made a batch of split pea soup and a pot of brown rice.

Had it for lunch and dinner.

I didn't miss the ham, sherry or cream.

Recipe for Split Pea Soup

2 cups dried split peas
1 chopped onion
2 chopped carrots
10 grape tomatoes (optional)
1 tsp. of vegetarian boullion
salt and pepper to taste
Water

Put everything in a heavy pot. Cover with water, about three inches over the ingredients. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer. Simmer until the peas are soft. (About 30 minutes). I added the grape tomatoes because they were in the fridge.