What could the Rolling Stones possibly have to do with my husband eating more plant-based?

My husband, Andy, used to eat a fair amount of animal products. His favorite thing after he ate dessert was a piece of muenster cheese. Go figure.

As you might imagine, with all that animal product consumption, his cholesterol numbers crept up. By 2015 they were at 258.

This was long before I knew anything about the benefits of a whole foods plant-based lifestyle. He decided to cut out the meat eggs and cheese. Good idea, right? It did bring down his cholesterol numbers! 

Except it was so drastic, and he didn’t replace the heme iron from the meat with the plant-based iron-rich options that we now know to eat.

All was fine until one day in 2019 he said: I have to tell you something. I’ve sort of passed out a couple of times on my bike.

Wait, What??? Passing out???? 

He rides his bike 12 miles 3 days a week. The first time it happened he felt woozy so he sat down.

A few weeks later I found him in our driveway after his ride. He wasn’t totally “out” but he was not ok. As soon as he caught his breath he felt fine again.

He made an appointment to see his doctor. Bloodwork indicated that he was anemic, which explained why he was passing out.  He was told to take it easy and start taking an iron supplement for the anemia.

In the meantime, we had tickets to go see a Rolling Stones concert at the Rose Bowl. I’d wanted to see them for decades.

All was fine at first. He grabbed a couple of beers. And he may or may not have consumed a bit of marijuana. But he’s a big guy, 6’ 1” 176 pounds, he goes to a lot of concerts and this is normal for him. 

The concert began, we had great seats, we were dancing and singing and loving the music.

Around the third song, he sat down. I asked if he was ok (he never sits at concerts) and he said yes, though he had a glazed look on his face.

A few minutes later, during You Can’t Always Get What You Want, I looked again, and he was white as a sheet pale. Then he totally passed out and slumped to the ground. Not a drunken passed out, but a “is my husband dead?” passed out.

Pandemonium ensued and I will spare you the sordid details. The medics were alerted and came down.

I’ll spare Andy the embarrassment of describing how he got from our seats near the floor to the medics. Let’s just say, it wasn’t pretty.

Once he was up in the medic area, they gave him an IV with fluids and he started feeling better. They did a bunch of tests to make sure he wasn’t in any grave danger.

Needless to say, I missed the rest of the concert.

When the concert ended, the medics said he was stable, and it was up to us as to whether he goes to the hospital. We decided that if he was strong enough to walk into our house, he didn’t have to go. (There’s no way I can carry him.) He felt ok when we got home and slept it all off.

Then began the doctor’s visits. Cardiologist first. She said his heart is perfect and that’s not the issue. Then tons of bloodwork and sure enough, he was, once again, rather anemic.

So, he started eating meat again (the iron pills upset his stomach) which fixed the anemia. But then the cholesterol went up again. What a roller coaster! 

Fast forward to 2022. He had a new cholesterol check and no big surprise, his cholesterol was fairly high.  His doctor said he was pretty close to prescribing statins.

I said; Whoa whoa whoa, let’s slow this down a bit. 

I had recently attended the plant-based nutrition program at Cornell and understood that with the right iron-rich plant foods, we don’t need meat in our diets at all.

I was learning to cook more whole food plant-based and said: Let’s try and change your diet and see if you can get enough iron and also bring your cholesterol down. He wouldn’t be the first person to try this plant-based health experiment.

My mother in law chimed in: Well, this is hereditary, his cholesterol is going to be high.

I said: Let’s see what we can do. If you are right, then statins it is. But let’s give a healthy plant-based diet a try.

You know what I’ve learned? That not everything is hereditary. I can say that because for the past year or so we’ve been living a much healthier plant-based lifestyle. And guess what, his cholesterol went from a high of 258 down now to 178. 

Andy also gives blood every 8 weeks, and they check to make sure he’s not anemic. His numbers were perfect the last time he gave blood.   

We did it! All with a healthy plant-based diet. His cholesterol came down and he’s no longer anemic.

He’s not plant-exclusive like me, but he has dramatically cut down on the amount of animal products he consumes.   

All while increasing the amount of greens, legumes, and whole foods in his diet.

So, we owe a debt of gratitude to the Rolling Stones. Had we not gone to that show, he might not have had such a dramatic experience to quickly wake him up to the issues at hand.

Now the big question is: Will I ever get to see a full Rolling Stones concert…?

First things first, I use the term hippie with love. I was born in the 60’s and even though I was a little late to that party, I did catch the tail end of it. In fact, I saw the Grateful Dead (or offshoots thereof) around 50 times from 1983-1995. (And I still enjoy a good Dead cover band!)

Let’s turn the clock back to 1975. I had the great good fortune of attending sleepaway summer camp.

My counselor was vegetarian, and she had containers filled with nuts and seeds in our cabin. At the time I assumed that was all she ate. Maybe it was, but I doubt it. It was likely just her snacks. But I didn’t understand why she ate bird food. Nuts and seeds. In Tupperware containers.

So that’s the type of person I assumed was a vegetarian. No one else I knew was.

In college, inspired by the book, Animal Liberation, I attempted to be vegetarian for a bit, but I wasn’t committed. Little by little after college I stopped eating meat, then fish and I was finally a vegetarian. That took years! 

I met a few vegetarians along the way, and in 2015 joined Vegan Toastmasters. Most of the members were vegan and while they were accepting of me still being vegetarian, I wasn’t ready to take the plunge. I left Vegan Toastmasters for a couple of years and then rejoined in 2019 which coincided with me going fully vegan.

By that point in my life, I knew a lot of vegans and I would say that most of them have no idea who the Grateful Dead are. Or if they do, it’s not their thing.

Now there are vegan actors and actresses (A-listers!), musicians (Moby just produced a wonderful new film called A Punk Rock Vegan Movie!), athletes, famous chefs, doctors and millions of regular non-hippies.

There are political, social and moral reasons why hippies may have chosen vegetarianism and veganism back then. And many of those reasons still stand. Increasingly, regular people (like you and me) are choosing compassionate ways to eat and spend our dollars. And we are learning about the health benefits of a whole food plant-based lifestyle.

Choosing to be vegan or eat plant-based can be for everyone. It is no longer difficult to find plant-based foods or learn how to cook them. (We even started offering cooking classes to make it easy and accessible for everyone!)

Plant-based food is no longer bird food or rabbit food. It’s nutritious and delicious and bountiful and the best way we can move our planet and her inhabitants forward with grace. 

PEACE

My biggest regret is that I didn’t go vegan sooner.

For years I knew about the suffering caused by animal agriculture, yet I turned away.

It is easy to turn away. The people involved with farming and animal slaughter do a damn good job of hiding the brutal realities. All we see is a package in the supermarket labeled as food. We call it meat.

Every step of the way I justified why I was still eating animal products:

🌿 It’s easier to eat what everyone else eats.

🌿 I don’t want people to think I’m any weirder than they already do.

🌿 I’m healthy eating the way I eat. Why would I change?

🌿 Chickens aren’t cute, fish aren’t land animals and really, how much pain do they feel…
blah blah blah

What did it for me?

Little by little I could no longer justify. I watched films and read books. The reality was right there in front of me.
Making the moral choice to stop eating animals was the first step. Then I learned that vegan could also be healthy and there was no going back. 

What do I know now?

⭐ I know that there is overwhelming evidence that living a healthy plant-based lifestyle is the healthiest option.

⭐ I know that I look and feel my best when eating whole food plant-based.

⭐ I know that animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change, responsible for at least 87% of         greenhouse gas emissions annually.*

⭐ I know that millions of animals are slaughtered every day.

⭐ I know that I can get enough protein without eating animals.

⭐ I know that when I eat whole grain carbohydrates I feel satiated and I do not gain weight.

⭐ I know that it’s a heck of a lot easier to eat plant-based today than even a few years ago. (It’s actually fun!)

⭐ I know that cooking and eating plant-based brings me joy (as does sharing it with others!).

⭐ I know that eating plant-based (not processed foods) is cost-effective.

And I know that having taken a cooking class made it all a lot easier for me to learn how to cook plant-based. (So much so that we’re offering our own, affordable classes now. Click here to find out more.)

I have had to learn to forgive myself for not doing it sooner. And, I had to forgive myself that I didn’t raise my children with this awareness.

I’m not alone in my regrets either. I hear this over and over from other vegans and plant-based eaters. 

Instead of living in the regrets, however, we now rejoice in our decision. 

If you are just dipping your toe in looking for a new recipe or two, I applaud you!
If that recipe or two turns into mostly plant-based, then great. It all makes a difference.
And if you decide that you can no longer eat animal products and join the growing community of 100% plant-based eaters and vegans, we welcome you with open arms.

Whatever your choice, remember to have compassion for yourself. We’re all doing the best we can with what we have in this moment.

*https://climatehealers.org/the-science/positioning-papers/