Category: nutrition, food, eating

EAT PLANTS FEEL WHOLE-a book review

In this post I review Dr. George E. Guthrie’s book, “Eat Plants Feel Whole,” where he highlights the transformative power of a whole-food, plant-based diet in combating chronic diseases. Dr. Guthrie, a renowned family physician, emphasizes the addictive nature of processed foods and advocates for a shift towards plant-powered nutrition to improve overall health and vitality.

This information is current as of the date of original publication or update. It may have changed by the time you read this. I invite you to fact-check what you read here.

This information is not intended for diagnosis or treatment. Before making health decisions, discuss with your physician or other qualified healthcare provider to decide what is right for you.

EAT PLANTS FEEL WHOLE

Harness the healing power of plants and transform your health

By George E. Guthrie, MD, MPD, CDE

Disclaimer: This review is not necessarily an endorsement or recommendation unless otherwise stated.

If you think a whole-food, plant-based diet is boring, bland, expensive, or difficult, you should read this book. The author, George Guthrie, M.D. a Family Physician, pursued extensive education in nutrition and lifestyle medicine.

Dr. Guthrie developed several lifestyle-change programs, including the Complete Health Improvement Project (CHIP), the Wellspring Diabetes Program, and AdventHealth’s CREATION Health program. He is active in the American College of Lifestyle Medicine having served as president. 

Food can be addicting…some of us eat because it makes us feel better.

Dr. George Guthrie

How “SAD” eating makes us sick

Dr. Guthrie focuses on the major non-infectious diseases-obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease-those that we see daily in family medicine. He explains how evidence shows these are chiefly due to SAD-the Standard American Diet.

Many people struggle with the same issues: mindless snacking, overeating, or consuming whatever is most convenient. Refined foods are designed to stimulate the pleasure centers in our brain and bring us back for more.

Dr. Guthrie

Plants have power to heal

In thorough but easy-to-understand language, he explains the components of nutrition. He starts with the major categories-fats, carbohydrates, and protein. Then he reviews the micronutrients, which are vitamins and minerals.

Dr. Guthrie shows we can get all we need from food. Only in specific situations are supplements necessary for health.

blue berries, strawbeerries, and orange slices-Nutrition Facts
Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Food has power to transform health

He offers multiple examples of patients from his practice who transformed their health with this whole-food plant-based approach. (Using care to change details to protect confidentiality.)

By making simple changes in what they ate, they

  • lost weight,
  • lowered their blood pressure, glucose, and cholesterol with less or even no medication, and
  • increased stamina.
This essential companion journal will help you track your journey to feeling whole. 

This short e-cookbook is available to download for free at Dr. Guthrie’s website

Plant-Powered Recipes to Help You Feel Whole

Listen to Dr. Guthrie’s Podcasts at this link.

Eat Plants Feel Whole

The whole-food, plant-based eating plan

The book concludes with a detailed outline of the whole-food, plant-based eating plan, which he emphasizes is not just another version of vegan or vegetarian diets, which are not necessarily healthy. Dr. Guthrie recommends using the 18-day QuickStart Plan.

The book concludes with easy-to-follow recipes. I appreciated that the ingredients are ones that you likely already have at home, or can buy at a regular food store, without the need to seek out a specialty store or buy online.

“PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This book is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified healthcare professional but as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of the author. You are advised and encouraged to consult with your healthcare professional in all matters relating to your health and the health of your family. “

About my review of Eat Plants, Feel Whole

Note: I received a complimentary digital advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This post does contain affiliate links. Thanks.

Even if you don’t have a chronic disease, this diet plan is worth considering as it can prevent high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.

Before I read this book, I considered my eating habits healthy. From reading Dr. Guthrie’s plan I discovered changes I can easily make for improvement. I believe most of my readers will also.

exploring the HEART of healthy eating

However you choose to do it, eating healthy requires desire, motivation, and a plan. I hope this review gives you some tips for all 3 of these steps.

I’d love for you to follow this blog. I share information and inspiration to help you turn health challenges into health opportunities.

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2 books stacked next to an apple

Dr Aletha

The Rich History of Watercress in Native American Culture

In 1889, the Locvpokv Muscogee Creeks established the village of Talasi near the Arkansas River, later called Tulsa. The Council Oak remains a cultural landmark, where Native Americans hold ceremonies. This article explores watercress and its culinary uses, highlighting its significance to local indigenous communities and the environment.

In 1889, after two years on the Trail of Tears, the Locvpokv Muscogee Creeks arrived in Indian Territory and placed ashes from their ancestral fires at the base of an oak tree a few miles from the Arkansas River.

Tulsa

This “Council Oak” designated the new village of the Locvpokv, which they called Talasi or “Old Town”. Subsequent white settlers mispronounced the word, eventually creating a new name, Tulsa.

Indian Territory merged with Oklahoma Territory to create the State of Oklahoma, and Tulsa, my hometown, is now its second-largest city. Native Americans and their culture played an important role in developing this city and still do.

Today, the original oak holds court in the Council Oak Park where tribal members still hold commemorative ceremonies. The grounds feature an ethnobotanical garden displaying plants that Creek Indians used for food, fiber, ceremonial and medicinal purposes.

photo by Dr. Aletha in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1976, Creek Council Oak Park is protected and preserved by Oklahoma Historic Preservation zoning.

Native Americans

Knowing that indigenous Americans understood and used plants in various ways, I wondered if and how they might have used watercress. Watercress came to this continent from Europe and is now well established.

The U.S. Geological Survey, USGS, considers watercress a “nonindigenous aquatic species” or NAS. It is native to Eurasia and Asia and was introduced to North America by cultivation and dispersed by wind, water, and animals. Characteristics include

  • fast-growing, perennial herb
  • aquatic-cold lakes and slow-moving streams
  • grows “floating or prostrate in mud”
  • most abundant in summer and autumn
  • flowers March to October
Nasturtium officinale range map. USDA PLANTS Database.
Nasturtium officinale range map. USDA PLANTS Database.

“Watercress: nutritional and medicinal“

Fortunately, I didn’t have to look far. I found an answer in a newspaper published in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, about 60 miles from Tulsa.

In a March 15, 2021 article, reporter Lindsey Bark published an interview with Cherokee Nation citizen Melissa Lewis, who gathers watercress each year to use in dishes such as smoothies and pesto.

Melissa praises watercress as tasty and nutritious. Since it is an aquatic plant, she finds it in local springs away from farming and ranching areas where the water might be contaminated with chemicals and bacteria.

“It’s (watercress) in the family that has other things like wasabi and mustards. They all have that same chemical that’s sulphur-like that gives it that spicy taste.”

Melissa Lewis

In this video watch Melissa gather watercress growing in a local stream.

Watercress-“a desirable weed”

I found another source far west, virtually, in California. In the Tehachapi News. Writer Jon Hammond reviews the history, ecology, and dietary features of watercress.

Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) can be found throughout creeks in Kern County, the Bakersfield California Metropolitan area. Caliente Creek has Watercress growing along its banks in countless places, as does Walker Basin Creek. Tehachapi Creek, Sycamore Creek, and Oak Creek also host Watercress in their upper reaches, where at least a little water typically flows year-round.

Jon says he learned to eat watercress from The Nuwä, the Tehachapi Indian people also known as Kawaiisu or Paiute, who called Watercress by the name poh-oh-pah-toor, meaning “in the water.”Nuwä people ate Watercress raw, often with salt, or boiled and mixed with bacon and eaten inside a tortilla.

According to Jon, watercress has small rounded spade-like leaves and produces pretty white flowers. Although some references claim that once these flowers appear, the leaves become bitter, he has eaten flowering watercress that did not taste bitter.

He explains watercress can be used in many ways, including in green salads, though it can be quite peppery. The sharpness disappears after cooking, and it is used in soups, roasts, omelets, pesto, and green smoothies.

Of all the invasive plants that humans have inflicted on the environment of North America in the past 400 years, it’s hard to think of one more benign and potentially as useful as Watercress. This plant has been nurturing humans for centuries, and you can grow your own or buy it from a grocery store and try some time-tested recipes.

Jon Hammond

Watercress- a multifaceted plant food

In my watercress posts, I’ve used references from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, website. I also find info from another government agency, the Department of the Interior, or DOI.

The information is much the same but looks at watercress from a somewhat different angle.

While the agriculture department focuses on farming, food, and nutrition, the interior department focuses on the environment, wildlife, and geology.

NEW MEXICO LAND OF ENCHANTMENT-highway sign
Welcome sign at the New Mexico state line

Deb Haaland-first Native American DOI Secretary

Deb Haaland made history when President Biden appointed her as Secretary of the Department of the Interior, an office in his cabinet. She is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and a 35th-generation New Mexican. Since the DOI includes the Department of Indian Affairs, her appointment is fitting.

Secretary Haaland’s story is fascinating in several ways-

  • Her father was a 30-year combat Marine who was awarded the Silver Star Medal for saving six lives in Vietnam; he is buried in Arlington Cemetery
  • Her mother is a Navy veteran who served as a federal employee for 25 years at the Bureau of Indian Affairs
  • She used food stamps at times as a single parent, lived paycheck-to-paycheck, and struggled to put herself through college
  • At 28 years old, she enrolled and earned an English degree at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and later earned her J.D. from UNM Law School. 
  • She ran her own small business producing and canning Pueblo Salsa
  • She became the first Native American woman to be elected to lead a State Party
  • She was one of the first Native American women to serve in Congress, where she focused on environmental justice, climate change, missing and murdered indigenous women, and family-friendly policies.  
Secretary Haaland and First Lady Jill Biden (photos from the Tulsa World newspaper, December 7, 2021)

Secretary Haaland accompanied First Lady Jill Biden to Tahlequah, Oklahoma to visit the Cherokee Nation Immersion School. The school seeks to preserve the native Cherokee language by ensuring that young people learn to speak and write it.

You may enjoy exploring these resources about watercress and other plants.

The Rich History and Flavor of Native American Recipes
The Wild and Native Foods We Should Be Eating
the Taos Pueblo village
adobe buildings at the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico
We visited the Taos Pueblo in northeastern New Mexico.

Exploring the HEART of watercress

I hope you will take the time to explore Native American culture where you live; if it’s anywhere in North, Central, or South America you’ll likely find some aspect of their rich culture and traditions.

I’d love for you to follow this blog. I share information and inspiration to help you turn health challenges into health opportunities.

Add your name to the subscribe box to be notified of new posts by email. Click the link to read the post and browse other content. It’s that simple. No spam.

I enjoy seeing who is new to Watercress Words. When you subscribe, I will visit your blog or website. Thanks and see you next time.

Dr. Aletha

a man and woman both on horses
We enjoyed a sunset horseback ride while visiting Santa Fe and Taos in New Mexico.