September 18, 2025 Meeting

 

 

 

 Flowers were Julie’s gardening focus this summer and now they grace her table. Beautiful! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•Potassium! I brought an initial list of food servings that contain at least 400 mg of potassium (K). (Last night I sent it to my printer but it didn’t print until this morning 🙄)

•Squinting vs Softening your eyes. It is better to soften your eyes. I learned this from Claudia Muehlenweg of Naturally Clear Vision. I would describe softening as ‘on the way’ to closing your eyes. If you feel yourself squinting, try it!

•Balance can help vertigo. And good balance helps keep us from falling. To help with that are PTs. Physical Therapist channel ‘Will Harlow PT’ has this youtube video: ;These 3 Tiny Exercises’. He calls them ‘Exercise Snacks’:

1. Heel Raise to strengthen calves which while simple helps a large portion of muscles involved in walking. Use 1 or 2 heels 30 to 60 seconds.
2. Close touch balance: feet together or feet in front of the other (toes touching heel) (I skipped this accidentally) Or raise one foot off the floor. 30 to 60 seconds or longer.
3. Squat Variations: Squat 6 to 8 “, both legs, one leg, count 3 down, 2 up. Sit to stand can be done anytime you leave a sitting position.
4. All can be done while talking on phone, standing, brushing teeth, whenever you think of it, etc. But you knew that. Sounds like we all need only a copy of Win’s exercise/pt list.

•Dr. McDougall taught a low protein diet and that a high fat diet is disastrous. We can talk about what exactly low protein and low fat diets are in the near future. 🌿

•Dr. Mandel says in his video short ‘Why You’re Still Peeing so much? Possibly drinking too much at a time and by night time your kidneys have been unable to process it all. He recommends sipping more, not gulping. I definitely am trying to start sipping at least by early afternoon! Also try to remember much of the food we eat is made with a lot of water 💦

•In ‘Food:Your Miracle Medicine’ on page 99 is ‘The Remarkable California Experiment’. Eat just one extra serving of a potassium-rich food every day; that may reduce your stroke risk of stroke by 40%. 859 men and women over 50. The investigators found that small difference of potassium in the diet predicted who would die of stroke 12 years later.

In those with highest potassium intake of over 3,500 mg per day, no one died of stroke. Those who ate the least potassium, less than 1,950 mg per day had much higher fatal stroke rates than all the others. The researchers concluded that with every extra daily 400 mg potassium in food, the odds of a fatal stroke dropped 40 %.

•We talked about oil/fat replacements in non-baking recipes. Baking recipes calling for oil, butter, etc. would need some fat or some thicker substitutes, like bananas or soy yogurt for instance. I’m not a baker so don’t quote me!

Anyway, the two substitutes that do work for Martia’s Everything You Need Salad are water with Chia and Aquafaba.•

The recipe called for 1/2 cup oil so we will combine 1/2 cup water with 1/2 to 1 tsp chia seeds. Ideal is to blend the two together so the seeds are ground. This way may be better for omega-3 fatty acid consumption. Otherwise you can let the mixture set a bit and it will set once the recipe is completed.

The next option is to open a can of Chickpeas and use the approx 1/2 cup of liquid called Aquafaba. You can add the chickpeas to the salad or freeze, etc.

*******Current Events*******

searched out by Julie Nienkark

Vegan Costco Haul: Essential Healthy Staples

Recommended by Plant-Based Pros

•Dried Cherries, – No sugar added Cherry Bay Orchards No-Added-Sugar Dried Montmorency Cherries

•Kirkland Organic No Salt Seasoning 21-Spice Blend

•Vitamin B-12

•Kirkland Signature Organic Chunky Guacamole

•Minsley Cooked Brown Rice Heat and Eat Cups

•Earthbound Farm Organic Power Greens Woohoo!!!

•Organic Dry Quinoa

•Mary’s Gone Crackers Super Seed Crackers

•Organic Dried Deglet Noor DATES

•Frozen Foods: Broccoli Florets, Imperial Garden Organic Edamame, Kirkland Stir-Fry Vegetable Blend, Three Berry Blend

•Refrigerator: Organic Cubed Fresh Butternut Squash, Housefoods Organic Tofu, Josie’s Organic Baby Spinach,

•Nuts/Seeds: Organic Golden Flaxseed Meal, Kirkland Whole Almonds, Fancy Whole unsalted Cashews, Organic Black Chia Seeds, Rodelle Toasted Sesame Seeds, Organic Hulled Hemp Hearts

Whole grains: Quick Cooking Steel Cut Oats, Dave’s Killer Bread, Guerrero Corn Tortillas

•Lundberg Organic Short Grain Brown Rice

•Pantry: Black Beans, Almond Butter, Peanut Butter, Pure Maple Syrup, Volupta Organic Unsweetened Cacao Powder

• For more information, see Link:

https://www.forksoverknives.com/wellness/healthy-vegan-costco-finds-plant-based-pros-buy

Top 20 Vegan Snacks from Whole Foods

•20. 365 Brand Organic Popcorn

•19. Wholly Veggie Mozzarella Sticks

•18. Daiya Cheese Wedges

•17. House Pary Cheesy Dip

•16. Impossible Nuggets

• 15.Whole Foods Bakery vegan chocolate chip cookies

• 14. Amy’s vegan pizza rolls

• 13. SmartsSweets Gummies

•12. Babybel Plant-Based Cheese

•11. Larabar Cashew Cookie

•10.Kite Hill Plain Cream Cheese

•9. Simple Mills Almond Flour Crackers

•8. Hu Dark Chocolate Bars

•7. Barnana Plantain Chips

•6. Hippeas Chickpea Puffs

•5. Miyoko’s Smoked English Farmhouse (cheese)

•4. Siete Grain-Free Tortilla Chips

•3. Lesser Evil Himalayan Pink Salt Popcorn

•2. From the Ground Up Cauliflower Crackers

•1. Miyoko’s Cultered Cashew Cheese Wheels

For more information on Snacks at Whole Foods, see Link:

https://vegoutmag.com/food-and-drink/s-the-20-best-vegan-snacks-at-whole-foods-definitely-ranked

•9 Best Fall Veggies to Eat

1. Sweet Potatoes
2. Winter Squash
3. Kale
4. Brussels Sprouts
5. Pumpkin
6. Broccoli
7. Beets
8. Carrots
9. Swiss Chard

• Fruits With the Most Vitamin E According to Dieticians.

Adults need 15 mg of Vit. E per day. See link: https://ods.od.nigh.gov/factsheets/VitaminE-Consumer/ A bit of fat may need to be consumed for the Vit E to be absorbed.

1. Mamey Sapote, 1 cup 3.7 mg
2. Blackberries, 1 cup 1.7 mg
3. Mango, 1 cup , 1.5 mg
4. Apricots, 1 cup, 1.4 mg
5. Cranberries, 1.3 mg
6. Guava, 1 cup, 1.2 mg
7. Persimmon, 1 Japanese, 1.2 mg
8. Kiwi, 1 kiwi, 1 mg
9. Avocado, 1/3, .9 mg

Carnivore Babies

•Julie talked about a most disturbing trend where parents are feeding their babies and children a carnivore only diet. And more disturbing is pediatricians are okaying it.

Carnivore babies:  controversy over limited diet 

This is a recent trend I’ve (Julie) been reading about and just saw in an excerpt on the news. Parents are raising their children and babies on a carnivore only diet. 

    ⁃    Bone broth popsicles, puréed meat, beef jerky to gnaw on when teething and benefits of iron and zinc from meat. Supplement with fruit for Vitamin C. 

    ⁃    The couple said he had huge weight loss, increased energy, clarity, sex drive,

        that what was good for them was good for their kids. 

   –      As PlantEaters we want to be mindful of fad diets and lack of common sense towards   our kids and elderly.  Follow the knowledge and science. 

Common Traits in Vegans /Vegetarians (and I would add WFPB – Judy)

Psychology says vegetarians and vegans tend to display these 8 distinct traits

. Psychological research (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195666315001518) confirms what I’ve noticed in myself and every plant-based person I’ve met since: certain personality traits keep showing up. These patterns reveal something fascinating about how our food choices reflect—and maybe even shape—our broader approach to living.

1. They score higher on openness to experience (they are adventurous).

Before going vegan, I thought I was adventurous because I tried sushi once. Now I’m fermenting cashews in my kitchen and foraging for mushrooms in city parks. This isn’t just my personal evolution into Peak Portland Stereotype—studies confirm.

2. They’re more likely to think systematically

At vegan potlucks, someone always connects their hummus to geopolitics. It sounds pretentious until you realize they’re right—chickpea farming does relate to water rights, which connects to climate change, which circles back to why we’re all here eating cashew cheese.

3. They have higher empathy scores (but it’s complicated)

4. They lean toward idealism over pragmatism

5. They show lower conformity to social norms

Going vegan means constantly being “that person”—at restaurants, family gatherings, office parties. It takes genuine comfort with nonconformity (https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-surprising-benefits-of-nonconformity/) to maintain this choice when society makes it inconvenient at every turn.

6. They’re prone to moral self-monitoring  becomes second nature.

7. They value authenticity over social harmony

8. They exhibit future-oriented thinking

Final thoughts on vegan/vegetarian/wfpb traits

These traits aren’t destiny—I know conformist vegans and empathetic omnivores. But the patterns are real enough to reveal something important about how choices shape us, or maybe how our personalities shape our choices. Going vegan didn’t fundamentally change who I am; it amplified traits that were always there, waiting for permission to fully express themselves. 

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• Next meeting TBD