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We Saved Thousands of Dollars Eating This Way | Marc Ramirez Part 2 | Plant Power Stories
In my opinion, food is medicine,
food is what healed me. And it's when I changed the foods … that I was able to eliminate
all of my medications. Never underestimate
the body's ability to heal itself … if we just fuel it with the right foods. So, before my wife and I
adopted a plant-based lifestyle, I was a fast-food junkie, I used to run through the fast food once
and sometimes multiple times a day, whereas … now it's all whole-food, plant-based, it's the four main food groups,
which are all the fruits, all the vegetables, all the grains, and all the legumes. We eliminated, like I said,
all of the fast food, and that's the lifestyle,
that's the food we eat now. We are going to start making
veggie sandwiches. And it's really simple, you just use
whatever veggies you have in the house.
Today we are using … mushrooms, bell peppers, onion,
and we are also using … some pre-packaged
salad that we got at Whole Foods. And instead of using mayonnaise or cheese,
we are using avocado as a condiment. I like to use mushrooms
because they are meaty, they sort of have a texture similar to meat. So they make the sandwich feel more filling. And because they are kind of bland,
they soak up the flavors around them. They kind of go with anything. I used to eat a meal, I would go to a burger joint, but within half an hour to an hour I'm crashing, my body is struggling to try and digest
all these foods. Whereas, now when I eat – and I eat a lot of food –
it's all whole-food, plant-based, but I eat a lot of food,
and now I don't get those symptoms anymore. I'm energized, I'm ready, my tummy feels full, but I don't feel like
I have a rock inside of my belly. And next we are going to slice up an onion. So the onion… It will make it a little bit savory.
But purple onions or red onions,
they're more mild than … white or yellow. It tastes great to eat them raw.
Some of the other ones are too pungent. And next we are going to scoop out avocado … and put that on our pita bread. This is like a base for the sandwich … or pita. You could use bread, whatever kind you like. We like these pitas because it's very pure,
it has just four ingredients, it's whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, and water. We do not spend more,
we actually spend about a third less on groceries. But that's because we buy whole foods
that are reasonably priced. Things like brown rice
and dried beans and pasta, potatoes, things like that.
And then if you consider the money we've saved
with medications and doctor bills, we've saved thousands and thousands
of dollars by eating this way, so it's definitely not more expensive. Those colorful bell peppers add a lot of nice crunch,
the onions adding some savory flavors to it, and then this is a pre-packaged
salad we got at Whole Foods. So we're just going to put
some of that on top. And you can use whatever veggies
you happen to have at home. It's also great
for a cleaning-out-the-fridge meal. And that's how you make
a quick veggie sandwich. My dream one day would be … to not have anybody see the suffering … that has happened to my family happen to yours. You could change that by simply
changing the foods you eat. I would love one day if all the people
on this planet would eat plant-based.
Not only would we be helping our health,
we would be helping the environment … and we wouldn't be causing all the pain
and suffering to these poor animals … that committed no crime other than being born. Find what motivates you if you want to try this, and use that to inspire you. You know,
originally for us it was for health issues, and that's what gave us the prompt to dive in. For other people it might be
environmental issues or things like that, so find what motivates you and explore it. It's not as hard as you might think. I hear a lot,
"It's impossible, I can't do that." What I need you to do is cut that impossible word
after the first two letters: "I'm" and then "possible". If I can do this, if this big meat-eating
macho man, football player can do it, and I'm nobody special,
you can do it as well..
Video Transcript – As found on YouTube
Diabetes and Erectile Dysfunction Reversed with Diet | Marc Ramirez Part 1 | Plant Power Stories
I grew up believing
that diabetes was in my genetics. There's nothing I can do about this. I just have to brace for impact. All of my brothers and sisters with the exception
of one sister has battled with diabetes, but … I look back now to the foods we ate. When you look at this
whole slew of devastation that has … crippled my family
in so many different ways, it really boils down
to the food, it's the food. When I was growing up, I was always a little
bigger than most of the other … males my age. And I loved football, so I had
the fortunate opportunity to play football … and ultimately earned a football scholarship
at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I was a big guy.
I'm 6'2", and in college I played at about 305 pounds. And I grew up believing that … I needed protein. I need protein and I need steak
and I need chicken, and I believed that,
and of course I was big and strong. I was eating a lot, I was eating like an ox. But the bottom line was, after my college playing days were over, twelve years later … I was diagnosed with diabetes. I saw what … his family members went through
because of diabetes. It was like there was a big storm coming. Our future looked dark, honestly. Like we have hope. I thought that it was just in his genes
and it was our destiny and … that I just had to make the best of it. So I'm taking insulin shots twice a day, I'm taking multiple medications for all
these conditions and on top of that, as time went on, I developed psoriasis all over my scalp,
I was overweight, I developed erectile dysfunction.
And again being a big macho football player, I thought that I was invincible, big and strong
and everything was going to be great. Once you develop erectile dysfunction, it is deflating as a man to not be able to go
and make love to… I have a beautiful wife. I know a lot of people, guys that I talk to,
they'll come to me and they'll say, "Hey, you know, I got that issue too." And really what's happening is
your arteries are clogging, your artery to your private
parts is clogging. And the issue with that is
that your other arteries are clogging as well. Your heart, your coronary arteries,
your carotid arteries, those are clogging as well. It's only a matter of time before that
stroke and that heart attack happen, and so that's the bigger issue,
that's the big train wreck that we need to avoid. And I say that and I share it openly
because a lot of guys don't want to talk about this.
They are embarrassed,
and I get it because I was embarrassed too. I didn't want to go tell people my business.
Who does? There's an estimate that 40-50 % of males
over the age of 40 … struggle with ED. Many guys think they're going to pop a pill,
they can go have sex, and life is great. But they're masking that bigger problem,
the train wreck that's around the corner: that's the heart attack and the stroke. And so, something had to change, I did not want to be caught in the position … where I wasn't going to be able
to see my daughter get married. I want to see my grandkids
and I want to see my great-grandkids. And I don't want to be, God forbid,
in a nursing home … or not able to get up and go and enjoy
those times with my family and my loved ones.
I knew at that point
that I needed to make a change and … that's when my wife and I adopted
a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle. I was on medications for a decade,
for ten years, and only getting worse every single year
as time went on. We adopt this lifestyle. And in two months
I was off all five of my medications. In three months I had shed 50 pounds,
which took me down to 210 pounds. And oh, by the way,
that was what I weighed in seventh grade. 13 years old was the last time
I weighed what I weigh today, and I'm 51. I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life,
and I'm the oldest I've ever been. How is that happening?
It's the food. And what we did was we actually adopted
a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle.
So, we eliminated all the animal products, we eliminated the oils out of our diet, and we're sticking now to really four
main food groups: And that's all the fruits, all the vegetables, all the grains, and all the legumes in any shape or form. Instead of cooking with oil, we will steam them,
we'll use veggie broth, we'll bake foods.
Anything we can, but you don't need the oils.
Oils are 100 % fat. And all these foods, when you look at them, they're just loaded and jam-packed with vitamins, with fiber, with minerals,
with phytonutrients, all of the greatness that will help your bodies thrive,
these amazing machines that we all own.
And they are devoid
and don't have any of the cholesterol … and for the most part no saturated fat. They don't have any growth hormones,
no antibiotics, a lot of this that you find in the animal foods. When I look at the changes that I went through, I was able to reverse my type 2 diabetes, reverse my high blood pressure,
reverse my high cholesterol. My erectile dysfunction is gone, my psoriasis is gone, my obesity is gone, and I feel full of life. I'm 51 years old and I feel like I am
literally in the best shape of my life at this point. And what's amazing is when you look
at my lifestyle, my transformation, here I am seven years into
this lifestyle now, and … I know they say never say never, but I'm never
going back to eating the way I used to eat … which was a lot of animal foods
and a lot of oils. I'm eliminating those foods I have for seven years now,
and I never see myself going back because … I feel too damn good now. So if you want to be a real man,
if you want to take care of your family, take care of yourself.
Because … your family doesn't need you to go have a stroke
or a heart attack and then have to take care of you. Be a real man, take care of yourself
and take care of your family. And it's not coming through a pill,
it's going to come through the foods you eat..
Video Transcript – As found on YouTube