Neerob_#WFPB001- Introducing Izzy & The Neerob project

 

Meet Israt "Izzy" Rito.

Izzy is a wonderful young lady who works with the PEP Agency in our neighborhood (Parkchester Enhancement Program for Seniors), a social services agency. She and I have begun to collaborate with outreach in the Bangladeshi community, specifically in connection with the Lifestyle Medicine Dinners at Neerob, and my cooking classes at St. Helena's church. 

I was very impressed when she told me her story about researching ways to help her mother with diabetes, and on her own she helped her mother switch to brown rice instead of white, and they already noticed a significant improvement. Now, she is learning about the whole range of Whole Foods Plant-Based nutrition, and I am sure that will help her even more.

In the context of my involvement in these things, we are now beginning to work on a collection of Bangladeshi-style recipes, some that will come from Neerob restaurant, and some that came from home cooking. Inevitably some will be more Bangla - #WFPB - Fusion. We will clarify that in each article.

What is inspiring to me from living in this Bangladeshi community, which grew up around me, is all the new fruits and vegetables I learned to eat, and I am still learning. Learning also how Type Ii Diabetes (T2D) and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) run at levels of 30-40% above the average population, because of a genetic handicap of simply smaller diameter blood vessels, it is particularly inspiring to be working on a way to help with health improvements through better nutrition and better kitchen techniques. There is so much healthy food in the Bangladeshi kitchen, but, besides leaving out animal protein, it is also the style of preparation that makes all the difference in the world. We look forward to a healthy collaboration involving Izzy, Neerob Restaurant and its owner, Mohammed "Khokon" Rahman, and myself, along with Plant Powered Metro New York and the T. Colin Campbell Institute of Nutrition Studies.

Ever since we met Dr. Zafar Mirza from Pakistan a few months ago, who is now the President of the Pakistan Association for Lifestyle Medicine, we have become aware of how Lifestyle Medicine has caught on in Pakistan, and we hope that the Bangladeshi community will follow suit.  

Lifestyle Medicine Dinner at Neerob

The other day, we had our Lifestyle Medicine dinner at Neerob. Varun Ponmudi, the CEO of Aayas Table gave us a presentation about the six person pilot program they offered in October - a month of WFPB instruction in your own home. Some basic biometrics were reported before and after. The mix of dietary habits was interesting, but on the whole the group averaged out on the healthy side of what is unfortunately normal, nevertheless, the results were significant, including a 4.5 lb weight loss during the period.

Results were good, but there were a few lapses.

Varun Ponmudi presenting results of AayasTable pilot program

• Total Cholesterol went down for all six participants, with four out of six reporting ending numbers of below 150, Dr. Esselstyn's definition of "heart-attack-proof."
• Triglycerides were more mixed. Two were up and four were down.
• LDL at 30 days was down across the board.

A few people lapsed with some oil and processed vegan.





Unfortunately, none of the participants could be attend the dinner at this time, but from personal feedback I know that this program made a critical difference for some people. It is an enormous support to have someone help you out in your own home.
 
The high point of the evening in many ways was when Md. "Khokon" Rahman, the owner of Neerob, shared his own experiences. In August when he had a heart-attack, he was hospitalized with TC above 180, and his last bloodwork on 10/12/2019 showed TC at 92, prompting his physician to ask him how he did it.

The result is that Khokon is now a leader in his community in this area, along with the Bangladeshi nurse at Elmhurst, Md. Shariful Islam, who spoke at one of our dinners previously. Mr. Islam is always a shining example to me, because he came all the way from Elmhurst to become the patient of Dr. Ostfeld in the Bronx, purely because Dr. Ostfeld is a plant-based cardiologist. Here is a spectacular report on one of Dr. Ostfeld's patients, who googled his way out of bypass surgery to go and use lifestyle medicine instead, becoming a patient in Dr. Ostfeld's Cardiac Wellness Program at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx.

The whole point of the exercise in a way is that at a point when it is critical, an intervention may be unavoidable, e.g. a stent, or whatever, but as long as it is elective, things can be turned around very quickly on a Whole Foods, Plant-Based diet.

The Food at Neerob

As per usual, Neerob did an outstanding job on the food. A great fresh green salad, a vegetable spaghetti salad, bean soup, a nice dal, brown rice, chinese style veggies, steamed broccoli.
Neerob will become a destination for #WFPB food in the Bronx. They achieved a Plant Pure Communities Restaurant certification in February 2019 and it is getting better all the time.

Our November 18 #WFPB dinner at Neerob

Just to commemorate our latest supper at Neerob, here are some pictures from this remarkable evening.

Three Salads in one Bowl!

At the table.

The entire group

We frankly devoured our dinner and Neerob did an extraordinary job. They are clearly experimenting with different dishes and aiming to get their PPC Restaurant campaign qualification by January.

The main thing on the agenda was the possbility of launching a Oasis Jumpstart program in the Bronx and to that end, the following resources are possibly involved in creating such a solution:

• IFH clinic in Soundview 
• St. Helena's School Cafeteria & monthly cooking class
• ShopRite Bruckner
• Neerob Restaurant
• Possibly the Sonia Sotomayor Center
• Dr. Joel Posner at Monterfiore East

It remains important to see how there is a core support system growing in our district with the following main geographic area:

Plant-based support in Community Board #9

Inspiration at Neerob on Nutrition and Health

The other day (10/9/18) we had a Dinner for Doctors at Neerob Restaurant with a mixed group of doctors, medical organizations, other medical professionals and general audience.

Neerob put on one spectacular plant-based dinner with a choice of four different salads, followed by a main dish of rice and two vegetable dishes and a sauce based on lentils, which is always delicious. In other words, it was a world-class plant-based dinner and a marvellous display of the flexibility and experience of Neerob Restaurant.

Chef (dark blue shirt) and Khokon, the owner (light blue shirt)

There was a lot of information distributed, on the American College of Lifestyle Physicians, which provides a way for doctors to get certified in this new specialty which revolves around prevention above all and lifestyle choices as the means, including diet, exercise, rest, relaxation, and so on.

I provided some information on Plant Pure Communities, the not for profit support group for the whole foods, plant-based diet of which I am the Group Leader for the Bronx. Our Facebook group is:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PPCDaBronxPod/

We also provided some brief information on the 2nd Annual Montefiore Preventive Cardiology Conference, which took place the Saturday before, 10/6. After that, we proceeded with the speakers, starting with the keynote speaker for the evening, Dr. Sharon Wasserstrom, who is the first ACLM certified doctor in the Bronx, and she practices at the Montefiore clinic at 2300 Westchester Avenue... but she is going to move to Florida at the end of the year.

Dr. Sharon Wasserstrom

Dr. Wasserstrom gave a very insightful short introduction about the whole foods plant-based diet and its role in medicine, starting from the point of view that medicine became the victime of its own success based on the tremendous progress in modern times in the treatment of infectious disease, but then tried to deal with chronic illness in the same vein. However, most of the chronic diseases we are struggling with, high bloodpressure, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, on and on are primarily the result of diet, and diet should be the first means of addressing them and this is where the whole foods, plant-based diet comes in as the optimal human nutrition.
Dr. Wasserstrom presented three case histories for a Bangladeshi, a black person and a white patient, including the ups and downs, depending on how well the patients followed the diet. The results are very quick, so with a little reinforcement, people are usually motivated to continue. In most cases, it works better than medication and it has no side effects, and in the short term a physician can always assist with medication, although the levels of prescriptions may have to be adjusted quickly.

Moh. Islam on the right

Then we had some testimonials, first from Moh. Islam, a Bangladeshi nurse from Elmhurst Hospital who had a bad heart problem (95% blockage of one coronary artery), at age 36 and had a stent put in, but after trying several cardiologists he ended up working with Dr. Robert Ostfeld at the Montefiore Cardiac Wellness Program. His words were from the heart, and he explained how the genetic makeup of Southeast Asians pre-disposes them to heart disease, because their arteries are typically narrower than Westerners, so they block up easier. Another Bangladeshi person in the room chimed in that he had a heart attack at age 36. Mr. Islam ended with a powerful appeal to his Bangladeshi brothers to take care of business, starting with a Whole Foods, Plant-Based diet.

After Mr. Islam, Father David Powers of St. Helena's shared some of his experience with a fair dose of self-deprecating humor. In a different way his story is also impressive, having lost about 100 lbs since he started on the diet and feeling better.

Lastly, Angela Vita, the retail dietitian from the ShopRite at Bruckner Commons gave us a run down on shopping for a whole foods, plant-based diet at ShopRite, complete with a flyer that provides a directory to the store. Also, she announced an upcoming cooking demonstration at the store, in collaboration of CB#9 with Plant Pure Communities on 10/27 at noon.

As a general announcement, we also shared that on 10/20 we have a new Plant-Based cooking class at St. Helena's.

It was clear that sparks of inspiration were flying, and we are planning a new "dinner for doctors" to follow-up on this one in the spring, hopefully coinciding with Neerob obtaining a certification of (part of) their menu from Plant Pure Communities and from Plantricious as well.

July #WFPB Supper at Neerob Restaurant

We had another lovely #WFPB supper at Neerob Restaurant, with the usual GABA Brown Basmati Rice, and dishes of Vegetables, preceded by a brilliant and very aromatic cucumber and tomato salad.

The vegetable dishes included a dish of yellow split lentils with malabar spinach (poi leaf), a delicious dish with Okra, a dish with Broccoli and a dish with Cauliflower.

All in all it was a glorious meal and a perfect example of how good plant-based meals can be.

Khokon, the owner of Neerob Restaurant was one of the people who very quickly "got it," once I explained to him the first time how to cook without oil. Muhammed Mujumder stopped by to sample some of the meal as well...

L-R: Rogier, Mujumder, Khokon, Fr. David

The first annual St. Helena/Community Board #9 Plant-Based Health Fair

This weekend (Saturday May 26th, to be precise) was the First Annual St. Helena/Community Board #9 Plant-Based Health Fair.

Vendors 

We had a wonderful group of vendors, including:

• Jeanne Schumacher, team lead of Plant-Based Westchester, and part of PlantPure Communities
• Miguel, of Miguel's Flowershop on 1878 Cross-Bronx Expressway, off White Plains Road, with a huge selection of plants, all organized around the theme ofhow plants help clean up the indoor air.
• Montefiore was there with Information about the Cardiac Wellness Program and other great information on Plant-Based Living, to remind us that heart-disease, like many other chronic illnesses, is reversible with a plant-based lifestyle.
• The police was there to recruit for their upcoming exams, and one of the officers was very interested in plant-based living.
• Bronx Community Health Network (BCHN) was there, with more good nutritional information
• Dhokela Yzeiraj was there with information about Ayurvedic nutrition and medicine.
• Lilian Quartuccia, Homeopathist was there with great information about homeopathy.
• Taqueria Tlaxcalli, provided some plant-based food, an absolutely brilliant black-bean salad, very delicate, with just a bit of Mexican flair in the form of Jalapeno peppers.
• Neerob Restaurant was there with a brilliant dish of basmati rice, with a lentil-based sauce, and a mixed-vegetable sauce with cauliflower and water squash.

Program - Speakers 

With a brief introduction from the organizers, Father David Powers, the pastor of St. Helena's parish, Anthony Tramantano, consultant for GoodNNatural, the Bronx' first and only health food store, and myself, speaking for PlantBased DaBronx, and the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies, our program of speakers took off, and the program ran through 4:15 PM.

1. Jeanne Schumacher was the first presenter, and her background as a chemistry teacher showed in her presentation, which was an excellent introduction to all the practical aspects of adopting a plant-based lifestyle.
2. We had a brief station-break for an address by Alessandra Biaggi who is running for State Senate for district 34, (Mount Vernon, Pelham, and parts of the Bronx) - with an agenda that includes a focus on education, women's rights, affordable housing, gun control, the economy, with a healthy focus on sustainability, but she also informed us on the new NY Universal Healthcare Bill, which she supports and which passed in the Assembly last year and still needs to pass the Senate.
3. Rogier F. van Vlissingen (that's me) gave a presentation on the basic nutritional framework of the plant-based lifestyle with materials from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornell. He took a certificate course there. This course teaches the materials of the book professor T. Colin Campbell wrote with his physician son, Thomas Campbell, to popularize the findings of his academic work, The China Study, which remains the largest ever study of nutrition and health.
   In his presentation he mentioned the example of Jesse Caballero, who is the wife of the owner of Taqueria Tlaxcalli on Starling Avenue. Jesse made an amazing turn-around with the plant-based diet after a serious illness, and in four months she lost 55 lbs.

4. Dr. Sharon Wasserstrom, FACLM was the next speaker, she is the first plant-based physician in the Bronx, certified by the American College of Lifestyle Physicians. Her office is in our district, at the Montefiore clinic on 2300 Westchester Avenue. She spoke about some of her own clinical experience, and the amazing results, including how the results immediately show how fast.
5. Rogier spoke briefly on the future of healthcare, in which 70% of the focus is going to be on diet and lifestyle in general based on the new plant-based nutrition. The plant-based revolution will also clearly put the patient in charge, and that in and of itself will bring new relevance to many different healing modalities, including the ones represented at the fair today, naturopathy, homeopathy, Ayurveda, and Chinese Medicine.
6. Anthony Tramantano and Stuart Vander spoke about GoodNNatural, which is a Bronx-based healthfood store on 2173 White Plains Road, close to East Tremont Avenue. GoodNNatural stocks a lot of great products that are helpful for a plant-based lifestyle, including the full complement of Bob's Red Mill, and Soups by Dr. McDougall, and many others.
7. Dhokela gave us an impassioned speech about Ayurvedic nutrition, and how the whole Ayurvedic framework helps you be more aware of your body's responses to food, and the connection with the energy body. Originally Ayurveda is not a plant-based tradition, but still it can provide useful guidance for plant-based living if you tweak it appropriately, it certainly provides a way to become friends with yourself in your lifestyle choices.
8. Lillian Quartuccia provided a great introduction to Homeopathy, which is an often overlooked healing modality that was developed by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann in the 18th century. Homeopathic remedies have the great benefit of producing NO side effects. The one product many of us know, even if we don't know much about homeopathy is Oscillococcinum, which is a widely available flu remedy.
9. Carina Lopez, ND provided a lively introduction to herbs with a special focus on Chinese Medicine, which is yet another healing modality that can be helpful to many. While the approach is different, all three, homeopathy, Ayurveda, and Chinese medicine, are in essence varieties of energy medicine, which in general is undoubtedly becoming more and more important.
10. The final speaker was Ronda Lamb for the Parkchester CSA, which is a program to distribute organic vegetables at St. Paul's. You can buy a share in a farm's output for the season. The farm she represents is Stoneledge Farm in the Northern Catskills.
11. Father David Powers closed it out with a biblical pitch for the plant-based diet, reminding us all that the plant-based tradition goes back a long time.

 Literature Table

 There was ample information available on the literature table

• Showing of Forks Over Knives at NYPL Parkchester on June 2nd at 1 PM at the Parkchester Library. All are welcome. We had a sign-up sheet, but no RSVP is needed.
• Information on our monthly Suppers/#WFPB cooking classes at St. Helena's, with the next one being on June 16th. The program starts at 3 PM and 3 - 4 is for food prep, 4 - 5 is dinner time, and 5 - 5:29 is clean-up.
• There was information about The American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Through their website you can find lifestyle physicians where you live, and you can also be a lay member and have access to a wealth of useful information about plant-based living and health.
• There also was information about the 4LeafProgram, which is an excellent way to track just how well you are doing with your plant-based diet, and to keep you on track. It is used in many health plans as a self-assessment.
• Finally, there was information about the Suppers program, based on the book Logical Miracles. It is a do-it-yourself program to create dietary support groups at home, by hosting meal preparations at home and sharing the grocery bills with a few friends, to provide mutual support in achieving a diet and lifestyle change.
• There was also a flyer for Miguel's flower shop which explained which plants are good at cleaning up your indoor air, all based on NASA research.