Could the vegans be onto something?

I got a mini-lecture from my doctor after my checkup Monday. My blood pressure was up after having been good for about three years now, but I have not watched my diet at all in the last six months. Not even in passing, although I did gain a mere two pounds in the last half year. On top of that, my coffee drinking has spiked up to (honestly) five or so cups a day where he wants me to stop at two. Caffeine apparently contributes to high blood pressure if only in the short term, dash it all. That one really strikes at my Cosgriff psyche, let me tell you. My Hutchins side too gets its dander up at the thought of limiting my coffee intake. Both sides of my family tree are/were heavy imbibers of the bean.

But, of course, the medicos these days try not to dish out pills willy nilly. So I got my talk about eating better and putting the pedal to the coffee brake (yes, I meant that; I'm so punny). Lose weight, watch the carbs, easy on the salt, slow down on the coffee, cut down on red meat and processed foods, blah, blah, freakin' blah. One meal a day should be salad or vegetables only, Marty. Yet to be fair, when I paid at least some attention to my diet and ate somewhat better my BP did go down, from 158/94 to 107/74 my last checkup before this one. It was 146/86 Monday if you care to know.

Anyway, as I morosely walked along the fruit and vegetable aisles at the local supermarket looking for, ahem, good things to eat, I spied a package of broccoli and cauliflower and carrots which you could steam in the bag. All right, methinks, me gotta try something. I bought a bag, and I microwave steamed it when I got home. And It. Was. Good. Very good, in fact. Without butter, mind you!

So maybe the vegans are onto something. If I can find more easy fixes like that (I did also buy some dry salad that I will, I swear, make myself eat for lunch the next two days) I might actually get into the vegan thing.

Not that I expect to actually do that full bore, mind you. I cannot imagine taking that big of a step. It goes against my quite admittedly carnivorous tastes. Still, I never imagined even considering the question a scant few hours ago.