vegan [ˈviːgən] n  a strict vegetarian; someone who eats no animal, dairy or poultry products

wrinklies [ˈrɪŋklɪz] pl n (Sociology) informal derogatory description of old people

The Dishwasher and The Chef

Hello! We’re Robert (The Dishwasher) and Peggy (The Chef)  Stermer-Cox.  Welcome to our web site!

Our journey to a plant-based diet began in December of 2011.  Part of The Dishwasher’s morning routine is to prepare his breakfast then watch a few minutes of on Netflix Streaming.  Late in December, The Dishwasher was watching “Forks Over Knives”, a documentary on plant-based diets.  The old, well worn, cliche “It changed our lives”, comes to mind, but that’s exactly what happened.

The Chef started watching the first week in January of 2012.  When the documentary was done, The Dishwasher turned to The Chef and declared that a plant-based diet was exactly what he wanted to do and The Chef agreed that plant-based was the way to go.

There were other motivating factors involved, however.  The Dishwasher was threatened with diabetes because of a couple high glucose readings and both he and The Chef wanted to get off the daily medicines they were having to take, but the primary motivation for The Dishwasher was to maximize his remaining time (at 68, maybe 20 more good years?) with the one he loves: The Chef.  “I love her dishes and her pots and pans!” is often heard after meals.

In 2006, we were campground hosts at North Camp in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah (photo above).  The Dishwasher had just turned 62 and, um, The Chef is thirteen years younger, so you figure it out.  Our diet was probably a little better than average; we both exercised; drank in moderation; and weren’t visibly abusing our bodies.  We are still in relatively good health, but we are both on medicine we have to take every day and the aches and pains we once attributed to “old age” are coming on.

After watching “Forks Over Knives”, our whole attitude about ourselves and what we’re putting in our bodies, changed.  We both now believe that a lot of our problems are the result of poor eating habits.  The results we’ve had in the few weeks since we started this in January of 2012 has had demonstrable, dramatic, positive effects on us.  Our goal is to get our bodies back in balance based on the Hippocratic philosophy of using food as medicine and medicine as food and wean ourselves from pharmaceuticals.  Join us on our journey.

Do not make any changes to your diet, exercise routine or lifestyle based on anything you read here without first discussing it with your doctor.  Since every human is different, what works for us may not work for you.