Slicing Vegetables and Cholesterol at Veggie Cooking Night

Seventh Day Adventist vegetarian cooking class a hit.

People enjoy vegetarian cuisine at the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Veggie Cooking Night.

By Andres Madueno

Young and old alike packed the Seventh Day Adventist Church last Sunday night to try out some vegetarian recipes, and to learn about vegetarian cooking and healthy lifestyles.

Pastor Kurt Unglaub and wife Margret Unglaub, who hosted the event with a group of volunteers, have lived on Molokai since October 2006. Donning matching outfits, they explained why eating healthy and eating vegetarian can be extremely beneficial.

The Coronary Health Improvement Project
To start the night, Pastor Kurt showed an 11-minute video about a program called Coronary Health Improvement Project (CHIP).

The video demonstrated how having a diet high in fat leads to clogged arteries, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart attack, stroke, and eventually death. It even showed surgeons removing a string of fat deposits from a man’s heart – by far one of the scariest, but enlightening, movies you will ever see.

Studies showed that people’s cholesterol levels would drop an average of 15 to 20 percent within three weeks after adopting the CHIP program, which in turn helped decrease the risk of a heart attack by 50 percent. After three to four weeks on the program, people’s use of blood pressure pills dropped to an average of 50 to 85 percent, less than what they were prescribed. And within four to eight weeks of being on the program, diabetics had a 50 percent decrease in their insulin intakes.

Pastor Kurt discussed the results of the three CHIP programs in Honolulu he ran, the outcomes matched the video predictions.

When asked to do a show of hands of people in the room who were willing to give the CHIP program a chance, almost the entire room of about 60 attendees were willing and excited to give it a try.

Success Story
Adding some extra excitement to the program, Carol Kanemitsu (or Auntie Carol, as you may know her) told us about her remarkable weight loss and recovery from obesity.

With the help of God and a healthy diet, Auntie Carol lost 70 lbs and gained an excellent health reading when she went back to the doctor after completing the program.

“My friends asked me what my secret was and I told them that I didn’t have any secret. I just asked God for his help and guidance and I decided to change my ways,” she told the group.

Auntie Carol, who started out as a vegetarian, has now been a vegan for almost one year, and is healthier than ever.

Time to Eat
After Auntie Carol’s inspiring speech, the church group brought out vegetarian dishes they had prepared for the group. They had brown rice, vegetarian meatloaf, millet, Thai curry, tamale casserole, vegetarian stir-fry, Mexican slaw, and banana bread.

All the dishes were made with all natural or organic products, and everyone who attended the class was given a copy of the recipes for each of the dishes made that night, and a sample one-week healthy eating plan.

When everyone had eaten their fill of the buffet, the Pastor, members of the church and a local doctor were there to answer every question.

After a night of good food, fun, and education, everyone was ready to give this cooking class, and the CHIP program a shot. Pastor Kurt led everyone in a farewell prayer and the night ended in high spirits, full stomachs, and a positive attitude about future classes.

For those of you who missed the class this time around, another class will be held on Aug. 24, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at  the Seventh Day Adventist Church. For more information call Paster Kurt 553-4202.