Plant Strong in Black Mountain North Carolina

April 19-24, 2026                                                   Most Recent Posts:
Plant Strong Retreat                                       In Virginia For Spring
Black Mountain, N.C                                 My 2nd Favorite Animal on the River

In late April I attended a retreat put on by the Esselstyn Family Foundation and Plant Strong based on the work of physician Caldwell Esselstyn at the Cleveland Clinic.   I had read his book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease some years ago and when following his protocol was able to reduce my Lipid Levels significantly and avoid medication. 

But then David got sick, things got difficult and I wasn’t able to maintain my numbers. Like many people, I took what seemed like the easier way with medication.   But now I’d like to get off the statins if I can and as far as I know, Dr. Esselstyn is the only one who has done research showing heart disease is reversible. .  I highly recommend his book and this PBS program.

It was a 6 day extremely well organized and presented retreat which included all meals so we could see how easy it is to eat this way.  Every day there were multiple exercise possibilities, hikes, yoga, fitness workouts.  The center of the program was the presentations of evidence based whys and how-tos.  These were given by physicians, psychiatrists, nutritionists, Esselstyn family members who have lived this life their entire lives and others whose stories of amazing change by becoming “Plant Strong” were incredible.

Here are some highlights of my 5 days and 5 nights at the gorgeous YMCA Retreat Center in Black Mountain North Carolina shown above on the left and at the end of this post..

Day 1

Meeting Fellow Participants.  Some had come from great distances, the west coast and Canada.

Not a great shot of the gorgeous dining area with round tables seating 6 so that we could ideally have meals with a different set of people each meal, each day   Check out the view.  I wish it were as boldly colorful in this picture as it was in person.

Cafeteria style dining except this food is Plant Strong with no SOS (sugar, oil or salt)

Many interesting choices every day.

I met Sky (close right)  from Tennessee on my first day and we had so much in common it was amazing.  We became good friends and keep in touch with each other nearly daily now.

The food was delicious and so filling.  We were encouraged to eat as much as we wanted despite the fact that many  people were here to lose weight which they did.

Rip Esselstyn (John Peter Esselstyn) talks about his experience asa  former professional Tri Athlete and then firefighter who changed the lives of the men in his firehouse by changing the way they ate and changed his own life publishing a best selling book about it.  The story in the book,  The Engine 2 Diet,  is very inspiring.  He went on to found the company Plant Strong which with the Esselstyn Family Foundation put on this retreat.

There were 96 participants from the US and Canada.  Some in their 30’s, some in their 80’s.

Day 2

The retreat center had been a serious victim of the devastation in the North Carolina Mountains from Hurricane Helene in late September of 2024.  Seeing the photos on display in the lobby, I found it amazing that they had come so far in a year and a half.

This is the perfect time to come to the North Carolina mountains to enjoy the beautiful rhododendron.

At 7am I took an excellent yoga class, then we checked out the menu for the day, had a delicious breakfast and the presentations began.

Today’s were The Seven Pillars of PLANTSTRONG Living and where you Stand”  at 9am.  I’ve included some of what I thought were the most interesting slides.

One Tablespoon of oil – butter, margarine, olive oil……..   Oil is 100% fat.

Of course you won’t eat a pound of any of these but comparatively even 6 oz is markedly different.

“Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease:  The Mechanism Explained” by Dr. Brian Asbill at 10:45.

At noon was a cooking demonstration by the multi cookbook author Jane Esselstyn:  Breakfasts of Champions followed of course by lunch since that made us all hungry.

After lunch, Dr. Elizabeth Winings talked about the Mind-Mood-Food connection.  the Brain on Plants.  SO interesting I took no pictures unfortunately.

At 3pm there was free time or planned hikes, pickleball, Restorative Yoga.

After dinner Adam Sud presented “From Pills to Plants: What Real Change Looks Like” which was his story of  depression, obesity, addiction, near suicide and recovery.  He changed his entire life after being hospitalized and going on a plant based diet upon release.  A Powerful and amazing story.  I am so sorry I did not get a picture of the slide he showed of himself at 350 pounds along with what he looks like now.  (picture below).   There are few things more powerful than a true life story.

The evening closed with a guided meditation.

Day 3

The format of the remaining days was the same – exercise, breakfast, 2 presentations, cooking demo, lunch, afternoon presentations, free time, dinner, evening presentation and guided meditation.

You would think so many presentations would be over kill but it really wasn’t.  They were all so amazingly interesting.

Presentation Topics for Day 3 were

T-Bones to Tofu: The Engine 2 Story – Rip Esselstyn

Sensation vs Education: How to Evaluate Nutrition Claims in a World of Noise-Adam Sud

The Psychology of Plant-Based Eating  Brian Hart

The Pleasure Trap – Why Change Feels hard  Dr. Doug Lisle

The evidence of the connections between the food we eat and all major western diseases including Alzheimers and Demntia was quite sobering.

And of course everybody’s favorite – cooking with Jane.   While we all really wish we could just stay here and have this amazing food prepared for us, we have to go home and do it ourselves.  Jane shows us how easy it is.

Day 4

We had 4 more interesting lectures, Jane’s Cooking Demo of her favorite dinners

And what was billed as a Top Secret Celebrity Surprise

We watched the video of 90 year old Ann Esselstyn breaking the Guinness Book of world Records for the dead hang.   Really incredible.  Have you ever tried to dead hang for even 15 seconds?   I wish they had had a bar for us to try and see just how difficult it is.  Ann is Caldwell Esselstyn’s wife and she has been Plant Strong for nearly 50 years.

Day 5

This was the last full day of the retreat. 

We learned how to really read food labels designed by corporations to confuse us,

We talked about Strategies for returning home where not everyone eats this way and almost no restaurants cook this way.   

We watched How Not to Die Documentary which I definitely recommend if you haven’t seen it.   It’s available on U-Tube and numerous other places.

The day closed with a “Talent Show”.   Some of it was really hilarious but there were also some actually talented people.

This was such a fantastic experience, so well planned and executed.  I would love to do it again to be with such a wonderful group of people.

DAY 6

This was a half day with a group hike, breakfast and a closing gathering.

In the closing circle, we were all given bracelets to remind us to remain
PLANT STRONG and say KALE YES!     
I love it.

And what a perfect place for a retreat.   Hats off to the Esselstyn foundation and Plant Strong.   They even gave us each a bag lunch for our trip home.

In Virginia for Spring

March 26 – April 18, 2026                                              Most Recent Posts
Driving To and At                                  My 2nd Favorite Animal on the River
Greenfield Mountain Farm                 Rainbow Springs Hiking and Kayaking
Virginia                                                                                      

As is my usual trip north I did a 3 night hop to Virginia staying in Walmart parking lots in St. Mary’s Georgia and  Walterboro South Carolina but this time something different in North Carolina.  Rather than stay in the Walmart parking lot in Roanoke Rapids for free I stayed at Carolina Crossroads RV park so I’d have both electricity (overnight low 38 degrees) and a dump station.  For this I paid $69.40 to bring my own house and bed to use their electricity and water.   This is why I don’t go to private RV parks unless I can get at least a weekly rate and preferably monthly to get the per night cost down to something reasonable. BUT tonight was not a Walmart night so I’m thankful there was an alternative near by.

When was at the end of my 826 miles, I traveled down the narrow, curving, hilly white knuckle county road that leads to the 3/4 mile farm lane.

I thought I was home free.  But just as I came around the last bend through the trees to where it opens into the valley, there was a tree across the road.   It must have fallen in the last day or so since I’d had the lane checked before I left Florida.  Too big to lift but luckily a neighbor was home and had a chain saw to help.  I was too busy carrying logs to think of taking a picture.  Sure wish I had.  I’d thought this was going to be a trip back without incident.  Oh well…..

But here we are, Winnona in the barnyard and me in the farmhouse.

The welcoming committee.

Beautiful skies looking out to the lane I came in on.

Later that night, looking the same direction,  a  bright nearly full moon over the mountains

One of the reasons I spend spring in Virginia is the beautiful flowers and trees.  The dogwoods are in bloom around the yard

Also on the edges of the field

and in the woods.

Another reason I’m here is that I haven’t seen the ones I love most since December.  Carrie and the kids arrive on April 8th.

I spent the next days doing my taxes and cleaning up the house from 5 months of being gone.  The floors look like an invasive asain lady beetle graveyard.  No pictures of that horror I don’t want to remember.

The day after they arrived we took our flashlights to hike the Blue Ridge Tunnel.  This was right down the kid’s alley.

The Blue Ridge Tunnel opened to rail traffic in 1858.  It lies beneath Rockfish Gap where Interstate 64, US Rt 250, The Blue Ridge Parkway, Skyline drive through Shenandoah National Park and the Appalachian Trail converge.  It’s amazing that it was built by Irish Laborers and enslaved African Americans using hand tools and black powder.  At 4273 feet it was the longest railroad tunnel in the US when completed. 

It’s pretty dark in there.

The entry ways are brick and the tunnel is rock.

With the flashlights off you couldn’t see anything.  Even with them on if you pointed them to the ground you could only see where you were walking.  You had to point them up to light up the tunnel like the photos above and below.

Not sure how this would be after a heavy rain.  You can see the water on the right the day we came and it hadn’t rained for a few days.

Is this the bright light at the end of a tunnel everyone talks about?

Celia sleeps in what was Carrie’s room in the alcove bed David made for her.  It has a trundle bed for overnight sleep overs.   I think we are creating a 3rd generation of readers.  It’s wonderful!

Colin creates with duplos and Celia with blocks.  Carrie was so careful with  her toys that they are still around for her children to enjoy.

We started out on Saturday morning for the Kite Festival but were really disappointed to learn it hadn’t been held in 3 years even though AI had told us where it would be on this particular Saturday in April in 2026.  Be very careful to seek a source other than AI for anything important.

We ended up at Spruce Creek park instead which after a bit of disappointment sulking turned out to be great fun.

Colin forges ahead, his big sister is not so sure about deeper water.

Back safely to the shallows.

The park has kindly placed chairs around for waiting parents or whoever.

Another reason to be in Virginia for the spring – the Virginia Bluebells have just begun to appear.

He STILL doesn’t weigh enough.

The park has one of the greatest play spaces I’ve seen and I didn’t get any pictures but this one.   It’s the top of an old cupboard with doors and drawers and hooks and pots and pans and is labeled The Mud Kitchen using water from the creek and sand to create.

The box Colin is in is usually filled with sand which you dip out standing on the outside but apparently it hasn’t been refilled in a while.  So since he couldn’t reach, he just resourcefully climbed inside.   Huge mistake on my part not to get pictures of the muffins they made.   Next time!

After all that cooking, it’s time for ice cream at Black Bear Creamery on the way home.

Celia playing detective looking for clues.

Colin working with the drawing books.

The results of his efforts.  Multiple tries on the butterfly but ultimate success. I love the giraffe.

The detective looking for more clues.

What a lovely picture of the farm Carrie took on her walk with Colin through the woods to the pond.

We prove you can read anywhere.

Colin seems more interested in the art of Georgia O’Keeffe than Celia.

On another day we went up to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The farm is located down in the Rockfish Valley behind Colin.  

We checked out the the 1890’s preserved farm and the Humpback Rocks visitor center which wasn’t open yet.  No doubt due to funding shortages.

After checking out all the farm buildings even though we could not go inside, we hiked over to the Humpback Rocks area.

After deciding the hiking there was too busy we drove on down the parkway a bit and hiked a while on the AT.

Back home, there were more games including this architecture puzzle which had 6 houses to put together.  Turned out to be harder than we thought to get all the details matched up.

Colin’s fancy train station.

Then I taught the kids how to play solitaire.  Celia did pretty well when she tried it herself.

But Colin was more interested in playing War and beating the pants off of me.  Wish you could see his grin.

The time went by all too fast but this is for sure my main reason for hanging out in Virginia.  That and the wonderful blooms.  

After they left the purple Iris put on a show.

All the insects were crazy about the Rhododendron and Azalea

Mountain Laurel is related to the Rhododendron.  Both are in the Heath family.

So many buds on the Peony which is just beginning to blossom

Next up is a side trip for me without Winnona to Black Mountain, North Carolina.