Time To Change

[Raymac]

Hello, I am 55 years and have had some recent bad news about my health. I had been experiencing chest pains and went to the doctors and scheduled a catheterization and the news was not good. I had a 100% blocked artery and two other arteries had significant blockage. The doctor was not comfortable putting in stents and I don't want a bypass at this point. So we are going to be aggressive with medication and I am going to go adopt a Vegan diet. I find it interesting that none of my doctors really emphasized diet all that much. But after reading books by the following doctors- Esselstyn, Greger, Barnard, Ornish, and others; I feel my best bet is using plant based nutrition at this point. I am married with three children and am very motivated to change my lifestyle.
On the positive side, its been a little over 3 weeks and I no longer have chest pains and I am walking 4 miles a day. Trying to find foods that I like and turn this into a life long change. I also have diabetes and my biggest challenge has been controlling my blood sugar. I've done Keto in the past and it was successful for me as far as blood sugar control. However, I've also concluded that it did havoc on my arteries. Anyway, I have a lot to learn about the vegan lifestyle and from looking at various posts this site seems to be a great resource for support and information. Ray

 

[KLS52]

Hello and welcome! Congratulations and Best of luck on your lifestyle change.

 

[silva]

So glad you're here Raymac!
All the physicians you've mentioned have made tremendous changes in peoples health!
I worked with a man who'd gone through heart disease, type 2 diabetes--having had stents, bypass--all trying to follow the low fat low salt "DASH" diet. He found Dr Esselstyn, went as 100% as possible, and in less than 2 years turned his life around. He no longer needed any drugs to control his sugar, he's trim, runs marathons, healthy and happy.
You're certainly on the right track now! Congrats and

 

[Brian W]

Hi Raymac. You're from my favourite part of the world. I used to really enjoy visiting Glastonbury, Cheddar, the Mendips and the Quantocks. It's good to hear that you no longer have chest pains. I hope your recovery continues and that we can encourage you with your new diet.

 

[Amy SF]

Welcome!

 

[beforewisdom]

Hi Raymac,

You might be interesting some books by Dr. Dean Ornish. He has the only program clinically proven to reduce heart disease through diet. He has been around long enough to have his books in the library. He hired chefs to come up with the recipes for his books.

His mentor was Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn. President Clinton used his program after his bipass operation to regain his health. Dr. Ornish's program involves a complete lifestyle overhaul ( diet, meditation, stress control, etc ). Esselstyn's program is only about the diet: low fat whole vegan foods. Both work.

 

[Nutrivegan]

I really like Dr. Fuhrman’s approach with his G-BOMBS diet style. Also, I like Dr. Gregor‘s daily dozen checklist for making intelligent choices. I have been mostly vegan for eight or nine years but, after gaining some weight, I have stuck to Dr. Fuhrman’s plan for a year and a half. I lost all my weight and I’m currently at an ideal BMI. I can’t say enough about his books and videos on YouTube. I think you should read his materials first. According to his plan you should lose about a pound or two per week eating a large salad every day and a pound of cooked vegetables and beans. You focus on food such as greens beans onions mushrooms berries and seeds. You also make sure to include high lignan seeds like flaxseed and Chia and sesame seeds. Also, nuts are on the menu. I would just jump in headfirst and drop whatever you’re doing and eat this way to lower risk of chronic disease.

 

[Ahimsa]

Hello, I am 55 years and have had some recent bad news about my health. I had been experiencing chest pains and went to the doctors and scheduled a catheterization and the news was not good. I had a 100% blocked artery and two other arteries had significant blockage. The doctor was not comfortable putting in stents and I don't want a bypass at this point. So we are going to be aggressive with medication and I am going to go adopt a Vegan diet. I find it interesting that none of my doctors really emphasized diet all that much. But after reading books by the following doctors- Esselstyn, Greger, Barnard, Ornish, and others; I feel my best bet is using plant based nutrition at this point. I am married with three children and am very motivated to change my lifestyle.
On the positive side, its been a little over 3 weeks and I no longer have chest pains and I am walking 4 miles a day. Trying to find foods that I like and turn this into a life long change. I also have diabetes and my biggest challenge has been controlling my blood sugar. I've done Keto in the past and it was successful for me as far as blood sugar control. However, I've also concluded that it did havoc on my arteries. Anyway, I have a lot to learn about the vegan lifestyle and from looking at various posts this site seems to be a great resource for support and information. Ray

Hello, I am 55 years and have had some recent bad news about my health. I had been experiencing chest pains and went to the doctors and scheduled a catheterization and the news was not good. I had a 100% blocked artery and two other arteries had significant blockage. The doctor was not comfortable putting in stents and I don't want a bypass at this point. So we are going to be aggressive with medication and I am going to go adopt a Vegan diet. I find it interesting that none of my doctors really emphasized diet all that much. But after reading books by the following doctors- Esselstyn, Greger, Barnard, Ornish, and others; I feel my best bet is using plant based nutrition at this point. I am married with three children and am very motivated to change my lifestyle.
On the positive side, its been a little over 3 weeks and I no longer have chest pains and I am walking 4 miles a day. Trying to find foods that I like and turn this into a life long change. I also have diabetes and my biggest challenge has been controlling my blood sugar. I've done Keto in the past and it was successful for me as far as blood sugar control. However, I've also concluded that it did havoc on my arteries. Anyway, I have a lot to learn about the vegan lifestyle and from looking at various posts this site seems to be a great resource for support and information. Ray

Hello Raymac, I had open heart surgery last year following symptoms of angina and an angiogram that showed I had three blocked arteries. I've been a vegan for most of my life and have never smoked, so I can only assume that the heart disease was genetic rather than caused by lifestyle. In my opinion you're taking a big risk by not having the surgery. Adopting a vegan diet will certainly help you, but it will not repair the damage. Therefore, my advice, based on a lot of experience of this matter, would be to stick to your vegan diet for life, but also have the bypass surgery as soon as you can.

 

[fakei]

Hello Raymac, I had open heart surgery last year following symptoms of angina and an angiogram that showed I had three blocked arteries. I've been a vegan for most of my life and have never smoked, so I can only assume that the heart disease was genetic rather than caused by lifestyle. In my opinion you're taking a big risk by not having the surgery. Adopting a vegan diet will certainly help you, but it will not repair the damage. Therefore, my advice, based on a lot of experience of this matter, would be to stick to your vegan diet for life, but also have the bypass surgery as soon as you can.

Please read doctor Esselstyn's Prevent and Revert Heart Disease or doctor Ornish's the Spectrum.

1-Vegan diets are not necessarily low in saturated fats or endothelium damaging foods.

2- The above mentioned programs diets are really low in fat even when compared with the regular vegan and doctor Esselstyn had a 99% rate of success.

Bearing in mind however these doctors patients are being accompanied by experts, people who decide to do it on their own are also depending on the info available and their ability to interpret it.

 

[silva]

Hello Raymac, I had open heart surgery last year following symptoms of angina and an angiogram that showed I had three blocked arteries. I've been a vegan for most of my life and have never smoked, so I can only assume that the heart disease was genetic rather than caused by lifestyle. In my opinion you're taking a big risk by not having the surgery. Adopting a vegan diet will certainly help you, but it will not repair the damage. Therefore, my advice, based on a lot of experience of this matter, would be to stick to your vegan diet for life, but also have the bypass surgery as soon as you can.

Saying you follow a vegan diet implies nothing more than lack of animal products, it doesn't imply anything about nutrition-other than no cholesterol!

 

[Lou]

Does anyone else wonder or worry about these guys seeking advice who we never see again? Are they still alive? Where are they? What happened?

 

[Ahimsa]

Does anyone else wonder or worry about these guys seeking advice who we never see again? Are they still alive? Where are they? What happened?

Rather like those who join saying they are seeking new vegan friends, you start talking to them and you never hear from them again!

 

[shyvas]

Does anyone else wonder or worry about these guys seeking advice who we never see again? Are they still alive? Where are they? What happened?

Not really as it's a pattern that repeats itself.

 

[Urban Gardener]

I think that people who regularly post on forums are a small minority. Most people just drop by to read other people’s posts. Some create an account and introduce themselves, but it usually stops around there.

I’ve been a writer my whole life, so I tend to forget that most people are not inclined that way. Writing is work for most people. There is also the intimidation factor, and realistic privacy concerns. And people have other things going on in their lives.

This is not directed at the OP here. Just responding to comments about the phenomenon of people saying hi and then disappearing.