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I'm 5 weeks late starting my journal, so be prepared for lots of rambling.

Background:

1986: Graduated high school at 278 Lbs.

1988: Combining lots of exercise and a 500 calorie a day diet I get to 212 Lbs and a 38" waist.

Next 18 years: Weight went up and down. I don't remember when I broke 300, probably because I was avoiding the scale. I did hit 258 once while on the atkins diet. I felt sick all the time though, and hated food, was probably forcing myself to eat 500 - 1000 calories a day.

2006: 38, smoker, 5'10" 312 Lbs The night after a dinner our with the family (pizza buffet chain) I couldn't get to sleep because my lungs where burning. (not entirely unusual for a smoker) Then it felt more like heartburn. The wife asked me what was wrong, and I told her, she asked if she should call an ambulance. I told her no, I mean sure I was over weight, and unhealthy, but I was ONLY 38, how could it be my heart. Almost immediately I began to vomit and had diarrhea. I barely made it back to the bed and told her to make the call.

At the hospital in the ER, I was in a room laying on a table with doctors and nurses around me. I asked repeatedly for a drink of water (at this point I still did not know what was wrong with me). One of the nurses finally said to me, "I'm sorry sir, I'm a little too busy trying to keep you alive."

I was flown by helicopter to the regional cardiac center where I underwent angioplasty and had a stint installed into the upper part of my right coronary artery. The good news, I had lost almost no heart function. The bad news I was 38 and had just suffered a major heart attack....

... Background continued.

For those of you who haven't had a heart attack ( I don't advise it). And maybe it's just me, but it seemed to have awakened the ability to "feel" my heart. I guess what I'm trying to explain is I ate myself into a 100% blockage of one of my coronary arteries and never felt an ounce of chest pain. But since that heart attack feeling pain in my chest happens all the time, and I'm not sure if it's angina, or something else. Angina typically gets worse with exercise or any type of strenuous activity, the type of chest pain I'm talking about does not.

Oh yeah at the hospital they had a nutritionist come speak to me, I still have the booklet she gave me. Here's the basics;

-- Keep fat intake to 30% of total calories
-- 6-11 servings of breads. cereals and pasta
-- 2-4 servings of fruit 3-5 of vegetables (listed under same section)
-- 2 servings of milk and dairy
-- 6 oz of meat
-- 5-8 servings of fats

Well that sounds pretty easy.

My mother gifted me with a treadmill as soon as I got home from the hospital. I used that until Christmas until needing room for the holidays moved the treadmill into the basement.

We tried eating the way we were told. My wife was raised on a farm in Wisconsin, so there were a few things she refused to change. Mostly any and all dairy products had to be the full fat versions and fake dairy products were extremely frowned upon.

But let me be honest, while my wife has certainly NOT helped me to change my diet or lose weight. She married a food addict and I did all this to myself.

2007: Diagnosed with diabetes (Yay! Early death here I come!)

... To be continued

... Background continued.

For those of you who have never had diabetes (I don't advise it), once you get over the shock of being diagnosed and start taking your medications and actually get your blood sugar under control you feel great!

We joined a gym, and actually went. Previously we had joined gyms twice and never set foot in them again after signing up. I cut my fast food intake way down. I guess were were active for 3 or 4 months. I was tracking calories and working my butt off in the gym (10,000 calories burned in a month).

I joined the gym at 305 and lost the first 15 pounds real quick, but the next 5 pounds took monumental effort to get off. I think I decided that, I would rather weigh 300 and eat junk food and not work out, than weigh 285 and eat a low calorie diet and work out 5 times a week in the gym.

And my heart? Better living through medication! I was on 3 blood pressure medicines, a statin, 2 diabetes medicines and blood thinners. I ought to be able to eat just about anything and not have any heart problems. I honestly believed this. My cardiologist wanted me to lose weight, but never mentioned nutrition.

So for the next couple of years I pretty much went on the see-food diet. My weight pretty much stayed in the 295-305 range.

... To be continued

... Background continued.

2010: Wow this pain in my chest is really annoying. I tell my wife that if the pain isn't better by morning that we should go to the hospital.

** Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I had stopped smoking for the first couple of years after my first heart attack, but after being constantly surrounded by it, I eventually picked it back up.

We drove to the regional cardiac center in the morning. I was reunited with my cardiologist he performed another angioplasty. My right coronary artery (where my stint was) was blocked again. The artery was so damaged that he actually installed 4 stints (he called it full metal jacket). During that procedure the amount of plaque "breaking away" from my arterial walls and entering my blood stream cause 2 additional heart attacks in the branches leading off of the right coronary artery.

** When I was first told about this I chalked it up to bad luck and bad genetics. I have since learned that this is fairly common, especially in heart by-pass operations. Depending on which study you read between 50% and 78% off all heart by-pass patients suffer some form of brain damage (strokes) from the plaque entering the blood stream like this.

So I had to ride out these 2 smaller heart attacks in the critical care unit for a couple of days. I don't remember much of it. Apparently I had had another heart attack some months or years before this one, the Dr. informed me that the bottom of my left coronary artery was blocked, but that I had grown a new artery to get around it. (wow, I didn't know this could happen)

I finally got out of the hospital after 5 days and I felt horrible. After my first heart attack, I actually felt better after returning home. My cardiologist informed me that my right coronary artery was gone. Due to the blockages on all branches of the lower artery, there was no blood flow and so now the vessel with a total of 5 stints in it, was now scar tissue. He informed me that an artery on the back of the heart was supplying most of the blood to that side, but it had a 80% blockage, and that I needed another angioplasty and stint. I was in bad shape. Bringing in a bag of groceries was leaving me winded and in pain. So back into the hospital I went a little over a month after the last time.

** Not that having emergency surgery is "better", but there is something to be said for not having the time to think about it before hand.

Anyways the surgery went excellently. I immediately felt better. The doctor told me there were no more angioplasty operations in my future, that if I had another heart attack he was going to have to "crack me open" and do a by-pass.

... To be continued

Dissolution - boy, I hope for your sake this story get's better soon! What a lot to go through! Glad your here though because we are all getting great results and reversing illnesses! Take care!

... Background continued.

At the time of my first heart attack my total cholesterol was 230. (sorry don't remember the break down) When I had my second angioplasty, it was 178 (still don't remember the break down, but the Dr. did say my triglycerides were high).

So I started to eat "heart healthy" again. Resumed my walking on the treadmill in the basement. Even velcro'd a laptop computer to the treadmill so I could watch videos and stuff while I walked.

2011: I was speaking to a close friend of mine in another state one day and we were discussing diet (he was recently diagnosed with diabetes). I said something to him about me eating tilapia (It's a fish in case you vegans don't keep up...lol). He told me that his friend said not to eat tilapia because it was a bottom feeder. Well I had seen a picture of the fish and knew it's mouth wasn't that of a bottom feeder but wanted to double check just in case.

What I discovered was even worse (I was right it wasn't a bottom feeder). Most of the tilapia sold in the US comes from fish farms (Ok, so what? Bad for the environment...yeah yeah what isn't these days). Tilapia raised on farms are typically feed a diet or corn, and as a result, most tilapia fillets have as much cholesterol and saturated fat as a couple of strips of bacon. (Wait WHAT?!?!)

This was actually the beginning of a pretty big downward spiral for me. As I understood USDA, ADA, AHA nutritional guidelines, bacon was the worst food someone in my condition could eat, and fish was one of the best. How could they be the same?

I just couldn't make sense of it all. Sure I could order a salad instead of a cheeseburger, but many times would be better off with cheeseburger cause the salad with cheese and bacon and salad dressing could easily have more fat and calories.

Eventually I decided that I was cursed with bad genetics and would probably never live to see 50.

... To be continued

Wow what a story! Please keep it coming as time allows! Thanks!

... Background continued.

The stage is set. I'm slowly trying to understand more about nutrition. Here's what I knew.

-- Vegans: Unhealthy, baby killing, liberal hippies
-- Vegetarians: Grilled cheese addicted, confused vegans who are mostly fat. Carbohydrates are the devil!
-- Super Foods: Articles about "super foods" have been popular the last several years. Hmmm...Most of these "super foods" are vegetables, fruits and grains.
-- Paleo: Get's rid of processed foods, eats lots of meat. Probably a hippie.
-- Meat: Must eat to live. All of it is bad for you.
-- Eggs: Good for you. Bad for you. Good for you.
-- Olive Oil: Good for you. Ok, but not sure why.
-- Dairy: Calcium! Found a source for raw milk!

This summer: My diabetes is getting worse. I'm taking 1000 mg of metformin twice a day and glipizide twice a day. Blood sugar almost always above 300. When it would spike up higher I would eat no carbohydrates (mostly animal protein) and take an additional 1000mg of metformin. Diabetic nerve pain in my legs is almost constant. Having a hard time even getting out of the car. Chest pains becoming more frequent. Almost certain I'm not going to reach 50, probably not going to reach 45 at this rate.

... To be continued

... Background continued.

This September: While browsing through Netflix on my computer, I keep seeing this movie Forks over Knives pop up. You know, I have no idea why I clicked on that movie, Honestly I'm failing at trying not to cry right now. Wow, I've never really thought about why I started to watch that movie. But I guess the important thing is I did.

Heart disease, diabetes, many forms of cancer not only preventable, but even reversible? Through diet alone? Wait what?!

Being a skeptic I started doing some research. What were Campbell, McDougall and Esselstyn really selling? Is this some PETA bull? Who's out there debunking The China Study? Weston A. Price? Really? Are you people daff?

I bought Esselstyn's and Campbell's book. During the week I took to read them I cut back on meat and dairy. On 9/27/11 I had a turkey sandwich at IHOP with the cheese removed. That's the last time I've eaten animal protein on purpose.

I've always liked most vegetables. When we had sit down family dinners (I have 4 sons, all adults now) sometimes my wife would make asparagus or some other vegetable that I would be the only one who would eat it. I've even thought about becoming a vegetarian, but most of the vegetarians I knew where "junk food vegetarians" (I didn't know there was such a thing until recently) who were not healthy. It had just never occurred to me that a vegan diet was healthy or even possible. I just always assumed that you HAD to have meat. Even though I really did know that pretty much everything about meat was unhealthy. But I had never envisioned the benefits of removing meat from my diet.

Current Events

For now I will skip the turmoil choosing this diet has caused with my wife


Week 1: 300 Lbs. Confused in the kitchen. Learning to cook in ways that don't involve removing from a box and microwaving. One day at the end of the week, slightly dizzy, sweating. Blood sugar 79, eat an apple and never take metformin again.

Week 2: 285 Lbs. Energy level continues to rise, start walking on tread mill. The cooking is going better. Towards the end of the week cut dosage in half for glipizide (remaining diabetes medicine).

Week 3: 282 Lbs. Feeling great!

Week 4: 275 Lbs. Feel great! No cravings! People starting to notice weight loss.

Week 5: 269 Lbs. Hmmm...Energy level dropping.

Currently in week 6. Weight is at 267 Lbs. I checked my blood pressure at the pharmacy on Wednesday night 113/72 (nice!) but my pulse was 50. Called my cardiologist, couldn't get an appointment until the day after Thanksgiving. So I decided to stop taking metoprolol. Starting to feel better again. My pulse has come up to the mid 60's and blood pressure has remained low.

Thanks everybody for the words of encouragement on my ramblings.

Wow - great story. So, fantastic that the "Forks Over Knives" movie just made you watch it!!!!

Glad you're here now so we can see how it goes from here and continue to be inspired by your progress. Also, so happy you got off those drugs, that you're feeling great and have energy! You really took control of your health and you should be so proud of that. Isn't it great to see how fast those bad numbers go down!

Congratulations

Last night the family gathered to celebrate our #2 son's birthday. Since #1 works at Cracker Barrel (his last semester of college) we wind up eating there a lot of family outings, so he can wait on us and visit at the same time.

I ordered the vegetable dinner, 4 sides essentially. Salad with fat free dressing, baked potato, green beans, and the vegetable of the day brown rice with mushrooms. Since embarking on this WOE, I pretty much expect to be disappointed in restaurants. It's amazing how much oil gets used in stuff. The green beans weren't bad, probably a minimal amount of oil in them, but the rice was disgusting. There was easily a tablespoon of oil that had drained out of the rice and was now running all over the plate and probably another tablespoon stuck to the rice. Needless to say I did not eat it.

But here's the worst part. My son is the waiter, I showed it to him and he swore and promised that the cooks did not add any oil to the rice. I decided to let it go.

Now my #3 son has about 2% body fat and seems to be very healthy. He does have an undiagnosed skin condition that has kept him out of the military. Since starting this WOE in conversation with him I suggested that maybe he should try it for a week or two and see if it cleared up his skin. Well, I'm sure most of you guys know how those suggestions get received.

Anyways for dinner he ordered a large salad, hold the tomatoes and onions and extra ranch dressing. So here he is eating iceberg lettuce, covered in cheese and bacon bits, drowned in 8 oz. (I kid you not) of ranch dressing. Someone asked him if he was enjoying his ranch dressing soup, and his reply was that he was eating healthy like me?!!? And he was serious! I just remarked that it probably would have been healthier to have ordered a cheeseburger. That got me a dirty look from the wife and she snapped something at me.

Later that night we were buying some clothes for Christmas presents when she saw a shirt she said I should get. Too bad it didn't come in my size, they only had up to a 2x. (I normally wear 3x or 4x) I said let me see that, so I tried it on. As I'm slipping on on, over the shirt I was wearing, she says I can tell you now it's not going to fit. She walked over to see if it would button up and the front of the shirt not only pulled together but overlapped. She said quit sucking your stomach in. I wasn't.

Small victories...

I would say "huge victories" - congratulations on your new lifestyle!

The wife surprised me tonight. Let's just say she has very unsupportive of my new-found WOE. She only used to cook once a week, but is considered by myself and pretty much everybody on both sides of the family to be an awesome cook.

She called me goat for the first two weeks. She would frequently make comments about the stuff I was cooking smelling like crap. We've had several fights, and things in general have been pretty bad.

She is auditioning for the television show Master Chef next weekend. She had just made a batch of breads (testing different ideas for rolls). She asked #3 son to taste one and he refused. (He's weird sometimes, really only likes food that comes out of a box in the freezer) So she kinds had a mini melt-down about how nobody would eat her food anymore.

So I told her I would try one. She wouldn't let me. She didn't want me to "break" my diet. I thought it was very sweet.