Dissolution's Solution

[AlwaysAgnes]

Arteriosclerosis? Tell the naysayers this: By changing your diet, you're not proactively creating new plaques. You're allowing the endothelium to heal (so it can create more nitric oxide, the great protector). You've already decreased your risk factors (diabetes, weight), added phytonutrients and antioxidants, and you're improving your health more and more every every day. The new plaques are the ones most likely to kill you. New plaques are the ones most likely to break open and cause a clot resulting in sudden death. Maybe you have already or will reverse the old plaque in time, but if that's not what's going to kill you, does it matter? If there's any reason to keep doing what you're doing (starch-based low fat) beyond the health improvements you've already experienced that's certainly a BIG ONE.

[carollynne]

Dis here is the link to see for yourself. It took me over a yr, and I would not really have the money, but decided to anyway... it is my health after all. My life and so on, meldrama here... and I love listening to every single lecture I can find online that is free... I mean I am the ultimate of the frugal housewives, but this is important to me.




http://www.ecornell.com/certificate-pro ... rt/TCCC01/

BTW Was she on a debate team perhaps? She loves to argue doesn't she? so does my better half too. It is pointless at times, but someone has to stop and call a halt to it. It takes 2 to argue and only one to walk away.... Your progress is proof enough and really it is amazing to anyone else. Perhaps she is just plain old jealous, if she cannot be happy for you! ah well, and so it continues both day and night...
I certainly echo all that Agnes said and to all the non-vegans types who will never care enough to believe, well can't fix the world, but hey you can at least fix yourself!
Take care and good luck to all!

[Dissolution]

Debbie I have one FB friend who posts anti vegetarian stuff all the time, and too my knowledge, he doesn't know any vegetarians. He's also 150 pounds over-weight, so I'm glad all that meat is working out for him.

I have another friend who recently had a heart attack, I was going to give him the Dr. Esselstyn information, but he started posting stuff about raw milk and paleo on his way home from the hospital. I don't know him quite well enough to slap some sense into him.

My best friend, who is coming for memorial day, used to run a multi-line BBS system (Google it if you need). So he is kind of like the social leader (still) of a very large group of people where I used to live. If he were to become a McDougaller, there would be another dozen or so start up within the week. Including the first two guys I mentioned.

AlwaysAgnes I had forgotten to mention to her in that conversation about the new plaques being the ones to cause heart attacks. I did find a way to bring it up Yesterday. Her conclusion is that because I am genetically "weird" this is the diet I have to eat. She on the other hand can eat meat, cheese and cream all day long and be perfectly healthy. /boggle

carollynne How much classroom time is there to get the certificate?

I saw this and thought it was interesting. http://engine2diet.com/food_coach/Become_A_Food_Coach

Not nearly the same thing as a T. Colin Campbell nutrition course, but it might be interesting. I look forward to hearing about your experiences with the course.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The scale moved this morning. It's been awhile. I bought a bunch of shirts at Wal-Mart Yesterday, so I bagged up all of the 3XL and 4XL shirts in my dresser. I didn't spend that much on the new shirts, so it won't bother me to have to bag them up in another 6 months or so, I just had to have a stop over size.

Set a new personal best at the gym on the treadmill Friday. 2.35 miles in 30 minutes. I remember 1.5 miles in 30 minutes being an accomplishment.

Let's see the most recent fight with the wife was about my beard. I trimmed it short. She got mad said I had butchered it, and I was embarrassing myself by trying to look young. My conclusion, I must look REALLY good with the trimmed beard...

I never heard back from #4Son's GF, about the links I forwarded to her from AlwaysAgnes about her Ulcerative Colitis. She was visiting last night. Sounds like she's going to opt for surgery. They are going to cut out a section of her colon and then attempt to grow some more over the course of 6 months. While this process is happening, she will have a colostomy bag installed. So she would rather have experimental surgery and a colostomy bag installed, than try a plant based diet? Really? I mean really? She's 20!

I bought a bag of popcorn and a bag of brown paper bags Yesterday. Told the family I was going to make microwave popcorn. They said,"You can't do that!", "It won't work!", "You can't just put popcorn into a bag and microwave it and expect it to work!". 3 Tablespoons of popcorn, 90 seconds in the microwave, winning!

[nicoles]

Hey Dis! Congratulations on the new clothes and the exercise gains! So great!

...I had forgotten to mention to her in that conversation about the new plaques being the ones to cause heart attacks. I did find a way to bring it up Yesterday. Her conclusion is that because I am genetically "weird" this is the diet I have to eat. She on the other hand can eat meat, cheese and cream all day long and be perfectly healthy. /boggle

The definition of denial.

Let's see the most recent fight with the wife was about my beard. I trimmed it short. She got mad said I had butchered it, and I was embarrassing myself by trying to look young. My conclusion, I must look REALLY good with the trimmed beard...

Yes, you must!

I never heard back from #4Son's GF, about the links I forwarded to her from AlwaysAgnes about her Ulcerative Colitis. She was visiting last night. Sounds like she's going to opt for surgery. They are going to cut out a section of her colon and then attempt to grow some more over the course of 6 months. While this process is happening, she will have a colostomy bag installed. So she would rather have experimental surgery and a colostomy bag installed, than try a plant based diet? Really? I mean really? She's 20!

Sometimes I really just don't understand people. What the what? So crazy.

And as for what I will forever more refer to as "The Popcorn Incident," it just seems to me to perfectly illustrate how easily people get stuck in their ways, and cling so tight they do not even want to try a new way. Oi veh!

[Adrienne]

Hi Diss

I thought I would comment on the TCC ecornell program which I took 3 yrs ago when it first started. Luckily for me it was significantly cheaper back then! Anyway I know they are in the middle of updating the program though I have been told it will be basically the same so mostly my comments will apply to what you (and Carollynne) will be signing up for.

Each of the 3 courses is 2 weeks long and basically there are lectures you listen to, quizes and assignments which you post on the discussion boards. Also you must take the time to comment on the work of others.

It doesnt take very much of your time. Of course you can choose to engage in more discussions with other people if you have the time and you can spend more time than necessary to complete the basic assignments.

A lot of what you learn will be familiar to you already, especially if you have read the China study numerous times. There are lectures from Jeff and Dr McD and Dr Ess which were all familiar to me. But there was stuff that was new and I especially appreciated the lectures from Cornell professors on the effects of diet on the environment. The best part is you get to keep the transcripts to all the lectures in the end so you can read them on your own time.

The one area I didnt like was the Brendan Brazier lecture on athletic performance which they changed after I complained about it (confusing and some of it didn't make sense). And, while I loved the supplements lecture by Dr Lederman some it is outdated by now, particularly the vit D and to a lesser extent the DHA part. When I was told they were updating the program I provided suggestions on updates in these ares (stuff that Dr McD and Jeff have written about) but I don't know if they will be implemented or not. So basically you could getting slightly outdated information.

What Rip is doing with the food coaching is something entirely different. The TCC program is more academic, less practical but I hear they are adding a section on how to live/eat/shop this way. But again I'm not sure when that section will be added.

So to sum it up if you have some time, money and you have a strong interest in nutrition then I would take it.

I hope this was helpful.

[carollynne]

Dear Dis, and thanks to Adrienne for that long explanation. I too, looked into it, talked to someone about it and since it is all on line, and you can delay the start of the next 2 wk course, I have signed up for all 3 !! a lot of moolah, and I have waited a while to do this. but I really want to do this. I have done all I can get my hands on online or reading, and youtube and vsh.org lectures, etc. bought some of teh ASW dvds, etc. You name it, and I have no doubt read it, have it, or tried to get it or watched in on line for free. Son says he will help me, with the postings, since he has done on line courses before. I am ready now!! I am looking forward to it, and there is no in classroom time at all. Plus you can sign in anytime you are available not just set times. I am public certified elem. tchr, but I do not think this course will count towards any of my on going educ credits. Looks like it does for medical personnel tho!
trimmed your beard, that it must be about time then!! Hope the wife is doing ok, with her ankle and all! my #2 son injured his ankle playing bball, and is wearing a boot caste and it is ever swollen. a shame that happened. He needs to retire from these friendly leagues!!
have a good week and keep on bagging up all those old too big clothes, someone else can have them right? and have God Bless them too
About the 20 yr old ( so young I agree) about to have surgery, sounds like she has absolutely no clue what all will happen and how the recovery period will be like either. a shame! you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make them drink! go figure that one!! and plant based is so painless and free!! non invasive and you do get so used to it and them prefer it too!

[Norm]

My best friend, who is coming for memorial day, used to run a multi-line BBS system (Google it if you need). So he is kind of like the social leader (still) of a very large group of people where I used to live. If he were to become a McDougaller, there would be another dozen or so start up within the week. Including the first two guys I mentioned.

I ran a small 4 line BBS back in "the day"... what a blast that was! Could that be the reason for my success influencing people to this way of eating?

The scale moved this morning. It's been awhile. I bought a bunch of shirts at Wal-Mart Yesterday, so I bagged up all of the 3XL and 4XL shirts in my dresser.

Congratulations on the scale movement! I'm just now getting into 3x shirts for the first time in 15 or more years.... If you were closer I'd offer to take them off your hands!!

I bought a bag of popcorn and a bag of brown paper bags Yesterday. Told the family I was going to make microwave popcorn. They said,"You can't do that!", "It won't work!", "You can't just put popcorn into a bag and microwave it and expect it to work!". 3 Tablespoons of popcorn, 90 seconds in the microwave, winning!

I'm going to have to try this!

-Norm

[AlwaysAgnes]

I never heard back from #4Son's GF, about the links I forwarded to her from AlwaysAgnes about her Ulcerative Colitis. She was visiting last night. Sounds like she's going to opt for surgery. They are going to cut out a section of her colon and then attempt to grow some more over the course of 6 months. While this process is happening, she will have a colostomy bag installed. So she would rather have experimental surgery and a colostomy bag installed, than try a plant based diet? Really? I mean really? She's 20!

I guess I can understand her just wanting to be rid of the bad section. Don't know that I'd have the balls for re-section (if that's what it's called) surgery though. It took me years of attacks before I had my gallbladder out. (My pain tolerance isn't quite as high now as it used to be, though. I think I wore it out. ) I just hope the colitis doesn't just gravitate to another section of her bowel. Can it do that? I don't know a lot about UC. Best wishes to her, in any case.

[Adrienne]

Carollynne it sounds like you are the type of person who should definitely take the program. And for sure do all three courses. There is no point in doing one or two: you might as well do them all and get the certificate in the end. You will not need any help with your postings. Since you know how to login and post here you will have no trouble with the ecornell discussion board. And since you know so much already the assignments will come easily for you.

One thing they used to do but they dont do anymore is they had webinars for students and you could email questions to Dr Campbell and then he picked some ahead of time to answer. The first few were free and then they started charging money for them and now I dont think they do them at all which is too bad cause they were informative. Dr Campbell picked one of my questions once.

[carollynne]

Thanks Adrienne, I know I will love it and love having the certificate too although why I should want to have that is way beyond me , It is purely selfish on my part.... I know what I know and no one will ever convince me of otherwise either! Too much good data behind it now. I did sign up for all 3 at once and have to pay for it all at once so it is a wee bit of a discount..... I do hope that I get an upgraded version of it, and all that, but if not, the reinforcement of the same stuff over and over again is good for my memory banks too.....
I am sure that is a ton that I do not know or remember well too.
Hi Dis! hope all is well with you and that you decided to sign up for that course too. It always sounds like you have money to burn rolling in dough, as my mom would have said back in the day! I know I don't but I saved up diligently and just want to blow it on this I guess. It will validate what I know and my WOE too.... nothing is going to get me off this WOE but still it is so nice to think I will be able to have a piece of paper to back it all up.
Enough of all that now, hey a good week to you and hope the GF does not get the surgery, the recovery with a bag on the side is not for the faint of heart I am sure. Prayers for her are going up!
did anyone else see that photo of Dr McDougall and his son and daughter at grad day from OSU? a family of doctors and they are all vegans! wow
I just got the copy of The Starch Solution a gift from my son and is it signed too! I got it early I guess, but it the real deal! love it!

[Dissolution]

nicoles The Popcorn Incident....Haha...That's awesome.

Adrienne Thanks so much for the information. I've slowed down my self education about nutrition to some degree. The wife pointed out that I was being obsessive in always watching and reading stuff about plant based nutrition. I decided to temporarily pause my quest for knowledge on this subject. Partly because I wanted to make sure I wasn't brainwashing myself into eating this way. I have to say, I'm pretty sure I wasn't.

If someone where to quit smoking and then continue educating themselves about the dangers of smoking for months afterwards, I would conclude that they were either OCD or fighting desperately to not go back to smoking. What normally happens is you quit smoking, it sucks and then you are done.

Eating disorders are different, cause you can't quit eating. So is continual study of nutrition and it's effects on health obsessive? I don't think so. Especially when most of us have been so misinformed about what is healthy for most of our lives. We have to make dozens of food choices every day. We need to keep ourselves educated. Our lives could very well depend on it.

carollynne Good luck with the courses. I'll be keeping it in mind. Might be helpful if I were to decide on a career change or found some way to volunteer and help people transition towards a plant based diet.

Norm Found out that some of the brown paper bags cause the microwave to "spark". They must have metal fragments in the paper somewhere. I had read that recycled bags can have that problem, but these aren't marked as recycled, so no clue. I did however find that I just put the popcorn into a plastic bowl with a lid, but not clamped down, it worked just as well.

AlwaysAgnes Back when she was in the hospital for two weeks, I had sent her some stuff and she asked her team of doctors if meat was causing her U.C., they said they didn't think so. They said, here take this $25,000 chemo therapy level immune system repressing drug and it might fix you. Oops, guess not, sorry we made it worst, let us operate on you, that might fix your problem.

Then her possible father-in-law said why don't you try only eating plants, but whoa, wouldn't want to get all crazy and extreme. Sigh...

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday night was our last bowling league night. We were told that we could bring food in. In other leagues, this turns into a pot luck. In this league, it means people bring their own food in, and eat it themselves. We know this because the last time we were told this the wife made a bunch of food to share and nobody wanted any. So she decided to just make cookies this time. I said cool, I'll make some cookies I can eat. She made 10 pounds of cookie dough and baked about half of them. I use an oatmeal raisin recipe from Lighter Bake. It calls for chocolate chips, which I just use more raisins and one egg, which I just make a flax egg.

I had the recipe sitting on the counter, waiting for the wife to finish with her baking.

Wife: You can't have those
Me: Yes I can
Wife: But it has an egg
Me: I've already made an egg, it's in the fridge
Wife: You can't make an egg, you're not a chicken
Me: (Showing her my flaxseed meal mixed with water)
Wife: Oh, that's disgusting
Me: So are eggs

Then she lost it, she started crying. She said something about her food not being good enough for me anymore. Really? We're still going there? I hugged her and told her I loved her, she seemed to calm down for a minute. And then when she started cleaning her stuff up, she started slamming stuff around and crying again.

We spoke a little while later after she had calmed down. Still not sure what set her off, she said I was narcissistic and controlling, I told her she was delusional. A little while later;

Wife: Did you make your cookies?
Me: No
Wife: Why not?
Me: I'm not in much of a cookie mood anymore.
Wife: Go make your cookies or I'll feel guilty.
Me: I have no problem with that.
Wife: ...

Then I sat there at bowling with 4 dozen really awesome smelling cookies right in front of me for 3 hours. She then sat the rest, at least 3 dozen, on the kitchen island. Every time I walk past and want a cookie, I take one and throw it in the trash. That's the only way they won't sit there and tempt me for 2 weeks.

My reward? Another pound down Yesterday morning. Might have been another one down this morning, but it was cold and I was wearing heavy sweat pants.

[toadfood]

I love your strategy of throwing a cookie in the trash every time you want to eat one!

[carrotkilla]

I love your strategy of throwing a cookie in the trash every time you want to eat one!

I must admit that is brilliant! Must take note.

[carollynne]

love the fact that you actually the the cookies away, I have to crumble them up and then throw the crumbles away, or else..... I am getting better. I think you are doing so fine! nice touch that wife is crying, is she is trying to get you to fold up shop and get unhealthy again or what? jeesh,
I just gave away some candies favors away to my neighbors 5 kids, and they were so thrilled!! their daddy said, yes, but I know that it is a rare treat for them as mom is worried about the childhood obesity and all. they were from my sons' wedding shower! So that was out of the house!! Hurray!

[Dissolution]

I had some "work from home" work to do Yesterday so I decided to now go to the gym and stay home and do work. The house was chilly, and my hands were cold. I'm still having some blood pressure stability problems. So I checked my BP. 135/87 with a pulse of 42. BP is a little high, pulse rate being that low would explain the lack of color in my fingers. The wife noticed and freaked out. I called my cardiologist, they only have the options of leaving a message for the triage nurse, making an appointment, or call 911 if it is an emergency. So I left a message.

Meanwhile the wife goes off about how this is proof that "the diet" is killing me, and that it's unfair of me to keep eating this way and making her worry. I laughed, I wish I hadn't, but I did. So then I was accused of laughing at her pain because it is my plan to drive her out of her mind, so that when I leave her, I can leave with a clear conscience. I tried to corner her one what is unhealthy about it, and what I was not getting from animal products. She could only offer snippets of what you would expect from someone who never purposely reads anything about health or nutrition.

Stuff like, the brain runs on fat and that's why I'm behaving so strangely because the lack of brain fuel. She pointed out the runners die all the time, and that vegans kill their babies. I of course had factual counters to everything she brought up, but the problem is science. She doesn't believe any of it. She doesn't believe in research. She doesn't believe that cigarette smoking increases the risk of lung cancer. I asked her, what if you did a study where you took 1000 twins, had 1 twin smoke, and the other not and follow them for 20 years. What if 50% of the smoking group got lung cancer, and only 5% of the non smokers got it. She said that only proves that we picked the unlucky twin. It's very tough to argue with someone like this. It's even tougher to be married to someone like this.

At one point she told me to leave, but not to take the car, to call someone to come and get me, so I could move in with my Mother. I of course didn't tell her that #2 son has already told me I could move in with him if I leave her.

She finally calmed down, to some degree. I had an errand to run into town, I asked her if she wanted anything, she gave me a list of stuff from the grocery store. I should never go to the grocery store, hungry and upset. Here's the shocking list of what I ate Yesterday.

B: Oatmeal
L: Tomato and hummus sandwiches
s: low-fat blueberry muffin, blueberry bagel, animal crackers, lara bar, dates
D: Cup of rice, two cans of tomatoes, can of spinach, sm can of mushrooms
s: 4 peanut butter cups, 4 Hershey kisses, 4 of those stupid cookies she made last Sunday. Throwing the rest away this morning.

I feel like crap this morning, let that be a lesson to me I guess...

She watched "Whale Wars" last night. I think she needed to feel superior to some vegans that couldn't argue with her. She was very vocal about laughing at them and making fun of them. Was really ironic at one point, the locals setup a whale meat buffet on the dock next to one of their ships. All the people advocating FOR the consumption of whale meat were fat and looked like crap. Of course the wife thought the healthy looking vegans were too skinny.

I hope everybody else had a better Wednesday than I did.