Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

I'll tell her you said so. Destiny pretty much runs my farm and runs my life, and she loves hearing how amazing, gorgeous, and brilliant she is!

[quote="ETeSelleSorry, but you're VERY wrong about barefoot. My horses go trail riding on solid rock all the time--Destiny can canter over rocks the size of your fist! Good feet that have not been ruined by shoes and/or improper trimming, diet, and lifestyle (i.e, grain, stalling, etc.) are PERFECTLY capable of handling whatever mother nature throws at them. Horses evolved for millenia to live on hard, dry, rocky ground--horse shoes are a very recent addition, and one that has caused far more harm than good.

In addition, barefoot horses are far safer than shod ones on the trail. Shoes are slippery--properly trimmed bare feet have great traction. I wouldn't ride a shod horse on a trail for money, quite honestly. I'll take my suction-cups-for-feet barefooters over a shod horse ANY day of the week! [/quote]

You know it makes sense. They did evolve to be without the shoes. I know they do have kind of like suction feet. Do you clean the holves and inside the hollow after riding if it's been muddy? I'm not sure if they can get problems with that or not.

I grew up with all horses being shoed. So I never put much thought to it. I know it always made me cringe when I'd watch a shoeing. Your babe seems at ease, well as at ease as standing on one less leg can be.

Faith in DC wrote:You know it makes sense. They did evolve to be without the shoes. I know they do have kind of like suction feet. Do you clean the holves and inside the hollow after riding if it's been muddy? I'm not sure if they can get problems with that or not.

What are holves??? I'm not sure what you're asking. Basically, I almost never pick out my horses' feet. Bare feet naturally shed accumulated dirt many times a day--it's only shod feet (b/c of the unnatural "edge") and contracted feet (most of which are shod) that hold dirt in. Good feet continually flex and that allows dirt/mud to drop out many times a day as they move.

I grew up with all horses being shoed. So I never put much thought to it. I know it always made me cringe when I'd watch a shoeing. Your babe seems at ease, well as at ease as standing on one less leg can be.

That's not my horse in the trimming pic--that's a client horse (also a chestnut).

Most of us grew up w/ shod horses--I certainly did! I don't know any BF trimmers who DIDN'T spend most of their lives assuming that horse shoes were "necessary." I learned better over the years, thanks in part to a horse I owned who had terrible feet (which were greatly improved when we went to barefoot). Once I had devoted myself to learning more, I saw that, as with most things, human intervention is often more dangerous than helpful. My horses live as natural a life as possible in the 23 hours a day when they aren't doing something for me, and they have benefited greatly!

Wow ETeSelle
You look great!!
Love to see you and Destiny having so much fun together. She's really toned up too, I notice.
You are really radiating happiness & success - what an inspiration!

UPDATE: New bloodwork 6/9/11

I updated the chart on the first page as well. Just had new bloodwork done and TC is now 123!! Glucose down even more as well.

The triglycerides are still a little mystifying . . . they are well w/in the normal range (N=<150) but odd that they went up so much. I restrict fruit to 2 pieces a day most days and eat pretty much NO sugar other than in fruit. Well, not concerned about it and the overall results are GREAT!

Below, 1st number is from 11/09 (BEFORE); 2nd number is from 1/11; 3rd number is from 6/11

LABS:

Total cholesterol: 181. . . . 137. . . . 123
HDL chol: 62. . . . 40. . . . 40
chol: 109. . . . 81. . . . 66
Triglycerides: 49. . . . 82. . . . 84
Blood glucose: 113. . . . 89. . . . 79

Just talked w/ Dr. Esselstyn (who is A-MA-ZING!!!) and he said not to worry about the triglycerides. They can fluctuate quite a bit, and "most people would kill for those numbers." As long as it's well under 150, there is no need for concern. Yay!

Thank you for sharing your labs and the comment from Esselstyn. Isn't he great. I love seeing him speak. I wonder if that first tri was either a error on the lab. Anyway fantastic. I bet your doctor never saw TC that low before.

Faith in DC wrote: Anyway fantastic. I bet your doctor never saw TC that low before.

When my doc emailed me the results all she said was "BEAUTIFUL!"

And yet, she hasn't seemed at ALL interested in hearing about McDougall, Esselstyn, Campbell et al. <sigh>

Those numbers are a dream come true.
Congrats! I hope to be that low myself.
I did not grow up around any horses, but the talk here is educational!

Wow! You look amazing.

Thanks for posting your weight loss journey and health history.

I tried and failed at McDougalling also and my health kept getting worse. I am 65 years old so thought, this is just what old people feel like, but then I started getting so dizzy I was vomiting and I knew I was not ready to die. It scared me. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, but didn't want to go on meds so I returned to McDougalling. Your story has really inspired me to keep going.

Posted this on the first post as well, but thought I'd put it back here as well. Just had new pix taken for my Star McDougaller story (requested by Dr. McD!) so here's the FINAL comparison! WHOO HOOO!!

You are fan-tas-tic. Can't wait to read the Star McDougaller article.

Much continued success!

yes...you look fantastic !

wow thank you for sharing! you look amazing! so inspiring!

You are truly inspirational. Pictures are much more inspiring to me than numbers.
Thanks for sharing,
Ev