The China Study

[Ricardo]

I discovered Dr. McDougall by reading Colin Campbell's book, The China Study. I have been on a plant based diet for seven months, and have never felt better, my hypertension is gone,140/90 to 130/65, my weight has dropped from 185 to 164. I also eliminated the need for my cholestoral medicine. I have learned that you can't depend on doctors, drug companies, leading hospitals, and the government agencies to teach you how to eat healthfully. I also go the a local gym where Humana pays for my membership. They have figured out that they are better off financially if I go to the gym. What a concept. The only disappointment is that I have sent 10 books to my friends and only two people changed their behavior.
It is wonderful that Dr. McDougall had the courage to stand up and make a difference for many of us. Bravo!

Flabingo,
on January you informed your health data:
"140/90 to 130/65, my weight has dropped from 185 to 164. I also eliminated the need for my cholestoral medicine."

Let me know how you are doing recently with those numbers and your total cholesterol then and now, if possible.

Congratulations for your victory,

Ricardo

[flabingo]

My weight is now stable at 162. My HDL cholestoral went to 42 from 51 related to my exercise program of 60 minutes every day on a treadmill, and my LDL went down to 40 from 120. Thus my ration is under 2.That enabled me to reduce the Crestor from 7 per week to 1.
I also have a blood pressure device(cuff) and my pressure continues to average 130/65 or less. My total pulse pressure is higher than normal, but I am told that is age related.
Also I have a Polar heart monitor to keep my pulse at between 90 and 120 during my workout.
I am re-reading the China Study which has reinforced my confidence in the program.
In Arizona they are talking about a program to charge $50 to single medicaid patients for being overweight or smoking.
I am in favor of an incentive system at the local, state, and federal level to reward people that are in good health, by behavior. They could give free driver's licenses and/or tax credits to people that
a.don't smoke
b. Proper BMI (weight)
c. Good cholestoral numbers
I realize it would not be a perfect system, but the local, state, and federal governments would save money.
Taking care of your health is an act of patriotism to your family and country.
I have Humana Part B medicare and they pay 100% for my going to a gym, ($800.00 a year) and they provide generic drugs free. They have figured out that their bottom line is better by me being healthy. WHAT A CONCEPT
There was an article in Pro Publica about the big money that doctors get fom drug companies.

[Ricardo]

My HDL cholestoral went to 42 from 51 related to my exercise program of 60 minutes every day on a treadmill, and my LDL went down to 40 from 120. Thus my ration is under 2.That enabled me to reduce the Crestor from 7 per week to 1.

Flabingo,
it is amazing how plant based food works well for all of us, reducing medicine and resulting in blood numbers that would seem impossible without drugs.

Would you be kind enough to tell how long did you wait to have the latest blood test after reducing crestor? From your numbers I believe your total cholesterol is around 120 (total cholesterol it is the summ of HDL + LDL + VLDL), which would be excelent. Am I correct with my guess?

(My doctor said it would be necessary to wait at least 3 months to see how total cholesterol behaves in order to have new blood test to see if changes of dosage are within good limits).

I am asking that because I also want to reduce crestor. I did reduce it from 5 times a week to 3 times a week and in one year between measures Total cholesterol went from 80 to 108.
So I am almost 100 % confident to reduce from 10 mg to 5 mg, measuring within 3 months to see if I still get it under 150 mg. Your experience with crestor reduction would be an interesting information for me. Thank you. Ricardo

[flabingo]

Ricardo, I will send you all the information in the next 24 hours David

[flabingo]

Ricardo,
The following are the facts and timing of my blood tests and results

Total Total HDL LDL Ratio
2008 189 42 129 4.5 5 mg Crestor per day
2010 8/11 159 43 99 3.9 5 mg Crestor per day
2010 11/19 100 49 42 2.0 5 mg Crestor per day
2011 3/01 149 51 89 2.9 5mg Crestor per WEEK
I am happy with my numbers, particularly my 51 HDL which is a historic high for me. I credit my daily 60 minutes of treadmill (in the zone)
I follow the diet very carefully, 95% is fruit, grain, fish and veggies. Very little dairy and meat.
I have more confidence in McDougal and Colin Campbell and myself when it comes to preventive medicine than the medical profession. Keep in touch. David
.P.S. My recent re-reading of Campbell reinforces my belief in the wisdom of the program.

[Ricardo]

Total Total HDL LDL Ratio
2008 189 42 129 4.5 5 mg Crestor per day
2010 8/11 159 43 99 3.9 5 mg Crestor per day
2010 11/19 100 49 42 2.0 5 mg Crestor per day
2011 3/01 149 51 89 2.9 5mg Crestor per WEEK
.

David,
your numbers gave me confidence to reduce my crestor as the cardiologist is recommending. It is almost funny how we get attached to pills... I will also get Colin book and the new Mc Dougall material. I will try to walk fast more time to see if my HDL gets higher.
Thank you for your kindness on getting the detailed dates and numbers,
God bless you
Ricardo

[flabingo]

Ricardo,I am impressed with a doctor who recommends less pills. My experience, he is an exception. The problem with pills is they don't know the interaction with other pills. The China Study had a very powerful effect on my behavior. Check out the reviews on Amazon. I believe a plant based diet is a new truth, that the food and dairy industry will fight very hard to discredit. David

[flabingo]

Ricardo, I gave you wrong information about my dosage which is 10 mgs not 5 mgs. Also I think the drug companies sell the 40 mg for the same price as 10, so you can cut them up. Lastly, one doctor suggests that the generic does the same thing as well. David

[Ricardo]

Ricardo, I gave you wrong information about my dosage which is 10 mgs not 5 mgs. Also I think the drug companies sell the 40 mg for the same price as 10, so you can cut them up. Lastly, one doctor suggests that the generic does the same thing as well. David

OK, I got it. Here in Rio today I found a drugstore that sells crestor with 5 mg, what my MD prescribed. I will be taking that 3 times a week. That means a reduction of 50 %, as my actual dosage was 10mg. He recommended a new blood test within 3 months and one more within 6 or so months, to check cholesterol evolution, as sometimes our bodies take long to evolve cholesterol. My guess is to stay less than 150 for total cholesterol, what Dr. Esselstyn says it is heartattackproof... and other MD Steven Nissen tested and confirmed with a large group of pacients that reversion happens. Otherwise I could increase days of pill intake to rebalance it.

I wish you all success and please keep in contact if I can be of any help.
Ricardo

[darad]

I discovered Dr. McDougall by reading Colin Campbell's book, The China Study. I have been on a plant based diet for seven months, and have never felt better, my hypertension is gone,140/90 to 130/65, my weight has dropped from 185 to 164. I also eliminated the need for my cholestoral medicine. I have learned that you can't depend on doctors, drug companies, leading hospitals, and the government agencies to teach you how to eat healthfully. I also go the a local gym where Humana pays for my membership. They have figured out that they are better off financially if I go to the gym. What a concept. The only disappointment is that I have sent 10 books to my friends and only two people changed their behavior.
It is wonderful that Dr. McDougall had the courage to stand up and make a difference for many of us. Bravo!

Often overlooked is Dr Hiromi Shinya's "The Enzyme Factor", which also describes a plant-based diet, though he does allow 5-10% meat protein. Dr Shinya invented the colonoscope in 1969, and since has performed over 370,000 procedures while meticulously documenting each patients over all diet. Hence, she could see the beneficial effect of plant-based diet on the internal health of the stomach and intestines. Yet most all gastroenterlogy doctors will inform their patients that diet has no effect on their condition, or cause of their original inflammation, i.e. what they were taught in med school == probably because such has never been proven by a large test case over decades. Dr Shinya's work complements well with McDougall, Fuhrman, Esselstyn, Campbell, and so on.

For starters, I encourage others to read The China Study, any McDougall dietary book, and Shinya's The Enzyme Study (and if the person has proven CHD, I might substitute Esselstyn's book for Shinya's). The other books would follow, given interest.

Agreed, its extremely difficult to get others interested to read or research, or watch videos. I've given my card and e-mail to others, who had seemingly expressed interest, but most never reply with an e-mail to follow up. They prefer to continue getting worse, or don't believe they arteries are further degrading.

[Gypsy]

Often overlooked is Dr Hiromi Shinya's "The Enzyme Factor", which also describes a plant-based diet, though he does allow 5-10% meat protein. Dr Shinya invented the colonoscope in 1969, and since has performed over 370,000 procedures while meticulously documenting each patients over all diet.

370,000 Is that possible? 37 years at 300 days per year = 33 per day

[flabingo]

However we got to a healthy diet is less important. How do I find a doctor who is on the same page in The Bay area in California as a primary doctor?

[StarchBeet]

Carrolllyne--you deserve so much credit for doing what's best for you regardless of what others are doing. I see that thread through so much of what happens to people eating starch centered lifestyles.

I don't understand why or how we can be so stubborn against making changes that makes us healthy. What is with that? I think those marketers have somehow programmed us to go with the flow and pretend we're happy rather than doing healthy things for ourselves. I don't know really.

Bravo to those who keep on going because it works.

[Ricardo]

I really learned a lot from here, but definitely, experience is still the best experience for me

homeandbeds102,
in life we are always being challenged with changes that result in experiences. The only sure thing in life is changes in our lives. To change lifestyle it is a way to make health changes easier. Other way is education in general, but in nutrition too, including the medical schools. Experiences can be good or bad. I am starting to see some good in bad experiences as well. Having I going through bad (CAD) one, I see an opportunity to pass along my reversal experience to others.

[Ricardo]

(Flabingo,
one reason to post this note is to let others to know that a new lifestyle keeps bringing good results for more than 1 year, as it is my case. Dr. Fuhrman explained in one of his lectures that it takes sometime (months or years) for the new nutrients to get to all cells of our bodies.)

I am almost 4 years in the program of Plant based food, VLF. Taking in consideration that you are just 1 year on this diet, I could assure you that you will see more new good things happening to your body. It happened to me. Many new good things take more than a year to get, like even a better BP, less weight (I took 2 or 3 years for the hard fat of my belly to be reduced even more. As you may know, big ballies are linked to higher risks for cardiac problems), etc.

The best decision is to stick to the program for ever!

Doctors should learn nutrition or the Nutritionists will take charge of their profession on Preventive Medicine subject.