Friday, November 18, 2011

Former Buffalo Bill player goes Plant Strong!

Former Buffalo Bills player Adam Lingner suffered the exact same symptoms that I did and had the exact same angioplasty that I did and had a stent put in like myself! He has also decided to go the Plant Strong route and has adopted Dr. Esselstyn's diet. His story was documented by the local TV station and is online here:

http://www.wgrz.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1281795408001

It's a truly heart felt story and shows how one change can make a huge difference. It also shows how much a supportive spouse can help in making the change.

Thanks Adam for sharing your story. All the best.

Ambrose

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Sarah Taylor's Take on Eliminating Oil from your Diet!

Sarah Taylor is a well-known author on matters of veganism and a healthy diet. She is a faculty member of the Nutritional Education Institute. She's written a book:


Vegan in 30 Days: Get Healthy. Save the World.


She has also had a direct connection with Dr. Esselstyn and his contention that oils are not healthy for you. I could quote the entire article, but I'll just post a link to it and have you read it yourself. It's quite convincing.


Ambrose




Dr. Esselstyn's Post on Serum Cholesterol

I just noticed that Dr. Esselstyn has posted a great article on his website.

http://www.heartattackproof.com/reversal01.htm

In it, he comments on the effects of lowering your lipid levels in order to improve your chances of getting coronary artery disease. He sums up by saying:

"Epidemiologic and evidence-based research has identified a lipid threshold for preventing the coronary artery disease epidemic. We have demonstrated that this threshold can be achieved and maintained with a plant-based diet and lipid-lowering medication when indicated, and that maintaining low lipid levels arrests and often reverses coronary artery disease."


I highly recommend you read it and understand why he's so passionate about eating a plant-strong, whole foods diet!


Ambrose

Bill Clinton Mentions Dr. Esselstyn on Letterman

I forgot that former President, Bill Clinton was on David Letterman's show a couple of months ago and on the show, mentioned his new diet and Dr. Esselstyn in particular!


Bill Clinton's determination to live a heart healthy lifestyle is truly inspiring.

Ambrose

Friday, November 11, 2011

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Sr. and Lou Gehrig

I learned something new today and thought I'd share it.


Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Junior's father (Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Senior) was Lou Gehrig's personal physician right up to the time of Lou Gehrig's passing in 1941. Dr. Esselstyn Junior wrote the popular diet book, "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease". Dr. Esselstyn, Senior was a surgeon in New York City during that time and he was assigned Lou Gehrig as a patient. Dr. E Sr. visited Mr. Gehrig's home every day to make sure he was okay and was by his side when Lou passed. Dr. E. Sr., then went on to form a foundation called the "Rip Van Winkle Foundation" which focused on giving everyone low cost healthcare. Dr. Esselstyn, Jr. serves on the board of the foundation today.

Ambrose

Monday, October 31, 2011

Another information filled video from Dr. Esselstyn

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn gives us an 8 minute chat on how to prevent and reverse heart disease. It's a capsule summary of his hour long presentation I attended recently. Highly informative and easy to understand.


Ambrose


Friday, October 28, 2011

Q&A with Doctor Essenstyn

Kripalu posted a very concise Question and Answer session with Dr. Esselstyn which may answer a lot of questions you may have about his philosophy of eating a whole foods, plant based diet.

http://www.kripalu.org/article/1253/

A wonderful write-up on Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and his book

Bhoomi magazine online has a wonderful write-up on Dr. Esselstyn's book: Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.

This movement is gaining ground thanks to Dr. Esselstyn's tireless crusade against the typical Western Diet of overprocessed, artificially flavored, artificially sweetened, animal based foods. We can do ourselves a great service by simply eating our way to health as so many corporations have stated, but really mean "pills."

Dr. Esselstyn's philosophy of eating a whole foods plant based diet is so logical and simple that it simply works!

Remember, don't anything from a mother or that has a face. Also, don't eat any oils.

http://www.bhoomimagazine.org/component/k2/item/137-prevent--reverse-heart-disease-%E2%80%93-caldwell-esselstyn/137-prevent--reverse-heart-disease-%E2%80%93-caldwell-esselstyn

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

More Reasons To Eat Your Fruits And Veggies

I found this interview on the Science Friday website with an audio recording. It shows that the 9P21 gene causes you to have a higher risk of a heart attack. The gene is present in a large part of our population. You can counter effects of this bad gene by eating multiple servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

In a new study, researchers from McMaster University found that in people with a certain gene that elevates heart attack risk, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help lower the risk. Dr. Sonia Anand explains the study, and what still needs to be learned about the gene. 


Amazing to find another study which shows that eating fruits and vegetables is good for your heart!

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201110147

More later,
Ambrose

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

"The Last Heart Attack"

This past Summer, I saw a special on CNN called "The Last Heart Attack." It was done by Dr. Sanjay Gupta and featured former President Bill Clinton. The show featured many doctors and specialists. 


In the show, Dr. Arthur Agatston made a statement which is quite surprising to me. He said that in practices with aggressive heart attack prevention techniques, he has seen heart attacks almost disappear. he declined to say "completely disappear," however, he was clear that it went down to almost none. He invented a heart imaging system called a "coronary calcium scan" which is a noninvasive cardiac imaging technique which scans your heart to look for plaque buildup.


The show shows a man named Tom Bare who was diagnosed with partial blockages on all of his major heart arteries. One year later, his arteries were much worse even though he did the clinical routine of diet, medicines, lifestyle and exercise changes. It did not help.


The show then focused on Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. His diet was called "radical" by some, however, it seems a natural solution to the problem of heart disease. His diet change is to eliminate all fats and processed foods and to feed yourself only a plant based, whole foods diet. The mantra is "nothing with a mother and nothing with a face." He also advocates a complete elimination of all oils. His study of 25 years ago proved that it works and eliminates all heart disease in the patients he followed for many years.


I highly recommend everyone watch this special and also another movie done recently called "Forks Over Knives," which also features Doctor Esselstyn as well as Dr. Colin Campbell. Both doctors recommend a plant based, whole foods diet. Dr. Campbell bases his conclusion on the extremely comprehensive study of the Chinese population done in the mid 70's. He wrote a book about that study called, "The China Study." In it, the Chinese found that areas where the diet was mostly vegetable based with very little animal protein, the rates of heart disease and many other common life-threatening diseases were essentially non-existent!

Please change the way you and many other people eat and save your own life! Eat a plant-based, whole food diet!

More later,
Ambrose

MAC4Wellness event in Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania

I attended the presentation given by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn this past Thursday evening. I had a wonderful time and learned a great deal in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania at the Mercersburg Academy. Dr. Esselstyn and Ann Esselstyn were amazing in their presentations. The meal served that evening was delicious and very filling.

I didn't want to bother the doctor since he had a long line of guests with questions so I snuck a picture.

I am grateful to all of the organizers of Mac4Wellness who sponsored the event and to Dr. Elizabeth George in particular who responded to my emails and who took this photo!

Here's a shot of Dr. Esselstyn on stage right after his presentation to the group with Dr. Elizabeth George.

I was particularly impressed by Mercersburg Academy. This is probably the most beautiful campus I have ever been on. The grounds are beautiful, the buildings are magnificent, and the architecture is classic and elegant. Here's a photo of the Lenfest Library on campus.


More later,
Ambrose

Monday, September 19, 2011

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. Visiting Area

After starting my vegan diet based on Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr.'s philosophy, I Googled his name and found that he is coming to my area (well, close to my area) in the next few weeks. Dr. Esselstyn will be attending the Mercersburg, Pennsylvania Area Council for Wellness (mac4wellness.org) meeting on the evening of September 29th. Dr. E. will give a talk on Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease and his wife, Ann Esselstyn will also give a talk on "Shop, Stock and Cook the Healthy Way." There will also be a food tasting that same evening. The information poster is here. It's an Adobe Acrobat PDF file.

The program starts at 6:00 PM at the Burgin Center of the Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.

Map here.

More later,
Ambrose

First Post on Heart Health

Hello World!

I started a new diet about 2 weeks ago and thought that I should start a blog since I have so many blogs on other interests as well. This one may be the most important one for me of them all!

I am a 55 year old naturalized Chinese American who has a heart problem. :)

I was diagnosed with a 99% block of "The Widowmaker" the Left Anterior Descending Artery (LAD) back in 2004 and as with many heart ailment sufferers, underwent a lot of thoughts about my life and in particular, my diet! I went with a low fat, low salt diet with few other limits.


After 7 years, I wasn't happy with what I felt was still going wrong with my heart so I decided to make a significant change. This one would provide me with two benefits, heart health and weight loss. It wasn't a difficult decision because I was mostly vegetarian when I was in College and going back to it wasn't a strain on my lifestyle. Of course, this was met with some resistance from my wife who would have to support me in this endeavor because she does the cooking at dinner time!


Besides limiting myself to just vegetarian foods, I am going one step farther and going with a pure vegan diet that also eliminates oils.


It's motto is very simple. Nothing with a face and nothing from a mother. No milk, no cheese, no animal products and no oils whatsoever. It's based on a diet I heard about on Sanjay Gupta's CNN news special called:

Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: The Last Heart Attack – Sanjay Gupta MD - CNN.com

It is available to view online at:

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. known as the prescriber of the diet that former President, Bill Clinton is on right now. President Clinton has also sworn off all animal products in his diet. I hope to report on my progress and also on tips and tricks I find along the way.

More later,
Ambrose