TOPIC:

I had a rude awakening about a month ago. Went for an annual check up and got a call 3 days later to tell me I had a funky ECG and I needed to see a cardiologist. After a 15 minute discussion with the cardiologist I got put on a diet and told to lose 110 lbs or come back and see him in a couple of years for bypass surgery. So "shit or get off the pot" was basically what I got told.

This cardiologist told me to buy a book written by a Dr. Steven Gundry called "The Plant Paradox" read it, understand it and if I wanted to "cure myself" follow the diet plan. So I read the damned book. Well at first it was manditory reading but the more I read it, the more fascinated in the content I got. The first 200 pages talks about how screwed up the North American diet is and how it got that way. It discusses the way we grow our food and harvest it now compared to the way it was done 100 years ago. It talks about how we raise animals and what they are fed now compared to years ago and that what they've ate has got into their meat and now what you eat (the meat) is related to the food the animal ate. The key to all of this research this cardiologist has done is in a key protien in the plant called "Lectins" and apparently, lectins perforate the gut (your stomach) and allow all of the bad stuff to enter your body and then your immune system spends a lot of effort trying to repair all of the damage the bad things have done.

Anyway, If you're interested in understanding why weight loss or even the inability to gain weight is such a problem, I would suggest you invest $20 in the book available at Amazon. I consider it a fascinating read and I plan on giving the diet plan a whirl. Heart surgery is not in my future plans if I have anything to say about it. And just for shits and giggles, I plan on tracking my progress and giving some updates as time progresses.

Day 1, Kawboy's 62 years old and 270lbs. And so it begins !!!

Good luck! Post your progress here and we'll keep you accountable

Hey Kawboy
uh, that sounds scary. My best wishes for your health. I learnt that the clue lies in the balance, so rather than to go on a diet you better try to maintain a "healthy" behavior all the time. That means an up and down, time to enjoy and time to rather cut some things back.
Do you do any sports or do you simply hate it ?

All the best

Holger

BigSix wrote: Do you do any sports or do you simply hate it ?

Sports are not in my program. That being said, I do jump on the rowing machine for 30 minutes a day and I'm up on my feet doing something from 7am. to 6pm. most days so I don't consider myself a couch potatoe. It's tougher getting outside this time of year. Right now at 6:50am it's -23 celcius or -10 Fahrenheit depending on how you understand temperatures.

you're right Holger, a healthy lifestyle is key to success. for the record, I might have a couple of shots of Bourbon in a month if that. Beer is a rare treat only on a stinking hot summer day more for the fluid and a change of taste than the alcohol. If we go out with friends, I offer to be the designated driver since I could care less if I had a drink.
So one could say "He eats too much" Breakfast is usually one egg a piece of toast and a cup of coffee with cream no sugar. Lunch could be a meat sandwich and a diet coke. Dinner typically over the last year was a chicken breast or half of a striploin steak, hot vegetables and a diet coke. Snacks in between not often. So after looking at this lifestyle I was struggling with what the Hell I was doing wrong. More exercise? I do more in a day than my neighbours do in a week and they're not struggling with weight. Ok, eat less. 2 years ago I developed a hernia just outside of my navel. so I went to our Schouldice Clinic to have it looked after. They told me back then to lose 100 lbs or they wouldn't fix the hernia. They gave me a diet plan very similar to the Paleo diet which is heavy in meat and no carbohydrates. I was putting on 4 lbs a week. So "Go with what you know". 10 years prior I had been on the Atkins diet and had lost 35 lbs leaving me at 220 lbs, so let's try this diet again. This time around nothing, not one damned pound in 2 weeks. I came to the conclusion that something was really wrong and I just couldn't put my finger on it but then again, I'm getting older. Then a month ago I get sent to the Cardiologist and get put on to this book. The foundatation of the book lies in the healing of the gut and then understanding what not to eat that perforated your gut in the first place. As I stated before the more I read, the more it made sense and the more it made sense, the more I wanted to read.

Bottom line is I have to lose the weight. I plan on following this plan religiously and give it every possible chance to work. God bless the doctors of this world for being there when you need them. We the people need to take control of our lives and maintain a healthy lifestyle and not rely on doctors to fix our problems. This book talks about the average North American and that 60% of all North Americans are overweight and of the 60% , 37% of them are obese meaning more than 40% body fat. Of the more than 10,000 patients this Dr. Gundry has helped with diet issues, almost every one of them were on 7 pills. Nexium for acid reflux, cholesterol medication, hypertension medication for high blood pressure. Well, guess what, yours truly is on all of them. So I pigeon hole into this typical person that showed up on his doorstep for help.

Anyway, let's leave it at that for now. Thanks Holger and Raygun for your thoughts.
KB

Happy new year to one and all. I'm at our real home here in Okanagan Falls BC enjoying the snow for 10 ten days. And there is quite a lot of it when compared to most years.
Well, KB , you've taken the biggest single step on your way to recovery by getting to the doctor, accepting the situation you are in , and put a plan in place to begin correcting things.
Getting a 110 lbs off is going to be a challenge alright but , many have done it also. And getting the weight off will probably help with some of these other things.
First thing I'd do is get rid of all sugar -Diet Coke and all refined carbohydrates because they all end up in the blood stream as poison. The evidence is now pointing to sugar - and not fat - as enemy number one.
You will find this article very interesting

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/...t-lustig-john-yudkin

Anyway, you can't slow down yet, you've got all these bikes to finish and get on the road.

Yellowstone National Park.

John, all the best with your new regime - hope the new approach works for you.
I know first hand your frustrations: last couple of years Ive tried to lose weight, restricted diet, very healthy foods, loads of exercise etc etc - nada, zero, zilch - what worked for me in the past just wasnt working now ! I tried Atkins again (which worked before) and did even more exercise & work outs - again minimal almost zero weight loss My clinician said dont worry, just keep at it - but its bloody frustrating.

Be genuinely interested to see how you get on with "The Plant Paradox" - might yet convince me to part with $20 USD.

Cheers Tim