Movie Fat, Sick and nearly Dead

[itself]

So my older brother emails me that he saw this movie, and that he is going vegan. Ok, you don't know my bro but he is a meat guy and loves his ice cream. Also on all sorts of meds like cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. said he will get off all the medicines now with his new diet.

Check the movie out, it's worthwhile. We have been using our Vitamix for the exact purpose and I happen to be the only one in my family on zero medications.

He said to check out Forks Over Knives as well.

Good health to you all!

[Sylvia]

So my older brother emails me that he saw this movie, and that he is going vegan. Ok, you don't know my bro but he is a meat guy and loves his ice cream. Also on all sorts of meds like cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. said he will get off all the medicines now with his new diet.

Check the movie out, it's worthwhile. We have been using our Vitamix for the exact purpose and I happen to be the only one in my family on zero medications.

He said to check out Forks Over Knives as well.

Good health to you all!

This is the movie that convinced me to try juicing!! I haven't been able to do the juice fast, but I purchased a juicer, and I take juice to work with me every day. It is really a great way to get more dark green veggies into your diet. Between juicing, watching my diet and using my spin bike, I've lost 7 lbs since the first of the year.

You can watch the movie on Hulu for free. http://www.hulu.com/watch/289122

[shootingstar]

I appreciate the vegan approach for anyone. Would you feel differently if it was a smaller scale farmer raising their animals more humanely? And also just cutting back a lot of meat in a diet long term?

Let us know itself how your brother fares! It's good he got jolted into doing something.

[Crankin]

While I don't doubt the benefit of healthy diet and exercise to reverse CAD, or metabolic syndrome, I think it's a bit of pseudo science to attribute this all to "juicing."
Some people need to take "all those medicines" despite extensive endurance exercise, healthy eating, and lifestyle. To say you are going to get off of them, is an admirable goal, but I hope your brother has had an extensive physical with a good cardiologist, that includes a stress test. Preferably, one with dye that would show any blockages that are a result of his unhealthy lifestyle. If he's that much of a couch potato, he might be a walking time bomb, with no symptoms.

[goldfinch]

I'm with Crankin.

Your brother can't count on a change, though it may help to change his diet there are no guarantees. I eat a relatively low fat diet with very little meat. High fat, low fat, high carb, low carb, it doesn't seem to effect my cholesterol levels much at all. I still have to take the drugs. Even when I went ultra low fat my cholesterol levels didn't drop enough to drop the meds.

My BP is high. Exercise made no difference at all. I eat a low salt diet. It is a big enough problem that I think I am going to have to change my BP meds as the old ones are not working quite as well as they once did. And this is exercising more than I have ever exercised in my life and this is being thinner than I have been since 1980. My sister is a hair taller than I am and weighs almost twice what I weigh. Her BP is low.

[OakLeaf]

I'm with Crankin on the general principles, but I do have to say, I thought I ate a healthy diet, but vastly increasing the amount of calories I get from raw vegetables makes an ENORMOUS difference in how I feel. And there's no easier way to get a whole lot of calories from raw vegetables than juicing. Otherwise, there's really too much fiber to even eat that much, let alone absorb it all.

[itself]

For me, my approach to food has been balance. I was a vegetarian, but tested positive to a soy allergy 15 years ago, I eat all hormone free meat, and have not eaten red meat for 30 years. You do have to wonder about genes and what we inherit.

All I know is that it will probably save my brothers life. Better late than never.

[Sylvia]

For me, my approach to food has been balance. I was a vegetarian, but tested positive to a soy allergy 15 years ago, I eat all hormone free meat, and have not eaten red meat for 30 years. You do have to wonder about genes and what we inherit.

All I know is that it will probably save my brothers life. Better late than never.

The movie says you need to be supervised by a doctor if you are on medication before doing a 10 day juice fast. So if your brother is doing a juice fast, I'm presuming he's checking in with his doctor. That said, I think it is great that he is making an attempt to change, improve his diet and become healthy. That in and of itself is really HUGE for many of us.

[Crankin]

My comments stem from the fact that there are some people, as Itself alluded to, where genetics trump everything when dealing with these issues and others, like Goldfinch, and myself somewhat, where dietary changes have made no difference. I'm not on any medication, but at age 35 my total cholesterol was 160. At 40 it was 180. At 45, it was 245! I was exercising vigorously and eating well, although not as well as I do now. I started cycling and just from that (and giving up on my old forms of exercise) it went down to 220. It hasn't gone down much from that, about 217. However, it did raise my HDL to such a high level (70-100), that my ratio is excellent and no doctor will think of putting me on meds, despite the overall total that is about 20 points too high. I've tried every type of eating and nothing changes.
On the other hand, no amount of changes in diet/exercise would have prevented my DH from having 2 80% blockages, after 5 years of cycling 3-4K a year, and making huge dietary changes, and being on bp and cholesterol lowering drugs for a year. Maybe, if he had started when he was 18; the genetics were so bad, we are just waiting for all 3 of his siblings to have some "event," as they are all overweight, 2 are extremely sedentary, and they don't eat well, either.

[Miranda]

So my older brother emails me that he saw this movie, and that he is going vegan. Ok, you don't know my bro but he is a meat guy and loves his ice cream. Also on all sorts of meds like cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. said he will get off all the medicines now with his new diet.

Check the movie out, it's worthwhile. We have been using our Vitamix for the exact purpose and I happen to be the only one in my family on zero medications.

He said to check out Forks Over Knives as well.

Good health to you all!

That documentary... was excellent!

I love the fact that it's a long term medical study. Some people get turned off when they hear someone is a vegan or vegatarian because they think they are going to get an animal rights lecture, and turn a deaf ear to the health benefits. Now don't get me wrong, I DO love animals! And feel better not eating something that I know had to endure the types of suffering that goes on in factor farms. But my primary objective on my plant eating journey was my health.

Also something to check out is: "Food Inc". I found this for free at my local vid store under the education section and the library had it (same with Forks Over Knives and the juicing guy's vid). This book/vid is also taught in the children's school. Which I find says a lot about our society's sad state of health.

This book is older, and you must get past the profanity, and sarcasim, but it's called "Skinny B*tch"...there is also a "Skinny B*stard" version. I know, crazy title! But besides the focus on veganism it hits some points about the chemicals in our foods, and the food industry. Free at the library as well.

I'm reading "Thrive" at the moment, which is a vegan athlete book. Love it's wholistic approach. And the Paleo book, just because my gym cyclists friend is doing this, and I want to be able to compare to discuss. Nice article that gives highlights some pros and cons of both: http://experiencelife.com/article/paleo-vs-vegan/ (google paleo vs vegan life expericne if the link doesn't work, article May 2012).

And last on my reading list, when my library hold comes in is "Salt Sugar Fat", release Feb 2012...don't think it's vegan based but basically talks about the food industry etc...and again it moves a person towards a whole foods type diet, vs the processed icky stuff.

Finally thought on juicing... my gf has the one in the vid and I wondered if I would tire of putting the pieces together and cleaning it...so as a starting point I got a NutriBullet... http://www.nutribullet.com/ ...I used a 20% off coupon for BedBathBeyound w/their great return policy and had nothing to lose... I LOVE it! ...so simple AND you get the fiber benefits, mininal clean up.

Please let us know how your brother does! I agree with him...one reason for the veggie life for me is I am sick of pills, their costs, side effects, etc. Best of Luck with it all!

p.s. THANKS for your post...can you tell this is something near and dear to my heart that I'm excited about hahahha

[malkin]

Does anyone else find the use of the word "juicing" especially ironic in this context?

[Crankin]

I just saw a whole segment on the news about how "juicing" is really popular now, but there's little scientific evidence that it does anything. It was the same for all of the other things they talked about.
Eat less and exercise more. That was the upshot about losing weight.
I've always agreed with this. Yes, some people need real education about what healthy eating is, and a lot of behavioral changes to make this happen.

[OakLeaf]

Well, all the "evidence" I need is how I feel after drinking a fresh raw juice or eating a meal from the raw food restaurant.

The only way I can describe it is "bright." Not in an intellectual sense, but just in terms of how it feels like every cell in my body is energized and cleaned.

Besides the up-front cost of a juicer, I think the biggest barrier for most people is just looking at, and affording, the volume of whole vegetables it takes to get a significant amount of calories. That ought to tell us all something right there. Very, very few of us get the amount of vegetables we need - including those of us who try to eat healthy and even paleo folks who eat meat and nuts daily rather than just a few times a week.

[itself]

Go to youtube and watch Charlotte Gerson on Cancer and Disease. She is a beautiful 90 year old woman!!!

[itself]

My comments stem from the fact that there are some people, as Itself alluded to, where genetics trump everything when dealing with these issues and others, like Goldfinch, and myself somewhat, where dietary changes have made no difference. I'm not on any medication, but at age 35 my total cholesterol was 160. At 40 it was 180. At 45, it was 245! I was exercising vigorously and eating well, although not as well as I do now. I started cycling and just from that (and giving up on my old forms of exercise) it went down to 220. It hasn't gone down much from that, about 217. However, it did raise my HDL to such a high level (70-100), that my ratio is excellent and no doctor will think of putting me on meds, despite the overall total that is about 20 points too high. I've tried every type of eating and nothing changes.
On the other hand, no amount of changes in diet/exercise would have prevented my DH from having 2 80% blockages, after 5 years of cycling 3-4K a year, and making huge dietary changes, and being on bp and cholesterol lowering drugs for a year. Maybe, if he had started when he was 18; the genetics were so bad, we are just waiting for all 3 of his siblings to have some "event," as they are all overweight, 2 are extremely sedentary, and they don't eat well, either.

My cholesterol is also 225, but my NP said that my HDL and LDL are so ridiculously good that I need not worry. There is some thought around the total number having less importance.