Desperate times call for desperate measures. This must be what my father says to himself every time he sits down to eat. How else could he stick to a diet of food without any oil?
Two years ago he had a minor heart attack. He came home from the hospital with instructions to exercise more and eat better. I was hopeful at first when I saw him sitting at his computer researching diets for people with heart disease and saying things like, 'I have to stop eating sugar. It is my heart's enemy.' And then reality set in and he became stubborn and hopeless. He continued to eat crap food and decided if he was going to die anyway he may as well enjoy himself. Then he had a stroke. Argh.
So things had to change. And through some amazing change of heart my father decided to try a diet created by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. Dr. Esselstyn discovered through patient research that the western diet of eating meat, oil, and other animal products actually causes cardiovascualr disease. And if we eliminated these foods from our diets we could eliminate cardiovascular disease and other related diseases like diabetes and hypertension.
I went with my parents to hear Dr. Esselstyn speak about his research and I was blown away. He approaches the conversation from a scientific place, explaining the effects specific foods have on the human body. The most shocking piece of information the Dr. presented is that everyone raised on a western diet has the beginning of cardiovascular disease by the time they graduate from high school. Scary! I left feeling like I needed to seriously rethink the way I eat if I want to be sure I do not have a heart-related disease when I am older.
I know it sounds crazy and extreme but I am becoming a believer more and more each day my father's health is improving. When I saw him five months ago he moved as though he were 90-years-old. His hands shook and he had barely enough strength to walk. Now he is doing yard work and playing his drums again and looks more like a 59-year-old. His blood pressure has dropped significantly and he is very close to getting off of his blood pressure medicine all together. And he has lost a lot of weight. All because he stopped eating processed foods, animal products, sugar, and oil.
The coolest part of this whole transformation is that my father has remembered why he had such an appreciation for wholesome foods when he was my age. He is tasting the memories of baking his own bread and eating foods grown in the garden in his backyard. I never thought I would see my dad get so excited over a good bowl of soup. And we are making delicious food! It is incredible what can be created without oil; BBQ mushroom sandwiches and roasted potatoes, bean burritos, nicoise salad, marinara sauce with pasta, and so much more. It turns out life does not end if you can't eat meat and oil. It just becomes more interesting :)
Two years ago he had a minor heart attack. He came home from the hospital with instructions to exercise more and eat better. I was hopeful at first when I saw him sitting at his computer researching diets for people with heart disease and saying things like, 'I have to stop eating sugar. It is my heart's enemy.' And then reality set in and he became stubborn and hopeless. He continued to eat crap food and decided if he was going to die anyway he may as well enjoy himself. Then he had a stroke. Argh.
So things had to change. And through some amazing change of heart my father decided to try a diet created by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. Dr. Esselstyn discovered through patient research that the western diet of eating meat, oil, and other animal products actually causes cardiovascualr disease. And if we eliminated these foods from our diets we could eliminate cardiovascular disease and other related diseases like diabetes and hypertension.
I went with my parents to hear Dr. Esselstyn speak about his research and I was blown away. He approaches the conversation from a scientific place, explaining the effects specific foods have on the human body. The most shocking piece of information the Dr. presented is that everyone raised on a western diet has the beginning of cardiovascular disease by the time they graduate from high school. Scary! I left feeling like I needed to seriously rethink the way I eat if I want to be sure I do not have a heart-related disease when I am older.
I know it sounds crazy and extreme but I am becoming a believer more and more each day my father's health is improving. When I saw him five months ago he moved as though he were 90-years-old. His hands shook and he had barely enough strength to walk. Now he is doing yard work and playing his drums again and looks more like a 59-year-old. His blood pressure has dropped significantly and he is very close to getting off of his blood pressure medicine all together. And he has lost a lot of weight. All because he stopped eating processed foods, animal products, sugar, and oil.
The coolest part of this whole transformation is that my father has remembered why he had such an appreciation for wholesome foods when he was my age. He is tasting the memories of baking his own bread and eating foods grown in the garden in his backyard. I never thought I would see my dad get so excited over a good bowl of soup. And we are making delicious food! It is incredible what can be created without oil; BBQ mushroom sandwiches and roasted potatoes, bean burritos, nicoise salad, marinara sauce with pasta, and so much more. It turns out life does not end if you can't eat meat and oil. It just becomes more interesting :)
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