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CONVERSATION WITH SELMER

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Heart & Cardiovascular Disease
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Posted 9/8/2007 12:35 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Selmer, i was reading your post to " AT WITS END" and it was very interesting, neither one of you needs to apologize for your input, it is interesting to get everyone's perspective  So with that in mind, Selmer,  i am a 60 year old female 5'6'', now weighing in at 139, high for me  but not high in general,  i  have CAD and it is caused in part at least by high ldl levels. i have had a hard time tolerating meds to lower the numbers but finally am tolerating low dose of Zocor, just 10mg,  but my question for you is this,  i thought i read somewhere that the food you eat only effects your cholesteral numbers by 25%, and the rest is hereditary.  now i am like wits end,  try to eat better than most but am not a vegitarian, is that your choice? being a vegetarian? or maybe a Vegan? i truly wonder for someone such as myself if that really would make a difference, since mine is hereditary, my brother has  two stents also got them at 25  me at 57,  hios life style is terrible, eats whatever and drinks  and we are in the same boat.  just curious.  my ldl is at 240 with the zocor otherwise it was at 300, my hdl is in upper 60's so i feel i am as safe as one can be considering the options.l  any thoughts?
Posted 9/8/2007 1:00 PM (GMT 0)
Selmer,

You have been a strong proponent of the Ornish diet on this board the past few weeks. What are your cholesterol numbers? If I remember correctly, you mention in another thread that you do not have heart disease. Why do you follow the Ornish diet? I think the Ornish diet is a good diet to help control cholesterol but there are other diets out there that seem to help as well. I follow the Mediterranean diet as there have been several studies by different groups of doctors showing that it works. The reason I like is that I can still have small portions of fish, chicken, turkey, etc. I've given up red meat for the duration, though.

Finally, you mention the Ornish diet has been publish in JAMA. Have there been any other studies published by doctors that duplicate his results?
Posted 9/9/2007 12:26 AM (GMT 0)
DREAMGIRL, I went across the street to my family doctor about a year ago, maybe two, and had them check my cholesterol. Had never ever had it checked. Overall was 157. My good cholesterol was not as high as she wanted, was in the upper 50's but the bad cholesterol was a good deal under 200. The reason for the fish oil 3 times a day was to raise my good cholesterol up more. I haven't had it checked since unless it was done during all that blood work back in February when they kept me in the ER overnight. Sure I eat more chicken than anything else, but I also eat salads quite often. I eat bananas. I eat cantaloupe and musk melon. I eat Dannon Activa yogurt which is good for you. Do not fry anything to eat in this house. I do however have to avoid anything acidic due to reflux like coffee, orange juice, soft drinks, been trying to add them back a little bit to see if I can tolerate them, but I do think they are giving me problems again. And I am barely overweight. And am working at getting that back off. I had at one time back in 2000 gotten up to 180. I lost 53 pounds on my own to get it back off. I had gained some back,  but only about half and have gotten 12 of that back off. So I don't feel I am in that bad a shape. I just got off the treadmill after 10 minutes and had no chest pain upon exercising. And since my chest tightens up with reflux anyway, just about always relieved by belching, then I think it is strictly what it is, reflux. I don't know what this diet is that Selmer is on either.  

Post Edited (at wit's end) : 9/8/2007 6:34:34 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/10/2007 2:12 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Selmer as usual you are so interesting.  i am quite familiar with a couple of the  drs. you mentioned.  i read mcdougals book, one of them, i think he has a newer one out, but it seemed to me to be  a vegetarian diet.  i would say i am the person you describe that is doing what the aha says, although i use olive oil alnost daily and whole wheat products and brown rice almost exclusively for pasta and breads.  i have an hdl of 67, that puts me under the 4.0 ratio, does that help.  i hear you, and i agree with what you say, but  being married my hubby needs a good meal and wants meat and a wide vairety.  i eat salmon, wild salmon, at least once per week.  i am doing alot of different eating since my stents, i use to only white bread and pasta, and i do loke my bread so that is a big change.  well, i want to say again how wonderful it is to have you in the forum.  glad you take the time to share your opinions  thank you dramy i am going to visit one of the sites you put up right now
Posted 9/10/2007 2:35 AM (GMT 0)
Well Dreamgirl, I am myself not much of a bread eater. If I do have any bread, it is mostly wheat bread. I like salads, my good cholesterol level was around 58, from what I just read under 40 for the good cholesterol is bad. And my overall was 157. Don't remember what my bad cholesterol was, but it was under 200 a good deal. I don't see anything wrong with being on what some consider a heart diet if I don't have any heart issues, but it cannot hurt. I like vegetables, I eat green beans, cooked squash, I eat some fruits, bananas, cantaloupe, musk melon, cannot eat acidic anything though, no tomatoes, no pineapple, cannot eat oranges, due to acid reflux problems. I see nothing wrong with trying to eat a healthy diet. I eat bran flakes every morning for breakfast, eat bran flakes or shredded wheat most nights for supper. I'm not saying I don't break down once in a while and eat a hamburger out or maybe a thing of fries but that is very rare. And then I only eat half of the fries, throw the rest away. I guess I am trying to eat right because of all my adopted parents have gone through heart wise.
Posted 9/10/2007 4:57 AM (GMT 0)
:-)  you know what Selmer,  it was my total cholesteral .I am so sorry,  yep that would be scary   my total is now 240 with my hdl at 67.  my trigs are in the normal range  about  130.  yes, i do make dishes with less meat, like instead of making meatballs, i will will make meat sauce  with either chicken or turkey sausage. i make it a point to only use 1/2 lb in my dishes whenever i can. in any event, i am thankful to still be alive and kicking. in your honor i went up stairs and cut myself off two stalks of celery and ate them earlier tonite  l  lol    so, do these numbers look less deadly in your humble, but meaningful opinion.
Posted 9/10/2007 5:13 AM (GMT 0)
:-)  Hi wit's end, i want to tell you that you make me smile, you are like me, we want what we are doing to be acceptable, and it is, your doing an amazing job if you can get the weight off.. PLEASE tell me how you did it, i am hoping you just cut back on your calories, i truly have never been on a diet and would not want to be, i do want to lose about 5 pounds and i cannot even get those off   bummer.  i am looking for all and any new info that is why i love the conversations going on.  your chol. numbers seem reasonable and my cardiologist told me that it takes years not months for our arteries to clog, so if you recently got good news yu are probably safe,  he always tells me it is not a sprint but a marathon as far as getting our numbers in shape.

 

Posted 9/10/2007 11:24 PM (GMT 0)

DREAMGIRL said...
:-)  Hi wit's end, i want to tell you that you make me smile, you are like me, we want what we are doing to be acceptable, and it is, your doing an amazing job if you can get the weight off.. PLEASE tell me how you did it, i am hoping you just cut back on your calories, i truly have never been on a diet and would not want to be, i do want to lose about 5 pounds and i cannot even get those off   bummer.  i am looking for all and any new info that is why i love the conversations going on.  your chol. numbers seem reasonable and my cardiologist told me that it takes years not months for our arteries to clog, so if you recently got good news yu are probably safe,  he always tells me it is not a sprint but a marathon as far as getting our numbers in shape.

Dreamgirl, I actually kept my daily calorie intake at 1200-1300 calories a day plus did alot of either walking outdoors in the evening with my husband 3 times a week and when we couldn't walk outdoors I would get on our treadmill for about 15 or 20 minutes. I actually tried Ediets once and it worked pretty well. But the 50 pounds I got off on my own before ever doing Ediets. This was back in 2000 when I lost the 50 lbs and it took about 9 months to get it off but I kept it off for about 5 years before gaining any of it back. Just watched what I ate and kept my calories at what I listed above. You can do it also, if I was able to do it by myself. :-)
Posted 9/11/2007 2:09 AM (GMT 0)
:-)  YOU MAKE ME THINK I CAN. ESPECIALLY BEFORE IT GETS OUT OF HAND.  THAT IS NOT MUCH FOOD THOUGH, BUT DOABLE. SORRY FOR THE CAPS  TOO TIRED TO GO BACK AND DO OVER
Posted 9/11/2007 8:30 PM (GMT 0)
Dreamgirl, if you only need to get off 5 pounds then you can't possibly have much of a weight issue. 5'6" and 139 should be ideal weight for you. I wouldn't think you would need to lose anything. But five pounds should be easy to get off. And we just got back from a week at Panama City Beach on September 1st and because of the fact that we semi watched what we ate, I didn't gain a pound. If anything I lost a couple of pounds. We did two beach walks a day.

Don't have a clue as to what frame size you are but I am guessing small or medium frame. The ideal weight for your height small frame is between 120-133 lbs. For a medium frame it is 130-144. Large frame is 140-159.

For my height of 5'4 it is 114-127 for a small frame. Medium frame is 124-138. And large frame is 134-151. I am two pounds above the large frame weight and I am shooting for getting back down to 135 to 140, and I am probably medium frame although wouldn't know for sure. My arm bone structure is very small. But there is obesity in my family background. My birth mother and half sister are morbidly obese, my brother is overweight, I don't call him morbidly obese, but my half brother is what I consider obese. So I would say I am the smallest as to frame size.

Post Edited (at wit's end) : 9/11/2007 2:43:40 PM (GMT-6)

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