Caldwell B. Esselstyn's "Prevent or Reverse Heart Disease"
Hi -
I started following as much as possible this diet plan after seeing it on CNN with Sanjay Gupta. This is the diet that President (ex) Clinton is now on.
I started it on Dec. 20 and to date have lost 11 pounds. I cheat and haven't exercised due to lack of time right now. (I know - that's a bad excuse). The problem I have with this diet is it is very strict. No OIL, No Dairy, No Meat or Nuts with exception of some walnuts if you don't have heart disease.
I was hoping to find a support group of others who are on this diet to maybe share recipes and results. The book has some recipes but I haven't tried most of them as they just don't look that great. It is difficult to prepare things with no oil!
I am happy with the quick weight loss. I actually lost 7 lbs the first 7 days. And that was with cheating on first weekend with a pizza (thin crust).
The other thing that this diet has helped me with is by dropping milk from my diet I have notice dramatic improvement in asthma that I suffered with over the last 50 years.
Anyone else on this diet? I was hoping to find a forum on this particular diet or to perhaps start a forum on just this diet for support.
That's the diet I really wish I could stay on. There are several DVDs out (Forks Over Knives, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead) that go into details about how that kind of diet works. 4 years ago in January I did a brief water fast followed by a vegan diet for about 3 weeks. I was following Dr. Fuhrman's diet program (which is similar to Dr. Esselstyn's). My arthritis and IBS completely disappeared. I could actually "taste" food again. My skin cleared up and I felt energized without caffeine. Sadly I slipped back into bad habits and cravings for things like cheese and ice cream. Other people you know will try to sabotage you - saying it's unhealthy, and you won't get enough protein etc.
Good luck in your diet - There's a woman Dr. Ruth Heidrich who is in her 70's now who runs marathons and triathlons on that diet. She is a survivor of a double mastectomy after breast cancer (refused chemotherapy) and believes the diet saved her all these years. Her story is pretty amazing and inspiring. Right now I'm doing mostly vegetarian, but I would like to become vegan again. It's just hard to stick to over the long term. But it's worth it if you can.
Funny that I just saw that report this week and got the book at the library yesterday... It will be very difficult to follow that's a fact, specially to go out, but I'd like to try... Don't know why I want to try it because I am not a vegetarian at all, not even close, I love meat... Something just attract me to it...
to the board and congrats on the weight loss so far, that motivates me even more to try and stick to it...
Tonight I made, from the book on page 260 the Kitchari recipe... It reminded me to the vegetarian food at Yoga camp ... It was good, bland, I needed sea salt on it...
I'm doing this as well. I had to ease into it, but it's turning out better than I thought. The recipes I follow now are very different, which is a good thing. It's nice to shake things up. Everything tastes fresher without the oil, IMO. And I am starting to feel better so it's worth it!
But I have to agree, Ilene, some of the food does have that certain style to it
I'm doing this as well. I had to ease into it, but it's turning out better than I thought. The recipes I follow now are very different, which is a good thing. It's nice to shake things up. Everything tastes fresher without the oil, IMO. And I am starting to feel better so it's worth it!
But I have to agree, Ilene, some of the food does have that certain style to it
I surprisingly don't miss the oil either... I make brussels sprouts that I steam and then stir fry with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper, but this time around I made them with lemon, salt and pepper only and they were very good...
The weekend was difficult though, I will not lie...specially in a bar/restaurant type of setting... visiting friends tonight and she is making the traditional spaghetti sauce with meat, I do not have the heart to tell her to do it meatless, so I will suck it up and eat a bit....
I've watched the videos Alenna mentioned in her post plus one that really sticks with me, Food Matters.
I've been eating a plant strong diet since June when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and I actually felt like I was going to die. My doctor immediately wanted to put me on meds but I didn't let him. Instead I changed the way I eat and how much exercise I was getting. My blood pressure did come down within 6 weeks, but not enough. I'm on the lowest dosage of bp meds and am hoping to be off by my 1 year anniversary of my diet plan.
So far I've lost almost 35lbs but during the holidays and since I've gained 7 back and fell off the proverbial wagon. I am now back on track and am noticing my energy level is improving and I've lost 2lbs in the past week.
I will say that this way of eating is not difficult for me except the restaurants and cooking for my DH. He's a meat eater and insists on his meat at least 3-4 times a week.
Books that come in handy are the Engine 2 Diet and Eat to Live. Rip Esselstyn in so inspirational and of course Joel Furhman backs it up with the science.
I was ecstatic to find a thread that represented me.
Power in Plants!
I'm not allowed to post links yet but try searching for fatfreevegan - its a huge site full of great ideas and also there is a blog of fatfreevegan that has lovely photos of the food too!
I also "aspire" to this way of eating and whenever I have managed to stick with it I feel great and have excellent results! It surely is easier to do it on your own at home though where you can control the ingredients! (Once I ordered a big, colourful, plain salad in a restaurant and had tucked away in my bag a no fat raspberry/dijon mustard dressing that I just poured on my big salad so that I could stay on plan
I also love Dr John McDougall who also teaches eating this way - plant based, no oil, no dairy, no meat.
Allow yourself lots of time to accumulate recipes you actually enjoy. I do love a good bean chilli with lots of flavour and I think right now there is one on the main page of the blog of fatfreevegan.
Caldwell B. Esselstyn's "Prevent or Reverse Heart Disease"
to the board and congrats on the weight loss so far, that motivates me even more to try and stick to it...
... It was good, bland, I needed sea salt on it...
(Once I ordered a big, colourful, plain salad in a restaurant and had tucked away in my bag a no fat raspberry/dijon mustard dressing that I just poured on my big salad so that I could stay on plan 
