Archive for hypertension

“I love the way I feel. I love my way of life!”

By Jane Birch · Comments (5)
Saturday, September 7th, 2019

Helen Jessup Before and After

By: Margie Burton for her sister, Helen Jessup

My sister Helen was born nearly 72 years ago. Mom had a challenging pregnancy after months of infertility treatments. The premature delivery was a difficult one requiring forceps that damaged both frontal lobes of Helen’s brain. Her infant and toddler milestones showed slight delays but all seemed to be progressing reasonably well until a sudden seizure at the age of three. She had been riding her tricycle in the driveway when she slumped over and fell to the ground, not breathing. Mom, an obstetrical nurse, ran out and immediately began CPR while driving her to the nearest hospital. Helen was revived, but being without oxygen for some time caused more brain damage. She was never able to ride her tricycle again.

Helen went to regular public schools for kindergarten and elementary school. She had difficulty and repeated a grade when she did not develop number sense and could not read well. When Helen was ten and starting 4th grade, the teacher declared that she could not have her in class as she was too far behind in her learning. In those days, school districts did not have accommodations for disabled learners. My parents were dismayed as the options in our little New Hampshire town were limited. They finally found a boarding school in Massachusetts that catered to students with limited academic abilities. It was expensive, but my parents could not find an alternative willing to accept her.

Helen had been quite sheltered in her 10 years of life, and she felt abandoned by her family at the boarding school. She did not understand what she had done to be sent away from her loved ones. She slowly progressed in her academics but emotionally life was very difficult for her.

During Helen’s teenage years she began to put on quite a bit of weight. My mom seemed to look the other way, declaring that Helen enjoyed few pleasures besides food. At the age of 20 she graduated from her school program with a certificate of completion and came home to live. My parents tried to find places for her to go and things for her to do, but she continued to find comfort in food.

Our dad passed away quite suddenly in 1973 at the age of 62. Helen was devastated. He had been her comforter and her strength. When our mom died 25 years later, Helen became my responsibility. By then, her eating pleasures had taken a big toll on her health. She had type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. She also suffered from emotional instability and severe depression. She went through various testing to see what public services were available. She could talk like an 8 year old but problem-solved at a two-year old level. That would never change.

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Categories : Single Adult, Stories
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“Suffering from random episodes of total blindness, I was ready to try anything”

By Jane Birch · Comments (1)
Saturday, August 24th, 2019

By: Teresa Starr

My whole food, plant-based (WFPB) journey spans over 25 years. It has included twists and turns, ups and downs and has ultimately blessed my life beyond measure. In fact, I believe that the plant-based eating plan is the very reason I’m still here to tell my story.

In the early 1990s, when I was 29 years old and a young mom of 3 active little boys, I began having TIAs (transient ischemic attacks), sometimes called mini-strokes. During those episodes, I would temporarily lose all vision in my left eye. It was as if someone controlled my vision with a dimmer switch and gradually turned it off until I had a total black out – 100% blindness in my left eye. These transient episodes of blindness came on with no warning. Most episodes would last between one and five minutes. The longest one lasted 60 full, frightening minutes.

I had a family history of heart disease and high blood pressure (and my own personal history of extremely high blood pressure during child birth). The scary thing about TIAs is that studies indicate that 30% of people who suffer from TIAs end up having a full-blown stroke within 5 years. That was a very disconcerting thought because we had three little boys and were hoping to have more children. Raising our family was our top priority. My doctor put me on Coumadin, nitroglycerin (during TIAs) and one baby aspirin per day to thin my blood. I was also told to never take estrogen (because of my increased risk of stroke).

In addition to my family history, I had a few other strikes against me. Even though my weight was within a normal range, my cholesterol and triglycerides were always very high. At the time we were also under much stress and anguish because of a very serious health condition one of our kids was going through. The health challenges of our sweet little boy spanned several years and left us heartbroken (and broke).

After several years of facing our challenges, I was getting very worn out physically, emotionally and spiritually. The disturbing TIAs had continued to happen at random times and places even though I was following the doctor’s advice. One day my husband, Rick, told me that a friend at work had started a whole food, plant-based diet to improve his health. Together we studied the benefits of eating this new way. Still suffering from random episodes of total blindness in my left eye, I was ready to try anything, especially if it meant that I could live a healthy life and be a fully functioning mom, capable of raising our sweet boys.

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Categories : Married-2 WFPB, Stories
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“The cessation of meat and dairy has reaped health benefits I never expected”

By Jane Birch · Comments (11)
Saturday, March 30th, 2019

By: Troy Gundersen

15 years ago I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Since that time it’s been like the Indiana Jones ride trying to understand and navigate the positive and negative effects of carbohydrates and insulin. Paramedics were invited over to our house on multiple occasions to wake me up from an insulin-induced coma. Fortunately in all of these instances I was able to give the grim reaper the proverbial stiff arm. I’m grateful to still be among the living to share my story. Maybe there are others who can relate to my experience in finding the Word of Wisdom and the hidden treasures therein. This is how I recall my enlightenment.

It was about a year ago, February/March of 2018. My son Jordan and his wife Cassidy had been eating a whole food plant based (WFPB) diet for a few months. Up until this point I had been working out 4-5 times per week and thought I was doing a decent job of watching what I ate. They approached my wife Valerie and I with a WFPB diet as a possible solution to better health. We didn’t think it was really applicable to us because we were already “watching what we ate.” LOL. We listened to their position but thought, “Naw, this ain’t for us.” Little did I know that it was the love of bacon and eggs twice a week for dinner that had commandeered my mind like an opioid.

Little by little my wife Valerie and I would discuss the WFPB benefits as she read verses of “the bible” to me (How Not To Die by Dr. Michael Greger). My wife was much easier to convince than I. She didn’t grow up on hot dogs and macaroni and cheese like I did. I also loved pasta with a rich, creamy stroganoff sauce—a recipe that was handed down from generation to generation. How Not To Die convinced me by the overwhelming amount of specificity and controls the data provided. Dr. Greger referenced study after study after study. It seemed legit enough for me to experiment upon his words. It also made me hypothesize that God already had this data and just wanted us to study it out in our own minds and then ask Him if it’s right. Better yet, give it a whirl. As a business analyst by trade, the data cogently spoke to my mind, while the spirit gently whispered to my heart. They converged and my WFPB path was born.

I went plant based around April 1st 2018, and boy was it an emotional cork screw! I didn’t realize how emotionally attached I was . . . attached I was . . . attached I was to the food I ate. I’m still in food therapy, learning new coping skills on how to detach from things like bacon, cheese, Campbell’s soup, sour cream, cream cheese, etc. LOL.

We went to the scriptures and studied the Word of Wisdom to find more enlightenment. There were three scriptures that spoke to us at a higher decibel level than the others. They were Doctrine and Covenants 89:12, 13, & 15—

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Categories : Married-2 WFPB, Stories
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“I had to have a health crisis to get the ball rolling”

By Jane Birch · Comments (12)
Saturday, March 2nd, 2019

By: Darin Francom

It all started back in the early 2000’s. I had returned from serving a mission, started a new job, went back to school and met and married my sweetheart. Over the course of the next few years we started our family and added two of our three kids to the mix. Up to this point I had enjoyed great health. I was very athletic and played several sports growing up. I had never had to worry about what I ate and never dealt with weight gain, until one day in early 2005 I woke up and looked down and noticed I was starting to get a gut. The process was so gradual that I hadn’t even noticed.

So what did I do? I decided to start working out! I also borrowed a book from my brother called Body For Life. This required me to eat six times a day with an animal-based protein, a starch, and a serving of vegetables in each meal. Ultimately the diet was heavy in meat and dairy and limited in grains and vegetables. I also worked out six days a week alternating between cardio and weight training. I can’t forget the free day once every week where you were permitted to eat whatever you wanted. I would eat myself sick! I did lose weight, and I looked like I was in great shape, but I knew deep down I couldn’t maintain this lifestyle. I spent all my time planning and prepping meals or working out. I was also perpetually sore from the workouts and had the hardest time recovering. Needless to say I eventually burned out, and between 2005-2011 I went from 200 lbs to 259 lbs. As with most weight gain, my cholesterol and blood pressure also went up. I suffered from acid reflux and chronic sinus infections. I also started snoring, which robbed sleep from both my wife and me. I was a mess!

Then one day in 2011, I was watching good old KBYU while lying sick in bed from a sinus infection. Their annual fundraiser featured Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I was intrigued to say the least. I watched the whole thing and then bought Dr. Fuhrman’s book, Eat to Live and read it from cover to cover. I went cold turkey from eating the Standard American Diet to whole food, plant-based (WFPB), eating 1 lb of fresh vegetables, 1 lb of cooked vegetables, 1/2 cup of beans and 4 fruits a day. I was so sick for about 3 weeks straight! I felt like I had the flu. I was weak, tired and had a perpetual headache. Everyone around me thought I was crazy! I started to lose weight rapidly and eventually I didn’t feel ill anymore. Over the course of 6 months I went from 259 to 192, I also felt fairly good.

One of the things that drew me to this way of eating was how closely I felt it aligned with the Word of Wisdom. Eating this wasn’t difficult for me, but the pressure from others was intense and my own sweetheart, who is a nurse, thought I had an eating disorder! Family and friends thought I was being radical and without the proper support group I threw in the towel. I felt cold all the time. I had lost muscle weight, and felt considerably weaker than I was used too. I slowly and painfully went back to the SAD. From 2011 to 2018 my weight went from 192 lbs all the way up to 270 lbs.

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Categories : Married-1 WFPB, Stories
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“I became a convert for life”

By Jane Birch · Comments (10)
Saturday, February 17th, 2018

By: Patricia Haney

For the first 42 years of my life, I ate your typical American diet: meat, dairy, and loads of sugar! I cooked everything in oil, and covered everything with cheese, cream cheese, and/or sugar. I ate candy or sweets when I drove, read, watched TV. . . I even had candy in my pockets at work so I could pop some in my mouth here and there. I was an addict! I was overweight (bordering obese) and starting to have medical problems.

I am one of those people who don’t trust doctors. I had some bad experiences in the past, so I have avoided them at all costs most my life. But eventually I could no longer ignore the things that were happening in my body, and I went to the doctor. It was 2012, and we were living in Georgia, when I went to the OBGYN who diagnosed severe endometriosis. Two surgeries later, I had no more female reproductive organs left. If only I knew then what I know now!

Fast forward through years of vertigo and strange happenings to 2015. I was sitting down with my family watching a movie when I got a strange sensation. I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t . . . I fell back down to the couch. I tried to speak, but it came out slurred. Everyone, including me, thought I was stroking like my mom who had had 5 strokes. I was rushed to the ER where they quickly came to the same conclusion. The results of the MRI came back . . . no stroke. Well that was good news right? “Then what happened to me?” I asked. There was zero explanation.

I am not a hypochondriac, and I know I did not imagine what happened. I knew something was wrong even though the doctor couldn’t explain it. As I was leaving with my “clean bill of health,” he said, “You might want to follow up with a neurologist. You had some lesions on your brain, but a few lesions are normal at your age.” I left the hospital and thought, “Whatever.” And my trust in doctors plummeted even more.

In 2016 when we were living in Alabama, I finally went to another doctor where I was told I had high blood pressure and should go on medication. I ignored him and finally went to a neurologist. After tests, tests, and more tests, my doctor showed me my MRI, put her hand on my knee and said, “It looks like we are dealing with multiple sclerosis. Even though there is no cure, don’t be afraid, we have lots of new drugs to slow down the advancement of the disease.”

I did NOT want to be dependent of medications the rest of my life for MS and high blood pressure. So I went home and prayed and prayed that if there were another way, could I please be led to it. I also prayed for an open mind to what I found. Then I went to the temple and prayed some more. I decided medications would ONLY be my very last desperate option.

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Categories : Married-1 WFPB, Stories
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“I had begun getting whisperings from the spirit”

By Jane Birch · Comments (10)
Saturday, August 12th, 2017

By: Alethea Galke

I first heard of whole food, plant-based (WFPB) eating from a friend who recommended the book How Not to Die. I bought it but didn’t read it. A few months later she encouraged us again, and I took the book with us on our three-day drive to take our son to the MTC. I read it to my husband as he drove. He is a Family Practice physician, and he was impressed with all of the studies the book contains to back up the claims. After reading 1 1/2 chapters on how to cure diseases, we didn’t need to read any more; we believed!

We believed so much that we began on that trip to eat WFPB the very best we could. We arrived home June 5, 2016, and the next day I went out and put together a whole new WFPB menu, and having faith, I went shopping. One year later we are still faithfully eating WFPB; we love it!

I had been working my way up to WFPB over the years; I just didn’t know it. I found that the older I got the less I wanted to eat meat. With four boys, Five Guys was a special treat for the family. I was tired of hamburgers. I didn’t like them. Once or twice I ordered a hot dog, but I didn’t like that meat either. I found I could pile a small burger with jalapeños, mushrooms, lettuce, onions (both grilled and raw), and lots of sauce to hide the taste of the meat. I never added cheese because I wasn’t really a fan. I would eat it, but if I had a choice I would decline. I would serve soups without meat, but my husband complained he was still hungry. I found a compromise by opening a bottle of shredded chicken, warming it up and setting it on the table for “anyone that wants meat” to add to their soup. When we switched to WFPB eating my husband’s palate changed so quickly. He loved the flavors and looked forward to what I would prepare. He didn’t even miss the meat.

We have always been fairly healthy. Even now, in our 50s, we have no aches or pains, no diseases, no pills. We are healthy. I have always had very low blood pressure, but it has been slowly creeping up. I had gone to the doctor shortly before starting WFPB eating and was concerned that it was higher than usual, now up in the slightly high range. Nine months after starting WFPB eating I went to the doctor for a regular check up, and my blood pressure was completely normal. I know it was because of our new eating lifestyle. I am so grateful.

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Categories : Married-2 WFPB, Stories
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“I am no longer obsessed about food or how much I weigh”

By Jane Birch · Comments (16)
Saturday, March 25th, 2017

Doug WeberBy: Doug Weber

I’ve been studying nutrition and fitness as a hobby for about 20 years. During this time, my weight has been all over the map. I’ve been very thin at times—when serving in the Air Force, I was on a calorie-restricted diet and doing lots of running and got down to 150 lbs. I’ve been overweight most of the time—up to 230 lbs at one point.

My diet has also been all over the map. I’ve tried the good old calorie-restricted diet many times and succeeded in losing a lot of weight each time, only to gain it all back each time. I also saw success with the Shangri-La Diet (google it) but didn’t have the will power to stay on it indefinitely. I saw success with the Atkins Diet; however, I had the same problem, an inability to stay on it long term. The same with Nutrisystem—I did that for a year and lost 55 pounds, then gained it all back.

In late 2015, I decided to try the Ketogenic Diet where 75% of calories come from fat, 20% from protein, and only 5% from carbs. It is an extreme version of the Atkins diet. During this diet, I was eating a lot of meat, a lot of extra fat (bacon grease on everything!) and was checking my ketones each morning to try to hit the magic range of 2.0 to 3.0 mmol/L. My lab numbers all got better, but in hindsight I believe it was due to my no longer eating highly processed foods.

During this time, I was corresponding with my daughter and her husband in Provo. We had an on-going discussion about nutrition and fitness for a few years. My son-in-law challenged me on my interpretation of D&C 89:12-13. I interpreted verse 13 to mean it’s okay to eat meat sparingly all the time, not just during times of winter, cold, or famine. He forwarded an article to me that included a reference to Jane Birch’s book, Discovering the Word of Wisdom. I read her book and decided I was completely wrong. I now understand those verses to mean that it is pleasing to the Lord if we never eat meat unless we must in order to survive. I was inspired by Jane’s notion that she had eaten more meat during the first half of her life than would ever be pleasing unto the Lord, so she is committed to eating no meat the second half of her life to try to make up for the first half—that has become my desire as well.

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Categories : Married-1 WFPB, Stories
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“Changing my eating habits has saved me”

By Jane Birch · Comments (6)
Saturday, July 2nd, 2016

Warren TownsendBy: Warren Townsend

I was diagnosed some years ago with pre-diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and a dangerous buildup of plaque in my arteries. If one of these maladies didn’t incapacitate, cripple or kill me another one would.

The doctor prescribed warfarin or Coumadin, which is the main ingredient in rat poison. It thins the blood to the extent veins and arteries can no longer contain the blood and the animal bleeds to death. I was given information on a diet for diabetics and was told it would help stabilize my condition.

Diabetes, heart failure, cancer and obesity have plagued my mother, father, sisters, brother and their mates for many years. Dad died at age 59 of oat cell carcinoma, a type of lung cancer. At the age of 86, Mother died of congestive heart failure, also called myocardial infarction or heart attack. Her life was not easy during my lifetime. When Mother was 37 years old we nearly lost her to uterine cancer, ulcerated colitis, and improper combinations of conflicting medications prescribed by her doctors. She was prescribed Coumadin, refused it, and turned to the natural help of gingko biloba and cayenne pepper capsules, which did indeed thin her blood. As she got older, continually testing her blood sugar she was able to somewhat control her type 2 diabetes through a prescribed diet for diabetics that still allowed meat and dairy products. Mother developed neuropathy in her feet and so got little exercise and was middling obese for many years.

I have put all this down to tell you of my experience.

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Categories : Married-1 WFPB, Stories
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“Even the least of us can do it!”

By Jane Birch · Comments (8)
Saturday, February 6th, 2016

Jim and Carol LindseyBy: Carol Lindsey

When I was 12 years old, we went to visit my grandparents. As we were traveling, just before our stop for dinner, I realized it had been days since I’d felt hunger pangs. This was a memorable “ah-ha” moment. It was the first of many times over the next 50 plus years that I noticed I was eating for reasons other than hunger.

I’ve always loved food, and I loved to eat, especially sweets. Weight was never a problem . . . until I had my first baby. After my daughter was born, my son came one year later, and for the next 47 years I carried more than 50 extra pounds on my 5’4″ frame. That’s not to say I didn’t try to lose the weight, and sometimes I was even successful, but it never stayed off. No matter how hard I tried, the weight would always creep back on. You could probably say in my whole adult life I was either dieting or gaining weight. Rarely did I ever maintain my weight, and if I did, it was for a very short period of time. My food choices were anything sweet, salty, fried or on a bun. Chocolate, butter and ice cream were their own food groups in my book, and least I leave out the meat, I loved rare steak, prime rib, and any seafood you could dip in butter.

I was so obsessed with my weight that to this day I can tell you how much I weighed at every important event that ever occurred in my life. Food was a drug to me. I used it to dull emotional pain and feelings of failure. In the first nine months after our son passed away, I tried to deal with the grief by stuffing myself. It didn’t work. Once again I went on a diet. This time I lost 30 pounds and figured that was the best I could do . . . after all a woman in her 60’s can’t expect to be skinny. I managed to maintain that weight loss for about a year, but then, just like all the other times, the weight began to creep on again.

We left home in March of 2014 to serve an 18-month mission for the LDS Church. We spent the first six months at Martin’s Cove, Wyoming. Next we were given a six-month assignment to Rosebud, South Dakota where we lived on the Sioux Indian Reservation and taught an addiction recovery program. In April of 2015 we were transferred from Rosebud back to Martin’s Cove.

I had assumed that because the work we did on our mission was very physical that I would easily lose weight, but instead once again I found myself gaining. We missionaries had a funny saying: “No one has starved at Martin’s Cove since 1856.” We made sure of that with wonderful dinners, desserts, and movie nights with treats and BBQ’s and trough dinners and the list goes on. With all that great food, I decided I was through with deprivation. No more diets for me! I’d eat what I wanted and just be happy. After all there are more important things in life than the size of your body!

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Categories : Married-2 WFPB, Stories
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“I dropped 80 pounds”

By Jane Birch · Comments (9)
Saturday, September 12th, 2015

Jeff and Judy SorensenBy: Jeff Sorensen

Growing up I always felt like I was a little “pudgy.” When I got to high school I wanted to be on some sort of team. My mother wouldn’t allow me to play football so I decided to try out for the swim team. We didn’t have a very good team (we didn’t even have our own pool), but I made the team and began swimming and also became quite lean. I continued that way for the next few years and enjoyed being more slender.

When I left for my mission to South America I weighed 170 pounds. I maintained that weight for most of my mission except when we lived with an American family. The good brother worked in the oil fields in Venezuela and enjoyed the standard American diet. I had never eaten filet mignon before in my life, but each Friday night his wife would cook it for us, along with potatoes and gravy and all the other good stuff. Soon my weight jumped to 200 pounds! I could hardly fit in my pants any longer! After a few months I was transferred to the other country (Colombia), and my weight began dropping back towards normal.

In my last city I got ill and lost some weight, which got me back to 170 pounds. My mother was so concerned that on my arrival home she decided she needed to “fatten me up” to a healthy weight. My sweetheart Judy had waited for me, and we were married eight weeks after I returned home. They say that newlyweds gain about 10 pounds the first year, and we did! Before I knew it I had gained 40 pounds.

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