Big Drug Companies vs. Cancer

     All of the big drug corporations are waging a race to find new treatments for cancer. The problem is that they are NOT seeking cures. Treatments that extend life and put more money in their pockets is what they want. It's simple economics. If  they cure the disease, there is no more need for their products. No need = no customers.. No customers = no profits. The truth is: cancer is not only curable, but it is also preventable.
     We have been brainwashed by these companies to believe they, and their drugs, are the only solution to a problem that has been growing over the last half century by leaps and bounds. America and the world has been getting sicker because of a diet our physiology is not designed to handle. The Standard American Diet, SAD, is devoid of real nutrition.
     One hundred years ago, before the era of the big factory farms that produce most of what we eat, people ate fresh food that was in season and preserved by home canning or fermenting what they grew in their own gardens or bought from local farmers at small groceries or markets. They knew what was going into their meals because Mom cooked it, and she would never put in anything that would harm her family.
     Now, that has changed. Everything is pre-packaged in cans,jars and boxes and ready-to-eat by a quick cooking on the range or in a microwave oven. These products are loaded with preservatives and sold in plastic containers that can leach chemicals into the food. They are loaded with sugars and starches that can be easily converted into sugars and high heat processed in ways that destroy the vitamins and minerals which they originally contained. As a result, we eat empty calories that contain little nourishment.
     There is healthy food still available, but it is sometimes out of reach of the average family. People joke about kale and other leafy greens, but they are nutritional powerhouses. Foods of this sort have many cancer fighting micro nutrients in them, and can be prepared easily and economically into delicious recipes that your family will love.
     Big Drug, Big Food, and Big Chemical have joined together in order to ensure Big Profits, and you are reaping the results of what they sow in Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Alzheimer's, and a plethora of other maladies. We, as a nation need to take back the control of our food supply that is at the heart of the problem.
      More on that , later.

The results are in

     A few days ago I posted that I believed I had an indoor air quality problem involving formaldehyde at my apartmrnt and had ordered a kit for testing it. I receieved the testing kit later that day, but I had to wait a day before testing as I was tied up with some important issues that had to be addressed One of the problems eith the testing procedure was the necessity to turn oiff oll air conditioning, fans, etc., for one to two hours prior to the test. There could be no air movement or the test could be skewed.
     I ran the test exactly as the instructions directed, and the results showed that the air in my apartment is at the upper limit for formaldehyde allowed by law which means I have no legal footing proceed with any action against either the builder or the management company. My question is: what is the long term effect on my health living in this environment. My other concern is whether the test was as accurate as it  could have been. My reasoning for this is there appeared to be less of one of the ingredients than required. There were two liquids and a powder involved. One of the bottles appeared to have leaked out some of its contents, Perhaps that could have affected the results. I can't go back to the manufacturer of the kit as they are in China and all of the writing on the box is in chinese.
      I am going to see if I can get an answer from the people from whom I bought it. Hopefully, I can get a knowledgeable answer from them. Otherwise, I shall have to try another option. Possibly a new kit and another test, or a different test altogether.. We shall see.
   

Indoor Pollution: Is it affecting you?

     Most people never think about the quality of the air insde their home until something happens to make them do so. Waliking in from outside and smelling yesterday's fried fish or noticing the aroma of a vase of fresh cut  flowers that your spouse put on the dining room table. In my case, it was when my doctor told me there was formaldehyde in my blood, and she wanted me to take a low dose medication as a precaution to protect my liver. This upset me,because I had managed to improve my health to the point I no longer took any medicines,
     The announcement on the news that Lumber Liquidators, a flooring retailer, was in troible because of laminate flooring they got from China having concentrations of formaldehyde many times the Federal limit was like an alarm bell sounding in my head.. My apartment is in a brand new building with laminate flooring in the kitchen and wall to wall carpeting throughout.  Some carpet adhesives also contain formaldehyde.  I had noticed as I worked in my kitchen that I developed a runny nose after being there for awhile. When I leave the kitchen, the problem stops. A little research showed that formaldehyde vapors attack the mucous membaranes, and, when I questioned my doctor, she said it has to be ingested to show in the blood.  Duh! Isn't breathing ingesting?
     I have not determined if the formaldehyde in my blood is caused by my apartment's environment, yet. But that is soon ro change. I spoke to an environmental testing company, and they said it would cost me $400 to have them do the test. Being on a fixed income and not having money to spare, I went online and found several home testing kits with huge price ranges. I found one I could afford and ordered it. I have, also, asked my doctor to order the same test for me that had discovered the problem originally. I want to have it done before my next visit that is two weeks away.
     Several other people of my acquaintance in the apartments where I live have expressed similar complaints about the way they feel while in their homes. It is easy to dismiss these as the complaints that old people always seem to have, but what if there is a valid reason for them that is going undiagnosed. I will see how the test tutns out in my case, and if it is negative, I shall persue it no further. However, if it is positive, I shall encourage those others to do the same test in their areas. Stay tuned for further developments.

Whyizzit that "Healthy Cooking" recipes have to contain so many outside the supermarket ingedients?

I have an even dozen cookbooks and health related books that contain recipes for delicious meals that the writers claim are easy to make in a short time. However, when one looks at the ingredients list, you find stuff used in the recipe that even the most exhaustive pantry would not contain. I always wonder, "If I leave this out, will it change the taste very much? Will it ruin the dish? Is it rteally necessary, or is it just something thrown in to get you to buy a product that the author promotes on his/her web site?"
     As a result, I have passed over the majority of the recipes I have even if the flavor profiles appeal to me. If I like a particular combination, I may try my own spin on it using most of the ingredients and proportions in the recipe. I believe a recipe is not a scientific formula and should contain only what it really needs. Most people's palates are not so sophisticated that they need a bunch of exotic ingredients that cannot be reasonably found on the shelves of most grocery stores. If yours is, go for it!
     Not everyone lives within a few miles of a health food store or farmers market though those things are beginning to proliferate. I am seriously considering a cookbook of my own based on what I have just said. If a book tells me to incorporate an ingredient for a specific purpose like boosting its fiber content, can't I use some leftover quinoa instead of the more exotic (and expensive) fiber powder. Doesn't that do the same thing? Does it affect the taste? Maybe it does, but is it enough to ruin the recipe? Not if the other ingrdients have strong flavor profiles.
     The way I see it, the problem is that people do not have the cooking skills that were required a few generations back. Fast food and packaged junk have become a way of death promoting easy-way-out living.  Since I know how to cook, I can freely make substitutions without drastically changing the taste of whatever I am cooking. Americans need to get back to basics and learn how to cook.

My friend Kevin

The old saying is: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink." That pretty well describes my relationship with Kevin. Here is a guy who is 15 years younger than me who has had multiple heart attacks, stents implanted, and with a pacemaker that recently saved his life yet resists living a healthy lifestyle. He is overweight, diabetic, and determined not to make any significant changes. His cardiologist has told him to move, but his fat ass stays glued to his chair or he lays in bed. He treat the insulin needle that he injects into his stomach as the magic solution to his excesses.
The most frustrating thing about him is that he is extremely intelligent and knows what I have tried to get him to do is only in his best interests. I have begged, cajoled, and pleaded with him to do something by way of exercise and diet, but it simply fails to have any effect. I thought that the heart eproblem that put him in the hospital a week ago would have awakened him, but I can see no difference. I am at my wits end! He is my friend, and I don't want to lose him, but neither can I find a way to motivate him. I realize that he has to come to that conclusion on his own. If a near fatal heart episode didn't do it, what chance have I?

I exercise, why can't I lose weight?

I have been asked that question numerous times by friends who know I have lost 130 pounds and am continuing to lose even more. Many of them are fairly active people who exercise faithfully believing that is the answer. The truth is all the exercise in the world is not going to take off an ounce, if you don't eat right.
     The Standard American Diet is stacked against us. Americans, for the most part, have fallen prey to the slick advertising that convinces us that one packaged product or another is going to give us the healthy nutrition we want by putting it first into the microwave then into our mouths. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have heard the LOW FAT mantra for decades, and the simple truth is we need fat in our diet. Our cells are made of fat, including cholesterol of which our brains are made. What we don't need is sugar in any of its many forms which packaged foods producers put in to replace the fats they have removed. When they take the fat out, they take out the flavor, so they use sugar to put flavor back in.
     Sugar is twenty times more addictive than cocaine and works on the same receptors in our brains as the drug. That is why the cravings for sweets and starches are a by product. Our primitive ancestors only got sugar one way. By eating natural sources like fruits and berries. And it was a seasonal thing. Those items were only available during the limited growing season that produced them in the area in which they lived. Not so today. Fruits, even exotic ones, are available all year long through international transportation. But fruits are good foor us, isn't that so? Yes, fruits can give us needed vitamins and minerals,fiber, and phytonutrients if they are eaten in their natural form, not made into fruit juice drinks sold inbottles. They can be as bad as soft drinks that are loaded with sugar, or even worse, High Fructoe Corn Syrup.
     The biggest culprit is high fructose corn syrup that is cheaper than sugar and twenty times sweeter. That is why it is used extensively in the soft drink and fast food industies. Did you knw that sugar and salt are added to the french fries you get at the local McDonalds or Burger King? Did you know that they have scientists working for them to find new combinations that will act on the addictive areas of our brains so we will get a high when we eat their laboratory created concotions and lure us back for more. The fast food industry is not alone. General Mills, Kraft, Post, and every other  manufacturer of packaged trash you find on super market shelves does the same thing. Why do you think our children are becoming obese at earlier and earlier ages. Why is ADD and ADHD on the rise. Add in Autism and food allergies and the picture becomes more clear. Do you think the cause might be their constant diet of quick and easy foods we shove in front of them? Perish the thought!

Appalled by St. Jude Chidren's Hospital Ad.

Don't get the wrong impression. I was not angry with St. Jude's about the content of the ad, but that the ad was necessary at all. It showed a number of children who had lost their hair due to chemotherapy and had an unhealthy pallor to their skin. What pissed me off is that the suffering and pain these innocents and scores more like them have to undergo because the food supply in the USA is so toxic that it is making everyone sick, not just those poor children. St. Jude Hospital is worthy of my support, which I give gladly, and yours, too. 
      The science has been around for decades that the food that is reaching the shelves of local groceries is contaminated with every kind of poison imaginable. Herbicides, pesticides, heavy metals and molds are inserted into the food supply because of the way the farming is done on factory farms that produce the majority of what we eat. 
      Chemical companies, like Monsanto, one of the worst of a bad lot, patent seeds that are genetically engineered to withstand massive doses of the herbicide Roundup ( that incident-ally conains the same chemicals that made up Agent Orange of Viet Nam era infamy). It is sprayed on wheat, corn, and a plethora of other crops that go into our food supply either directly or as livestock feed that is eaten by cattle, pigs, and chickens. Even organic farms are affected by overspray and wind drift, so no really safe food is a rarity. 
     Parents who think they are providing wholesome, nurishing food to their kids are un-knowingly poisoning them. The public has been lied to so often that it now believes the lie to be the truth. A tactic used extensively by Adolph Hitler. The only way to defeat the conglom-erates that control the food chain is to not support them by buying the trash they are supply-ing.  Skip the sugar laden boxed breakfast cereals and fix them some oatmeal or bacon and eggs. At least you will know what they are eating. The next time you think about stopping at McDonalds or Burger King for that easy way out for you by buying dinner on the way home from work, ask yourself, "What kind of meat is in this? How much salt? How much sugar?" before you do. Save your kid's life.

Wow! Did I blow it!

     I goofed big time on my last posting by saying there was no rating system for doctors that was readily accessible to people searching for an MD when, in fact, there are several. All it takes is the right search parameters to find them. I even found one that listed the internist I visit regularly, and she has a five starr rating which is not what I would give her as she is primarily a pill pusher and does not treat the core problem but only the symptoms.
     All this is well and good, but I question whether people who have problems with a doctor are going to post on that type of site  On the ones I checked, there was a lot to say about the doctor;s education,  specialty, location, etc., but nowhere for poor performance to show up without reading each rating which identifies a  poster as a verified patient. How many people with grudges or lawsuits against a doctor are going to post in a place like that. Any negative or anonymous postings can be easily deleted by the site's master.
      To me, rhis kind of site, that, incidentally, most are run by doctors or groups of them, is no better than looking in the Yellow Pages if you want to find an MD who practices holistic medicine near you. Good Luck with that!

The Buddy System

In the medical profession, just like any other, there are good practitioners and there are bad. The problem is when a doctor is either incompetent, careless, greedy, or just plain dishonest. The only way that a patient can find out if any of the above applies to his or her physician is usually after the fact. There is no way for a patient to see the legal or medical status of a doctor to know how others find his performance.

     There is no rating system, nor is there any means to learn how many lawsuits have been filed against him, or if he has been found derelict and sanctioned by his peers unless it appears in the newspapers or on TV. One doctor blowing the whistle on another is a rarity. Medicine is an exclusive fraternity, and its members stick together. One would be hard-pressed to find a dozen instances in any locality over the period of a year.

     What then is a patient to do when looking for a physician? If they are already under a doctor's care, they can get a referral from him to a colleague who may be a specialist in the area where treatment is needed. In some states, there are Doctor referral services online, but these are a crapshoot in that only the name the address and the specialty are shown. Most of the time, the best reference comes from a friend who has had experience dealing with a specific doctor. This is usually your best recourse. You never know if there is a kickback on referrals, or if the referring doctor actually knows anything about the person to whom he is referring you personally.

      Don't get me wrong. Most doctors are well-meaning, caring people. They have spent a good portion of their lives getting the education they needed to do what they believe in: the practice of medicine. It is a laudable and honorable profession, and they deserve the fruits of their labors. The sad thing is that most of them have become pill pushers who believe that medications are the only solution. To address that problem is the reason for this blog.

Big pharmacy and medical schools

      Pharmaceutical companies have a huge amount of control over universities and colleges that have medical programs. Many of the teachers are doing research funded by the drug companies. They control the experiments done and the results of those experiments. If the results of an experiment involving one of their drugs does not show the results that the drug company is looking for, it will be quashed, and no one will know those results.

      Both this scientists and the drug companies have a vested interest to protect. The researchers, themselves, want to keep the funding that the drug companies provide to maintain the wealth and status of the University of which they are a part. The drug companies know that their financial clout will bias the universities in their favor. The research done at the schools can give a drug company new products which they alone will have a right to produce. This is a huge profit incentive for them to finance the schools.

      Once the research on product is complete, the drug companies only release those portions to the public that they want them to see. Side effects of drugs are played down or hidden until they show up. Even though the FDA has strict rules for the testing of medicines many are still allowed on the market that are potentially dangerous to some people.

      Drug companies have a cavalier attitude toward their products and their safety. The analogy of breaking eggs to make an omelette usually typifies their thinking. They will put a drug on the market, and if a few people die, they will pay off the families and keep the product going until they are stopped by the government or by public uproar. 

      Suits against drug companies are as common as ambulance chasers. Lawyers know that juries will usually lean to the favor of the plaintiff. This means good business for them. The fact that these companies use sophisticated marketing to get their drugs into the hands of suffering people through TV advertising and marketing to their doctors shows that only money is the reason for what they do. That bothers me, and it should bother you.

Drug Money and Your Doctor

     I am not saying your doctor is doing anything illegal, but chances are he/she is acting on behalf of Big Pharmaceuticals to get their products into your hands. There is an enlightening video on YouTube of an HBO show "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Marketing to Doctors" that is really funny, but filled with some scary truths. In it, he states that drug companies spend more on marketing to you and your doctors than they do on research: an amazing $24 billion annually.
     It is a known fact that the drug producers don't want to find cures for disease, but, instead, want to "manage" them.so the person suffering will have to depend on them and be a repeat buyer. To me, this is criminal, but the government, Big Pharma, and Big Agriculture are all working against us. The system is so corrupt that it is going to take a revolution to change it.
      There is already in existence a group that calls itself The Food Revolution Network that tries to get the word out to consumers. It is run by Ocean Robbins, son of John Robbins, a long time advocate of healthy eating and battler against the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) into our diet. Why has he done that? Because no one knows how the human body will react to them in the long term.
     Science has already produced corn that has a built in insecticide by moving genes from differing plants into it. If the product will kill insects, what will it do to people? The company producing it claims it is harmless, but who really knows what the effect will be in 20 years.
     The strategies of the drug companies that target you through your doctor are wrapped in glossy paper and tied with pretty ribbons so they appear harmless but are really insidious. They beguile the doctors in many ways using food, sex, and psychology, and track the prescriptions they write so they know exactly how effective their campaigns are. And, the doctors are rewarded if they write enough prescriptions to satisfy the drug companies.
     So, think before you ask for one of the drugs being so heavily advertised on TV, your doctor may have a personal profit reason to give it to you. If he does, he knows you will be back for more. Repeat business is always a good thing, isn't it?

Treating the Symptoms, Not the Cause

      Today, students being trained in medicine are learning in schools mostly funded by large pharmaceutical companies that have a vested interest in promoting the use of medicines to control rather than cure a disease. These young doctors in training are taught to treat the symptoms with the use of medicines rather than to search for the source of the problem which often leads to prescribing pills or potions that have side effects frequently as bad as the ailment they are supposed to treat.              Looking at the literature that comes along with modern medications can be a scary experience, especially when you get past the "how to use" portion of the document and get to the section covering side effects. I have personally read on some of the prescriptions that I have received over the years side effects includingcancer, heart attack, and death. So, if you take this "medicine" that is supposed to help you, it could kill you. Sadly, most people never read past "how to use." Unless your doctor practices Functional Medicine, you cannot expect anything different from a doctor currently in practice.
      Functional Medicine is where a health practitioner searches to find the source of the problem rather than simply addressing the symptoms. They will first seek natural means of alleviating the symptoms rather than writing a prescription for a medication. In other words, they will direct you to change your diet to correct your diabetes, arthritis, or stomach pains rather than having you take a pill or an injection, if you have not already past the point where that strategy will work. They will guide you with the knowledge to make whatever changes they want you to make. They will not hand you a prescription and shuttle you out the door. If your doctor does not practice functional medicine, I suggest you look for another.

Is 15 minutes really enough?

When you walk into a doctor's office, you are in for a hurry up and wait situation. You sign in with a receptionist to let them know you are there, then sit and wait until someone calls for you. You may then have weight, pulse, and blood pressure checked by a nurse or medical assistant. When the doctor finally arrives at the small examining room you are seated in, you get to spend a whole 15 minutes of the doctors precious time cataloging your ailments and being handed little strips off the doctors prescription pad. You walked in with one or more problems, and walked out with prescriptions for magic bullets that will cure your ailments and absolve you of any responsibility for your own well-being. If you have the same problems a week later, it is the doctors fault, or the pills did not work. It couldn't be your own fault for not taking proper care of yourself. I get aangry at this attitude now, even though I once had it myself. The problem is that most people don't see it in themselves. I didn't until I was forced into a situation that caused me to do so. If you are over 40, obese, or obviously not in top physical condition, the first words out of your doctors mouth should be, "What are you eating?" But that is not the case with 21st century medicine. Big Pharmacy has persuaded us that a pill is the answer to whatever ails us, and we are gullible enough to believe what we have been told. A doctors office is now an outlet for pushing pills that can have horrendous side effects. Medicine has gotten away from one of the first precepts set forth by Hippocrates, "Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food." Recent research has found the Standard American Diet is the root cause of a whole series of diseases including heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimer's, and cancer don't forget to add in everything from ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel to restless leg syndrome. That is why they are calling the Standard American Diet- S.A.D., because that's what it is, and until people come to grips with that reality things are going to get a lot worse.

Healing with Steel?

Some people think they can take the easy way out and get rid of fat by undergoing surgery such as the lap band or stomach stapling that restrict the size of one's stomach capacity or by vacuuming away fat stores by liposuction. These are tactics of people who refuse to face reality and believe that they have control of what goes into their bodies. They want a quick fix so they don't have to accept responsibility for their unhealthy lifestyle. They prefer the risk of surgery rather than have to embrace any lifestyle changes. Many of the people who try the lap band or stomach stapling are people who have tried any number of diets and failed. Their weight gain is not their fault. The American public has long been misinformed about what is a healthy diet and what is not. They have been taught that low-fat is the way to go. That eating fat is what makes you fat when nothing could be further from the truth. Bad science back in the 1970s set us on a dangerous path toward metabolic syndrome and shortened lifespans. Recent research has found that contrary to fat making us fat, it is a necessary ingredient for our overall health, and especially, the health of our brain. According to Dr. David Perlmutter, in his book Grain Brain, the brain is composed mostly of fat and needs cholesterol and other fats to survive. He believes the increase in Alzheimer's disease and dementia is directly attributable to the trend towards a low-fat diet and an increase in the amount of sugar and refined carbohydrates consumed by the general populace. The majority of doctors don't know about current trends in nutrition research, and they are misadvising their patients by suggesting to them radical solutions like surgery. It has been statistically shown that people who undergo procedures such as the lap band soon regain whatever weight they lost unless they make other lifestyle changes including diet and exercise. What is necessary to obtain optimal health is a diet that best serves our physiology. Humans are omnivores. We need the foods are forbearers ate. We do not need the highly processed garbage that lines supermarket shelves and can be found in every fast food restaurant. Those are the things that are slowly killing us. More to come.

The First of 10 Reasons to Fire Your Doctor

If your doctor has been out of medical school for 10 years or more, he or she is probably way behind the latest research in nutrition. Most doctors only receive one semester of nutritional studies in medical school. On top of that, most of the information they receive is out of date unless their instructors are currently engaged in nutritional research. This lack of education and keeping up with what is happening in the field of nutrition is responsible for much of the obesity problem faced by millions of Americans. In the last five years, research in nutrition has turned upside down what most doctors and other health practitioners know about the subject. The majority of doctors practicing today were not taught to seek out the source of a person's malady, but to treat the symptoms with medication. This is one of the basic flaws in the medical system, and one that is costing billions to be added to the cost of healthcare. Much of the responsibility for this dangerous and expensive situation can be laid at the doorstep of the pharmaceutical companies that fund most of the medical schools. It is not in their interest to cure anything. It is much more profitable to treat symptoms and have continuous return of the patient for refills of a drug whose side effects might be worse than the problem they are supposed to be treating in which case another medicine will be prescribed to counter the side effects. Thus, on goes a continuous cycle that does not take away the problem but merely masks it. When an overweight patient goes into a doctor's office suffering from metabolic syndrome, which is a combination of obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and prediabetes, they can expect to be handed several pages ripped from the physicians prescription pad for drugs to control the symptoms. You cannot blame the doctor for doing this because it is what they have been taught. To them, there is a pill for every problem. The pharmaceutical companies create a demand for their products by advertising on television, in magazines, on radio, and any other way they possibly can. They are all vying for the public's dollar. It is impossible to turn on a television, a radio, or open a magazine without coming across several ads for medications of every sort. Now, when someone experiences one of the symptoms that the ad allegedly cures, they go to their doctor and demand these medicines, even though the ads carry a long list of possible side effects that can be scary as hell, including death! What is really sick is our medical system, and Obama Care is not the cure. Stay tuned for Chapter 2: Healing with Steel.

Getting to the point

I've given you my back story, and told you that I'm working out now on the Total Gym, but that is not the reason for starting this blog. It is because I have regained my health by changing my lifestyle and want to encourage older people like me to do the same. Old age does not have to be a time of illness and disipation. As I stated previously my top weight was 386 pounds. At that weight, I suffered from high blood pressure, type II diabetes, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, edema of both legs, arthritis of the spine, and a partial paralysis of my left leg. I was unable to stand for more than three or four minutes without excruciating pain. I was also suffering from depression as a result of my wife's sudden death. To say that I was in poor physical condition at the time is a gross understatement. Being forced to do all the things that I counted on my wife, Judy, to do like grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning the house all fell on me. This was the second time in my life that this had happened. The first was when my wife, Sue, died of cancer in 1996. At that time, my only child, Karen, was living at home and commuting to college. She was able to help with some of the things that needed to be done. This time was different, as I was alone. I knew I had to do something to improve my health, and I remembered seeing presentations on PBS by doctors talking about ways to do so. I particularly noticed Dr. Joel Fuhrman and his presentation on the end of diabetes. I took notes while watching and began putting into the practice what he was preaching. As I was very unsure of what my financial situation was going to be, I was reluctant to order Dr. Fuhrman's course through my local PBS station, but ultimately, I did. Following his program, I began losing significant amounts of weight, and as I did so my health improved, eventually, to the point where I am now taking no medications and I have reversed or vastly diminished all the problems I catalogued above. This metamorphosis came about by only changing my diet and not my exercise habits, which I was to find later, was a mistake. I now know that exercise is a vital ingredient and improving one's overall well-being. To prove the point, I, who could not stand for more than a few minutes at a time, today pushed a grocery cart around a local supermarket for nearly an hour. This was possible because of the weight loss that has occurred and my belated increase in exercise. More on that later

Wow! How out of shape I let myself get

A couple of weeks ago, I came across a program on QVC where they were offering a Total Gym for only $300 with free shipping. Once again I was tempted to order one. I had had one previously, but I was too heavy to use it because the model I bought was only rated for 225 pounds and at the time I weighed in at over 280. Rather than break the machine, I sold it. The one being advertised at this time was rated at 350 pounds which I am well below. I ordered it, and a few days later it arrived. Before attempting to use it I read all the materials and watched the exercise videos that came with it. I knew I was badly out of shape and that it would take me a long time to get back some of the muscle tone that I had lost through lack of use and dieting. For beginners, Total Gym only recommends two exercises that will use up to 80% of the body's muscles: the leg pull, and the two arm pullover. Thinking I was in better shape than I actually was, I set the bar at exercise level number three and found it nearly impossible to do the two exercises. Resetting to the lowest possible level, I was able to do half of the 25 repetitions for each that they recommended. The next day, I knew where every one of my previously unused muscles was located. Since then, I have worked my way up to the 25 reps in each exercise. Now I am determined to keep going and rebuild my body as much as possible. Chuck Norris, who advertises the Total Gym, is in his 70s like I am, and in good enough shape to work in action movies. If he can do it, so can I. I know it's going to take a lot of effort, but I know I can do it. Stay tuned.

My Back Story

It's only fair that you know where I started and what the motivation is for creating this blog. On February 7, 2013, my wife, Judy, died by her own hand. She had been suffering from depression and was hospitalized because of a suicide attempt a week before. The first time she was left alone after being released from the hospital she took her life by stabbing herself in the stomach with a Bowie knife. I have come to believe her illness and death were caused by malnutrition and an undiagnosed medical problem, hepatitis, which I believe she picked up in the hospital. The malnutrition, I believe, was caused by her constant sipping on soda pops and the lack of vegetables in our diets. We both lived off sandwiches, fast foods, and things that came in boxes or cans like Hamburger Helper and Chung King Chow Mein. Judy's problem was exacerbated when she began having dental problems and losing most of her teeth. Toward the end, she was unable to chew and barely able to swallow even soft foods like yogurt. Of course, this was upsetting to me and exasperating for her. Some of her depression came from fear of losing her job. She had already been cut back from 40 hours a week to 30, so financial burdens fueled the fire. With her death, I lost everything: my wife, nurse and companion, my home, my workshop and tools, and my stepsons and their children, whom I had come to love, and who now blamed me for their mother's death. When this happened, I was 74 years old, diabetic, suffering with arthritis of the spine, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, a partially paralyzed left leg, and clinically obese weighing in at 386 pounds. How I got to where I am now, at 252 pounds and still losing weight, is what will unfold in future posts. I now live in a senior apartment, and I am viewed as something of a health guru by most of my fellow tenants. I am not stopping or resting on my laurels. Instead, I am continuing toward my goal of health and fitness. I invite you to join me on my journey.