Angina Diet Cure

Angina Heart Disease

Vegetarian Diet Cure & Weight Loss Webpage © 2008

An audio CD on a successful treatment method

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The Banfield Diet

When I look for information about health problems I want it to be reliable, so i try to find the best scientific information which corresponds to my own experience, but I also look for practical results, so when I saw that Nathan Pritikin had developed a vegetarian diet for the treatment of heart disease which extended his life by 20 years, at a time when surgery was considered to be successful if the patient lived for 5 only years, I wanted to know everything about that diet. I also look for practical ways of achieving results, and so, whereas most diets ask you to count spoonfuls, ounces, or calories, i concluded that natural food grows on trees, or on the ground, or in the ground, so that, and only that, is what I would eat. M.B. See more here and here. See also celebrity heart attacks here Cancer: Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Note that I cured the angina in 1997, while I also had cancer between 1993 & 2000. The cancer was eventually cured by a stem cell transplant but the diet may have assisted in that process and accounted for my long term survival since. See my report here. The diet would also be useful in preventing or treating diabetes. “Nothing will benefit human health & increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” Albert Einstein

Australian Heart Week for 2013

It is the Heart Foundations “Heart Week” from Sunday 5th May to Saturday 11th May 2013 to provide information about the prevention and treatment of heart disease, with reports that about 10,000 Australians die of a heart attack each year, which is one every 53 minutes. See here. At a talk in the Ingle Farm recreation centre, Heart Foundation representatives described the various symptoms to the general public, and noted the fact that after the coronary arteries were blocked by a blood clot, the blood supply to the heart stopped and the section of the heart below that blockage begins to die. They advised that people should call 000 and ask for an ambulance as soon as possible, because early treatment can prevent damage, otherwise permanent disability or death can result.

Australian National Heart Foundation Month Statistic

During the Australian National Heart Foundation month of September 2007 it was reported that 48.000 Australians die of coronary heart disease every year, which was greater than the number of deaths due to cancer. Channel 7 TV News, Adelaide, South Australia 31-8-07 However other sources have described that it did not exist at all in 19th century vegerarian tribal societies. Prevention of Angina re: the five main causes The five main preventable causes of angina heart disease are 1. cholesterol in the diet, 2. tobacco smoking, 3. excessive alcohol consumption, 4. excessive consumption of tea and coffee, and 5. stress. Those factors also contribute to high blood pressure, and that can also add to the likely development of angina, so controlling blood pressure is an additional preventive measure. Genetic factors, other aspects of diet, and lack of exercise also play a role in determining who is prone to this ailment and who isn’t. Essentially any one factor can cause heart disease on it’s own, but more generally it is a combination of factors which make it more likely, and hence, eliminating or minimising all of those factors is useful in preventing or curing the problem.

 

The Cause and Cure of Angina

The main cause is the C factor  

Angina is caused by reduced blood flow to the heart muscle which can result from various factors which mainly involve narrowing of the coronary arteries or gradual blockage of those arteries by cholesterol material which builds up on the inner lining. Some examples of the main causes are listed below, and prevention and treatment involves avoiding or removing the causative factors. However, as I was a non-smoker and moderate drinker this webpage deals primarily with the dietary cause and cure.

The Symptoms of Angina

The word angina refers to any spasmodic suffocating pain, but when it affects the heart it is called angina pectoris. It may be described by different patients, not as pain, but as a pressure, tightness, or crushing sensation, usually occurring near the centre of the chest, behind the breastbone, and sometimes radiating to the neck, shoulders, jaw or arms. The term squeezing sensation is also used and refers to the sense that something inside the chest is squeezing in on itself, like a sea sponge contracting. The term vice-like is another apt word because it depicts how winding a vice increases the pressure, and unwinding it relieves that pressure. If medical students wish to understand this symptom they could place their thumbs in a chinese knot and as they pull their hands apart there is no pain, but the squeezing sensation gets tighter and tighter, and the only way of achieving relief is to stop and move the hands together again. In my case the angina was a simple matter which I can best describe as a squeezing sensation just behind my breastbone which was predominantly brought on by effort and relieved by rest. I could walk for 20 yards and then the squeezing sensation would start, and if I tried to take another step the squeezing would increase and I would feel as if I was about to collapse or die, so I would stop before taking the third step and the symptom would gradually ease.

The medical term for the process is called ischemia which means that the arteries have become partially blocked and are reducing the amount of blood flowing to the heart muscle. The blood carries oxygen and nutrients to that muscle, and in many cases of angina there is enough blood getting through to the heart while they are resting, but when they start exercising it needs more oxygen for energy but there isn’t enough extra available, so the pain of angina occurs, and goes away when the person stops for a few seconds. Therefore the person tends to walk and stop, and walk and stop periodically as they travel along a footpath.

TWAM phenomena

 

Introduction: how I cured angina: a biography

 

About 7 years ago, in April 1997, I was first diagnosed with angina and shortly after that a cardiologist told me that I could be dead within 2 weeks unless I had urgent coronary bypass surgery. I have had many previous operations in which the complications of surgery were often worse than the conditions being treated, so, before rushing into this procedure I decided to read some information on the subject. Fortunately I had an old book called “The New Health Revolution” which was essentially a review and summary of the Pritikin Diet, and after reading this and several other items I concluded that the diet approach would give me my preferred best chance of survival. Essentially I noted that angina involved narrowing of the coronary arteries which was a feature of the Western World and non-existent in vegetarian tribal societies. Furthermore in our societies the incidence of heart disease and high blood pressure increases with advancing age and has been regarded by medical science as “normal” but there are vegetarian tribes in which blood pressure decreases with advancing age. I also found it interesting that some religious groups, such as the Seventh Day Adventists, have vegetarian diets and a very low incidence of heart disease, and that those who had a very pure vegetarian diet which not only excluded meat, but also excluded milk and eggs, had the lowest incidence of all. Furthermore vegetarians are invariably lean (thin) people. Apart from my own desire to avoid surgery I was influenced by the fact that when Pritikin developed his ideas he lived for 20 years after starting his diet, yet when he eventually died of heart disease he was condemned as a failure, but surgeons were promoting their procedures as being successful because some of their best cases survived for only 5 years by comparison. Of course, this situation has improved somewhat since, but I still decided to start the diet immediately, and have not seen a cardiologist since.

As I had several other health problems to juggle I could not use the Pritikin diet but the principle impressed me so I developed a modified version of my own. The principle which I derived may not be scientifically precise, but essentially, I concluded that fat in the diet entered the blood making it thick and sticky so that it stuck to the artery walls and built up in layers making the inside diameters narrower and narrower until there was not enough blood getting to the heart muscle to sustain exercise. This is why I could sit and rest comfortably in a lounge chair, but if I stood up and walked 5 yards to change the TV station I would get chest pains half way across the floor. Eventually the coronary arteries can clog completely resulting in a heart attack. The blockages can therefore occur gradually, or suddenly, as the result of a small piece of clot breaking loose from an artery wall and traveling along to a narrower part of the artery where it blocks it completely. By contrast if fat was removed from the diet the blood would become thin and run like water, eroding away the fatty deposits on the artery walls so that the inside diameter becomes wide again.

The build up of fatty deposits on the inside of the artery wall occurs gradually over decades without producing symptoms, and in my case I recalled that, for the previous 18 months I had been getting subtly breathless whenever I exerted myself or walked up slight hills, but I had assumed that that was a natural part of getting older. Then one day as I was walking about 20 yards to the letter box I got halfway and suddenly felt a squeezing pain in the centre of my chest, just behind my breastbone, and as I kept walking it got alarmingly worse, so I stopped and waited a few moments until the pain passed, and then proceeded to the letter box again. I was not aware that this was due to heart disease and so kept doing the usual things and did not want to consult a doctor about it because my other chest symptoms were routinely dismissed as nothing, however over the next two months these vague squeezing pains became more frequent and were brought on by less exertion, and with shorter distances walked. Eventually I was a virtual cripple, unable to do anything, and my life was somewhat worthless, so I decided to consult a doctor who diagnosed me as having typical angina, and then I was immediately referred to a cardiologist who recommended that I have urgent bypass surgery within 2 weeks.

After reading about the Pritikin diet I drew the conclusion that if the arteries took decades to block, then they might take decades of dieting to unblock, but, I assumed that my arteries had only been clogged enough to cause symptoms (breathlessness) for 2 years, and angina (squeezing pains in my chest) for about 2 months. This most recent symptom may have been due to the fact that my artery walls had finally silted up enough to severely restrict blood flow to my heart muscle and cause angina with exertion, when extra blood is needed for the heart muscle to work. Alternatively, the symptom may have been due to a small stray clot causing a partial blockage of a narrowed artery. Regardless of the exact cause, I concluded that, in a best case scenario, all I had to do was stay on a strict vegetarian diet for several months and my arteries would clear enough for blood flow to be restored in enough volume to allow me to engage in mild exertion without symptoms, and that would be enough evidence for me to continue into the future without surgery, and I took the calculated risk of proceeding on that basis. i.e. I would probably have a better chance of long term recovery from the diet than I would from the heart surgery.

If I get the time or sufficient public interest in this webpage I will describe the type of diets and exercise regime which enabled me to recover. In the meantime the general principle of treatment was to have a diet which included only natural food items in the meals that I prepared, and to exercise daily by walking at a slow pace below the level which induced symptoms, and to gradually increase the distance and frequency of the walks as my health improved.

As a matter of further interest, in the first 3 months I lost 15 kg in weight, so the diets will be of interest to people who wish to lose weight. I also had a pot belly which I thought was normal for a person of my age, and I thought that it was an irreversible problem that I would have for the rest of my life, but that disappeared with the weight loss.

 

What I did with my existing stock of food on the first day before starting the angina diet – The Banfield Diet

  I cured angina in 1997 by immediately becoming a strict vegetarian, and seven years later, in 2004, I added this description of how I did it, and since then, in 2012-13, i saw that the producers of the Dr. Oz TV show had copied several of my methods without acknowledging me as the source. From what I can recall he had at least one woman try changing their diet in my way, and then showed film footage of her opening her kitchen cupboard and saying something like this . . . “Look Dr. Oz, the cupboard is almost bare – the only thing left is one apple – that’s it“. Now you can read where those producers got that idea, and one or two others. i.e. from this webpage, and from my comments below. Based on the observation that there was a very high incidence of heart disease in modern societies and none in primitive vegetarian tribes, I decided to eat what the natives ate. In that respect I concluded that if it grew in the ground or on a tree I would eat it, and if it had been processed by modern technology and put into bottles, cans, or packets, I would discard it. Also I would reject any foodstuff which contained added salt, sugar, or fat. As a vegetarian diet might result in the absence of some vital nutrients, I also decided to supplement my food by taking a multi-vitamin tablet each day. Also as a vegetarian diet is low in protein I would begin to consider how to ensure that protein containing vegetables had some priority, and how I would eventually add meats which were a good source of protein but were low in cholesterol, such as cold water fish and kangaroo meat.

Removing bottles, cans, and packets and putting them in the rubbish bin

I then placed my rubbish bin in the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door and removed the tomato sauce bottle, the mayonnaise, the ice cream topping, the milk, the soft drink, the bread, and the margarine, and threw it all into the bin. All I had left in the fridge was one apple, and one pear. I then opened the freezer door and removed the ice cream carton, the pieces of porterhouse steak, the lambs liver and sheep kidneys, and the bread, and when I had finished the freezer was empty. I then went to the kitchen cupboards and removed the tea box, the coffee jar, the salt container, the sugar bowl, and the cooking oil, and all I had left was a packet of quick cooking oats, a jar of dried pasta shells, and a jar of rice.

Having removed all modern foodstuffs I then went to the greengrocer shop and purchased tomatoes, onions, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini, squash, corn, celery, spinach, lettuce, and pumpkin vegetables, and apples, pears, kiwi fruit, mango, water melon, rhubarb, strawberries, plums, peaches, and and assortment of other fruits. I then went to the supermarket and purchased some pear and apple juice, and some pearl barley, and some more rice. I took all of these natural foodstuffs home and began experimenting with ways of combining them into tasty and palatable meals.

I then asked a local bakery to make me some wholemeal bread with instructions that it was not to contain any fat or sugar. The loaves were half the size of normal and the bread itself was somewhat firmer, but was nevertheless edible as a base for sandwiches. I later found European style flat breads at the supermarket and these were cholesterol free, and I laid them on the bench top and spread diced tomato, lettuce, and grated carrot etc. over them and then rolled the bread around the salad and ate it.

I continued with this diet format for at least 3 months, and had lost 13-15 kg in weight, and was looking a bit pale. However, my angina symptoms were becoming less frequent, and I was walking greater distances so I decided to continue with it but needed to add meats for iron and protein. I therefore began to buy cholesterol free kangaroo meat and included it in vegetable stews. I also learned that eating cold water fish was beneficial in reducing cholesterol so I started to include them in my diet. My health continued to improve and I was able to stop taking the medication (Noten tablets) some time in the fifth month, and I resumed normal mild exercise in the seventh month, with some of my friends commenting only that I looked a bit pale. My health and my complexion continued to gradually improve after that until 18 months later when it was obvious that the problem of angina was a thing of the past.

In February 2002, about 3 years after recovering from the angina, I was prescribed a drug called Lipitor to further lower my blood cholesterol levels, and although I am reluctant to take any medication because of the potential side-effects, I have continued to do so since because it had the effect of reducing my levels further than was possible with diet alone. There have been no obvious, or significant side-effects as far as I could determine.

Since then my diet has become a bit slack and I eat foodstuffs that, for health reasons I would rather not, but my diet pattern has changed permanently and I will never return to my former food choices. I now eat chicken breast with all fat removed, and sometimes roast beef, and I drink tea daily and coffee about 3 times a week, and I occasionally drink a glass of claret, or a glass of beer, but I would not have done that in the early stages of treating my angina. M.B.

(I updated this webiste on 9-8-10 and noticed the previous comment about Lipitor, so I need to add that I eventually stopped taking the cholesterol lowering medication because it seemed to be associated with dryness of my mucous membranes. I have also learned that one of the long term affects of that treatment is that the body stops producing it’s own cholesterol M.B. 9-8-10).

The Angina Diet Cure and Weight Loss Meals ©

Before starting the diet I knew that I would have to give up some of the tasty processed junk foods in exchange for the less appealing vegetarian foods. My attitude was “it was better to be a live vegetarian than a dead junk food eater”. I have known other people who tried the diet method but could not maintain it, and those who had bypass surgery and continued with their former junk food diet. They continued to eat sausages, steaks, and eggs with white bread spread with butter, jam and cream, followed by sweet and sugary desserts swilled down with soft drinks, wine or beer.   I cannot know how long I will live but if I died tomorrow it would not be due to any failure of the diet, but because, since the symptoms and limitations of angina ceased I have not had the obvious warning of possible death and have therefore become less disciplined with my eating habits. In order to maintain the diet it was necessary that it contained all the vital nutrients, and was put together in a tasty and appealing way. I have known many people who have listened to popularly advertised propaganda about diet which advises that it is acceptable to have the occasional fish and chips meal, greasy pizza, or hamburger, chocolate, ice cream, dessert, cake, and soft drink, and the amount of junk food they ate each week exceeded the total of the vegetarian content, but I had a life threatening illness and my attitude was “don’t muck around – get serious about diet”. I intended to remove virtually all fat from my diet with the humorous objective that “the only way my body was going to supply itself with fat, if it needed it, was to extract it from my arterial walls”. When I was experiencing severe nausea as a side-effect of chemotherapy for cancer, I was unable to eat properly for months, and was vomiting a lot of the undigested food, and I had the attitude that . . . “this is another one of those advantages of coincidence where, if my body wants fat now, it will have to harvest it from my arteries”. I had a similar attitude when I experimented with a useless fruit juice only diet, and when I could not eat during bouts of food poisoning. This reminds me of the statistics which show that in times of war or famine the incidence of heart disease declines, for reasons which are obvious to me, but which have been the subject of much scientific confusion and debate. (During wars food rationing occurs and the general public are given a lot of cheap grain foods, rice etc., and very little meat). The actual ingredients of the meals that I prepared for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including snacks, is based on those principles and is described with examples below.

The oatmeal breakfast

Ingredients: 4 dessert spoons of quick cooking oats, 1/2 banana sliced, 3 diced strawberries, 1/2 glass of apple and pear juice. Method: place the oats into water and bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes until it reaches a firm texture, then pour it into a bowl and wait a few more minutes until it sets, then add the banana and strawberries and pour the fruit juice over the top.  

The rice breakfast

Ingredients: 1/4 cup of rice, 1/2 diced apple or pear, 3 diced strawberries, Method: Bring 1 litre of water to the boil and add the rice, then keep boiling for about 10-15 minutes until the rice is cooked to a soft texture. Drain off any excess water and pour the rice into a bowl and then add the apple and or pear ,and then the strawberries and pour the fruit juice over the top. This breakfast can include a glass of tomato juice as a drink.  

The fruit salad

  Ingredients: 1/6th of a mango, 1 kiwi fruit, 1/2 banana, 3 strawberries, 1 Method: Skin, peel, and dice the fruit and mix them together in a bowl, then sprinkle with the apple juice and spread the passion fruit on top.  

The vegetarian salad

  Ingredients: 2 lettuce leaves, 1 tomato, 3 slices of beetroot , 1 small piece of celery, 1/2 small red capsicum, and two teaspoons of olive oil. Method: Slice and, or dice the vegetables and mix them together in a bowl, and then sprinkle the two teaspoons of olive oil over the top. Vegetarian stew Ingredients: Pearl barley, diced potato, carrot, pumpkin, spinach, broccoli, and red or green capsicum. The rice meal Ingredients: Rice, and diced fruits from the choices above. Salads or stews with low cholesterol meats Ingredients: The meats include tuna, pink salmon, squid (calamari), and kangaroo meat, and can be cooked or diced and mixed in with the vegetable combinations from above.   Snack Raw fruits: including apples, pears, apricots, plums, peaches, kiwi fruit, passion fruit, mango, water melon, rock melon, Raw Vegetables: including celery and carrots, tomatoes, and capsicum. Most raw and unsalted nuts: are suitable for eating and will not adversely affect the arteries (but not peanuts). Olives: do not adversely affect arteries, and olive oil can be added to salads or used for cooking.   Bread Bread can be ordered from some bakeries who will make it without any fats in the recipe. As the fats make the bread soften and rise, the lack of fat in the diet will make the loaves smaller and firmer.   The effect of the vegetarian diet on my cholesterol levels for five years   (The Ratio is calculated by dividing the Total Cholesterols by the HDL’s) Note: I cannot confirm the accuracy of these details, but as far as I am aware they are correct on the basis of my notes which were made from blood tests results on print outs at the time . M.B.   The yellow grease plague: coronary artery disease   Fasting Information related to fasting may be added later.  

  The exercise treatment for angina  

Before discussing the type of exercise I did to deal with angina I will give a brief account of the original symptoms.

The angina symptom was a squeezing sensation in the middle of my chest just behind my breast bone. The first time it occurred I was walking about 30 yards to my letter box and when I was halfway across the lawn the symptom occurred. I kept walking but the squeezing got tighter and felt ominous so I stopped. After about a minute it eased so I continued to the letter box.

The symptom continued to be a problem thereafter, particularly when I walked up and down the slight hill to the local shops. On the way down the hill, for example, the symptom would occur about every 50 yards and if I tried to continue it got worse so I would stop, wait about a minute for it to pass, and then continue. On the uphill journey I would have to stop more frequently, and I noticed that I would also have to stop more often if I was walking against a head wind, or carrying groceries, and on cold days I had to stop more often than on warm days. I also noticed that if I was doing any form of consistent mild exertion, such as walking, the symptom would be a problem for about 15 minutes but then I could proceed without problems for an hour or two. I later learned that this was because, during sustained regular exercise, the coronary arteries dilate after 15 minutes and allow more blood to reach the heart muscle.

Over the next two months the squeezing sensation became gradually more frequent in relation to less exertion and ultimately I found it impossible to sustain mild exertion because the symptom did not stop recurring after 15 minutes of activity. I had to walk at a slower pace and eventually decided to drive my car the short distance to the local shops to avoid the symptom. Ultimately the problem became so disabling that I was unable to do anything of significance so I consulted a doctor. He diagnosed angina and prescribed me a drug called Noten and referred me to a specialist (who later confirmed the diagnosis and recommended urgent coronary bypass surgery). When I left the clinic I had to go to the chemist to get the drug, but to do that I had to go about 30 yards up a relatively steep hill. I was unable to go straight up, so I avoided the straight footpath, and chose to zig-zag up the driveway alongside it, stopping each time as I changed direction. It took me quite a few minutes to go that very short distance. (I had also noticed a few days before that roads were built like small hills, highest in the middle, and lowest at the edges so that, on rainy days, the rain would run off the road into the side gutters and flow away to drains. I noticed this fact because when I tried to walk across a road I would have to stop and rest before reaching the middle, and then I could get over the top and proceed down the other side. For this reason I decided to walk around the block on a flat footpath, and avoid crossing the road. However, if I did have to cross a road, I had to watch carefully for traffic because if a car came speeding along I would not be able to hurry or run to get out of its way).

When I started taking the drug called Noten I noticed that the squeezing symptom was less of a problem, and was replaced by a vaguer sensation within my chest which indicated that the squeezing pain was about to happen, so, with this warning I was able to stop before it occurred, and that enabled me to control the problem more effectively.

I decided to treat the problem by using a vegetarian diet to remove all fat from my bloodstream with the ultimate objective of cleaning away the fatty deposits which were blocking my arteries and I used the symptom to monitor my progress. I did this by walking until the warning symptom occurred and then stopping, and resting a minute or so, and then proceeding. For example, when I started I walked several times a day (1-3 times) around the local street block (about 700 yards) on a mostly flat footpath, and would have to stop about every 20 yards. There was a slight rise on this journey for about 70 yards where I would have to slow down and stop several times, and the driveway at the end was sloped so I had to slow and stop several times in that 10 yard distance as well.

After a month of exercising several times a day with this regime I had a vague idea of improvement in the distance I could walk without incurring the symptom, and by the second month it was still not obvious that I was better than the previous month but it was somewhat more obvious that I had improved since the start, and by the 3rd month I knew for certain that I was traveling further with less symptoms. I had also become adventurous enough to travel part way down the nearby sloped roadways, but initially had quite a bit of trouble with the return uphill journey, having to slow and stop more frequently to minimise symptoms. By the sixth month I was able to perform my previously accustomed levels of exertion (brisk walking) without too much trouble, so I decided to stop taking the medication, and, by being judicious with my exercise (not doing anything suddenly, vigorously, or strenuously) I was able to avoid symptoms. I still felt the need to be somewhat cautious, but two years later I was exercising quite vigorously at times, without any need to be particularly cautious, and I was confident that the symptoms had passed. I have not had those symptoms in the 5 years since. M.B.

Angina and emotions Various factors other than exertion were likely to induce a sense of uneasiness in my chest which included the sense that continuing in that situation would bring on the squeezing symptom. These included instances of anger, especially sustained anger, anticipation, excitement, and even engaging in lengthy conversations. I dealt with these problems in the following manner.

Anger – I often listened to talk back radio shows for light entertainment to observe the hijinks of politicians making promises to get votes and then justifying their reasons for breaking them later, and scientists telling lies in the name of science to deceive the public with their veil of respectability. However, sometimes these interviews would annoy me and as the string of nonsense continued I would become angry and start feeling a sense of uneasiness in my chest, with the added impending sense of the squeezing sensation, so I would turn off the radio. Ultimately I found it easier to avoid talk back radio shows altogether and switched channels to the easy listening music stations.

Excitement – I sometimes found it entertaining to watch football games on television, but often, in close games, the scores of each team would be within a goal of each other half way through the last quarter, and if an opposing team kicked two goals to get ahead with only 5 minutes to the siren I would feel uneasy in the chest and have to turn the TV off, and then turn it on again 1/2 hour later to learn of the final score on the evening news programme. Talking – When I engaged in general social conversations of any sort, without there being any argument, or ill-will, the simple act of talking would tend to bring on the uneasy feeling in my chest, so I tended to stop talking in mid-conversation. (for example, if I was telling a joke I would often have to stop before reaching the punch line). I assume this was because, in order to produce voice, air has to be pushed from the lungs through the vocal chords in the throat. This meant that less oxygen was available in my lungs for the blood stream, and therefore less oxygen was reaching my heart muscle. Coffee – I also noticed that when I drank coffee, especially more than one cup a day, that the symptoms seemed to be more readily induced and to increase in frequency and intensity, especially in relation to anger, excitement, or conversation, so I stopped drinking coffee.

While I was experiencing the symptoms of angina, and for some time after they stopped, I adopted the practice of avoiding the provocation of annoying talk back radio shows, and I avoided watching football games, and I avoided lengthy conversations and drinking coffee. I cannot recall the exact time frame but it would have been for 6 – 18 months afterwards. Now, 6 years later I listen to talk back shows, watch football grand finals, and talk as much as I like, and I drink coffee about 3 times a week, but I do not get those symptoms anymore. M.B.

  My family diet and heart disease history  

There have been general discussions about health relating to the fact that some diseases run in families. With regard to heart disease it has been suggested that this may be due to inherited limitations in the ability to metabolise cholesterol, in which case it would be genetic, or due to the fact that the children adopted the same diet practices of their parents, in which case the cause would be familial. In my case I think that the predominant factor is familial as will be evident with the following information.

As a child I lived in a house which had a large back yard with many fruit trees and a chook yard. My mother would make a lot of home made jam from the fruit but would add a large amount of white sugar into the recipe. We also had boiled, poached, or scrambled eggs, and roast chicken in many of our meals. My mother had a penchant for adding butter to all of her foods such as carrots, and mashed potatoes, and she would use butter extensively in sandwiches. She also liked cheese and cream toppings and would often refer to the fact that it was bad for her figure but that never stopped her from eating those things. By the age of 40 she was quite overweight (pear shaped) and she died of heart disease at age 51.

My father ate the same foods but had less of a penchant for butter and cream, however he smoked like a train and drank like a fish. He had to retire from his job in his late 50’s because he started getting pains in his legs which made it difficult to deliver letters as a postman on his push bike. This pain was due to congestion of the arteries in his legs. One night when I visited him at his club and had a game of table tennis I noticed that whenever he exerted himself to hit the ball vigorously his face would go quite red, probably due to his problem with high blood pressure. One day I heard that he was playing table tennis, and after finishing a game he went towards the bar with a cigarette in his mouth and an empty beer glass in his hand and he collapsed with a heart attack. An ambulance arrived 5 minutes later but he died on the way to the hospital at the age of 61. He had always told me that he knew that his smoking and drinking was bad for his health but that his whole social life involved such activities and he enjoyed it so he was not going to stop. He only wished that one day he would die suddenly and not have to linger with a disabling illness in a hospital for many boring years like his friend Nobby. He got his wish.

My brother ate the same foods, but I note that he tended to drink a lot of milk as a teenager. As an adult he smoked prolifically and drank a lot of coca cola. I often saw him drink a 1 litre bottle of coke in a few seconds and go back for more. In his late thirties he had to use an asthma like puffer, which I think was to help his breathlessness which was related to his ailing heart. He died of a heart attack at the age of 42 and at some stage I learned that his coronary arteries were 90% blocked.

In my own case – my diet – I can remember as a child putting 2 wheat bix or a handful of corn flakes into a bowl and then filling it with milk and topping it with a lot of white sugar and then eating it for breakfast. My mother would make jam sandwiches, or fritz, cheese, and tomato sandwiches on white bread for lunch. (fritz is a very fatty compressed mince meat which is cut into thick slices for sandwiches). I would also have a lot of white bread, butter, and vegemite sandwiches because my mother said that vegemite contained vitamin B which was good for health. We often had boiled or scrambled eggs, or egg and lettuce sandwiches, and on most Sundays we would have a roast beef meal with mashed potato, carrots, cauliflower, and cabbage. The mashed potato was topped with a generous dob of butter while still hot, and the meat was drowned in gravy. My mother would drain off the fat from the roast and store it as lard and later use it in cooking fried meals. As an young adult I had white bread rolls with lettuce, tomato, gherkin, and a thin slice of meat and thought it was a healthy lunch. Some time later I was living in poverty and scrimped on meals and ate cheap foods. These included liver and kidneys for iron, and offal. I would follow the media health advice that the average Australian diet was healthy and did not need modification as recommended by the loopy fringe vegetarians and health extremists, so I would have the occasional treat of ice cream or chocolate, and I would have fish and chips for one meal, pizza for another, and greasy chicken and chips for another throughout a week. I would also eat at least 3 loaves of wholemeal bread per week, and to improve its taste I would spread it with margarine which was promoted as being healthier for the heart than butter. The amount of margarine consumed would have been 1-2 500gm tubs per week or about 50kg per year. After developing chest symptoms and being diagnosed with angina I became a strict vegetarian for two years and have continued to be a less strict vegetarian since. My vegetarian diet is vastly different to my pre-angina diet and is not “the average Australian diet” which kills 50% of the population. For example, I have probably only consumed 3 tubs of margarine in the past 7 years. M.B.

  Celebrity heart attacks “Nothing will benefit human health & increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” Albert Einstein  

Bill Clinton – The chest pain of former U.S. president Bill Clinton was caused by narrowing of his coronary arteries resulting from junk food addiction, and treated by coronary bypass surgery. Elvis Presley – died of a heart attack which was caused by narrowing and blockage of the coronary arteries resulting from junk food addiction.

British comedian Benny Hill would often stay with friends in his free time, and they described how he would spend a lot of time watching TV and eating snack foods and drinking beer between meals and be too full to eat the normal meals with the rest of the family. After being sacked from his television show at the age of 62 he became disillusioned with life and continued to eat snack foods and drink beer to excess, and to gain weight, and three years later was diagnosed with a heart ailment and offered bypass surgery. He refused to have the bypass or change his diet and soon after had a heart attack and died in his lounge chair while watching TV.

West Australian billionaire Robert Holmes-Acourt was diagnosed with diet related diabetes in his forties, and advised of the cause, and was told to change his diet and lifestyle. He refused to change his diet and continued to eat the same sorts of meals when dining out at restaurants and died of a heart attack.

Many people have shorter than normal life expectancies because, even if they know the cause of heart disease, they do not wish to change their lifestyle, and even after having a heart attack the still don’t alter their diet.

Famous Australian rock star Billy Thorpe was rushed to hospital at midnight 28-2-07 after suffering from chest pains and he died of a heart attack at 2.30 a.m. A spokesman from the hospital said that sometines no matter how many top specialists, or how much technological equipment is available the doctors still can’t save the patient. Friends of Billy Thorpe said that he had been having health problems in recent months and was advised to have bypass surgery, but the declined the offer and continued with his energetic lifestyle of strenuous physical performances of loud singing at pop concerts.

Diet is not the only thing needed to consider when treating coronary artery disease (written 6-9-12)

Michael Clarke Duncan, is the actor described as the ‘gentle giant‘ who was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as a death row inmate in the movie called “The Green Mile”. He died on September 3rd 2012, at the age of 54, a few weeks after having a heart attack. In an audio link to the Sydney Morning Herald website he said that he had previously eaten a lot of meat in his life, and that he had changed to a vegetarian diet because of health concerns. In the text on that website it states that . . . “In the spring of 2012, Clarke had appeared in a video for PETA, the animal rights organisation, in which he spoke of how much better he felt since becoming a vegetarian three years earlier” when he said “I cleared out my refrigerator, about $5000 worth of meat . . . and . . . “I’m a lot healthier than I was when I was eating meat.” See here.

My comment

My comment: First of all there are at least five different factors which contribute to the narrowing and blockage of the hearts arteries, such as smoking, drinking, eating meat, and eating anything else that contains too much cholesterol, as well as lack of aerobic exercise etc. When preventing or treating the problem effectively it is necessary to consider all factors.

Secondly, there are several different types of vegetarian diet. Some are pure vegetarians, others include cheese and dairy products, and a third type includes some meats. Those with the most pure vegetarian diets have the longest life spans, and hence that type would be most effective in curing the problem.

Thirdly, I have met people who have changed to the vegetarian diet, but they still occasionally eat roasts, with fat on the meat, and gravy occasionally, as well as pizzas, and other fatty foods. Hence they are defeating most of the purpose of becoming a vegetarian. In essence the maximum effectiveness comes from being a highly disciplined vegetarian.

Fourthly, it is necessary to realize that by the time a person has developed partial or full blockages of the arteries it becomes evident and necessary to treat the problem. There are several choices, but none are perfect, and all of them involve risks. Namely the person can take tablets to dilate the arteries, but they don’t clear out the arteries or cure the problem. Alternatively they can have bypass surgery to go around the blockage, but there is the risk of surgical complications. Also, if the person does not change their diet after the operation the new arteries are likely to block and result in a heart attack later. Finally, the person can become a vegetarian, but there is the risk that they wont’ be able to control their diet effectively, or could have a heart attack before their arteries are sufficiently cleared out. However, if they succeed and stay on the diet their chances of success increase.

Fifthly: Angina is a chest pain or ache that occurs because of narrowing of the coronary arteries, whereas a heart attack is due to a complete blockage of one or more arteries, so the vegetarian diet is more likely to be effective when treating angina only.

Sixthly: Nathan Pritikin developed the vegetarian diet as a way of curing heart disease, and lived an additionally 20 years before having a heart attack and dying. That needs to be compared with the comments of the surgeons of his time who said that a bypass operation was considered successful if the patient only lived for five years.

My decision to become a vegetarian was based on the fact that the vegetarian diet was more successful than surgery, and that, at the age of 47, I was determined to do whatever it took to survive.

Nowadays, my attitude to life is more casual, so my diet is not as disciplined as it was in 1998, but it is still based on that principle, and I have survived for 14 years. See my report on the changes to my diet here and here.

Richard Carlton’s heart attacks (written 10-5-06, and read again 24-1-11)

Australia’s most famous and controversial investigative journalist, Richard Carlton, of 60 Minutes TV show, has had heart attacks and bypass operations since 1988. After his second attack in November 2003 he had another bypass, and he died after his third heart attack on Sunday 7-5-06. In effect he died after three lots of blood vessels silted up with cholesterol and blocked completely.

Richard Carlton said “I’m quite fatalistic about life really, so there was no real choice. If these doctors would have me, then I’d put my life in their hands. By any measure it’s a huge operation (coronary bypass surgery)”.

A reporter said that shortly before he died he was seen drinking several bottles of wine, and eating some cheese.

I have found as a matter of necessity that I have to take the responsibility for everything that happens to me even if it is not my fault, and that I have to be the master of my own destiny, and that humans can alter the course of great rivers, and that I can influence the course of disease and life. Sometimes I fail, usually because of my own limitations and because of unknown and unpredictable factors, but sometimes, as in the case of heart disease, I succeed.

Angina is a condition which involves chest pains which indicate that the coronary arteries are partially blocked with cholesterol, and a heart attack occurs when they are completely blocked. I cured angina with a vegetarian diet, and prevented an impending heart attack 9 years ago in 1997. M.B. (the current date is 10/5/06) (now 24-1-2011)

A new note about Bill Clinton

On 25-9-10, in a radio interview, former U.S. president Bill Clinton reported that he had a stent inserted to clear a blocked artery, and that he had changed his diet to prevent it from clogging up and blocking again like his former arteries.

He said that his diet was pure vegetarian with no meat and no oils. He substituted meat with a liquid protein supplement.

Although the advice he got was attributed to two doctors who have written their own book on this subject, every word he spoke could have come directly from this website. Perhaps any of his friends who see this website might like to draw it to his attention for confirmation.

He is still alive today because of people like me who report their successes for others to think about and evaluate.

For World No Tobacco Day May 31st 2012 here

Cigarette smoke pollutes the lungs and blood and is a major cause of lung cancer, heart disease and a reduced life expectancy.

Two of the actors who played the role of the Marlboro man in cigarette advertising campains died of lung cancer. Wayne McLaren was diagnosed at age 49, and died when the cancer spread to his brain after chemotherapy, surgery to remove a lung, and radiation treatment. David McLean started smoking at age 12 and was diagnosed with emphysema in 1985. He had a tumor removed from his right lung in 1993, and then the cancer spread to his brain. He died in 1995 aged 73. See here.

Many famous cigarette smokers died of lung cancer.

Yul Brinner said this before he died of lung cancer at the age of 65 . . . “Now that I’m gone, I tell you: Don’t smoke, whatever you do, just don’t smoke.” See here and here

Other famous people who smoked cigarettes and who died due to lung cancer included Gary Cooper who died at the age of 60, Walt Disney at age 65, Betty Grable 56, George Harrison 58, and Robert Taylor at age 57.

Humphrey Bogart died of cancer of the esophagus at age 57, Sammy Davis Jnr. died of throat cancer aged 64, General Ulysses S. Grant 63, throat cancer, and Babe Ruth naso-pharyngeal cancer 53,

Scott Fitzgerald died of a heart attack at age 44, Ian Flemming at age 66, Errol Flynn aged 50, Clark Gable aged 59, Lee Marvin 67, Robert Shaw 51, and Spencer Tracy at age 66.

See the full list of 227 famous people who died due to cigarette smoking induced diseases on the SmokeAwayBlog here.

Robert Louis Stevenson smoked cigarettes, and drank alcohol frequently, and died shortly after having a stroke while drinking a glass of wine on the verandah of his mansion on a sunny day, at the age of 44. See here.

The tobacco industry corrupted and misrepresented scientific evidence about the relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. See here.

New York food policy

From reports in May and June 2012: The mayor of New York, MIchael Bloomberg, wants to ban the sale of super-sized soft drinks to help stop the epidemic of obesity and related heart disease. The super sized soft drinks contain too much sugar. According to Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson it is in the interest of public health and . . .. “This is going to start a nationwide movement toward this, a nationwide trend. I think it will prove to be very popular.” “The mayor has already cracked-down on trans fats . . . and . . . banned smoking in restaurants and public parks.”

However the manufacturers of soft drinks and fast foods who make considerable profit from such products are trying to block the proposals. here

The War Against Soft Drinks: From July 29th 2010: “Americans consume more than 10 million short tons — 1 short ton equals 2,000 pounds — of sugar a year. And that’s not counting high-fructose corn syrup — a Japanese invention converting cornstarch into 55% fructose and 45% glucose. High-fructose corn syrup extends the shelf life of processed foods, is cheaper than sugar, and is used in an array of foods and beverages such as soft drinks, yogurt, bread, cookies, salad dressing, tomato soup, and ketchup.. . . last spring the Senate Finance Committee eyed levying a federal excise tax on sugar-sweetened drinks . . . But as McClatchy’s Joey Peters reports, “beverage industry lobbyists have quashed efforts to pass a soda tax this year in Mississippi, New Mexico and New York state.” (end of quotes) here

Statistics about conventional drug and surgical treatment (bypass and stents)

When I decided to use the vegetarian diet to cure my angina it was partly because I wanted to avoid the risks of surgery. That was because I have had numerous operations for other reasons, but on some occasions the complications have been worse than the problem being treated. I also read that coronary bypass surgery was considered to be successful if the patient lived an extra five years. By contrast Nathan Pritikans lived an extra 20 years, but some people said his diet wasn’t effective because he died of a heart attack anyway. However, 20 years survival on the diet is a lot better than five years from major surgery.

I have since met people who were diagnosed with angina a decade earlier, and they were still being treated with angina medication, whereas I used the vegetarian diet and was able to stop taking the same medication after only six months.

I have also met several people who have had double or quadruple bypass surgery. They report that their symptoms were gone immediately after the operation, and were able to return to normal activities shortly afterwards, or within a month.

However, the statistics on the survival rates are not so clear as is evident from a discussion between doctors on the “Doc 2 Doc” website.

Here are a few quotes from that website . . . One doctor wrote . . .

“I think the expected life gain from these medications might be of the order of between one and five years.” He also mentioned that when he was a medical student he was taught that Coronary artery surgery might improve symptoms but did not improve mortality.

Another doctor wrote . . .

“many of the studies related to the important topic of discussion did not reveal a significant improvement in life expectancy gain by treating angina.” However, he added that, in his opinion, “the modern advancements in the treatment does improve the life expectancy significantly”, and that twice as many life years can be added by reducing the risk factors of smoking, cholesterol levels, and high blood pressure.

Another doctor wrote . . . “I think that the overall outcome and life expectancy depends a lot and by the adherence of patient to the medication and life style changes after the surgery or stent.”

More details from those internet discussions can be seen here.

See also my report on famous people who have had angina etc. here.

My ideas on the Dr. Oz TV show?

I have often watched a TV show called Doctor Oz, and found it to be very interesting, and noticed that his objectives are almost exactly the same as mine, except that he is a doctor, and I am a patient who has had to study medicine to survive many illnesses.

My objective was to translate medical jargon into plain english and use diagrams and props to explain things so that ordinary people could understands. Dr. Oz was doing that too.

I have occasionally noticed that he, or more likely his script writers appear to have been reading my books or website and copying my ideas, but recently, on Tuesday 16th October 2012 he seems to have been using at least three items which are direct copies.

1. I compared the health of Londoners in the 1950’s where by the age of 50, half of them had some form of heart diseases, whereas studies from the 19th century native vegetarian tribes people of Africa had zero heart disease, bowel disease, or cancer. (I found that information in a book called The New Health Revolution by Ross Horne based on the Pritikins ideas).

Dr. Oz used a more recent study called The China Study which compares the diet and health of remote villagers in China with those of civilised society.

2. I have also been critical of the manufacturers of foods who have included excess amounts of salts, sugars, fats, and preservatives in their products to sell more and make more profits, and the China study does the same. See here.

Removing bottles, cans, and packets and putting them in the rubbish bin

3. I also described how the natives ate fruit from trees, grains from the ground, and vegetables in the ground, whereas modern people buy their products in bottles, cans, and packets, and that the best way to change diet was to remove all such items from fridges and cupboards and put them in a rubbish bin. I added that when I did that the only thing left in the fridge was an apple and a pear, and the only thing left in the cupboard was some oats, pasta, and rice. That method was invented by me and is a major aspect of The Banfield Diet. See here.

Dr. Oz said the same, and showed a woman from his experiment opening a cupboard door and saying something like this . . .”look Dr. Oz, the cupboard is bare except for one or two small items.

4. His experiment was to get about fifty women to do exactly what I did, and I have reported previous studies which show that most people don’t have enough self-discipline to stick to a diet, and that, if 100 people started a diet in January, that only 5 would still be on that diet a year later. Dr. Oz asked those women how many had maintained the diet for one day, or two, or five, and only a small number were still on the diet.

Using glass bottles or tubes to show blood flow changes from laying to standing

5. In addition to his item about diet, he also appears to have copied a demonstration from my YouTube videos about fainting.

For example, I explained how poor blood flow to the brain was responsible for the tendency to faint, and used a bottle of black fluid to represent the human body and the blood within it. It was almost filled to the top. I then said that when people feel faint it is because the blood is not reaching the brain with sufficient strength or quantity, so the patient may over, and then, when they are laying on their back the blood flows sideways toward their head and brain and they wake up. I used the bottle in the upright position, and then laid it sideways to show the movement of black fluid toward the cork which was similar to the flow of blood toward the brain. See that YouTube video here.

Dr. Oz said exactly the same thing, and used a three foot long clear glass tube, about six inches in diameter, and filled with pink water. He held it in the upright position, and then tilted it sideways. He then asked a volunteer to lay on the floor, and lifted their feet about a foot off the ground to explain how to help the blood flow to their brain to relieve their faintness.

In summary his programme copied my . . . 1. Native versus civilised diet comment 2. Cans, bottle and packets comment 3. Most people can’t sustain a diet comment 4. The empty cupboard example 5. The tilted bottle with colored fluid method of explaining faintness. See my YouTube video here.

I don’t want to accuse Dr. Oz of stealing my ideas (breech of copyright), but would like him to consider that one or more of his script writers probably did. I would also like him to politely acknowledge where those ideas came from, and pay me the entire profit from that days programme in gratitude to me for the ideas.

I would also like the support of all of the people in his studio and television audience, because while you were all out enjoying the good things in life, I was trying to survive diseases, and passing on some of the information about how I succeeded to prevent you from getting the same problems.

Without my ideas, Dr Oz would not have been able to tell you about “empty cupboards”, “cans, bottles and packets”, or “tilted bottles of pink water”.

Those facts obviously come from “real life” and “common sense” and not science.

My concept of 25 Kg. of fat per year has been used by Dr. Oz and others

Prior to 1997 I ate about 2 or 3 loaves of bread each week, and added a small slice of margarine to each piece of bread to make it taste better. However, when I developed angina, and changed my diet to treat it, I stopped eating bread, and of course stopped eating margarine as well. I noticed that I had previously purchased about half a kilogram of margarine each week, and it reduced to none, which, when added up amounts to 25 kg. per year. I therefore explained that only one small slice of butter on each slice of bread amounted to a lot of fat in the diet each week, and a lot of fat or cholesterol entering the blood each year, which makes it thicker and much more likely to clog up arteries.

I therefore described that concept to help other people realise the importance of dietary factors which otherwise go unnoticed.

That idea is not something that a doctor or laboratory scientist is likely to think of, but it has been copied from me by the Australian National Heart Foundation in their television campaigns against heart disease, and in breech of my copyright because they did not acknowledge me as the source. They showed a doctor in front of a pile of 50 X 500mg butter containers built into the shape of a pyramid.

On 26th December 2012 Dr. Oz copied that idea by describing how a small amount of artificial sweetener in each drink you have adds up to 24 kg per year.

On the 8th July 2013 the host of The Doctors TV show was seen on Adelaide’s Channel 10 TV copied my idea again by saying that the average American ate 3 hamburgers per week, and then explained that it adds up to 350 per year, and he had a large fish aquarium full of water with lumps of fat floating in it, and used it as a way of showing his audience how eating hamburgers clogs up their arteries with fat.

Clean vegetarian blood versus dirty blood used by Dr. Oz

Another idea which I developed (invented) is that vegetarian blood runs through arteries like clean water, and junk food blood is like honey which sticks to the walls of the arteries and builds up until it blocks them and causes heart attacks.

I also compared vegetarian blood to clean river water where you can see through it to its rocky bottom, and junk food blood to dirty swamp water, or the water of a slow flowing river which is full of suspended dirt and is brown and murky.

I described the sticky junk stuck to the artery walls could be treated by changing to a vegetarian diet which produces clean blood that dissolves the junk and washes it away.

On his TV show of 26-12-12 Dr. Oz used a similar dietary concept to show the difference between clean water in a glass tube, and dirty water with suspensions of sediment which couldn’t be seen through.

High heel shoes and posture used by Dr.Oz

Also, on the same program of 26-12-12 (Channel 7 Adelaide TV), Dr. Oz presented a 3D visual and video image of a woman walking awkwardly in high heel shoes to show the effect on her gait and posture.

I have been reporting about the harmful effects of high heel shoes on women’s health for more than 20 years, and have illustrations in my book and website to show how they alter the shape of a woman’s posture to cause back aches, neck aches, and many other health problems.

Do great men think alike

There are several ways of looking at such events. Firstly the possibility that the editors or such TV shows are sifting through my books etc to get good ideas in breech of my copyright.

The second it that once my idea has been stolen, the next person may not know that I produced it, and think that the thief thought of it, or that it was just a part of general knowledge.

The third is that great men think alike. The fourth is that the best authorities in the world are agreeing with me and acknowledging or scientifically proving them without giving me the credit for producing them or promoting them much earlier.

One thing is for certain – my critics don’t deserve any consideration at all.

I would like to end this section by saying that Dr. Oz is doing a good job on television – educating the public about the cause, treatment, and more importantly, the prevention of disease – which is what I have been doing in my books and website.

Peripheral Artery Disease – PAD (and leg cramps)

During the week ending 23-12-12, one of the segments of the Dr. Oz TV show was about Peripheral Vascular disease, which is also known as Peripheral artery disease, or PAD.

It is caused by partial blockage of the arteries of the limbs where one of the typical symptoms is cramps of the calf muscles of the legs.

It is similar to coronary artery disease which involves partial blockage of the coronary arteries which supply the heart.

A person with cardiac angina is likely to get tightness in their chest after walking a short distance, such as 100 yards, whereas a person with partially blocked leg arteries is likely to get soreness, pain, or cramps in the calf muscles after walking for a short distance.

The blockage also reduces the flow of blood to the extremities, where other symptoms include numbness, or tingling sensations in the tips of the fingers and toes, as well as coldness, and paleness of the skin in those areas.

The condition is related to diet, and usually starts when the person is in their forties or fifties.

In the later stages small wounds in the ankles or feet don’t heal as quickly as they should, and ulcers may form which persist, and the finger and toes nails fall off. The ulcers can eventually cause gangrene and in some cases the feet are amputated to prevent the gangrene from producing toxic and fatal affects on the blood.

People who have blockages in the legs may also have blockages in the arteries of their heart and brain without symptoms, and have a higher risk of heart disease and stroke than those who don’t. Also, if a part of the blockage in the leg breaks off the blood clot can travel through the blood stream to the heart or brain where it blocks those arteries to cause a heart attack or stroke.

I had angina heart disease in 1997 (fifteen years ago), which I treated effectively with a vegetarian diet. I have also had numbness in my fingers and toes, and leg cramps, so I can report my experience with those problems and how I manage them.

To be continued

The following information is copyright M.B. (started 23-12-12)

More details about the symptoms, and SOE

Numbness in fingers and toes

I cannot remember when I first began experiencing numbness in my fingers and toes, because, in the early stages it was so trivial I didn’t even consider it to be a problem, but just something which happened, and which I thought was probably just a normal feature of being forty (or whatever age it started).

The only thing that I can recall with clarity was that it would occur in the cold winter months, and not in summer.

It could have occurred before or after I had angina in 1997???

However, I do remember that I also had cancer at that time, and had started CHOP chemotherapy sessions.

The chemotherapy involved six sessions given at six weekly intervals. Each session involved sitting in a chair at the hospital for three hours while a bag of chemicals was suspended on a stand and gradually dripped through tubes into my wrist veins. Each session was followed by two weeks of normal health, then two weeks of nausea and sometimes fatigue, and then two weeks of recovery.

I was required to report any complications to the doctor before each new treatment period started.

During the third period I noticed that the tips of my fingers and toes were feeling numb and tingly. During the fourth period the symptoms were slightly worse, and in the fifth period they were worse again, but were not severe, and didn’t bother me. However, when I reported it to the doctor my chemotherapy was stopped, so I was not given the sixth dose. That numbness was diagnosed as peripheral neuropathy, and is a common complication from that type of chemotherapy.

I cannot be sure if that problem was the cause, or start of the periodic numbness, but I can recall getting numbness in the tips of my fingers and toes on a regular basis each winter, especially on cold days, and that the symptom became very gradually, but noticeably worse each year. Some time later I noticed an itch on the inside of my left leg, just above the ankle, and I would bend down to scratch it, but never actually looked at the area when I did, partially because it was covered by a sock. One day, perhaps a year or two later, I became curious about it, and did actually look, and saw that the skin was patchy and broken about two inches in height, and an inch wide. I waited a few weeks for it to heal but it didn’t so I consulted my doctor, and he advised me to clean it, and cover it with a bandage and stop scratching it. Normal wound usually only take a day or two to heal, but that ulcerated area took about a month or more (perhaps five years ago – in 2007), and has not returned since.

The numbness in my fingers and toes continued to get gradually worse each winter, so I tried to solve the problem by wearing thicker socks, and gloves, but it wasn’t very effective.

I then looked at my fingers when they were numb, and noticed that they were pale in the effected areas. For example, on of my fingers would be pale for about 1cm from the tip, the next for up to 4 cm, and the next 3cm. Sometimes I would place them under the bathroom tap and run hot water over them, or fill the basin with warm to hot water and soak my fingers in them to get the blood flowing and relieve the numbness.

Cramps in the calf muscles of the legs

I have also had mild to very severe cramps in the calf muscles of my legs, and although I cannot recall when they first became a problem, they probably started in much the same period of time as the numbness in my toes.

At first they would occur at any time of the day or night, but were mild, but over the years they became gradually more frequent and severe. Eventually I would, on rare occasions, get stiffness and pain in my calf muscles after walking for a short distance, but on most walks it wasn’t a problem.

When I pressed on the calf muscle it was apparent that the skin and surface area was not tender, but the deep muscle was extremely tender and painful when pressed.

Soreness of my feet

The next thing I noticed was soreness, like blister pain, in the pads of my feet, just behind my toes, whenever I went for walks, although there is no visible evidence of ulcers, I assume their is some sort of accumulated injury or tenderness between the foot pads of skin, and the bones of my feet. Those pains would gradually ease away whenever I sat down and took the weight off my feet.

The distance that I have been able to walk before that pain became evident has gradually reduced over the past 12 months, until it was less than 500 yards.

I considered many possible causes including poor circulation to the feet due to narrowing of the arteries in my legs, but have ultimately determined the main cause and will apply the appropriate treatment and may report on the results later.

To be continued.

Causes

Causes of leg cramps –

Treatment of leg cramps – drink fluids, and increase salt intake, and take fluid replacement drinks especially when exercising,

The UA method

Causes of pain in the calf muscles is discussed elsewhere

Treatment of pain in the calf muscles

Causes of sore feet – There are several factors contributing to it.

Treatment of sore feet – T&T

Prevention

Treatment – SS & LR

Genetics or Familial factors

My father was diagnosed with a blood clot in one of his legs when he was 57 years old, and had to retire from work because of the pain. I would sometimes see him grimace with pain and bend down to touch his calf muscle and complain of the soreness. He was a heavy smoker and drinker and gained weight after retiring, and died of a heart attack four years later, at the age of 61.

What is angina pain, and how to tell the difference between the chest pains of severe angina and those of severe chronic fatigue syndrome

Severe angina: About 7 years ago I began experiencing a squeezing sensation behind my breastbone and some two months later I described the problem to my doctor who diagnosed angina immediately. I explained that when I left the front door of my home and went for a walk I would start getting a squeezing sensation behind my breastbone and if I continued it would get rapidly worse so I was forced to stop and rest for a minute or two before continuing another 20 yards when the symptom occurred again. This would continue to recur every 20 yards until I finished an 800 yard walk. After reading briefly about this problem for two weeks I was able to theorise a cause and treatment regime which was 80% successful within six months and I achieved a complete cure within two years and have not had any angina symptoms in the five years since. This type of pain is unusual and has been described in different ways by different people, such as a tightness in the chest, a crushing sensation, or a vice like pain etc.

Severe chronic fatigue syndrome: About 30 years ago my health began to insidiously deteriorate over a period of 3 years until I was experiencing intolerable symptoms but my doctor advised me all throughout that time that according to all of the medical tests there was absolutely nothing physically wrong with me and that I had a peculiar unknown but insignificant condition. When the symptoms were at their worst I would leave the front door of my home and when I lifted my left foot to start walking my heart would pound and race violently until I placed my foot on the ground, and then, when I lifted my right foot to take the next step my heart would pound and race again, and this would continue every step for 50 yards until I turned around and went back home where I laid on the floor for the remaining 23 hours and 50 minutes of the day and night staring at the ceiling and wondering how and why I became so ill and what I was going to do about it. I was therefore forced to study medicine myself and to devise my own treatments. It took me about a year to positively establish beyond doubt that it was a measurable and chronic physical condition, and more than a year to persuade a research cardiologist to tell me the scientific name of my condition which was “neurocirculatory asthenia” and some additional time of reading books and journals at the university medical library to learn that the severe form was called “neurasthenia gravis” and involved extreme fatigue in response to the slightest exertion. That was when I knew for the first time that I was not the only person in the world to suffer from it and that I would have some history to study and learn from. It took me four years to theorise a cause and devise a practical and effective treatment regime and a total of 10 years to regain a vague resemblance of normal health but I have never fully recovered. I regularly go for 5 km walks but am still unable to sprint for 30 yards to catch a bus. Nowadays the condition is known as “the chronic fatigue syndrome” and was first officially recognised by the medical profession as a real illness about 10 years ago.

Sharp stabbing pains in the left side of the chest Another symptom which is common in the chronic fatigue syndrome is sharp stabbing pains in the lower left side of the chest. They are due to a tenderness of the muscle and tissue between the lower ribs which occasionally produces the stabbing pains for no apparent reason, but probably relate to a change in position, and the pinching of a nerve. It feels as if a small sewing needle has been stabbed into the chest and immediately removed, so it is too brief to cause distress. The aches have been scientifically removed by an injection of a pain killing drug into the exact area which is usually less than the size of a 20 cent piece. The pain can also occur in the right side and more rarely in other parts of the chest. Because they most commonly occur in the left side many patients think that it may be due to heart disease, but it isn’t.

Severe muscle cramps in the far left and right side of the chest

Sometimes very severe pains occur in the extreme left and right side of the chest between the armpits and hips. They are similar to the severe cramps in the calf muscles of the legs, and are due to cramps in the chest muscles. They can be brought on in people with poor posture and slight or extreme abnormalities in the shape in their chests. They can also be induced by lifting heavy objects or straining at unusual angles. Another common cause is excessive or prolonged laughing. The cramps can be relieved by rubbing ointments which include aspirin over the area. The aspirin works because it penetrates through the skin where it thins the blood and soon improves the circulation of blood through the muscle.

See more information about chest pains here M.B.

 

Changes to this webpage on 29-6-07

 

This webpage was again modified slightly on 29-6-07 (I previously reported this information after 8 years had passed, and now 10 years have passed with no recurring heart symptoms. (In addition, my blood pressure which was high in 1991 and diagnosed as requiring medication for life, returned to normal in 2000 while I was in hospital undergoing a stem cell transplant for cancer. The hospital physician stopped the antihypertensive medication a month before the transplant and I haven’t needed or taken blood pressure medication since, and my blood pressure has remained normal (around 120/80). The cancer was cured a month later – in January 2000. That was followed by 6 months of vomiting, an additional 18 months of poor appetite, and a further 18 months of impaired immunity which was diagnosed as incurable. A recent blood test – in May 2007 – revealed that my immune system had completely recovered and the test also showed no sign of cancer which was first diagnosed in 1992 when it was estimated that I had two months to live with no hope of a cure, and advice to write a will. These details have been documented on other web pages.).

The incidence of heart disease drops during famines so more than two years of vomiting and poor apetite following various chemotherapy treatments for cancer would have contributed to my recovery from heart disease. i.e. very little food intake would have equated with very little fat in my diet. M.B.

Changes to my diet from 1997 -2011

When I was first diagnosed with angina and determined that the vegetarian diet was going to be my initial method of treating it, I made an immediate change that involved throwing out all modern foods from boxes, cans, and bottles, and eating only vegetables, grains, and fruits. I didn’t eat anything else for about three months when I was becoming a bit pale, which I assumed was from the lack of iron and protein, so I decided to add cold water fish, and kangaroo meat. Those foods do have protein and iron, but, unlike other meats, don’t contain cholesterol, and so were appropriate for treating angina. I think that I also included a multi-vitamin tablet each day to ensure that nothing was missing from my intake. During that time I was also taking a medication called Noten which reduced the severity of the symptoms. However the minor symptoms were a constant reminder that I had angina and motivated me to strictly adhere to that diet.

After about six months I was sufficiently free of symptoms to try reducing the dosage of the drug to half, and later to half again, until I was taking none, and was still able to walk about without getting symptoms. I gradually improved the amount of exercise over the next 18 months until I had virtually forgotten that I ever had angina, and didn’t need to be so careful with exercise. (I also have the chronic fatigue syndrome which restricts my exercise capacity to mild levels anyway, so I was never doing strenuous activities).

By that stage I was so free of symptoms that I was tempted to go to the shops and buy cakes, ice creams, and pizzas etc, but knew that it would not be a sensible thing to do. Nevertheless, i occasionally had a cup of coffee, or a pie, or a beer etc.

As you can appreciate, those small and occasional food items didn’t make much difference by then, and certainly didn’t bring back any symptoms, so as the years passed I increased the amount of coffee, alcohol, and “junk” foods in my diet, but it was still only a small amount compared to most normal diets.

However, I was aware that it would be foolish to go back to my former diet, and was always monitoring my food intake to ensure that it didn’t get out of control.

Nowadays, fourteen years later, my home foods are mostly vegetarian. For example I will have rice or oats for breakfast, salads for lunch, and vegetables and low cholesterol protein for dinner, and fruit and nuts as snacks. I use shop made wholemeal bread instead of bakery made non-fat bread, and I drink decaffeinated tea. When I eat out at restaurants I may occasionally order a roast without gravy, and choose side dishes which are plain, or have the least amount of mayonnaise etc., and at social outings I may have a meat pie, or a sausage and sauce, and I may have one cup of coffee, or a glass of wine, or two glasses of whiskey.

The reason for these changes is because when I was forty I still had ambitions to lead a longer and better life, than that of a cardiac cripple, but as the symptoms went away, and as I got older, I became less interested in living a long time, and more interested in leading a pleasant life, so the occasional drink doesn’t really bother me.

However, I thought I should mention these things because I am sure that some people will try to shed doubt on the value of good diets, and may try to discredit me by taking photos of me eating a roast or having a couple of drinks.

For the benefit of people who are seriously interested in health, i suppose I would recommend the strict vegetarian diet which cured the angina, but I don’t actually recommend anything. I just report what I actually did, so that other people can decide for themselves.

In general terms i am still basically a vegetarian, but I will occasionally eat other foods, and I may have one cup of coffee a day, or less frequently, and one or two drinks of alcohol a day, but mainly only if I am socialising, and if I ever had a return of symptoms I would go back to the strict diet.

I had chest pains again in 2011, and how I cured that problem for a second time in 15 years (1997 & 2012), and how I cured high blood pressure for the second time in 12 years (2000 & 2013) Added 24-6-12 and updated 18-1-13, and 24-1-13

My diet had become more and more normalised since 1997, particularly after about five years had passed, and then I began introducing tea, coffee, alcohol, and regular non-vegetarian foods in increasing proportions.

For example, over a period of several years one cup of tea a day gradually amounted to six or more, and an occasional glass of red wine, became one glass a week, to one a day, and later I would sometimes have one bottle of wine a day, or a 4 litre cask in a week.

The main reason for those gradual changes was because everyone else was eating and drinking in that manner, and I wasn’t getting any symptoms. However, in about 2010, an annual checkup found that my blood pressure was higher than normal, and higher again the following year, and then, one day, probably in about June 2011, as I was casually walking along the street, I started getting a slightly different type of chest pain again. It was obviously related to exercise and was a type of angina. Consequently I became a much stricter vegetarian again.

Added 18-1-2013

The symptom involved a soreness in my chest, behind the breastbone, which would start after waling about 100 yards, and would persist until I stopped. Although I had to slow down, it did not get rapidly worse like the angina of 1997, so I didn’t have to stop immediately. However, when I eventually stopped after 4 or 500 yards of walking the soreness would cease within a few minutes.

I would be reasonably free of that symptom until the next day when I went for another walk.

Over the next few weeks or months the soreness started after shorter distances of walking, and required me to walk slower, and was making it impractical to do even basic daily activities, so I decided to treat it by eating garlic to thin my blood. Within a few weeks I had severe abdominal pain as well so I consulted my doctor (in about August 2011).

He prescribed one 40mg tablet of Somec for the abdominal pain, and one 20mg tablet of Olmetec to lower my blood pressure, and one 50mg tablet of Noten to relieve the chest pain.

The Somac did not relieve the abdominal pain so I soon stopped taking it, but I also stopped eating garlic, and made several other changes to my diet to relieve the pain and was successful. The pain was gone within 2 weeks.

The Noten tablet was successful in reducing the chest soreness to the extent that it ceased to be a problem, but of course that drug only dilates coronary arteries, but does not eliminate the partial blockage causing the problem so I had to keep on with the vegetarian diet to achieve that objective in the longer term.

The Olmetec was effective in getting my blood pressure down to acceptable levels of 120/80 or less, and stable.

Within 3 months I started to fell faint frequently throughout the day, especially when I went for a walk, so I thought it may just be due to the fact that I was getting older, and then one day, I considered the possibility that the diet had reduced my blood pressure, and that the tablets were taking it too low, so I reduced the dosage of Olmetec to half a tablet.

The faintness ceased to be a problem so I continued with that reduced dose, and my blood pressure still remained normal and stable at 120/80.

About six or more months had passed when the chest soreness became less and less of a problem so I stopped taking the Olmetec, reduced the Noten tablet to half, and then to none, and the soreness didn’t return.

(My records show that I temporarily stopped taking all medication on 17-10-12)

However, my blood pressure became unstable and fluctuated between high and low, so I decided to take half a tablet of Noten, and the blood pressure stabilised at 120/80 or less again.

As the Noten was controlling the blood pressure I decided to keep taking it in half dose, rather than changing to the Olmetec, which was originally prescribed for that purpose. (Noten is prescribed for angina and blood pressure).

About 18 months had passed when, by late 2012 I was getting other problems such as numbness, coldness, and paleness in my fingers and toes, cramps, and other pains in the calf muscles of my legs, and soreness in the front pads of my feet.

Those symptoms may be the effect of diet on the arteries of my legs, but they may also have been due to the fact that I had been standing, instead of sitting at the computer for 14 years since 1998. The symptoms may also have been due to the long term side effects of chemotherapy which caused temporary peripheral neuropathy in 1998.

However, I also thought they may have been due to a side effect of the Noten, and as I hadn’t had any soreness in my chest for about a year I decided to stop that medication on the third of January 2013.

About 2 weeks have passed, and I haven’t had any soreness in my chest, but my blood pressure was unstable and sometimes quite high for the first week. Since then it seems to have become stable at 120/80 or less without any medication at all.

I will monitor the symptoms regularly, and may write another progress report in the future.

Added from 4-2-2013 onwards

My blood pressure records show that I was taking half a tablet or 25mg of a medication called Noten to treat it until the 2nd of January 2013, and none on the 3rd. I have not taken any medication for blood pressure since then.

A month has passed and in that time my blood pressure has occasionally been high, but mostly in the normal range.

On the 4th of February I measured it 3 times over a period of several minutes after 8:30 p.m. The readings were 116/60, and then 116/73, and then 114/70.

At 8 p.m. on 8-3-13 it was 123/73.

At 9:30 a.m. on 10-3-13 it was 109/66.

At noon on 27-5-13 it was 111/72

At noon on 22-8-13 it was 124/71

At 3:15 p.m. on 7-10-13 it was 116/63

At 3 p.m. on 27-11-13 it was 120/68

I will continue to monitor it regularly until I have established that it is reliably normal without medication.

The Rba Observation, the FST influence & LTEC.

(LTBU & SACU)

The HSC

The Bm method

****

The diet which I used to treat those problems is reasonably strict, but not as strictly vegetarian as it was in 1998, and I have made a few other modifications to it which have been effective, and which I may discuss later.

In 1997 the process took 6 months, and this time it took slightly longer, and the blood pressure took about 16 months to get back to normal.

An audio CD on the successful methods which I used in 1997

Now available as a recorded 40 minute talk which can be downloaded from iTunes for $0.99 here

The complete treatment of angina using combined methods (added 24-6-12)

Many diseases have multiple causes, and require multiple methods to produce the most effective treatment.

For example coronary heart disease is caused by fats, sugars, and salts in the diet, and alcohol, which affect the blood and clog up arteries. Also tea, coffee, caffeine, cigarettes, worry, anger, and stress can cause constriction and narrowing of the arteries. Hence the factors which narrow arteries add to the problem of clogging in the arteries and make them more likely to partial or full blockage to result in angina.

Hence, while adopting a vegetarian diet may be the single most important way of curing such problems, the other factors need to be considered as well. i.e. the more causes that you remove the more likely you are to gain a successful cure in 1997.

I applied every method in my first successful curing of angina. i.e. I was a vegetarian with zero fats, sugars and salts in my diet, and had absolutely no alcohol, tea, or coffee. I maintained that very strict diet for many years. I also ensured that my approach to the problem was casual, objective, and relaxed. e.g. I didn’t lose my patience, or hurry, or worry.

The Banfield Diet

This diet is for the treatment of angina and is based on the Pritikin Diet and on information derived from a book called “The New Health Revolution” by Ross Horne. Pritikin’s diet added 20 years to his lifespan. However, I had to make some modifications to it because I had an additional problem of chronic abdominal pain which was aggravated by eating soya beans. Therefore, in the urgency of the angina diagnosis 10 years ago, I decided to substitute rice as the primary source of protein for 3 months, and because this left me deficient in some nutrients I then added cold water fish, and then kangaroo meal. M.B. 19-9-05

A summary of why I adopted that diet, and the details about the foods and meals that I used can be seen here

A 40 minute audio CD and public talk on my methods can be downloaded from iTunes for $0.99 here.

This webpage was started 11-9-04 and was most recently modified on 31-8-07.

Some improvements to the page layout and minor editing was done in January 2011.

Diabetes and diet

The Tohono O-odhamin are the second largest Native tribe in North America and up until 1960 they lived on traditional foods and none of them had diabetes. However since then they began eating modern foods which are high in fats and calories and now 70% of them have adult onset diabetes which is the highest rate in the world.

They are now trying to prevent and control the problem by returning to their traditional foods which included crops and cactus which were able to grow in the desert conditions of Arizona where they live.

According to “Tristan Reader, Co-Director of the Tohono O’odham Community Action group” . . , “The same compounds that let the plant survive actually regulate blood sugar levels. They keep blood sugar levels even and help prevent diabetes and keep diabetics healthier,”

Foods available in the Desert Rain Cafe now include a sauce made from the Prickly Pear cactus.. They serve calcium rich cholla buds from the Cholla cactus, and fruit smoothies with nutritious chia seeds, and high protein tepary beans, and seeds from the giant Saguaro cactus. For more information See here.

See also an item comparing the Prima indians of Arizona who changed to the modern diet and developed a high incidence of diabetes, and the Prima indians of Mexico who retained many of their traditional foods and “show almost no diabetes at all“. One of their foods is . . . mesquite bean pods . . . Mesquite is a life-saving high-protein, high-mineral, low glycemic carbohydrate, non-gluten food. See here.

Reversing diabetes

There are two types of cell in the pancreas called the Islets of Langerhans with the total number of individual cells being a million.

One type produces insulin to keep the amount of sugar in the blood at a steady level. The more sugar, the more insulin they produce.

During the normal life of primitive tribespeople who eat natural foods those cells can produce enough insulin to maintain the blood sugar at the normal level, but when they start eating modern foods which are high in added sugar and fats the pancreas is put under strain, and within a few years, or generally within a few decades, those cells eventually fail, and cannot equalise the blood sugar levels anymore. The result is diabetes type 2 which is an age related condition that generally begins to affect people in modern society in their forties or fifties.

There have been various reports which show that some degree of reversal can occur if the person stops eating foods high in sugar and begins eating only a natural diet again. Some of the damaged cells apparently heal.

Excessive weight, particularly around the waist (belly fat) is a risk factor in developing the condition so treatment includes losing weight.

Sugar is needed in the body to produce energy, and more is required for exercise, so exercise is a useful part of diabetic treatment because it uses up some of the sugar and less strain is placed on the pancreas.

In extreme cases the person may need to use insulin injections to balance the sugar levels, and in others they may only require medication, and in some cases they can control their symptoms effectively by just changing their diet. The long term consequences of not changing diet are blindness, poor circulation in the limbs which causes gangrene and requires the amputation of the legs, and heart attacks and strokes.

More Information about reversing diabetes can be seen in a CNN report here, and a BBC news item here, and an article by Dr. John Fuhrman M.D. here, and the Pritikin longevity center here. See an item from the Men’s Fitness website here.

Medication relieved the pain while the diet cleaned out the arteries, and other drugs, such as cholesterol lowering pills had side effects

On 14th February (2013?) Dr. Oz discussed the problems associated with prescribing drugs for patients ailments.

During the discussion it was reported that drug companies were in the business of making money and that they would promote the beneficial effects without mentioning the harmful side effects, and that doctors were widely prescribing the use of medications call “Statins” for preventing or treating angina.

The proclaimed objectives of that type of medication was to reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood, and hence lower the incidence of death by heart attack.

However, it was reported that out of any 50 men who took that medication for 5 years, only one life was likely to be saved compared to those men who took nothing.

Furthermore, in a study of 11,000 women on that drug, no difference was reported at all.

He said that one of the problems of prescribing cholesterol lowering drugs is that many people will think that they don’t have to do anything else, and consequently will take the pills, instead of changing their diet to reduce the amount of cholesterol in the food they eat, which is the real cause of the problems.

In my case I changed my diet to vegetarian, but my doctor recommended that I take a “statin’ called “Lipitor” as well.

I didn’t take that drug for many years, but ultimately thought it might help so I did, for a some time. However, within a year or two I was getting symptoms such as dry mouth etc.

I then read that the body produces it’s own cholesterol anyway, and needed it to lubricate the joints etc, and that cholesterol only became a problem in excess levels.

I therefore stopped taking the pills, and the dryness in my mouth and eyes etc seemed to stop.

Some years later I started taking that medication again, but I noticed that I was getting cramps and soreness in the calf muscles of my legs, and I found that it was a disputed side Effects of statins which could ultimately result in worsening and permanent damage to the calf muscles, and which could keep getting worse even if you stopped taking the medication. I therefore stopped taking it. The pain in the deep muscles of my calves subsided, so I think I avoided permanent damage. (I may discuss more detail about that later).

I became a vegetarian to treat angina in 1997, and the pain was gone within 6 months, and I continued to be a strict vegetarian for many years but then gradually started eating more and more other foods until I started getting angina again in about 2010/2011. I then became a vegetarian again, and it took about a year to relieve the pain in my chest again.

During that 16 year period I spent most of my time as a vegetarian, and it was effective, and I probably spent less than 2 years on the cholesterol lowering drugs.

However, each time I had angina, in 1997, and 2011, I was taking another drug which was effective. It was called Noten, and had the effect of widening my coronary arteries and relieving the chest pain. I needed that drug for 6 months in 1997, and for slightly more time in 2010, but when the diet cleaned out my arteries I spent the remainder of 14 years without that drug. The drug relieved the symptom, but the diet cured the problem. See also here.

See a report on the side-effects of statins here.

A similar report the Catalyst TV show

Another report on the harmful effect of statins (the cholesterol lowering drugs) was presented at 12:30 p.m. on channel ABC 1 TV on 2-11-13 on the TV show called “Catalyst“. They reported on the same topic, and interviewed a man who had the same problems with leg muscle pain when walking. Their investigation showed evidence that the drug companies had been promoting the beneficial effects without mentioning the harmful effects, and that they had been sending their salespeople to doctors to induce them to prescribe the drugs to patients. They concluded that doctors should get their information from independent sources, and not from drug company salesmen, and that the research should be checked by independent follow up studies and not by people whose projects were funded by the drug companies. They also found that research projects organised by the drug companies were kept private, and that the public didn’t have access to them, and that projects funded by the drug companies exaggerated the beneficial effects and hid or understated the harmful effects.

One of the people interviewed said that there was evidence of criminal influence on the results of study related to the profit motives of the large companies, and that the public should recognise that fact, and stop being naive about claims that studies must be reliable, just because they are done in the name of science.

Non-medical Dietary methods of lowering cholesterol

In a report on Channel 7 TV show “This Day Tonight” on 4-8-13 they discussed various dietary factors which could be used to lower cholesterol, particularly the LDL levels

They included Beta Glucan from Nordic Oats, ordinary oats, Psyllium husks, Olives, Macadamia nuts and Walnuts, and Salmon.

Blood pumps

There are several pumping mechanisms which produce the circulation of blood. For example, the heart draws a small amount of blood into it’s hollow chambers, and the squeezes it though one way valves, so that it comes out the other side at the average rate of 72 beats per minute while resting. Another pump is the heel of the foot which contains many blood vessels, including veins. Each time the persons foot hits the ground when they are walking or running, the weight of the body squeezes those blood vessels and pushes the blood in the veins through it’s one way valves, and up toward the legs, where the one way valve system continues it’s upward flow to the heart.