Averill's Story

I am a 53 year old male. About a year ago I had a renal infarct; I was later diagnosed with a Protein S deficiency.  My hematologist has put me on warfarin for life. About five years ago, my EKG did not look right; I was diagnosed with a Hypertrophic Cardio Myopathy, nonrestrictive. About five months ago my blood pressure was about 150/90, my doctor was concerned. I am on blood pressure medicine, diltiazem hydrochloride 180mg, and Lipitor 20mg for cholesterol. My doctor said he wanted to see me in another month. At that time he probably was going to increase my blood pressure medicine. I also take CoQ10, Vitamin D and fish oil pills.

I knew I had to do something to lose weight. It was at this time I saw Dr. Fuhrman on a PBS station. He spoke about throwing your medications away through lifestyle change. I got excited. I went online and ordered Eat To Live and Super Immunity.  I was always under the impression that as I got older, I would just have to increase my medications, like everybody else. Boy was I wrong!

I made a decision to try to eat only natural foods. I couldn't believe I was going to start eating salads for lunch, but I did. After a while, fruit, salads, started to taste real good, apples were sweet, I couldn't believe it.  At this point I spoke to my son's basketball coach and he recommended I see the movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, and also Forks Over Knives. These documentaries were life changing. I came to the conclusion that I am eating and drinking cholesterol, this is crazy, and why am I consuming cholesterol?  Now I live at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market.

My family has protein S deficiency; my grandfather died in his sixties after multiple heart attacks, my uncle had a stroke in his sixties, was paralyzed, could not speak, and died in his sixties. My mother currently has severe vascular disease, has had mini strokes and just had a major stroke, things do not look good. As my father said over fifty years ago, my grandfather ate himself to death, boy was he right.

That is when I said no more dairy, no more meat, just fish. So I went for it, family thought I was nuts. I was not going down the road of my elders. I purchased a juicer, and started to make the Mean Green Drink every morning. I'm addicted. People in my office thought I was crazy. When I started dieting in the beginning I got a personal trainer for one day a week, and exercised on my own two other days of the week.

As I was losing weight I came to the conclusion that it is all about 90 percent diet, 10 percent exercise, if you don't have the right diet, you won't be fit.  After losing about 15 or more pounds the first positive result is I am no longer out of breath after climbing stairs. Since my mid-twenties I have always gotten a lot of plaque on the inside of my lower teeth. I now have little to no plaque on the teeth, amazing, can you explain this? I have also taken back up Squash, which is an incredibly aerobic sport, not recommended for my heart condition, I feel great. My trainer didn't recognize me one day due to my weight loss; people say I look younger, yeah!

Now for the bottom line results, I dropped my LDL, bad cholesterol by 40 points,  from 110 to 70,  At first I  was able to reduce my Lipitor down to 10mg from 20mg, and subsequently I went off it completely. My blood pressure is now 130/80, nice improvement. Total cholesterol dropped about 40 points. My HDL stayed about the same 39. I lost 15 pounds.

Thank you Dr. Fuhrman so much for the incredible education. Thank you again, my life has been changed for the better and forever, and I am not going down the path of my family's bad health.

Results may vary.