Have you been frustrated because you have been eating pretty ‘healthy’ for most of your life, but still battle with cholesterol problems? That was exactly how my guest Susan felt. Along with vegetables, eggs and fruit, she made sure to consume only whole organic milk and organic meats. But her cholesterol levels only kept rising, her blood pressure started increasing and her triglycerides went off the charts!
Susan didn’t want to go on statin drugs, so she decided to do something drastic – try a plant-based diet. Listen in to find out the details of how this lifestyle change impacted her health, after only 3 weeks, and how it helped her husband’s diabetes as well!
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[Plant-Based Diet, Plant Based Eating, Cholesterol, Triglycerides, Heart Health, Cardiovascular Health, Diabetes, Blood Glucose, Blood Sugars]
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
High cholesterol and blood pressuredefinitely runs in my mother's
side and cancer runs really bigin my mother's side of the family.
And in my father's side of the familyis diabetics and high blood pressure
and my dad died with Parkinson's.
And so, I've had every reason in theworld to try to figure out how not to
(00:24):
live that way or how not to die that way.
Welcome to the Plant BasedEating Made Easy Podcast.
I'm your host, Anna Tseng, plant-basedRegistered Dietitian and Transition Coach.
Hi Friend, do you want to regain yourhealth with plant-based eating but feel
overwhelmed and lost about how to do it?
(00:45):
Do you feel it'll be hard to changeyour meat-heavy diet and impossible
with working, running the home,or chasing after the grandkids?
If so, you're in the right place.
Here you'll find simple strategies,clear nutrition guidance and
practical tips to help you thriveplant-powered with more energy.
So, if you're ready to ditchthe guesswork and transform
(01:06):
your health the stress-free way.
Cozy up now with a hot cup of tea orlisten while you walk and let me show
you how doable plant-based eating can be.
Let's do this!
Hi Friend, welcome to this episode.
As you know, I love to interviewmembers from my own Community
(01:26):
because each has such a unique andinspirational story to share of
how plant-based eating has impactedtheir health and changed their lives.
And it's especially refreshingto hear the experiences of guests
who have been plant-based eatingfor different lengths of time.
So far on this podcast, we have heard fromguests who have started as early as five
(01:47):
weeks into this lifestyle to a few months.
And today, we'll be able to hearfrom a guest who has lived this
lifestyle for more than a year.
In this episode, I'm welcoming Susanas a special guest to this podcast.
Susan is a member of my Beginnersfor Plant Based Diet Success
Facebook Community, and I'mexcited to have her join us.
(02:08):
Hello, Susan, welcome to this show.
To start us off, could you tell us just alittle about yourself and your background?
All right.
Well, I'm from the Birmingham,Alabama area, and I do have a family.
I'm a mother of four, and I'velived in Birmingham my entire life,
(02:28):
so, you know, living in the South,eating has not just been the easiest
thing for health-conscious people.
I'm a real estate agent.
I'm a very busy realtor.
I actually have my own company.
So, dealing with a lot of stress inmy life and just on-the-go all the
time with as many kids as I've had,but my last one is off to college now.
(02:54):
Wow.
I can imagine being a busy realtorand bringing up four children.
That is definitely a feat in itself.
But congratulations on your last onemoving out of the home to college.
Yeah, I'm an empty nester, but Ido have my mother-in-law that has
moved in, and she's been with usnow, this May, will be two years.
(03:15):
So I don't feel quite like anempty nester, like I was concerned
I would be, but it's good.
She's wonderful.
She takes care of my dog and does groceryshopping and things like that for me.
So, that's actually a helpful situation.
Yes, that's definitely a blessingto have her there to help you.
Could you maybe just go into howdifferent was your lifestyle before
(03:39):
you moved to plant-based eating?
What was your diet and eating like?
Well, growing up I loved vegetables,and I mean, we loved just going to the
country and eating a lot of fresh pickedvegetables and fresh picked fruits, and
my great grandparents would just make atable full of vegetables from the farm,
like turnip greens and all kinds of beans,grains and you name it, it was wonderful.
(04:05):
So I've never been a pickyeater, so eating vegetables
has never been hard for me.
But the crazy thing is, I think I may beone of these people who has this double
something with your liver that createscholesterol, and so just naturally my
cholesterol runs high, even when I was 19.
(04:27):
I've always been health conscious, and Ihad just moved out of my parents' house,
and I was eating salads and vegetables,but I was also always a big milk drinker.
If there was ever any meat in frontof me, of course I would eat it.
Loved barbecue, loved eggs,loved anything of that nature.
(04:47):
But I remember even at 19, I'mlike five foot nine, I was 120
pounds, my cholesterol was 198.
So it wasn't over 200, but I was ingood shape and ate what most people
consider healthy, and my cholesterolwas still borderline of being too high.
(05:08):
So because of that, I have alwaysbeen very health conscious and kind
of stayed on top of what the latesttrends were for eating healthy.
I had gotten to where I thought I waseating clean, drinking whole organic
milk, eating what I considered to beas free range as possible eggs all
(05:31):
the time, and, you know, I've justalways been trying to stay up on what
the latest health trends were, andthen got to a point where I was quote,
a walking heart attack or stroke.
And it made absolutely no sense.
And I'm very active.
Working out in the gym, I'vebeen a runner, I've played
tennis, pickleball like crazy.
(05:54):
I'm 55 years old and nobody wouldconsider me to be overweight by any
stretch, and it just makes no sense thatI'm dealing with this high cholesterol,
need to go to a cardiologist, or mydoctor is scared that I'm going to fall
dead with a heart attack, or a stroke.
Thank you for sharing that, Susan.
(06:16):
Yeah, that is pretty young at 19 tostart having these high cholesterol
levels, so I can understandyour worry or concern about it.
Especially since it sounds like youhave tried many different measures
to try to eat healthier, eat clean,and, eating those free-range eggs
with the whole organic milk, probablymeasures that many people would be
(06:38):
taking or consider themselves to beeating well or eating healthy on.
Besides this cholesterol, did youhave other health issues or diagnoses?
No, you know, I've always hadgood, almost on the borderline
of being low blood pressure.
And I think it wasbecause I was so active.
But here recently, I guess in the lastcouple of years, my blood pressure had
(07:01):
gotten up to I think somewhere around135 over 80 something, and they were
telling me that I was getting borderlineof having some blood pressure issues.
And, you know,
My mother had had five strokes andhad high cholesterol to the point where
her doctor even called me one timeasking if she was on drugs or alcohol.
(07:23):
I guess I just have been very worriedabout that kind of stuff, because of
my mother's side of the family andthe history with high cholesterol.
Yes, definitely, five strokesis a lot just in one lifetime.
Were these strokes very severe orwere they kind of mini strokes?
She had had four that they foundfrom the MRI that they took.
(07:48):
The last one was a severe one.
It was actually in her brain stemand now her health has really
deteriorated because of this stroke.
High cholesterol and blood pressuredefinitely runs in my mother's
side and cancer runs really bigin my mother's side of the family.
(08:08):
And in my father's side of the familyis diabetics and high blood pressure
and my dad died with Parkinson's.
And so, I've had every reason inthe world to try to figure out
how not to live that way or hownot to die that way, should I say.
So, everybody always thought of me asthe health food freak and even my kids'
(08:30):
friends would come in, open up my pantryand go, "All you have is nuts and grains.
Where's the good stuff?"
So it was really hard for mewhen I went to the doctor and I'm
sitting there and they're tellingme that my cholesterol is 300 and
my triglycerides are off the chart.
And I'm sitting there, playing sportsand working out in a gym and walking
(08:55):
and just a very active work lifestyle.
And so I'm like, okay,what am I doing wrong?
Thanks, Susan, for sharing that.
I can definitely understandyour frustration.
You know, you feel like you'reeating as healthy as you can with
the eggs, the whole milk and nuts andseeds, but then trying to figure out
(09:18):
why your health, your cholesterol andyour triglycerides are still so high.
But I can definitely understand yourmotivation for wanting to figure this
out because of that family history withyour mother with the strokes, the high
cholesterol and the blood sugar problems.
And on your father's sidewith the Parkinson's, high
blood pressure and diabetes.
(09:39):
And you said there wasalso a history of cancer.
So when did you actuallybegin plant-based eating?
What was the catalyst orturning point for you?
Well, when I went to the doctor, my annualvisit with my gynecologist, she calls
me and she says, " Susan, oh, my goodness.
Your cholesterol is 300 andyour triglycerides are over
(10:01):
200 and we can't have that."
You need to go to a cardiologist.
I said, "I am not goingto go to a cardiologist.
This makes no sense."
And she said, you probably needto be put on a statin drug.
You can't just be walking aroundwith this high cholesterol and
high triglycerides like this.
(10:21):
And your blood pressure wasa little higher than normal."
And I said, "I'll tell you what, Iwill go to one of these doctors
that's in my community who's alittle more on the holistic side.
Let me go talk to them.
So I made an appointment with themand the actual doctor was a friend
but I saw her nurse practitioner andher nurse practitioner said, "We've
(10:45):
got to get that cholesterol down.
I want you eating 90grams of protein a day."
And I said, "What?
90 grams of protein?
So you're asking me to eat theequivalent of a serving of chicken
breakfast, lunch, and dinner."
She said, Yeah, that's right.
And she said, and I need you toeat, you know, just cheese is good.
(11:07):
I want you drinking whole milk,but make sure it's organic."
I said, "Well, I'm already doing that."
She said, "I want you eatingorganic meats, grass fed meats."
I said, "Well, I'm already doing that."
And I said, "What about eggs?"
And she said, "Eggs are great.
Just make sure you get yourprotein, protein, protein in."
And then on top of it, she said, I wantyou taking all of these supplements.
(11:31):
She wanted me taking 1500milligrams of niacin a day.
She wanted me taking fish oil.
And I was already taking fish oil.
I was not taking niacin.
She wanted me taking CoQ10 and therewere a couple of other supplements
that she wanted me to take.
And so, I was like, well, okay.
(11:52):
It's better than goingon a statin drug, right?
So, I did it for a year.
That was at the beginning of February.
So I did what she told me to do, whichwas basically what I was doing anyway,
except she was trying to tell me toeat more meat, and then, to be honest
with you, there's just no way I couldeat 90 grams of meat protein, but I
(12:16):
was making sure that I had a meat andvegetables as much as I could but I
can't tell you that I really kept upwith that because it made no sense to
me to have to eat meat with every meal.
But anyway, I got to the endof the year and I went back to
my gynecologist in December.
Again, she drew my blood.
(12:36):
And she calls me back, and she says,"My goodness, Susan, your cholesterol
has now gone from 300 to 302.
And your triglycerides are insane.
And I was like, this is stupid.
What in the world is wrong?"
Everything online, everycommercial, everything talks about
(13:00):
protein, protein, protein, protein.
And I have a really close friendwho was on dialysis for 20 years.
And so we talked daily and she wasconstantly telling me how it is crazy
how people are eating so much proteinbecause of how bad it is for your kidneys.
And if anybody knows about kidneyhealth it was my friend, about how bad
(13:22):
all that protein is for your kidneys.
So anyway, my doctor calls me and tellsme that my cholesterol is at 302 and
my triglycerides were off the chart.
And she said, Susan, you'vegot to go to a cardiologist.
And I said, I am notgoing to a cardiologist.
I will go see Jesus beforeI get on a statin drug.
(13:45):
And so we hang up.
And she calls me the next dayand she said, I want you to know
that I have lost sleep over you.
Susan, you've got to go to a cardiologist.
You are a walking heart attack.
And I said, well, give me a month.
I am going to figure this out.
And so I started looking and I watcheda documentary 'How Not to Die' by Dr.
(14:10):
Michael Greger.
I was pretty impressed.
And then I watched the 'Game Changers'.
And I was very impressed.
And then I watched 'Forks Over Knives'.
And then I was like, okay, and I startedreally digging into any kind of research
on plant-based diets and what have you.
And so I was like, okay, if thisworks on cholesterol, I'm doing it.
(14:32):
I'm going to try it.
And so I started doingthe plant-based thing.
And my husband was also diagnosedthat same December, the
2nd December, with diabetes.
And he is 6 foot 5 and 200pounds, not overweight at all,
and diagnosed with diabetes.
(14:53):
So, anyway, I started doingthe plant-based thing.
He's counting his carbs, which wasjust insane and just mind numbing
trying to take care of him and tryingto figure out this plant-based where
I'm supposed to be eating all thesecarbs and he's supposed to be watching
his carbs, not eating so many carbs.
(15:14):
So it was just crazy, but I hadseen on all those documentaries that
it was also working for diabetics.
And so anyway, I got into it.
I got three weeks into it andI thought, I've got to figure
out if this is working or not.
Because if it's not, I've got tofigure out something else because
I told my doctor only a month.
(15:35):
So I went to a local pharmacy here whodoes blood panels for the state and she
drew my blood and in three weeks shewas able to tell me right then, in three
weeks my cholesterol went from 302 to 222.
And my triglycerides were so low.
My blood pressure was great.
(15:56):
And I was like, well, heck yeah, let's go!
So I went home and I told my husbandand I was like, okay, this is working.
This is working.
And you're going to get off of metforminand you're going to do it with me.
And it took about a monthof him doing it with me.
And then his blood sugarnumbers were perfect.
(16:18):
It's just the craziest thing.
It was like, how is this informationnot out there for everyone?
Thank you, Susan.
it's wonderful to hear what broughtyou over to plant-based eating.
And I love that those documentariesreally helped to give you that
knowledge and the motivation tolook more into a plant-based diet.
(16:40):
It's fantastic how within justthree weeks, your cholesterol had
dropped so much by 80 points andyour triglyceride went down and
your blood pressure normalized.
That's fantastic!
Even more to hear about your husband,how within a month of doing it, his blood
sugars came down and improved so much.
I think there's a lot to learn aboutyour transition experience moving
(17:02):
into plant-based eating and also abouthow you are able to continue to eat
plant-based, even despite your busylifestyle as a realtor and taking care of
your mother-in-law and so many things.
So I would love to have you comeback for a part two to continue this
interview, would that be all right?
Yeah, sure.
No problem.
(17:23):
That'd be great.
So for our listeners, please stay tunedand we'll see you in the next episode.
Thank you for listening to the PlantBased Eating Made Easy Podcast.
If this podcast has helped you,please take a moment to rate and
leave a written review on theApple Podcast app or on iTunes.
Knowing how this podcast hasmade a difference in your life
(17:44):
never fails to light me up.
I may also select your reviewto be read on this show.
Remember that moving to plant-basedeating can be simple and doable,
even with your existing healthchallenges and busy lifestyle.
If you have a plant-based diet questionyou'd like me to answer on this show,
share that question with me using thecontact options in the show notes.
(18:06):
Thanks for joining me today andI can't wait to connect with
you again in the next episode.
Until next time, keep plant-focusedand thriving, my Friend!
High cholesterol and blood pressuredefinitely runs in my mother's
side and cancer runs really bigin my mother's side of the family.
And in my father's side of the familyis diabetics and high blood pressure
and my dad died with Parkinson's.
And so, I've had every reason in theworld to try to figure out how not to
(00:24):
live that way or how not to die that way.
Welcome to the Plant BasedEating Made Easy Podcast.
I'm your host, Anna Tseng, plant-basedRegistered Dietitian and Transition Coach.
Hi Friend, do you want to regain yourhealth with plant-based eating but feel
overwhelmed and lost about how to do it?
(00:45):
Do you feel it'll be hard to changeyour meat-heavy diet and impossible
with working, running the home,or chasing after the grandkids?
If so, you're in the right place.
Here you'll find simple strategies,clear nutrition guidance and
practical tips to help you thriveplant-powered with more energy.
So, if you're ready to ditchthe guesswork and transform
(01:06):
your health the stress-free way.
Cozy up now with a hot cup of tea orlisten while you walk and let me show
you how doable plant-based eating can be.
Let's do this!
Hi Friend, welcome to this episode.
As you know, I love to interviewmembers from my own Community
(01:26):
because each has such a unique andinspirational story to share of
how plant-based eating has impactedtheir health and changed their lives.
And it's especially refreshingto hear the experiences of guests
who have been plant-based eatingfor different lengths of time.
So far on this podcast, we have heard fromguests who have started as early as five
(01:47):
weeks into this lifestyle to a few months.
And today, we'll be able to hearfrom a guest who has lived this
lifestyle for more than a year.
In this episode, I'm welcoming Susanas a special guest to this podcast.
Susan is a member of my Beginnersfor Plant Based Diet Success
Facebook Community, and I'mexcited to have her join us.
(02:08):
Hello, Susan, welcome to this show.
To start us off, could you tell us just alittle about yourself and your background?
All right.
Well, I'm from the Birmingham,Alabama area, and I do have a family.
I'm a mother of four, and I'velived in Birmingham my entire life,
(02:28):
so, you know, living in the South,eating has not just been the easiest
thing for health-conscious people.
I'm a real estate agent.
I'm a very busy realtor.
I actually have my own company.
So, dealing with a lot of stress inmy life and just on-the-go all the
time with as many kids as I've had,but my last one is off to college now.
(02:54):
Wow.
I can imagine being a busy realtorand bringing up four children.
That is definitely a feat in itself.
But congratulations on your last onemoving out of the home to college.
Yeah, I'm an empty nester, but Ido have my mother-in-law that has
moved in, and she's been with usnow, this May, will be two years.
(03:15):
So I don't feel quite like anempty nester, like I was concerned
I would be, but it's good.
She's wonderful.
She takes care of my dog and does groceryshopping and things like that for me.
So, that's actually a helpful situation.
Yes, that's definitely a blessingto have her there to help you.
Could you maybe just go into howdifferent was your lifestyle before
(03:39):
you moved to plant-based eating?
What was your diet and eating like?
Well, growing up I loved vegetables,and I mean, we loved just going to the
country and eating a lot of fresh pickedvegetables and fresh picked fruits, and
my great grandparents would just make atable full of vegetables from the farm,
like turnip greens and all kinds of beans,grains and you name it, it was wonderful.
(04:05):
So I've never been a pickyeater, so eating vegetables
has never been hard for me.
But the crazy thing is, I think I may beone of these people who has this double
something with your liver that createscholesterol, and so just naturally my
cholesterol runs high, even when I was 19.
(04:27):
I've always been health conscious, and Ihad just moved out of my parents' house,
and I was eating salads and vegetables,but I was also always a big milk drinker.
If there was ever any meat in frontof me, of course I would eat it.
Loved barbecue, loved eggs,loved anything of that nature.
(04:47):
But I remember even at 19, I'mlike five foot nine, I was 120
pounds, my cholesterol was 198.
So it wasn't over 200, but I was ingood shape and ate what most people
consider healthy, and my cholesterolwas still borderline of being too high.
(05:08):
So because of that, I have alwaysbeen very health conscious and kind
of stayed on top of what the latesttrends were for eating healthy.
I had gotten to where I thought I waseating clean, drinking whole organic
milk, eating what I considered to beas free range as possible eggs all
(05:31):
the time, and, you know, I've justalways been trying to stay up on what
the latest health trends were, andthen got to a point where I was quote,
a walking heart attack or stroke.
And it made absolutely no sense.
And I'm very active.
Working out in the gym, I'vebeen a runner, I've played
tennis, pickleball like crazy.
(05:54):
I'm 55 years old and nobody wouldconsider me to be overweight by any
stretch, and it just makes no sense thatI'm dealing with this high cholesterol,
need to go to a cardiologist, or mydoctor is scared that I'm going to fall
dead with a heart attack, or a stroke.
Thank you for sharing that, Susan.
(06:16):
Yeah, that is pretty young at 19 tostart having these high cholesterol
levels, so I can understandyour worry or concern about it.
Especially since it sounds like youhave tried many different measures
to try to eat healthier, eat clean,and, eating those free-range eggs
with the whole organic milk, probablymeasures that many people would be
(06:38):
taking or consider themselves to beeating well or eating healthy on.
Besides this cholesterol, did youhave other health issues or diagnoses?
No, you know, I've always hadgood, almost on the borderline
of being low blood pressure.
And I think it wasbecause I was so active.
But here recently, I guess in the lastcouple of years, my blood pressure had
(07:01):
gotten up to I think somewhere around135 over 80 something, and they were
telling me that I was getting borderlineof having some blood pressure issues.
And, you know,
My mother had had five strokes andhad high cholesterol to the point where
her doctor even called me one timeasking if she was on drugs or alcohol.
(07:23):
I guess I just have been very worriedabout that kind of stuff, because of
my mother's side of the family andthe history with high cholesterol.
Yes, definitely, five strokesis a lot just in one lifetime.
Were these strokes very severe orwere they kind of mini strokes?
She had had four that they foundfrom the MRI that they took.
(07:48):
The last one was a severe one.
It was actually in her brain stemand now her health has really
deteriorated because of this stroke.
High cholesterol and blood pressuredefinitely runs in my mother's
side and cancer runs really bigin my mother's side of the family.
(08:08):
And in my father's side of the familyis diabetics and high blood pressure
and my dad died with Parkinson's.
And so, I've had every reason inthe world to try to figure out
how not to live that way or hownot to die that way, should I say.
So, everybody always thought of me asthe health food freak and even my kids'
(08:30):
friends would come in, open up my pantryand go, "All you have is nuts and grains.
Where's the good stuff?"
So it was really hard for mewhen I went to the doctor and I'm
sitting there and they're tellingme that my cholesterol is 300 and
my triglycerides are off the chart.
And I'm sitting there, playing sportsand working out in a gym and walking
(08:55):
and just a very active work lifestyle.
And so I'm like, okay,what am I doing wrong?
Thanks, Susan, for sharing that.
I can definitely understandyour frustration.
You know, you feel like you'reeating as healthy as you can with
the eggs, the whole milk and nuts andseeds, but then trying to figure out
(09:18):
why your health, your cholesterol andyour triglycerides are still so high.
But I can definitely understand yourmotivation for wanting to figure this
out because of that family history withyour mother with the strokes, the high
cholesterol and the blood sugar problems.
And on your father's sidewith the Parkinson's, high
blood pressure and diabetes.
(09:39):
And you said there wasalso a history of cancer.
So when did you actuallybegin plant-based eating?
What was the catalyst orturning point for you?
Well, when I went to the doctor, my annualvisit with my gynecologist, she calls
me and she says, " Susan, oh, my goodness.
Your cholesterol is 300 andyour triglycerides are over
(10:01):
200 and we can't have that."
You need to go to a cardiologist.
I said, "I am not goingto go to a cardiologist.
This makes no sense."
And she said, you probably needto be put on a statin drug.
You can't just be walking aroundwith this high cholesterol and
high triglycerides like this.
(10:21):
And your blood pressure wasa little higher than normal."
And I said, "I'll tell you what, Iwill go to one of these doctors
that's in my community who's alittle more on the holistic side.
Let me go talk to them.
So I made an appointment with themand the actual doctor was a friend
but I saw her nurse practitioner andher nurse practitioner said, "We've
(10:45):
got to get that cholesterol down.
I want you eating 90grams of protein a day."
And I said, "What?
90 grams of protein?
So you're asking me to eat theequivalent of a serving of chicken
breakfast, lunch, and dinner."
She said, Yeah, that's right.
And she said, and I need you toeat, you know, just cheese is good.
(11:07):
I want you drinking whole milk,but make sure it's organic."
I said, "Well, I'm already doing that."
She said, "I want you eatingorganic meats, grass fed meats."
I said, "Well, I'm already doing that."
And I said, "What about eggs?"
And she said, "Eggs are great.
Just make sure you get yourprotein, protein, protein in."
And then on top of it, she said, I wantyou taking all of these supplements.
(11:31):
She wanted me taking 1500milligrams of niacin a day.
She wanted me taking fish oil.
And I was already taking fish oil.
I was not taking niacin.
She wanted me taking CoQ10 and therewere a couple of other supplements
that she wanted me to take.
And so, I was like, well, okay.
(11:52):
It's better than goingon a statin drug, right?
So, I did it for a year.
That was at the beginning of February.
So I did what she told me to do, whichwas basically what I was doing anyway,
except she was trying to tell me toeat more meat, and then, to be honest
with you, there's just no way I couldeat 90 grams of meat protein, but I
(12:16):
was making sure that I had a meat andvegetables as much as I could but I
can't tell you that I really kept upwith that because it made no sense to
me to have to eat meat with every meal.
But anyway, I got to the endof the year and I went back to
my gynecologist in December.
Again, she drew my blood.
(12:36):
And she calls me back, and she says,"My goodness, Susan, your cholesterol
has now gone from 300 to 302.
And your triglycerides are insane.
And I was like, this is stupid.
What in the world is wrong?"
Everything online, everycommercial, everything talks about
(13:00):
protein, protein, protein, protein.
And I have a really close friendwho was on dialysis for 20 years.
And so we talked daily and she wasconstantly telling me how it is crazy
how people are eating so much proteinbecause of how bad it is for your kidneys.
And if anybody knows about kidneyhealth it was my friend, about how bad
(13:22):
all that protein is for your kidneys.
So anyway, my doctor calls me and tellsme that my cholesterol is at 302 and
my triglycerides were off the chart.
And she said, Susan, you'vegot to go to a cardiologist.
And I said, I am notgoing to a cardiologist.
I will go see Jesus beforeI get on a statin drug.
(13:45):
And so we hang up.
And she calls me the next dayand she said, I want you to know
that I have lost sleep over you.
Susan, you've got to go to a cardiologist.
You are a walking heart attack.
And I said, well, give me a month.
I am going to figure this out.
And so I started looking and I watcheda documentary 'How Not to Die' by Dr.
(14:10):
Michael Greger.
I was pretty impressed.
And then I watched the 'Game Changers'.
And I was very impressed.
And then I watched 'Forks Over Knives'.
And then I was like, okay, and I startedreally digging into any kind of research
on plant-based diets and what have you.
And so I was like, okay, if thisworks on cholesterol, I'm doing it.
(14:32):
I'm going to try it.
And so I started doingthe plant-based thing.
And my husband was also diagnosedthat same December, the
2nd December, with diabetes.
And he is 6 foot 5 and 200pounds, not overweight at all,
and diagnosed with diabetes.
(14:53):
So, anyway, I started doingthe plant-based thing.
He's counting his carbs, which wasjust insane and just mind numbing
trying to take care of him and tryingto figure out this plant-based where
I'm supposed to be eating all thesecarbs and he's supposed to be watching
his carbs, not eating so many carbs.
(15:14):
So it was just crazy, but I hadseen on all those documentaries that
it was also working for diabetics.
And so anyway, I got into it.
I got three weeks into it andI thought, I've got to figure
out if this is working or not.
Because if it's not, I've got tofigure out something else because
I told my doctor only a month.
(15:35):
So I went to a local pharmacy here whodoes blood panels for the state and she
drew my blood and in three weeks shewas able to tell me right then, in three
weeks my cholesterol went from 302 to 222.
And my triglycerides were so low.
My blood pressure was great.
(15:56):
And I was like, well, heck yeah, let's go!
So I went home and I told my husbandand I was like, okay, this is working.
This is working.
And you're going to get off of metforminand you're going to do it with me.
And it took about a monthof him doing it with me.
And then his blood sugarnumbers were perfect.
(16:18):
It's just the craziest thing.
It was like, how is this informationnot out there for everyone?
Thank you, Susan.
it's wonderful to hear what broughtyou over to plant-based eating.
And I love that those documentariesreally helped to give you that
knowledge and the motivation tolook more into a plant-based diet.
(16:40):
It's fantastic how within justthree weeks, your cholesterol had
dropped so much by 80 points andyour triglyceride went down and
your blood pressure normalized.
That's fantastic!
Even more to hear about your husband,how within a month of doing it, his blood
sugars came down and improved so much.
I think there's a lot to learn aboutyour transition experience moving
(17:02):
into plant-based eating and also abouthow you are able to continue to eat
plant-based, even despite your busylifestyle as a realtor and taking care of
your mother-in-law and so many things.
So I would love to have you comeback for a part two to continue this
interview, would that be all right?
Yeah, sure.
No problem.
(17:23):
That'd be great.
So for our listeners, please stay tunedand we'll see you in the next episode.
Thank you for listening to the PlantBased Eating Made Easy Podcast.
If this podcast has helped you,please take a moment to rate and
leave a written review on theApple Podcast app or on iTunes.
Knowing how this podcast hasmade a difference in your life
(17:44):
never fails to light me up.
I may also select your reviewto be read on this show.
Remember that moving to plant-basedeating can be simple and doable,
even with your existing healthchallenges and busy lifestyle.
If you have a plant-based diet questionyou'd like me to answer on this show,
share that question with me using thecontact options in the show notes.
(18:06):
Thanks for joining me today andI can't wait to connect with
you again in the next episode.
Until next time, keep plant-focusedand thriving, my Friend!
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