Thirty Six Words

I learned about nutritarian eating when my friend Chris Daines recommended the book Eat To Live after my heart attack in October 2011. The doctors at the hospital found my condition was serious but inoperable, and told me basically, “Eat better, live better and you’ll live a long life.”

But their demeanor told me they didn’t believe I would. Their preferred fix, inserting a stent to open up my artery that was 80% closed, was impossible. A previous stent put in 6 ½ years ago in “The Widowmaker” artery blocked all their attempts. Ominous, right?

No wonder. In my prior heart attack three arteries were 99% blocked and one was 75%.  I asked my cardiologist back then if I should change my diet and he said, “Nah, you can’t change heredity. Just exercise and take medications. When it closes up again we’ll just put more stents in.”

Notice the word when, not if. Standard stuff for a cardiologist!

I even called an old friend, who majored in nutrition (so I figured if anybody knew he would) before he went to medical school. I asked him if there was anything new, different or more effective. He answered there was not.

I wish I’d have kept looking for answers, but I didn’t.

So they couldn’t put in a stent I knew it was serious, even fatal, if I didn’t figure out better answers. I also knew the standard approaches wouldn’t cut it. So when my friend told me about the book Eat To Live, I was more than a little interested.

It’s a matter of life or death for me.

I got the book. It was everything I’d hoped for, and more.

The first part of the book, even before the title page, is testimonials from people like me. Lots of medical and health situations are described that had proven difficult to handle otherwise. They found real answers through nutritarian eating.

I’ll summarize the 45 testimonials:

• Weight loss after years of trying, and the weight stayed off, 15 to 150 pounds, in two weeks to a couple of years.
• Major cholesterol reductions, often over 100 points.
• Many otherwise incurable diseases, including hepatitis C and diabetes, were effectively treated.
• Lots of difficult health issues turned around, like depression, migraines, blood pressure, diverticulitis, sleep disorders, digestion problems, back pain and heart disease.

So here’s my statement in the thirty six words below, like you’d see in Eat To Live:

"My doctor said I’d need a repeat heart catheterization, it was a genetic certainty. He was wrong. I wish I’d found the answers in Eat To Live years ago. I could have avoided another heart attack."
–   David Higbee, 25 pounds in 6 weeks