I’m posting this in the hope that it may help someone else.
Just over three weeks ago I was walking up a flight of steps at when I got a pain in my chest and couldn’t breathe and one of my trainers had to help me up the rest of the steps and carry my bags for me.
When I got home I went to my docs and they carried out the usual: blood tests, chest x-ray, ecg, more blood tests, and a second appointment was made for me to come back for more tests.
Being the stubborn person I am I still insisted on walking Frankie (my dog) every day, but at the time I couldn’t walk fifty yards without being out of breath and the interesting thing was that this happened all of a sudden without warning.On my second appointment at the doctors I was asked questions about whether I had worked with Asbestos, whether I was or had ever been a smoker, etc., but not one question about diet, and the net result was I have been referred to a specialist emergency chest pain clinic for tests.
The thing about it all wasn’t that I was scared, I was just shocked at how quickly I could go from what could be referred to as relatively fit, i.e, being able to walk around as normal and do everyday stuff, to finding myself, almost without warning, short of breath from doing almost nothing. It makes you feel quite vulnerable.
I then got a call from my GP to say that they had referred me to an ‘Emergency Chest Pain Clinic’ in the cardiology department of one of the local hospitals and I was told to keep my mobile phone by my side at all times, however, no-one contacted me and I was told that the appointment was made for Friday (yesterday).
As a result I decided to change my diet to a plant-based whole-food diet based on the fact that I had nothing to lose (and if you want to know why, simply watch the films mentioned above).
The astonishing thing that was within three days I was able to walk without any breathlessness or discomfort whatsoever and I’ve been walking 3 – 5 miles a day ever since with no problem at all.
So on Friday I arrived at my appointment where I immediately underwent a 2nd ECG and blood pressure test as well an ultrasound on my heart. After that I saw the cardiologist.
He seems to think that everythings is ok, but he wants to carry out a few more tests just to be sure.
He also wanted to prescribe me some medication (just in case) so at that point I took the opportunity to ask him about diet and nutrition. His response was “there’s a booklet over there on the table that will explain that for you”. I pushed him on the subject and all he did was refer to the booklet eventually getting out of his chair to pass me one.
I asked him if he was aware of the research into plant-based and whole food diets and the relationship with heart disease. All he did (once again) was refer me to the booklet that he had handed to me, seemingly dismissing the subject completely.
As for me I feel absolutely fine. I’ve stuck to a plant-based and whole-food diet now for two weeks and I’m heading into my third week.
I’m not missing the meat or the dairy at all and I’m actually really enjoying it and my energy levels have increased and all the issues I had have completely disappeared.
Now I’m not stupid or arrogant enough to ignore what a professional trained specialist cardiologist advises, but I was disappointed that when I broached the subject of diet and nutrition it was dismissed as if it didn’t matter or wasn’t relevant.
I’d actually be interested to know what these consultants are taught about diet and nutrition because a simple change like this could be the difference between you having your chest ripped open, your breast-bone sawn through and your heart operated on or not.
If you are thinking of trying a plant-based whole food diet do it and if I can help anyone please feel free to message me or get in touch.
