"Though I'm a 50-year-old-guy with a stressful job and a little too much around the middle, I had a clean bill of health. I had good cholesterol numbers and a great doctor, and recently I had passed a cardiac stress test."
-Michael Bicks produces documentaries for ABC News-
Be sure to Read Michael Bicks' story, "Not a Moment Too Soon, I Thought of TIm Russert" in the July 8, 2008 New York Times. (click here) It's a stunner!
Bicks did everything right. Or so he thought. Every Saturday morning he bicycled with a group of 50-something men who called themselves the Cheat Death Group, convinced that hard-core exercise was "their ticket to postponing the inevitable".
Bicks thought he was doing everything right.
- He was in good shape.
- Good enough to ride much more than 25 miles at a time.
- His cholesterol numbers were good.
- He had recently passed a cardiac stress test.
- He used a lot of olive oil.
- He drank red wine.
- He exercised regularly.
Bicks had a heart attack in the middle of his regular Saturday morning bike ride a couple of weeks ago.
Too bad Bicks didn't know that exercise is only 1/2 of the health equation - Diet is the other 1/2.
Reread my post: Yes, You Can Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease, But Are You Up for the Challenge? Let Dr. Esselstyn Convince You. It explains how one can have a heart attack with no prior symptoms and artery blockages of only 10-30%. It was news to me. I'm inching towards making the change. Not there yet.
And if you missed my post about olive oil, you can find it here.
If you need more info, take a look at Tim Russert's Posthumous Interview of Dr. McDougall. It gives another explanation of how diet contributes to heart disease, in spite of our statins, blood pressure prescriptions, and exercise.
Food for Thought!
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