I have been trucking on and off since 1994. I have been an EMT & firefighter for over 10 years. I now work in the oil & gas field productions. I by no means in shape far fro it actually. I use to smoke cigs and drink mt. dew everyday, recently I got the scare of a lifetime! I was rushed to the ER for chest pains that lasted longer than 15 minutes, (EMS rule of thumb if you are having mild to moderate chest pains that is steady and lasts for 15 minutes GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM!! Extreme chest pains go IMMEDIATELY to ER!!!!) 15 minutes passed I had our safety guy drive me to the hospital. They hooked me up to the usual heart monitor ekg blood work chest xray. Then I got the news I didnt want want to hear! They was admitting me for Cardiac reasons, That was on a Friday, I recieved several tests and continuous Heart monitoring, was put on a CARDIAC DIET taken off my meds (high BP) on Monday morning I had a stress test by that evening they let me go home (which was over 4 hours away from this hospital). My 3 days in the hospital on a Cardiac diet I lost around 5 pounds! I thought yeah! Im doing ok hey they sent me home right? Tuesday morning exactly 10 minutes after I woke up the phone rang, it was my cardiologist! He said he finally got to read the results of stress test, WHAT?! He said he believed there are several MAJOR blockages in my heart and wanted me to come back to hospital for an emergency heart CATH catheterization!! He wanted me to call an ambulance to bring e back there! My word slowed down it was like I was in super slow motion! After explaining to the doctor that I lived over 4 hours away and would rather have it done at local hospital with (no offense) a state of the art heart cath lab, I contacted my regular doctor and was told to go to ER and get admitted that way it would be faster. I spent all day in Er then finally got admitted my new cardiologist said that I would get heart cath first thing in the morning, they would continue to monitor my heart and start prepping me for the heart cath. OK ROUND 2! While in the hospital my wife was by my side day and night, I got the heart cath and during the cath the doctor said HMM several times. Finally he said he was done and he chuckled and said Im sorry you had to go thru all of this but that other cardiologist must have been using some old equipment or didnt know how to use it or if everyone praying for me actually got me a miracle because he could not find ANY Blockages! Doc wanted e to follow up with him in couple of days. Couple days later at the cardiologist he asked me again about what happened. I told him about the BP medicine I was on and that I had changed y diet about 2 weeks before this all happened I switched from drinking regular soft drinks to diet soft drinks. He said he would be right back, he came back in the room with a diet Mt. Dew bottle and said you drink this? I said yes, he said ohhhhhhh! Ok Docs dont say ohhhhhhhhh for nothing! He said that most diet drinks have ASPARTAME ( Sweetner) is actually bad for your heart and body! He said he has seen more and more people come in to his office with heart problems related to ASPARTAME in people of every shape, size and race. He took me off my blood pressure medicine and I stopped drinking those diet soda's and havent had any trouble since then Im completely off my Blood pressure medicine, just have to work on my cholesterol levels Good cholesterol is low, bad cholesterol is Ok. I believe that most artificial sweetners are harmful to your health.


Thank You!

emy892, it just goes to show, there's no substitute for water. As for your cholesterol levels, one suggestion, (and no, I'm not a Dr., so take my suggestion to him if you think it's a good idea...it worked well with my wife) is to eat more eggs. Eating 3 eggs in the morning, and 3 more at night, will up your good cholesterol, as well as help promote fat loss, and eating them just before bed helps to boost testosterone production, which is always a good thing for men(to a point, of course). There are many researchers and Dr.'s that believe it is more important to have a good LDL:HDL ratio, than it is to just bring down the LDL levels.

thanks for the info! Is there a certain way to cook the eggs? I have been told that scrambled eggs are better than hard boiled? I dont know how an egg is an egg right? LOL!

An egg, is an egg, is an egg. As long as you're eating the whole egg, and not throwing away the yolk. Do that, and you're throwing away the best part of the egg. I boil up between 12 and 18 eggs and take them with me in my cooler for the week.

Originally Posted by Okieron

I stopped soda pop of any kind and I'm down 17 pounds! woo hoo only 50 more to go!

Drink at least a gallon of water throughout the day, eat at least 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking, get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, don't eat grains or starches(breads, cereals, potatoes), and you'll see the weight start dropping off even faster.

MEDIFAST. I've lost 60 lbs in four months, and it's pretty easy to stay on.