Rose, do you have a link to it?

What gets me about all this is the actual life I lead. I'm a sixty-year-old woman who doesn't smoke, eats no fast food, no fried food, and very little processed food as I make nearly everything from scratch. I drive to the dairy farm to get my eggs, chicken and cream as fresh as it comes, and only eat grass-fed and free-range meat. I sleep like a teenager, take two spin classes and two pilates classes a week, and walk my dog 2 miles a day. I run two businesses and have energy up the wazoo. If this is the life of someone with CHD - I'll take it.

Lisa

Skip the Colpo and treat yourself to Kendrick. Colpo is a bonafide idiot.

Colpo is an abrasive twit, but his book is full of excellent info.

Yeah, you're right but the Kendrick book is all she needs and I don't want to sell any more books for a psycho like Colpo.

LOL - I'm not buying, I'm borrowing.

Lisa

If you haven't borrowed a copy as yet, do listen to Malcolm Kendrick on UTUBE There are a series of video's of a presentation he gave to Leeds GP's and his take on MONICA.

This was *so* very helpful, thank you! I did get the Colpo book a week ago from the library, and found it to be okay, but nowhere near as well written or comprehensive as Taube's GCBC. I just called my library again to ask if they could send out another request for Kendrick's book.

I found the videos to confirm everything I suspected, but more importantly, sent the links on to a friend of mine with Diabetes. She was diagnosed three years ago, and each subsequent doctor's visit was worse than the one before. By four months ago she was still following the ADA 'low-fat, high carb' diet - gotten worse and worse and fatter and fatter - and had been put on more and higher doses of meds.

I begged her to read Taubes and Bernstein and bless her, she finally did. Two months later (and a complete change of diet to low carb) she lost 30 pounds, and had her blood sugars so much under control that the Doctor cut all her meds in half!

That's the good news. The bad news is that this woman is the very definition of 'stress' - which, I learned in the video - is what Kendrick believes *does* cause CHD. You want to know what I mean by her stressful life? Two weeks ago the bridge in her mouth fell out, because the two teeth on either side had been sheared off. Were they decayed? NO. They were perfectly healthy teeth the dentist said - sheared off by... STRESS and grinding in her mouth! The dentist said that in all her years of practice she had *never* seen anything like it.

When I heard that, I begged her to get herself into therapy to deal with what I then realized must be a veritable stress mountain - but after seeing this video I will re-double my effort. Thank you so much again for your reply - you just may have saved a life.

Lisa

Perhaps it would be useful for your friend to read this information on Magnesium and Bruxism (tooth grinding)
Dr McCleary suggests an anti excitatory cocktail to calm the nerves. This is to be taken twice daily and includes 400mg magnesium (malate or taurinate though I have found magnesium citrate is also well absorbed) so that represents 800mg daily. As magnesium is a laxative it may be worth working up to that amount over a few weeks though I have had no problems. Another idea would be to soak in a bath of epsom salts or mangesium chloride. It will be taken up transdermally and thus avoid the runs.

Awriter, here is the link to Dr. Mary Enig's article:

http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyou...fats_phony.html

I read it every week or two myself just to re-validate my decision not to fill that stupid Lipitor prescription!

Actually, your ratios look good, at least according to the PP guidelines:
Total/HDL < 4 -- yours is 3.6
LDL/HDL < 3 -- yours is 2.4

I don't know where they got those ratios; they say "Two benchmark standards have been established."

Thanks, Rose - now if only I could get my %$&^^# doctor to read it.

Lisa

It might work on the symptoms - but only a good therapist will be able to help get at the root of the stress in order to permanently get rid of it. She's got a lot to deal with in her life, and does it by not dealing with it at all. Everything gets buried and unsaid, but you know what happens then - it finds another way out. In this case, through her teeth and, I believe, her health. That's exactly what Dr. Kendrick believes as the very cause of heart disease, in fact. Deal with the causes of the stress to remove them, and lower your risk of CHD. Makes sense to me.

Lisa

Maybe you are right, but my experience with therapists is such that I have found them to be a total waste of time and money.

What has helped me deal with stress better is getting my Vitamin D status optimal 125nmol/l -150nmol/l 50-60ng/ml. (your doctor can get your 25(OH)D tested here for £40) getting my omega 3 status raised (I take 1-2g daily omega 3 thats the sum of the EPA + DHA not just two capsules) and raising my magnesium intake 600mg daily.

It takes a while (3 months at 5000iu/daily) to replete your Vitd/omega3/magnesium stores but when your body and your brain are functioning properly it's easier to think straight and deal with the issues.

When you feel down, tired, brain foggy all the time it's difficult to see the wood for the trees let alone make sensible life changing decisions. Taking 4000iu/daily vitamin D3 is known to improve feelings of well being.

This post reminds me that Gary Taubes claims there is an even more tenuous correlation between cholesterol and heart disease in women than in men, if any at all. I wish I could look it up, but my DH borrowed my copy to take on a trip.
Anybody know the references?

I don't know if a doctor would know this, though.

I'm sorry to hear that. I've found therapy from time to time in my life has been incredibly rewarding and fulfilling, helping me to achieve so much more than I would have otherwise. But, as in all things - YMMV!

Have a great day...

Lisa