FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hah, how could you tell from this photo!?!

Idk lol. You just looked a lot slimmer in the pic. Ive lost 25 lbs over the last 7 months so I just notice when peoples weight is different now. I dont see how you cant eat meat....cant live without it. I do eat lots of fruits and vegetables though. I also love milk lol. Bet it takes some serious discipline to just give it all up. Just watching my sugar and fat intake is bad enough.

Dang...turning your thread into a health thread. Sorry:D.

I agree with everything you wrote Leo756. I sure hope that the truth about nutrition and how drastically it affects health gets out there to the general public somehow. There are millions of lives that could be so much fuller and richer for much longer if they only had the knowledge...

Grey wrote:Congratulations on your new diet, Matt. If you ever fancy doing a breakdown and posting it please do Some of us have a few health issues that might be greatly benefitted by what you've learned so if you fancy getting out that soap box again... please do.

I will do that Grey. I'd love to share what I've learned with others who are interested in listening. I certainly don't want to sound "preachy" or "judgmental" in any way though, so I may preface what I write with a statement that somehow communicates that.

And yes, I'm certain that many people who have health issues could greatly benefit from moving to a whole-foods, plant-based diet. It has been proven to cure many, many ailments.

Dionae wrote:Ive lost 25 lbs over the last 7 months

That's great! Congratulations!

Dionae wrote:I dont see how you cant eat meat....cant live without it.

Growing up in the midwest US, I never even considered life without dairy or meat. Our meals were always meat-centric, with milk to drink with breakfast, lunch and dinner, with some salad and vegetables thrown in as an afterthought. Even as I gained more education about nutrition, I still was skeptical about the "dangers" of eating meat and dairy until it was presented clearly to me with undeniable scientific evidence to back it up. Ironically enough, I wasn't in the right mental place to accept the information the first time I watched the documentary Forks Over Knives. But the second time I watched it and the "Extended Interviews" it was so clear to me that I couldn't believe I didn't fully take it all in the first time I watched it. Weird how your mental state at the time can change your willingness to believe facts.

Dionae wrote:I do eat lots of fruits and vegetables though. I also love milk lol.

Your diet sounds very similar to mine until 3 weeks ago when I cut out all meat and dairy. I never really liked eggs much, so those were never really in my diet.

Dionae wrote:Bet it takes some serious discipline to just give it all up. Just watching my sugar and fat intake is bad enough.

Initially, I suppose it does take some discipline to give some foods up. But really, it didn't for me after making the decision to do it. Leah and I simply don't purchase anything outside of our diet, so there's nothing in the house to tempt us. And, in fact, I don't ever crave meat or dairy like I thought I might. I have lots of extremely tasty plant-based foods that I eat when I'm hungry and I find them extremely satisfying and I never get the intense cravings or hunger I used to get when I ate dairy, meat and processed foods.

Dionae wrote:Dang...turning your thread into a health thread. Sorry:D.

No problem at all! I'm glad the subject came up. I love talking about it and sharing and spreading the knowledge I've recently gained with anyone who might be interested. I truly believe it can solve nearly all major health issues we're seeing in the world today and am excited to help get the information out there, if I can.

Wow, what a great attitude you have, Matt. My respect for you keeps growing by leaps and bounds! I really do hope you can help people with other things like nutrition (as much as you do with flytrap gardening too!) You know, helping people like that was probably the most rewarding aspect of working in the health food store for me. (Unfortunately, I had to give it all up when I got really sick again, thanks in no small part to the damage the doctors had done to me with their chemical drugs. It's still a daily struggle and apparently it will be for the rest of my life.) One important thing I learned though is that you can't really force people to change their attitudes about food. It's something they have to want to do for themselves and no amount of preaching in the world can really make anyone change what they eat if they don't really want to. That's why working at the store was so great because it put me in a place where people who actually *did* want advice on things like that could come in and ask questions. Outside of that environment though, I'm usually met with hostility and ridicule whenever the subject comes up.

Hearing the talk about vegetarians and vegans, I just had to post this pic, HaHa. My sister's a vegetarian and I just posted this same pic to her facebook wall just the other day...
And as for the points that were made, such as those about milk, I agree with them too. But I like eating meat, tho I do try to eat healthy. I believe that a lot of the problems with obesity is that many people eat too much processed foods, or should I say "food-like" products, that're made from ingredients that they can't pronounce and full of empty calories and/or trans fats. Then they wash it all down with "diet" sodas. I try to stick with eating foods that are actually food.

Leo756 wrote:Wow, what a great attitude you have, Matt. My respect for you keeps growing by leaps and bounds!

Thanks! I feel the same about you

Leo756 wrote:I really do hope you can help people with other things like nutrition

Me too.

Leo756 wrote:You know, helping people like that was probably the most rewarding aspect of working in the health food store for me.

I'll bet it was! I would love the opportunity to talk to people about nutrition, especially if they were interested in hearing it and willing to try to change.

Leo756 wrote:Unfortunately, I had to give it all up when I got really sick again, thanks in no small part to the damage the doctors had done to me with their chemical drugs. It's still a daily struggle and apparently it will be for the rest of my life.

I'm so sorry for that. I've been blessed my whole life to not ever have any major illnesses. Western medicine is mostly a farce, as far as I'm concerned -- treating symptoms rather than addressing the real problem. And focusing on profit rather than a healthier America. Now we spend over $8500 per person on health care and the health care industry (big pharmaceutical companies) make up nearly 20% of the US gross domestic product. It's all in the name of making money, not actually making the US healthier. I'm so thankful to have never had to rely on the system and I hope that I never have to.

Leo756 wrote:One important thing I learned though is that you can't really force people to change their attitudes about food. It's something they have to want to do for themselves and no amount of preaching in the world can really make anyone change what they eat if they don't really want to. That's why working at the store was so great because it put me in a place where people who actually *did* want advice on things like that could come in and ask questions.

So very true and so well said!!!

Leo756 wrote:Outside of that environment though, I'm usually met with hostility and ridicule whenever the subject comes up.

Yes, that's why I usually choose not to talk about it in public. People have been so misinformed for so long, that they think "veganism" is some strange and extreme sort of diet that only loony or hippy people follow. I also think people feel judged for what they eat when the subject comes up, and thus the hostility surfaces. That personally bothers me far worse than the ridicule I now receive from my meat-loving and dairy-loving best friends I catch a non-ending stream of flak, criticism and jokes at my expense, but I just laugh with them. But the hostility for simply expressing my beliefs, which are quite different than most (American) people's now, is what I most try to avoid.

tom_e_boi wrote:My sister's a vegetarian and I just posted this same pic to her facebook wall just the other day...

Love it!

tom_e_boi wrote:But I like eating meat, tho I do try to eat healthy. I believe that a lot of the problems with obesity is that many people eat too much processed foods, or should I say "food-like" products, that're made from ingredients that they can't pronounce and full of empty calories and/or trans fats. Then they wash it all down with "diet" sodas. I try to stick with eating foods that are actually food.

That's where I was for the last 10 years or so, trying to eat organic, whole foods and avoid processed foods and meat from the meat industry (purchasing free-range chicken, pork, etc.). You're on your way to a whole-foods, plant based diet and don't even know it

You're spot on with the statement that the processed foods are responsible for the obesity epidemic in the US, and most of the diseases that follow from being obese, such as diabetes. Processed foods have essentially been stripped of most nutrients, so they don't make us feel satiated as they should. They also taste far better than they should because of all sorts of salts and other additives and the density of calories in the food, which is highly unnatural. All of these factors combined result in people who consume processed foods eating far more calories than they should, but not receiving the nutrition their bodies need, leaving them still feeling hungry even after eating thousands of calories. I could almost certainly sit down and eat an entire large bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, which would be well over 1500 calories. But if I try to do the same with an entire bag of broccoli florets or some other veggie, I'd get full after one or two servings (a hundred calories or so).

Aside from processed foods, heart disease and particularly cancer have been directly tied to the consumption of meat and dairy products. This is the information that I wasn't aware of, or at least not on the level I came to understand it recently, before I made the change to a plant-based diet.

I really need to start a new thread to discuss this topic since it seems there is at least some interest in a discussion, which I'm very happy and excited about!

Matt wrote: I would love the opportunity to talk to people about nutrition, especially if they were interested in hearing it and willing to try to change.

Wow, you really need to open a health food store too, Matt! Especially after that third from last paragraph you wrote. That's almost word-for-word one of the speeches I used to give my customers!

Matt wrote: I've been blessed my whole life to not ever have any major illnesses.

Wow, you are so lucky then. Most of the customers I had were in a similar situation as me and only turned to alternative approaches when Western medicine had failed them so completely. Unfortunately, it's not always possible to undo all the damage it causes. I'm a walking testimonial to that (when I *can* walk, that is, thanks to my nerve damage.) I'd be curious to hear more about what led you to make so many changes, especially since it wasn't any specific health problem that prompted it. That's fairly unusual from what I've seen.

I have a lot of friends who think that just by going to the gym they are gonna be healthy. They'll go work out and then go stuff themselves with fast food. I tell them they need to change their diet and eat right, then the results will be more dramatic

MisterE24 wrote:I tell them they need to change their diet and eat right, then the results will be more dramatic

You are what you eat!

As long as $$ is the primary motivation behind Big Pharma, they'll never search for cures to any diseases, only treatments. What profit is there in keeping people healthy? Smallpox was cured decades ago and look at how much $$ is made from treating it now: NONE. I'm not saying that all modern medicine is bad, but it is headed in the wrong direction (for the most part). You look at any commercial for prescription medications and they seem to have more negative side effects than they do any actual benefits. Even when it comes to the cold & flu, you can clearly see that they only treat the "symptoms" rather than that which causes those symptoms in the first place. I never take any form of cold or flu medicine, but maybe something for the headache. However, I let my own body's immune system deal with it, and I rarely ever get sick. I did have a very mild cold early this Spring, but it only lasted for two or three days tops. Prior to that, the last time I had a cold was over four years ago, and it too was only a mild one. When I told my dad that I had a cold, he said, "What!? You never get sick!" HaHa... The last time I ever had the flu was well over 15 years ago, back when I was half my current age. I've never had any flu shots in my life. I did use to get sick as a kid, but my immune system handled it just the way its designed to, rather than it having to depend on these treatments instead like a crutch.

(*Yeah, I know that this thread veered way off course, HaHa. But I just had to include this, since we were kinda on the subject anyways...)

Great pic, tom_e_boi! Reminds me of something my doctor said to me one time. He *is* an M.D. but he's also interested in all sorts of alternative stuff too. He does acupuncture and advises his patients on nutrition, vitamins and supplements too. And when I worked in the health food store, he was one of my customers too! Anyway, while I was laying there like a pincushion one time while he was doing acupuncture on me, he said he'd thought about having his wife stitch up a quote in needlepoint that he'd read by the French philosopher Voltaire. It said, "The art of medicine is entertaining the patient while the body heals itself." He said he eventually decided against it though because it didn't seem very good for *business*!

You're really lucky that you aren't very susceptible to colds and flu. That was my main problem for the first half of my life. I was born with a dysfunctional immune system with lots of allergies and I seemed to catch every single airborne germ. (Not quite as bad as "the boy in the bubble," but almost.) That's why the doctors kept pumping me so full of antibiotics and steroids until it literally almost killed me by the time I turned 30. I could never take a flu shot either because I've always been so deathly allergic to eggs and they grow the flu vaccine in egg white culture, so taking it just one time would probably kill me. Finally though, after 45 years of respiratory misery, I seem to have finally found a sure-fire way to stop catching any cold and flu germs. It's something I learned about in the health food store, but I really don't like to discuss the details publicly because people always think I'm crazy. In any case, as soon as I found the cure for that, all kinds of *other* health problems, like nerve damage and eye problems have been cropping up, so I guess I just can't win, no matter what.

Matt,

Leo756 wrote:I'm a walking testimonial to that (when I *can* walk, that is, thanks to my nerve damage.) I'd be curious to hear more about what led you to make so many changes, especially since it wasn't any specific health problem that prompted it. That's fairly unusual from what I've seen.

Somehow I missed your post a while ago when I checked in on this thread. So sorry to hear that you have nerve damage. How did that come about?

As far as making changes to my diet, I guess my diet has always been evolving. I've been an athlete most of my life, and I've always been curious about the best diet to perform at my peak ability. I wasn't fed what I would consider high quality food as a child, and my idea of "nutrition" was very poor for most of my life. But I have always had a curious and inquisitive personality. I strive to find answers to questions I have, and I thrive on science and hard facts. Unfortunately nutrition is extremely complicated and nothing is "simple". Couple this with the fact that we're lied to by the media, big corporations and the government, and that there are so many drastically different ideas to what is "right", it took me a long time to come to the point where I was able to understand the extreme complexities (at least somewhat) and arrive at my present understanding and decision. I'm sure that my idea of nutrition will still evolve further, but this is the most confident I've felt about a decision I've made to change my diet in my entire life.

Aside from this, my parents were always somewhat health conscious, due to their poor health starting quite a few years ago, which was passed on to me, but unfortunately they believed what they were told by the government agencies and mainstream media. This has led to many serious health problems for both of them. My mother is obese, has high cholesterol, is on the verge of getting type 2 diabetes and has an array of other health concerns. My dad is overweight, and he has exceptionally high cholesterol and blood pressure (both of which could easily be cured by a plant-based diet). He also was diagnosed with prostate cancer just a few years ago and underwent treatment for it. Reportedly it is "cured" now. But this is also preventable and sometimes curable with a plant-based diet.

I've always been curious why the current generation of people in the US are dying from these diseases that, until recently, were almost unheard of and are still quite rare in some societies/populations/cultures around the world. Take the Okinawan people, for example. They have more centenarians (someone who lives more than 100 years) than any other culture in the world. Take a look at what they've historically eaten. Less than 15% of their diet is composed of animal products (they rarely eat fish and essentially no other animal products). And they have never eaten dairy or eggs (3%). Their diet is largely comprised of green and yellow vegetables (bean sprouts, onions, and green peppers), sweet potatoes, whole grains, fruits (those things comprise 72% of their diet, by weight) and small quantities of soy protein and seaweed (14%) and fish (11%). On very rare occasions, they eat pork (holidays and very special occasions). Historically, their average life span has been the highest in the world. Some might claim that this is due to genetics. But it has been documented that if an Okinawan moves to the United States and adopts an American diet, they have the same rates of breast cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease and other serious diseases that are very common in the United States. Genetics is not a predetermination, but only a predisposition. Most scientists agree that a predisposition to a genetic condition only increases the rate of acquisition of disease by 5% or less. I think most people in the US think of genetics as a predetermination for a disease, rather than something that can almost be completely controlled with a healthy diet.

tom_e_boi wrote:As long as $$ is the primary motivation behind Big Pharma, they'll never search for cures to any diseases, only treatments. What profit is there in keeping people healthy?

Exactly! And your point about smallpox is right on!

tom_e_boi wrote:The last time I ever had the flu was well over 15 years ago, back when I was half my current age.

I too very rarely get colds and never got the flu other than perhaps once when I was in my teens. However, this winter, I got the flu twice! I consider myself extremely healthy, but I got hammered by the flu this winter. It was the sickest I can ever remember being as an adult. In fact, the first flu bug that I got in late November was so bad that I thought I might die the first night it came on!!! I was hallucinating and tossing and turning all night long. I hope to never experience that again. But I don't plan to get any flu shots in the future. The second time I got the flu this winter (early January, I think), it was no where near as bad. One night of mild sweats and a couple days with cold-like symptoms and I was better. But don't think that diet or one's health can completely prevent the flu or colds. Help prevent it? Yes. But eliminate the chance of acquiring it? No. Everyone is susceptible to pathogens, regardless of how healthy one might be.

Leo756 wrote:I seem to have finally found a sure-fire way to stop catching any cold and flu germs. It's something I learned about in the health food store, but I really don't like to discuss the details publicly because people always think I'm crazy. In any case, as soon as I found the cure for that, all kinds of *other* health problems, like nerve damage and eye problems have been cropping up, so I guess I just can't win, no matter what.

That really stinks! Do you think the other health problems related to the prevention method you've figured out for colds and flus?

akinkysnorlax wrote:Matt,

Yes, I have almost always lifted, since my early high school days. I took most of the winter off this year, but I just started again. I'm hoping to increase my strength for the summer swimming season. Going to kill it this year! That's the plan at least

Great to hear! I just wanted to recommend maybe taking L-Arginine if you haven't already. It is not necessary but will speed up results and make your swimming and lifting easier. It is a non-essential amino acid, but scientists say we should have more in our diets. It is a precursor to Nitric Oxide which is beneficial to the human body in pretty much every way possible. It increases blood flow by widening the diameter of veins and delivering nutrients faster. It also helps with burning fat because of this increased efficiency. It also helps with recovery from workouts. If you mega-dose it, such as taking 4-8 grams a day, it actually tells your thyroid to release the human growth hormone which has definite advantages in fat burning and muscle gain but also without any negative side effects. Ironically L-Arginine is EXACTLY what Viagra or Cialis is. Feel free to use any methods you are doing as they are clearly working for you. I just wanted to put in my two cents. I am in college right now coming out of high school where I was actually a wrestler and powerlifter. My objectives were to be as light as possible but to also be strong as possible. Now that I am in college I am mainly just looking to stay skinny. Pretty much, mega-dosing L-Arginine, Fish Oil (only Omega 3, Omega 6 & 9 is poisonous if mega-dosed), and L-Carnitine which works very well when with L-Arginine.

Matt wrote:So sorry to hear that you have nerve damage. How did that come about?

It's a long story, but it's actually happened twice. Both times it was an infection that caused severe inflammation that resulted in excruciating pain. Even after the infections were cured (with antibiotics against my vehement protests), it's like the nerves have gotten "stuck" and forgotten how to stop firing. Of course, the doctors insist there's nothing wrong since they can't *see* anything wrong anywhere, so it must be "all in your head." (If I had a dime for every time I've heard that from a doctor, I'd be as rich as they are!) So anyway, now I'm stuck with pelvic nerve damage that makes walking difficult sometimes, *and* trigeminal neuralgia in my face, especially around my eyes. The treatment for my eye disease left me so sensitive to light that I have to wear two pairs of sunglasses whenever I go outdoors. That's why the fluorescent lights for my CP's nearly killed me last fall.

Matt wrote:I wasn't fed what I would consider high quality food as a child, and my idea of "nutrition" was very poor for most of my life.

Me too. My parents grew up on dirt-poor farms in the hills of West Virginia, so they just always ate whatever tasted good to them (lots of red meat, pork, fried foods, etc.) They passed that on to me, of course, and when my health problems started so soon after birth, they thought doctors knew everything and brainwashed me into believing that too (until they almost killed me.)

Matt wrote:my parents were always somewhat health conscious, due to their poor health starting quite a few years ago

I'm really sorry to hear your parents have so many health problems. It was like that with my parents too, mostly thanks to their diet of course. They're both deceased now. My dad had one lung removed due to cancer from smoking, and then a few years later, his second heart attack killed him. My mom only lived for five years after that, and I always say she died of a broken heart because they had always been so inseparable, but it was actually a rare brain disease that killed her. It's a bit like Parkinson's but it affects a different part of the brain.

Matt wrote:this winter, I got the flu twice!

Only twice? I had it three times one winter! And then mono too! I haven't had the flu at all though ever since I started using my alternative nasal spray. That's totally unheard of for me, so that's all the proof I need that it really does work!

Matt wrote:Take the Okinawan people, for example.

Yep, I used to always tell my customers at the health food store about that too. And you're so right about how genetics can predispose us to certain things, but not necessarily cause it. In fact, I just saw a meme online today where Dr. Oz was saying that people say their obesity is caused by their genes, but then they also have overweight *pets* too.

Matt wrote:Do you think the other health problems related to the prevention method you've figured out for colds and flus?

No, I don't think so. Every time I've stopped using my nasal spray, everything just gets even worse. It's always been one thing or another with me, so it's just par for the course. Whenever I start telling people about all the different health problems I've had over the years, they just shake their heads and say, "No one could have had all *that*!" Oh, how I wish that were true.

Interesting health styles you have! I started really young caring about what I ate, because all my family had some overweight problems, and other diseases asociated, so I then decided myself to make the change, at about age 14 I did. started it, but well, at that age you get your meals made by mom and that makes a diet change a bit difficult, so I then started my own plan: food portion diet.
I started it since when I was a kid, as all kids, I wanted to eat as much as my dad.... and even worse, even with a healthy diet my mom made, too big portions of food and the fact they let me take to school fried snacks to eat all went to my bad situation. So then I changed that so I could be as long lived as all my family is, my great grandmother got to 93 this last year of her and I have 6 80's year old aunt-grandmothers (the last of them as I have had to pass the loss of all of them as my dad is 11 years older than mom), and almost 20 more but of 70-60 years old by my other family side.
I eat everything except fish or other seafood except shrimp, but if it were to me I almost would be a vegetarian, because I really don't like to deal with meat cooking and slicing and all that stuff. Even more I do not like to promote the methane problem cows make. Here at least the cows live in big pastures both milk and meat type, so they are really quality products if you want some, as I do like dairy products much better and make a 2 or more portion part of my diet every day. We even have a registered cheese brand here, it is fresh cheese, almost the best you could ever taste "queso turrialba", so it is not as high in fats or other things as other products have. What I do eat more is chicken, they are more efficient in production than cow meat, and they are produced in small to medium farms here, not a big problem as for additives to them.
My main diet is a 0 added fat diet I have made, if you see my house, if I even bought a 300ml oil bottle I think it would get bad for no use, so as butter, absolutely no fried things. I produce as much of my own vegetables I can, but my main produce is fruits, tons of fruit, so I have a wide variety to eat almost all year round. The thing I do that would be bad is that I like dessert, well, candy, so I get candies for desserts; really not like icecream due to the fat it has, also the milk for me would be fat free. Appetizers, people that come to my house always complain, and say WHAT!! how do you not even have a cookie nor anything to bite on! well, if I get hungry I get a jar full of my fruit juice I make (orange, lemon, chan, guanábana, cas, blackberry, passion fruit, starfruit, mango, pineapple, guava, oatmeal [trust me it is a real good one], strawberry, granadine and many others) or I get a piece of fruit to bite on, some watermelon, mango, banana or others locally produced; all this with in a non-packed food diet, I never buy anything pre-made as sauces, flavors, freezed food, all I have and eat I make it from fresh or raw dried food (as pasta, grains [lots of beans, here black beans are a must in the daily food same as rice], flour..). So I really don't even miss meat, but I eat it if it is available by someone else that made it. I have also the luck to live in a producer country, food is cheap, locally produced and healthy, available all year long; when I go to the US I really almost never see what thing to eat, everything you normally see is packed, pre-made or other bad things, nothing fresh at sight! I even end up getting almost 1-2kg of extra weight, well I may bring them down, but it is a pain for me to find something to eat when travelling!.
When I was about 9-12 old I got a really bad period of getting flu or colds or something like it, and I had even to be shot with some penicilin by my doctor dad on several times, but then when I made my change I almost never got sick. Sports have gone out of the plan, but I do have a good condition on running or swimming so I like to do them once in a while, because having gardens, nursery, college, work and 2 places to live on keep you really busy all day, specially physic activity, which is what I like I do. And even with no sports I do mantain or even lower my weight at will, in those years I slowly lost 10kg and now I can eat anything I have a desire to eat with no problem (which I do only very seldomly, and of course 0 drugs 0 alcohol, 0 other bad things!).
Reffering to the use of medicine, well, I am another person to add to the list of those affected by it. 2 years ago I had to take some pills for some skin problem I had, and they tore my stomach as I see, now I, even with my best diet, not drinking a single tea or coffee or other stomach damagers I need to take a protective and a suspension medicine so I do not get a really bad stomach acidity or something like that within a few weeks of not taking them.. that is the very only health issue now, and would really like to find a cure to it. And as a part of the people who try to look for medicine solutions for health problems as I'm biotechnologist, I see, as we all do, a great iniciative to try to make real big changes and good medicine from all my work and classmates. What is the problem, that the main production and the money is held by companies, so if you want to research, you need either their money or their labs, and even more, their approval to promote the product you get to make, if you don't have it, they somehow will make the proyect to vanish and pass unnoticed by the most people possible. (my vision)
Good health thread this has become, really like it !