Agatha & Nick's Health Update from Hawk's Cay

Editor’s Note: Agatha and Nick share their story and talk about the great time they had at this year’s Health Getaway at Hawks Cay.

We would like to thank all of you for an extraordinary job in putting together this year's Health Getaway. It was a stupendous, fun filled, life changing, informative event. Your warmth, approachability and individual attentiveness to all the attendees made us feel welcome and special.

I want to update you on our progress since last year’s getaway. Our excellent blood work is our report card to good health. Our doctors are especially amazed with Nick's progress.

Twelve years ago Nick walked in the hospital emergency and could hardly breathe. He had pulmonary edema and ended up having a quadruple bypass surgery, during the surgery damaged was done to his perennial nerve which left him with a drop foot, neurological damage and pain. Between the heart and nerve damage done to his leg and foot, his doctor's prescribed tons of meds, pain killers and told him to stay on a low-salt diet and sent him home. Nick was wheelchair bound for two years and was able to walk only a few steps with an ankle foot orthotic and had incredible pain. The pain was so severe that he wanted to have his leg amputated.

Then in 2003, Nick was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma stage three with two symptoms which included severe itchiness and night sweats. He had six months of chemo, blood transfusion, a double port to administer the chemo, temporary loss of sight, endless emergency runs to the ER, weeks in the hospital with a high fever and now both of his legs were swollen and painful. Although, it's been 6 years that Nick has been in remission, he was still on lots of meds and eating a Standard American Diet. He also had gout, kidney stones, high-blood pressure and was border line type-2 diabetic.

I read Eat To Live and we both had office visits back in January of 2008, however, when we attended last year’s getaway is when it made a tremendous impact and changed our lives.

At this year’s getaway at Hawks Cay, you told Nick that he didn't need to take amlodipine besylate and carvedilol. Now Nick is nearly medication free.

Within the past 12 years, Nick has been seen and treated by cardiologists, neurologists, nephrologists, oncologists, hemotoligists, pathologists, physiatrists, rheumatologists, podiatrists, physical therapists and the like. It was a full time job to keep track of doctor appointments and medications for him.

With all the doctors and years of treatments and lots of meds Dr. Fuhrman was the only doctor that was successful in taking Nick off all his medications, within 13 months. Now feels like a million bucks!

Both of us are no longer the living sick. We are now healthy and happy!

Image credit: Agatha & Nick

Less Sugary Drinks Mean More Weight-Loss

Not exactly a revelation, but new research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found reducing calories from sugary beverages, even as little as one serving per day can result in over two pounds of weight-loss over 18 months. Experts examined the diets of 810 adults, ages 25 to 79, for 18 months, finding that sugar-sweetened drinks accounted for 37% of calories consumed, leading researchers to claim cutting sugary drinks is more important for losing weight than eating less; via HealthDay News.

Soda’s not your friend, despite how cute the Coca-Cola polar bears are. All the high-fructose corn syrup in soft drinks raises type-2 diabetes risk and soda is pretty creepy, it has the same pH as vinegar and leaches calcium from your bones and let’s not forget. Cola will rot your feet with the gout. Eek!

Last week, scientists determined women drinking sweetened beverages have a 35% higher risk of heart disease and other studies have linked soda with kidney disease and metabolic syndrome.

Image credit: M J M

Sugary Drinks Heighten Coronary Danger in Women

New research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found women drinking sweetened beverages may have a 35% higher risk of heart disease. For the study, experts evaluated data from nearly 89,000 women without heart problems, stroke or diabetes in 1980, using questionnaires to track dietary habits. After 24 years, researchers documented over 3,000 incidences of fatal and non-fatal coronary artery disease; via Food Navigator.

Warning labels have even been suggested for soda, due to probable weight-gain associated with over-consumption. Also, soda has been linked with the gout, a buildup of uric acid, causing arthritis or worse. However, a report this November revealed taking soft drinks out of schools, while good intentioned, doesn’t stop kids from getting their soda fix.

In the past, sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup have raised concern over mercury contamination and sugary drinks’ link to weight-gain and obesity is causing politicians to consider taxes on non-diet soft drinks, such as New York governor David Paterson.

Image credit: Saix55205