Cardiovascular Disease

[pops6927]

Cardiovascular disease generally refers to conditions that involve narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can lead to a heart attack, chest pain (angina) or stroke. Other heart conditions, such as those that affect your heart's muscle, valves or rhythm, also are considered forms of heart disease. - from Google

In my case, I built up unhealthy accumulations of fats in my arteries, breaking off and travelling to my brain, causing numerous strokes, then heart attacks. I grew up with the concept of dad's statement that fat was an acronym for "flavor and tenderness", but now realize it stands for "fright and terror"!

And, you don't want that if you want to live a long life! So, i am embarking on a series of articles of Heart Healthy ways to improve your well being, showing prudence in You Are What You Eat! Many will be links to other reviews and articles, I apologize in advance, but cannot violate copyright laws.

 

[yankee2bbq]

Thank you for sharing your journey.

 

[mosparky]

Looking forward to it. Never had any health issues due to diet, but the writing is on the wall. I got a bunch of Grandkids I'd like to see with families of their own.

 

[expat smoker]

Me @ 72 yrs and breaking almost all the rules just got an ultrasound of my lower extremities and it showed that I had mild to moderate hardening of my arteries, especially in my calves. Seeing a specialist whenever the VA can arrange it and know I'll be told to stop smoking tobacco, exercise, and watch my diet.............so my pcp says.
I was wondering how much damage I have done with smoking meat, as it's easy to inhale a ton of smoke when you open the door? Maybe a respirator mask would minimise the exposure??
Thanks Pops for helping to make us dummie smokers more aware..........

 

[pops6927]

You ave done alot more damage from smoking tobacco than smoking meat. Stop smoking tobacco. I stopped at age 55 after 50 years of hardcore smoking cigarettes. I invented my own process that worked! Analyzing why I smoked, I decided it was because I enjoyed the taste, something I couldn't live without. The flavor, the inhalation enjoyment. So, I changed the profile, knowing what I didn't like: weak cigarettes with no flavor, menthol cigarettes, too strong cigarettes (throat rippers), extra long and thin cigarettes. So, that's what I switched to, all of the above, and set a date to stop, to elevate myself to a non-smoker! 90 days, which brought it to Christmas Day, my gift to my family! Plus having skin in the game; I bought my wife a GPS for her car, on a RadioShack Credit card I took out, planning to pay for it due to the savings incurred from not smoking! Then, asking for bags of sugar-free hard candies for Christmas, putting them in a hard box cigarette package in my shirt pocket, vs. actual cigarettes. Now, with sugar-free, you can't have more than 5 or 6 a day, or risk certain diarrhea that night and next morning due to a chemical in them! So, you have that control.
Well, it all worked out as planned! Swamped at work, no time to go outside to smoke, one customer after another. (BTW, people buy batteries at the Dollar Store to power up Christmas toys, but they are usually carbon batteries, with a half life lower than that of which is required to power the RC toy. People would come in and their RC car or truck wouldn't move; I'd replace their dollar store batteries with good alkaline RadioShack batteries and Presto!Chango! it would run perfectly! They would swear it was the fault of the RC vehicle, but it was their cheap batteries not being able to power the vehicle, not the car or truck. Then sell them a few 40 packs of Good batteries! I'd put in fresh alkaline batteries at no charge to demonstrate; they only cost a few cents). Anyways, I deviate; I would reach for a cigarette and pull out a candy instead and smile, it tasted so much better than a cigarette! And, I became a non-smoker! Never went back! It worked!

 

[Bearcarver]

Or you can do many things right and many things wrong, and Agent Orange can get you anyway.

Bear

 

[Winterrider]

Best think i ever did was give up the sticks March 2011 after 35 years of smoking. I can highly recommend the Chantix route if serious about quitting. You can smoke like a chimney if you wish the 1st couple of weeks on it. The nicotine craving just slowly goes away. Still love the smell of a fresh lite stoggy, but hate the smell on someone's clothing.
Back to topic at hand ... Sorry

 

[greatfx1959]

i quit 15 years ago, was a 2 pack a day smoker, my 5 year old daughter asked me to stop......i told her i would on new years day, new years morning she walked out to find me smoking in the garage, she said dad, you promised, asked for my cigarette pack and went inside and put them under the faucet in our kitchen sink, omg i went through withdrawels for 2 weeks, but that girl stood right there with me. sorry for the long story. it can be done

 

[pops6927]

Yes! It CAN be done! No matter what method or help you use, stick with it and every day it will get easier!! You are killing you, otherwise!