Aug 21, 2019

An "Almost Vegan" Speaks Out: Me and the Plant-Based Diet


I never liked eggs as a young child, and I stopped eating dairy and red meat last year when I was told by others that those foods were inflammatory. 

My Asian doctor threw up his hands when I told him that I'm an "almost vegan." Instead of saying "oy vey" (the Yiddush expression for "here comes trouble"), he mumbled something under his breath that was the equivalent, I believe, because I'm taking a blood thinner, and "almost vegan" didn't sit well with him. 

Blood thinner people have to watch their intake of Vitamin K and have blood tests scheduled on a regular basis. Too much Vitamin K can cause clotting, too little causes bleeding when you're taking Coumadin. The main thing is, take Vitamin K in a consistent way, the same foods every day, which is at best a challenge. (There are other blood thinners, but if bleeding start to happen, they don't have an antidote that's prevalent, but they're working on it. Any day now, the hematologist said).

So, returning to the story, all that was left was chicken and pork. And let's not forget sheep who are killed by the age of one to give us lamb chops, and I don't eat lamb because I saw a special once on lambs' torturous slaughter. For fuck's sake. 

All of this change in diet happened because I'm reading (son recommended) the book "How Not to Die," a documented tome by Dr. Michael Greger (available on Amazon) which, by the way, recently become an international best-seller. In the book, he gives descriptions of chicken and pork who are confined in tiny spaces and brutally slaughtered that would send waves of chills down anybody's spine. And don't forget the feces that get mixed up in the annihilation of these animals. So I'm there, hating all of it.



So welcome to a Plant-Based Diet. I guess I'm a vegan now although not exclusively. I'd say an "almost vegan." I want to say it's for moral reasons that I eat no meat or the by-products of animals that produce eggs and dairy. Rather, as a stroke survivor, it makes utterly no sense not to be lean. It would mean lugging around that extra weight and I don't want to do that anymore. And plant-based means weight loss.

To define the difference between vegans and vegetarians, although all vegans tend to follow the same set of clear cut rules by eating nothing that came from an animal, there are a few different types of vegetarian diets.
Lacto-ovo from the Latin words for milk and egg, is the most common type of vegetarian. As the name suggests, people who follow this diet eat dairy products and eggs but avoid meat, poultry, and seafood.
Lacto vegetarians eat dairy products but no eggs, meat, poultry or seafood.
Ovo vegetarians eat eggs but no dairy products, meat, poultry or seafood.
Pescatarians eat fish and other seafood but no poultry or meat and they may eat eggs and dairy.

Flexitarians eat meat at most once a week and they may eat eggs and dairy.
Then there are vegans who choose this restrictive diet for moral reasons about animal welfare. But I would be dishonest in saying so. I am an "almost vegan" because the real reason is, I'm allergic to fur and woolen fabric, and leather next to my skin makes me overheated. And I am an "almost vegan" because make-up products tested on animals first doesn't seem to bother me. 
Vegans also avoid honey, but I don't. Plantbasednews.org says, "Farmers are known to replace the honey they remove from a hive with a sugar substitute, which is substantially worse for the bees' health. The cheap sugar replacer lacks the nutrients, fats, and vitamins that honey has. This unethical practice prompts honey bees to overwork themselves to replace the missing honey.

"Beekkepers will clip the queen bees' wings to prevent them from leaving the hive and producing a new colony elsewhere - which would slash productivity and profit. Queen bees are also often artificially inseminated." Horrible, yet don't think about it enough at the moment. 

Also, it’s super important to ask how restaurant food is made before ordering it. Many soups, stock, and sauces that don’t seem to contain meat are made with chicken or beef broth (or maybe you subscribe to the if-you-don't-see-it, it-isn't-there philosophy that is my roll at times when I'm super-tired to just ask), and fried foods may be made with lard, known as fat from a pig. Eew-wee-oooh! I never forget to ask.

These vegan/vegetarian diets can be very nutritious, but v/v need to be recognize nutrition deficiencies like the following:  dairy products are a primary source of calcium and vitamin D, so vegans and vegetarians should eat lots of dark leafy greens that are rich in calcium and take supplements to replace Vitamin D. 

Also, dark leafy greens have Vitamin K, and lots of it, which if I eat them consistently, through trial and error, the blood tests will eventually be fine. Plus no cranberries ever, a small amount of blueberries, very limited dark chocolate, soy in extreme moderation, and so many more restrictions. Thus, the Asian doctor's reaction. 

Better yet, read the book to discover nutritional replacement alternatives, like B12 which is necessary to prevent anemia and found in animal products.
Vegetables, fruit, grains, nuts, and beans will fit for both diets depending on how they're prepared. Good thing I like all of them. 

People always ask me, with a doubtful look on their faces, "How about needed protein found in meat and dairy?" That's an easy one. There are peas, lentils, brown rice, and quinoa, for example, that are packed with protein. Forget the soy and hemp seeds. Too much of them and they could be lethal.

Taking Coumadin, blood thinner royale, and getting enough Vitamin K are complicated, but I like challenges. This challenge, also getting the consistent amount of Vitamin K as an "almost vegan," is a tough one, but it's do-able. I feel a new sense of vigor and energy on this plant-based diet. Plant-based just makes sense, at least to me.

Aug 8, 2019

Is an Aneurysm a Type of Stroke? Is a Stroke a Type of Aneurysm? WHICH IS IT!?! aka I Hate Disorders with No Symptoms!

I used to say stroke, then aneurysm for variety, but the more I heard people talking about one or the other, I realized that I had made a mistake. So to have my dear readers not make the same mistake, an aneurysm is different from a stroke, yet commonalities exist.

Flint Rehab says, "The big difference is that a stroke is an event and an aneurysm is a condition." That didn't make sense to me because you can have multiple strokes and then that would be a condition. But the pictures from Flint tell all you would need to know.

Explaining a stroke:
3 types of stroke you should know

A stroke occurs when the supply of blood in the brain is blocked by either a clogged artery (ischemic stroke) or burst artery (hemorrhagic stroke).

When a stroke occurs, it deprives brain cells of oxygen-rich blood (https://stroketales.blogspot.com/2019/06/oxygen-getting-to-brain-cells-is.html) and leads to brain damage. As a result, a stroke can result in massive or minor symptoms and requires immediate medical attention!

Explaining in aneurysm:



A saccular aneurysms – also known as “berry aneurysms” – involves a large bulge in an artery that resembles a berry hanging off a branch.

A fusiform aneurysms involves the artery bulging in all directions.


You can have an aneurysm without any symptoms. However, once an aneurysm in the brain ruptures, it leads to a hemorrhagic stroke (the commonality between stroke and aneurysm), which is likely where the confusion between the two conditions occur.

Although an aneurysm can occur in the abdomen or chest, I am talking about cerebral aneurysm which occurs in the brain. 

A stroke requires immediate attention.

learn the signs of a stroke and what the fast acronym means

The aneurysm is different because unruptured brain aneurysm doesn’t usually cause any symptoms. But if the aneurysm grows larger or ruptures, then symptoms occur.

According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of an unruptured brain aneurysm are varied:

  • Dizziness
  • Mild or severe headache
  • Blurred or double vision
  • Seizures
Risk factors that develop over time include:
  • Older age
  • Cigarette smoking
  • High blood pressure (hypertension)
  • Drug abuse, particularly the use of cocaine
  • Heavy alcohol consumption

Sometimes, a brain aneurysm can leak a small amount of blood, which is called a sentinel bleed which results in the worst headache ever. Emergency medical attention is needed because it often leads to a severe rupture.

An aneurysm rupture can mean bleeding into the brain, thus a hemorrhagic stroke. It's called a subarachnoid hemorrhage, the symptoms of which are:
  • Drooping eyelids
  • Loss of consciousness
  • Sudden, severe headache
  • Neck stiffness
  • Blurry or double vision
  • Sensitivity to light
  • Seizures
  • Nausea or vomiting
Treatment for stroke and aneurysm are different, but there is some overlap.

Here’s the main difference between how a stroke and an aneurysm differ:

  • When a stroke is caused by a blood clot, that is, ischemic stroke, treatment usually involves a clot-dissolving drug called tPA or surgery to remove the clot.
  • When stroke is caused by a burst artery, that is, hemorrhagic stroke, treatment often involves surgery.
  • While small aneurysms are often benign and left alone, large aneurysm are often surgically treated in order to prevent rupturing.
Four different options for unruptured brain aneurysms are:


Aneurysm clipping


When a large berry aneurysm is found in the brain, doctors may recommend an aneurysm clipping, where a tiny metal clip is surgically placed to isolate the aneurysm and prevent rupturing.

Coil embolization


Endovascular flow diversion


When a clipping or coiling won’t suffice, an endovascular flow diversion may be implemented. During this surgery, a tightly woven mesh tube is inserted into the artery to prevent blood from entering the aneurysm.

Artery occlusion and bypass


When an aneurysm isn’t accessible or too damaged, a bypass may be performed. During this surgery, tiny metal clips are used to completely block flow from the artery. The blood flow is then rerouted via vessel grafting by taking an artery from somewhere else and adding it to the problem area.

Treatment for a ruptured brain aneurysm, that is, a hemorrhagic stroke: 

A ruptured brain aneurysm which is a hemorrhagic stroke is usually treated with a craniotomy, where a surgeon removes part of the skull and clips the ruptured artery to stop the bleeding. Once the aneurysm is treated and normal blood flow is restored in the brain, stroke rehabilitation can begin to recover from the side effects caused by a brain bleed.

And this from the Mayo Clinic. Most brain aneurysms, however, don't rupture, create health problems or cause symptoms. Such aneurysms are often detected during tests for other conditions.

Oh, great. Another thing to worry about: an undetected, unruptured brain aneurysm with no symptoms. 

I'm suddenly reminded of what Julius Caesar once said: "As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can." 

You got that right, Julius! 

Aug 2, 2019

Stroke Survivors: Too Much Body Weight More Than Likely Means Failed Rehab Expectations at Some Point


Do you yo-yo with your weight after stroke? Many stroke survivors, sooner or later, are bored of being homebodies and venture out with a caregiver, or not, to find some excitement at the pharmacy or grocery store. I ventured out, albeit not alone, to even find some thrill at the doctor's office. But alas, there weren't any thrills anywhere and I went home and ate out of boredom, the one thing I shouldn't have done.

Now I follow My Fitness Pal app downloaded on the phone, for the past 90 days, once again, to take off those unsightly pounds. I lost 19 pounds so far, with a "decade and a half" (15 lbs) more to go, but I am at a plateau, not being able to really exercise like I used to in those sweat-generating sessions. I bought an exercise bike that my son and his girlfriend are supposed to put together after I sell the chair and cabinet that's blocking the space. But I digress.

Anyway, until then, when I finally have the bike assembled, the Fitness Pal diet goes on, and whether you like reality or not, it's a fact that stroke and excess body fat are a bad combination.

I can tell when I am heavier. I have a harder time standing up from the low couch, usually achieving it by the second or third time. When I was thinner, the first time. Thus, you may get to a point in Rehab in the Overweight range or higher where, try as you might, you just can't do the exercises fully, getting breathless or overly fatigued, or both as I did.

To get whether you roughly (the operative word) weigh too much, Johnny Wright, former Head of Outreach at ReNew Bariatrics, shared this information with me. (See the chart below).




In order to determine your Body Mass Index, which is the popular way to tell if you are overweight:

Take how much you weigh and divide it by your height in inches times 2. This feature is called squaring, in this case your height, and multiply the total by 703.



Example: If I weighed 140 lbs. and divided it by my inches which is 65 inches times 2, would read:

140      =  .033         .033 x 703 = 23.2    which makes me in the Normal Weight range.
65x65

My height is the same, my weight a little bit higher, so the Normal Weight range is what I'm seeking.

But there are exceptions, so take these numbers in perspective:

If you are a body builder, muscle is more dense than fat and is far better and healthier than body fat.

If you have heart disease, diabetes, or any disorder in your gene pool that is listed in the chart, it may be better if you try for the Normal Weight range.

If you are at the age of 60 or above, your metabolism slows down as you age, so take that into account.

IF YOUR DOCTOR TELLS YOU DIFFERENTLY, FOLLOW THE DOCTOR'S PLANS.

If you're already in the Normal Weight range or lower, congratulations. And if you're trying to get into the Normal Weight range, kudos for trying.