Why Blog…Why Share?

In August of 2011, I lost my father to a sudden heart attack.

His father lived to be in his 80’s although his eldest brother died of a heart attack in his 40’s. In my dad’s case, he made it to the hospital thanks to the courageous care of my step-mother Ann and sister Bethany, a great EMS Team and the will of God.  Like most who suffer cardiac arrest, my father died.  Interestingly, CPR is said to be approximately 10% effective when cardiac arrest occurs.  In the movies and on TV, if the patient makes it to the hospital or is revived, they live.  In reality, that is not how it works. 

After 3 days, medical professionals have a good indication of recovery and if that is possible, what that will look like for the patient based upon the individual’s brain activity.  In our case, my father was fortunate to have an additional 3 days for a chance albeit remote, to recover but the trauma was too great and there was no brain activity and no chance of  recovery despite the best effort of all involved.  In his case, he didn’t recover and after 9 days in Intensive Care, he passed away.

At the same time our family emergency was occurring, Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s documentary aired on CNN called “The Last Heart Attack”.  My phone started to buzz with helpful and loving suggestions from friends, relatives and co-workers that the information might be helpful in some way.

“The Last Heart Attack,” a CNN documentary hosted by Emmy-award winning correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, looks at the science of heart disease prevention. Dr. Gupta, who has a family history of heart disease himself, investigates whether diet and modern medicine are enough to prevent all heart attacks.

I assure you that CNN and Dr. Gupta pulled out all of the stops on this one.  It is informative, educational, eye opening and in many ways bold.  This was the starting point of my life after my father’s death.  We watched the special with our daughters and we asked the question that I always ask, “should we do something, or should we do nothing”?

Here I am again, asking myself the same question, “should I do something, or should I do nothing”?  Again, the answer was that I should do something.

For your sake and the sake of your family and friends…please ask yourself the same question. 

Should you do something, or should you do nothing? 

Please allow me to suggest that you watch the special mentioned above.  I know that you will become part of a progressive change, a movement toward the All Good Veg.

Welcome to my world of action, commitment and continuous learning.  Thank you for being here and thank you for joining me on this heartfelt journey to learn, to care and to share with and for one another.

So our journey begins with the death of my father and the CNN Special, “The Last Heart Attack”, where it will end I sincerely do not know.  Looking back, I believe that this is the beginning of a blog and my expression of my lifelong journey in exercise, sport, nutrition, wellness, corporate wellness, vegetarian, vegan, ketosis, fad diets, pill, hacks and all things weight loss that have been my study, just for fun in my spare time, for many years as part of my personal journey and to help others.

What I share is my experience and that of those close to me and my purpose it to help you by showing you our path and that which we have learned along the way. I am not a nurse or a doctor and I intend to give no medical advise. I intend to share our experience and simple things that have helped us for your benefit.  With this information, I hope that you can find your best self, learn, grow and continue your journey of wellness.

All Good,

Amanda J. Griesdorn