#312: Nancy Wells - She Collapsed Mid-Race. One Year Later, She Finished It—Powered by Plants!
On a crisp April morning at the Glass City Marathon in 2024, Nancy Wells set out to do something she loved—run a marathon. But what happened that day would change her life forever.
Just after four miles, Nancy collapsed from a massive heart attack—one so serious it’s known as the “Widowmaker,” caused by a 100% blockage in her left anterior descending artery. Her chances of survival? Slim. But thanks to the quick thinking of a retired nurse and the swift response of paramedics, Nancy’s life was saved.
That was just the beginning.
Nancy with family and friends at the finish line
In this week’s powerful episode, Rip welcomes Nancy alongside cardiologist Dr. Brian Asbill to share the full story—not just of survival, but of radical transformation.
Nancy opens up about waking up in the hospital, terrified and disoriented, and how that moment sparked a deep desire to never end up back there again. She speaks candidly about her fears, the chilling near death experience, her healing, and the desire to reclaim her health.
Nancy adopted a whole food, plant-based lifestyle and began to feel the results almost immediately:
✔️ Lower blood pressure
✔️ Better sleep
✔️ More energy
✔️ Sustainable weight loss
✔️ Peace of mind
For Nancy, this wasn’t about a diet—it was about taking control of her life. She dove headfirst into the PLANTSTRONG Meal Plan Bundle, learning to cook and nourish her body in ways she never had before. What once felt overwhelming soon became empowering.
You’ll hear:
What actually happens during a "Widowmaker" heart attack—and how fast action saved Nancy's life
How nutrition played a key role in her recovery and transformation
The emotional toll of surviving a near-death experience—and the mindset needed to rise again
The life-changing effects of the PlantStrong Meal Plan Bundle, from better sleep and weight loss, to lower blood pressure and a renewed zest for life
Why she’s lacing up her shoes again—one year later—for a return to the marathon that nearly took her life
Nancy’s journey is more than inspiring—it’s a wake-up call. It reminds us that our choices matter, that healing is possible, and that with the right support and information, we can write new chapters for our health.
Nancy and her husband
Episode Resources
Order the PLANTSTRONG Meal Plan Bundle
Nancy’s story at the Cleveland Clinic
News Story on Nancy’s cardiac arrest
Register for our 2025 Virtual Plant-Stock
Register for our 2025 Plantstrong Retreat in Black Mountain, NC - Nov 9-14, 2025
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Full Episode Transcription via AI Transcription Service
I'm Rio Esselstyn, and you're listening to the PlanStrong Podcast.
[0:04] Oh boy, do we have a powerful show for you today, my PLANTSTRONG friends. Last year, in April of 2024, my guest today, Nancy Wells, was doing what she loves doing more than anything in the world. She was running a marathon, but this day would not go as planned. From the very beginning of the race, she was feeling a little off. And just past mile four, she collapsed to the ground. The cause, a massive heart attack known as the Widowmaker, caused by a blockage in her left anterior descending artery, which supplies right around half of the heart's blood. Now, thanks to the immediate CPR of a retired nurse and the swift response of paramedics, Nancy was able to survive. But the journey ahead would test her resilience in every way. We'll have Nancy's story of redemption and transformation right after this message from PLANTSTRONG .
[1:17] Before we dive into today's episode, I want to share something that could make a world of a difference, especially during recovery for yourself or a loved one, because coming home from the hospital can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to food. This is exactly why we created the PLANTSTRONG Meal Plan Bundle. It's a pantry-ready, done-for-you gift that helps you or a loved one, eat well and heal strong. It's more than just food. It is peace of mind. This bundle includes a full seven-day meal plan with breakfast, lunches, dinners, and snacks, all made from clean, nourishing ingredients that support recovery and long-term health. There's no cooking stress, no last-minute grocery runs, just simple, satisfying meals made from whole ingredients designed to help people feel better, faster. Whether you're sending love to someone recovering from surgery, an illness, or a hospital stay, this is one of the most practical and heartfelt gifts that you can give. Visit plantstrong.com and search meal plan bundle to learn more because healing doesn't end at discharge. It starts right at home. I think you're going to really love this episode today for a number of different reasons.
[2:45] It's a story of survival, gratitude, and massive transformation, all of which happens within a year's time. And it's such a powerful journey that we decided to break this episode into many segments so that all of you, you can follow along in real time just like we did with Nancy's emotional story.
Nancy's Heart Attack Experience
[3:09] I'm also joined in these episodes by cardiologist, Dr. Brian Aspil, who provides his expert take, questions, and feedback throughout the episodes. And just a little side note before we get started, Dr. Aspil does not treat Nancy. So in segment one, the first segment, Nancy shares her firsthand account of her heart attack at the 2024 Glass City Marathon. What exactly was it that she experienced? How did she feel? And what happened in those moments when she was clinically dead? Nancy Wells and Dr. Brian Aspil, welcome to the PLANTSTRONG Podcast. It's a pleasure to have both of you on. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. So I'm sure many of you know, Dr. Brian Aspel, he's been on the show several times and has been a part of my life, gosh, for probably seven, eight years now. Fabulous human being, cardiologist and lifestyle medicine physician. Nancy, you've never been on the show before, have you? No, I haven't.
[4:27] You're a first timer. And I am so glad that you decided to join us here today. And just to kind of set this thing up, Nancy's going to be sharing her really riveting story with us today. And it's kind of incredible because I'm not going to steal your thunder here, but basically you had a heart attack. You died. You were brought back to life. And now here you are.
[4:59] And so I want you to know that our goal here at PLANTSTRONG is to support you as much as we can on your journey in a way that's going to give you the most incredible foundation for maximum healing along with long-term heart health. So before we kind of jump in and I have Brian give some thoughts, Nancy, please, if you don't mind recounting what happened to you back in April of 2024.
[5:35] I was signed up for the Glass City Half Marathon, and I was there with my son who was running his first marathon. And so, you know, it was a kind of a muggy day, but I felt I was trained. I felt really well. I just thought it was kind of muggy, and I felt kind of sluggish that morning. So I got up with him, and we got to the start line, started running. First mile was a little slow, but usually it's congested. When the second mile was a little slow, I told my son, you know what? You just go on, run your race. I'm going to stop at the restroom. I talked to some other people. They're like, yeah, it's kind of, it's kind of humid out here. It doesn't feel so good. So I kept chugging along about mile three. I called my husband and I said, I'm just not feeling this today. And he said, well, don't push it, but I'm at mile nine. I'll, you know, you can jump out there. I'm like, well, if I make it to mile nine, I might as well finish the whole thing.
[6:34] So I said, well, I'll just keep running and walking and try to get to that finish line. I was around mile four and a half. It was pretty crowded with spectators. I remember taking a right turn onto this road. And then the next thing I remember, I'm in a hospital bed with a tube down my throat. Um, and so the, when I opened my eyes, the, um, hospital staff came and looked at me and they, they're like, how do you feel? And I said, well, I can't talk cause I got a tube in my mouth. Um, so they got me a piece of paper and a pen and I said, what happened? And they're like, well, you had a heart attack. And I started crying. I'm like, how did that even happen? And they didn't really give me much information.
[7:19] But, you know, the next question, where's my family? And they're like, well, they went to the hotel. So I thought, well, and I sat there or laid there in that bed and I'm watching the clock, you know, it's about midnight and I'm watching the clock and I'm like, when is my family going to get here and give me some more information? So they really didn't tell me anything. Um, hospital staff wise, they just said, you know, you had a heart attack. So the next morning they, um, extubated me, which was horrific. Um, and then I started to get some more answers. Um, I went into cardiac arrest during the race and I, I think I just kind of slumped down and somebody caught me. And then there was, um, an emergency nurse that was running right by me. So she performed CPR until the paramedics got there. They had to defibrillate me twice, but I was without a pulse for 10 minutes. Wow. Yeah. And I mean, not to go too much into the spiritual side, but I did see bright light. I saw my mom who had just passed away the year before. And she said, you're not coming here. Go back.
[8:36] Um but yeah so but once they extubated me and got all the tubes out of me um I was able to get up and start moving I walked around you know the the floor I was there for four days um they did put a stent into um my widow maker um they did that that night um but yeah this happened at like 10 30 in the morning, I think, or maybe even earlier. And I didn't remember anything. So I still have bits and pieces that I don't know.
Determined to Change
[9:11] In segment two...
[9:13] We are talking to her about being super determined to not let this happen again. And she's inspired to make lasting change. So Dr. Aspil and I, we asked questions about her current health markers. And she agreed to a short-term medically supervised experiment with, or I should say utilizing, the PLANTSTRONG Medically Tailored Pantry, which is a meal plan designed to be super simple, super satisfying, and scalable, providing familiar meals that are made from whole ingredients. Brian, I'm going to turn it to you. What questions do you have based upon that story? Oh, gosh, lots. Honestly, Nancy, I want to connect with you offline and talk to you about this near-death experience that you had, because I'm super fascinated in that piece of it as well.
Exploring Health Markers
[10:14] Wow.
[10:18] What else did they tell you about the catheterization when they put the stent in? The Widowmaker, people commonly refer to the left inter-descending artery that runs down the front part of the heart as a Widowmaker, and frankly, they all can be Widowmakers, but that tells me about where they put this down, which is useful. Did you have other blockages in the heart arteries? And did they tell you, what did they tell you about your heart muscle squeezing function? Your, we also call it ejection fraction, which is probably, or EF, which is a term that you've heard. I'm glad you told me that because I was, otherwise I'm like, I don't know what that one is, but so the other three were not blocked at all. It was just the widowmaker one. My ejection fraction when I left the hospital was, I think, 28. So I went home with a life vest. Okay, good.
[11:08] What does that mean? What's a life vest? So it's a, like a wearable defibrillator. And so if you, if something were to happen to my heart, it would work as a, an actual defibrillator and shock me as what, I mean, that's how I was understanding. And Brian, when she says that her EF was 28, what is that? Is that high, low, medium? What's that? Yeah, that's, that's low. You know, normal is interesting. the heart.
[11:39] I assumed before I went into medical school that an efficient pump would fill and then empty completely and then fill and empty completely. But that's not how the heart works. It fills and then it pumps and then it fills and it pumps. And when it pumps, it ejects, it squeezes out about 55% or more. 55 to 65 is kind of a normal EF or ejection fraction. So it it squeezes out a little more than half of its what it's contained um so you know anything north of 55 or north is is normal and 28 is about half of what it should be and um i'm curious gosh you got so many questions um is it has it come up now yeah so i went and i i'm blanking on the test that they had to do to check my ejection fraction again yeah an echo probably yeah Oh, that's right. Cause I went downtown Cleveland and they did the test. And of course they can't tell me anything. Right. Yeah. So, but I kept checking my results, checking my results. And it went from 28 to 60. Perfect.
[12:48] Okay. Yeah. Six weeks. I think that's great. I mean, that's obviously the best case scenario, you know, that we had this saying in medicine that time is muscle and that's, The longer when you block off occlude an artery acutely, and that muscle downstream from that blockage is now suddenly not getting blood flow. In your case, if it was completely occluded, completely blocked, you've got nothing downstream. The heart muscle goes into an electrical spasm, ventricular fibrillation, which can degenerate into flatline asystole if it's not dealt with quickly.
[13:28] 10 minutes is a long time. I mean, at 10 minutes, we start to worry about your brain as well as your heart, you know, um, is probably, I don't know how you're, I'd be curious to know about the brain function for the first little while too. Did you feel kind of out of it? But, um, you know, the longer you wait after an hour or more, that heart muscle is not going to recover if it's temporarily without blood flow it's what we call stunned it's not contracting normally now it's like paralyzed it's weak but with restoration of normal blood flow which is what they did when they put the stent in there and open it up and presumably now you had normal blood flow down that that left anterior descending artery the widow maker then that heart muscle that is not dead it's just stunned will recover and in fact that's exactly what happened to you thank goodness you know if we had not opened it quickly and it had been a couple of hours I mean maybe you were on a boat in the some island when this happened and you just didn't get it opened for some people just never get it opened report symptoms a week later you know they didn't have sudden death but they just felt weird and sure enough a week later we find that their artery has been blocked for a week, there's nothing to do. And then you're, you would have been in a very different situation, you know, with an injection fraction of 28%, it would have changed things dramatically for you. So I'm thrilled that you did so well.
Understanding Heart Health
[14:57] Did you, was it your understanding that you had a normal cholesterol sort of blockage event? You know, I'm not sure. I wonder if this could have been, was it the typical heart attack? I don't think so. And this is how it was explained to be by my cardiologist. She said there was a piece of plaque in the artery that broke off. Okay. It got lodged in there. The blood clotted around it and caused the cardiac arrest. Okay. I mean, that actually sounds like the typical sort of situation. There are a lot of things, 90, I don't know the numbers for sure, but I would say 95% of heart attacks are cholesterol blockage that cracks open and a blood clot forms on top of it and chokes off the blood supply. I mean, that's what we think of when we think of heart attack. But there's some other things that are a little bit rarer that we see that can cause problems, things like spontaneous coronary artery dissection, often in younger women.
[16:00] So, you know, it sounds like in your case, what they were explaining to you was sort of the usual event. Oh, okay. But you know what I thought was interesting, and I learned in cardiac rehab, I didn't know that you can have a heart attack without cardiac arrest, but not all heart attacks are cardiac arrest. Correct. Correct. So the most common presenting symptom of symptomatic coronary artery disease today in the United States is sudden death.
[16:30] Uh where you didn't know you had anything and then it cracks open and forms that blood clot and ventricular fibrillation and everything that just happened to you we also of course see people who, thankfully don't present that way and have angina exertional chest pain angina or angina, where you know you're running and you feel like gosh i've got this weight on my chest and it's going down in my arm and my neck and i feel short of breath and i just something's definitely wrong that's um you know that's also a common way to present but not as common as as what you had which is um you know you you were very fortunate nancy i have a question for you so you said that you were without a heartbeat for 10 minutes do you know how long that i think it was that maybe that emergency room nurse or somebody that was running next to you, how long she was doing chest compressions on you before the automatic defibrillator was put on you?
[17:36] It's my understanding that she performed CPR for the entire 10 minutes. That's how long it took them to get there because it was on the race course. And so they had that. And I actually met the paramedics that transported me. Um, and they told me that it was such a challenge to get through the course with all the runners, even with their lights on and everything and sirens. Um, it was slow moving to get through the crowd of runners.
[18:05] You know, what's interesting about all that, um, Brian and Nancy is, you know, as a firefighter for 12 years, I probably performed with the, uh, my team, on the C-shift at engine two, station two, probably 60 to 75 of these CPRs. And we only were able to save two people in the course of my 12-year career.
The Power of CPR
[18:35] And I'm just wondering, Brian, if you know the statistics or you, Nancy, around when somebody becomes breathless and pulseless, like you were, Nancy, you know, out on a boat or on a race course or at home, how often are they brought back to life?
[18:52] You know, I don't, Nancy, if you know the answer, please speak up because I don't. And I think that most people often they don't survive that. It depends on so many variables. You know, how quickly were they resuscitated? Did they get quality CPR? How quickly did they get defibrillated? Which is really, those two things are the biggest determinants. How quickly did you get CPR so that you're getting some profusion, some blood flow to the brain from high quality CPR? And then how quickly did we reestablish the heart muscles, defibrillate it so that it's back and squeezing normally? We haven't opened the vessel yet, but at least now you've got cardiac output to your brain and to your organs. The time the time of those two things is is is what it's all about. So, you know, in my understanding, as of 10 years ago, I haven't kept up with the latest, is that we no longer are doing the two breaths after a minute of chest compressions. It's just chest compressions. I don't know if that's still the same thing. Brian or Nancy, do you?
Spiritual Insights
[20:04] It's just chest compressions now. And I want to say that I saw a statistic. It said not i think 96 of cardiac arrests that happen outside of a hospital result in death yeah yeah i would have said slightly less i would have guessed 85 or 90 but the mo the majority it is now hands-only cpr yeah yeah yeah nancy um we don't have to dive too deep into it but as brian stated i think we're both fascinated with the spiritual um side of what of what occurred is there anything more that you can share with us um the only thing like i said it was the most it was the brightest light i've ever seen it was blinding and my mom like i said she appeared but she was my mom from like the late 70s when she used to dye her hair blonde and she was much younger um but that's it like i said just her talking to me and saying you're not coming here you need to go back.
[21:07] Incredible. If you don't mind, can you tell us how old you are, how much you weigh? How much you weigh?
[21:17] Well, I just came back from vacation. I haven't changed in the height, but the weight may be different.
[21:22] I'm 5'3 and about 130 pounds. Okay. No, the reason I ask is because it sounds like, you know, you being a runner, you're very, very fit. You seem obviously from the outside, like the last person that would have a heart attack. And I think, Brian, correct me if you agree with this or don't agree with this, that I think it's just, it's so many people, they're fit, but they're not necessarily healthy. And I think that there's a difference there. And it's one of the great reasons why I'm so excited about you being willing to work with us and to basically follow the PLANTSTRONG prescription for at least seven days. And then we'll do some after biometric screenings and compare it to your past biometric numbers. So would you mind sharing with us if you have your numbers there? What were some of your previous biometric numbers as far as cholesterol and LDL and HDL and triglycerides, if you have those? Okay, so my total cholesterol is 153, but like I said, I am on a statin. I will tell you before the cardiac arrest happened, my cholesterol was in the 200 range. Um, so the triglycerides are at 39.
[22:49] Um, my HDL is 75. My VLDL is nine and my LDL is 69.
[23:04] So your non HDL is about 80. 78. Did they report something called non-HDL? Oh, you know what? They did not report that. But on my, the one in June, it was 72. Yeah. Did they do an APOB, APO, lipoprotein B, APO, APOB? No, they did not. Did they ever do something? Have you ever heard of this or did they check something called an LP little a or lipoprotein little a? No. And you were how old when this happened to you? 52, almost 53. So you're, okay. Does heart disease run your family? Mom, dad, brother, sisters? I'm thinking first degree relatives, immediate family members. Yes. My mom and my dad both have heart issues. As far as like high blood pressure, which I also- I'm thinking more heart attack, stroke, bypass dent. Gotcha. So my dad had triple bypass. How old was he when that was? he was, I think 69. Okay. How about your mom? Um, no, my mom did not have, she just, just, I said the blood pressure, but no heart issues. Um, I know I have a one brother with a fib. Okay.
[24:23] Okay. Nancy, um, what would you say your, your diet is like, like, how, how do you, how have you eaten in the past? Honestly, I always say I don't think I eat poorly. I'm not much of a snacker. I will tell you I'm not big on breakfast. And then I have a physical job. So I'm one of those people that I have to sometimes be reminded you didn't eat lunch today.
[24:54] I know. But usually, you know, like I said, it's a lot. I love lots of vegetables, but I'm not going to lie, meat is always a part of our diet. Um, ever since this happened though, I've steered clear of any kind of red meat. Right. What about, what about dairy products? Um, I don't drink any milk. Um, I do like cheese, um.
[25:19] But no, not, not, but I, I always, you know, I look at everything in moderation and I'd like to think that I eat moderately, but I'd like to see what happens after I cut all that out. Yeah. Well, it's, it's, it's interesting. You know, we have a saying at PLANTSTRONG that kind of moderation kills, um, you know, so we're, we're not huge fans of, of moderation. Um, you know, moderation for you is different than it is for Brian or myself. And, uh, you know, I don't know if you're eating cheese five days a week, six days a week, seven days a week. Um and uh so it's i think a lot of times it's imperative that you know we kind of we get an idea of what you eat for a week right and then that kind of helps tell the tell the story um but what we want to do with you is um we want to put you on this crazy radical PLANTSTRONG eating program for seven days.
Embracing a Plant-Based Lifestyle
[26:23] And, uh, am I correct that, that you're willing to try this? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fabulous. And so in order to make sure that you don't mess it up, we're going to make this absolutely idiot proof. Uh, I call it firefighter proof. And if you haven't seen the, uh, the documentary, the game changers, I recommend that you watch it. It came in 2019 and it's the most watched documentary on the planet.
[26:53] And I have a scene in there where I go in and I work with 37 New York City firefighters and I put them on the exact same program that you're going to be doing. But with firefighters, you got to absolutely lay it out there. So it's drop dead simple. So we bought them food and groceries for breakfast, lunch and dinner for seven days. So we're going to do the exact same thing for you. What we're going to do, though, is we're going to send you the PLANTSTRONG meal plan bundle. And along with that, we're going to, which includes all the day parts for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And then along with that, we're going to give you a done-for-you meal plan and grocery list. You have to buy a couple things at the grocery store, not many, just to supplement everything that we're going to be sending you. And this is some of the most tasty, foundational, powerfully whole, healing, anti-inflammatory, heart-healthy foods that exist on the planet. And I feel very, very confident that in just seven days, you're going to see results. You're going to feel results. Obviously, we'll check your biometric screening and see what happens there.
[28:09] But this to me is going to be incredibly exciting. And so what I'd love to do is this is our initial meeting here between you, Brian, and myself. And then in seven to 10 days after you've had a chance to follow the program and then get the after biometric screening, we'll jump back on and we'll discuss how you felt, your new numbers, and all that stuff. Now, one of the things that we want you to do is I want you to start consuming green leafy vegetables at every one of your meals. And that's just a serving size is like the size of your fist. And so whether it's arugula or kale or bok choy or spinach, find something that you like. And like what I do in the morning, I will grab a handful of arugula and just eat it. All right. And now that sounds kind of maybe drastic, but it is you get to a point to where you love it. And then we can go over offline a lot of the ways that you can incorporate green leafies into your pasta dishes, into your chilies, into your rice and bean dishes.
[29:23] But Brian if you wouldn't mind can you explain to to Nancy and our audience that's listening why the green leafies are so important in kind of restoring the endothelial function sure yeah simple I mean I understand it simply so I can only good you know all those green leafy vegetables are excellent sources of dietary nitrates and nitrates are the substrate of, that is converted in your body by the endothelial cells in part to nitric oxide, which is a gas. Nitric oxide is a very potent vasodilator. So it dilates your blood vessels and gets you great blood flow all over your body. So that's it really. Eat the nitrates, convert it to nitric oxide and reap the benefits of big fat, open blood vessels. Yeah and then yeah and the other thing i'll add to that when you get that nitric oxide my father refers to it as kind of uh this magic um kind of molecule but when you get our gas when you get that gas flowing throughout your all your 65 000 miles of vessels it almost makes them like teflon instead of like velcro so it almost becomes impossible for anything to kind of stick to them and burrow underneath.
[30:46] So that's pretty, that's pretty darn cool. And with my father's heart disease patients, Nancy, do you know anything about my father and his work at the Cleveland Clinic? I don't. You don't? Well, we'll have to send you a copy of his book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, because it's one of the things that really changed around uh, Dr. Brian Aspel and, um, and got him so kind of infatuated with this, with this lifestyle.
[31:17] Um, I'm trying to think where I was going with that whole story. Uh, yeah, but so my, my father's been doing work to show that you can prevent reverse heart disease since 1984, Nancy at the, obviously, you know, the Cleveland clinic. Uh, and, um, he, he currently is the director of the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Reversal Program at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute there. So he's around for you as well, if you have any questions and would love to talk to you. But let me ask you this. I know we've probably thrown a lot at you right now, but what are your thoughts, concerns, feelings after hearing about this for the last 30 minutes? You know, the only, and it's not really a concern. I just don't think I'll get my husband on board. So it might mean that I'm cooking two dinners, which is fine.
[32:13] I'm going to try. I'm going to try with him. But honestly, I mean, I've, I've been feeling kind of sluggish. I don't know if, It's I've been having a lot more hot flashes, you know, I've been not been able to sleep very well. And I just want to see I'm ready to do something drastic to see if I just feel better. Yeah. Well, I think doing something as wonderfully drastic as eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and whole grains and beans is just the ticket. And it's just the answer.
[32:49] So, you know, we kind of, I throw around those terms, you know, it's drastic and it's radical. But the reality is what's drastic and radical is the way that 97% of Americans are currently fueling their bodies. That's the drastic and radical thing. And the fact that, as Brian said, you know, the first sign of heart disease 50% of the time is is instant death. Uh, the fact that 51% of us are going to die from heart disease, which is a preventable disease. It truly is. That to me is the radical and drastic thing. So it's really just a kind of a, a mind, uh, a shift, right? Just a paradigm shift. And then everything just makes complete sense. Everything comes into focus. Brian, any final parting words from you?
[33:45] Yeah, I have actually a couple of quick questions. Rehab. Did you do a traditional exercise cardiac rehab program, or did you by chance do an intensive cardiovascular rehab program where you were also being educated about diet and stress management? I'm curious about what your experience was there? Yeah. So I did do cardiac rehab. I did it for about five months. Um, and they did educate us every week, um, on diet. They were pushing like the Mediterranean diet is what they would, and they would talk to us about all different topics, um, you know, with your heart. Um, and so, and then we did, I think 45 minutes, 15 minutes on each machine and they, and we wore monitor so they could watch what our heart was doing. I will tell you, even being on, I mean, my blood pressure medication, my blood pressure is still elevated. So I'm also hoping that eating differently will bring that down a bit.
[34:48] And you're on what dose of what statin? Do you know the dose and the name? I am on, I had that here. Resuvastatin, atorvastatin. Atorvastatin is what I'm on. 30, 80. It just says atorvastatin. Okay, no worries. And I assume you're on, I don't know how many medications. Probably, you know, four or five. Yeah. How many? name? I'm on a baby aspirin. Yeah. The atorvastatin, that's 80 milligrams. Let's see here. I'm on, I don't know if I'm going to say this one right, but metaprolol or metroprolol. Metroprolol. Yeah. Okay. And then a spironolactone. Yeah. And then I'm on, it's not on this sheet, but I know I got switched to bralenta for my blood. Okay. Interesting. Okay. So that's it. Not enough. I mean, that's enough. I mean, you were on nothing before this happened.
[35:51] Yeah. So I would encourage you to talk to your doctor about, you know, this experience and the possibility of weaning down or off of some of those medications. Yeah. I, uh, Berlinta is probably something that this, I mean, I, I, this is what March. So yeah, a year, you know, I, I, after, and the anniversary of this horrific event, I would, I would celebrate by getting rid of Berlinta. If it were me, I would at least talk to your cardiologist about that.
[36:28] Yeah, I'm hopeful to get off that one. Yeah, that's, that one's the easiest one, I think. And then the metroprolol and the spironolactone are there for blood pressure. We'll see. We can wean off those potentially one or both, depending on how the blood pressure goes. And then same with the atorvastatin. You know, it obviously did a number on your cholesterol. You were around 200 total. And now you're at 153. And, you know, honestly, the numbers look pretty good. And I think that the numbers are going to look better after this experiment here. And then there's a conversation that has to happen, right, about what do I do now? How was that? Can I do this for the rest of my life? Can I do this 80%, 90%, 50%? Should the statin be 40, 20, 10, 5? Should we wean it down? Should we discontinue it? You know, there's so many ways this could go, but your future is certainly going to be fewer medications, almost guaranteed, at least at Berlinta.
[37:25] The one thing that I probably would keep you on no matter what, if you were my patient, would be that baby aspirin would be a lifetime thing. It's the only one I feel the most strongly about. So, yeah, I'm excited for you. I salute your curiosity.
[37:41] Brian, as far as if she's on blood thinners, any suggestions for her about the green leafies? No. No. Okay. Great to know. No. You guys had a little inside conversation there about getting off the, what's it called, it relenta relenta relenta thank you what what is that for.
[38:03] Well, Nancy could probably tell you this too. Berlinta is an anti-platelet drug. So when the blood clot forms, one of the first steps in blood clot formation is that platelets, things in your cells in your bloodstream, will clomp and they will activate this blood clot formation. What you don't want when you put a stent, which is a metal tube, in someone's artery, you don't want blood clot forming on that thing. So we put you on aspirin, which is an antiplatelet drug and another antiplatelet drug. There are several. Relenta is just one of them. And it's called dual antiplatelet therapy so that we're sure that no blood clot is going to form on that stent, which is basically a foreign body in your bloodstream. Until that stent becomes incorporated into the wall of the artery over time. And it takes about a year, takes up to a year. That that endothelium the lining of the blood vessels that secretes the nitric oxide will grow over the stent it's kind of like hammering a nail in a tree yeah the tree grows around it so same here the artery will grow around the stent the stent will become incorporated in the in the wall of the artery if you were to stick a camera in the in the artery you would no longer see any metal of the stent at that point you know you don't need to be on dual antiplatelet therapy and Berlenta is gone. We're not going to put a camera in your artery. We're just going to say a year's enough and we're done.
[39:31] So, okay. So it's for redundancy purposes to make sure that that stent doesn't. It is. I got it. Gotcha. That's interesting. Thanks for that explanation. That makes a lot of sense. It makes me bruise like a peach. Yeah. Yes. Yes. It's horrible. I can't.
[39:51] So what are some of the side effects of Berlenta, why it's nice to get out off of it after a year? All that nuisance bleeding. Yeah. Nose bleeds. People complain of their gums bleeding when they floss, you know, especially older people with a little thinner skin. I don't remember how I tore off half my arm here and I'm bleeding all over the place. I mean, it's just it's really I hate to call it nuisance bleeding. We kind of joke that nuisance bleeding is bleeding that happens to someone else. But, you know, you're not going to die from nuisance bleeding. Of course, it can also cause some life threatening. If you're in a car accident, you had a, you know, you smacked your head and you're on dual antiplatelet therapy. It could be a problem. You know, it's not a there's no free ride. We want to protect your stent and we want to protect it. And then we want to get rid of it. Yeah.
[40:40] Nancy, I know you know Lori Kortowicz, a longtime friend of yours. Lori, obviously, is the one that told us about you. We so appreciate Lori bringing your incredible story to our attention. As Brian said, you for having such an open mind and agreeing to go down this path with us, this journey. Uh laurie will be just so you know she's going to do your grocery shopping for you and so she'll bring that over to your house sometime soon yeah so uh we want you to feel very loved and pampered and i want you to know that this PLANTSTRONG community uh we are behind you every single step of the way so let us know how we can uh how we can support you i would also when you start this on day one, please, if you can, just with your iPhone or whatever kind of phone you have, take a photo of all of your meals so we can see that. And then also, if you wouldn't mind at the end of the day, just kind of jotting down in a little journal or typing it up, just how you felt that day, right? I mean, are you feeling good, energized, awful? We know from experience that sometimes the first couple of days are the hardest. There's withdrawal symptoms.
[42:04] You feel sometimes you have to feel worse before you feel better. So we'd love to understand your journey if you wouldn't mind kind of jotting it down just a minute or two at the end of the day. Sure, no problem. Yeah, yeah, wonderful.
Checking In After Seven Days
[42:21] Listen, that's all about I got. That's about all I have for you right now. I can't even tell you how much I appreciate Brian. You joining in to share your expertise. Nancy, your willingness to go down this PLANTSTRONG path with us and share your results with the PLANTSTRONG community. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm really excited for this. Yeah. So we'll see you again in seven to 10 days. All right. All right. Sounds good. Before we jump back in, I've got some big news.
[43:00] PlantStock is back. Mark your calendars for September 6th, 2025. It's right around the corner because we are bringing you the 14th annual PlantStock event virtually so you can join from absolutely anywhere in the world. And the theme this year, we're celebrating the pioneers of the movement and the progression of the science, the cutting edge science that just never stops churning. We're gathering the top minds in plant-based medicine, nutrition, and lifestyle. Think doctors, scientists, chefs, and everyday Day Heroes, and we're going to explore how food can prevent, treat, and even reverse chronic disease. Tickets are just $29 this year, and you'll get full-day access to all the sessions, exclusive discounts on all PLANTSTRONG Foods, first dibs on 2026 in-person 15th annual Plant Stock Celebration, and a downloadable recipe guide just for attending. Now even better, partial proceeds benefit Blue Ridge Assembly, the home of Plant Stock in Black Mountain, North Carolina, which is rebuilding after last year's insane flooding and hurricane.
[44:25] Join us, learn something life-changing, and let's show the world what's possible when you eat like your life depends on it because it does. Grab your ticket now at PLANTSTRONG .com and then click on events. See you soon.
[44:46] Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Nancy. Great to see you both again. It's been about seven, eight days, I believe, which is the magic number.
[44:57] And Nancy, you know, as we talked about the last time we spoke, you had a major episode. You basically died while running. They brought you back to life. And you're kind of like a phoenix rising at this point. And so we've challenged you to basically do the PLANTSTRONG challenge for seven days. And so in order to kind of help you with that journey, we got you some groceries. We got you some of the PLANTSTRONG goodies that we have.
[45:33] And so Brian and I are here today with you. We just want to check in and we want to see how it's been going since we last left you. And maybe for starters so when we hung up last time were you feeling anxious or scared or excited what what were you feeling what were your emotions like as you were like going to tackle this new lifestyle you know honestly I was super excited for it because like I said I like people telling me what to do and what to eat you know what I mean like I love to follow a plan Just like running, I like to follow a plan. So it was very doable. And I actually find food prep therapeutic. So, you know, I would wake up in the morning, feeling like P. Diddy. And actually, you know, I would prep all my meals for the day. And it was great.
[46:27] Right. Right. And so you were eating three, three meals a day. Is that correct? I was. Yeah. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. And is that typically what you've done in the past? Or is this kind of a new thing for you?
[46:42] Totally new because I'm, I'm really bad at eating breakfast for sure. And sometimes, you know, it got to a point where I was doing like maybe one meal a day, just a big dinner, which is really wrong. And I knew that, but like I said, you know, sometimes I, when I eat at work, I get sluggish and tired, so I don't want to have anything, but I've found that the food that I'm eating now gives me more energy. Yeah. And so before this, you say you're eating two or even one meals a day. What was your, what was your thinking uh around that was it for energy was it for weight loss was it for what was the reason you know honestly i just like i said i when i'm at work i just i and if i would eat something there i would feel sluggish i work in a like a restaurant area so you know i'd maybe graze french fries or you know some chips or grab a bowl of soup things like that you know but um As far as sitting down for a meal, I just didn't do it. I don't even know why. Like I said, I like how I was regimented to do this three times a day, and it forced me to eat properly, finally.
[48:01] Yeah. So will you give the audience, and Brian and I, an idea? What were you eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? What did a typical day look like for you?
[48:12] So I'll tell you, I really like Rip's Big Bowl a lot. I found out that I really like fruit now, and I never used to eat fruit, which is crazy. That is crazy. And so how did you discover that you liked fruit? How are you incorporating fruit into your day? So what I would do is I'd have, that was my favorite breakfast, was the big bowl with the almond milk and a handful of blueberries and a banana. And literally just had that this morning.
[48:44] And I was like, wow, this is really good. Because I've always been a savory person. I'm like, I don't like sweets. You know, give me a bag of chips any day, right? So I was like, wow, this is actually really good. I mean, an apple for a snack, that was never me. And now it is. So that was typically my, like, that's my favorite breakfast. Although I do like the overnight oats as well. Yep. With a sprinkle of flaxseed. I was doing that too. I followed it to a T and I learned that I really like this food. Good. And did you find that the, whether it was the overnight oats or the Rips Big Bowl cereal with the fruit and the almond milk, did you find that filled you up until lunchtime? Yes. In fact, there was, and then, so for, you know, lunchtime I would either do, you know, like a soup with a salad or, um, baked potato with spinach, um, and some quinoa. I mean, the pizza was fantastic. Um, I mean, I ate half a pizza and I, and it like, there was so much food that I almost couldn't finish, you know, weighing it out and stuff. Yeah. I was, I was definitely full.
[49:58] Good. And so when, so you started it, what day did you start? Can you remember what day? Yeah, it was a Tuesday. Okay. So on Tuesday. And so, When would you say that you started to notice a difference in anything, whether it was energy, regularity, sleeping, any of these kind of, you know, intangibles? So as far as regularity, that happened pretty much instantly. That was like the first day. And also, you know, I drink coffee and I really, the hardest thing I thought was going to be weaning myself off my coffee creamer. And I'm so happy that I'm done with that. Completely done. But I definitely felt probably after about three days, things started. I mean, I really could tell that my sleep patterns were better. You know, like I said, I had way more energy at work, at home, running. My running got better.
[51:03] So, so, so I don't know if that's off my back. Yeah. Yeah. And so I don't know if that's something we spoke about last time or not, but so what you, so you've started to run again. Um, and are you training for anything in particular? I am training for the glass city half, um, in Toledo and it's at the end of April. Okay. End of April. So that's just right around the corner. sure yeah and are you feeling ready for it i am i mean the goal is just to finish the race because that's the one where i had the cardiac arrest so i didn't get to finish it last year um so even if i do a run walk i'm okay with that i just need to cross the finish line so this will be just about a year later yep exactly a year to the date wow a year later from from flatlining to.
[52:01] Having a strong, wonderful, healthy, beating heart. That's can't ask for more than that. Can you, Brian? Nope. No, I'm excited for you. It'll be an interesting, maybe an emotional day. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. What, so tell me about what has happened with, have you measured any biometrics like weight, blood pressure, any of these things? And obviously you have some before and after blood work, which we'd love to go, go over with you as well, but what's happened with your weight for starters?
[52:36] I, like I said, I, I didn't view this as weight loss, but I was hoping to lose some pounds and I lost seven pounds in a week, which was great. My resting heart rate actually has decreased. It was hovering in even, I know I'm a runner too, but it was hovering in the upper fifties and now it's down in the, like the 50 range, like straight 50 when I sleep. So I can tell that I'm definitely sleeping a lot better. And then my blood pressure, I did measure it. And one thing. 30 over 70, which it was in the 140 range or 80 or 90. And that was even with blood pressure medication. Right. And how that's all fantastic. I love the fact that, you know, blood pressure is coming down. You lost seven pounds in one week.
[53:31] You know, we typically at our six day retreats, we typically see about three pounds of weight loss. So seven pounds is great. What happened as far as your family? Were they on board? Did they partake at all? Did they just let you do your thing? They just let me do my thing. Actually, my daughter was in town and they all think I was crazy. I mean, my husband, he's very proud of me, but he wanted no part of it. So I was cooking two meals and that was okay. Like I said, I find cooking therapeutic. So, um, you know, I didn't find the need to like snack on any of his stuff. You know, it was just separate. My food, your food. That's great. And so did they, did they belittle you or make fun of you at all over the course of the week? A little, any jabs? A little bit. Yes. My husband. Yes. He, yeah, he did, but it's okay. It wasn't good fun. Yeah. As long as it's good nature. Right. Um, I mean, a lot of people, if I told, especially at work, they're like, Oh, you're not going to be able to sustain that. And I was like, just watch me.
[54:56] You love it when people say you can't do something. Correct. No. So, you know, I would like to dive into this for a second. So the people at work that saw you doing this.
[55:11] Did they, I mean, they know what happened, right? A year ago that you flatline, you came back to life and that now you're basically trying to eat in a way that is heart healthy, that is holistic, right? That is, you know, one of the most nutrient dense ways to eat on the planet.
[55:34] Is, is, is that something that you can talk to them about? Or do you just kind of say, yeah, yeah, I'm just doing my thing. Uh how do you react when they say you can't do this other than watch me right other you know i just they just i don't know i mean they're around the food that i'm around at work too and so um i guess it's until something happens to them like what happened to me maybe they won't understand, but um and everybody they eat healthy yeah you know but i didn't realize how unhealthy i was eating until I ate healthy. Right. You know, one of the things that I have, I have told, um, like a lot of firefighters that have experienced some sort of an event, they go back to work, they're getting belittled and made fun of by their coworkers.
[56:28] And I say, listen, the conversation that you really need to have, whether it's your coworkers, whether it's your family, whether it's some of your best friends is listen, for me, this is life and death. It truly is. And so what I need right now is I need you to be supportive of me. And I don't need to need, I don't need or want you to sabotage this lifestyle that I am trying to embrace because I'm trying to make myself healthier and better. So I think that I'm just throwing that out there to you, any, any of the listeners that may be a conversation that you want to have, depending upon the level of, um.
[57:08] Of criticism or belittling that you happen to be getting yeah uh so brian um good morning to you great to see you again good to be here what's going on in your neck of the woods this morning, it's a beautiful day spring day a lot of fun been already been to exercise what did i have for breakfast wasn't rips big bowl oatmeal with with fruit and nuts and seeds yeah yeah uh Well, so would you mind going over with Nancy and our audience, Nancy's before and after blood work and any anything that you would like to highlight or point out from that blood work?
[57:56] Yeah, it was, you know, it was a week. So you start on Tuesday. So you had this drawn, I think, on Wednesday. So it was eight days, seven days. You know things were really I was frankly impressed by just the stability you know there are some people that I just approach this whole thing with the spirit of curiosity I mean what happens if I change the way I'm doing something like the way I'm eating in your case from the number a lot of things happened I mean a lot of a lot of real benefits that you've shared and I have a couple of questions about that but you know looking at the blood work frankly not a lot changed. Cholesterol was already pretty good. I can't remember what statin you're taking, Nancy. We can dive into that if we want. But your numbers already looked pretty good. Your LDL was 69, And your non HDL, which is really a better marker of cardiovascular risk, I can't remember if we talked about that before, and I'm happy to do that now if we didn't, was 78. And those are sort of at goal for somebody who's had a cardiac event that we're pretty happy with those numbers.
[59:10] Your fasting blood glucose was a little bit elevated before 104. Normal would be under 100. Um and those numbers were remarkably stable uh your your ldl stayed at 69 your non-hdl was 80 it didn't go up i mean it technically went up from 78 to 80 but you know that's uh there's about a five percent uh margin of error with uh with a vena puncture taking blood you know from your arm uh your blood glucose was 105 so things were really kind of the same there's some other, blood test that I would be interested in if I were your cardiologist. There are a couple of things I would want to look at. I can't remember if we talked about that either, but I would specifically want to look at an APOB, an apolipoprotein B. That's something I would like you to have and talk to your doctor about it if you haven't had that done.
[1:00:02] And I would also like you to have a lipoprotein little a, which is another blood test, which we wouldn't expect to change much with your diet. You know, some people have tremendous change in six or seven days a week. Some people don't. I always think there's sort of a bell-shaped curve. Most of us are in the middle. We might have a little change, plus or minus, not a big deal. Some people are hyper absorbers from their diet. And when they are eating a diet, as you have been over the last week, with you know, essentially no cholesterol, there's no cholesterol plants, only in animal-based foods, and very low in saturated fat, unless you happen to eat a little coconut oil, it'd be very low in saturated fat. Those people who are hyper absorbers are going to have a dramatic drop in their standard lipid profile, their LDL, their triglycerides, yours were normal, you're not HDL. Other people are hyper producers and you're genetically going to produce a certain amount of cholesterol. It's not going to really shift much with dietary change. So, So, you know, since you didn't have really much change in or any real change in the glucose or the or the lipids in a week, I suspect you may be more of a hyperproducer. But I still love your numbers and they still may shift. Some people change a lot in a week and some people, you know, it takes longer. So the answer to see what it looks like in six weeks, eight weeks.
[1:01:27] Excellent. Brian, you mentioned that you had a couple of other questions for for an answer. Well, I was curious about what you measure. You mentioned, you know, your heart rate dropping down at night. And I wondered what you're wearing to measure that. Do you wear an aura ring or a whoop strap or something? A lot of athletes wear those sort of. It's actually my Garmin. Your Garmin. Okay. Interesting. Does that measure heart rate variability?
[1:01:56] I don't think it does. I always look at my resting heart rate and my sleep score because my sleep pattern, you know, it's like I look at it and I think, oh, I didn't sleep very well last night. And it always matches, like if I get a poor sleep score. But literally, I have been in the fair and good, which I never have seen, you know, in the last month or so. Yeah, it's just. Yeah. So, I mean, I just like I just definitely feel so much better. And, you know, my whole day revolves around if I get enough sleep. Yeah. I've been sleeping so much better. An important start. Were you having trouble getting to sleep or was it more trouble staying asleep initially? It was, it was, well, both, honestly. Yeah. Yeah. What did you, what did you notice change both or, or was one more prevalent than the other? Not waking up in the middle of the night, definitely. But I'm definitely, I'm able to sleep, fall asleep a lot easier. I don't, you know, I would just toss and turn and watch TV or play a game or something like that. And, you know, I'd always wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, but I mean, Not at all. Solid sleep. And it's been great.
[1:03:14] I think it's fascinating. People, everybody's different. It's fun to see how people, what changes for people when they change something like, like nutrition. So very nice. You mentioned, um, you got your half marathon right around the corner. What's happened to your running, uh, in the last seven, eight days? Um it's actually i've gotten a little bit faster which i was surprised but i think a lot of that had to do with the seven pounds that i was carrying.
[1:03:47] Like i said i mean i've got a few more to to to lose and i mean if i do it great if not i'm i'm actually at a comfortable weight for me um but yeah i just i definitely just the energy levels are crazy. Have you ever had a hemoglobin A1C? Is that a familiar term? No, I have not. That's another thing I'd like you to get. You know, your elevated fasting blood sugar, I presume this was a fasting lab you had. Yeah. You know, I mentioned it was a little bit elevated 104 and then 105.
[1:04:23] A hemoglobin A1C would give us what your average blood sugar has been over about a three-month period. It would be interesting to see what that is because the elevated fasting glucose, blood sugar, suggests some resistance to the action of insulin in your body. It's not lowering the blood sugar quite as much as we might expect. So you might have a little bit of insulin resistance and it would be interesting to see if the A1C sort of corroborates that. And it'd be interesting to see as you maintain this sort of eating plan. I would like to see that fasting blood sugar drop into the 90s or below, and I think it will. I hope so, because I was hoping that that number would drop. I think it just was going to take longer. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Fabulous.
[1:05:17] Well, Nancy, anything else on your end that you can think of that you'd like to share?
[1:05:28] Well, I just say I'm so happy that Lori gave me the opportunity to do this. Um, I just, I, I needed this kick in the ass. I really did. And I mean, I, I'm just so happy. Like I went to the grocery store and I'm like, I'm only in the produce section, you know, my bill is so much less. I mean, I don't miss any of the food I was eating before. So, I mean, I, like I said, just finding out that I like fruit again, I'm, I'm just super excited. I feel so much better.
[1:06:04] Yeah, you got a convert in me. Well, that's very exciting. I mean, as Brian and I both know, you've been at this for eight days, right? And so what I want to do, I want to check in with you in a year. And I want to hear that same level of excitement and enthusiasm for what you're doing. Because anybody can do anything for seven, eight days. And it sounds like you're there. And I think your attitude is, you tell me, you're not planning on going back. You're planning on marching forward. Correct? Correct. Correct. And I followed the meal plan to a T. And now i'm branching out into other recipes i mean now i've got my husband on board tonight it helps it's a friday and lent but i'm making um crab cakes with hearts of palm and artichoke hearts yeah i've got all the you know and i made my own mayonnaise i mean it so i'm gonna make tartar sauce i'm super excited like i said i think i can get him to at least do one or two meals a week. Yeah.
[1:07:19] And then I don't know. I'll work on my kids later. That's good. Well, you know, put on your oxygen mask first, right? Take care of yourself. Well, and you know, I will say I have a lot of family and friends that were very interested in what I was doing. Yeah. And so I, and I think I, you know, they, they want to find out a little bit more so maybe i can at least you know convert a few more people but the only thing that matters is me right now yeah yeah the longer the longer that you can just be a shining example for the lifestyle uh instead of trying to convert people i think that will be the best way to get people to start asking questions as it sounds like they already are and then say hey nancy like.
[1:08:07] Tell me more. And then, and then that's a, that's a great place. Um, well, Nancy, I, you know, I'm just, I just want to circle back around and just say how absolutely, um, grateful I am for the opportunity, uh, to have Brian and I kind of help, uh, and Lori, obviously, and Carrie guide you through the last seven days to be part of that journey with you as you are doing everything in your power to make yourself heart attack proof and, and make sure that you don't have another event like you had, which nobody wants to experience or, or, or endure. And, you know, from, if there's anything that I think we know through my father's research, what Brian has done uh with his practice is that you can absolutely control your destiny and the most powerful way to do that is what are you putting into your mouth for breakfast lunch and dinner and is it is it nourishing uh and is it constructive or is it destructive and damaging and you have chosen the.
[1:09:26] Former path. Exactly. So way to be. Brian, any last words from you, my man? No, I'm excited for you. Just, you know, get those labs. And I do think, talk to your doctor about possibly weaning some of those medications off over time, or at least weaning them down. I'd love you to be on the lowest effective dose. And ideally, I'd love you to be off a few things if that's in the cards and I think it could be. So yeah, I agree with what Rip said. I don't feel the need anymore to convert anyone as much as just, um.
[1:10:02] I'm at, I'm hold the space for them to see what happens, you know, just as you become a better runner and your heart rate's coming down, you're wean off your meds and et cetera, et cetera, I'm sleeping better. All these things happen. You just share your experience with people. And if they're open to curious about that and say hey tell me more great if they're you know gonna poke at you a little bit then so be it you got to do you yep and they can do them and that's fine yeah yeah yeah people are watching good absolutely uh well nancy brian as we say goodbye and nancy will be checking in obviously periodically. So don't think that we're leaving you high and dry. We're, we're, we're around, but as we leave, why don't we do a virtual plant strong fist bump on the way out? All right. PLANTSTRONG , Nancy. Boom. Yeah. Great job. Happy, great. Thank you. Thank you so much.
[1:11:09] Isn't it fantastic how many positive changes that Nancy has started to experience in just eight days on the program. She was sleeping better. She had more energy. She was actually eating three meals a day. Her resting heart rate and blood pressure were lower. And to boot, she lost seven pounds. You can just hear it in her voice, how happy and empowered she feels.
[1:11:39] In that segment, Dr. Brian Aspel and I mentioned a couple of tests that he'd like to see, including an APO-B or apolipoprotein B, which is a protein found in lipoproteins like LDL or our lethal cholesterol, and is used as a marker for assessing cardiovascular disease risk, along with a lipoprotein little a test, which is a type of lipoprotein particle that carries cholesterol and other fats in the blood. High levels of either or both are risk factors of cardiovascular disease. So we followed up with Nancy one final time just a few weeks ago in late June to get the results of those tests and to celebrate, yes, celebrate the completion of her goal of running that half marathon one year
Celebrating Nancy's Half Marathon
[1:12:39] after her heart attack and on her 29th wedding anniversary. Let's pick it back up one final time with Nancy Wells.
[1:12:50] All right, we are back. Nancy, it is really good to see you again. It's been It's been over two months since we last spoke. Brian, always good to see you, my man.
[1:13:05] And Nancy, I'm going to be here. So the last time we spoke, you were going to do the Glass City Half Marathon in Toledo. It was about a week away. And this represented, hold on just a sec, because I am at the farm and we have these katydids that are so loud. Hey, shoo, shoo, shoo. There they shot. and uh and you were going to do the half marathon a about a year after you had done it before and you had the heart attack and they had to resuscitate you and all that and so first and foremost would love to know um how did the race go did you finish i did finish it was a fantastic experience. One of my best friends that I've run with forever did the race with me. And she's like, you can run whatever you want. And I said, no, I'm going to run with you. So it was just a fun time. It was just a victory lap. We stopped a couple of times, took a few pictures. It was my slowest half marathon by far, but it wasn't about time. It was about just crossing that finish line. So and at around mile five i my emt surprised me and they were on the race course.
[1:14:28] Oh that's awesome and then they were it was five and then again seven so because it was like an out and back so i saw them twice three of the four that um helped me and and then two of them were at the finish line and did you know that they were going to be there they said that they were But if you do any races and you try to look for people, it's so difficult if you're going to if you're going to actually see them. I never saw my husband on the course and he tried. So, you know, just seeing familiar faces was just amazing. It was so awesome to see them.
[1:15:06] To your point, what a celebration of a year later, right? Able to go back and tackle that half marathon and you're living healthier than ever. And so I think one of the things we'd love to do is just check in and see, you know, a couple of months later, how are you feeling? How are you doing? We do have some, you know, results of some more blood tests that I'd love Dr. Aspel to share with us. But, yeah, so all in all, you're still going strong, you know, eating the whole plants? I am. Now, I will say it has been, at some points it has been a struggle, but I view it as it's not a sprint, which I don't like 5Ks anyway. This is a marathon. This is, I mean, there are some times where I slip and a lot of times it's when we're going out to eat. That's, that is the most difficult part. But as far as how I'm doing in the eating, I mean, I'm probably, I would say 90% compliant.
Maintaining Long-Term Health
[1:16:18] Yeah. And I'm hopeful to be a hundred percent, but I'm not quite to the point where I'm bringing a potato in my purse to a restaurant. Not quite yet. But I'm not saying I wouldn't, but right after the race, we went to a steakhouse because that's what they picked. And I got steamed broccoli and a baked potato. So, I mean, there are things that I'm trying to continue to do. Like I said, a couple slips here and there, but overall, I'm trying to stay right with it. And I don't think I'm going to change. I don't miss eating the meat at all. So if anything, I stick with vegetarian or vegan, but when I'm at home, it's no problem. It's just, like I said, the struggle is always when you're going out.
[1:17:08] Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, good, good for you. I love to hear that. And how, how have, you know, the race was actually back in April 27th. And so it's now, you know, it's we're approaching July of 2025. How are you feeling? How's your how's your weight? How's your energy? All that stuff. Well, I can tell you, I feel I still feel fantastic. And my weight, I'm holding strong at 13 pounds lost. And I'm not, you know, when I did the initial week, I was, I was weighing even weighing, um, like my food, even though that's not what you guys do. But now I just eat all the vegetables that I want and I'm so full and I maintain where I'm at and I'm okay with that.
[1:18:07] Any vegetables in particular that you've grown fond of? I just, I love mushrooms. All of the mushrooms. Yeah. So usually it's a portobello mushroom cap. But last night I made these crispy tofu cubes. And one of the things in the marinade was coffee, of all things. It was amazing. My son even ate it. He's like, oh, these are good. But so, I mean, my family's starting to get on board with this is not something that was a fad, that I'm really going to do it.
[1:18:42] So they don't, they just kind of go with it. Sometimes they eat the things that I have, but I always make sure that the sides are compliant with how I want to eat. And then even if it means I'm making them a different, you know, main dish, that's fine. Can I revisit something you said there? because, Brian, I don't think either you or I have ever heard of this. Did you say that you marinated your mushroom cap in coffee? Yes. I mean, it was part of the marinade. Yeah. Wow. Where in the world did you hear about that little trick? You know, it's called Google. And I look for different things that I can use as marinades and that don't use oil. Like, I'm not worried about the sugar part. The oil is always a struggle to just not use it. But, Oh my gosh, I cannot tell you how good I feel. I mean, I've lost weight in my face for sure. Um, in my, in my stomach, like I, I truly feel like I had so much inflammation that even if like, I just feel so much better. My running is so much better. I don't miss any of the stuff that I was eating before. Yeah.
[1:19:59] Well, Brian, you know, you've got a kind of a nice holistic look at Nancy and her numbers and her weight and inflammation.
[1:20:12] Can you kind of just give us from your vantage point how you think she's doing? Sure. Nancy, I just saw your labs from June 20th. Did anyone, have you seen those? Has someone reviewed those with you or is this the first time you've been hearing this? The first time I'm hearing it. Okay. Well, your numbers look great. I don't remember the details of your initial labs earlier, but your total cholesterol has remained about the same. I remember your total cholesterol being around 150, 140. I think one was 139. One was 155 or something. It's 155. So your total cholesterol is the same. Your total cholesterol is really, is sort of the tip of the iceberg. Total cholesterol, I look at it, but I don't, it's not as predictive of future cardiovascular events as some other numbers that I'll go over with you. So with total cholesterol, it's the same. That's fine. Your LDL, which I think was around 69 previously, you may have that there. Yeah, but I was trying to be prepared this time. Yeah. Yeah. Well, better. You're more prepared than me. Your LDL was 61.
Reviewing Blood Work Results
[1:21:21] Your LDL was 61, that's great. You know, what's that? 69 to 61, about a 15% decrease.
[1:21:33] You know, that LDL is a good marker of cardiovascular risk. We would like to see it less than 70, and yours is certainly comfortably less than 70, so I'm happy with that. A better marker of future risk is something called non-HDL. I think we talked about this last time. And it's the total cholesterol minus the HDL. And I feel like yours was previously around 80. Your non-HDL now is 72 because your HDL was 83. Your HDL was up some. So the total cholesterol minus an HDL minus a higher number is going to be a lower number. I think the HDL being higher may be partly related to your weight loss. We know that that can raise HDL some. So your non-HDL 72, that's excellent. We would like to see that less than 100. And so you're very comfortably below that. The best marker, in my opinion, the best marker of future risk is something called apolipoprotein B.
[1:22:30] And your ApoB, we can go into why this number is interesting and important if we want to feel like we have time, but ApoB is, yours was 60. I don't think you've had it checked previously, but 60 is excellent. So there are different guidelines. There's the European Society of Cardiology. There's the American College of Cardiology. There's the National Endocrine Society, the National Lipid Association. You know, everybody has slightly different sort of target numbers that we're trying to hit, everyone, everyone would agree that ApoB for someone who's had a cardiac event should be less than 80. The lowest, the lowest recommendation would be less than 65. And so yours was 60. And so that's fantastic.
[1:23:18] Another thing that I don't think you'd had checked before that you had checked this time was your lipoprotein little a, which is a, it's a particularly risky sort of lipid particle. And yours was 16 and that's very low. Less than 75 is considered low risk. So that was good to know that your lipoprotein a, which is primarily genetically determined, I don't think is anything that you ever have to have checked again. In fact, I definitely think you don't need to have but checked again, yours was very low, which is great. Your high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, or HSCRP for short, was 1.5. Less than one is considered low risk. Higher than three is considered higher risk. It's a marker of a nonspecific marker of inflammation. One to three is sort of that, you know, not terrible, but let's try to get it under one. So your HSCRP was almost where we want it to be. 1.5 would like to see it under one. You're all your lipid particles and subparticles were excellent.
[1:24:27] And see if there's anything else. I wrote these numbers down. No. So you're you're you're right where you need to be. I think you're you're at a level where I'd say if your blood pressure is good, you're you're really low risk, which is is a good, good feeling. Right. Carly, how you feel. Exactly. And, you know, this is something you want to talk to your doctors about. But is there an opportunity down the road to even be on less medicine? That that's something that I would encourage you to talk with them about. I wouldn't rock the boat right now and I did talk to them about that so my cardiologist and I'm going to share that blood work I just had done because the big thing was I'd like to get off the statin I am off the blood thinner for sure good which is wonderful, my blood pressure is still an issue, but I do have white coat syndrome when I go she did change my blood pressure medication around. And last time I went to my primary care just back on June 16th and it was normal. And when I take it here, it's always like 125 over like 75.
[1:25:41] So yeah, I'm going to keep pushing to get off the medication. But like I said, it's been a few months and I'm encouraged by the results. And I want to keep pushing and see what happens because she doesn't need to see me until next year. So I'm hopeful that Yeah, I think this, I would frame this too as a marathon and not a sprint. Yeah. Well, that's, you know, I'm not going to get down when I see an abnormal result on a blood test anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree. You know, even my, because I had my A1C checked and it was elevated, but my primary thought that could be because I'm on the statin, so we're going to recheck it in December. Yeah. Yeah. That was interesting. I did see that, actually. Your A1C had gone up from like 5.3 to 5.7. That's more of a jump than we would typically see. Statins do raise A1C a little bit and fasting glucose a little bit, but by a fraction of a percent. So that was more than I would have attributed to being on a statin. But, you know, we'll see. Maybe it's an outlier. I wouldn't worry about it. I would just keep doing what you're doing, and we'll repeat it again.
[1:26:58] Are you avoiding coconut oil? Yeah, I don't do anything with coconut. Okay. Yeah, okay. Yeah. If the word's oil, I don't touch it. Your numbers look so good. I was excited for you. Good. I'm glad to hear that because I didn't know how to read them. Yeah, yeah. Well, so, I mean, this is all to me very, very exciting. And I'm just wondering, you know, Nancy, in your shoes, do you feel like you have a kind of a regained sense of confidence around running and pushing yourself and just like hopefully this is now officially in the rearview mirror? Yes, I'm very hopeful that it is in my rearview mirror. I've had a lot of changes here. I actually just resigned from my job, which was a stressor. I mean, I'm still working there, but I'll be done by the end of August. But, you know, I think that removing some stress from my life and just finding the purpose, that's kind of what I've decided, you know, I'm just going to find the purpose on what the next step is.
Moving Forward with Confidence
[1:28:16] And I think removing that stressor will help, Yeah, absolutely. And I think you mentioned this, but I also love the fact that, you know, all the providers that you have seen, when you've told them about kind of your nutritional approach since your heart attack, they seem to all be supportive of your dietary shift. And I love hearing that. Right. So I saw my cardiologist. I last saw her at the end of May. And I believe she's vegan. But when I told her that I was eating plant-based, whole food, no oil, no sugar, she's like, wow, that's amazing. And my primary care, he's like, you know, you need to tell me more about this because I need to lose some weight too kind of thing. You know and i'm finding the lot because you know like i said you do it for a week people think it's a fat when you keep doing it then they kind of accept it and then some people you know everybody has seen the weight loss i didn't realize carrying that much weight showed because i'm not like a heavy person but you know that you can see it you can see my energy and people want to hear more about it so like i said i'm not preaching but i'm just letting them know the things that i eat.
[1:29:37] Yeah good love that you're representing and to your point i mean before you were roughly i mean the numbers show you were about 137 now you're down to about 124, and um what's your what's your height five three five three so five three yeah so i mean 124 five That's a lean mean getting after it. That's great. Less to carry. Yeah, no, as a runner, absolutely.
[1:30:13] Well, I think this has been a raving success.
Conclusion and Celebrations
[1:30:18] Nancy, I want to congratulate you on everything that you've been able to achieve. To me, you know, we all know this, but until I think we have stared death in the face, none of us really can appreciate how our greatest asset it really is. It's our health. And you've done that. And Brian, I want to give a huge shout out to you for joining this episode with Nancy. And helping us kind of mine through the numbers and make some sense of it all. So thank you so much. You're welcome. Well, Nancy, we're all rooting for you. Keep it up. And, um, Love what you've done. Thank you so much. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do that. Yes, absolutely. Life changing. Well, yes. Can we get a three-some virtual PLANTSTRONG fist bump on the way out here? All right. PLANTSTRONG , Nancy and Brian. Boom. Good job, Nancy.
[1:31:33] All I can say is, wow. The power of a whole ingredient plant-based diet shines brightly. The results were immediate and enduring for Nancy. In just one week, her total cholesterol dropped 14 points. Over the next few months, she was able to lose 13 pounds, reduce her blood pressure from 151 over 89 to 125 over 75, and she saw her ApoB and non-HDL cholesterol reach ideal ranges for secondary prevention. I want to thank Nancy for experimenting with the PPLANTSTRONG Meal Plan Bundle. I want to thank Brian Aspil for his thoughtful questions and advice. And I want to thank all of you for listening to this powerful episode. If you or a loved one are interested in this same meal plan.
[1:32:30] I'll be sure to drop a link in the show notes so that you too can reclaim your health with real tools and real food. We've also published an entire case study on Nancy's story and I'll link to that in the show notes as well. And there you'll see her before and after numbers along with some photos of Nancy at her recent half marathon celebration. Thank you so much for listening to this real life success story and remember to always, always keep it PLANTSTRONG .
[1:33:04] The PLANTSTRONG g podcast team includes Carrie Barrett, Laurie Kortowich, and Ami Mackey. If you like what you hear, do us a favor and share the show with your friends and loved ones. You can always leave a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And while you're there, make sure to hit that follow button so that you never miss an episode. As always, this and every episode is dedicated to my parents, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. And Ann Crile Esselstyn. Thanks so much for listening.
