None of the longest-lived people ran marathons or pumped iron. They live exactly as their grandparents before them — surrounded by family and friends.
–Dan Buettner
Some people think plant-based diet, whole foods diet is extreme. Half a million people a year will have their chests opened up and a vein taken from their leg and sewn onto their coronary artery, Some people would call that extreme.
–Caldwell Esselstyn
I know of nothing else in medicine that can come close to what a plant-based diet can do. In theory, if everyone were to adopt this, I really believe we can cut health care costs by seventy to eighty percent. That’s amazing. And it all comes from understanding nutrition, applying nutrition, and just watching the results.
–T. Colin Campbell
My Journey to Continue Living a Healthy Lifestyle
My name is Gina Rexrode I was born in 1968 and was “blessed” with a lot of medical challenges right out of the gate. I was diagnosed with congenital heart defects and several other non-heart related problems that would forever impact my life. My parent’s Faith and doing what was necessary medically, brought me through my younger years until I developed to a young adult age.
During my younger adult years and throughout my 30’s, I lived a life free of any medical challenges. I always stayed active and like to exercise and thought I ate pretty well. In 2006 I was diagnosed with Heart Failure and had an ICD (pacemaker/defibrillator) implanted. Since this year, my life changed. I had to deal with medicine, doctors appointments, surgeries, and insurance companies.
However, beginning in December 2019, a video came across my Facebook page regarding the Blue Zones. It seemed interesting so I watched it and became very interested in learning more. I knew I had heart issues and they told me that the Heart Failure was related to my congenital defects and that at the time “stress” just aggravated it. I don’t have high blood pressure, diabeties, cancer, or any other of the major issues that people tend to deal with as they get older. And, I didn’t want to introduce them to life. What could help prevent that from happening? The more I learned, the more I became convinced that living a Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet (Lifestyle) was probably the answer.
So, I introduced my husband to my interest in learning more and he was willing to join me on this journey. My hope is that you find this site interesting, educational, and inspiring by introducing you to the pioneers of what a Whole Food, Plant-Based Lifestyle is and the benefits. you can gain from learning from their knowelge and the science that backs up their claims to help with everything from preventing or reversing heart disease to weight loss.
*I am not a doctor or nutritionalist. This site is ONLY to provide you with a place to begin about how to take better control of your health by reading about my Journey. Please consult your doctor for any diet or medical changes you may have personally.
My Research Journey Timeline
Friends and family that know that I have taken on this journey have been sceptical and may think that we are off our rocker. But, that being said, we believe in what we’ve learned and feel there definitely is some merit to it. We all have heard our doctor say, “Eat your fruits and vegetables.” However, there is never any followup with that to tell you what you are gaining from certain foods.
As with anything that you want to learn about and become better and better at, it takes time and many building blocks along the way. The videos that my husband I watch now, would not be recommended without having some knowledge of the background of the doctors, concepts, or even recipes that would give clarity. I have provided our timeline of where we started to where we are today. I’ve tried to set this site up like college level type courses. If you know nothing about a topic, usually you start at a 099 class before going to a 101 class. Have fun following my timeline.
Where I Started
By selecting one of the following images, it will take you a page on this website for more information about them specifically and you can then select the links to their website and their own YouTube channel. Many of these documentaries and doctors information overlap, but each of them have their own unique passions that is their focus.