Dale VanDenover proudly admits that he eats like a pig, but his doctors claim he’s still a model patient.

Friday, July 07, 2000

Dale VanDenover proudly admits that he eats like a pig, but his doctors claim he’s still a model patient. The 69-year-old man is eating more than he ever has in his life, and he’s just following doctor’s orders.

Ten years ago, VanDenover suffered a heart attack. He made the recommended lifestyle changes of adding regular exercise to his life and decreasing the amount of fat in his diet.

He had an angioplasty at the time, but his cholesterol levels still were making him sick. The lifestyle changes he had made at that point simply were not enough.

Although he was on a low-fat diet, one of his doctors recommended switching to a vegetarian diet.

Since then, his overall cholesterol level has dropped 34 points. And he’s lost 18 pounds. People can’t believe the man is 69 years old, he said.

VanDenover’s lifestyle change includes a diet with virtually no fat. It’s a change that’s been easier to make than VanDenover thought.

"If you take time to read the labels, there’s all kinds of things that you can eat," he said. "Anyone can eat well with a small amount of fat. It just takes a little bit of education. If anyone wants to change their health, they can do it."

VanDenover’s doctors, Farouk Mookadam and Rajeev Chaudhry, said that he’s a perfect example of how a patient can change his lifestyle and change his health. He can serve as an example that lifestyle changes are possible and can work, Mookadam said of VanDenover.

"When they see him and that he’s doing this successfully, it can impress upon them the importance of lifestyle changes," Mookadam said.

Mookadam explained that VenDenover’s diet is far more likely to impact his health than medication alone. He said surgery will help a patient, but in 10 years, another surgery often is required if the patient doesn’t follow a doctor’s recommended lifestyle changes.

It may seem radical to southern Minnesotans in the middle of SPAMTOWN USA, but it’s possible to eliminate meat from one’s diet, as VanDenover can attest.

"I worked the packing plant and ate fat for 35 years," VanDenover said.

Now, he doesn’t miss meat a bit. In the past four months, he’s had meat about four times. Even then, he has eschewed red meat for lean chicken and fish.

Mookadam also follows the no-fat, low-fat diet, but tends to eat more meat than VanDenover. Both men and their families stick to just grams of fat a day.

Mookadam and Chaudhry feel all of their patients could benefit from making similar lifestyle changes.

"Most people put better fuel in their cars, and pump their bodies full of junk," Chaudhry said.

Mookadam agreed that Americans raised on greasy, salty diets are putting themselves at risk. Both doctors say individuals could prevent not only cardiovascular disease, but cancer as well, by making the lifestyles switch to a primarily vegetarian diet.

"It’s the norm, and everything is geared toward people want to have a heart attack," Mookadam said.

It does take some getting used to, VanDenover will admit. After all, he, like any American, was raised on the classic meat and potatoes diet. But after a month or so, he and his wife had figured out how to adjust their favorite recipes to their new meatless lifestyle.

Their grocery bill is a bit higher, but it’s drastically higher. Plus, it’s worth it, VanDenover and his doctors say.

"My angioplasty was about $3,500," VanDenover said. "My heart attack was $34,000."

So the extra money spent on fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as low fat foods and soy products, is nothing compared to the cost of surgery.

"It is miniscule in comparison to the life lost of a loved one," Mookadam said.