Medical Reports: Life Is A Do-Over

WSVN -- Pattiy Hill was a yo-yo dieter. Rarely exercised, and was diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and joint problems. She was 51 years old and fading fast.

Pattiy Hill: "I had been fat for so long. I wanted to live, and I knew fat people don't grow old."

At 280 pounds, Pattiy wanted a do-over, and her doctor told her she could actually have one.

Dr. Michael Roizen, Cleveland Clinic: "You change your habits now and in three years it's like you only had the healthy habit."

Put down that cigarette and in five years, a smoker's lungs can heal.

Dr. Michael Roizen: "If you quit before age 35 and before 20 pack years, which is one pack for 20 years, you get all of it back."

You can change your genes too. Eating three quarters of a cup of broccoli four times a week turns on a gene in the body that makes a protein that kills prostate, breast and colon cancer cells.

Dr. Michael Roizen: "So you get to turn on a gene that helps you kill those cancers simply with something as simple as having broccoli."

12 walnut halves a week doubles the amount of omega-three that most of us have.

Dr. Michael Roizen: "It decreased the risk of stroke or heart attack by 62 percent."

Diet and exercise also take the years off. This was Pattiy before, now she's lost 136 pounds the old-fashioned way. In 13 months, she cut her body fat from 60 to 20 percent and went from a size 24 to a slender size four.

Pattiy Hill: "I looked at it as a way to help myself rather than a way of depriving myself."

So keep Pattiy in mind when you do-over, and be sure to do it right.

Pattiy is now free of diabetes, her high cholesterol and high blood pressure are gone as well as her joint pain. She lost her weight with diet and excersize and lots of determination.

Erica Foreman, Media Relations Manager
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland, OH
(216) 444-7935
foremae@ccf.org