Chas, the term "eating healthy" is something someone dreamed up that was never applicable to anything. If ingesting fat was going to plug your arteries, they would have been plugged shortly after birth if you were breast fed. Breast milk is extremely high in fat, which is why it is nutritious. If ingesting fat truly plugged arteries and caused coronary artery disease, everyone in France would be dead, yet the French have one of the lowest incidences of coronary artery disease. How about the Aleutian Eskimos - they too consume huge quantities of animal fats, yet enjoy very low cardiovascular disease. In contrast, the folks that have a diet consisting mainly of nuts, berries, fruits and plants, the Australian Aborigines, have the highest incidence of cardiovascular disease in the world. Many, many studies clearly show that populations on the globe that consume the most fat in their diets have the lowest incidence of coronary artery disease. Bottom line, that burger will not kill you or plug your arteries. What plugs arteries is inflammatory diseases that make their way to to the arterial walls, then calcify.

Now, losing weight is a good thing. It takes the stress off your joints, thereby allowing you to remain physically active and go fishing, play golf, ride a bike, etc... All of those things will make you live a lot longer and gain lean muscle. Loosing weight is just a matter of reducing your caloric intake. If your body consumes more calories than you take in, you WILL lose weight. Most of us gain weight because we love the taste of things such as fresh baked bread, ice cream, french fries, and other forms of carbs. In my case, I rarely eat bread, ice cream or any form of potato. I went on the South Beach (low carb) Diet, lost 55-pounds in 5 months, then developed a taste for Green Coconut Margarettas and Jim Bean Honey Bourbon, which is very high in calories and carbs. It took me 10 years, but I managed to gain those pounds back and then a few more. At this stage of life, with my deteriorating lungs, I hope I have a massive heart attack and drop dead on the spot.

Good luck, eat the foods you enjoy most, and you will probably outlive most of your doctors - I have.

Gary