The list owner says it's a good idea to give everyone else a chance
to get acquainted with a new subscriber.  I'll try to keep this as short
as possible.
   My son, LeRoy, & I have been using the Neanderthin Approach for 9
months.  I wish I had known about it in 1975, when my husband, Curt, was
diagnosed with angina pectoris & was considered a walking time bomb.  He
refused a bypass.  He died of heart failure at work at the Veterinary
Diagnostic Lab at Texas A&M in 11/1977.  I was trying to help him by
using the Pritikin diet.
   Ironically, Vaughn Bryant was starting to publicize his findings in
the local paper at the time - a quaint idea to me.  The closest I had
come to Neanderthin was Carlton Frederick's high protein/low
carbohydrate diet for hypoglycemia after I felt hypoglycemic symptoms
after giving birth to LeRoy.  I gave up coffee cold turkey in 1983 but
could not give up on Cokes & Pepsis.
   From 1977 to late 1996 I loped along, following largely what I
remembered from my perusals of *Prevention*.  I lost all my teeth in
1994/95 - due to poor hygiene, my addiction to caffeinated cola drinks,
& being married for a couple of years to a 2nd husband who had a bad
case of periodontal disease.
   LeRoy started running in 1992/93.  He started losing a lot of
weight.  He was constantly at me to do some sort of exercise as he
didn't want to see me die before my time.  By the time I lost my teeth,
I was almost tempted to buy a cane to help me walk.
   In 1994/95 I begrudgingly started walking - mainly to get him off my
back.  When I took him to his first race in downtown Dallas in the Fall
of 1995, I caught the racing fever.  I saw women older than me (I just
turned 55) running their legs off & loving it.  My 1st 5K walk was in
Dallas in 3/1996.  I finished last, a position I seem to have jealously
guarded in 8 of the subsequent 9 races I have done.  Sometimes, in the
smaller races, I win a trophy, as very few people in my sex-age group
show up.
   Walking - no matter how determined I was - was not doing it for me.
*Runner's World* promotes carbo loading before a race.  My son & I
followed that faithfully, & we were on the verge of vegetarianism.
10/1996, LeRoy pointed out Ray's book in the Whole Foods grocery on
Greeneville Ave in Dallas.  I smiled & thought of Vaughn Bryant.  The
price tag seemed a bit steep for such a slim volume.  Finally - I guess
I felt I had the money - I bought the book the 1st or 2nd week of
12/1996.  That same weekend out onto the compost pile went about
$150-200 worth of groceries.  We have been eating Neanderthin ever
since.
   The 1st big test was LeRoy's 2nd marathon - in Houston on 1/12 of
this year (I did the 5K that day).  We did not carbo load.  We brought
homemade pemmican, hard-boiled eggs, & a ground mixture of
pecans/raisins/dates (the latter was used sparingly).  Although the
temperature never went above freezing, LeRoy had a better recovery time
than at his 1st marathon in Amarillo the Spring before.
   In a letter to Ray on 5/12/97, a couple of statements chould be of
general interest:
   "About a week after we started [Neanderthin], I noticed a chronic
fuzziness in my head had disappeared.  It didn't take much to realize
that much of what I had eaten previously - fueled by the sugar in Pepsis
& Cokes - had been fermenting inside me, producing an alcohol that had
kept me on a constant, low-grade drunk most of my waking hours...
   "In addition, a 'spot' on my lungs/bronchial tubes, that I have had
since as a result of walking pneumonia turned to 6 weeks of laryngitis
with the first 2 weeks of taste and smell loss, has just about cleared
up.  The clearing of the lungs and tubes has also allowed me to have
more stamina and endurance - and less phlegm - when I walk early in the
morning before work."
   Most of the effect of the diet so far has been regenerative.  True
weight loss started around May after I walked the 10K at Amarillo.  So
far, I have cut my pace from around 21 minutes/mile to 18.5 min/mi.
   I know this has been long.  I will save a short explanation why you
should not worry about my having no teeth for another time.
   My main query is this:  Are there other runners/walkers following
Neanderthin out there who would like to help create a T-shirt to wear at
races as advertisement of the approach?  Ray would like to have one when
we come up with a design.
   See you at the Autumn Equinox (Stone Tables, White Rock Lake, Dallas)
7:30 am on 9/20.

Mary Anne Unger
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Fax:  903-874-5129 (also a voice phone at the office)