He ate like almost every other carefree kid who grew up in the southern mountains of Elizabethton, Tenn. Fast food, fried food and milkshakes were his “artery-clogging” foods of choice.
However, Lawrence Timbs, now 61, still managed to keep a lean physique. As a young adult, he had no health problems related to his non-nutritious eating habits.
After graduating from high school at age 17, he joined the United States Air Force and served four years. He eventually earned a bachelor’s degree from Christopher Newport College in Virginia and a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Iowa while working as a journalism instructor.
He worked in Shelbyville, Ky., for seven years as a general manager, editor, news editor, and reporter for Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc. as well.
Timbs first arrived at Winthrop University in 1985; he was in his late 30s. Not until 10 to 15 years later, however, did the effects of his “voracious” appetite seem to catch up with him.
Weight gain became a serious issue for him in 2005, and he started to notice that he did not have any energy. The problem grew even worse the following year, but he still was not too concerned. By 2007, he could not walk up a staircase without “huffing and puffing.”
“I was in denial,” Timbs said.
Some people face the “nutrition facts of life” at an early age.
Winthrop nutrition professor Alice Sutton, 57, grew up in various parts of California eating her mother’s cooked-from-scratch foods and nutritious meals. She never ate fast food, drank sodas or had sweet tea in her home. Sutton said her mother’s ways taught her the importance of maintaining a well-balanced, healthy diet.
Eventually, she earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of California – Davis and a master’s degree in public health from the University of California – Berkeley.
Before teaching at Winthrop, she worked for 25 years as a clinical dietician. Her work experience includes counseling people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Sutton also worked as a public health nutritionist at high-risk maternity clinics and with pediatricians.
Because she did most of her work in North and South Carolina, she said she “understands Southern eating patterns and how they changed in the past century.” She also said she knows how these patterns have influenced health and longevity.
In early 2008, at a weight of 206 pounds, Timbs finally came to the realization that something was wrong. He took a stress test at the Veteran’s Hospital in Johnson City, Tenn. One of his cardiologists saw problems with the results, so he had to have a heart catheterization procedure. The chief of cardiology revealed that his heart had one blocked artery and another that was almost blocked.
In the Western Hemisphere, especially in the United States, cardiovascular disease (CVD) rates continue to increase. It is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, along with cancer, which together make up 51 percent of all deaths, according to the 2009 Wellness Reports from the University of California at Berkeley.
The occurrence of this disease is partly attributable to unhealthy lifestyle patterns, like those of Timbs, and diets that are high in saturated fat and sugar and are low in fruit, vegetables and fiber.
Timbs’ cardiologist prevented him from going back to Winthrop until something was done to correct his heart problem. The solution was double-bypass open-heart surgery in April 2008 at the Asheville Veteran’s Medical Center in North Carolina. He thinks the need for surgery came partly as a result of his poor diet.
Clinical trials, which evaluate the effectiveness of specific treatments for an identified medical condition, have proven that dietary habits affect multiple cardiovascular risk factors in both established risk factors (blood pressure, cholesterol levels and obesity) and new ones (inflammation), according to the American Heart Association.
Before his surgical procedure, Timbs blogged on Monday, April 1, 2009, about his thoughts. He wrote about how he was “just waiting and trying to stay positive.”
Fortunately, the surgery turned out to be successful, and he referred to it as a “transformative experience” and a “wake-up call.”
During his recovery, his doctor advised him to change his lifestyle by eating healthily. He understood that, in order for this to never happen again, he would definitely have to make that change.
Some people do not make the change until it is too late. On Saturday, May 26, 2007, Don Thompson, a 66-year-old retired exterminator, suffered a massive heart attack at his home in Inman, S.C.
Following his typical weekend routine, he woke up around 6:30 a.m. to read while enjoying a big bowl of Lucky Charms with two-percent milk. He changed into clothes he could get dirty since he was going to spend time tinkering in his workshop in the garage and later do yard work.
Thompson was out there for about two hours before he started to feel ill.
“It felt like a volcano was erupting in my chest,” he said.
The tightening and pain in his chest grew worse, and he began to develop breathing difficulties.
When he went inside his home, his wife Julie immediately became concerned and drove him to the hospital.
Plaque buildup had formed in the arteries of his heart and created blockages, which led to the heart attack and, subsequently, quadruple-bypass open-heart surgery on Thursday, May 31. He was clinically declared dead twice on the operating table.
His unhealthy diet, which consisted of Julie’s sweet homemade desserts, he believes, heavily contributed to his heart troubles.
“Before my heart attack, I was like the man in those Hungry Man commercials,” he said. “I ate large portion sizes and loved my meat.”
Over two years later, Thompson is back to helping his wife landscape the yard and singing in the Motlow Creek Baptist Church quartet.
After his heart surgery, his doctor, like Timbs’, advised him to alter his eating habits.
“This is the only life I have. I need to take better care of it,” he said.
It took him almost a year before Thompson to “feel like himself” again.
“It was a slow and frustrating process,” he said, “but taking the advice of my doctors about what to eat and how to exercise really made the difference.”
In one meta-analysis, a healthy eating pattern was shown to reduce the risk of coronary death or nonfatal myocardial infarction (heart attack) when it was compared to an unhealthy eating pattern among men and women (mean age of 50) at the time of their dietary assessment, according to the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,” which often provides updates on the long-term effects of dietary patterns and the risk of coronary heart disease. A meta-analysis pools together the results of studies that have investigated a specific effect and develops a conclusion using the reviewed results.
In his blog, Timbs wrote about how hard it was to be “smart” about what he ate and did. He began to alter his food choices by avoiding the consumption of red meat and fatty foods. Recommended instead were skim milk, grape juice, carrots, oatmeal, and baked white meats.
By also incorporating more servings of non-starchy fruits and vegetables into his diet, the amount of fiber in his body increased as well, which has proven to be beneficial to the heart.
Cohort studies, which follow a large number of people over a specific time period, have found a “consistent protective effect of dietary fiber on CVD outcomes,” according to “Cardiovascular Research,” a medical journal.
In fact, the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” reported that recent research in a national sample, conducted in the United States, has discovered a positive relationship between dietary fiber intake and inflammatory markers. Inflammation of the heart’s arteries, tissues or muscles can result in CVD.
Furthermore, a cross-sectional study, which determines whether any risk factors are present and can be associated with the development of a particular disease, analyzed the connection between dietary fiber intake and CVD risk factors in adult men and women. It concluded that those with the highest total dietary fiber intakes were associated with having a much lower risk of high blood pressure, which can foster CVD.
Thirty-five grams of fiber is the recommended daily amount for men (25 grams for women). Eliminating saturated fats and sugary sweets from his diet was partly responsible for his quick recovery from the heart surgery procedure. Saturated fat should be avoided and substituted with monounsaturated fat or polyunsaturated fat if possible. Saturated fat is found mostly in animal sources like red meat and whole milk dairy products. Sutton explained that fried foods, such as most fast foods, are cooked in oil that contains unhealthy trans fat; overweight people have more fat in their blood. These fats enter the bloodstream, form clumps and leave plaque on artery walls, which makes them narrower. High blood pressure and blood clots can result from this. Saturated fat also raises the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol that increases a person’s risk of coronary heart disease. The article that focuses on the updated American Heart Association guidelines for cardiovascular health, Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter, advised people to limit their saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent of their total calories, which is down from the suggested10 percent in 2000.
Sugar has negative effects on the body, and the amount a person consumes in a daily diet should be restricted. Helpguide.org, a non-profit Web site, reported that in a year, just one daily 12-ounce can of soda, which is equal to 160 calories, can increase a person’s weight by 16 pounds; obesity is a risk factor for many different kinds of heart problems. Sugar, a carbohydrate, also fills the body with empty calories that lack essential vitamins and nutrients. More than a year after his surgery, Timbs continues to be cautious. He exercises at the Lois Rhame West Health, Physical Education and Wellness Center three times a week and has dropped down to 183 pounds.
He has experienced many positive things from dieting and exercising, which is something he thinks everyone should be doing, too.
“I have more stamina and I feel stronger,” he said, “I can ride a bike and hike.” Exercise and weight control should be incorporated as a routine part of a person’s lifestyle in order to stay healthy.
The American College of Sports Medicine stated that health benefits occur with energy expenditures as low as 700 calories per week, with more benefits occurring at higher levels. These benefits include maintaining a healthy heart. It also reported that the suggested daily energy expenditure for health is 150 to 400 calories per day.
Timbs’ new commitment to eating healthily has allowed him to take on many active roles at Winthrop. He now serves as the faculty adviser to the Winthrop chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, is on the South Carolina Press Association Collegiate Division Committee and is the adviser to The Johnsonian weekly student newspaper.
Instead of giving in to the sweet, creamy milkshakes, juicy hamburgers and crispy french fries, which he still “dearly loves,” he has opted not to return to his unhealthy southern Tennessee ways.
Senior Caty Fullerton, a 23-year-old journalism major from Spartanburg, S.C., is a former three-time student of Professor Timbs.
She had him for media writing before his heart surgery, and she had him again for news editing and feature writing after his heart surgery. In addition, Fullerton worked alongside Timbs on the Winthrop chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists from 2007 until 2009. She was the president and he was the faculty advisor.
Before his heart surgery, she recalls him complaining about being tired sometimes, even though she never really noticed him being sluggish.
“His biggest change, to me, was definitely emotional,” she said.
After the surgery, she remembers him talking about how he had to change his lifestyle and eating habits in order to stay healthy. He told the students in his classes that he had to work out more, and Fullerton said she has run into him exercising at the West Center and other places often.
Personally, she thinks diet and exercise certainly play a large part in heart health. In her opinion, whether a person only diets or only exercises, either way presents some effort on his or her part.
“You can’t be too healthy,” she said, “but some effort is better than none.” Growing evidence, from numerous sources and Timbs’ experience, indicates that heart health can be managed with a proper diet rich in fruits, vegetables and fiber, as long as saturated fat and sugar amounts are regulated and exercise and weight control become a permanent part of a person’s lifestyle.
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