Heart Disease

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn was a surgeon, clinician & researcher at the Cleveland Clinic. He's presently Emeritus staff and privately sees patients from all over the country who want to take an active role in reversing their heart disease.   He suggests the vegan diet to prevent, stop & reverse heart disease.  He and his wife started following this diet 25 years ago, when  he was 50 years old.  At age 75, he's a walking testament to the diet he advocates!

1. •Back in 1984-85 he started a group of 24 patients with severe  heart disease (5 of whom were told they had less than a year to live) on a strict vegan, no oil diet.  6 dropped out--2 of that group died--the other 4 all had bypass surgery.  Of the remaining group who continued on the diet, all have  stopped or reversed their heart disease for over 20 years now.  All have active full lives. Here' s an example of the kind of disease reversal Dr. Essestyn's patients achieved after 32 months on a vegan diet.
   

2. •A young Doctor had an heart attack and went on a specific diet. below is a picture of his artery repairing itself without surgery
   

                             

Prevention, and stop & Reverse Heart Disease?

Meat, cheese, milk, butter, ice cream, eggs, fried foods, oils and margarine are the lethal atherosclerotic lynchpins.

1. •No chicken, no fish, no meat, no eggs
   

2. •No oils of any kind - including olive oil
   

3. •No dairy products of any kind - even fat-free
   

4. •Generally no nuts or avocados (small amounts of walnuts are OK if you don't have diagnosed heart disease-but watch out-it's hard to control the amount)
   

Foods to eat

1. •Vegetables-lots of green leafy ones to restore & heal the endothelial lining of your blood vessels.  Kale, Swiss Chard, Cilantro, Collards, Bok Choy, Parsley, Spinach, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower
   

2. •Whole fruit depending on sugar levels
   

3. •Whole grains
   

4. •Beans/Legumes; "light" tofu--cautious use of low-fat soy meat substitutes. Many are highly processed, high-fat junk food.
   

The time factor

According to Dr. Esselstyn, if you change your diet, you will change your biochemistry & metabolism & make yourself heart-attack proof in 3-4 weeks.  Angina will stop in that short amount of time.  Of course, it will take much longer to reverse the plaque build-up, but within a short amount of time you can prevent plaque from rupturing and causing a heart attack.

How Can a Symptom-Free Person With Arterial Blockage of Only 10-30% Possibly Have a Heart Attack?

1. •Arterial plaque is like little bubbles of inflammation.  The Western diet of meat, dairy & fat keeps that inflammation going and the plaque growing.
   

2. •Even if the artery blockage is 30% or less, when the inflammation gets to the point that the protective cap covering the plaque starts to thin out, eventually the shear force of the blood running over the plaque can cause the plaque to tear away from the artery's lining. Think of plaque like a scab in the artery lining that comes loose.
   

3. •When the plaque ruptures, its contents ooze out, spilling into the blood.
   

4. •The ruptured plaque stimulates the formation of a clot which can now cause the artery's blockage to go from the previous safe 10-30% to 100%.
   

5. • A heart attack occurs in someone who never had a previous symptom, who never even knew he had heart disease, and certainly never had a reason to have an angiogram.
   

6. •Inflammation in the presence of plaque is bad news.