February is National Heart Awareness Month, and this month I am addressing the link between diet and heart disease.
It has been proven that reversing heart disease holistically is possible. Studies show that people on healthy vegetarian diets have lower risks of:
• Heart disease
• Colorectal, ovarian, and breast cancers
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
This is because a healthy vegetarian diet is commonly high in organic, fresh, whole vegetables and fruits, low in unhealthy fat, and abundant in fiber and antioxidants. I do believe that quality is important.
For an optimum vegetarian/vegan diet, you want to buy certified organic, non-GMO, fresh food, and to avoid trans-fats, cottonseed oil, canola oil, soy, artificial sweeteners, high fructose sweeteners, white refined carbohydrates, processed, microwaved, pasteurized, radiated, and fast foods. (I expand on this in my book, “How To Be A Healthy Vegetarian,” 2nd edition.)
Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., former president of the medical staff at the Cleveland Clinic, writes that you can reverse heart disease with no drugs and only a plant-based diet. He bases this conclusion on the groundbreaking results of his 20- year nutritional study. Backed by solid scientific evidence, he argues that we can end the heart disease epidemic simply by changing what we eat. Dr. Esselstyn recommends a plant-based, oil-free diet that he says can prevent heart disease, stop its progress, and even reverse its effects.
Dr. T. Colin Campbell, PhD, professor emeritus at Cornell University and co-author of The China Study, the most comprehensive human nutrition study to date, advocates a plant-based diet for optimum health.
I was fortunate to be part of Dr. Campbell’s class at Cornell University, where he told us: Plant-based eating is a superior way of eating. Benefits of eating this way: Live longer, look and feel younger, have more energy, lose weight, lowers blood cholesterol, prevents and even reverses heart disease, lowers your risk of prostate, breast and other cancers, preserves your eyesight in your later years, prevents and treat diabetes, avoid surgery, vastly decreases the need for pharmaceutical drugs, helps keep bones strong, avoid impotence, avoid stroke, prevents kidney stones, keeps your baby from getting type 2 diabetes, alleviates constipation, lowers your blood pressure, avoid Alzheimer’s, beats arthritis and more.
Dr. Campbell discussed studies he had done on the diseases that arise in populations when meat protein is introduced into the diet. He continued: “My early research gave me the understanding that animal protein, when tested experimentally, was substantially different from plant protein in its ability to promote tumor development. It turned out that animal protein had its effect by operating through a constellation of integrative mechanisms. The division between animal and plant foods was a signpost of a division of the kinds of foods having an effect on cancer.”
“Dr. Dean Ornish in California, and Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. in Ohio, during the mid l980’s, each separately initiated studies of plant-based nutrition as treatment for patients severely ill with coronary artery disease. Their goal was to remove every last morsel of animal food, dairy, processed flour, and oils that were causing the disease, and to eat a diet of vegetables, fruit, legumes and whole grains.
In all compliant patients, results were prompt and enduring. Angina heart pain diminished or disappeared as cholesterol levels promptly lowered, and both physicians found that x-rays of the hearts’ arteries confirmed the disease could be reversed.
Dr. Ornish proved this after one year of treatment. Dr. Esselstyn showed the same at 5 years, and reported his results again at 12, 16, and finally beyond 21 years in his book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. Dr. Esselstyn is particularly pleased with a smaller subset of patients who were told by expert cardiologists in 1986 they had less than a year to live, and all of whom are alive 21 years later.”
One thing I’ve learned through research is that people with heart disease frequently have diabetes as well. It’s common for a person to actually die from a heart attack, without even knowing they were diabetic. According to Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr., “the number one cause of death amoung diabetics is heart disease.” A plant-based diet can help with reversing diabetes as well.
More than 100 million people today have diabetes or pre-diabetes. The study’s findings agree with my experience. Working with people who have diabetes, I have found they show remarkable improvement in their health and well-being from consuming a plant-based and almost completely raw food diet.
Dr James Anderson, of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, directed a study of 25 Type 1 and 25 Type 2 diabetics. (This study is cited in China Study.) This study involved placing the patients on a high-fiber, high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet in a hospital setting. Dr. Anderson initially put the patients on the American Diabetes Association recommended diet plan for one week. Then he switched them over to a vegetarian, plant-based diet for three weeks.
None of these patients were overweight when they started the study, but they were on insulin shots to control their blood sugar levels. All through the study,
Dr. Anderson measured their blood sugar levels, their cholesterol levels, their medications, and their weight. Type 1 diabetics cannot produce insulin, and it was thought that dietary changes would not affect this situation.
But, the results showed that after three weeks on a vegetarian, whole-food, high-fiber diet, the “Type 1 diabetics were able to lower their insulin medication by an average of 40%”, “their blood sugar profiles improved dramatically”, and their “cholesterol levels dropped by 30%”.
These results were more impressive with the Type 2 diabetics who had not incurred as much damage to their pancreas. After three weeks on the high-fiber, vegetarian diet, 24 of the 25 Type 2 diabetics could discontinue their insulin medication completely.
The one Type 2 diabetic who wasn’t able to get off his medication had been a 25-year diabetic taking 35 units per day. After three weeks of vegetarian food, his requirement dropped down to only eight units per day. As he continued the vegetarian eating plan at home, he was able to cut out all insulin shots after another eight weeks.
In addition to adding more plant-based foods to your diet, there is a supplement, Protandim, that has been studied extensively and found to help with cell damage and oxidative stress. It can help reduce oxidative stress by 40% in 30 days. (I recently started taking it for my overall health.)
The studies show it can help with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, as well as many other health situations. It’s been nominated for two Nobel Prizes for Medicine and has had over 26 peer reviewed medical papers written about it. Some of those studies are concerning the benefits of this supplement for the heart.
ABC did a PrimeTime Update on this supplement to show it’s benefits for aging and overall health.
(If you want to try this supplement, let me know, and I’ll be happy to help you in choosing which one of their products would be best suited for you and your health situation.)
In closing, I’ve learned that everyone needs to find the diet that works best for them, and to find balance in their life. Even if you do not become 100% vegetarian, just switching out a few meals a week (or a day), can start to make a difference in your health. As you do this, it will start to become easier and you will be on the road to better health.
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To order the supplement that helps reduce oxidative stress: New customers please go here: www.nancyaddison.lifevantage.com Please use my Referral link, It will be my great honor to have you as a client and support you in your transformation!
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