Question: I have an extensive family history of heart disease and am concerned for my own health. Can you tell us how a plant based diet reverses heart disease?
Answer: Thank you for your question and your interest. The only thing that will reverse your heart disease successfully and long term is a plant based diet...no pill can do that for you. In order to reverse your disease you have to eat a diet without any cholesterol (meaning a completely plant based diet since only animal products contain cholesterol) and one with about 10% or less of the calories coming from fat, with as little saturated fat as possible. Once that is achieved you have swung the balance of cholesterol and fat metabolism from being deposited onto the vessel walls over to being removed off of the vessel walls. So if there is a high level of cholesterol and fat in the diet then that will fuel the growth of plaques (similar to pimples) on the vessel walls that are just waiting to rupture. By choosing diets low in fat and devoid of cholesterol the plaques on our blood vessel walls will actually stabilize (preventing the rupture that leads to heart attacks and strokes) and often even start to heal and reverse! The only reason heart disease became a problem in the last century was because we started eating foods that our body was not designed to eat. Unfortunately for most Americans today, our body is just not designed to handle large loads of cholesterol and fat. The cholesterol and fat in the standard American diet overwhelms the body's natural disposal system with the excess damaging ALL blood vessels. Unfortunately, we don't realize the extent of the damage until we get a heart attack, stroke, or require a leg amputation.
Copyright © MMVII.(2007)Exsalus. All Rights Reserved.
