the toxic american diet

can we really make ourselves heart attack proof? one man, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., claims that heart disease can been arrested or reversed by a low-fat, plant-based diet. he believes the typical, 'toxic', american diet is way too heavy on meats, fish, fowl, oils and dairy. his goal is not to slow the rate of progression of heart disease, but to annihilate it.

while his goals are lofty, he does have the research to back up his claims. he conducted a 12-year study of 18 patients who in the 8 years prior to his study had experienced 48 cardiac events - a number of these patients were told by other cardiologists that they had about a year to live based on their situation. during this study, he simply placed the patients on a low-fat, plant-based diet coupled with cholesterol- lowering medication (because their conditions were so severe) and the results were incredible. it's interesting that Dr. Esselstyn focused soley on nutrition. he achieved his results without structured exercise, meditation, stress management and other lifestyle changes that were considered essential in other studies. what he found was that he patients really became virtually heart-attack proof. only one patient (who strayed from the plant-based diet) has had a cardiac event.

not only is Dr. Esselstyn dedicated to annihilating heart disease, but he practices what he preaches. he and his wife began following the plant-based diet several years ago. hearing him speak intrigued me to reevaluate my diet to see if i could cut out products containing dairy and oils. it makes sense, and he pretty much convinced me that these seems like the best way to avoid heart disease, but actually taking that step is hard. baby steps.