HEALTH

Lifestyle
Diseases
CORONARY HEART DISEASE
REVERSING HEART DISEASE

reporters:

Felicity Rivas
Daniel Caido
Demver Mendoza
 Coronary
Heart
Disease
Hundreds of thousands of people die
every year from heart attack without
KILLER FOR DINNER
a murmur of protest from the public,
the press, or government agencies.
Yet the number one killer can be
found right on our dinner table!
Coronary Heart Disease
KILLER FOR DINNER

Cardiovascular disease (CVD)

is the main cause of death in
Western countries and in Asia-
Pacific regions.
Do you Yes, but not
everything. The

mean that main culprits are

excessive amounts

what we eat of fat and

cholesterol. The

causes heart underlying

problem is

attacks?
atherosclerosis.
PEOPLE ARE BORN
WITH CLEAN,
FLEXIBLE
ARTERIES.
They should stay that way throughout life.
The arteries of many people, however, are
clogging up with cholesterol, fat and
calcium.
Massive amounts of data have accumulated from
research on animals and humans around the
world. The results are: diets high in fat and
cholesterol produce elevated levels of blood
cholesterol and heart disease. Diets low in fat and
cholesterol, however, reduce blood cholesterol
levels and heart disease.
HOW CAN I TELL IF I
HAVE ATHEROSCLEROSIS?
There simply aren’t any hints of the problem until
your arteries are seriously narrowed or they plug
up with a sudden plaque breakoff. Some people
begin to experience angina (heart pain) on
exertion. For many people, a heart attack is a
sign of trouble. About one-third of heart attacks
result in sudden death.
Who is at risk for a heart attack?
The most serious factor by far is an Obese men are five times more likely
elevated blood cholesterol. Men, 50 to die from heart disease with the age
years and older, with cholesterol levels of 60 than men of normal weight.
over 295 mg% are 10 times more likely
to develop atherosclerosis than men with Other risk factor is like diabetes,
the same age but with levels under 200 elevated triglycerides, sedentary
mg%. lifestyle, & stress. All of the can be
By the age 60, smokers are 10 times controlled by changes in diet and
more likely to die from heart disease lifestyle. Hereditary, age, and gender
than nonsmokers. are risk factors a person cannot
control, but they are usually the least
In North America, 1 out of 3 adults has a
important ones.
high blood pressure. This triples the
likelihood of coronary death compared
to a person with a normal blood
pressure.
What about medications
and surgery?
For those with dangerous cholesterol
levels that do not respond adequately
to diet, medications may be needed,
however, these are expensive.
Furthermore, most have side effects
that require frequent laboratory test
and physician checkups.
CORONARY
HEART DISEASE
It is becoming apparent that
most of these operations do
not prolong life or even
necessarily improve it.
Medical treatment is
temporary at best. The only
long term solution is serious
lifestyle change.
So what is the Begin an active, daily exercise
best approach? program, if people would
lower their cholesterol to
It is always better to prevent below 180 and their blood
than to repair. Start with pressure under 125mmHg and
healthful home cooked meals quit smoking. It has been
that are very low in fat, estimated that 82 percent of
cholesterol yet high in unrefined all heart attacks before age of
complex carbohydrates and 65 could be prevented. Simple
fiber. Such a diet can lower changes in lifestyle would do
elevated cholesterol levels 15 to more to improve the health of
25 percentand reversemany our nation than all the
cases of diabetes in less than hospitals and surgeries and
four weeks. drugs put together.
Reversing
Heart
Disease
EAT YOUR WAY OUT
Bart Giamatti Tim Russert
former Yale president America’s beloved and
respected television-journalist
Scenarios like these are repeated
thousands of times each day across
in North America. Heart disease
now strikes a deadly blow to 3 out
of every 10 Americans.
IS THERE NO WAY
OUT? DOES IT HAVE TO
BE LIKE THIS?
Yes and no
As long as people continue to eat their
rich, fatty diet the statistics will remain
the same. We’ve known for years that a
diet high in fat and cholesterol is the
primary cause of coronary heart disease.
The way out is we have to eat less fat,
oil, and grease and cut back on our
cholesterol intake. If we can commit to
do this, we can help ourselves and even
reverse heart diseases.
Are you saying that heart disease
may be curable?
It looks more & more that way. The idea took on a life of its
own when a young cardiologist, Dr. Dean Ornish, published
a report in the Laurel medical journal, in 1990, that shook
up the medical community. Dr. Ornish spent one year
studying 48 men with advanced heart disease, many of
whom were candidates for coronary bypass surgery.
He randomly assigned the men to two groups. Both groups
were asked to quit smoking and to walk daily. In addition,
the first group practiced stress management & followed a
strict vegetarian diet with less than 10% of their calories
coming from fat with virtually no cholesterol.
The 2nd group was given the standard
American Heart Association’s “Prudent Diet”
for heart disease. This diet allowed 30% of
calories as fat and up to 300 milligrams of
cholesterol a day.
Dr. Ornish reported that those on a very
lowfat vegetarian diet not only dropped their
dangerous LDL (low-density lipoprotein)
cholesterol levels by 37%, but 82% of their
narrowed, plaque-filled arteries had actually
widened, allowing more blood and oxygen to
nourish the heart muscle. The heart disease
had, in fact, begun to reverse itself. The
group on the so-called prudent diet,
however, had virtually no cholesterol drop,
and most of their coronary arteries showed
American Heart Association
increased narrowing- their heart disease had
actually gotten worse.
Vegetarian Diet Prudent Diet
by American Heart Association

less than 10% calories allow 30% of calories

coming from fat as fat
with virtually no up to 300 mg of
cholesterol cholesterol a day
practiced stress
management quit smoking
walk daily
You mean the American Heart
Association’s diet did not help at all?
Their Prudent Diet, designed
for the prevention and
treatment of heart disease,
did not do its job. At the
press conference, Dr. Ornish
concluded: “The moderate
diet recommendations of the
American Heart Association
do not go far enough to
effectively influence the
progression of coronary heart
disease. People with clinically
demonstrated disease need
to go beyond the present
dietary recommendations.”
Keys to reversing heart disease
It may be the nation’s leading cause of death, but it need not be yours. And you can actually reverse it.

Reduce blood cholesterol to less than 160 mg with a very lowfat, high
fiber vegetarian diet, and with cholesterol-lowering medication, if
necessary.
Lose weight by eating more foods-as-grown and fewer refined foods
and animal products.
Drop your high blood pressure by cutting the salt to less than 5 grams
(or 5,000 milligrams) a day, and by getting into daily exercise program.
Stop smoking and reduce alcohol intake. Alcohol is toxic to a
struggling heart.
 a well known surgeon at
the famous Cleveland
clinic took 18 patients

Caldwell with established serious

coronary heart disease

Esselstyn, Jr, and instructed them to

follow strict whole food

M.D. diet, very low in fat, oil,

grease. Refined foods
and animal products are
not allowed.
What was the clinical outcome
of this strict dietary study?
Prior to joining the dietary experiment, these 18
patients had suffered 49 cardiovascular events over a
period of 8 years with a cholesterol level of 230(5.4)
while under excellent cardiological care in Cleveland
clinic. In his 12 year follow up report in American
Journal of Cardiology. Dr. Esselstyn showed zero
cardiovascular events.
 A Killer on the
Loose

Heart attack is the leading cause of death and too much

fat is the cause of heart attack. This is especially true for
the saturated fat (mostly coming from animal sources)
and for the partially hydrogenated fats.
Getting the fat out
Substitute: Try a bowl of chilled fruit instead of ice cream for dessert. Look for
healthful substitutes for the high fat items in your diet, such as cheeses, meat,
dressings and oils.

Reduce: Eat smaller part of your favorite high fat foods. This allows you to savor a few
decadent bites while still cutting fat from your diet.

Eliminate: eliminate as many temptations as possible. If you don’t buy the food, and
bring them in to the house you won’t eat them. Eliminate high fat foods.

Construct: cook for yourself. Get a good lowfat book for educational resources and
learn how to prepare delicious new dishes. It’s the surest way to protect yourself from
the deadly effects of too much fat.
We are born with clean and flexible arteries, but
excessive fat and cholesterol in the diet can clog them up.
Eventually they choke off the oxygen supply to vital
organs. The highly respected intervention studies by Dr.
Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn, established the
concept that plaque filled arteries in patients who
changed to a very low fat vegetarian diet actually began
to open up. This allowed more blood oxygen to the
heart and other vital organs and drastically reduced their
angina pain.
End...
by
Felicity Rivas
Daniel Caido
Demver Mendoza