prevention of heart disease

Is there any aspect of your health you would like to change? Maybe you want to lose a few pounds weight, lower your cholesterol, or stay away from drugs?

Today I'm here to talk about different ways to keep a healthy heart-not by prescription drugs or bypass surgery, but with simple changes to your diet.

If all the parts of your circulatory system-arteries, veins, and capillaries-connected from end to end, they would stretch more than 60,000 miles. It was like a circle the Earth twice. However, little blockage could result in the entire 60,000 miles stalled. Doctors use a variety of drugs and surgical procedures to keep the system running.

But back in 1990, no major changes in the practice of medicine. In that year a young doctor in California published a study proving that heart disease is not only preventable, but it can actually be reversed. And he wanted to prove that heart disease can be cured, without surgery or drugs, but only with changes in diet and lifestyle alone. This idea has not occurred to some, because the old view still think that heart disease can only be treated with a one-way street with cholesterol-lowering drugs, heart medications, and if necessary, cardiac surgery.

The remaining patient underwent a very different program. They were asked to follow four steps:

Vegetarian diets are low in fat

Brisk walking half an hour or an hour a day three times a week

Do not smoke

Sport to control stress

It uses a vegetarian diet because of cholesterol and saturated fats are found mainly in animal products. So the diet with no red meat, poultry, and fish can actually eliminate cholesterol and animal fats. Reduce all sources of fat, including vegetable oils. But Dr. Ornish did not use drugs at all - even cholesterol-lowering drugs were not. The program only consists of simple diet and lifestyle changes.

One year later, all patients had an angiogram, a special x-ray can show the blockage of blood vessels of the heart, and the results were compared with the same examination performed at baseline. The result made medical history. Patients who follow traditional medical routine, not generally improved. Average heart blood vessel blockages were worse, than at the beginning of the study. They still had chest pain and still need medication. Although the treatment of heart, but heart disease usually worsens over time.

For patients in the study group, the story is different. Chest pain started to disappear in a few weeks. Their cholesterol levels drop dramatically. And their coronary arteries that have been blocked for years began to open again. In fact, the results were so outstanding that the angiogram showed evidence of which 80% of patients who completed the study to reopen the blood vessel in the first year.

These results were published in The Lancet in 1990 and gave doctors a way to reverse heart disease. The program is less expensive than surgery, easy to follow, and can help keep patients healthy in the long run. "Side effects" were good: the average patient lost 22 pounds in the first year!

A surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, named Caldwell Esselstyn using the same diet for patients with severe pain. A number of patients had been told they had less than a year away. But of the 17 patients who participated in the program, may not find a single heart attack in 12 years! They are alive and well-and managed to reverse their disease.

Think of what this means ...

Three thousand Americans had heart attacks every day, 40 percent of them died. The survivors usually get a heart attack back later.

Every day, nearly 2,600 Americans die of some type of heart disease, including heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease caused by blockage of blood vessels to the kidneys. This means one death every 34 seconds.

But this need not happen. In fact, a quick survey around the globe shows that heart disease is not inevitable. Can be prevented and, as we have learned, we can even reverse it.

But, first of all, what is heart disease?

Heart disease generally occurs due to the growth of a small area - a small lump in the blood vessels. These lumps called plaques and are composed of cholesterol, fat, and excessive cell growth in the lining of the blood vessel muscle. These plaques begin to form an early age - sometimes as a child. Necessary changes to make them heal. But it can indeed be done.

Now you may ask, "Will this happen to me?" Well, let's lay out how to measure your risk of heart attack.

This is the main risk factors:

High cholesterol levels. Do you have a total cholesterol above 200? If yes, you are at risk. But, as we have seen, we will define a more stringent target of cholesterol-about 150. We'll talk more about these numbers.

High blood pressure. Ideally, your blood pressure should be below 120 over 80.

Overweight. Sixty-five percent of the American adult population is overweight or obese. Being overweight increases the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes. Both diabetes type 1 and type 2 heighten your risk.

Smoking. Do you smoke? Smoking damages blood vessels and the heart, leading to higher chances of developing heart disease.

Less lifestyle movement. The American Heart Association mengelasikfikasi lifestyle sedentary as a major risk factor.

Family history of heart. If members of your family have heart disease, it means you have a gene that may increase the risk of heart problems. Or, it could mean you have a tendency to risk.

There are other factors that are not so dominant compared to that just mentioned, but it could be a trigger as well:

Chronic stress, and is touted as a personality "type A"-that is, people who are very impatient and stylish boss.

Age: Men 45 years or older and women 55 years or older have a higher risk. However, this risk has nothing to do with age, but more with diet, smoking, or other unhealthy habits in the long term.

Gender: Men are more at risk of heart disease compared to women at a young age. But women are becoming increasingly at risk after menopause. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States.

If you have more than one of the above risk factors, it is time to consider a change. And that's why I'm here today to tell you how.

Okay, I know my risks. What should I do? How do I choose foods that can lower cholesterol and make my heart healthy?

If you want to talk to the public about the role of a vegan diet in preventing and treating heart disease, please use the lecture Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease as a template for your discussion.