Does anyone know if heart disease is reversible? I mean say you switched to eating a diet that is less saturated fat and more unsaturated fats? Im saying if you switched to eating alot of unsaturated fat products like fatty fish, avocadoes and nuts vs eating saturated fat products like : hamburgers, pizza/ice cream, or deep fried foods like french fries? Also including alot of fruit and vegetables as well as legumes, and oatmeal to help rid the body of bad cholesterol? Im wondering because if anyone has taken a chemistry class there are reactions that take place and many of them go in both directions(forward and backwards). Some only go in the forward direction but most of them can go either way. I am wondering with that said, can you reverse heart disease by switching to eating more unsaturated fats?
Dean Ornish has done some very good research that shows his diet can reverse markers of cardiovascular disease. (Yes, he is a popular author, but he's also a researcher at UCSF.) To my knowledge, his diet is the only one that has been shown to produce these reductions. Maybe the Pritikin diet has also? They're pretty similar, I believe (both low in %fat, esp saturated fat, high in whole grains and fiber, low in simple carbs).
Who is Dean Ornish? Im also not sure what Pritikin diet is? Ive heard the ideal diet is the meditteranean diet which emphisizes: fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and proteins mainly in the form of fatty fish and few red meats. The american diet is very far from this which includes: mcdonalds/burger king/kfc/wendys, hotdogs, steaks and all sorts of unhealhy crap.
I am sure if you google Dean Ornish you will get a lot of information. From what I have read he has done a lot of great research. He has written a book titled Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease which you will probably want to read. I have not read it so I don't know all about the diet but I believe that it is a vegetarian or vegan diet that is very low in fat. Avocadoes and nuts are actually rather fatty and should be eaten in moderation, and possibly avoided on a low fat diet. Considering how polluted our planet currently is I would no longer consider fish to be very healthy as they can contain mercury. Mercury is not something you want to be consuming. But a Meditteranean diet can easily be made vegetarian or vegan, should you wish to do so, since it is fairly close to that anyway.
But the eskimoes consume alot of fish and so do the japanese. Eskimoes dont consume anything other than fish and are healthier than most americans.
I think you missed the point walker. Unsaturated fats are actually required to be healthy and avoiding fat altogether is just as dangerous as consuming the wrong kinds of fats. That is the problem with the old food pyramid. They included fats at the top and said all fats were bad and they also included chicken with redmeats and acted like all meats are treated equal when they arn't. EFA'S found in fish are essential fatty acids which most vegetarians have a hard time getting unless they eat walnuts. EFA'S arnt found in too many green vegetables.
Good fats are good for you! They are only worrysome if you overindulge on them and you're afraid of gaining weight. Nuts, avocados, fish, are all great sources of unsaturated mono and poly fats which LOWER your bad cholesterol and RAISE your good cholesterol. Which would lower your risk for heart disease. Nothing bad about it. I don't know the original question though, just had to get that out there
some research is showing that some saturated fat can help your good cholesterol on a reduced carb diet, not eliminated carbs - makes the balance between the bad - good cholesterol better and more in a healthy favor thats not to say go out and eat as much of it as you can. but its not as bad as its made out to be.
I was not suggesting to avoid fat all together. Fats are required to be healthy, especially unsaturated fats as you said. But when it comes to fats you can get too much of a good thing. Ornish's diet is low fat and as such one would not want to make nuts and avocadoes a large part of this diet. But I am not an expert on his diet so I suggest you check it out and decide for yourself.
All nuts other than chestnuts contain saturated fat as do avocados. For this reason they were considered to be off the menu for the original Pritikin diet- possibly the dumbest diet of all time. As people turned away in droves from the Pritikin diet, it was then modified to include nuts and avocados. There is no scientific, epidemiological studies or even anecdotal evidence in favour of the Pritikin diet. Some people have reported premature getting wrinkles from being on the Pritikin diet. The basis for the Pritikin diet is the demonisation of the saturated fat based on early research by Ancell Keys. The problem with these experiments were they did not differentiate between saturated fat and trans fat. Since then there has been abundant evidence against trans fat. It is mainly found in margarine.The fact that the original Pritikin diet failed to work, is good enough proof to feel good about eating saturated fat if I so choose. PETA websites are not credible sources of information. Further reading: http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/oiling.html http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/548/
There is no such thing as good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, and some of the more informed doctors will tell you that cholesterol is actually GOOD for you, as your entire nervous system is made up of it. All this hype about cholesterol is a SCAM concocted by the big pharmaceutical companies to get everyone taking their dangerous drugs which actually increase the risk of a heart attack by depleting a person's co-enzyme Q10 levels. The fact is, the cholesterol one receives in food makes up a very small percentage of a person's blood cholesterol. The overwhelming percentage of the body's cholesterol comes from the liver, and the more cholesterol you consume in food, the less your liver produces. However, other medical conditions can lead to an increase in cholesterol. It's a misconception that one's diet causes high cholesterol, though being overweight can certainly contribute to higher cholesterol levels. But even still, cholesterol's role in heart disease is highly exaggerated. People who have healthy arteries do not accumulate plaque. Clogged arteries are the result of nutritional deficiencies, not strictly fatty, high cholesterol diets. Taking mass quantities of vitamin C produces collagen which strengthens the arteries, and arteries which are healthy do not accumulate plaque, no matter what you eat. So the number one way to prevent heart disease is to make sure you have enough vitamin C in your diet. The high-sugar, high-calorie American diet is very much deficient in vitamin C, and even if you eat lots of fruits and vegetables, you still are likely not getting the required amounts. This is why vitamin C supplements are important. I myself take 6,000-8,000 mg daily. Of course exercise and a healthy diet are important as well.
He never gave any references to PETA websites for his information. There are lots of sources that promote what he said. Even if he did use PETA, how is that any different than using a source that promotes eating meat? The source of the articles is not so much important as the source of the studies that provided the information.
Higher cholesterol levels are associated with heart disease but it is the human boy's response to the problem not the cause of the problem. It is analogous to sweating does not make you hot; you sweat because you are hot.
i agree. Exercise and stress management can be just as important as eating right for reversing the risk of heard disease.
There are probably many factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease. No one factor can be said to be solely responsible. Having said that, I believe that some factors (low serum HDL and other dyslipidemias, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, diabetes mellitus) have been so strongly linked that, directly or not, they probably play some mechanistic role in the development of CVD. That doesn't necessarily mean that adjusting these factors will reduce CVD. But as it turns out, there is good evidence that doing just that will affect a person's risk of CVD events. Bilby - maybe I misspoke about the Pritikin diet. I think it's more a "program" than a diet (since it involves exercise as well), and I believe that there is scientific evidence that programs similar to the Pritikin program (dumbest diet of all time or not ) do modify CVD risk. A quick Pubmed search didn't turn up a ton of articles specifically identifying the Pritikin program by name, though. Pressed Rat - the entire nervous system is largely composed of lipids (fats), of which cholesterol is a portion. Good (HDL) and bad (LDL) cholesterol are simplifications to help people understand the risks that low HDL and high LDL can represent. It's true that some people are much less likely to develop plaques than others, and I don't think we really know why that is yet. But there is good evidence that cholesterol plays a major role in the processes that lead to CVD. Walker - many fishes (e.g., swordfish) are high in mercury, but others are not and make wonderful, healthy meals in moderation (e.g., wild salmon).
I agree about exercise. The one thing that is consistant in every study for every health problem is that exercise helps. It is probably more important than diet, though diet still plays a part.
