Update after 2 years of trying to reverse heart disease
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 2:15 pmI started on this path two years ago after failing a stress test they administered after I felt out of breath while exercising. Doctors were screaming to cart me to the cath lab and to get stents, but better sense prevailed on me and with the help of the Internet, I found Dr Esselstyn and this board. I declined the surgery and decided to follow this way of eating 100%.
Two years on, I can report that I am almost if not totally out of the woods. My angina is almost 100% gone. I have lost 30 lbs to become normal weight and my labs are excellent. Some numbers:
Weight Total_Cholesterol LDL H1A1C
Before 185 215 >150 6.1
After 152 100 40 5.6 (with 10 Mg Lipitor)
I am a man of 50 years of age. 5 ft 7 inches in height.
I lost all the weight I had to lose within 3 months and my labs improved to excellent very fast. I had lingering angina though. Angina has diminished over time. But it has not been a monotonically improving experience. Sometimes I thought the angina came back from no where. But I can say for sure now that it is almost gone. I do experience it some times when I go on a steep hill or climb a mountain, but that too only in the beginning.
I am close to 100% in following this way of eating. I cheat at times though: I may eat a slice of bread once in a while. I may have some non compliant food at a friend's place, say once a month. No meat or dairy at all though.
Since I was unable to consistently get my LDL below 70, I have been taking a low dose statin, Lipitor 10 mg. My total cholesterol is only 100 and LDL 40, so may be I should reduce the dose to 5 mg. I am still on a beta blocker and a low dose aspirin. My blood pressure is consistently 110s/60s, so I shall ask my cardiologist to reduce the beta blocker dose the next time I see him.
I try and eat as many greens as I can. But not the 6 servings that Dr Esselstyn advises. I do feel better when I eat more greens.
After about 1.5 years of following this path, I noticed that I no longer experience the occasional equipment failure in the bed
A very welcome side effect indeed! My wife has been cooking more green leafy veggies for me since then
I could lose another 5 to 10 lbs. I know how to do that exactly, but feel what I have achieved is good enough
I now see an Integrative medicine cardiologist who fully supports this way of eating. He wants me to continue what I am doing. But try and lose more weight if I can.
I don't know about others but I have found it easy to follow this path. I was a vegetarian for a large part of my life, so leaving meat was no big deal. It was easy to leave oil after I realized that it was not needed to make delicious food. It is difficult in social situations but I manage most of the time. And I have found that eating out is not difficult, even if you are traveling.
My advice to anyone who comes here looking to prevent or reverse heart disease is to ignore the naysayers and just follow this path 100% for 3 months. You will see for yourself that this way of eating is the best medicine you can take.
Two years on, I can report that I am almost if not totally out of the woods. My angina is almost 100% gone. I have lost 30 lbs to become normal weight and my labs are excellent. Some numbers:
Weight Total_Cholesterol LDL H1A1C
Before 185 215 >150 6.1
After 152 100 40 5.6 (with 10 Mg Lipitor)
I am a man of 50 years of age. 5 ft 7 inches in height.
I lost all the weight I had to lose within 3 months and my labs improved to excellent very fast. I had lingering angina though. Angina has diminished over time. But it has not been a monotonically improving experience. Sometimes I thought the angina came back from no where. But I can say for sure now that it is almost gone. I do experience it some times when I go on a steep hill or climb a mountain, but that too only in the beginning.
I am close to 100% in following this way of eating. I cheat at times though: I may eat a slice of bread once in a while. I may have some non compliant food at a friend's place, say once a month. No meat or dairy at all though.
Since I was unable to consistently get my LDL below 70, I have been taking a low dose statin, Lipitor 10 mg. My total cholesterol is only 100 and LDL 40, so may be I should reduce the dose to 5 mg. I am still on a beta blocker and a low dose aspirin. My blood pressure is consistently 110s/60s, so I shall ask my cardiologist to reduce the beta blocker dose the next time I see him.
I try and eat as many greens as I can. But not the 6 servings that Dr Esselstyn advises. I do feel better when I eat more greens.
After about 1.5 years of following this path, I noticed that I no longer experience the occasional equipment failure in the bed
A very welcome side effect indeed! My wife has been cooking more green leafy veggies for me since then I could lose another 5 to 10 lbs. I know how to do that exactly, but feel what I have achieved is good enough
I now see an Integrative medicine cardiologist who fully supports this way of eating. He wants me to continue what I am doing. But try and lose more weight if I can.
I don't know about others but I have found it easy to follow this path. I was a vegetarian for a large part of my life, so leaving meat was no big deal. It was easy to leave oil after I realized that it was not needed to make delicious food. It is difficult in social situations but I manage most of the time. And I have found that eating out is not difficult, even if you are traveling.
My advice to anyone who comes here looking to prevent or reverse heart disease is to ignore the naysayers and just follow this path 100% for 3 months. You will see for yourself that this way of eating is the best medicine you can take.
