Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease

I started having angina attacks about 3 years ago. After trying the Ornish diet, and not progressing much due to over-consuming yogurt, I decided to take it even further with this low-fat-vegan diet. For quite some time, I ate almost nothing but steamed kale and rolled oats. It worked! My angina started to go away, and almost immediately, I could go to sleep without having to prop my torso up with a pillow in order to keep my heart from hurting. Over the years, I've taken this diet even further: I don't even eat oatmeal anymore, because I consider them high in fat. Now, I focus on cooked leafy greens, basmati rice (basmati rice is low glycemic), sweet potatoes, and spelt pasta with crushed tomato sauce (make sure the sauce doesn't have any fat). Now that I've been low-fat-vegan for many years: even low-fat vegan veggie burritos from chipotle are ok, and don't cause chest pain. Whenever I get chest pain, which is almost always a result of eating fat, I just prepare some cooked leafy greens and chow down. If this doesn't work fast enough, I use a tip from Dr. D'Adamo's blood type diet book on heart disease (specifically the part for type a's) and prepare and consume as much fresh lemon juice as I can (at least a few ounces of lemon juice), as this seems to thin blood and almost always gets rid of my angina. In short, buy this book and strictly follow its guidelines (or take them even further like I have).

When I was 31, I had a heart attack. Doctors were confused, because my veins were surprisingly clear except for the clot in my LAD. Even though I was over 350 lbs., my entire medical staff felt that I was too young for the cumulative effects of bad living to catch up to me. One of my Internists recommended this book, so my friend bought a copy for my wife to read whilst bedside in the Cardiac ICU. We followed the guidelines set forth in the book as soon as I got out of the hospital, and eleven months later, I had lost 100 lbs. and dropped my cholesterol

In 2008 I started to have issues with my gall bladder. I went to the specialist and was told I needed to have it removed because it was scarred and I had stones. Instead of having the operation, I went on what would be an 8 month long diet change. I used this book (and Joel Fuhrman's Eat To Live, which is more liberal with fats) to create a common-sense diet for myself. I eliminated meats and dairy, stopped drinking sugary drinks, replaced snacks with fruit and ate beans, nuts, leafy greens and veggies and meat substitute (frozen patties), whole grains, etc. I went from 220 lbs to 189 in 8 months without a change in exercise habits. I felt great and I looked great. I started to cheat at the end of the 8 months and had gall bladder attacks again, subsequently having it removed... but the point is, what Esselstyn lays out is common-sense and it works and I truly believe it will make you heart attack proof. If you abide by the simple rules of this diet, you'll get results and you'll feel better. Trust me. The thing to remember is that diet change is not temporary, it is permanent. After a month of my diet change my tastes changed. If you stick with it and make it a way of life, you'll reap the benefits. One of the hard parts was ordering at restaurants because everything is meat first, veggies second... but most restaurants offer a veggie plate or veggie entrees you can get. There is no excuse for not eating right, plain and simple. It works and I stand by this book 100%. I devised my own diet from these pages and I can now go to the grocery store and avoid all of the junk and be in and out in a matter of a half hour or less because I know exactly what I want. Do it for yourself, do it for life.