Heart disease used to be rare, but no more. It is now the leading cause of death in both developed and developing countries. This disease has no geographic, gender, social, or economic boundaries. It is affecting all classes of people and it is showing up earlier in life, i.e., in younger people than before. How can you curb this criminal that is stealing away many lives steadily and unnoticeable? You can eat your way out of Heart Disease.
There is a way out although many do not realize that they can help themselves.
With people still eating rich, fatty diet, the number of deaths from this disease will remain the same. It is a known fact that a diet high in fat and cholesterol is the primary and essential cause of coronary heart disease.
But there is hope! If you eat less fat, oil and grease and cut back on your cholesterol intake then heart disease can not only be prevented it can also be reversed.
There is a lot of problems with fat and many ask, "Where is the fat?" Where do I get all the fat they are talking about from? What is fat?
Fat belongs to the Lipid family of substances. Most of the fats you eat are triglycerides and so is most of the fat stored in your body. The other lipids are phospholipids and sterols. We need only small amounts of fat, which are used in the structure of all our cells. We use fats for growth, maintenance and repair. They also play a role in manufacture of hormones and other related functions.
The question is - If fat is necessary how then can eating fat kill us?
If you eat in excess of the body’s need, fat becomes a silent killer. Fat in food eaten in excess is being singled out as the most damaging component of the western diet and the same we are now seeing is taking place in Africa. And if you eat a lot of fat you will almost automatically be eating far less fiber. High-fat, low-fiber diet is linked to mamy diverse problems such as coronary artery (heart) disease, obesity, gallstones, appendicitis, cancers of the colon, breast, and prostate: strokes, constipation, and diverticulitis, diabetes –and many more. The last 30 years have witnessed an increase of fat intake of up to 20gm per person per day.
But then again, is heart disease curable?
Yes, from the evidence that we have. Two prominent medical doctors have done what had seemed impossible for a long time. Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn have proved that this is possible. Both of these cardiologist and surgeon gave a revolutionary, scientific proven, Nutrition-based cure, Ornish published in the Lancet Medical Journal in 1990 a report that shook the medical world. He spent a year studying 48 men with advanced heart disease; most of them were candidates for coronary bypass surgery. He divided them into two groups. …. He showed that the American Prudent diet for heart disease did not help the one group that he gave this diet to, but a strict whole-food plant based diet with stress management reversed the heart disease of the second group. Dr. Esselstyn did the same and published the Book “Prevent and Reverse Heart disease."
You are rightly wondering - Where are we getting this fat?
From corn oil, (saturated fat= 13%) Olive oil,(13%) Soybean oil,(14%) peanut oil,(17%) margarine, (17%) vegetable shortening,(31%) palm oil, (49%) coconut oil,(86%- new vogue on drinking this) Palm kennel oil (81%).
Saturated fats increase blood cholesterol levels. The taking of such oils as Olive oil in minimal amount is the fact that it has more unsaturated fat which tend to lower cholesterol. But it is best eaten in the olives themselves.
Also any fats represent the highest concentration of calories in any diet.
The best way to know if you are getting too much fat is to do a blood test. Because it is not only if you are fat that tells whether you have too much fat or not.
Overweight is a sure indicator of too much fat. When you do a blood test and you have the result on triglycerides levels you actually know if you have too much fat. The standard set for normal triglyceride is less than 150mg/dL. Borderline is 150-199, Very high is 500mg/dL.
Maybe you think as some have actually asked me: aren’t we protected from this problem since we do not have the American Heart Prudent diet which the researchers are showing causes this health condition?
Remember that worldwide one out of three deaths occurs as a result of heart disease. And 80% of theses deaths occur in low and middle-income countries, Nigeria being inclusive. We therefore must be eating the prudent diet unawares. What we consider moderate use of animal fat and cholesterol does not protect the heart from this disease. The group on the moderate fatty diet in Dr. Ornish’s study actual got worse on that diet. The typical food eaten by most of us in this country today are heavy in fat. Many unaware of the fat content in the oils they use in cooking and because it gives pleasant taste are eating far too much. If care is taken you can prevent and eat yourself out of heart disease.
So, there is hope.
Under the proper conditions it is now possible to reverse heart disease. Too much fat is the leading cause of heart attacks. This is especially true of saturated fat -mostly coming from animal sources- and from partially hydrogenated trans-fat.
Understand that fat is a vital part of our diet.
Fat is a fundamental part of every living cell. It is the body’s back up fuel. We cannot be healthy without fat in our diets. However, we run into problems when we eat too much fat, especially the wrong type. To run a Mercedes S class you need to put the right fuel. You might get away with it for a while but you will soon have problems with the engine. Or supposing you decide to run your car on kerosene. Before the kidneys and liver go into failure the person would have destroyed 80% of these organs. 80% or more of the inner diameter of the heart arteries have been clogged before the first experience of angina or heart attack.
Let me itemize quickly how fat damages the body.
1. Too much fat in your food results in the hardening and narrowing of the vital arteries that supply nutrients and oxygen to the body-a process called atherosclerosis.
2. Too much fat makes the blood thick and sticky, slowing circulation and causing red blood cells to stick to each other in clusters. These clumped blood cells cannot carry their full load of oxygen and cannot go through small tiny capillaries. Destitute of oxygen and nutrient, body cells become vulnerable to injury, disease, and death.
3. Scientific evidences are showing that some of the by-products of fat digestion are involved in the development of certain cancers. These substances cause irritation and inflammation of the bowel walls and may be a factor in colitis and colon cancer. It is with adequate fiber that faeces can move quickly, leaving less time for toxic carcinogens to act on bowel walls.
4. Too much fat in the bloodstream is one of the factors that depress immune cells production.
5. Too much fat has been shown to impair the efficiency of the body’s insulin mechanism, which may lead to diabetes, and 80% of diabetes not reversed will lead to heart disease.
6. The amount of saturated fat, as well as the amount of trans fat (hydrogenated) in the diet also powerfully affect blood cholesterol.
7. Majority of the high fat foods is also loaded with cholesterol, which injures the linings of arteries. The body responds by sealing off the damaged spots with extra cells. As more fat and cholesterol are eaten more and more of the cells are added, one on top of each other, until plaques are formed that are large enough to narrow and block coronary arteries. Then heart attacks occur.
It is time to reduce the amount of fat you are eating. How can you do that?
Here are four strategies to reduce fat in your diet:
1. Use nut and soy milk. Find healthy substitutes for the high fat items in your diet -
Meats, oils, margarine, fried foods, and most snacks.
2. Reduce to very small portions your favorite high fat food. Eliminate oil.
3. Eliminate as many temptations as possible. Don’t buy the items. If they are not in the house you are not likely to eat them so often. In Dr. Ornish’s study those who reversed heart disease were those who had eliminated meat and high-fat dairy products entirely.
4. Cook for yourself if you want to regain control over what goes into your body. Processed foods are stuffed with added fat. Eat whole grains. If you must buy cereal be sure that word WHOLE is in front of grains used in the package, if not it is just white flour fancied up to sound impressive. Eat whole guinea corn, corn, millet or wheat. You may need to get a good low-fat cook book to guide you and you should learn how to prepare delicious new dishes or how to modify your favorite dishes to make them tasty and low fat. This is the surest way to protect yourself from the deadly effects of too much fat.
5. Eat greens. Especially leafy greens as well as any other –like ugwu, tete, amunututu, shoko, ewedu, igba,(garden eggs), carrots, beet roots, cabbage, lettuce.
6. Drink water. Don’t drink soft drinks or juices. You can flavor your water with lime or lemon juice.
7. Avoid sugar and salt as much as possible. Use lemon instead of vinegar.
Fill up with all the great plant based food. God is good to have provided abundance of plants for food. And deliberately add exercise to your daily routine.
Remember, great health does not happen by chance, it is a daily choice of rightful living and taking personal responsibility for your health. That is the key.
