I think I mentioned this in my first post that I had started the Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease diet by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn back in December 2011.
I, myself, was having chest pains, sharp and substernal, not typical for heart attack pain, but unnerving, nonetheless. I didn't know at the time that I had a duodenal ulcer, but I thought, "If I start this diet, I will be heart attack proof, and the chest pains won't worry me anymore."
So, I started the diet, and my husband started it with me. In three weeks time we both had stellar cholesterol, and we both felt heart attack proof.
Fast forward to today. I still have the chest pains I had nearly a year ago, but I can exercise without chest pain, and I have a lot more energy than I did a year ago, so I'm pretty sure my chest pains are digestive and muscular.
Before his stent placement, my husband had a 99% blockage.
I just watched a seminar done by Dr. Esselstyn where he shows a slide of a 99% blocked artery. I envisioned my husband's artery. Dr. Esselstyn said something like this, "look at this 99% blocked artery. Now most people would believe that the plaque in the artery would cause a heart attack, but this plaque would not be the cause of the heart attack. He then shows a slide of an artery that is not 99% blocked but has a plaque in it not completely blocking the artery, but some, and letting ample blood flow through, and then showing that same artery now with a blood clot in the artery.
As I wrote about with nitric oxide he then explains how the less blocked artery has become sticky because the endothelial cells, having been assaulted by dietary assaults from animal products, and the blood then becoming sticky along with the inflammation of the endothelial cells causing stickiness of those cells, creates a place for the blood to run against that now sticky and now unstable plaque which thins out the cap of that plaque, and becomes thinner and thinner until it bust open creating a clog that completely blocks the artery and causes a heart attack.
Now lets just say that this premonition I had to change our diets from a high fat vegan diet that was high in nuts and more saturated fat than we needed to Dr. Esselstyn's diet in December 2011, and my husband's artery was blocked, which I'm sure it was, and not causing as noticeable symptoms at the time (he has had symptoms for years I'm now realizing but not enough to send him to the doctor), and lets just say I never had changed his diet, and his blood had gotten sticky, and the cap had been eroded to that existing cap by way of not producing enough nitric oxide, and the blood being inflammatory and sticky? He would have had a heart attack!!!! The more I think about it, the more I know I'm right!
The more I think about the science behind becoming heart attack proof, the more I know that it was following Dr. Esselstyn's diet that made my husband live through another 11 months without a heart attack, even though he had a trickle of blood going through his left circumflex artery!!!
Dr. Esselstyn deserves all of the praise anyone can give for his selfless work in this field. He devotes many, many hours of his retirement years in giving advice and counsel to patients. I know because when he found out about my husband's situation, he called us personally. Granted he did encourage us to fly to Cleveland to attend his one day meet up and seminar, which comes at a cost, but he could have left that to his secretary to do. He called to make sure we knew how important it was that we comply 100% with the diet, and impressed it's importance.
Of course, he didn't have to convert me because I have watched every video available and have read his book which is very soundly backed up with research, and read many, many reviews on Esselstyn of people whose heart health has changed because of following the advice in his book.
I truly believe that the Holy Spirit led me to Dr. Esselstyn, and Dr. Esselstyn's diet saved my husband from having a heart attack.
I have hope that we will be able to get through this time in our lives, and through compliance my husband will be able to reverse his heart disease.
I encourage anyone who is interested in treating and reversing heart disease to watch the above video. If you can seriously dedicate yourself to following his advice it will greatly improve your health, even if you are dealing with health conditions besides heart disease.
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