Heart Attacks, Stents and Slow Death

It is my opinion that heart disease is not truly hereditary in the sense genes control our future.  It's more like we adopt the lifestyle of our ancestors and breaking outside any bad habits is truly difficult.  Furthermore, food is important to us - especially comfort food.  I've yet to see some declare that a fresh, crisp salad is comfort food - even if it's submerged in ranch dressing.  If we're convinced that we must radically alter our diets then often it's an attack or an affront to grandma or mama - even if they died prematurely from heart disease.

I had a long ride to change my diet to one that was conducive to long life and clean arteries.  I slowly changed things (mostly subtracting offenders) and really didn't see positive results.  I did on occasion.  I would have my lipids tested quarterly and sometimes they were up and sometimes they were down.  That was frustrating because it was difficult to determine what was working.  I didn't see consistent, positive results until I adopted a plant-based diet.

Now instead of focusing on what I could not eat I began to focus on what I could eat.  I did my best best to follow the Eat to Live protocol:

1. At least 3 servings of fresh fruit per day
2. 1 pound of raw vegetables (salad)
3. 1 pound of steamed green vegetables 
4. 1 cup of beans
5. 1 serving of starchy vegetable
6. Handful of nuts or seeds

The results were fantastic! 

So what about my family that loves to fry everything and probably only gets about 10 - 15 grams of fiber per day?  Nothing.  Most are aware I eat the way I do.  Most think I'm silly.  Why wouldn't they?  Everyday the news reports something contrary to sound nutrition and people run with headlines.  

Doctors really don't speak of nutrition.  My doctor told me to drink skim milk, eat only chicken breasts, and lean cuts of meat.  None of which is helpful for someone with high cholesterol.  All I can go on is basic science (not reports sponsored by ranchers, dairy farmers, and drug companies) and say, "results don't lie!" 

One cheeseburger doesn't kill.  It's the constant bombardment of our bodies with that stuff that begins to clog the pipes over time.  Some might have an early heart attack others might last longer.  I've seen people after open heart surgery and it's not fun.  

Again, that's the purpose of me writing.  If one person is inspired to start or continue to eat right then I've been successful.