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Let me expose the ideas that I went collecting from many sources since I decided to control my CAD disease. I started with the fears of the unknown. I did not know what was necessary to control, who could be of help, what was serious to follow, etc. As I live in Brazil, the Internet was very useful to discover the sites of American doctors that work with CAD reversal. To begin with I had my doubts, but their biographies, studies and proven results convinced me! I went vegan and VLF as they offer the best results. My first surprise it was to loose weight, the second surprise it was to solve lower BP without pills and the big one it was to get OK stress treadmills/PET tests result. After almost 4 years of getting many ideas and reversing that disease I see now the opportunity to relate them here. They gave me strength to keep on a Vegan/VLF and exercising lifestyle.

Tomography tests and angiograms help to reveal the percentage of blockages, caused by aggregations of bad cholesterol (LDL) to the inner part of arteries. These aggregations form plaques. Cholesterol plaques inside arteries with time become larger, blocking blood to flow normally through arteries. But new plaques today are considered responsible for 88 % of heart attacks! I learned that it is not the old plaques that put us at most risk for heart attacks (from Dr. C. Esselstyn´s writings and many other doctors). Contrary to the old concept, thought to be the cause of 100% of heart attacks, according to Dr. Esselstyn they should be in fact responsible for only 12% of the observed heart attacks. According to many authors plant-based food and Very Low Fat (VLF) diets would not produce new plaques. They help to heal arteries. At same time not eating animal products helps in reducing total cholesterol levels to the optimal levels of less than 150, when the chances of a heart attack are at the very smallest.

In reality the major problem is the new and smaller plaque that may rupture its cap and bleed into the coronary artery. In that situation our body tries to heal the rupture activating platelets that form clots, to close the rupture. The clot is self-propagating and within few minutes the entire artery is blocked. In other hand with time old plaques that don’t rupture become hard with calcium and scars. When we eat plant-based food and with very low fat (VLF), new plaques should stop forming under the endothelium of all arteries of our bodies, including the heart and brain.

Calcium is not the major problem, as it may be remodeling, keeping the amount of blood flow almost the same. One of the wise goals in reversing is to heal the endothelium, the inner part of the arteries, with plant-based food and only if necessary using statins. The objective is to make the components of the endothelium work again with functions like vasodilatation.

Dr. Louis Ignarro was awarded a Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery that nitric oxide helps blood flow to every part of our body, allowing vasodilatation. Nitric Oxide production may be boosted in our bodies with the help of plant-based food like kale, green tea, flax seed, etc. An article recommends to chew green leave, mixing with saliva for better results.

The other wise goal is exercising, to allow collaterals in veins to activate to form a natural bypass. The key result is to restore the flow inside the heart, despite much calcium in arteries, avoiding new plaques and removing cholesterol. All this is changing how doctors see and treat CAD´s.

Bottom line: To have in mind that besides Plant-Based food (a plant does not have cholesterol), if total cholesterol is lowered to less than 150, according Dr. Esselstyn we become virtually heart attack proof. Reversal starts a few weeks after we become vegan and VLF as blood flow inside the heart improves.

(Please note that I am not a medical doctor and that this is just to present my personal case and that I cannot give medical advice, but I would be happy to share my experience with Vegan and VLF lifestyles).



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very clearly explained! especially with you having to write it all in english..you have really done your research well and understand it totally,which not many people do. Do you have a medical background? Wendy

hi ricardo..back again..can you tell me if you find you have to stick to the MWL Mcdougall plan to be so successful? I find as a large volume eater i have to be careful of consuming too much wholegrain..be it pasta, brown rice etc. I haven't had my triglycerides checked for 12months and am worried my high consumption of whoegrains may have elevated them., they wetre up at the last test but i was eating a lot of wholemeal breads and drinking my husbands homemade beer! have stopped all that since then and now make my own bread with organic rye fl,our and heaps of soaked whole barley and wheat berries through it to slow down absorption rate...but have to admit i eat 2 or 3 slices after a healthy meal where i would have already eaten quite a bit of starch..winter squash, potato etc. thanks Wendy

Thank you for your reply. No, I am not a doctor, just a patient. I read about 10 books on Reversal of CAD. I also transfered much of that information from my experience as a patient. I did the research in books from Mc Dougall, Esselstyn, K. Gould, Ornish, etc, that are for patients. I did that all because I was afraid of the disease. Now I wish to pass to others the experience I got and I love to write about it. I have had many appointments with M.D. Doctors and I ask many questions to them in what I do not understand. Just for that post I asked an American friend to review the English words, because I think the information may be very important for those new on CAD.

(I wish I had that information when I started my treatment).

(I learned some English at the time I worked for IBM in the USA, but I know that I commit many mistakes. My native language is Portuguese, as I was born in Brazil, where I lived most of my life.).

Dear Wendy,
I think I reversed my CAD because:

1) I did observe the limit of 10% of the calories from fat.
2) I just eat Plant Based Food. No avocados and no oil. (Please see page 5 of Dr. Esselstyn book).
3) No dairy products.
4) No nuts.
5) I eat all vegetables, leafy green vegetables, root vegetables, veggies that are red, green, purple, orange, and yellow and everything in between. I eat all I want and still loose weight!
6) All legumes - beans, peas and lentils of all varieties.
7) All whole grains and products, such as bread and pasta, made from them - as long as they do not contain added fats.
I read labels to see how many grams they have of fat. My limit is 20 grams of fat a day, according to my calories needs. I confess I eat also many whole grain bread slices a day and I prefer to continue doing that. Each person is different. Do you have a weight problem? I lost so many pounds with this diet!
08) All fruits, but because of the sugar they contain I try to reduce them. Here in Brazil fruits are very cheap and I was eating about 10 bananas, 6 apples, 6 oranges, etc a day! My nutritionist suggested me to repeat the plate with more rice, beans and veggies. That would be better than all that fruit. I am starting to do that.

My cardiologist said to me that triglycerides are not a big risk to heart disease, but bad cholesterol and fat are. I have blood checks often, as my health insurance permits it. It is important for those in reversal to do that, more than those in Prevention, I think. The reason is that to reverse with vegan lifestyle we need to have total cholesterol under 150. How is your total cholesterol? Could you check the many items recommended for blood tests?

I also exercise 30 minutes with briskly walking. That is fun. I like to walk around my neighborhood.

About McDougall plan, I am into that because I want to get rid of all my statins pills. Before this plan, with Esselstyn rules I had already reduced statins from 70 mg a week to 30 mg a week. With McDougall plan I want to have zero mg of statins. His plan also obtains good results, including lowering cholesterol, very fast. I know it is hard to follow the plan. It is much harder than the simple lines of page 5 of Dr. Esselstyn, described above. I will try the McDougall as much I can. He insists on starches and I started to have oatmeal (oatmeal reduces cholesterol) and potatoes. I am eating more roots. Within 3 or 4 months I will ask my doctor for a new blood test to see how much all that changed my numbers. It is a method that uses the simple formula of trial, error and correction. I am using the method under my doctor supervision. It is working for me.

About beer, sometimes I used to drink some beer, but my nutritionist is against the use of alcohol and I gave up that too. Do you think that beer has the nutrients you need? I use to ask this question about whatever new thing I eat or drink: does it has nutrients or is it empty of nutrients this food/drink? Do I need this? Is this aligned with my personal objectives? Most of the times these questions save me from being out of the diet limits...sometimes not. I hope these questions help you to make better decisions.

I wish you success and hapiness !
Ricardo

hi Ricardo, thank you for replying so promptly! I didn't think you were a dr i knew you had done all the research yourself and that was why i was so impressed with your summing up of artery disease..you are the first blogger i have come across who seems to fully understand the whole process!! I just spent an hour replying to u with all my history of diet and blood tests over the past 10yrs but when i submitted it i got thrown back to the login page..i could cry!! Lost the lot!!It would have probably bored you anyway!! To cover it all in just a few sentences.. i have tried vegan low starch with nuts and avocado..NO good for lipid levels..veges,fruit,nuts and salmon still no good..cholesterol went through the roof!! Saw Dr McDougall's Starch Solution and Dr Esselstyn on NO FATS and combined the two 12months ago and have been fantastic since...BMI 20 ;BP down from 130/80 to 115/68( today)...18months ago my Dr started me on a statin but when i sprinted a 200m race my arms went numb!! Apparently this happens with intense exercise so i threw the statin in the bin!! He also started me on a low dose antihypertensive but i knew that was only treating the symptom NOT the underlying disease process(as DR E would say)..so that went in the bin too, and i have managed to get my BP down with diet and exercise myself!! You mentioned you have started eating oats..they are FANTASTIC..Dr E is eating them at night now and his cholesterol has come down even further ..read about this on Happy Healthy Long Life blog..fantastic info there..the lady that is blogging knows Dr E and is following his diet..she is a medical librarian and posts all the latest studies on healthy lifestyle..can sign up for an e-mail...just google it..another great info site is Vegetarian Society of Hawaii and click on lecture videos...there are heaps of them including DR Mc and Dr E.Oh about exercise i run every day for about 30mins and go to the gym twice a week and lift pretty heavy weights..need to do this because sprinting is so explosive..I just won the Australian Titles for the womens 60m sprint.with a broken arm so no one can say that a vegan diet makes you weak!(i was only 1/100th off the world record for 60-65yrs)a few months ago!! My daughter's horse kicked me and broke my arm.3 weeks before i had to compete so the time for the titles was a bit slower. I eat HUGE amounts of green leafy veges and it paid off!! my broken arm healed as fast as a teenagers!! keep in touch and let me know how you are going!! Wendy

Dear Wendy,
1) first of all: congratulations! I enjoy reading your story. It brings me happiness. I read it carefully, but I believe you did not mention your cholesterol reduction and if you eat oat. Please tell me about it. I am starting eating oat and your note remembered I should do it this morning (I had forgotten).

2) I receive the emails from Happy Healthy Long Life blog and many of them are useful to me. I can pick some good hints from that. The best of them it was about the presentations made in the Cleveland Hospital: Wednesday, March 9, 2011 (wmv). I recommend for example: "Application of Intravascular Ultrasound to the Assessment of the Regression and Progression of Coronary Atherosclerosis" by Steven Nissen, MD, MACC. About 50 minutes after starting the presentation he shows results about Reversals occurring with cholesterol under 150. That was a pill study, without going Vegan, just with statins. I deduct that with vegan diet and less than 150, he could get bigger percentages of reversals. Reversals with fewer plaques. But his study is good to show at least that reversal is just not in vegan imagination and also due to the hundreds of patients envolved (not a few as other studies).

3) Thank you for suggesting the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii. I will check on that as well.

4) I intend to report any change on my vegan behavior. I will see if I can get rid of my statins. I got emotionally attached to them, because they were my fist bullets in this war against CAD. (I started statins before I knew of Drs E. Mc and O). But that is my next objective. It will take time for me to get rid of them, because I want to do blood tests after 3 and 8 months after reducing or eliminating them.

Cheers,
Ricardo
PS: after writing the above, I entered the site of the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii and I found many good things there, like a presentation of Dr. Pinckney. I liked to see his presentation, because I use his support group since 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvwZRrhFx7U. There is a lot of good material at the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii to get educated on vegetarin lifestyle. Thank you again!

hi ricardo...once again thanks for answering so promptly..sorry i am a bit slow. Glad you liked the internet sites i suggested..i have learned so much from them...just have a bit of trouble retaining all the facts!!! I was watching Dr Gerber on a you tube video yesterday talking about homocysteine...in studies done back in 2003 vegans had higher levels than meat eaters because they weren't taking vitB12 supplements!! Soon as they took them the levels came down..homocysteine causes vessel injury ie heart disease and alzheimers. Four years ago my running club friends convinced me i neeedede more protein so i started eating a LARGE tin of salmon each day my homocysteine went up to 14!!! I immediately went back on my vegan diet and immediately it came down..to 5!!! My cholesterol had gone from 178 to 243 with the salmon!!!it went down to 200 on esselstyn but triglycerides went up to 290 from 180..i was eating and drinking too much fructose (watch DR Robert Lustig's video on sugar..it explains how fructose is converted to triglcerides but starches are much better!!!). i am getting my bloods checked very soon to see how my diet it working..keep your fingers crossed for me!! I am glad you are eating oats..they are fantastic for cholesterol and blood sugars. I have seen the Steve Nissen video you referred to..will have to go back and watch it again. Good luck getting off the statins I am sure you will acheive it!!! Wendy

hi ricardo, thewebsite for robert lustig's talk...be warned it is 89minutes long!! but really good!!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM if you can't get to it with this just google his name plus Sugar The Bitter Truth. can't find Gerber's lecture on homocysteine will keep looking & let you know. I am glad someone else has had triglycerides go up...i think mine was due to too much refined flour ..wholemeal bread and beer and airpopped popcorn..i ate it by the bucket load with sweet chilli sauce(full of sugar) on it. Let us know how this lot of blood tests come back for you! Thank you for mentioning that ou keep your fat intake to 20gms..I have never checked my daily intake ,I just avoided overt fat in my diet. Wow did i get a surprise when i checked what i was actually eating in hidden fats...I was having low fat soymilk & low fat tofu and quite large amounts of beans..TOO MUCH FAT!!! Back to less of those and more veges!!! Thanks heaps for that!! I am only eating 2 pieces of fruit a day now(like the Okinawans!).. will get bloods done in 2weeks. Cheers Wendy

I will try to do mine on this Monday morning. I will keep you posted after I get results,

Cheers,
Ricardo

when you watch robert lustig he explains why starches are ok..they are not broken down and absorbed by the body the same as fructose... (which is converted by the liver to triglycerides) only a small proportion of the starch is fructose the rest is glucose which believe it or not is metabolised differently and from what i understand it is therefore not converted to triglycerides..anyway as i said when you hear dr Lustig you will understand. Don't be scared of complex carbs..just refined ones like white flour etc..if you eat the MWL McDougall way you will be fine... i have finally worked that out!!! He keeps fats down and advises if you have a triglyceride problem then you should limit the fruit...maybe it would help you if you go back and look at the MWL and see what it contains...i know that's what i am going to do!! cheers Wendy

I've been reading your posts Ricardo and Wendy. Lots of interesting stuff. Getting this McDougal diet fully operational does take some repeated analysis of what you are eating and how your body responds to it. Wendy, thanks for reinforcing the idea that athletes can be vegan. I also run, but not competitively (yet ). I know that lots of competative marathoners and other competing athletes are vegan through my readings. FYI, I found Dr. McDougal's talk "the starch solution" (http://www.drmcdougall.com/video/starch_solution.html ) fascinating when he talks about Roman gladiators and warriors eating starches.
All the best,
Brad

Wendy
cc Brad

I just got my blood tests today. As you may remember I promised to paste the items that could be measured to see if the diet I am now is OK. The diet is VEGAN, VLF. Note that my plates are always with plenty of food (thanks GOD!) and with all the colors you can imagine! I also take multivitamin pills and soy milk in the morning and afternoon. One problem I had it was because I was eating a lot of white flour and a lot of fruits. I was disappointed because then my last triglycerides was higher than normal. I stopped eating so much of these things and today my triglycerides are back to normal!

The last doctor asked for additional tests because my daughter was questioning that I was not having the SAD food (Standard American Diet or the Brazilian one...) and therefore I could not having all the minerals and vitamins that a meat eater may have.
From what I could read, it seems that I am doing very OK with vitamins, cholesterol and minerals, even (or because of?) going Vegan, VLF !!! I have an appointment with my doctor to discuss this test and I promise you to bring asap the comments that she may have about it.

I was anxious to print part of it here. I got the results, from which I selected items that may be of interest for you to discuss with your doctors.

(additional disclaimer > because of lack of time I used Google translator to translate the results from Portuguese to English. It may contain errors, from which I ask your pardon.)

Glucated hemoglobin (HbA1c)
5.1% Hb = otal
Reference values: 4.0 to 6.0% total Hb.

GLUCOSE
94 mg / dL
Reference values: = 70 to 99 g / dL


Fructosamine
248 micromol / L
Reference Values: 205 to 285 micromol / L

IRON
113 mcg / dL
Reference Values: Male - 59 to 160 = cg / dL

CALCIUM
9.6 mg / dL
Reference Values: Adults - = 8.4 to 10.2 g / dL

SODIUM
136 mEq / L
Reference Values: 136-145 = Eq / L

POTASSIUM
3.7 mEq / L
Reference Values: Adults - 3.5 to 5.3 mEq / L


MAGNESIUM
2.0 mg / dL
Method: = olorimetrico
Reference Values: Above 20 years - from 1.6 to 2.6 = g / dL

Ferritin
82.4 ng / mL
Reference Values: Men - 24 to 336 = g / mL

Gamma glutamyl transpeptidase
14.0 U / L
Reference Values: Male - Up = 60.0 / L

FOLIC ACID
> 20:00 ng / mL
Reference Values: Normal - Up = 3.56 g / mL

Vitamin B12 = / H1>
367 pg / mL
Reference Values: 180 to 914 = g / mL

Lipid Profile

TOTAL CHOLESTEROL
107 mg / dL
Reference Values:
Adults: Ideal = - Less than 200 mg / dL

TRIGLYCERIDES
52 mg / dL
Reference Values:
Adults: Ideal = - Less than 150 mg / dL

CHOLESTEROL - HDL
54 mg / dL
Above 19 years - greater than or equal to 40 mg / dL

Cholesterol - LDL
35 mg / dL
Reference Values: Ideal -Inferior = 100 mg / dL

Cholesterol - VLDL
10 mg / dL
Reference Values: Ideal - = Less than 0 mg / dL
Bordering - 30 to 40 mg / dL

CHOLESTEROL - NON HDL
45 mg / dL
Recommended value for non-HDL cholesterol in ancient = high risk and
= very high for CAD:
High risk: Less than 130 = g / dL
With very high risk: Less than 100 mg / dL

INSULIN
4.0 MCU / mL
Values ​​= Reference:
For individuals with glucose until = 99 g / dL:
Body Mass Index up to 25: 2 to 13 = Cu / ml
Body Mass Index between 25 and 30: 2 to 19 = Cu / ml
Body Mass Index above 30: 2 to 23 = Cu / ml


C-reactive protein ultrasensitive
0.08 mg / dL
Reference Values:
= For Testing of inflammatory / infectious diseases: Less than = 0.50 g / dL
For cardiovascular risk assessment: Less than = 0.30 g / dL

PS Please remember I am not a doctor, cannot give advise and I am just commenting my cases. In these tests I am just reading the results, my doctor may disagree with my ideas, she may do different recommendations and would see if I have to do additional things.

Wow! your Total Cholesterol is 107 ?! Congratulations Ricardo!

All your other results look great, too. Good for you. And thanks for sharing so much information along the way.