(I would like to add that I am also a user of Dr. Pinckney´s "Discussion Group on Reversal of Coronary Artery Disease at http://www.vegsource.com/talk/healingheart/ and that I am gratful to all doctors that have worked and publised material on CAD Reversal: Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Mc Dougall, Dr. Ornish, Dr. Gould, Dr. Withtaker, etc. They all reassured me that Reversal could be achieved as in fact I did get it reversed. I recently discovered this Discussion Board and I am also loving it! :-)
Both discussion groups are great!).
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After 3 and half years of being diagnosed with coronary heart disease I had the courage to see if the disease had arrested, got worst or had reversed. Both PET Scan and tread mill stress tests showed that the heart now is normal. Please note that 2007 and 2011 tests were made with same doctors, at same hospital (one of the best here in Rio de Janeiro - Brasil) and with same PET equipment. Blood flow is ok inside my heart. This is more than enough for me.
37 months ago when in a routine checkup I failed a tread mill stress test and with following PET Scan and computerized axial tomography scans the disease was reconfirmed.
Then I changed my lifestyle to Vegan and Very Low Fat plant based food.
After few weeks I lost about 30 pounds, my blood pressure came from 13X9 down to 11X7 when my doctor asked me to stop taking BP medicine.
After about a year he asked me to reduce statins, as my cholesterol was too low for him. Now my total cholesterol is 100 and in next appointment I will ask if I can reduce statins a little bit more to try reach 120 to 130 marks.
A plus of all of this diet was to solve digestion problems I had that what a doctor diagnosed as "Irritable Bowel Syndrome". Plant based food is easier to digest and seems that my body likes to flow it not too fast...
I have also to add that almost everyday I walk “briskly” for about 40 minutes and that white tea is my favorite drink.
I am writing all this to encourage others to be persistent in changing their lifestyles to prevent or to try to reverse this disease.
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(Here I decided to bring information I wrote in a previus post about the ideas and observations that I got while reversing my CAD):
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 lifestyle).
and I got it... Now changing the humor lines to be politically correct: my wife said that if I had not reversed my CAD she would dump me at a hospital to fix me with mechanical solutions(stents, bypasses, etc)! I tried... 
