Yes, Your Heart Disease Is Reversible
Reverse cadiovascular disease without drugs or surgery

(Approximate reading time 3 minutes)


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In spite of all the medical advancements and increasing knowledge of the human body, heart disease remains the No. 1 killer around the world.  The latest data indicates 8.9 million people died from ischemic heart disease in 2019 on the global level, responsible for 16% of total world death, making it the No. 1 cause of death, far ahead of No. 2: stroke.  In China, these two causes are reversed: stroke being No. 1 killer and ischemic heart disease No. 2.  But it still killed more than 2 million Chinese in 2019, a 39.3% in crease from ten years ago.


According to TCM, heart is the “King of All Organs”, and it does not get sick.  When is the last time you heard people have heart cancer?  It does not exist.  Unless it’ a congenital structural problem, a heart never really gets sick.  The so-called heart disease happens when it does not get proper nutrition it needs and sometimes gets too much toxins in the bloodstream, so it could suddenly, or slowly, lose its ability to serve you.


Both ischemic heart disease and stroke are cardiovascular disease.  They have similar causes.  When your arteries become narrowed and don’t have enough blood flowing to the brain due to a blockage, you have stroke; when your arteries become narrowed and don’t have enough blood flowing to the heart due to a blockage, you have a ischemic heart disease, which could eventually lead to heart attacks.


Around the globe, more and more people find their arteries clogged up.


The biggest problem with heart disease is you don’t even know you have it until it’s very serious.  Once you realize your heart is not working properly, either because of chest pain, or high cholesterol number, you quickly jump to actions, usually one of these three: putting in stents, taking statins, or the worse case scenario: a bypass surgery.


Stents are just bandages without addressing any underlying problems.  Surgery is an emergency measure to save your life.  Statins?  I don’t even know where to start.  It would require too much time and I would run the risk of being put in the category of “conspiracy theory peddlers”.   Statins are meant to lower cholesterol.  It would help if cholesterol were the real cause of heart disease, except it is not.  It is an indicator and a warning sign, at best.  And it is not even a reliable one.  80% of people who had heart attacks had the same level of cholesterol as those who did not.  We have written about this (see previous blog “cholesterol is not your enemy”).  Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming ambulance for road accidents.  By using statin to lower cholesterol, you are trying to silence the warning siren.  How is that going to help?  It doesn’t, and it could even make it worse.


I am here to tell you, your heart disease is most probably reversible, without any drugs.


Let me share with you three true stories.



Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn is a medical doctor that is mostly well known for his advocacy of plant-based diet.  He was trained as a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and at St. George’s Hospital in London. He chaired the Clinic’s Breast Cancer Task Force and headed its Section of Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery.   He presently directs the cardiovascular prevention and reversal program at The Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute.  According to his words, cardiovascular disease is “nothing more than a toothless paper tiger that needs never exist.  And if it does exist, it needs never ever progress.”


In 1996, a fellow surgeon of his at Cleveland Clinic named Joe started to develop chest pain at the age of 44.   He did not have any of the usual suspects that could be related to heart disease: hypertension, diabetes, family history, or a weight problem.  He went through the usual heart check-ups, and could not find anything wrong.  Three weeks later, he had a heart attack that nearly took his life.  Catheterization and cardiac arrest saved him, but he was given some very bad news: the blockage in his artery is too long to put in stents, and too far down below for bypass surgery.



With his back pressed against the wall, he decided to take Dr. Esselstyn’s advice and started plant-based diet.  Thirty months have passed peacefully.  He decided to have another angiogram.  And here are the results of before and after:



Dr. Steven Gundry is a world renown heart surgeon, and still holds the record of the most infant heart transplant.


In his talks and books, he often mentions a fellow he calls “big Ed”.  Big Ed had inoperable cardiovascular disease because his arteries were too clogged up for stents or bypasses.  He searched for six months around the country for a surgeon that was willing to take him on,  to no avail.  He finally came to Dr. Gundry, as he was usually the last hope for a lot of heart patients.  Unfortunately, Gundry had the same opinion: Ed was inoperable.  Ed begged him to do another angiogram just to make sure, because during the last six months, he had changed his diet, lost 45 pounds, and had taken a lot of supplements.  At the time Dr. Gundry did not believe any of that could help with his heart, but went ahead with the angiogram to appease him.

The result was shocking.  In 6 months of time, Big Ed cleaned out 50% of his arteries blockage.  50%.  Disappeared. Gone.

After closer inspection, Dr. Gundry realized some of the supplements Ed was taking had exactly the same compounds he was putting in his patients intravenously during heart surgeries.  This experience completely changed Dr. Gundry’s view on diet and supplements.  One year after he met Big Ed, he quit his job as a heart surgeon and started teaching people how to avoid people like him in the first place: use diet and supplements to achieve optimal health.

If you think all you need is to drop the meat, then you will be forever protected, it is not quite that simple.  In fact, the diets advocated by Esselstyn and Gundry are not exactly the same.  Turns out, it’s more complicated than just deserting the meat.


Dr. Mimi Guarneri is a top holistic cardiologist in the world.  Her desire to become a cardiologist was rooted in her personal experience.  She lost her mom at the age of 8 to heart attack.  About a decade later he lost her father, again to heart attack.  She was determined to understand why and break the cycle.  Today she is fully dedicated to helping people prevent and reverse heart disease through lifestyle medicine.

Ken did no have the typical profile of a person that is at risk for heart disease.  He ran regularly.  He ate tofu instead of beef.  He had a very healthy lifestyle.  So it was shocking to him when he discovered he had several life-threatening vascular blockages.  His doctor suggested bypass.  He came to Dr. Mimi Guarneri in the hope of healing himself without surgery or drugs.

Dr. Mimi found out Ken endured some unendurable pain not long ago.  He lost his seven-year-old son in a car accident in front of his home.  To distract himself from the pain, he started doing hiking and rock climbing frequently.  It was during these excursions that he started developing angina and chest discomfort.  With the help of Dr. Mimi, Ken began to seek help from counselors and therapists.  He even consulted with a physic to reconcile with his son.  As Dr. Mimi put it: “As his emotional heart healed, so did his physical heart”, all without drugs."


Our body is a miraculous and complicated machine.  It has the capability of healing itself if given half a chance.  What we need to know is what nourishment and support to give it.  When it comes to heart disease, there is not one single indicator telling you how much risk you have, and there is no one thing you can do to magically turn things around instantly.  You need to care for your heart from multiple angles, and you need patience and persistence.   If you already have heart disease or at high risk, the following can be a very good start:


  • Eat tons of veggies and fruits
  • Dramatically cut down meat consumption, especially red meat and processed meat
  • Find emotional peace
  • Supplement appropriately


References:


  • Mimi Guarneri; Ocean Robbins. 4 Heart Myths & 10 Groundbreaking Truths

  • Steve Gundry; Jonny Bowden. The # 1 Killer, and They Are Treating It All Wrong

  • World Health Organization.  The Top 10 Causes of Death

  • Institute For Health Metrics and Information.  China

  • Jiangmei Liu; Jinlei Qi1; Peng Yin1; Yunning Liu1; Jinling You1; Lin Lin1; Maigeng Zhou1; Lijun Wang1,#.  Cardiovascular Disease Mortality — China, 2019

  • zachbushmd.com. The Heart: Understanding the Vascular System, Resilience & Repair

  • D Ornish , L W Scherwitz, J H Billings, S E Brown, K L Gould, T A Merritt, S Sparler, W T Armstrong, T A Ports, R L Kirkeeide, C Hogeboom, R J Brand.  Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease