"Heart Attack Proof" Diet

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/19/heart.attack.proof.diet/index.html?npt=NP1

This article is about Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr.'s new "revolutionary" diet plan for people so they become "immune" to heart disease. Really, she doesn't provide any new insight, per se. Most of her new diet just eliminates things from our regular diet that we already know we shouldn't eat (or eat much of); such as added fats and excess meats. Her diet just consists of cutting out meat, eggs, dairy, or added oils. This article is very interesting because this diet was based off the diets from developing areas such as rural China and central Africa. It's just ironic to me that people in developing countries are eating much healthier than people in developed countries are eating; and it's not because they choose to eat that way, it's because that's what is available to them.

Heart disease is the Western Worlds #1 killer followed by strokes at #2, and really, these diseases are something that we brought upon ourselves through our high fat foods (though they are delicious). Strokes can be caused by a lack of blood to the brain; it can be caused by a blood clot or high blood pressure causing a hemorrhage in the brain. The latter can be caused by stress or build up of plaque or cholesterol in the blood. Ischaemic heart disease is caused by reduced blood flow to the heart due to build-up of plaque in the arteries. Both are/can be caused by high fat diets. I find it shocking that the two main causes of death in the western world can be cured with just a SLIGHT change in diet. If people just went half way and reduced (instead of completely eliminating) their intake of meat, dairy, eggs, and fats, we could all be dying of cigarettes and lung cancer instead.