I am not a medical professional. I have a cardiologist and regularly see him since the, um... "incident" in 2006. Starting in 2006 my total cholesterol (TC) target was 150 and we managed the cholesterol level through the use of statins. Before beginning statins my TC had been measured over 260 and large doses of statins worked to get my TC down below or at least near the target level.
Then near the end of 2009 my TC was over target and my cardiologist wanted to add a second cholesterol medication to the mix. Not more statins because I was already taking the "maximum" level of statins but a second type of medication. Some of the side effects concerned me and I began looking at alternatives. I found the TED talk below and that led me on a journey where by April of 2011 my TC was under 130 with no statins or other cholesterol lowering medication.
Not only did I have my cardiologist's blessing for the approach I took including no more cholesterol medication (once the TC was low enough -- but not before!); he told me he wished all of his patient's would do what I did!
He even confided in me that he did the same thing himself to be heart healthy and to have low cholesterol! That actually pissed me off a bit since, if he knew about this, he should have told me (and all of his patients) about this.
Here is the TED talk that began a journey and changed my life and led me to my cardiologist's "secret" for lower cholesterol and a healthy heart.
With all the legitimate concerns about AIDS and avian flu -- and we'll hear about that from the brilliant Dr. Brilliant later today -- I want to talk about the other pandemic, which is cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension -- all of which are completely preventable for at least 95 percent of people just by changing diet and lifestyle.
And what's happening is that there's a globalization of illness occurring, that people are starting to eat like us, and live like us, and die like us. And in one generation, for example, Asia's gone from having one of the lowest rates of heart disease and obesity and diabetes to one of the highest. And in Africa, cardiovascular disease equals the HIV and AIDS deaths in most countries. So there's a critical window of opportunity we have to make an important difference that can affect the lives of literally millions of people, and practice preventive medicine on a global scale.
Heart and blood vessel diseases still kill more people -- not only in this country, but also worldwide -- than everything else combined, and yet it's completely preventable for almost everybody. It's not only preventable; it's actually reversible. And for the last almost 29 years, we've been able to show that by simply changing diet and lifestyle, using these very high-tech, expensive, state-of-the-art measures to prove how powerful these very simple and low-tech and low-cost interventions can be like -- quantitative arteriography, before and after a year, and cardiac PET scans.
Dean Ornish: The killer American diet that's sweeping the planet
I wanted to learn more so I ordered and read Dean Ornish's book
The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer, Lose Weight, and Gain Health which is a fairly easy way to approach the subject.
Ornish's book describes a "spectrum" of food choices from left to right with the left-most being what he considers the most healthy and the right most being the least healthy. To significantly reduce my cholesterol through diet I would need to eat mostly from foods at the left of the spectrum. Simply put, that translates into an ultra low-fat plant based diet.
I also found Caldwell Esselstyn's book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure which was very similar in recommendations as the left side of Ornish's Spectrum. It turns out they had worked independently at about the same time and demonstrated similar results with their patients with similar approaches of a ultra low-fat plant based diet.
Further research led me to The China Study by T. Colin Campbell which was further fuel on the fire for the benefits of a low-fat plant based diet.
A plant based diet can be better for you and the environment. A plant based diet can reduce health care costs. A plant based diet can be delicious, just see the Meatless Advocates Group. Eating a plant based diet can be cheaper than the alternatives and not needing cholesterol lowering drugs can save money and eliminate possible medication side-effects.
Some other resources:
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Michael Pollan: Unhappy Meals
Before I get to the research findings, however, it's important to remember where we were 10 years ago. Doctors believed that by the time chest pains or a heart attack had occurred due to the blocking of vital blood vessels by cholesterol deposits, patients had absolutely no hope of ever again having a healthy heart. Their options: open-heart surgery, a lifetime of cholesterol-lowering drugs, or death. Scientific consensus held that diet could, at best, decrease blood cholesterol by only about 10-20%, an effect not considered substantial enough for disease prevention.
It was precisely at this extremely critical moment in science and medicine when Drs. Esselstyn and Ornish, at opposite ends of the country, stepped in and showed considerable courage. They asked not only whether heart attacks might be prevented by low-fat, plant-food diets, but whether this disease might actually be reversed.
Colin Campbell: Reversing Heart Disease with Diet
McDougall, Fuhrman, Ornish, Esselstyn, Barnard -- and the rest.
Sure, they all agree that a healthy 100% plant-strong, or nearly-all plant-strong diet can reverse heart disease and work other miracles for your health.
But they don't agree on everything, do they!
So which one is most "right?"
Here's the VegSource answer: it's the same as the answer to the question: which exercise is best?
Answer: The one you'll do.
Which Veg Doctor is Right?
Dr. John McDougall: Who Should Take Cholesterol-lowering Statins? Everyone or No One?
I did not stop the statins until the TC was well below target and I did so with my cardiologist's involvement and I am not encouraging anyone to stop or change their medication on their own.
When I started down this path I was skeptical and thought a small reduction might be possible. What happened shocked me. I knew that food has an impact but the amount of impact on my cholesterol amazed me. If you are concerned about your cholesterol levels, your heart or your health in general I would encourage you to learn more. Eating in this way is not without some controversy. Some have argued that the science is bad; some have argued that this approach does not work; some have argued that the mechanism of it working is different than the proponents believe; some have argued that the claims are exaggerated. Whatever. I am interested in results and I came here to share my experience.
This seems to have lowered my cholesterol dramatically. YMMV.
Update: Forks Over Knives Hulu link from Crider in the comments. And thanks for the Rec list.