Table Of ContentThe results of any diet or medical intervention can vary from person to person.
Some people have a medical history and/or condition that may warrant
individualized recommendations and, in some cases, drugs and even surgery. Do
not start, stop, or change medication without professional medical advice, and do
not change your diet if you are ill or on medication except under the supervision
of a competent physician. Neither this nor any other book is intended to take the
place of personalized medical care or treatment.
A CAUTION TO THE READER
If you are taking any medication, especially medication for diabetes or high
blood pressure, do not make dietary changes without the assistance of a
physician, as your medication will need adjustment to prevent excessive
lowering of your blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Very low blood glucose
levels (hypoglycemia) and low blood pressure (hypotension) from using too
much medication can be dangerous. This dietary program is very effective at
lowering both, so any medication you are on for either of these conditions will
need to be adjusted and, with time, maybe discontinued.
Hypoglycemia and hypotension can cause weakness and fainting, which can
lead to a fall or a motor vehicle accident. The overuse of blood pressure
medication can even damage your kidneys. Because this nutritional program is
so effective at reversing heart disease, dropping body weight, and reversing
diabetes, it is even more important to consult with a knowledgeable physician
who is familiar with reducing medication as a result of aggressive dietary
modifications. Do not underestimate the effectiveness of this program.
Many physicians, not realizing how effective this diet-style is, may be
hesitant to taper medications sufficiently. Make sure you warn your physician
about this and follow your blood pressure and blood sugar levels more carefully,
especially over the first few weeks after you begin this plan.
I discuss medications in more detail and give more guidance for their
reduction for you and your physician later in this book. However, you must be
aware that a book cannot take the place of individualized counseling from a
physician who knows your medical condition. It is your responsibility to work
with your physician to assure that your blood sugar and blood pressure readings
are neither too high nor too low.
Note: The cases in this book are all real, but some of the names have been
modified or omitted for privacy purposes.
Dedication
I dedicate this book to physicians who utilize Lifestyle Medicine, showing they
care by spending the extra time to communicate and motivate their patients to
take
control of their health, despite the challenges and resistance of society and even
their peers. Millions of human life years have been saved by their dedication.
Contents
DEDICATION
INTRODUCTION: The Heart of the Matter
ONE: Food Can Either Kill or Heal, the Choice Is Yours
TWO: Bypassing Angioplasty
THREE: Nutritional Excellence, Not Drugs
FOUR: The Nutritional Path to Reversing Disease
FIVE: Fat-Food Nation: The Science of Fat
SIX: Salt Is a Four-Letter Word
SEVEN: Comparing Cardioprotective Diets
EIGHT: The Nutritarian Plan
NINE: The End of Heart Disease Recipes
TEN: Your Questions Answered
A LETTER OF PROMISE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
REFERENCES
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PRAISE
ALSO BY JOEL FUHRMAN, M.D.
CREDITS
COPYRIGHT
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
INTRODUCTION
The Heart of the Matter
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the
United States. In fact, cardiovascular diseases claim more lives than all forms of
cancer combined. About half of these needless deaths are caused by sudden
cardiac death. This means a person dies immediately after symptoms begin, or
within a short time afterward. The cause of sudden cardiac death can vary from
an obstructive clot to a fatal arrhythmia. Another common cause is enlargement
of the heart, specifically, left ventricular hypertrophy caused by many years of
high blood pressure. Fifty-five percent of the men and 68 percent of the women
who die of sudden cardiac death have no prior warning of significant heart
disease. Heart disease kills many people many years prematurely, and most of
them do not even make it to the hospital alive.
I am reasonably certain that the nutritional program in these pages can make
it almost impossible for you to have a heart attack or to experience sudden
cardiac death. Not only that, this program is effective even if you presently have
advanced heart disease. It can radically lower your cholesterol and blood
pressure, and it can reverse obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) so
effectively that it obliterates the need for angioplasty and bypass surgery. Unless
you are one of the fewer than 1 percent of people who has advanced valve
damage, a genetic defect, or electrical pathway disease, you should be able to
reverse any heart disease you now have.
In other words, you will not merely lower your cholesterol, but you will also
remedy other risk factors. By following this nutritional plan, you will
• Lower and normalize your blood pressure
• Lower your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol
• Lower your weight, body fat, and waist measurements
• Lower your fasting glucose levels and resolve diabetes (type 2)
• Restore normal bowel function
• Improve your immune function, lowering the risk of infection
• Maintain your youthful vigor as you age, and age more slowly
This approach is the most effective and safest way to lower your blood
pressure and cholesterol. But more importantly, I give you information that will
assure you that you most likely will never have a heart attack. This is potentially
lifesaving information. When you lower your cholesterol and blood pressure
through superior nutrition, you lower your risk of heart disease much more
radically than by using cholesterol-lowering drugs and blood pressure
medication alone.
Other nutritional programs have demonstrated, in clinical practice and
research trials, effective protection against and reversal of heart disease. As one
would expect, those programs are similar to this one. Effective nutritional
interventions must have significant similarities, or they would not be effective.
But the information presented in this book takes this science a step further.
Based on my twenty-five years of clinical experience reversing heart disease in
thousands of patients through nutritional excellence, this book provides the
clinical protocols, the medical management, and the detailed application
information not merely to prevent and reverse heart disease, but also to prevent
sudden cardiac death, stroke, and dementia. My experience with thousands of
patients has also given me invaluable insight so that I can give you the
information that allows you to tailor the protocol to your individual needs. What
you learn here will help you overcome obstacles to effective dietary change,
especially since dietary change can be challenging and unhealthy foods are
highly addictive.
Existing heart ailments, obstructive atherosclerosis, and CAD can improve
and eventually resolve. In addition, you can gradually reduce and eventually
eliminate your need for medications that treat high cholesterol, high blood
pressure, and type 2 diabetes. This book delivers the most effective method to
lose weight, lower cholesterol and high blood pressure, and reverse heart
disease, and it makes most medical care and medical interventions for heart
disease obsolete. Plus, the results happen quickly in most cases, immediately
lowering risk and within a few months entirely removing the risk of ever having
a heart attack.
Over the past twenty-five years, I have counseled thousands of patients
who’ve had advanced heart disease, many of whom experienced angina (chest
pain) or were told they needed urgent bypass surgery or angioplasty. Not one of
the individuals who followed my nutritional recommendations ever had a heart
attack or died from heart disease.
I do believe that the risk goes down gradually, over time, when a person
follows such a heart-protective diet-style. I do not think the first week, or even
the first month, will offer total protection against heart attacks, but as months
pass, I am certain that a heart attack would be an incredibly rare occurrence.
In my opinion, this lifesaving book should be distributed to every heart
patient in the United States because conventional care, with its usual poor
outcome, is bad medicine. Cardiac patients typically worsen and usually die of
heart disease despite the finest medical management. Every physician caring for
people presenting with heart disease should offer them the information found in
this book. Not informing patients about this simple advice—advice that could
make the difference between life and death—should be considered malpractice.
Patients are not given the information they need to make a definitive decision
to not have a heart attack. Many may choose to eat the heart disease–causing
Standard American Diet (SAD) and sprinkle a few drugs on top to try to lessen
the risk a bit. That’s their choice. But others—and I hope this is you—will do
more. They will say “No!” to angina and heart attack. They will learn that
superior nutrition can reverse and prevent heart disease, and save them from
getting some other diseases as well.
If what I am saying is true, and if what I call a Nutritarian diet-style is this
effective, then the foundation of traditional cardiology is subpar, even negligent.
If a patient with heart disease is not told about effective dietary interventions and
instead is offered only drugs; invasive, interventional procedures; and surgeries,
then that person is denied informed consent. That patient has effectively been
corralled into risky interventions that are expensive and high-tech—and mostly
do not work.
