Take Care of your Heart.

Eat as if your life depends on it, because it does.

By Beth Perera©, PositivelyPlants

Heart disease is epidemic in the Western world. Some of you have the scars of bypass surgery already. You are the lucky ones; you got a second chance. For most people, the first symptom is death. There’s good news though! You don’t have to be among those statistics.

To be a heart healthy choice, food should contain zero cholesterol, low fat, and plenty of fiber. Cholesterol (the artery-clogging stuff) is only found in animal products. Fiber (the artery cleansing stuff) is only found in plant foods. Our bodies make all the cholesterol we need; we don’t need to ingest any. So, eat more plants, a lot more.

Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart, it’s true! Beans and other legumes, fruits, vegetables, including starchy veggies like potatoes, whole grains, mushrooms, nuts and seeds – – these are our healthy food groups. We can stop worrying about protein. If you are getting enough calories to be alive and functioning, then you are getting enough protein.

What most Americans and many other Westerners lack in their diets is fiber (only in plants, remember). Load up on all your favorite spuds, beans, rice, oatmeal, greens, berries, apples… your arteries will thank you, and you’ll spend a heckuva lot less time in the medical industrial complex. It’s a myth that we need to eat animals for protein. Plants have plentiful protein, and we don’t need very much. Our mother’s breast milk was only 5 to 6% protein and contributed to healthy babies tripling their birth weight in just one year.

For decades, we have been told that cholesterol under 200 is our goal, “safe.” Yet most heart attacks occur in people with cholesterol between 150 and 200. Under 150 is said to be “heart attack proof,” as there have been no documented heart attacks in people with cholesterol under 150. If you have high cholesterol, stop eating it, and watch your number plummet. Quickly. Food is far more effective than any pill. (Note: notify your doctor that you are beginning to eat plant-based, so your cholesterol-lowering medication can be reduced. Ideally, you are working with a doctor who is knowledgeable in plant-based nutrition.)

Lastly, take time to watch some of the extraordinary documentaries that are available, and you’ll know more than your doctor about how diet relates to chronic disease. (Sadly, most medical schools include little to no nutritional training.) My suggestions begin with What The Health, Forks Over Knives, Eating You Alive, and Food Choices. You will learn that what’s best for your heart is also best for avoiding type 2 diabetes, arthritis, migraines, Alzheimer’s Disease, common cancers, overweight, strokes… the list goes on.

Diseases don’t necessarily run in the family; food runs in the family. I don’t eat like the rest of my family, and I don’t have any of the ailments they endure. It’s the food.

Eat as if your life depends on it, because it does.