Review of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn

"I have an amibitious goal:  to annihilate heart disease - to abolish it once and for all!"  This is a quote from the book and Dr. Esselstyn is just the guy to do it. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in almost all of the developed world and his book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, delivers a full frontal assault on this arch-enemy.  His book has a section with photos of arteries actually being cleared of plaque and one miraculous story after another about the experiences of his patients.

Esselstyn currently directs the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Reversal Program at the distinguished Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, so he's a heavyweight in his field. One can't help but immediately respect the fact that he is pushing a non-surgical solution. Think about this:  Esselstyn shows a dietary way to prevent and even reverse heart disease and so, if everyone followed his recommendations, it would put him and his collegues out of business!

Do you know the foods and drinks that increase erection-boosting Nitric Oxide? Check out the Peak Erectile Strength Diet where I show you how to dramatically and naturally improve your erectile strength.

However, Esselstyn is clearly a man on a mission and has chosen to do what is right instead of what will buy him a chalet and a Ferrari.  In fact, in his book he points out the many problems associated with standard cardiac surgeries and procedures such as angioplasties. At one point in the book, he points out that andioplasties actually had worse outcomes than those on medication. 

So how about that?  There are people in the world with integrity after all...

So what is Esselstyn's miracle program?  Actually, it is very similar to Ornish's Low Fat Diet, except that he insists you can reverse heart disease with just with diet alone.  Ornish always included meditation/relaxation, social self-help meetings and some exercise in his routine as well.  I'm sure he did this because these have all been shown to improve cardiovascular outcomes.  And one can't argue with Ornish:  his protocols have been very successful in both practice and in the research:   a couple of studies on participants following his program proved that heart disease could be reversed, i.e. plaque removed from the arteries.

Esselstyn, though, shows that his patients have cleared out between 10-30% of arterial plaque just through following his dietary advice.  He insists that his patients follow a strictly plant-based diet.  His rules are simple, although many would find hard to follow, and include whole plant foods without nuts, oils or avocados.  So he is very strict:  no animal products, oils, fats, margarines, etc. 

Of course, he and Ornish point out that eating this way still gives you about a 10% fat content in your diet, which is more than enough for what your body needs.  Almost all plants have a certain amount of fat and oils and so consuming a low fat, plant-based diet still gives you ample fats for all your needs.  Plus, he makes an interesting observation that I had not read before:  he states that a plant-based diet like his actually caps any existing plaques.  In other words, not only does it reverse plaques, but it actually puts a "protective coating" on them, making a heart attack much less likely.

Almost everyone in a modern, industrialized culture will have clogged and diseased arteries, including penile arteries.  Esselstyn's book gives a simple and helpful presentation to reverse much of that damage.  Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease includes some good recipes and lots of helpful advice as well.

REFERENCES: