How to Prevent Heart Disease with Diet

Heart disease kills 17 million people every year. Here’s how to prevent heart disease with diet, according to Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a pretty cool guy: not only is he a neurosurgeon that serves as associate chief of the neurosurgery service at Grady Memorial Hospital and as assistant professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, he’s also an award-winning doctor that has become a respected (and Emmy-winning) media personality.

According to Wikipedia, “he is best known as CNN’s […] chief medical correspondent, hosting the network’s weekend health program Sanjay Gupta, M.D., and making frequent appearances on their American Morning, Larry King Live and Anderson Cooper 360° programs.” Turns out he’s actually from my hometown too, which means he’s extra awesome.

But seriously, unlike the other celebrity ‘doctor‘ on TV that shills for pseudo-science supplements, Dr. Gupta is the real deal. His medical reports are legit and well-respected. I think his strength is that he can bring important health concepts from the medical and health circles, and share them with a broader audience that is (hopefully) receptive to his level-headed approach to wellness. Dr. Michael Greger is the other doctor that I feel is doing this good work, but he’s not as well-known outside of the vegan and vegetarian community.

The other thing I really like about Dr. Gupta is that is usually tells it like it is. Case in point: his video ‘The Last Heart Attack.’ Much like diabetes, which also kills millions of Americans each year, heart disease (and heart attacks) are preventable and treatable with a plant-based diet. This message is often seen as ‘extreme’ or simple dismissed as untrue. But that’s often because medical doctors are truly under-trained (or untrained entirely) in nutrition, and the pharmaceutical industry has done a really good job of telling us that only pills will solve our most pressing health issues.

Can we cure or prevent heart disease with diet?

In this video, Dr. Gupta looks at the causes of heart attacks and goes on a mission to make himself ‘heart-attack’ proof, despite a known family history of the disease. In the video he interviews Bill Clinton – famous for his heart disease reversal and weight loss while on a vegan diet– as well as renowned medical doctor and health expert Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. The 13-minute video also features Dr. Dean Ornish, who says that heart disease could be as rare in the future as malaria is today.

Watch the video below, and check out the resources I wrote below the film to read more about how plant-based foods can help heal your whole body.

More Ways a Vegan Diet Can Heal your Whole Body

+ A Plant-Based diet for Diabetes Prevention

Diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases in America, with some stats showing that 1 in 3 Americans have or will have Type 2 diabetes in their lifetime because of dietary and lifestyle choices. But, the good news is that rather than going on expensive medicine, taking insulin everyday, and suffering the negative consequences like numbness, lack of erectile function, and amputated limbs, a healthy plant-based diet can help decrease this risk significantly. Reducing this risk is super important for those with pre-diabetes too, which can lead to full diabetes in about 30% of patients that don’t adapt their diet.

+ Boost Bone Health with Plants (NOT dairy)

Despite all those ‘Got Milk?’ advertising campaigns (paid for by the dairy industry, in case you didn’t know), milk and cheese are not essential to bone health. In fact, higher dairy consumption is correlated with worse bone  with highest dairy intake often have the highest rates of bone issues. Lucky for us you can get all the calcium you need from vegetables, notably leafy greens and seaweeds. Read more here about why vegetable-based calcium is more helpful to our bodies.

+ Reduce Inflammation and Improve Pain with Less Animal Foods

Increasingly, athletes are turning to plant-based diets to improve their recovery time and performance. Rich Roll, who became a vegan in his 40s and went on to become one of the top-ranking competitors in the prestigious Ultraman endurance race. David Carter, known at the 300-Pound Vegan, credits his plant-based diet with helping him run farther, faster and lifting heavier weights than ever, all without the pain that was a constant when he was consuming high amounts of dairy.

So even if you’re not suffering from heart disease, diabetes, or chronic pain, adding more plants into your life can make more likely to feel better in the short- and long-term, and that’s something we can all look forward to.