Can the perfect diet heal inflammatio... - British Heart Fou...

British Heart Foundation

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Can the perfect diet heal inflammation???

v42230 profile image
7 Replies

Hi,

I was wondering if there is anyone out there who has ate a very strict anti-inflammatory diet (with no treats) and had a significant reduction of symptoms over a decent period of time? The reason I ask this is because I have inflammation of the heart muscle and have read on the internet that some people have recovered from other inflammatory conditions stating that their diet and controlling stress helped this. What I do think is even if there was a chance that it was going to work, one's persons diet may have to be slightly altered from someone elses as there may be certain foods that trigger an inflammatory response in one person but not another. Finding the perfect is the hard part. I have read other things such as gut bacteria, oral hygiene could help with the healing process. Is there a chance that putting the correct nutrients in your mouth could heal chronic inflammation or is this not possible?

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v42230
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sos007 profile image
sos007

I had triple bypass surgery in 2015, followed by 4 stents. I was given a cocktail of pills to take for the rest of my life including statins (male aged 52 at time of surgery, 5'10", 195 lbs at time of surgery).

The statins caused so much muscular pain that I resolved to radically change my diet and lifestyle. From January 2016 to October 2016 I lost 40 lbs. by following a whole-foods, plant-based diet, no sugar, no fried foods, no processed foods, no refined carbohydrates. I ate fish 3 days per week, no other animal products during this time. Only egg-whites, but continued to have dairy - I switched to goat dairy products.

As my weight came off my medical condition rapidly improved along with my blood biomarkers which I monitored every 6 weeks during this period.

By the end of October 2016 i took the last of all my medications as I had been weaning off of them gradually during my weight loss since my blood biomarkers kept improving.

My cardiologist was upset that I refused to take the statin drug.

My research said lowering LDL-C is not as important as lowering LDL-P from the perspective of cardiovascular risk. You can find your LDL-P by getting a blood test called 'NMR Lipoprofile' about $100 USD from a private lab.

I continue to monitor my blood work every 3 months and have continued my diet with some modifications.

I also began going to the gym for weight training and got my cardiovascular health to the point where I embarked on a HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout 3 days per week with very gradual increases in intensity from a low baseline.

I stopped taking baby aspirin 3 months ago due to a new medical study released findings that the risk was equal to the reward and therefore no net benefit.

Today I have re-introduced free-range eggs to my diet, and grass-fed, pasture-raised animal products. However I only consume those in small quantities. No more than 3 oz of animal protein per day. In fact after aggressively moving to a plant-based diet, my interest in animal protein diminished anyway.

Legumes are the staple in my diet. I am Greek and make a variety of legume based dishes. I mostly like something called Araka which is basically green peas with sweet potatoes in tomato sauce with a little bit of ground beef (grass-fed). Peas are the the highest quality source of plant-based protein. Yesterday I ate that for lunch, along with a whole avocado (no bread) and I had energy like you wouldn't believe for the rest of the day.

Educate yourself as I did and you will be fine.

youtu.be/klnYh7SZRic

youtu.be/K3ksKkCOgTw

youtu.be/ZSpB-j5DL9E

youtu.be/eb5SmhY30kw

If you address the source of your disease, then you do not need medical interventions such as surgery or drugs. However you must be disciplined. Giving up sugar and simple carbohydrates takes 2-3 weeks and there is a withdrawal process that is unpleasant. Once you get past that process you lose the cravings for these foods.

Good luck.

v42230 profile image
v42230 in reply tosos007

Hi sos007,

Thank you very much for responding to me. Your story is incredibly inspirational!! Where you were then to where you are now is quite an achievement so well done and thank you for sharing it with everyone. I will be starting my new diet soon. I'm currently starting to buy my healthy food (grains, legumes, vegetables, fruit etc.) and once I have done enough research to prepare a diet/meal plan for the week I will start it and be very disciplined with it too.

sos007 profile image
sos007 in reply tov42230

I'm very happy to hear of your new path. Thank you for your kind words and the best of luck to you.

S11m profile image
S11m

Intermittent Fasting (IF) is good for inflammation. See:

healthunlocked.com/fasting-...

v42230 profile image
v42230 in reply toS11m

Hi S11m,

Thanks a lot for your response!! I have watched the first video you included before on youtube but not the other ones so I'll make sure to watch them. My intention will be to include fasting as part of my lifestyle once I have started my new diet. How long do you fast for? Do you drink water only? How often do you do it?

S11m profile image
S11m in reply tov42230

I normally fast 20 hour day 20:4, plus 68 hours a month - but you will probably need to "get into fat-burning mode" and transition into it. See:

healthunlocked.com/fasting-...

Helen_BHF profile image
Helen_BHF

Hi everyone, we paused the ability to comment on this thread as there were some concerns raised that it was promoting extreme lifestyle changes/diet. Please just bear in mind that if you're sharing information or opinions on diet with other users, any changes to their lifestyle would need to be discussed with a health professional first and foremost. Thanks so much.

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