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Dr. Esselstyn cannot claim to have reversed atherosclerosis because the TOOLS in which he used MISS A TON. You can have no narrowing BUT A VERY DISEASED ARTERY WALL FULL OF PLAQUE AND READY TO RUPTURE LIKE JIM FIXX.
This is not Dr. Esselstyn's fault as IVUS was not around back then.
However, DO ANOTHER STUDY. PUT THEM THROUGH AN IVUS. SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
THUS FAR, NO DIET HAS BEEN SHOWN TO REVERSE HEART DISEASE.
I think it's important to note that there's a difference between dietary cholesterol and blood (serum) cholesterol. It was believed, for some time, that because eggs are high in dietary cholesterol, then you should avoid eating them because they'd increase your serum cholesterol levels. However, this is untrue. Eggs -are- high in cholesterol. But eating a few eggs every week won't raise your cholesterol level. Diets that are high in "bad" fat (such as lard and margarine) and carbohydrates (in particular foods loaded with both starch and sugar, such as cookies, cake, donuts), however, will raise your cholesterol level. So - lean meats - not going to raise your cholesterol level. Fatty meats will. A few strawberries - won't. Strawberry cream pie with whipped cream and a graham cracker crust - will.
Fatty meats, at least when low carbs are consumed, do not raise your cholesterol, at least the bad kind. I eat plenty of red meat, bacon and eggs and my LDL cholesterol dropped when I cut carbs. My HDL cholesterol increased. My overall cholesterol is within the normal range (however meaningless that is).
Plaques ONLY develop in areas of arterial weakening and damage. They do not develop willy nilly or uniformly. This is a clue.
SMOKING,elevated blood pressure and elevated blood sugar appear to be directly involved in this damage and INITIATORS. There are more damagining initiators yet to be discovered.
Look at the damage elevated blood sugar does to the vessels of the extremeties in diabetics. These people lose their feet. Imagine the damage it is doing to the coronary arteries.
Fatty meats, at least when low carbs are consumed, do not raise your cholesterol, at least the bad kind. I eat plenty of red meat, bacon and eggs and my LDL cholesterol dropped when I cut carbs. My HDL cholesterol increased. My overall cholesterol is within the normal range (however meaningless that is).
That is pretty much what you'd expect though, HDL is essentially a cholesterol garage collector so you'd expect it to increase with increased consumption of high cholesterol foods. So while its good that your body has increased its HDL to remove the additional cholesterol (the situation would be worse if that didn't happen), that doesn't mean this diet has having a positive effect on your heart health....its not.
When you eat a very low-fat diet the opposite happens, your HDL drops, but that isn't a negative sign......there is just less cholesterol in your blood to remove.
Purely anecdotal evidence, but my personal story (and I know many with similar experiences):
I used to have triglycerides of 250, LDL literally at the highest value of "normal," and very low HDL. I did some reading and decided to cut CARBS out of my life, not dietary cholesterol nor dietary fat. I typically eat such that at least 65% of my daily calories (often more) come from fat (including lots of dairy, meat, eggs, etc...I use heavy cream, eat lots of cheese, and buy the fattiest cuts of meats I can find) with about 5-10% of my calories coming from carbs. For more than a year now, my total cholesterol has been hanging out between 100-115, and my triglycerides have not seen triple digits.
Purely anecdotal evidence, but my personal story (and I know many with similar experiences):
I used to have triglycerides of 250, LDL literally at the highest value of "normal," and very low HDL. I did some reading and decided to cut CARBS out of my life, not dietary cholesterol nor dietary fat. I typically eat such that at least 65% of my daily calories (often more) come from fat (including lots of dairy, meat, eggs, etc...I use heavy cream, eat lots of cheese, and buy the fattiest cuts of meats I can find) with about 5-10% of my calories coming from carbs. For more than a year now, my total cholesterol has been hanging out between 100-115, and my triglycerides have not seen triple digits.
It doesn't count because you are not part of a peer reviewed study published by a respected scientist.
Just kidding. I'm having similar results. After a year of more or less faithfully low-carbing it, I was down 33 pounds, Triglycerides (fasting) was 76. My total cholesterol was higher than yours, but still well within the "normal" range.
That is pretty much what you'd expect though, HDL is essentially a cholesterol garage collector so you'd expect it to increase with increased consumption of high cholesterol foods. So while its good that your body has increased its HDL to remove the additional cholesterol (the situation would be worse if that didn't happen), that doesn't mean this diet has having a positive effect on your heart health....its not.
When you eat a very low-fat diet the opposite happens, your HDL drops, but that isn't a negative sign......there is just less cholesterol in your blood to remove.
I feel sorry for people that still buy into the low-fat paradigm. When you give up being a vegetarian, as most ultimately do (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...ck-eating-meat ), I strongly encourage you to consider a low carb way of eating.
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