Stroke Video

Stroke

Would you know if you were having a stroke? How about if a friend were having one? Strokes are a type of cardiovascular disease and are the 3rd leading cause of death in the US. Changing your diet is the most effective action to prevent them …regardless of your family history.  Stay tuned, I’ll explain the signs and symptoms of strokes and the 2 best diets that will reduce your risk. 

A stroke occurs when arteries that carry nutrients and oxygen leading to or in the brain are blocked, called an ischemic stroke or burst, called a hemorrhagic stroke. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs, so it starts to die. The most common signs of a stroke are sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body. Additional signs are sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding, trouble seeing in one or both eyes, loss of coordination, trouble walking, dizziness or loss of balance or sudden, severe headache.

If any of these symptoms occurs for a short period of time, it is known as a Transient Ischemic Attack or TIA and is a warning sign for further tests. Prevention is the best plan and diet is the most preventative course of action. But, what’s the best diet?

The best diet to prevent coronary heart disease, heart attacks, strokes and peripheral artery disease is a question long debated and boy, is there a lot of confusing information in the media. One day something is good for you and another day it’s not. Everyone wants to know the one exact diet that will prevent that from happening and keep them healthy. Low fat, high fat, low carb, high carb, vegetarian, Asian, Mediterranean. Whoa! No wonder everyone is so confused.

What if I told you there are actually two diets that are proven to prevent heart disease and related conditions? The first is a very low fat vegetarian diet. Dr. Dean Ornish’s studies have proven that a low fat diet…10-15% total fat intake as compared to the American Heart Associations recommendation of 30% …will actually reverse heart disease in people already diagnosed with the condition. It will also prevent heart disease.

Studies of cultures from around the world who eat as vegetarians, from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia and religions such as Hindu, Buddism and 7th Day Adventists…show that the development of heart disease is almost non-existent, unless…of course.. they move to the US, parts of Europe or eat like the average American. The problem here is that most people don’t really want to eat a vegetarian diet. 

Luckily, there is another diet that is also as effective in the prevention of heart disease. It is the low carb diet. Yes, we’re talking about Atkin’s, the Zone, South Beach or Suzanne Sommers diet, any of the low carbs diets work extremely well. But, you say, there’s seems to be so much contrary evidence in the media about these diets. That’s true, but from what sources do they come?  Usually, with a vested interest in an opposing point of view. But the weight of the evidence proves them wrong every time.

First, I defy anyone to find a study done anywhere that has proven that a diet high in fat and low in carbs causes heart disease. This study has never been done, it doesn’t exist. Studies in the past that linked high fat to heart disease never took into account the level of carbohydrates each participant was eating. Researchers ignored carb intake.

Said another way, high fat content diets in the presence of high carbohydrate intake can lead to heart disease. But, when carb intake was taken into account, high fat diets in the presence of low carbohydrate intake does not and has never, not one time… been proven to lead to heart disease. Looking around the world, Eskimos and African tribes are the most extreme examples of cultures eating low carb. They simply don’t have access to much more than animals for food. Heart disease is non existent in these cultures.

Making more sense for the average American are the Asian and the Mediterranean diets. Both of these cultures eat about the same amount of protein that the average American does, but they eat more fats and less carbs than Americans do. Their risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and high cholesterol is far less than found in America. Recently this has begun to change as the unhealthy American diet begins to creep around the world.

Nonetheless, for those of you who appreciate the flavor of fat in food, enjoy it, eat good fats, no trans fats and reduced saturated fat, but cut back on your carbs. If you are someone who has repeated the mantra of “Everything in moderation”…here’s the bad news.  You’re almost at as much risk as the person who eats anything and everything…also know as the standard American diet or SAD…that’s a bit ironic, isn’t it?

If you claim moderation, it simply means you really haven’t made a choice, you eat based on what you feel is moderation. That’s a bad plan, actually, it’s no plan at all. Notice the 2 diets I describe here are not moderate and not in the middle.  They are extremes. Pick one and your health will benefit.

If you insist it’s all based on your genes, well we all have bad genes, but they don’t always express themselves. As an example, not all women who have the breast cancer gene get breast cancer. We each have to do something to turn them on. With heart disease, it’s your diet that will turn them on and get them to express themselves. Eat right and they’ll never cause you any problem.

Learn more about heart disease, how to accomplish an easy low carb diet, all natural supplements to help support healthy heart function and the dangers of common heart medications by viewing some of my other videos at www.AsktheHolisticDoctor.com. 

Don’t be a victim of heart disease, especially when its prevention or reversal is entirely under your control…simply through diet.