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About Clogged Arteries [& Unhealthy fats ]

Posted By Dr. Ben Kim on Mar 01, 2010 Natural Health Care

To most people, clogged arteries mean increased risk of experiencing a heart attack or

stroke. Often, getting diagnosed with partially occluded arteries leads to a prescription for cholesterol-lowering medication or invasive procedures like an angioplasty or bypass surgery.

Before you find yourself being asked to choose one of these conventional medical approaches toaddressing clogged arteries, I encourage you to be fully aware of the actual make-up of plaque that canocclude your arteries, the way in which such plaque develops, the different levels of risk that accompanyvarying degrees of blockage, and most importantly, what you can do to reduce your risk of experiencinghealth challenges that can be caused by occluded arteries.

Pathology 101 teaches us that accumulation of plaque, commonly called an atheroma, is a buildup inartery walls that is composed of the following:

Specialized white blood cells (macrophages)

Cellular debris

Calcium

Fibrous connective tissue

Damaged lipids (cholesterol and fatty acids)

Atheromatous plaques aren't a welcome addition to your body, but they're extremely common and justone of many natural degenerative developments that occur as you age. To completely avoidatherosclerosis as you get older is virtually impossible; development typically begins in childhood, and

the presence of atheromata isn't uncommon even at the toddler stage.Buildup of atheromatous plaques occurs between the innermost lining of your artery walls and the layerof smooth muscle that gives your arteries the ability to pulsate and propel blood through your circulatorysystem.

Atheromatous plaques begin with an accumulation of specialized white blood cells that have engulfeddamaged low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Your body works to remove such accumulations, but if you'reexposed to a continuous stream of them via unhealthy dietary choices, these early accumulations canbegin to attract even more white blood cells. Over time, these plaques tend to accumulate calciumdeposits on their outer layers; these calcium deposits serve to stiffen the accumulations of white bloodcells and damaged lipids within.

Conventional medical thought is that arteries that are clogged by atheromatous plaques decrease bloodflow to your tissues, and in the case of occluded arteries that are supplying your heart or brain, if bloodcirculation is compromised enough, you may experience a heart attack or a stroke.

We now know arteries that are 30 to 40 percent occluded may actually be more likely to contribute to aheart attack than arteries that are 90 to 95 percent clogged. As Dr. Dean Ornish explains, when there isa significant amount of plaque buildup in your arteries, these plaques are more likely to be stabilized bycalcium deposits.

Another reason why more occlusion does not always increase your risk of experiencing a heart attack isthat your body can develop alternate pathways for blood flow - called collateral vessels - when arteriesbecome fully or almost fully clogged; this is a great example of the never-ending pursuit of your self-

healing mechanisms to keep you alive.

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An artery that is only 30 percent clogged won't typically have collateral vessels around it (it usuallytakes more occlusion and time for your body to create collateral vessels).

Also, arteries that are only about 30 percent clogged aren't likely to be stabilized by calcium deposits,which means that whenever you experience significant emotional stress, such arteries can easilyconstrict due to your body's natural flight/fight response, and constriction of atheromatous plaques cancause them to rupture - this is how plaque ruptures tend to occur.

When a plaque ruptures, it's possible for an artery that was only 30 to 40 percent clogged to becomefully occluded within several seconds to a few minutes. This process is termed catastrophic progresion ,

and is the mechanism by which many heart attacks and strokes occur.

The good news is that studies by Dr. Dean Ornish and his colleagues indicate that making healthydietary and lifestyle choices can dramatically decrease your risk of experiencing plaque ruptures, andoften, even people who have frequent episodes of angina (chest pain) caused by clogged arteries canexperience significant improvement within a few weeks.

To reduce risk of heart attack and stroke, one of the most important lifestyle choices to make is to learnhow to effectively manage emotional stress because it's emotional stress that's most likely to causerupture of vulnerable plaques in your arteries via sudden constriction that's regulated by your autonomicnervous system.

Numerous studies clearly indicate that mental and emotional stress - including chronic depression andanger - significantly increase your risk of experiencing a heart attack or stroke. This is why being in anunhappy long term relationship is arguably just as dangerous to your health as smoking, eating poorly,and not being physically active.

On the dietary front, the most important action steps are:

Decrease intake of unhealthy fats , sugar-rich foods, and other foods that are rich in refinedcarbohydrates

Ensure regular intake of nutrient-rich vegetables, fruits, and legumes

Part of ensuring optimal nourishment includes making sure that you're getting enough vitamin B12,

vitamin B6, and folate, which are micronutrients that are vital to keeping your blood homocysteine levelwithin a healthy range . Allowing your blood homocysteine level to get and stay elevated virtuallyguarantees that you will develop cardiovascular disease.

I hope that this post encourages you to continuously work at being emotionally balanced, optimallynourished, and committed to making healthy lifestyle choices every day. These ways of being make upthe best approach to treating and preventing clogged arteries, and as soon as you get started, you'llbegin to reduce your risk of experiencing cardiovascular disease and a number of other healthchallenges.

For more information on this topic, please feel free to view:

Homocysteine Care: A Professional Grade, 100% Whole Food Formula for Keeping Homocysteine at aHealthy Level

The Best and Worst Foods for Your Heart

What Most Doctors Won't Tell You About Cholesterol

Healthy vs. Unhealthy Fats and OilsPosted By Dr. Ben Kim on Aug 03, 2004

Healthy Eating Resources

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After graduating from chiropractic school, I made my way to a small Inuit village at the northern tip of Alaska to begin my first practice as a chiropractor. One of the most impressive memories I have of mytime in northern Alaska was watching the natives haul a 20-foot whale onto the beach and divide the

muktuk (whale blubber) into three by three sheets, one per family. I learned that the natives choppedthese sheets of whale blubber into small pieces, about the size of small grapes, to be eaten raw andsometimes dipped in seal oil. In addition to whale blubber and seal oil, the natives continued to eattraditional staples such as whale meat, caribou meat, fish, and goose meat.

My observations in rural Alaska are congruent with the studies of Weston A. Price, a Harvard-traineddentist who traveled around the world in the 1930s, visiting many indigenous populations and observing

their diets and health. Dr. Price found that the foods of isolated primitive peoples contained at least tentimes the fat-soluble vitamins A and D found in modern diets. He also found that all healthy populationshad at least one source of animal fat and protein in their diets, such as fatty fish, wild game, organmeats, eggs, and butter. These healthy populations did not suffer from heart disease, digestiveproblems, cancer, or obesity at the rates that we do.

For the past twenty years, we have been encouraged to believe that saturated fats and cholesterol, bothfound in animal fats, are the main causes of chronic degenerative diseases. Ask the average NorthAmerican what they know about saturated fat, and the majority will answer that it causes heart disease.Ask the average high school student what they know about cholesterol, and they will tell you that it isbad for you. For years, I would have answered the same. Are these views on saturated fat andcholesterol with merit?

Here are some facts about saturated fats:

They make up at least 50 percent of our cell membranes, providing essential rigidity and strength They enhance the immune system They help incorporate calcium into our bones Some of them have antimicrobial properties that protect us against harmful microorganisms in

ourdigestive tracts

And here are some facts about cholesterol:

It contributes to cell membrane rigidity and strength, just as saturated fats do It is used to make hormones that help us deal with stress, as well to make sex hormones It is converted to vitamin D, essential for proper growth, healthy bones, a healthy nervous

system, muscle tone, and proper immune system function It is used to make bile, needed for digestion of fat in our foods It acts as an antioxidant, actually protecting us against cellular damage that leads to heart

disease and cancer It helps maintain a healthy intestinal lining, offering protection against autoimmune illnesses

Clearly, saturated fat and cholesterol are needed for many vital processes. We need both in our diets tobe as healthy as possible. The danger comes when we eat fats and cholesterol that have been damagedby heat, oxygen, and unnatural farming practices. Damaged fats and cholesterol can lead to injury tothe walls of our blood vessels, promoting a build-up of plaque that heals the injured areas. It is thisbuild-up of plaque that impairs blood circulation and paves the way to heart disease and other chronicillnesses.

The following foods are likely sources of damaged fats and/or damaged cholesterol:

1. Pasteurized dairy products this includes cheese and ice cream that have been made frompasteurized milk

2. Powdered milk3. Powdered eggs4. Meats that have been cooked at high temperatures, especially those that have been fried or deep-

fried

5. Most vegetable oils

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6. All hydrogenated oils

The following foods are concentrated sources of healthy fats and/or healthy cholesterol:

1. Avocado2. Nuts and seeds3. Cold-water fish4. Organic eggs5. Organic chicken6. Grass-fed beef 7. Virgin Coconut Oil 8. Red Palm Oil used throughout Africa9. Cold Pressed Olive Oil

The difference in organic and non-organic animal foods is significant. As an example, lets look at thedifference between organic and non-organic eggs. We function best when we eat an equal balance of two fatty acids: omega-6 and omega-3. Having too much omega-6 and too little omega-3 leads tonumerous health problems, including generalized inflammation, high blood pressure, depressed immunefunction, weight gain, an irritated intestinal tract, and a tendency to form blood clots. An organic egg,one that comes from a hen allowed to eat green plants and insects, contains an optimal ratio of omega-6and omega-3 fatty acids of 1:1. A commercial supermarket egg from a hen that is fed mainly grain in afactory-farm environment has a ratio closer to 15 or 20:1.

Virgin coconut oil and red palm oil are the best oils to cook with because they contain a large percentageof saturated fats that remain stable and undamaged with heat. All other vegetable oils are damagedeasily with heat exposure. This is why cold-pressed olive oil is best eaten raw.

Getting back to my time in rural Alaska, I remember being impressed with stories that some of myelderly patients told me about how strong and healthy their parents and grandparents were. For Inuitsliving before the mid 1900s, it was a regular occurrence to use small, homemade kayaks to go huntingin cold arctic waters. Every spring and fall was time to go out on the ice or water for several days toweeks at a time to hunt for whales. Although hunting and eating traditional foods are still a part of theInuit culture, some of my older patients remarked how sad it was to see todays generation of Inuitssuffering from numerous health problems like cancer, heart disease, horrible dental health, and crippling

arthritis. By all accounts, these ailments were very rare in the recent past.

Of course, it was no surprise to discover that soft drinks and fast food have become staples in the Inuitdiet. Planes flew in to our village everyday, carrying many cases of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Doritos, and mostprocessed convenience products found in regular supermarkets. As a special treat, many people whowere returning from trips to Anchorage and Seattle brought back boxes from Pizza Hut and McDonaldsfor their families and friends.

I can only hope that populations like this one will not mistakenly group their pizzas and Big Macs withtheir traditional animal foods as fatty foods that cause chronic disease. Many people I have worked withover the years have made this mistake and ended up developing health problems that were partly dueto a deficiency of healthy fats in their diets. I made this same mistake for five years.

To learn more about the difference between healthy fats and cholesterol and damaged ones, Irecommend that you read Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically CorrectNutrition and the Diet Dictocrats , by Sally Fallon, and The Cholesterol Myths : Exposing the Fallacy thatSaturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease , by Uffe Ravnskov.

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