reverse heart disease in 4 steps

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fourfold approach

The program focuses on the individual and his or her lifestyle. The goal is to empower participants with information they can use to make informed and intelligent choices. Instead of power to the doctors, it’s power to the people. Participants choose from a range of eating choices based on their medical condition and goals.
           
1. Low-Fat Diet.
The program has two types of eating plans. The “reversal diet,” designed for people with heart disease and high cholesterol levels, suggests more and drastic changes. The less-restrictive “prevention diet” is based on how much change a person needs to make.
           
“I’m following a preventive rather than a reversal plan,” Ornish says, “and I allow myself an occasional indulgence, like chocolate. It’s not what you eat, but how you eat it. Slowly enjoying a [small indulgence] is an exercise in meditation itself.”
           
Both of his eating plans emphasize reducing total fat, saturated fat, animal protein, sugar, and other simple carbohydrates. They promote complex carbohydrates (including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes), nonfat dairy, and soy products. The prevention diet encourages a vegetarian way of eating, but includes moderate amounts of fish, skinless chicken, avocados, nuts, and seeds, emphasizing balance and variety.
           
2. Exercise.
As simple as a daily walk, moderate exercise is an important part of Ornish’s program. Walking for 20–30 minutes a day is suggested. Cutting out addictions, such as smoking, is part of the program, too.
           
3. Stress Management.
Ornish treats the heart not only as an organ of interest to a medical doctor but also as a metaphor for feelings. He finds that emotional stress plays a key role in just about all disease, both directly and indirectly. For example, emotional stress makes arteries constrict and clot blood faster, which in turn may cause a heart attack.

In Ornish’s program, stress management options include yoga, breathing techniques, meditation, and visualization. It is, he says, “the more challenging part of the program, perhaps, because we’re often unfamiliar with it. So I say, spend a few minutes a day on these simple exercises—not just to avoid a heart attack, but to feel better. They’re very simple techniques, easy to learn, and cost nothing. And you’ll find your once-short fuse is longer.”
           
4. Love and Intimacy.
The last and perhaps the most important part of the program involves love and intimacy. Numerous studies show that people who feel lonely and depressed are more likely to get sick and die prematurely than those who have a strong caring connection and sense of community. “Support is so important,” Ornish says.