Living Proof: Reversing Heart Disease

By Carla Waldemar

Wesley Miller had run out of options. After coronary bypass surgery, he developed unstable angina and spent time in the intensive care unit of his local hospital. His cardiologist discouraged additional surgery. “So, what could I look forward to?” Wesley says, gesturing to the electric cart he’d taken to using when too short of breath to walk.

His family physician offered a glint of hope. He’d learned that the hospital planned to launch a program based on Dr. Dean Ornish’s regimen to reverse heart disease.

Wesley’s condition bumped him to the top of the list of applicants. To gain a head start, he purchased the book Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease (Ballantine, 2006) and adopted its dietary recommendations—no more meat, no fat.

“When the program started, I still had bouts of angina, but by week seven, it was gone,” Wesley says. “The way the program is set up is key to how it works. We all talk about ‘diet,’ but not ‘reversing heart disease.’ Say ‘I’m reversing heart disease’ when you’re in a restaurant and you get a much better response; they rally ’round the flag. ”

The best part about the program, Wesley says, is “the more you do, the more you’ll be able to do. That’s the beauty of it—you improve continually.”

As part of the program, Wesley learned about stress management and relaxation techniques, some of which seem to go against our achievement-oriented culture, “like taking a warm, relaxing bath,” he says. “It’s doing things we were never taught to do.”

The key element of success, Wesley believes, is the group support the program offers. “They do very definite things to engage us to open up and recognize ourselves and what we’re capable of doing,” he says. “It’s that part of the program that draws us to see inside ourselves. Instead of pushing ourselves to death, we learn ways to support ourselves and each other.”

The trickle-down effect delights him, too. Wesley’s two sons have adopted Ornish’s preventative program and have seen results. His two sisters also have signed on.

“Each is a heck of a cook, but they’re cooking even better with Ornish’s fat-free recipes,” Wesley says of his sisters.

And Wesley, who lives in Clarksburg, West Virginia, offers some statistics of his own. At the start of the program, his triglyceride level was 890; at the end of the first year, it had dropped to 73.

“I’d been taking 16 prescriptions and now I’m down to one,” he says. And instead of riding in that electric cart, he’s logging eight to 10 miles on his bicycle daily.