Why Going Vegan And Losing 86 Lbs. Did Not Prevent His Major Heart Attack

He was over 300 lbs and really wanted to be healthier. After learning some troubling facts about animal products, he decided to become vegan with his daughter. He became conscious of what he ate, lost 86 lbs, and felt much better.

However, he is a diabetic. Although switching to a vegan lifestyle itself is not a bad idea, his diet included much more carbohydrates and very little protein. I saw him a few months ago in my office in the middle of his weight loss. After reviewing his blood work, I was disturbed at how high his blood sugars were. We came up with some vegan protein ideas, adjusted his mediations, but he ended up not enjoying much of the suggested proteins.

Yesterday I saw him in the hospital after he had passed out and had chest pain. It was obvious from his blood work that he had severe heart damage. He was taken into the cardiac cath lab, and an angiogram revealed he had a big clot in a major artery of his heart. He was transferred last night to another hospital to get a bypass operation.

So why and how did this happen? First, he likely had a plaque in the major artery for quite some time. Second, his uncontrolled diabetes didn’t help matters. In fact, diabetics are automatically presumed to have heart disease when doctors assign risk factors to patients in some instances. High blood sugars causes severe inflammation in the body which can lead to further plaque formation in all arteries, including the arteries that supply the heart, leading to a heart attack as in the gentlemen described.

I cannot say for sure that the high blood sugar caused his heart attack but I can say for sure it accelerated the process.

Nothing is more important than food knowledge.

FOOD IS MEDICINE. FOOD HAS SIDE EFFECTS.

Know what goes into your body because your habits become your legacy for many generations down the line.

Dr. Cheng Ruan