Show Your Own Heart Some Love This Month!

February is American Heart Month--and February 6 is National Wear Red Day, a day designed to raise awareness about heart disease in women. Whenever you see red this month, consider it a reminder to eat green.

Heart disease—the leading cause of death in America—is caused primarily by high cholesterol, and cholesterol is found only in meat, eggs, and dairy products. Plant-based foods are not only low in saturated fat and calories, they’re cholesterol free. You can keep your ticker ticking long and strong if you exercise and eat healthy vegetarian foods. Here’s what some leading experts have to say on the subject:

*David Jenkins, a professor of nutrition at the University of Toronto: “The evidence is pretty strong that vegans, who eat no animal products, have the best cardiovascular health profile and the lowest cholesterol levels.”

*Dr. William C. Roberts, editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Cardiology: “A vegetarian diet is the least expensive and safest means of achieving the plaque-preventing LDL [low-density lipoprotein cholesterol] goal.”

*Dr. William Castelli, director of the Framingham Heart Study: “Vegetarians have the best diet. They have the lowest rates of coronary disease of any group in the country… they have a fraction of our heart attack rate and they have only 40 percent of our cancer rate.”  

Renowned doctor Dean Ornish has even found that a low-fat vegetarian diet, moderate exercise, and relaxation techniques can actually reverse heart disease. So here’s my “prescription” for all of you: Eat a healthy vegan diet and have a happy American Heart Month!