Participants: Margot Marshall (Host), Dr. Eddie Ramirez
Series Code: HL
Program Code: HL000023A
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00:15 Welcome to "Healthy Living!"
00:16 I'm your host Margot Marshall. 00:18 Globally, more people die annually from cardiovascular 00:22 diseases than any other cause. 00:25 But most cardiovascular diseases can be prevented 00:28 and even reversed by addressing 00:31 behavioral risk factors. Stay tuned. 01:10 We tend to associate heart disease with old people. 01:13 Could it be that young people have a false sense of security? 01:17 Let's ask today's guest, Dr. Eddie Ramirez, 01:20 how young do people need to be to experience heart disease? 01:26 They can actually start all the way down from being infants! 01:31 Oh my goodness! That's young. 01:35 As we have changed things the way they usually 01:38 are supposed to work, we're starting to see actually 01:43 heart disease from babies size, and many times due to the 01:49 introduction of formula and so forth 01:53 instead of the breast milk. 01:55 And there are small, little injuries that start to happen 02:00 in the arteries of those babies. 02:03 But more worrisome is as we move to the beginning of 02:09 adulthood - once we finish adolescence, there are many 02:14 studies that have documented that some of those 02:19 young people, at that young age, already have advanced 02:25 heart disease. Advanced. 02:27 That's right. Advanced heart disease 02:28 at what age are we talking about? 02:31 For example, let's see on the screen a published study 02:35 that came out a few years ago. 02:37 You can see in the top part, it's a 19-year-old person, 02:44 he has atherosclerosis and you can see where the arrows are 02:51 on the top row - that is plaque in the arteries of his heart 02:59 already at 19 years old. 03:02 That's very young to be getting it. 03:04 That is very young and you know, you may say, 03:08 "Well I saw the graphic and it is just a little bit, big deal!" 03:12 Big deal! Yes, it is a big deal. 03:14 See, if you study how fluids flow, you will understand 03:21 that when you decrease the diameter just a little bit, 03:27 you're actually decreasing flow quite a bit. 03:31 The question goes that the radius elevated to the 03:35 4the power - so in other words, a 10% decrease in the 03:41 diameter of the artery does not decrease blood flow by 03:45 10% but by much more! Wow. 03:50 So it is a big deal and then if you can see 03:53 in the graphic again, the lady on the bottom, 33 years old, 03:58 if you can see that whitish material, this lady has about 04:07 half of her artery of her heart clogged 04:11 already with atherosclerosis. 04:15 At just 33 years old. Just 33 years old. 04:17 Now this is the fascinating thing - if you were to talk 04:20 to this lady and you ask her for the common symptoms 04:25 of heart disease - you know, when you go up a flight of 04:30 stairs, do you feel that you need more air than what you're 04:34 having; do you get pains that run through your neck; 04:37 through your arm and so forth; she does not 04:41 have any of those symptoms. 04:44 Yet she has an extremely advanced heart disease case. 04:50 And this is the sad thing about this - many times, this is 04:55 happening silently and that's why people may not be 05:00 aware that they need to make changes until disaster comes, 05:04 the heart attack, the stroke and so forth presents. 05:08 How do arteries actually get clogged? 05:10 That's right. How does this happen? 05:12 That is actually a very good question. 05:16 There are many processes that are involved in this, 05:21 and you have many key players. 05:26 One of them is the factor of inflammation - we don't have 05:30 time to talk about it in this program but many times 05:35 exposure to things from stress, you know, too much stress 05:42 happening to the wrong types of foods, 05:45 this can lead into that. 05:49 And the interesting thing is that these cases that I was 05:53 presenting to you - that is not something that happens 05:57 once in a while, this tends to be happening often. 06:03 Even in a second study we can actually see on the screen, 06:06 we can see how in this study in which young people 06:11 died of a violent death, they did an autopsy and 78% 06:18 had heart disease in an advanced type of stage. 06:25 So, I mean, this is a lot of people. 06:28 This is from 100, 78 of those young people. 06:33 Wow that's dreadful, I mean you're talking advanced, 06:37 advanced heart disease at that age. 06:39 And this is dangerous! 06:40 See, just the last patient I saw coming to the hospital 06:45 with a heart attack, within 15 minutes he was dead! 06:49 That's how dangerous this is. 06:53 Yes, because you were saying it's really symptomless. 06:57 Often people are not getting any signs or indications 07:01 that this is creeping and creeping and creeping up, 07:04 and also being so young, they're not expecting to get 07:08 what we always considered diseases of old age - are they? 07:11 That's right because that's exactly the term - that is 07:15 very correct and in the old days this was called 07:17 "a disease of old age." 07:19 You would see it in 70s, 80s. 07:21 Now you're starting to see it in people as young as 50. 07:24 Even in their 40s some people are actually having their 07:28 first heart attack. 07:29 And coming a little bit back to your question on the 07:32 origin of the problem, we need to understand 07:36 a very important part of our blood vessels. 07:41 The inner most layer of your blood vessels is called the 07:46 "endothelium," and this plays an essential part in the 07:53 health of not only your heart, your brain but your 07:58 whole body. 07:59 Think about it this way - every cell in your body has some 08:05 basic requirements. 08:06 You need to have good nutrition; you need to have 08:10 good supply of oxygen and as these cells are working 08:15 they generate waste products and those waste products 08:18 need to be removed. 08:21 How does this process happen? 08:23 A key player in this is the endothelium. 08:26 As the oxygen, as the nutrients are circulating 08:30 in the blood vessels, they need to pass through the endothelium 08:36 then they're able to reach the cells and the organs, 08:40 and so forth where they are needed, then the waste 08:43 products need to come out and come back 08:46 all the way across the endothelium, reach the blood 08:49 then they go out and the blood gets rid of them. 08:52 So that endothelium, that nice big word you're talking, 08:54 that's just the actual lining of the blood vessel. 08:58 That's right! It's very, very thin. 08:59 It's a very delicate area. Very, very thin. 09:02 So think about it this way, imagine that you are 09:07 blocking that lining just a little bit - it is a big deal! 09:13 That means that those nutrients, that oxygen 09:18 and those waste products are not able to have 09:23 that interchange correctly. 09:25 And you know, there are some very fascinating studies, 09:27 for example, that show that many back pains have their 09:32 origin there. Really? 09:33 See, in your back, you have very thin blood vessels, 09:40 and sometimes those blood vessels get damaged with 09:45 atherosclerosis. 09:47 So as those blood vessels get damaged - 09:50 And atherosclerosis is that buildup. 09:52 That's right, that buildup of that plaque 09:54 that forms in the arteries. 09:56 That's building up and we've got those blood vessels 09:59 in the back - in the bony part. Um hm. 10:02 So as the back bones and cartilage and so forth 10:09 cannot get a good supply of oxygen - as they cannot 10:14 get rid of the waste products, then what happens in the 10:18 cartilage is you start getting a cartilage that starts to 10:23 grow in strange forms and there are 10:26 peaks and things that form there. 10:28 A similar process you find it in the knees; a similar 10:32 process; you find it in the hip and osteoarthritis 10:37 is something very common, unfortunately in Australia. 10:41 Many times you can trace this to issues in the lifestyle 10:48 that could have prevented this. 10:50 That makes a lot of sense really, 10:52 doesn't it, when you think about it. 10:53 I love the way that you explain that, Eddie, 10:55 it's very simple and I've got a picture in my mind now 10:58 of this very thin, about one cell thick, isn't it? 11:03 That's right! 11:05 But when that's blocking and there's no passages, 11:08 as you said, the nutrients and all that, 11:10 and then these things are trying to get across 11:13 that causes irregularities, makes a whole lot of sense, 11:16 doesn't it? Absolutely! 11:18 When you first said, "Well that could cause back pain," 11:19 I'm thinking - "How does that work," 11:21 but you've explained that really well. 11:23 OH, so this is not good is it? 11:26 Yes, so this is a process that didn't happen overnight. No. 11:32 These are one after another, after another issues 11:38 in the lifestyle that create the environment for this to happen. 11:44 See, the blood vessel - when you see it in a microscopic way, 11:49 you will see that it has lots of immune cells 11:54 just watching around. 11:55 You notice this, when you're driving here in Australia, 11:58 I see that very often, you know there's this police there with 12:00 the little camera there trying to make sure everybody 12:03 is behaving and everything is under control. 12:06 In the same way, you have immune cells lined up 12:11 there throughout the blood vessels. 12:14 They're just watching making sure everything is fine, 12:16 but see, the problem comes when the person eats 12:22 oxidized cholesterol. 12:24 Oxidized cholesterol. That's right! 12:26 So let's define oxidized cholesterol. 12:28 See, what happens when you leave your bicycle outside 12:33 in the rain, in the sun and everything? 12:35 It's going to get oxidized. Rusty! 12:38 So things that are exposed to the environment, 12:43 they tend to oxidize. 12:46 So in the same way, cholesterol when you expose it to 12:52 the environment, it oxidizes and it changes its form, 12:58 and becomes extremely toxic to the body. 13:01 That's why when you eat this oxidized cholesterol, 13:06 you eat it through your mouth, it goes through your stomach, 13:08 it goes through your intestines, gets absorbed in the blood 13:11 and it's circulating around while it's being processed 13:15 so when those cells of the immune system see that 13:20 there is some cholesterol running around, 13:23 they go and eat it to stop it from causing harm. 13:28 Sort of well protecting you and then they probably 13:33 lose their own life and are self-sacrificing. 13:37 Because once they eat it, it is so toxic, 13:40 they cannot do anything but stay there - the cell dies, 13:44 and the cholesterol stays there. 13:46 Now if you were to do this once a year, I mean nothing 13:53 is going to happen to you. 13:54 But you know, day after day, week after week, 13:58 oxidized cholesterol, oxidized cholesterol - you are creating 14:03 a huge problem and let me tell you an interesting fact. 14:06 Mothers - when you compare the milk of a human to the 14:14 milk of a cow, which one you think has more cholesterol? 14:19 Well they would both have cholesterol - 14:21 Yes both have cholesterol. 14:23 But you're saying which one would have more. 14:25 More cholesterol. I don't know. 14:27 Actually, the mother's milk actually has more cholesterol. 14:32 More cholesterol than the cow's milk. That's right! 14:34 But you know, mother's milk is not harmful to the arteries 14:38 of the baby. Why is that? 14:40 Because that milk does not get exposed to the environment. 14:47 The mother's milk comes out of her breast and straight 14:52 to the mouth of the baby, no chance for oxidation, 14:55 so very good and very healthy that milk. 14:59 So that's a hint, you know, you want to drink milk 15:03 that is not oxidized - go and find a cow and hang 15:07 yourself like, of course, for issues of hygiene, you know. 15:13 I wouldn't recommend that but that would be the way. 15:15 But see, in the old days when you would get the milk, 15:22 and you would leave that milk laying around, 15:25 what would happen to the milk? 15:26 Well it would probably grow old. 15:28 It would separate. Oh, separate yes. 15:30 You know, you don't see that today and I'll tell you why. No. 15:34 Yeah, the cream. 15:35 That's right, the cream and the serum, you know, 15:38 gets separated. 15:40 Now the reason why when you go to the market to buy 15:44 cow's milk, the reason why it's not separated 15:47 is because today we run a special process on milk 15:52 in which we put high pressure on a very small hole and milk 15:58 gets mixed like that and in that way it doesn't separate. 16:03 But think about what we're doing, we are putting that milk 16:09 and we're making small droplets of milk and every single 16:15 one of those droplets is being exposed to the air 16:21 basically oxidizing that milk so that milk 16:25 has high levels of oxidized cholesterol. 16:28 And then you add sugar to that mix and you even 16:34 oxidize even further that cholesterol. 16:37 Oh my goodness, so the bottom line is we're talking 16:40 about mother's milk having more cholesterol than cow's milk, 16:44 but you're saying that mother's milk doesn't 16:46 create any difficulties because it was not oxidized. 16:49 That's right! But the cow's milk does. 16:54 Exactly! So it's beneficial, it's good for you, 17:00 and so forth. 17:03 So an indirect indicator, there are many indicators 17:06 that things are well or not well would be the cholesterol levels. 17:10 You know, we have found out that there is C-reactive protein 17:14 and many other very important key players. 17:17 But still cholesterol does play a very important role 17:22 in the development of atherosclerosis. 17:25 We can predict, you know, if you have high levels 17:29 of cholesterol and high levels of LDL cholesterols, 17:32 you are in big risk of developing this atherosclerosis 17:37 in your arteries. 17:38 Now milk is not the only place where we're going 17:41 to get cholesterol or even oxidized cholesterol. 17:44 So where else might that be a problem. 17:46 So as a general rule, let's try to learn this. 17:51 Any animal product has cholesterol. Right. 17:56 Cholesterol is only found in animal products. 18:00 So we're talking about the eggs, the cheese, the meat, 18:04 the chicken and so forth. 18:08 Now the good news about the levels of cholesterol, 18:11 I actually have had the privilege of publishing 18:15 in the scientific literature about this topic. Okay. 18:19 We can see on the screen a study I presented in a very 18:24 important meeting, "The American Heart Association," 18:27 these were actually my personal patients. 18:31 And, I was demonstrating here that in a community base, 18:37 I'm not living with them or anything, I just took a 18:41 blood sample and then I started doing some education. 18:44 I started opening their eyes, where the cholesterol 18:47 comes from; how to substitute foods; how to start doing 18:51 some exercise; how to drink more water; how to rest more 18:55 properly and in two weeks I took blood samples again. 18:59 And the study here demonstrated that even the bad cholesterol, 19:04 the LDL cholesterol quickly starts coming down in a 19:10 matter of two weeks. 19:11 That's incredible! Just a couple of weeks! 19:13 Just a couple of weeks. 19:15 And to what extent roughly was that reduction? 19:18 That's right, the reduction was very interesting. 19:21 It was related to what level of cholesterol they had. 19:26 the higher the level of cholesterol, the more 19:30 that it decreased - isn't that fabulous? 19:32 It is actually because it would be a problem if you had 19:36 normal cholesterol and it decreased - you wouldn't that. 19:38 That's right! But isn't it interesting 19:40 how the body just seems to have its own little gauge 19:43 and regulations? 19:45 In fact, here in Australia I actually have friends that are 19:49 involved in research and they run a program called, 19:52 "CHIP," if you want to lower your cholesterol 19:56 in a physiological, natural without suffering type of way, 20:02 find a "CHIP" program in your area and participate in it. 20:07 That's "CHIP," and we're not talking about the 20:10 deep-fried ones. That's right! Laughter. 20:12 That stands for "Complete Health Improvement Program." 20:16 Correct, that's right! 20:18 And I've run many of those and I've seen what you're 20:20 talking about. Congratulations! 20:22 You are doing a blessing to the communities here in Australia! 20:25 Yes they are, they are just incredible. 20:27 But look, what we find people being told usually - 20:30 if they're trying to avoid heart disease or if they've got 20:33 high cholesterol and so on, if so, will eat white meat 20:36 and low fat dairy products. That's right. 20:38 What do you have to say about that? 20:39 That is an excellent way of ending up with a heart attack! 20:44 There was a fabulous published study that came out 20:49 a few years ago in which we compare the classic 20:54 counsel as you're telling me; the white meats, 20:57 the low fat dairy and they were very carefully monitoring people 21:04 that they were just to eat that. 21:07 They compared that against a full plant-based vegetarian 21:12 diet and you know what happened? 21:14 Those people that were following the white meat 21:18 counsel - those people started developing atherosclerosis. 21:23 How many of them? Eighty percent of them 21:26 started having progression of their atherosclerosis. 21:30 It got worse? It got worse! 21:32 And you know, I see this in medical consultation. 21:35 Some patients somehow get on the internet or somebody else 21:39 tells them about it and they're eating all this chicken 21:43 and so forth, and they tell me, "Doctor, I'm so tired 21:46 of eating chicken that I'm even getting some feathers out." 21:52 "And why is my cholesterol not coming down?" 21:54 I tell them, "You know, well I have bad news for you, 21:56 your cholesterol is not going to go down with that diet." 22:00 While the people that were doing the full plant-based diet 22:06 also known as a vegan diet, actually their cholesterol 22:11 started coming down and when they ran imaging studies 22:14 to see what was the status of the atherosclerosis, 22:18 atherosclerosis was decreasing in their body. 22:22 How much? Eighty-five percent of them atherosclerosis 22:26 started reversing. 22:28 And you know, I have 23 years that I have worked 22:32 in lifestyle centers in Norway, in Africa, in America, 22:35 and many other places in this world, and I have seen 22:39 this personally - it's not that I read about it or somebody 22:43 told me - my own eyes have seen this. 22:46 So what we need to do, we need to analyze populations 22:50 that are doing good and try to learn from them. Yes. 22:55 For example, I have a picture that I personally took 22:57 from Africa and these people in Tanzania invited us to eat. 23:03 And you can see there, there's a pot of beans, 23:06 there is some sort of chapatti-tortilla type of thing. 23:11 There's a sauce; there are fruits and 23:15 there is some avocado, that was their meal. 23:17 See, people down there follow a plant-based diet 23:21 because there are no stores to buy products. 23:25 You have to plant your meals if you want to eat. 23:31 Now, people down there - that's what they eat usually 23:35 every single day! 23:36 Many of them are not healthy-oriented or whatever, 23:40 but that's what they HAVE 23:42 to eat. That's just what they 23:43 eat and that's just what they use to eat. 23:45 I mean some people, for example, they can go and 23:49 catch a monkey and eat it, but I can tell you, 23:53 catching a monkey is not something very easy. 23:55 That's not something you would do every day, you know. 23:59 No, it just doesn't appeal to me very much either, 24:01 I quite love monkeys actually. 24:03 Yeah, so that's great, you've actually seen 24:06 this happen and it just happens quickly, isn't that beautiful? 24:09 And one of my favorite words that I hear you use is this 24:12 reverse thing. 24:14 I mean it's marvelous not only that you can halt a disease 24:17 and stop it from getting worse, but that you can actually 24:20 turn it around and quickly. Absolutely! 24:22 That's the beauty of this. 24:24 Let me share - yes go ahead. 24:26 And measurably quickly because you do the blood test 24:29 you do all the measurements and so it's not just 24:32 people saying, "Ah yeah, yeah, I think 24:34 that worked." That's right. 24:35 You know clinically that it really did work. 24:38 There is Dr. Caldwell, he is actually a coauthor 24:43 with me in a book I wrote. 24:45 The book I wrote is called, "Rethink Food," 24:48 and we are coauthors on that book. 24:50 I have that book. Yes! 24:53 And Dr. Caldwell did a fabulous study in which he was showing 24:59 how this reversal is happening with imaging studies. 25:04 So what they did, they did some angiograms in which 25:07 you put special solution through your veins, 25:11 then you take an x-ray and in that way you can see 25:13 the real condition of the arteries. Yes. 25:15 Let's see that on the screen. 25:18 You can see on the left side, that is before the experiment. 25:23 You can see the diameter, as you follow that and when 25:26 you see the white lines, suddenly the diameter 25:29 decreases dramatically. 25:30 All that I want you to imagine that plaque of atherosclerosis. 25:35 And then 36 months without cholesterol-lowering 25:40 medication, just a full vegan vegetarian diet, 25:43 you can see the same artery of the same patient on the right, 25:46 and this is published in the scientific literature. 25:48 Yes, I've seen that, that's in his book, 25:50 Dr. Caldwell Esselstyne - he came to Perth 25:53 one time when we were there and gave some talks. 25:55 It was really remarkable. 25:57 And I like the way that he calls it - he said, 25:59 "Heart disease is a tiger that doesn't have teeth." 26:05 So you don't have to get bitten by that tiger, 26:10 and even if you're choices have not been the best, 26:13 you still can change it. 26:15 See, the reason why the famous "Viagra," the medication 26:20 for male issues is so common today is because it's an 26:27 indirect reflection of how much atherosclerosis is in our midst. 26:33 A lot of that impotence can be directly 26:38 linked to atherosclerosis. 26:40 And a wise physician knows that when you are starting to 26:44 have those types of physiological problems, 26:47 the same thing is happening in your heart and your brain, 26:52 and you are a very high risk for heart attack or a stroke. 26:58 There is no need to have these problems. Right. 27:01 So erectile dysfunction is actually the warning sign that 27:07 something else really bad is going on. 27:09 In many of the cases, that is the case, so beware of that. 27:14 A really big wakeup call and I think it's probably one that's 27:18 works very well for men too. 27:20 That's right, I've seen the reversal in clinical practice, 27:25 I can tell you story after story. 27:27 I would highly advise you to give a chance for this 27:32 whole foods plant-based diet to work in your body 27:35 and you will see the huge difference. Yes. 27:37 Yes, Dr. Esselstyne is actually an Olympic athlete. 27:43 He won gold actually. That's right. 27:45 And as much as he believed in exercise, he didn't even 27:48 include that in his study because he just 27:52 wanted to show what food could do. 27:53 But, of course, if you exercise as well, then you'd 27:56 certainly do even better. 27:59 Well we hope this has been a really helpful program to you. 28:02 I'm sure in many, many ways it has been and just to think 28:06 that you can make such incredible changes so quickly 28:10 and it's just great to be able to just turn your health around. 28:14 Your health is very precious and I'd really encourage all of you 28:19 to think of at least one thing that you could do today 28:22 to live your life to the full. 28:24 And if you'd like to watch our programs on demand, 28:26 just go to our website: 3abnaustralia.org.au 28:30 and click on the watch button and God bless you! |
Revised 2019-11-12