Book
Understanding the Heart: Surprising Insights into the Evolutionary Origins of Heart Disease—and Why It Matters
Publish date:
April 19, 2022
Heart disease is the number-one killer in the world. Despite ever-advancing medical procedures and more powerful pharmaceutical drugs, the rate of heart disease continues to rise. According to Dr. Stephen Hussey, this is due in part to misunderstandings about how the heart really functions and how to keep it healthy. These misunderstandings result in improper medical approaches and off-target intervention therapies.
As a type 1 diabetic, Dr. Hussey has always known that he was at two to four times greater risk of developing heart disease. As a result, he has dedicated his entire adult life to understanding the heart, to prevent himself from becoming a statistic. And then his worst nightmare came true. Dr. Hussey suffered a “STEMI,” a blockage in the left anterior descending artery of his heart. STEMIs are typically so fatal that they are known as “widowmakers.” Only twelve percent of those who experience them outside of a hospital setting survive. Dr. Hussey was among the lucky twelve percent, but faced a difficult decision during his recovery: follow the standard of care laid out for him by the attending cardiologist or politely decline and apply everything he’d learned about the heart to a recovery protocol that would look massively different than what the doctors were recommending. In Understanding the Heart, Dr. Hussey shares the information that guided him through the highest-stakes decision of his life.
Authors
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Topics
Facultative Carnivore | Facultative Carnivore describes the concept of animals that are technically omnivores but who thrive off of all meat diets. Humans may just be facultative carnivores - who need no plant products for long-term nutrition. | |
Heart Disease | Heart disease, also known as cardiovascular disease, refers to a range of conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels. It is a broad term that encompasses various conditions, including coronary artery disease, heart failure, arrhythmias, and valvular heart diseases, among others. Heart disease is a leading cause of death worldwide. | |
Type 1 Diabetes | ||
Diet-Heart Hypothesis | The diet-heart hypothesis, also known as the lipid hypothesis, proposes that there is a direct relationship between dietary fat intake, particularly saturated fat and cholesterol, and the development of heart disease. It suggests that consuming high amounts of these fats leads to an increase in blood cholesterol levels, specifically low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, which in turn contributes to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in the arteries. Some consider this hypothesis nothing more than wishful thinking. | |
Carnivore Diet | The carnivore diet involves eating only animal products such as meat, fish, dairy, eggs, marrow, meat broths, organs. There are little to no plants in the diet. | |
Ketogenic Diet | The ketogenic diet involves eating high fat, low carbs, and moderate protein. To be in ketosis, one must eat less than 20 grams of carbohydrates per day. |