Greetings From The Planet Veeg

Coronary Artery Disease, or CAD, is responsible for nearly 9 million deaths globally per year. That statistic ranks it as the most common cause of death on the planet. I pulled this brief CAD overview from the Mayo Clinic website –

“Coronary artery disease develops when the major blood vessels that supply your heart with blood, oxygen and nutrients (coronary arteries) become damaged or diseased. Cholesterol-containing deposits (plaque) in your arteries and inflammation are usually to blame for coronary artery disease. When plaque builds up, they narrow your coronary arteries, decreasing blood flow to your heart. Eventually, the decreased blood flow may cause chest pain (angina), shortness of breath, or other coronary artery disease signs and symptoms. A complete blockage can cause a heart attack.”

At the time I had my heart attack I was, what I would call, a reluctant runner. I had started running about nine months earlier primarily as something I could do with my wife (who is a very good runner) and secondarily to get a little exercise. I would have been considered by most people to be in decent shape for my age. I could still do one-arm push-ups (at least ten on each arm). I was not overweight by most people’s standards. I got a physical each year and was on no medication other than a daily baby aspirin – and that only because my doctor recommended it for all his patients who were over fifty years old. Refined sugar, which is considered by some researchers to be a leading cause of arterial inflammation, had not been a part of my standard diet for over thirty-five years. Blood pressure and cholesterol were both slightly elevated but not high enough for medication. Friends have told me that I would have been the last person that they would have guessed might drop dead from a heart attack.

I mention these things only to point out that coronary artery disease is a stealthy killer. It is almost never diagnosed until a heart attack occurs. That is when I got my diagnosis. Common indicators like high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, high BMI (body mass index), shortness of breath, angina – none of these may be present and even if they are their presence alone does not provide sufficient grounds upon which to base a diagnosis. In my case the only indicator present was a family history that included heart disease. A family history can be a strong indicator for a genetic predisposition. Apparently that was me. I was a ticking time bomb. To a certain extent I still am a ticking time bomb. There seems to be a lot of us out there – men, usually, who appear to be the picture of health and suddenly drop dead for no apparent reason.

There is a tendency among many heart attack survivors to resign themselves to their situation and to forego the exercise and diet plans that are prescribed for their recovery simply because they have convinced themselves that it is not worth the effort. The heart attack initiated a sudden awakening to the reality of the brevity of life and the fact that its expiration is apart from human control. It is easy for that kind of resignation to set in. I get it. I saw it firsthand when I went through my heart rehab program at the hospital. The lifestyle changes typically recommended in order to prevent future heart attacks once you’ve had one can be pretty radical depending on the particular circumstances. Individuals have to determine for themselves how they will handle their own unique health care situation. I have chosen an aggressive course of action. That does not imply that it is the correct choice for everyone – only that it is what I believe to be the correct choice for me.

I get a lot of questions about my rehab program, mostly about the diet I’ve chosen. I do not claim to have universal solutions to the issues related to CAD treatment and heart attack recovery. I can, however, share the course I have chosen to take for myself based on my own “root cause analysis.” Yes, I geeked out a little bit on this thing. I will try to spare you the boring research stuff and cut to the end result. As you might expect it involves a combination of diet and exercise and is, admittedly, a pretty radical regimen but definitely doable. I have been on it since the fall of 2015.

For my exercise component, I have taken up running – no longer reluctantly, but seriously. I run a lot – four or five days a week with a goal of logging 100 or more miles per month. I follow a training plan and I track my miles, pace, and heart rate for every run. Running increases the strength of the heart muscle and increases the size and flexibility of the coronary arteries so that if there is a plaque rupture the likelihood of the rupture causing a life-threatening blockage is greatly reduced.

Running, however, does not affect the amount of plaque that will build up in your arteries. Plaque has to be controlled by diet. A runner (as well as anyone else) who consumes a typical American diet high  in cholesterol and refined sugar will develop plaque deposits in his arteries to a greater or lesser degree depending on a number of factors, family history (genetics) being one of the major ones.

Longtime runners can and do drop dead from heart attack induced sudden cardiac arrest. Probably the most famous example is Jim Fixx. Fixx began running at the age of 35. In 1977 at the age of 45 he wrote a book called The Complete Book of Running which is credited with starting the running craze. At the age of 52 he dropped dead from a heart attack induced cardiac arrest while out for a run – the same thing that happened to me at age 58 (except I didn’t stay dead).

The dietary component of my regimen is a very restrictive zero cholesterol / zero refined sugar diet. Some call it a “plant-based / whole foods diet.” One might call it a sugar free vegan diet. Yes, that’s right – no meat, no fish, no eggs, no dairy – no animal products whatsoever, and no refined sugar. When I tell people this they look at me like I am from another planet. I am a vegan, from the planet Veeg. (Just as a point of clarification, I am a dietary vegan, not an ethical or environmental vegan. There is a difference. Nothing against the other two, just not my thing.)

Animal products are our only source of dietary cholesterol. Plant-based diets contribute zero cholesterol to coronary artery plaque build-up. There are studies indicating that a person who switches to a zero-cholesterol diet will begin to experience a reduction in their existing plaque build-up. That is exactly what I need in order to to reduce my susceptibility to another cardiac arrest event. I run to expand the size of my arterial pipeline and I eat a restrictive diet to reduce the amount of gunk that can clog it up.

These behavioral changes involve two things that I previously hated with a passion: running and eating vegetables. I was a weightlifter, not a runner. In my mind those two activities were diametrically opposed. Weightlifting was fun and manly. Running was, well, not fun. My diet consisted of meat and dairy almost exclusively. The closest I came to green food most days might be a piece of moldy cheese. I have learned, however, to enjoy both rabbit food and running.

Still, I will freely admit that the lifestyle I’ve just outlined is not an easy one to maintain. Running is hard work and time consuming. Whole food diets require a lot of kitchen prep time. Curious self-imposed dietary restrictions such as mine seem eccentric and weird to others and make social dining situations awkward, to say the least. And, there are no guarantees that this is a lifestyle that will accomplish its intended goals. I have two cardiac stents now but I could still drop dead tomorrow from another cardiac arrest. Only time will tell if the actions I’ve taken will prevent another incident.

So why do I do it? What’s my motivation? I get a lot of those types of questions. I have a lot of people tell me that life without bacon, or sugar, or pepperoni pizza, or (insert favorite food here) would not be worth living. Others question the cost / benefit. “Enjoy what time you have left,” they say. “Why make yourself miserable?” (Apparently I carry a look mistakenly interpreted as “Perpetual Misery.” The correct designation for that look is “Uninebriated Irishman” but I understand the two are quite similar.) I can state unequivocally that my motivational drive is based upon two immutable sources of wisdom: the Word of God and The Princess Bride. 

From The Princess Bride – Miracle Max scene:

[Miracle Max inflates Westley’s chest with a bellows.]
Miracle Max: Hey! Hello in there. Hey! What’s so important? What you got here that’s worth living for? [presses on Westley’s chest to force the air back out]
Westley: [faintly] Truuuuueee…. looooooovvveee…..

I love my wife. Read my previous posts Nevertheless I Live and In A Strait Betwixt Two for further explanation. It’s all about “wuv, twue wuv.” (For the uninitiated, this is also a Princess Bride reference.) More relevant perhaps is Paul’s instruction – For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her. (Ephesians 5:25) If there are steps I can take to protect my wife from having to endure another premature brush with widowhood, then I need to take them. That is the way I see it. That is the way I translate Ephesians 5:25 into real life.

From the Scriptures – Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:16 when Satan tempted Him to presume upon God’s love and goodness by engaging in a behavior that would normally result in death. (Luke 4:9-12 NLT)

⁹ Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! ¹⁰ For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you.
¹¹ And they will hold you up with their hands
    so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ”

¹² Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’ “

Having done the research and identified the root causes of my cardiac event, I am now bound by the principle laid out in this passage to take those steps I deem necessary to avoid another heart attack that would otherwise be imminent. To not take appropriate corrective action would be no different than to stand in the middle of a busy freeway and expect to not get hit. Failure to make appropriate changes to the diet and lifestyle that contributed to my near-fatal cardiac event would, in my opinion, affirm a clear intent to test God.

Besides, I have learned that runners are actually pretty cool to hang out with and they make great friends. In addition, I have learned that Brussels sprouts really can taste better than tree bark – if you roast them.

Disclaimer: My running and diet program was not recommended to me by a doctor. I am not here recommending it to others. My program could be dangerous for some people. My only recommendation to anyone would be to talk to your doctor and do your homework. There is a lot of information out there regarding CAD, heart attacks, and cardiac arrest. I have attempted here to briefly document my journey and to answer the most common questions that I get regarding my own lifestyle choices. I am happy to answer any other questions. Just go to my “Contact” page. I will reply.