I recently saw a promotion by the American Heart Association (AHA) highlighting a campaign in the month of February to fight cardiovascular disease (CVD). I reflected knowing I blogged several years ago about CVD and how frustrated I was with what the AHA recommended to eat for a healthy heart. My Bullshit (BS) Sniffer was fully engaged by that time in my life through my own education and experience regarding how doctors, pharma, media, and organizations were captured regarding health. I was curious to see if the AHA had made changes to the numerous foods they promoted as heart healthy but in reality, boosted CVD.
For additional information, my previous blog covered how CVD is the #1 killer in the U.S., and it remains today. It also covered what causes CVD, how we control our risk through diet and lifestyle, and the corruption threaded through many industries to promote being unhealthy.
My BS Sniffer is pretty elite now. I don’t trust anything that comes from legacy media on any topic. I just heard Dr. Heather Heying say today in an interview, “The best move with regard to the authorities is just do the opposite of what they are saying, and you will be better off.” She was stating this in disgust over what the authorities did to us regarding COVID-19 and I personally felt that pain and frustration. I have come across countless instances regarding health that are simply incorrect. How does a schmo from Pinellas Park sniff this stuff out? I learned the hard way by getting unhealthy but then educating myself. I consume information daily regarding health and they don’t fool me any longer. I identified trusted sources. First rule, question everything.
I went to the AHA website and no surprise to me, they are as full of BS as they were four years ago. Couple highlights:
- Eat Smart section of the site features four recipes. They all failed. Ingredients in each that promote heart disease include:
- Recipe #1 – Low fat buttermilk, parmesan cheese, chicken (are you even trying? the #1 source of sodium and #1 dietary source of cholesterol in the American diet), and cooking spray…covered in #4.
- Recipe #2 – They screwed up a salad…missed layup opportunity. Low fat feta cheese, not to be out done with parmesan cheese and then dose some olive oil…olive oil…for goodness sakes…
- Recipe #3 – Olive Oil (100% fat and 120 calories per tablespoon but who’s counting?), skinless chicken breast, chicken broth, low fat feta cheese…come on, can you try to be any worse?
- Recipe #4 – Cooking Spray (one serving has 59g fat, over 100% of daily value, and 792 calories), lean ground beef (lean…yeah, sure… saturated fat and cholesterol lover), skinless turkey or chicken (broken record…. saturated fat and cholesterol) and they throw in three artery fillers as options – low fat cheddar cheese, low fat sour cream, and fat free yogurt. Low fat and lean compared to what?
- They have a section for ‘Heart Check Foods.’ It’s just as bad as what I just covered. They state, “The Heart-Check mark is a simple tool to help you Eat Smart. When you see it, you can be confident that a product aligns with the American Heart Association’s recommendations for an overall healthy eating pattern.” How embarrassing…
- I use rules I learned via Rip Esselstyn and his dad, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, regarding heart health. I believe in both these men. Dr. Esselstyn is one of the premiere cardiologists in the country and one of the first doctors I learned so many lessons from. I can thank him for his education in enabling me to take action to get my cholesterol from a whopping 327 to 132 simply from nutrition. Following guidance from my then physician I was on a statin and following guidance similar to the AHA to get it under control. They both didn’t help, and I implemented what I educated myself about for heart health from my new stable of doctors.
- When I applied what I learned to the AHA Heart Check Digital Grocery List, my calculation was 37% of the foods they shared promoted heart disease. Now that’s some BS. See what you come up with, maybe I’m off and maybe we would disagree on some of the foods, but shouldn’t the list have 0% promoting heart disease?!?!?
- Finally, I always check to see who is funding an organization or event to see if there are conflicts of interest. In this case, when you read the AHA Annual Report, they have a section where they thank seven of their sponsors. Two of them are pharmaceutical companies. Nothing more needed to say…
Like so many examples I have found and experienced 10+ years ago with a vicious cycle on health it goes something like this:
- Consume foods that compromises health
- Locate what you think is good information to combat whatever issue it is causing (cancer, excess weight, heart disease, blood pressure, diabetes, etc.).
- Follow that information (many times pills, medications for life, new diet, etc.) promoted by captured doctors, legacy media, pharma, and/or organizations that are misguided
- Compromise health further
- Repeat steps 2-4 and continue to spiral
The resources I go to for heart health include:
- Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn
- Dr. Michael Greger
- Dr. Neal Barnard
- Dr. Dean Ornish
- Dr. Peter McCullough
- Dr. Kim Williams
With my plant-based lifestyle, I have an extremely strong heart, and the lifestyle also addresses my risks of cancer, weight related illnesses, Type 2-Diabetes, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s, and other chronic illnesses. I love the lifestyle checks the various boxes.
Like with anything, question everything and find the sources of information that are trustworthy. These are simply my observations and experiences. Everyone is different and should seek a medical professional’s counsel when the need arises.
– Add Health to Your Life
The Healthy Giraffe 
Leave a comment