Is calcification reversable?

[swampf0etus]

My advice, though I admit I'm not a doctor, is to research the Ornish diet and healthy lifestyle approach. I don't specifically follow this diet myself, but trials have been conducted on this diet that demonstrate a reduction arterial plaque and in quite a short space of time. Diet-wise, I don't know of anything else out there that can compete. There are lots of anecdotes out there of people posting zero CAC scan results for various diets, but Ornish is really the only diet which has a good scientific standing.

[progranulindefect]

i would have to do a LC version of ornish since i am prone to high bg. right now i am pretty much protein and low carb veggies with strict lifestyle habits to deal with sleep issues. i'm getting stricter because of problems with sleep and memory. my a1c was just 5.1, but i would actually like to see if 4.2- 4.6 that dr. bernstein recommends. "Persons with hemoglobin A1c concentrations less than 5% had the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease and mortality." http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/15945839.php also from the link to jenny ruhl's website is information on a snp that is associated with higher heart attack risk which i also have: "A study published in JAMA in November of 2008 found that people with a specific genetic error, a single-nucleotide polymorphism at 9p21 (rs2383206) had a much higher risk of heart disease than people who did not have this gene variant. Not only that, but people who had inherited two defective copies of this gene had twice the risk of those with one copy." also see https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Rs2383206
striving for normal blood sugars also helps in this case. if the data from 23andme is correct, my husband and 2 children have the homozygous protective alleles for the genes also carrying risk alleles as the strongest predictors of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. thanks husband!!!

i also need to work on dealing with stress. if my sleep improves more consistently, this will automatically help with handling stress. my sleep issues exist even in the absence of stress (but of course are exacerbated by it). i may have had a mini-stroke, which is why my doctor had me do a carotid doppler. i believe that the mini-stroke might be related to taking more aleve, which helps me get a better sleep by reducing my hot flashes. i have since learned that aleve has been associated with higher stroke occurrence. i had been taking aleve about 3-4 times a month to reduce a heavy period (which leaves me anemic) with no problems, but i had discovered that aleve would also allow me to get a better sleep if i had hot flashes which occurred anytime during my cycle. the night before i had mini-stroke symptoms (left leg 'fell asleep' with weakness in left arm) i had first taken 5 htp to try to sleep, and when that didn't work, i took an aleve. i had some chest pain that morning in a stressful situation, and then in the afternoon the mini-stoke symptoms. i now have cut back to 2 aleve a month to only deal with times i am losing the most blood. in addition to seeing my family doctor (who advised i start taking a baby aspirin a day), i have an appointment with a neurologist in september (the soonest i could get it cuz i want to see a university-based one) to investigate any kind of cerebrovascular disease. since there is no research pointing to lifestyle changes to prevent frontotemporal lobe dementia (which is my vulnerability), i can at least do something about a vascular cause to my sporadic memory problems/problems understanding speech.

[swampf0etus]

Hi again progranulindefect,

You say that you are prone to high BG but are you either T1 or T2 diabetic? If you are prone to high BG, then this could be because of insulin resistance. Have you been checked out for this?

If your BG is high because of insulin inefficiency, then a higher carb, higher fiber approach may correct that. I know that sounds backwards, but high carb, high fibre diets have been shown to improve insulin efficiency and glucose disposal, even in T1 and T2 diabetics.

I highly recommend that you watch the these videos to review the evidence and efficacy of these diets and also to understand the probable cause of insulin resistance;


An Evolved Fuel System - parts 1 & 2

http://plantpositive.com/33-an-evolved-fuel-system-1/

http://plantpositive.com/34-an-evolved-fuel-system2/


How to Become Insulin Resistant - parts 1 & 2

http://plantpositive.com/35-how-to-beco ... lin-resis/

http://plantpositive.com/36-how-to-beco ... lin-resis/


Those links show the transcripts of the videos, as well as links to the videos themselves, but to see the actual cited studies you need to watch the videos and see the slides.

I hope some of this information may help. It's certainly helped me.

[progranulindefect]

hi again. i am insulin sensitive when my fasting insulin (3.5) and fasting glucose (85) are plugged into the HOMA-IR algorithm. i am have good lipid numbers including tris. both parents diabetic. mother was totally insulin dependent after 5 years or so. father takes metformin only at 82 yo. with both parents diabetic, i have a higher chance of becoming diabetic. my sister recently had an a1c of 6.2. 6.5 is diabetic. my a1c was 5.9 eating healthy carbs and working out 1 hour a day 4 days a week back in april 2009. then i went paleo with fruit and lost 15 pounds (female size 10-12 to a size 6) and my a1c was 5.7. i went lower carb with almost no fruit and actually gained back weight to a size 8 eating more fat and slipping a little on my fasted weekly exercise routine (all fat on abdomen), but my a1c is 5.1-5.4. so people who say losing weight automatically helps with bg control don't know the whole story. it is carb restriction bottom line. i have already done healthy higher carb; for me that is the sure path to overt diabetes.

[KatieS]

Swamp, I've been following your posts and so appreciate your prompting us to question what works for us. Interestingly enough, I've decreased my A1c by including more fruit and non-gluten grains, so possibly I'm one of your examples.

[KatieS]

Swamp, I've been following your posts and so appreciate your prompting us to question what works for us. Interestingly enough, I've decreased my A1c by including more fruit and non-gluten grains, so possibly I'm one of your examples.

[Gilgamesh]

There are lots of anecdotes out there of people posting zero CAC scan results for various diets, but Ornish is really the only diet which has a good scientific standing.

Swamp, that is also my understanding. If I weren't in the irritating situation of 1) needing to keep my weight up because I stopped tolerating CR a few years ago, and 2) having gut problems that make it difficult to eat more that a bit of carbs, I'd be following a very low-fat, low-calorie diet.

As I noted earlier, I'm kind of plugging my ears to the wiser angel of my health regimen analysis nature, and eating a high-fat diet, telling myself, as I click my heals together three times, that the LDL I have is mostly gentle and sweet fluffy particles that benignly bounce off my artery walls. And maybe the big fluffy particles really are benign! But the available science doesn't confirm that, alas.

G

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9863851

(Anyone have access to the letter and replies?)

[progranulindefect]

KatieS, to double check the accuracy of an A1c- which is an average of both high and low bg- i would test (with a cheap relion glucose meter from walmart) your typical higher carb meals one and two hours after eating. if you have no family history of diabetes, you probably can eat higher carb than someone like me who does have a strong family history.

[KatieS]

KatieS, to double check the accuracy of an A1c- which is an average of both high and low bg- i would test (with a cheap relion glucose meter from walmart) your typical higher carb means one and two hours after eating. if you have no family history of diabetes, you probably can eat higher carb than someone like me who does have a strong family history.

Yes, I check my glucose levels regularly. Currently my diet is more 40-45-15 (carb, fat & protein). Good point to monitor any dietary change & our personal response to this.

[progranulindefect]

just curious- katie s, do you have a family history of diabetes?