Plant foods contribute to the treatment of heart disease.

Simply eating right can significantly extend life expectancy and reduce mortality. Many studies have shown that heart disease can be reversed with diet alone in many patients.

Although current research findings and statistics lean toward conventional prevention and treatment, recent research has offered a new perspective on the benefits of dietary interventions, particularly for the whole food plant-based diet. A plant-based diet consists of fruit, grains, legumes, vegetables, and little to no animal foods (i.e., dairy products). Whole foods include those that have undergone a minimal amount of processing, free of artificial and other additives that distract the body from obtaining the original nutrient composition upon digestion. An example of this distinction is white bread, which has ultimately been processed to a point where the product has lost most of its whole wheat nutritional value. This book will examine the role of such an alternative diet in preventing and treating heart disease.