Dean Ornish Quotes

For some men, the inflammation of their arteries is a result of really low good cholesterol.

It's a bit of a myth that too much cholesterol causes heart attacks.

And if you have high cholesterol, you would feel the same as if you had low cholesterol because there are no side effects, no symptoms of having high cholesterol.

I wasn't able to lower my cholesterol so they put me on a statin drug. It is called lipitor. I was able to lower my level in about 30 days from above 300 to below 200.

Your levels of cholesterol are primarily dependent on your own body's production rather than the result of eating animal fats. Moreover, some forms of cholesterol are heart healthy.

I have to admit I was dismayed when I found out 'type A' refers to a category of risk for heart disease - I thought it was just a nickname my mom gave me!

Eating a stick of butter will raise HDL in those who are able to do so, but that does not mean that butter is good for your heart. It isn't.

Not everything that lowers HDL is bad for you. If you change from a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet to a healthy low-fat, low-cholesterol diet, your HDL levels may stay the same or even decrease because there is less need for it. When you have less garbage, you need fewer garbage trucks to remove it, so your body may make less HDL.

Part of high cholesterol is that you can look at yourself in the mirror, and you can feel great and think there's no issues. But silently, they can be affecting your heart.

From a health standpoint, I have metabolic syndrome, I have high triglycerides, low HDL, body fat centrally located, high blood pressure. Running really helps control my weight and that problem a lot. So if I am not running three days a week, I really miss it.

A man is as old as his arteries.

Cholesterol does not exist in vegetables. Vegetables do not clog arteries.

I am an advocate for going to the doctor and going every year. I make sure that part of the checkup is spent talking about my heart with my doctor, and getting my numbers checked, and discussing the results. And I make sure that I understand the answers to my questions.

When I make a change, like when I found out I had high cholesterol, I just changed my lifestyle.

They told me that I had a leaky valve, which is something that is certainly not life-threatening. It's common and it's something that had I not known about it, would I have lived? Sure. But it's something that I think is important to know, especially as I get older and given that I have heart disease in my family.

Don't worry about your heart, it will last you as long as you live.

My doctor explained that exercise and diet changes might help and that I also might need a medication.

My father had a heart attack and he has heart disease. He had a full recovery, and I'm very lucky, but it certainly made him look at the way he's living and how he's treating his body.

Excess dietary salt is most notorious for increasing blood pressure. Americans have a 90 percent lifetime probability of developing high blood pressure - so even if your blood pressure is normal now, if you continue to eat the typical American diet, you will be at risk.

Well, after I had the heart attack, it was a very simple choice. What the doctor told me I did and I did it religiously. I ate nothing but lean turkey breast or chicken breast or a piece of fish that was very lean. I mean I stayed away from everything.

If beef is your idea of 'real food for real people', you'd better live real close to a real good hospital.

If a test showed you had telomere shortening, it would be a red flag suggesting you should take a look at possible risk factors.

Flesh-meats will depreciate the blood. Cook meat with spices, and eat it with rich cakes and pies, and you have a bad quality of blood.

I grew up eating fried food. I thought that macaroni and cheese was a vegetable.

I don't think people realise how important it is to have your blood pressure checked. Stroke is so sudden, so catastrophic.