Heart Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis: Limiting the Risks

You may have seen some of the articles and research, which show that people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) have a higher risk of developing Heart Disease. This may have you worried and thinking you'll have to take yet another medication. There's good news though; you may not need any medication to prevent or control Heart Disease.

If you haven't heard the news already, people have been stopping and even reversing their Heart Disease simply by changing their diet. Dr. Dean Ornish has been doing this for years and has written several books, including Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease. Dr. T. Colin Campbell also wrote a great book called The China Study where he discusses his extensive research on how diet affects illnesses like Heart Disease and autoimmune diseases.

These doctors and other experts have proven how effective a plant based diet, void of meat, fish, and dairy, are in creating health. While changing to a plant based diet can be difficult let's take a look at some of the benefits.

1. Lower cholesterol levels in vegetarians and vegans vs those who eat animal products: Avg American Cholesterol = 210; Avg American Vegetarian's Cholesterol = 161; Avg American Vegan's Cholesterol = 133


2. Lower rates of Heart Disease in countries who eat little to no animal products


3. Lower rates of Arthritis in countries who eat little to no animal products


4. Lower rates of cancer in countries who eat little to no animal products

Those are some pretty compelling reasons to change to a plant based diet, however Vegetarian and Vegan are a couple of terms that can be intimidating. You may have some questions or concerns beyond how healthy it is. Here are some of the thoughts I had when switching to Vegetarian, and now to a Vegan diet:

• Will I ever be able to eat at a restaurant again? Most restaurants have at least a couple of Vegetarian items on their menus. You may be more limited in your choices, but you'll certainly be able to go out to eat. As a Vegan, there are fewer options available. Sometimes you just need to ask for no mayo or no cheese. There are more restaurants offering Vegan options though, such as at hotels and casinos owned by Steve Wynn, who now requires a Vegan menu at all of his restaurants. I also recommend trying Thai, Indian, Chinese, Korean, and Mexican restaurants, they typically have several Vegetarian and even Vegan options.


• What do I say when people ask why? I've personally given up meat, and am in the process of giving up dairy because I feel better when I eat this way. Some people do it for animal rights reasons while others to be more "green". I've found that I don't really have to defend my choice very much. It's hard for someone to argue how something makes me feel.


• How do I eat this way at home? No meat Monday is a growing trend and can be a good place to start. Taking one or two days of the week to prepare new meals with new ingredients is not as overwhelming as going "cold turkey" and will help you get used to meals without meat. You can even find tons of Vegetarian and Vegan recipes on websites and blogs all over the internet. As you become more comfortable with meatless meals, it will be easier to give up meat altogether.

There's more and more evidence on how effective Vegetarian and Vegan diets are in preventing and reversing Heart Disease. If you're concerned and want to limit your risk of developing Heart Disease, give a meatless lifestyle a try. It's a much safer option than drugs or surgery and once you get the ordering and cooking down, it's easy to follow.