DrCarney.com Blog

The statistics are distressing. Heart disease is our nation's leading cause of death for both men and women, resulting in a heart attack every 34 seconds. Eighty-one million Americans suffer from cardiovascular disease killing one out of every three people or 831,000 each year.

Will you be next? You may not have any symptoms of heart disease, or have been told that your cholesterol is within the "normal" range, yet these measures are not an accurate means of assessing your risk for heart disease. The majority of heart attacks occur in patients whose cholesterol is between "the normal range" of 150-200. In order to be truly protected, we should strive to maintain a total cholesterol level below 150. Heart disease is very rare in those with cholesterol levels this low. 

Low-carb, high-protein diets such as the Paleo or Zone diet, have become very popular, especially among many fitness-minded groups such as CrossFit. To their credit, low-carb diets such as the Paleo diet eschews dairy, refined foods, and added sugars/salts, although they severely limit complex carbohydrates which are the primary component of a whole-food, Starch-Smart® diet. Supporters of low-carb diets obtain the majority of their calories from animal protein and fat. No other diet has generated as much emotion or controversy as these low-carb diets have.  (Information regarding whole grains can be seen here.)

Are eggs really that "incredible" or are the industry's marketing strategies "incredible?" You might be surprised to learn how big industries use clever marketing strategies to boost the sale of their products. One technique that Dr. John McDougall talks about is called "unique positioning," which involves highlighting a particular nutrient which is plentiful in the product....

You will absolutely enjoy watching the short video clips from the eye-opening documentary Processed People (from Veg Source) featuring interviews from many of our nation's leading health and nutrition experts. There are a total of 14 clips, each between one-two minutes in length. Plant-based health advocates such as John Robbins, Jeff Novick, Doctors John McDougall, Caldwell Esselstyn Jr., Jay Gordon, Joel Fuhrman, Pam Popper, Milton Mills, and Jeffrey Masson discuss what we can do to prevent becoming "Processed People."

Processed People is a 40-minute snapshot of how our nation's "health care system" has become a profit-driven "sick care system." This system has become very successful in selling sickness by adopting a pill or surgical procedure mentality to solve every health care problem.

Wartime history provides us with important information regarding the correlation between animal-based diets and morbidity-mortality rates as documented in the references below. The first reference highlights Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. He explains how deaths from coronary artery disease plummeted during World War II, from 1939-1945. The Germans confiscated all of the livestock and farm animals...

Heart disease kills one out of every 3 Americans. Will you or your family members be one of them? Chances are, if you consume the typical American diet, you could very well be at high risk for a fatal heart attack. Educating ourselves is the first step towards reducing our risk for cardiovascular disease. As...

Vegans have lower body weights as well as cholesterol levels, according to a recent study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition and reported by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:   "Those who consume vegan diets have better cholesterol levels than people who eat meat, fish, dairy, and/or egg products, according to a...

Olive oil is as American as baseball and apple pie. Its monounsaturated omega-3's have long been touted for being "heart healthy." But if olive oil ready did protect our hearts from heart disease, then why do one out of every three Americans die from it? Perhaps it doesn't really protect our hearts after all. Clever...

Chances are, several of your friends or family members have heart disease. Sadly, heart disease is our nation's leading cause of death for both men and women. Eighty-one million Americans suffer from cardiovascular disease, with 831,000 deaths each year, resulting in a heart attack every 34 seconds. You may have heart disease as well and...

High-protein, low-carbohydrate diets, such as the Atkins diet, have become very popular, but is it possible to safely lose weight on such a diet without damaging our health? Dr. Joel Fuhrman addresses this concern in his article, The Atkins Cancer Revolution, and convincingly argues: "You can lose some weight on the Atkins diet plan, but...

Studies continue to demonstrate potential health risks associated with eating animal products, as shown below - written by the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine. (PCRM)

"Red and processed meat products increase women's disease risk, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers from Harvard analyzed the diets and blood of 3,690 participants from the Nurses' Health Study and found that as total red meat consumption increased, C-reactive protein (CRP, a biomarker of infections and diseases including heart disease and cancer), hemoglobin A1c (an indicator of diabetes risk), and stored iron (a mineral which in excess is associated with heart disease, cancer, and diabetes) also increased. Weight and calorie intake also increased with increased intake of red and processed meat products."

"Consumption of red and processed meat products is associated with increased risk of death, according to a new review published by the American Journal of Epidemiology. Researchers looked at nine studies with years of follow-up ranging from 5.5 to 28 years to calculate a 23 percent increase in mortality risk for those consuming the most processed meat and a 29 percent increased risk for those consuming the most total red meat, compared with those who consumed the least. Other studies have shown a similar link with red and processed meat products and mortality as well as links to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes."

According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, overweight adults have a significantly higher incidence of premature death and CVD (cardiovascular disease). "Compared with normal-weight adults, obese adults had at least 20% significantly higher rate of dying of all-cause or CVD. These rates advanced death by 3.7 years (grades II and...