My 83 year old step father is 6 feet tall, thin and in great shape. He looks and acts like a much younger man. Every day he wakes up full of energy and does the kinds of stuff old people love: golf, volunteering at his church, walking around the neighborhood, and a weekly trip to see a NASCAR race (I’m not kidding). He is the healthiest 83 year old I know.
About 5 years ago his doctor noticed two of the arteries leading to his heart were blocked. He had a choice, die before his time or have major surgery. He went with the surgery. Doctors successfully bypassed the clogged arteries with healthy arteries from his leg in order to increase blood flow to his heart.
My family and I were thankful but shocked! My stepdad had always seemed perfectly healthy and my family and I were very surprised, my step dad was thin and in great shape. We all asked, “What had he done to clog his arteries?”
It turns out my stepdad had been eating bacon and eggs for breakfast as well as cheese and fatty red meat almost every day for over 50 years. This diet high in animal fat had caused my stepdad’s clogged arteries.
Since his surgery, my stepdad has dramatically reduced his animal fat intake, substituting legumes, whole grains, fish and white meat for the red meat and cheese. He hasn’t had any issues since and his doctor reports his heart is doing great.
I can only wish my father and grandmother had switched to a diet low in animal fats. They both died of heart attacks at about age 60.
Even though, genetics, fitness and body composition also play major roles in the health of your heart. Minimizing animal fats and trans-fats is something we can all do to keep our heart and vascular systems healthy. Over the years, consumption both animal fats and trans-fats can clog and harden your arteries, leading to increased strain on your heart and risks of heart attacks, strokes and poor circulation.
Should you never eat any animal fats? Not necessarily, the point is to minimize animal fats. This means not eating food high in animal fat more than a couple of times a week maximum. To find out which foods have a lot of animal fat and which foods have less, look here.
I know what you are thinking, “But I love bacon and ice cream”.
I get it. Personally I love steak and hamburgers. So, a couple of times a month or even once a week I eat a lean cut of steak or a lean hamburger. I said, to minimize (not necessarily eliminate) foods with animal fats. We can handle a little bit of it, just not a lot.
