Weak arteries eventually spasm in a desperate attempt to maintain their integrity, aka heart attack.

Over 50% of heart attacks have no blockages of any kind.

The average blockage when there is one during a heart attack is 30%—still plenty of flow.

Heart spasms (attacks) occur for the same reason they accumulate plaque, not because of it. 

It’s because they are weak.

The two ways to strengthen heart arteries are:

1. Exercise. Exercise increases the muscle tone of the artery, making it resilient and healthy.

2. Plaquing of the artery. Weak arteries need reinforcement, and the body will wisely use arterial plaque and calcification as a bandaid rather than risk its integrity.

The formation of arterial plaques occurs during extended times of high insulin exposure, as does liver fat, brain plaquing, muscle accumulation of triglycerides, and plaque in the pancreas.

High insulin results from a poor diet and lack of exercise.

Both will produce muscle atrophy in the body and the heart’s arteries.

Fasting activates the natural recycling and detoxification of the body through autophagy during the fasted metabolism profile.

Autophagy targets and prioritizes dangerous cells and tissues to be removed first and can clear out artery plaques, dissolve brain plaques, burn fat in the liver and muscle, remove pancreatic plaques, and restore insulin sensitivity as it does.

Fasting will also break down and remove excess scar tissue from old injuries, helping reduce post-surgery pain, increase range of motion, and enhance muscle recruitment when moving.

Fasting doesn’t kill cells. It resets a cell’s broken natural time clock, allowing it to retire through apoptosis or programmed cell death.

Fasting promotes mitophagy, or clearing old, inefficient, free radical-producing mitochondria. 

These broken mitochondria add stress to the system while producing less energy or, even worse, shifting energy production from inside the cell (Kreb’s Cycle) and the mitochondria to the outside of the cell in the cytoplasm (Cori Cycle).

This shift can lower a body’s energetic output by 60%, independent of physical activity or the number of calories one eats, producing a significant amount of biomass (cancer raw materials), acidity, and toxicity. 

This energetic shift drives the formation of visceral fat, liver fat, insulin resistance, and the accumulation of body fat. Again, independent of daily calorie intake.

Exercise increases muscle volume, improves strength, balance, and mobility, and stimulates the creation of new energy centers (mitochondria) within the muscle as it expands muscles’ gas tanks, aka glycogen energy reserves.

Exercise forces energy production back into the cells, and mitochondrial Kreb’s Cycle as energy becomes cleaner, more efficient, and movement more effective.

Result: More energy (engines) and bigger gas tanks, glycogen capacity.

Use it or lose it. 

Muscle power degradation from this shift is a significant driver of cardiometabolic issues leading to diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer, weight gain, obesity, and weight loss resistance. 

What’s the solution to this cellular and systemic dysfunction leading to heart artery vulnerability, heart disease, plaquing, and heart attacks? 

Exercise. Daily, regular, challenging exercise.

Exercise is also the number one identified variable predicting the adherence of the stem cells created through fasting and the overall success and healing potential fasting can bring.

Zone two cardio (or intensity) exercise targets visceral and liver fat and is best for body fat loss over an extended time (4 months or more).

Zone 4 cardio is much higher in intensity during shorter intervals and targets liver and visceral fat very well in the short term, but not so much for body fat loss.

Both are good for muscle glycogen and increasing mitochondrial numbers and energy production. But intensity training is typically better and faster. 

No medication will change this issue or strengthen your arteries. Drugs that reduce the band-aids made in your liver through cholesterol to reinforce your weak arteries will only weaken them in time. 

Fast, exercise, and eat an insulin-friendly diet. That’s the only solution.

We can do better!

Dr. Don