[ H E A LT H Y E AT I N G ]
HIGH VIBE FOODS For the Heart by Betsy Bruns
Welcome to February, the month where we celebrate the heart—in health and in love—with both Valentine’s Day and National Heart Health Month! In Feb. 2016, I spent the days by my sister’s side as she recovered from open heart bypass surgery. It was her 52nd birthday. In the year leading up to this event, I inquired with her medical team about the impact of a plant-based diet on her heart health and asked the team to consider food as a way to heal. 20
| CONSCIOUS COMMUNITY MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2021
My attempts to support my sister in recovering her health more naturally were dismissed. I can’t lay blame on health care providers. Given that our current medical system receives little training in nutrition, why would they view food as medicine? My sister had the surgery, endured a painful recovery and ended up back in the same boat just a year later. This time she made a different choice. These same doctors were shocked to learn that, although her first heart bypass had
failed and she was facing another, she chose to refuse surgery and heal with food instead. Several months into her plant-based journey, she met with her cardiologist. Upon examination, after a nuclear stress test, it was confirmed that she no longer needed the surgery. The cardiologist was so shocked and so impressed with these results he later went plant-based too. Eating a highly raw, whole-food, plantbased diet did for my sister what
