Your arteries are critical for the health of your body because they supply blood to all of your organs and tissues. The health of the small arteries that supply blood to your heart and brain is particularly important and these arteries can become clogged due to a condition known as atherosclerosis. Studies have found that changes in your diet can help reverse atherosclerosis.
About Atherosclerosis
To "clean up" your arteries, you need to remove small masses known as atherosclerotic plaques. These plaques are made out of cholesterol deposited in the walls of your arteries. Having high levels of cholesterol in your blood, particularly one form of cholesterol known as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, increases your risk of developing atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis can block your arteries and restrict blood flow, which can ultimately lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Dr. Ornish Diet
The "Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease," named after its creator, Dr. Dean Ornish, may help with atherosclerosis. This is a strict regimen is a vegetarian diet that gets less than 10 percent of its calories from fat, Aetna explains, and has a minimal amount of saturated fat. Although this diet plan can improve many of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, its ability to reverse atherosclerosis has not been definitively proven. This diet can, however, protect you from heart disease, but the strictness of this diet makes it difficult for many to follow.
Weight Loss Diets
Diets that promote weight loss can also reverse atherosclerosis and "clean up" your arteries. A 2010 article in "Circulation" published the results of a study which examined the effects of low-fat, low-carbohydrate and Mediterranean diets on the width of the carotid artery, which is a commonly used marker for atherosclerosis. This study found that over the course of two years, patients experienced significant reversal of atherosclerosis regardless of which diet they followed. The study also hypothesizes that decreases in blood pressure were responsible for the atherosclerosis reversal.
Other Dietary Recommendations
Even if you don't follow a strict diet plan, there are a number of changes you can make to your diet to reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular problems and potentially eliminate plaques from your arteries. According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, less than 7 percent of your calories should come from saturated fat and you should limit cholesterol consumption to 200 mg per day or less. Eating two servings of fatty fish each week, such as mackerel, salmon or herring can also protect you from atherosclerosis.
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