We’ve been told for decades that a low-fat diet is imperative to reduce our risk of cardiovascular disease. Today, mountains of research are coming to the surface debunking this myth. Unfortunately, after years of low-fat advice much of the public and doctors even, aren’t aware of this contradiction.

In reality, cardiovascular health is a disease caused by processed foods, convenience foods, and fast foods. In fact, cardiovascular disease wasn’t even an issue before these products invaded our lifestyle. These products (as when you look at the ingredients you have to question if they should be allowed to be called “food”) are marketed with all of the buzzwords that we’ve been trained to think mean healthy. All natural, low fat, heart-healthy, and made with whole grains, are some of these words. I’ve even seen bags of candy labeled “Naturally Fat-Free”! Low fat & fat-free packaged foods (think of yogurt as an example) have the fat removed. Since fat has flavor and texture that makes food more appealing, manufacturers add sugar, thickeners, and binders, as well as other flavors and preservatives to make up for the fat that was there naturally before they altered it to market a frankenfood as a health-giving product.

Now let’s look at the real implication that these manufactured food products have on our hearts and total health.

You already have an idea that we take in way more sugar than we are meant to and definitely more than our bodies can handle. In addition to that, we need more high-quality fats like avocado, coconut, and other nuts and seeds as well as ethically raised, grass-fed livestock and wild game. The fats in packaged foods are industrially manufactured, using trans-fats that are highly inflammatory. Every cell in our body needs fat and fats are important for our ability to heal. Fats are needed for prostaglandin production which allows our body to inflame against an attack on our system and then anti-inflame when the threat has been neutralized.

Excess amounts of sugar in our system are one of those situations where we need fatty acids and cholesterol and all that they do to neutralize the threat. With the excess sugar floating around our bloodstream, the pancreas is busy releasing insulin. Insulin is responsible for sending sugar to the cells for storage. However, when the cells have enough glucose (aka sugar) they don’t want anymore and ignore the signal from insulin to let glucose in. This is insulin resistance. In this situation, we not only have excess sugar in our bloodstream but we also have excess insulin. This creates an ever more stressful situation and more work for our adrenals releasing excessive amounts of stress hormones to deal with the situation.

The end result is that our body’s defense mechanism, our immune system, begins to lose the battle and we end up with chronic inflammation, gut permeability, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease. Sugar and other foreign bodies chip away at our tissues, causing damage that spreads and needs repair. This repair results in scarring of our arteries, which reduces blood flow and potentially starves organs and systems like the brain, limbs, and even the heart.

To correct this trajectory is simple. Stop eating processed foods and move back to an ancestral diet of nutrient-dense whole foods with a balance of good-quality fats, moderate protein, and organic fruits and vegetables. The health of the heart is the health of the body, and vice versa. Your health always goes back to the basics of real food, good working digestion, managing stress, and proper hydration.

Understanding that packaged foods and fast convenience foods are actually not proper food at all and then choosing to no longer eat these fake foods is the greatest and first step you can take to ensure your cardiovascular health as well as your total health and well-being.