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I can share some advice with you as I’ve had more than my share of exposure to the field for assorted reasons. I cared for two cardiac parents for many years, for one (as in they lived with me and I took them to their appointments, etc.).Run with your interest and all smart things that increase the odds you get into med school and get to follow your passion. BUT be aware now of the big topics that there ARE issues about and read ALL the info you can now so you can understand the disagreements, ASK the better questions when you get the chance to speak with folks in the field or who are still doctors in other areas, and do NOT make the mistake of getting sucked into believing everything you are taught in medical school or by your teachers and mentors is the Gospel Truth. There are reasons that things change, esp. in medicine, as more info becomes available and why SOME doctors DO completely change things they did in their practice field.I will give you a few key people to read about and if you hope to be an EXCELLENT cardiologist you will know their work. If your goal is other than excellence (such as as smooth a ride through med school and residency as possible and a practice where you rock no boats and have a share in the constantly growing population of cardiac patients then choose ignorance).First, the issue of DIET for all aspects of health gets kicked around a lot. Going to tell you: absolutely diet makes a difference in health. You will NOT find beautiful RCTs about it because they don’t exist. You will often not find really well done “studies” because the funds to do them with all the bells and whistles for long time periods don’t exist. You WILL find, however, that same really fine physicians who DO take the time to evaluate what exists AND work with their own patients over the year AND talk to their colleagues have come to some particular conclusions that absolutely diet does matter. It is also the LOGICAL choice and a lack of RCTs does NOT inactivate logic as a very legitimate tool to use. Ask yourself one EASY question: how are many lab animals caused to have problems that can be studied? DIETARY changes—as well as EXERCISE modification. Think folks in labs do that for grins? No they do it because it PRODUCES RESULTS. We are NOT lab animals but that is something to bolster how you can SEE with your own eyes the truth.So what diet to use? Here’s another tip: GENETICS matter. You’re young; that’s going to become standard knowledge, but too often genetic aspects STILL get excluded as explaining things. That’s unscientific and illogical.But I will name three famous cardiologists, each of whom does talk about DIET, whose work you should read. You will be told by the “comfy crowd” that they are “quacks.” Always ignore the nonsense spouted that is associated with quack if YOU want to be excellent. Instead, after the EMOTIONAL OUTBURST is over, because that’s all “quack” is, see if they can give you a RATIONALE for why that doctor’s work/theory/whatever they’re REACTING to is wrong. What is the correct info and how do they know it is correct? In other words: How’s it working for their patients? If they can’t, regard them as being on the hysterical side, and move on to people who can help you develop excellence because they use their minds instead of serve as puppets.Cardiologist one: Aseem Malhotra. Yes he’s a big name in Britain, not so much in the US. I am a proud and grateful American and we are always worth paying attention to BUT esp. if you want to be EXCELLENT do not get sucked into the FALSE notion that all things US are best and we’re always right and there is no need to pay attention to work done in other countries. Again, that rubbish comes from the EMOTIONAL crowd and will impair your ability to be EXCELLENT. Even if you look at what he presents and disagree for some reason/s, you will have THOUGHT about it. And should you continue your work and NOT always get the results you seek, you may want to revisit some of the “rebel” notions and see if maybe there is something more to their work than met the eye when you saw it the first time. THAT is how ACTUAL science is done and how excellent medical care is provided: not becoming emotionally over-attached to things.So DO become familiar with what the British Heart Foundation dislikes because not only does Dr. Malhotra have very decent credentials, he does have a lot of very happy patients. He has a diet book: Pioppi diet book. Honestly, I have not gotten around to reading that (I read all manner of research and books constantly but NO ONE can keep up with everything and anyone who claims he can is delusional or a liar.)Malhorta’s diet, I understand, is higher healthy fats (such as extra virgin olive oil and ghee, butter, coconut oil, and avocado oil NOT canola, soy, etc.) and lower carb. It is in what many would call a ketogenic diet. On that topic DO read Joseph Mercola, DO, who was a clinician for many years and does some really good work in trying to synthesize research with actual patient experience (he still treats a handful of folks). HIs Fat as Fuel book in which he presents an MMT diet is likely very close to what Malhorta described and that I’ve read and largely used (and with success). Note Mercola is not straight up keto: he incorporates fasts AND times with significantly higher carb intake. Other folks, like biophysicisit Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, are NOT fans of way low carb diets. You cannot discount her work nor her experience if you want to be excellent.Malhorta is critical of sugar in general. I suggest you learn to be as well. Here’s another “quack” on sugar—and cancer—and that happens to be HIS field: Dr. Cantley, the Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine in Increasing evidence of a strong connection between sugar and cancer is an easy read. And on the dangers of artificial sugars: Is It Paleo? Splenda, Erythritol, Stevia, and other low-calorie sweetenersBy now you should know enough to anticipate that Cardiologist Malhorta states that diet and exercise are keys to cardiac health and he is also NOT a fan of statins and questions the role of cholesterol in cardiovascular disease. Good—you’re right.Cardiologist two, still very much seeing patients, is Stephen Sinatra, MD who went from being a statin prescriber and paid spokesman to writing The Great Cholesterol Myth with Jonny Bowden, PhD in nutrition. Sinatra writes a handful of statin prescriptions these days. (Why would statins EVER be appropriate? Some of us who really don’t care for them suspect it is because they ARE highly anti-inflammatory. So you will see there can be a strong good in something that overall might still be too much of a negative to want to use often. Need to be able to tease these things out if you want to be excellent.) Sinatra has an “awesome foursome” he also recommends for heart health: The Awesome Foursome | Dr. Sinatra's HeartMD InstituteThird cardiologist to consider is William Davis, MD, who is well known for his book Wheat Belly in which he speaks of the wisdom of removing wheat from the diet. Personally I suspect a factor in why that worked for thousands of his patients is even when he did it initially glyphosate was already being misused on wheat crops in the States and glyphosate IS bad news for health. As you will (hopefully) come to understand the importance of the gut microbiota to health, you will see puzzle pieces start to fit together. Davis is also a proponent of the health benefits of L. reuteri yogurt and explains how to make it yourself: How to make L. reuteri yogurt: A step-by-step guide | Dr. William Davis And yes I do that. And yes, he too, is not a fan of statins.BTW, the “emotional quackers” out there have not been able to lodge the usual slurs “celebrity doctor!” against another Board-certified, practicing cardiologist who takes exception to the overprescription of statins: Rita Redberg, MD, who is also the editor of a dinky little JAMA publication Internal Medicine and works for the unknown UCSF system as a cardiologist. Yes, a little sarcasm directed at the “quackers!” Gets harder and harder to make those slurs when some folks DO have quite impressive credentials—but wait, should credentials be what decides things? That is sort of an “appeal to authority.” It is weak. Because basically it boils down to: Because I said so and I’m someone impressive. Far more impressive to be able to explain the science of things and have RESULTS you do not have to manipulate.On that subject, VERY important book to read and you should read his other research: neurologist Dale Bredesen. The End of Alzheimer’s. “Oh dear, I asked about CARDIOLOGY!” Yes and I’m giving you excellent info on cardiology—what is good for the brain IS good for the cardiovascular system. Bredesen who has researched in the field for more than 30 years has a plan that has REVERSED even Alzheimer’s. There will be another book on the AD survivors release date got pushed to March 2020.So WHY is Bredesen and his work NOT getting the attention it deserves and why are some “quackers” wasting thinking peoples’ time with schoolyard insults instead of engaging in actual discussion? With the lead quackers, MONEY most likely. There are Special Interests which HAVE corrupted a lot and the folks in the trenches often don’t put the pieces together—maybe because it’s terrifying to realize that as you try to better and save lives some of the folks you reasonably RELY on for info have an AGENDA. So the average doc (including specialist) out there is NOT trying to do harm and it’s not that he’s lazy, it’s that he got sucked into a system where moneyed special interests have infiltrated things.Look at what two other medical journal editors (one no longer in that position) have said:“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as editor of The New England Journal of Medicine” (1).More recently, Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, wrote that “The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness” (2).Skeptical of medical science reports?So, what should you study? Classic logic. MATH. Concentrate on REAL communication skills. You will do more harm than good if you won’t spend the time reading critically, LISTENING to others (esp. patients), and COMMUNICATING CLEARLY.EVERY single doctor out there would GREATLY benefit from this. When you think you’ve said all the patient needs to know, ASK the patient:What is your understanding of what I need you to do before you return in [x amount of time or triggered by this event]?Then LISTEN to what the patient says. Did he “get it”? If not, you both will be sorry. This is the exact opposite of a time waster and SHOULD be part of every doctor’s training.Frankly, that last bit will up your game tremendously AND your patients will love you for it. You will also find sometimes YOU forgot to tell them something! It happens.But, again, you will find resistance to this approach. “What kind of fool are you? You want to be a quack? You want to go into alternative ‘medicine’?” Blah-blah-blah. Sadly, you will find a lot of these emotional reactors in power positions and you will need to be able to negotiate that minefield. Just remember: every thing you think does NOT have to be expressed. May be better to let a hysteric professor believe you are an unthinking student who will take whatever he spouts as “The Truth.” Just KNOW better and DO better: critically read the research. Truly OBSERVE. Do NOT buy the BS that “back then people did not know” kind of rubbish. People have maintained the SAME traits throughout time and place. If you want to be excellent, you need to NOT be a good sheeple. You are going into the most challenging field there is: MEDICINE. You LITERALLY will have the power of life and death (as well as QUALITY of life) over folks who are going to place their TRUST in you. Do NOT abuse that trust by being buffaloed by those who may SAY “half of what you learn in medical school is wrong—we just don’t know which half” (correct statement) but THEN turn around and engage in NO-BRAINER “quackers” branding. You can and should be skeptical. Dale Bredesen said during an interview that his wife, who is apparently an integrative physician, told him decades ago when he started this area of research: You are not going to find A cause and A pill to treat this. It’s going to be multifactorial.Well, she was just 100.0% correct as he’s happy to point out.Real scientists are willing to rock their own world by following the EVIDENCE and thinking outside the box and the really great doctors do the same.

Not a doctor; responding to A2A.Sorry, not a cardiologist.I can share some advice with you as I’ve had more than my share of exposure to the field for assorted reasons. I cared for two cardiac parents for many years, for one (as in they lived with me and I took them to their appointments, etc.).Run with your interest and all smart things that increase the odds you get into med school and get to follow your passion. BUT be aware now of the big topics that there ARE issues about and read ALL the info you can now so you can understand the disagreements, ASK the better questions when you get the chance to speak with folks in the field or who are still doctors in other areas, and do NOT make the mistake of getting sucked into believing everything you are taught in medical school or by your teachers and mentors is the Gospel Truth. There are reasons that things change, esp. in medicine, as more info becomes available and why SOME doctors DO completely change things they did in their practice field.I will give you a few key people to read about and if you hope to be an EXCELLENT cardiologist you will know their work. If your goal is other than excellence (such as as smooth a ride through med school and residency as possible and a practice where you rock no boats and have a share in the constantly growing population of cardiac patients then choose ignorance).First, the issue of DIET for all aspects of health gets kicked around a lot. Going to tell you: absolutely diet makes a difference in health. You will NOT find beautiful RCTs about it because they don’t exist. You will often not find really well done “studies” because the funds to do them with all the bells and whistles for long time periods don’t exist. You WILL find, however, that same really fine physicians who DO take the time to evaluate what exists AND work with their own patients over the year AND talk to their colleagues have come to some particular conclusions that absolutely diet does matter. It is also the LOGICAL choice and a lack of RCTs does NOT inactivate logic as a very legitimate tool to use. Ask yourself one EASY question: how are many lab animals caused to have problems that can be studied? DIETARY changes—as well as EXERCISE modification. Think folks in labs do that for grins? No they do it because it PRODUCES RESULTS. We are NOT lab animals but that is something to bolster how you can SEE with your own eyes the truth.So what diet to use? Here’s another tip: GENETICS matter. You’re young; that’s going to become standard knowledge, but too often genetic aspects STILL get excluded as explaining things. That’s unscientific and illogical.But I will name three famous cardiologists, each of whom does talk about DIET, whose work you should read. You will be told by the “comfy crowd” that they are “quacks.” Always ignore the nonsense spouted that is associated with quack if YOU want to be excellent. Instead, after the EMOTIONAL OUTBURST is over, because that’s all “quack” is, see if they can give you a RATIONALE for why that doctor’s work/theory/whatever they’re REACTING to is wrong. What is the correct info and how do they know it is correct? In other words: How’s it working for their patients? If they can’t, regard them as being on the hysterical side, and move on to people who can help you develop excellence because they use their minds instead of serve as puppets.Cardiologist one: Aseem Malhotra. Yes he’s a big name in Britain, not so much in the US. I am a proud and grateful American and we are always worth paying attention to BUT esp. if you want to be EXCELLENT do not get sucked into the FALSE notion that all things US are best and we’re always right and there is no need to pay attention to work done in other countries. Again, that rubbish comes from the EMOTIONAL crowd and will impair your ability to be EXCELLENT. Even if you look at what he presents and disagree for some reason/s, you will have THOUGHT about it. And should you continue your work and NOT always get the results you seek, you may want to revisit some of the “rebel” notions and see if maybe there is something more to their work than met the eye when you saw it the first time. THAT is how ACTUAL science is done and how excellent medical care is provided: not becoming emotionally over-attached to things.So DO become familiar with what the British Heart Foundation dislikes because not only does Dr. Malhotra have very decent credentials, he does have a lot of very happy patients. He has a diet book: Pioppi diet book. Honestly, I have not gotten around to reading that (I read all manner of research and books constantly but NO ONE can keep up with everything and anyone who claims he can is delusional or a liar.)Malhorta’s diet, I understand, is higher healthy fats (such as extra virgin olive oil and ghee, butter, coconut oil, and avocado oil NOT canola, soy, etc.) and lower carb. It is in what many would call a ketogenic diet. On that topic DO read Joseph Mercola, DO, who was a clinician for many years and does some really good work in trying to synthesize research with actual patient experience (he still treats a handful of folks). HIs Fat as Fuel book in which he presents an MMT diet is likely very close to what Malhorta described and that I’ve read and largely used (and with success). Note Mercola is not straight up keto: he incorporates fasts AND times with significantly higher carb intake. Other folks, like biophysicisit Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, are NOT fans of way low carb diets. You cannot discount her work nor her experience if you want to be excellent.Malhorta is critical of sugar in general. I suggest you learn to be as well. Here’s another “quack” on sugar—and cancer—and that happens to be HIS field: Dr. Cantley, the Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine in Increasing evidence of a strong connection between sugar and cancer is an easy read. And on the dangers of artificial sugars: Is It Paleo? Splenda, Erythritol, Stevia, and other low-calorie sweetenersBy now you should know enough to anticipate that Cardiologist Malhorta states that diet and exercise are keys to cardiac health and he is also NOT a fan of statins and questions the role of cholesterol in cardiovascular disease. Good—you’re right.Cardiologist two, still very much seeing patients, is Stephen Sinatra, MD who went from being a statin prescriber and paid spokesman to writing The Great Cholesterol Myth with Jonny Bowden, PhD in nutrition. Sinatra writes a handful of statin prescriptions these days. (Why would statins EVER be appropriate? Some of us who really don’t care for them suspect it is because they ARE highly anti-inflammatory. So you will see there can be a strong good in something that overall might still be too much of a negative to want to use often. Need to be able to tease these things out if you want to be excellent.) Sinatra has an “awesome foursome” he also recommends for heart health: The Awesome Foursome | Dr. Sinatra's HeartMD InstituteThird cardiologist to consider is William Davis, MD, who is well known for his book Wheat Belly in which he speaks of the wisdom of removing wheat from the diet. Personally I suspect a factor in why that worked for thousands of his patients is even when he did it initially glyphosate was already being misused on wheat crops in the States and glyphosate IS bad news for health. As you will (hopefully) come to understand the importance of the gut microbiota to health, you will see puzzle pieces start to fit together. Davis is also a proponent of the health benefits of L. reuteri yogurt and explains how to make it yourself: How to make L. reuteri yogurt: A step-by-step guide | Dr. William Davis And yes I do that. And yes, he too, is not a fan of statins.BTW, the “emotional quackers” out there have not been able to lodge the usual slurs “celebrity doctor!” against another Board-certified, practicing cardiologist who takes exception to the overprescription of statins: Rita Redberg, MD, who is also the editor of a dinky little JAMA publication Internal Medicine and works for the unknown UCSF system as a cardiologist. Yes, a little sarcasm directed at the “quackers!” Gets harder and harder to make those slurs when some folks DO have quite impressive credentials—but wait, should credentials be what decides things? That is sort of an “appeal to authority.” It is weak. Because basically it boils down to: Because I said so and I’m someone impressive. Far more impressive to be able to explain the science of things and have RESULTS you do not have to manipulate.On that subject, VERY important book to read and you should read his other research: neurologist Dale Bredesen. The End of Alzheimer’s. “Oh dear, I asked about CARDIOLOGY!” Yes and I’m giving you excellent info on cardiology—what is good for the brain IS good for the cardiovascular system. Bredesen who has researched in the field for more than 30 years has a plan that has REVERSED even Alzheimer’s. There will be another book on the AD survivors release date got pushed to March 2020.So WHY is Bredesen and his work NOT getting the attention it deserves and why are some “quackers” wasting thinking peoples’ time with schoolyard insults instead of engaging in actual discussion? With the lead quackers, MONEY most likely. There are Special Interests which HAVE corrupted a lot and the folks in the trenches often don’t put the pieces together—maybe because it’s terrifying to realize that as you try to better and save lives some of the folks you reasonably RELY on for info have an AGENDA. So the average doc (including specialist) out there is NOT trying to do harm and it’s not that he’s lazy, it’s that he got sucked into a system where moneyed special interests have infiltrated things.Look at what two other medical journal editors (one no longer in that position) have said:“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as editor of The New England Journal of Medicine” (1).More recently, Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, wrote that “The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness” (2).Skeptical of medical science reports?So, what should you study? Classic logic. MATH. Concentrate on REAL communication skills. You will do more harm than good if you won’t spend the time reading critically, LISTENING to others (esp. patients), and COMMUNICATING CLEARLY.EVERY single doctor out there would GREATLY benefit from this. When you think you’ve said all the patient needs to know, ASK the patient:What is your understanding of what I need you to do before you return in [x amount of time or triggered by this event]?Then LISTEN to what the patient says. Did he “get it”? If not, you both will be sorry. This is the exact opposite of a time waster and SHOULD be part of every doctor’s training.Frankly, that last bit will up your game tremendously AND your patients will love you for it. You will also find sometimes YOU forgot to tell them something! It happens.But, again, you will find resistance to this approach. “What kind of fool are you? You want to be a quack? You want to go into alternative ‘medicine’?” Blah-blah-blah. Sadly, you will find a lot of these emotional reactors in power positions and you will need to be able to negotiate that minefield. Just remember: every thing you think does NOT have to be expressed. May be better to let a hysteric professor believe you are an unthinking student who will take whatever he spouts as “The Truth.” Just KNOW better and DO better: critically read the research. Truly OBSERVE. Do NOT buy the BS that “back then people did not know” kind of rubbish. People have maintained the SAME traits throughout time and place. If you want to be excellent, you need to NOT be a good sheeple. You are going into the most challenging field there is: MEDICINE. You LITERALLY will have the power of life and death (as well as QUALITY of life) over folks who are going to place their TRUST in you. Do NOT abuse that trust by being buffaloed by those who may SAY “half of what you learn in medical school is wrong—we just don’t know which half” (correct statement) but THEN turn around and engage in NO-BRAINER “quackers” branding. You can and should be skeptical. Dale Bredesen said during an interview that his wife, who is apparently an integrative physician, told him decades ago when he started this area of research: You are not going to find A cause and A pill to treat this. It’s going to be multifactorial.Well, she was just 100.0% correct as he’s happy to point out.Real scientists are willing to rock their own world by following the EVIDENCE and thinking outside the box and the really great doctors do the same.