Can I do Keto and Fasting if I'm on heart medication?

First, I want to say that everything I talk about isn’t meant to substitute for your medical care. Please check with your doctor before taking this advice, which is meant for you to have more research for you and your medical doctor.

Most people on heart medications are either on a statin to drive down their cholesterol and LDL, or high blood pressure meds (diuretics), or anti-clotting like Warfarin, or aspirin, or sometimes a combination of these. They could be on other meds too.

First, let’s look at cholesterol medications. Would a keto diet interfere with these? High cholesterol is caused by high insulin (hyperinsulinemia). This is why diabetics have high cholesterol and LDL, because they have high insulin in the first stages of type 1, then it goes down, at which point they have to take insulin.

Fasting and keto will lower insulin which will help lower cholesterol. High insulin also causes stiffening of your arteries, resulting in high blood pressure. Fasting and keto will help reduce insulin, lessening the stiffening of your arteries.

I recommend adding potassium since a deficiency by itself can cause high blood pressure.

If anyone disagrees with you, ask them what kind of diet you should be on; high carb? More carbs results in more insulin and spikes your blood pressure. Reducing salt is fine, as long as you increase potassium since the better the ratio of potassium to sodium, the better your blood pressure. Diuretics pull out potassium, leaving you with a deficiency that can cause insulin resistance.

As for anti-clotting; high insulin causes clots in the first place. By doing keto and intermittent fasting, you lower insulin, thus reducing your risk of stroke and cardiovascular accidents. If you’re on Warfarin you can’t consume leafy greens, so watch the video linked below and make a note of the vegetables you can have because they’re low in vitamin K1. Your heart muscle, unlike your skeletal muscles, doesn’t have a glycogen reserve. It prefers to run on ketones and fatty acids.