Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Heart disease is rarely a sudden event. It is the result of years of vascular aging, and in Part 3 of the Metabolic Cardiology series, Dr. Aaron Hartman and Dr. Christian Jenski break down coronary artery disease as a problem of vascular biology, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction, not just blocked arteries or high cholesterol.
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📖 UnCURABLE: From Hopeless Diagnosis to Defying All Odds
For everyone medicine has let down → UnCurableBook.com
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This episode explores why heart disease is fundamentally a vascular disease, how plaque forms and progresses from soft to calcified to unstable, and why the loss of arterial compliance accelerates disease over time. Dr. Hartman and Dr. Jenski discuss how inflammation, oxidative stress, and immune dysfunction drive coronary disease, and why traditional cardiology excels in emergencies but often misses opportunities for early prevention. This conversation highlights where standard cardiology saves lives, and where metabolic cardiology can change a patient's trajectory years before irreversible damage occurs.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 — What Metabolic Cardiology Really Means
01:00 — Vascular Disease Affects Every Organ
02:15 — Why Heart Disease Is a Vascular Problem
04:50 — How Plaque Forms Inside Coronary Arteries
06:40 — Soft Plaque vs Calcified Plaque
08:30 — From Stenosis to Heart Attack
09:50 — When Conventional Cardiology Excels
11:00 — Where Prevention Is Missed
12:20 — Measuring Plaque Stability and Risk
14:10 — CIMT and Estimating Vascular Age
15:40 — Calcium Scores and What They Tell Us
16:55 — Heavy Metals and Heart Disease Risk
18:30 — Small Vessel Disease Explained
20:10 — Treating Risk Before the Heart Attack
21:45 — Statins, Inflammation, and Individualized Care
23:30 — Why Cholesterol Alone Isn't the Answer
25:15 — Root Causes: Infections, Sleep, Toxins
27:00 — Prevention Changes the Trajectory
28:30 — Why Vascular Age Can Improve
30:00 — Where the Series Goes Next: Stroke
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ABOUT AARON HARTMAN, MD
Aaron Hartman, MD is a triple-board-certified physician, bestselling author of UnCURABLE: From Hopeless Diagnosis to Defying All Odds, and founder of Richmond Integrative & Functional Medicine. Dr. Hartman is known as the champion of the medically abandoned, helping people once labeled "uncurable" find REAL health and hope through the body's natural abilities to heal and repair.
AaronHartmanMD.com
Heart disease is rarely a sudden event. It is the result of years of vascular aging, and in Part 3 of the Metabolic Cardiology series, Dr. Aaron Hartman and Dr. Christian Jenski break down coronary artery disease as a problem of vascular biology, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction, not just blocked arteries or high cholesterol.
---
📖 UnCURABLE: From Hopeless Diagnosis to Defying All Odds
For everyone medicine has let down → UnCurableBook.com
---
This episode explores why heart disease is fundamentally a vascular disease, how plaque forms and progresses from soft to calcified to unstable, and why the loss of arterial compliance accelerates disease over time. Dr. Hartman and Dr. Jenski discuss how inflammation, oxidative stress, and immune dysfunction drive coronary disease, and why traditional cardiology excels in emergencies but often misses opportunities for early prevention. This conversation highlights where standard cardiology saves lives, and where metabolic cardiology can change a patient's trajectory years before irreversible damage occurs.
---
CHAPTERS
00:00 — What Metabolic Cardiology Really Means
01:00 — Vascular Disease Affects Every Organ
02:15 — Why Heart Disease Is a Vascular Problem
04:50 — How Plaque Forms Inside Coronary Arteries
06:40 — Soft Plaque vs Calcified Plaque
08:30 — From Stenosis to Heart Attack
09:50 — When Conventional Cardiology Excels
11:00 — Where Prevention Is Missed
12:20 — Measuring Plaque Stability and Risk
14:10 — CIMT and Estimating Vascular Age
15:40 — Calcium Scores and What They Tell Us
16:55 — Heavy Metals and Heart Disease Risk
18:30 — Small Vessel Disease Explained
20:10 — Treating Risk Before the Heart Attack
21:45 — Statins, Inflammation, and Individualized Care
23:30 — Why Cholesterol Alone Isn't the Answer
25:15 — Root Causes: Infections, Sleep, Toxins
27:00 — Prevention Changes the Trajectory
28:30 — Why Vascular Age Can Improve
30:00 — Where the Series Goes Next: Stroke
---
ABOUT AARON HARTMAN, MD
Aaron Hartman, MD is a triple-board-certified physician, bestselling author of UnCURABLE: From Hopeless Diagnosis to Defying All Odds, and founder of Richmond Integrative & Functional Medicine. Dr. Hartman is known as the champion of the medically abandoned, helping people once labeled "uncurable" find REAL health and hope through the body's natural abilities to heal and repair.
AaronHartmanMD.com
