Raises questions about the health benefits of vegetarianism

Michael Clarke Duncan as he appeared in Green Mile; Tom Hanks in the background.

Michael Clarke Duncan, most famous for his superb role in Green Mile with Tom Hanks, passed away on September 4 at the age of 54. Earlier this year, he appeared in the PETA video below—where he spoke of how much better he felt since becoming a vegetarian three years earlier.

A giant of a man at 6’5″– he reportedly weighed 360 when the Green Mile (with Tom Hanks) was filmed. In recent months, he apparently weighed closer to 280 and credits some of that weight-loss with his becoming a vegetarian in 2009.

Many people will now assume that his death may have been caused by his vegetarianism. But not me. For starters, we don’t know what kind of vegetarian diet was he eating. In the video below, he talks mainly about not eating meat, but he never mentions that he’d given up milk, cheese, eggs or seafood.

Apparently, his primary motivation for making the dietary change was his love of animals although he does mention health in this video. He also mentions that he read “Skinny Bitch” and “Skinny Bastard,” where he learned more about needless animal suffering.

So why did he die so young if he was eating a healthy diet? I can only speculate since I don’t really know exactly what he was eating. For most people who describe themselves as vegetarian, they continue to eat dairy, eggs, cheese and seafood. If they give up all animal products, they generally then call themselves vegan.

4Leaf focuses on what you DO eat—not what you’re avoiding. It’s what you DO eat that makes you healthy.

But many vegans also eat a very unhealthy diet. They avoid all animal products but don’t eat nearly enough whole, plant-based foods to protect themselves against disease. In the video, Michael talks about eating a lot of legumes, fruits and vegetables; but we know nothing about whether he also ate a lot of cheese pizzas.

We also don’t know whether he had a history of heart disease or if he was taking any cholesterol lowering medication. We do know that if he had been a patient of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn at the Cleveland Clinic, that he would have been told to give up ALL animal products & all oil and to cut way back on high fat plant foods like avocado, nuts and seeds.

Then, if had followed that diet-style faithfully, he would have had a 95% chance of reversing his heart disease. That’s the success rate that my friend Dr. Esselstyn has enjoyed for the past 30 years.

Whether his heart disease was diagnosed or not, we know that it existed long before this week, when he suddenly died. That’s because we know that heart disease can begin many decades before your first heart attack. Sadly, the first symptom of coronary artery disease is frequently a heart attack.

The numerals for consecutive daily blog #583 come today from Texas.

Like many others, Mr. Duncan was probably just another innocent victim of the lack of clarity about what we should be eating for optimal health. He would’ve gotten that clarity from Dr. Esselstyn. But now it’s too late.

• Source article. Michael Clarke Duncan: Gentle ‘Green Mile’ giant and a vegetarian
• Earlier blog. Clinton or Cheney? Which heart treatment do you prefer?
• Earlier blog. Eliminating the #1 cause of death. Dr. William Roberts
• Video. The Last Heart Attack on CNN with Dr. Sanjay Gupta
• Earlier blog. “Toothless Paper Tiger” — Heart Disease (Blog # 200)

Unlike cancer, heart disease is reversible in 95% of the cases at almost any age. As Dr. Esselstyn says, “it’s a toothless paper tiger that need never exist.” You won’t learn how to reverse heart disease from the American Heart Association but you will learn it here. In addition to the following 4 items, you may also wish to purchase Dr. Esselstyn’s book, Prevent/Reverse Heart Disease, on Amazon.

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

• The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD 
• Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
• An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
• Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com

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J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.

Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.

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Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation