“The Last Heart Attack” on CNN (My review) + link to video

Posted on 08/29/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

Overall it was a fabulous life-saving telecast — but…

While watching the show from near Boston during Hurricane Irene, my first thought was that both Irene and the “Sanjay Special” had fallen short of meeting expectations. Thankfully in the case of  Irene — Regretably in the case of the CNN Special. (Link to entire program at end of this post). In retrospect, there are many wonderful things about that show and I am thrilled that Dr. Gupta brought it to us. I guess I was just expecting more.

But for this blog, I want to focus on the positive. Sanjay Gupta started out strong last night; walking through Times Square, he looked the camera straight in the eye and boldly stated:

“I’ve got a secret to share. With what we know right now, we could see the last heart attack in America. I’ve been investigating this for over a year; I’ve got lessons to share — things you need to know — things your doctor may not tell you.”

So let’s begin with the things that I really liked about this show:

  1. The fact that a major news organization actually produced a show like this and shared this kind of life-saving information with the public for the first time.
  2. Lots of air time for heart disease-reversing physicians Dr. Dean Ornish of UCSF  and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of The Cleveland Clinic.

  3. Bill Clinton making a point about his "plant-based" diet to Wolf Blitzer on CNN. You can see this video on the Video tab of this website.

    President Bill Clinton doing a great job of telling his story in a sincere, credible manner. In so doing, he may have been able to convince millions of people that it might be possible for them to do the same thing.

  4. This show has opened the door, started the dialog, and added more credibility, legitimacy and authenticity to the powerful “plant-based solution” to the health-care dilemma in the Western world.
  5. The fact that heart disease starts many years before your first symptom was made clear, stating that “most people who have heart attacks, have no symptoms.”
  6. Providing a “Heart Disease 101” primer — clearly showing what heart disease is and raising the overall awareness of this deadly disease that never need exist in the first place.
  7. Dr. Esselstyn’s patient who demonstrated how easy it was to find a heart-healthy meal in Times Square. And we all know, if you can find a healthy meal at Times Square, you can find one anywhere….almost like the old Frank Sinatra song.
  8. Stating the origin of the show — Dr. Sanjay Gupta (a young man with no symptoms) deciding to “go on a mission to never have a heart attack.”

Caldwell Esselstyn, MD. Director of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Reversal at the Wellness Institute of the Cleveland Clinic.

So what was the takeaway for the average viewer? How did “confusion” stack up against “clarity” in this show? First the good news. Fortunately, there are many thoughtful people out there who will take it upon themselves to learn more about this powerful, non-invasive way to reverse their heart disease. They will do some research on the internet; they will purchase books by Ornish, Esselstyn, Campbell and others; and some of them will decide to take charge of their own health.

Now for the bad news. For every viewer who decides to take the above steps, there will be an estimated ten viewers who will schedule their “coronary calcium scan” as recommended by Dr. Arthur Agatston, the inventor of the procedure. Now, I am not saying that is a bad thing. I am just saying that it would better to just skip the scan and go directly to the simple diet-style that has been proven to prevent and/or reverse heart disease in almost 100% of the people who adopt it.

But I know that most people still think that Esselstyn’s diet-style is too extreme and would prefer to have the scan and listen to the dietary advice of a cardiologist who eats like they do.

Dr. Arthur Agatston, cardiologist and author of the South Beach Diet

Now here’s where the “confusion” enters the picture — Dr. Agatston is also the author of the many South Beach Diet books — and like the Atkins Diet, his books condone the routine use of fish, cheese, meat, and oil in their recommended meal plans. That advice is completely contrary to what Dr. Ornish and Dr. Esselstyn recommend — a diet-style that derives 100% of its calories from plant-based foods. So what’s a person to do?

The confusion is that the program seemed to imply that the “plant-based” alternative is for sick people — like Bill Clinton or the Esselstyn patient in Times Square. It also seemed to imply that everyone needed to have the scan in order to determine what action they should take. So who are you going to trust, the portly cardiologist who is recommending that everyone contact their doctor and have the “coronary calcium scan” or the lean and healthy-looking 77-year old doctor from the Cleveland Clinic who has reversed heart disease in nearly 100% of his patients?

And what about insurance coverage? After last night’s show, many people will be calling their doctor this week to talk about having that scan and also finding out whether or not it will be covered by their insurance. They will likely find that the scan will be covered but that Dr. Esselstyn’s plant-based disease-reversal program at the Cleveland Clinic will not be. Now, if you naturally assume that your insurance carrier wants you to be healthy, think again after reading this earlier post.  Do insurance companies “really” want us to be healthy?

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

The Bottom Line. As listed above, last night’s show did many good things, but in the near term it will drive our health care costs even higher — as more people sign up for the expensive “coronary calcium scan.” And like our $50 billion business of screening for colon cancer, the screening itself does absolutely nothing to prevent or reverse either disease. For that, we all must change our diet and return to the natural diet for our species — whole, plant-based foods.

The scan will just identify your level of disease; then your cardiologist will recommend the procedure or drug that is right for you. If you should ask him/her about Dr. Esselstyn’s plant-based alternative, you will likely be told (wrongfully) that “the dietary approach is rather extreme and that most people are not able to stick with it.” Could we expect anything else from a cardiologist who has no training in nutrition and will lose a patient (and a lot of money) if he recommends the dietary alternative?

See the entire Special NOW. Now for the good news for those of you who missed last night’s show. Our friends at VegSource.com have provided the full 41-minute video (without commercials) of last night’s show, “The Last Heart Attack.” While there, you should subscribe to this terrific organization.

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In closing, I would just like to say how thrilled I am that both Dr. Esselstyn and Dr. Ornish (featured in this CNN special) have endorsed our book…which will be launched in just 31 days. If you like what you see here, you may wish to join our periodic mailing list. Also, for help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4-Leaf page. From the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

If you’d like to order our book on Amazon,  visit our BookStore now.

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

PS: Occasionally an unauthorized ad may appear beneath a blog post. It is controlled by WordPress (a totally free hosting service). I do not approve or personally benefit whatsoever from any ad that might ever appear on this site. I apologize and urge you to please disregard. 

Posted in Activism & Leadership, Celebrities, Heart Disease, Insurance, Medical Experts | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Listening to the mainstream American — pre CNN special

Posted on 08/28/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

And it’s not a very pretty picture…

But first a little Hurricane Irene update. I drove from coastal Connecticut to higher ground at my son’s house West of Boston last night. Looks like things may not be quite as bad as we had feared in Stonington; I will head back down there tomorrow morning to bright sunny skies. And I may even be sailing by Monday afternoon.

This is where I hope to be by sunset on Monday

As for our long-awaited CNN special, we should know soon when they plan to re-schedule it again. Meanwhile, I was reading some CNN reader comments yesterday below the David Martin “heart attack proof” article — and they were not very encouraging.

After reading a sampling of the hundreds of comments, it appeared that 90% of them were not receptive to the life-saving message in the article, many were skeptical and some were even angry. Here are three that were fairly representative:

*** Enough already with you having a heart attack at 38 and moderation almost killed you.  Bitterness and unforgiveness wipes out 3/4 of the planet through diease and committing acts of violence takes out most of the rest.  There’s a village in Italy that smokes, drinks and eats meat almost every day and the average death rate is 100+.  My point, the wages of sin is death—sin kills every one of us, some earlier than others that’s all.

*** I don’t know … people in New Guinea, rural China, central Africa and the indians of Mexico … no heart disease BUT also they don’t generally have long life spans anyway … so maybe if they would live longer, heart disease would show up. Besides, people in these areas don’t get autopsies upon death, they’re just buried or cremated as soon after dying. Anyway, why is a Mediterranean diet considered healthy, olive oil, fish, meat, greens, whatnot ? Same goes for the Japanese diet, fish, meat, veggies, oil … and the French … lots of wine and fatty meats ?

*** This sort of pandering comes around every few years and it adds to the list of physician authors who have discovered the secret to curing heart disease. Unfortunately, however, genetics is going to play the greatest influence in how efficiently your body processes cholesterol, how your body deals with inflammation and what specific characteristics in your body lend themselves to health or disease. No doubt, there will be people storming the shelves to buy this new discovery of a book that will make the author rich, but it will not change the cards you were dealt by mother nature.

Stay Tuned -- This special is coming soon.

What does this tell me? It tells me that we’re a very long way from improving the eating habits of the vast majority of Americans and other consumers of our extremely harmful, wasteful and unsustainable Western diet.

The key word here is unsustainable — meaning that since our way of eating is not going to be around forever — eventually, people everywhere will be “forced” to move in the direction of a plant-based diet. Hopefully, we can begin to reach the more thoughtful members of the mainstream long before the “force” comes into play.

When I began my study of this topic in 2002, my primary emphasis was learning about the optimal diet for humans, but the more I learned about the many other reasons for eating a plant-based diet, I became at least as passionate about all of those other reasons as I was about the health reasons. That’s what is missing with the people like the ones who commented above. They simply do not fully comprehend the magnitude of what is at stake.

If they knew all of the facts about how our food impacts the environment, the energy crisis, world hunger and animal suffering; many of them would consider making better food choices for themselves and their families. Posted below are two previous posts on this topic — the all important task of reaching the mainstream. First, we must listen to them, then we must help them understand “the big picture.” In addition to these two links, there is a link below my signature to the full CNN article (with comments) by David S. Martin.

The BIG PICTURE — for making things right; my “Top 5 List”

To save the planet — we simply must reach the “mainstream”

In closing, I will let you know when “The Last Heart Attack” has been rescheduled. Soon, the whole world will be able to hear these powerful words from Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

If we collectively ever want to get to the point where we have “The Last Heart Attack,” a good start would be to stop ignoring what we already know to be true…we know that eliminating heart disease can be done —and truth is, we have known for a very long time how to do it. 

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

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If you like what you see here, you may wish to join our periodic mailing list. Also, for help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4-Leaf page. From the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

If you’d like to order our book on Amazon,  visit our BookStore now.

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

PS: Occasionally an unauthorized ad may appear beneath a blog post. It is controlled by WordPress (a totally free hosting service). I do not approve or personally benefit whatsoever from any ad that might ever appear on this site. I apologize and urge you to please disregard. 

Posted in Activism & Leadership, Big Picture | 4 Comments

CNN re-schedules “heart attack special” again — The right move

Posted on 08/27/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

First Gaddafi, now Irene — CNN was right to re-schedule in both cases

Irene; someone in the news described her as being about the size of Europe.

With all of the distractions that go along with preparing for and riding out a major hurricane, I was almost relieved to hear that CNN had decided once again to re-schedule “The Last Heart Attack.” With some 85 million Americans directly affected by this massive storm, the show would simply not be able to attract the number of viewers it deserves if it were to air in prime time this evening.

Even if you’re not affected personally by the storm, you know many people who are. And you’re interested in monitoring their situation — and praying for their safety. Simply said, all of these distractions do not bode well for our nation’s people to be in the mood to carefully watch a serious documentary — one that can not only save their lives, but could also pave the way for a whole new way of looking at health care in this country and indeed the entire Western world.

"We know how to eliminate heart disease and we've known for a very long time how to do it."

As Dr. Sanjay Gupta said recently in a CNN article,

If we collectively ever want to get to the point where we have “The Last Heart Attack,” a good start would be to stop ignoring what we already know to be true.

Earlier in the same article, he said, Virtually eliminating heart disease – it can be done, and truth is, we have known for a very long time how to do it. People have said to me as I was preparing this documentary – “Sanjay, you are advocating a radical change to the way we eat.” Perhaps, but if you really think about it, the way we eat now is in fact more radical. And when we look back on this time, a couple of hundred years from now, I guarantee you that our diet of today will be considered one of the most radical in history.

Those words by Dr. Gupta should give you a pretty good idea about what you’re going to see on that CNN special — when we finally get a chance to see it. Hopefully, we’ll all survive Hurricane Irene, losses will be minimal and we’ll be ready to watch this ground-breaking documentary sometime next week.

Dean Ornish, M.D.

In the meantime, I have provided a few links below to CNN online articles about Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, the two medical doctors who are most famous for reversing heart disease. In a fine “heart attack proof” article by David S. Martin, he also provides time for the non-believers — which include the vast majority of all health-care workers in the United States:

“Diet alone is not going to be the reason that heart attacks are eliminated,” says Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association….Other key factors include physical activity, cholesterol, blood pressure and weight, she says. The article also reports: The meat, dairy and egg industries defend the benefits of their protein-rich foods, all of which remain on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate dietary guidelines for healthy eating.

My question to Ms. Nancy Brown is this: Do you not think that diet just might have something to do with 3 out of 4 of the other “key factors” you mentioned? Cholesterol, blood pressure and weight? In another CNN blog article by Dr. Dean Ornish, I was amused by a cartoon he uses in lectures to medical students. As he said, “When I lecture, I often begin by showing a slide of doctors busily mopping up the floor around an overflowing sink, but no one is turning off the faucet.”

Yale grad, Olympic gold winner -- a pattern of rare excellence throughout his entire life.

Regardless what the CEO of the American Heart Association says above, the dirty little secrets about our toxic Western diet are leaking out — in fact they are beginning to literally flood the airwaves and people everywhere are beginning to talk about it. Our Western diet as we know it is on its final legs — for many reasons.

Not only is it killing us, it has generated a cost of healthcare (disease-care) that is crippling our nation. It is also unsustainable for many other reasons: Too many people, not enough land, not enough energy, and not enough water. Our Western diet of meat and dairy three meals a day has only been around for about sixty years — and will not make it another forty. Speaking about what historians will say about our current way of eating two hundred years from now:

I guarantee you that our diet of today will be considered one of the most radical in history.—Sanjay Gupta, MD

Once again, let’s look on the bright side regarding the re-scheduling of “The Last Heart Attack.” Take a look at the terrific articles below (my signature) and help build the awareness of this “special” by sending this blog to everyone you know. Need another reason to share this blog? Scroll down for the photo of Gaddafi…on eBay. Hilarious.

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If you like what you see here, you may wish to join our periodic mailing list. Also, for help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4-Leaf page. From the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

If you’d like to order our book on Amazon,  visit our BookStore now.

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

The ‘heart attack proof’ diet? – CNN.com.

Dr. Ornish on a CNN Blog — Asking the right questions

Don't you just love this image? Gaddafi on eBay. Question. Does anyone know how many different versions of spelling there are for this despicable beast's name? I chose the one from Wikipedia.

PS: Occasionally an unauthorized ad may appear beneath a blog post. It is controlled by WordPress (a totally free hosting service). I do not approve or personally benefit whatsoever from any ad that might ever appear on this site. I apologize and urge you to please disregard. 

Posted in Activism & Leadership, Celebrities, Heart Disease | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment