“Audacious” Campbell and Esselstyn on CNN — Rescheduled

Posted on 08/26/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

“The Last Heart Attack” is now scheduled for Saturday, 8-27, at 8 p.m. ET

But with Hurricane Irene expected to approach the New York City area this Saturday night, there is a real possibility that the “breaking news” associated with that monster storm may force this crucial program to be re-scheduled again. Actually, the fact that it was re-scheduled at all might turn out to be a good thing — as it gave more people time to hear about it, thereby leading to an even bigger audience. If it does not air during prime time at 8 p.m.; you can tape it later at 11 p.m. or at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning; I am setting my DVR for all three — just in case. Of course, being in the path of Irene, my DVR may have no power or cable connection. Stay tuned.

Please read all of his words carefully. This may be the very first time that a member of the official news establishment has made such a bold statement about the food that we eat. Hats off to CNN.

Millions of people have already seen a few clips from Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s interviews with Clinton and Esselstyn — either on CNN or YouTube — and the positive energy is building every day for seeing that entire one-hour show. Want a sneak preview? Here are a few words from Dr. Gupta that I just found on CNN’s website. Please read these words carefully:

“One day, I had a chance to speak to a couple of those champions candidly while waiting for a shoot to begin – Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and  T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.  I had read Campbell’s book, “The China Study,” years ago and remember how audacious he was in telling readers that most of what they believed about food and its relationship to health and disease was plain wrong. His findings changed the way people all over the world eat, including me.

And, I will admit, while I had trained my whole life to treat disease after it developed, I wasn’t medically trained in nutrition to be able to help prevent some of these diseases in the first place. Most of what I have learned has been on my own, since leaving medical school, and I think that is true for many doctors of my generation.

Simply put, Campbell’s research team found people who ate the most animal-based foods also had the most chronic disease. As important, people who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest. Campbell went on to describe the specific connections between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes and cancer. He also wrote of the ability to use nutrition to reverse these conditions – something that can start at almost any age.

Esselstyn took it a step further. “Sanjay, we want to make you heart attack proof.” Pretty audacious, I thought, but I couldn’t help but be engaged by this Cleveland Clinic surgeon, who was now devoting his life to preventing the diseases he made a living treating.“We are never going to end the epidemic of heart disease with stents, bypasses and medications,” he told me. That was music to my ears, because I didn’t want any of those things. Of course, it would involve essentially eliminating meat, dairy, eggs and oil – even olive oil. “Nothing with a mother, and nothing with a face,” the good doctor added.

Honestly, over the years, I have practiced the adage “eat to live,” not “live to eat.” Still, I knew it was going to be tough to carry out what he was asking. I started with a practical question for him. He was on the road traveling, and I was curious what he ate. “Thai food is always a good bet,” he told me. Sharon Kintz, who is a 66-year-old heart patient, joined me in Times Square to prove she could find a meal that satisfied her vegan requirements. Even former President Clinton says he is a vegan nowadays, and doesn’t at all miss the fast food for which he was once famous.

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.

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. —Sanjay Gupta, MD

The book that changed Dr. Gupta's life. Want to save some lives? Give a copy of this book to everyone you know.

The problem is that the “we” that Dr. Gupta says has known how to “eliminate heart disease for a very long time” is a relatively small group of people. President Clinton just joined that group (of those in the know) recently and made the big dietary change over a year ago after reading books by Dr. Campbell, Dr. Esselstyn and Dr. Dean Ornish.

Now Dr. Gupta, the question you need to ask President Obama and the each of the presidents of ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and CNN is this:  “When do we stop keeping this powerful news a secret? When are we going to start making sure that every person in the Western world knows how to eliminate heart disease in their families?”

You have already done us all a great service; now let’s take it to the next level — not just occasionally — but with the same mind-numbing frequency that our news media currently shows us ads for erectile dysfunction and cholesterol lowering drugs. Millions of lives will continue to be lost until we start telling the truth about food to the innocent citizens of the Western world.

President Bill Clinton has done more than anyone else to spread that news so far. And we mention his experience several times in our book — because it sends a very powerful message to people everywhere. That message is this (in my words) that I hear Mr. Clinton saying:

As a former president of the United States, I have access to the absolute best health-care and medical advice in the entire world. By choosing to adopt a plant-based diet for myself (and giving up all meat and dairy) so that I can enable my body to heal itself, I am broadcasting to the world that I do not believe that our government (USDA) is advising Americans what we should be eating in order to prevent or reverse over 80% of our diseases and shave $2 trillion off of our $2.7 trillion cost of health-care.

We’ve all been eating the wrong food for our species since we were born and our government has not told us the truth about that food; nor have our medical schools or our schools of nutrition, both of which are controlled by the industries that produce our food and our drugs. Dr. Campbell said said it best in his book, The China Study, “the entire system—government, science, medicine, industry and media—promotes profits over health, technology over food and confusion over clarity.”

Click on image for a book preview.

You may wonder why our government is not telling us that same message that we’re hearing from Mr. Clinton. It’s the same reason why you’re not hearing this message from your doctor or even your registered dietitian. The answer is found in Chapter 8 of our book, Why Did No One Tell You This Before? The short answer is a complex combination of money, power, ego and control as Dr. Campbell calls it.

As for our book, it will be officially launched in Stonington, CT, in just 34 days. We are deeply honored that all three of the men who influenced our former president to change his diet have endorsed our book. With Dr. Campbell and his son writing the Foreword, a powerful endorsement by one of one of those audacious medical doctors who influenced President Clinton is provided here:

“In Healthy Eating – Healthy World, the title tells it all, as author Jim Hicks masterfully resolves global challenges in a sensible, well-written, highly referenced must-read.”

–Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. Director of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Reversal, at the Wellness Institute of The Cleveland Clinic, author of Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease”

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.

As for our former president; his giving up meat and dairy is a really big deal and I am going to get as much mileage out of that story as I possibly can. I have featured Mr. Clinton in at least a dozen of my 201 blogs to date. Here are a few of them:

Dean Ornish and Bill Clinton; from burgers to whole plants

Where is Bill Clinton getting his protein these days?

Michelle, it’s time to tell the world about “meat & dairy.”

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, Medical Experts | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“Toothless Paper Tiger” — Heart Disease (Blog # 200)

Posted on 08/25/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

That’s what Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn calls our nation’s #1 killer, and he’ll probably use that phrase on CNN this Saturday (8-27-11) at 8 p.m. ET

He says that heart disease is nothing more that a “toothless paper tiger that need never exist and if it does exist, it need never progress.” He asks, “Why not treat your heart disease by simply getting rid of it?” And he knows a thing or two about doing just that…

Interestingly, Dr. Esselstyn's wife is the former Ann Crile, whose grandfather was one of the founders of the Cleveland Clinic (See his name in the photo).

…after successfully reversing heart disease in 100% of his 17 terminal heart patients at The Cleveland Clinic in the mid-80’s. Those 17 patients were no longer eligible for further intrusive surgery and agreed to follow Dr. Esselstyn’s simple dietary guidelines.

Prior to this dietary intervention, that group of 17 had collectively suffered 49 cardiac events in the previous eight years. After beginning the regimen with Dr. Esselstyn, none of them suffered a single cardiac event during the next eleven years. 49 – 0; absolutely amazing, but not amazing enough to get much publicity — Until now.

One year ago today, J. Morris Hicks introduces Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn at the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club; click image for more on Esselstyn.

I first learned this amazing story from reading The China Study in 2005; since then, about one million people have read that book, including Bill Clinton. Then, in September of 2010, our former president told Wolf Blitzer on CNN that he went plant-based (no meat or dairy) to enable his heart to heal itself — and as a fringe benefit, he lost 24 pounds in time for Chelsea’s wedding. Millions more heard that story and another few million are going to hear a similar story soon…

This Saturday night, Dr. Esselstyn will be telling his story to Sanjay Gupta on CNN — airing at 8 p.m. ET on August 27, — in a special called “The Last Heart Attack.” Bill Clinton is also featured in that special. We also tell this amazing story in our book that launches next month. Since reading about Dr. Esselstyn in 2005, I met him later that year in New York, we have now become friends and he has graciously provided one of our book’s most powerful endorsements.

Now serving as the Director of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention & Reversal at the Wellness Institute of the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Esselstyn continues to reverse heart disease in hundreds of patients every year — with a success rate of near 100% for those who follow his simple dietary regimen. Sadly, most people never hear about that simple life-saving regimen.  And oftentimes, their first heart attack is the first and last symptom of a totally preventable, and reversible, disease that began the day they began to eat the toxic Western diet.

Heart disease kills young people too. Few people realize that heart disease is not just for old people; although Dr. Esselstyn will probably mention that fact in the CNN special. It turns out that heart disease begins when we start eating the typical Western diet with meat and dairy at almost every meal. From Esselstyn’s book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease:

Autopsies of fallen U.S. soldiers in Korea, for instance, revealed that almost 80 percent of these young men had advanced heart disease. In contrast, the arteries of the plant-eating Korean soldiers were largely clean, free of fatty deposits.

Victim of severe coronary artery disease -- dead at 32

To be sure, most young people in the Western world already have heart disease; they just haven’t had their first heart attack yet. One of those young people was Andy Irons, world-champion surfer and superb athlete. Dead from a heart attack at age 32, here’s what Wikipedia says about this amazing young man:

Philip Andrew “Andy” Irons (July 24, 1978 – November 2, 2010) was a professional surfer. Irons learned to surf on the dangerous and shallow reefs of the North Shore in Kauai, Hawaii. Over the course of his professional career, he won three world titles (2002, 2003, 2004), three Quiksilver Pro France titles (2003, 2004, 2005), two Rip Curl Pro Search titles (2006 and 2007) and 20 elite tour victories including the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing four times from 2002-2006. On September 3, 2010 he won the Billabong Pro in Tahiti…He is the only surfer to have won a title at every venue on the ASP calendar. Andy Irons – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Andy Irons doing what he loved -- and being one of the very best in the history of surfing

With a lifestyle that almost anyone would envy, Andy Irons succumbed to heart disease at age 32. According to the pathologist, he suffered “severe coronary atherosclerosis, i.e. hardening of the arteries. He had an atherosclerotic plaque producing 70-80% narrowing of his anterior descending coronary artery.” See link below to autopsy results. The pathology report by J.M. Di Maio, MD went on to say:

The only unusual aspect of the case is Mr. Iron’s age, 32 years old. Deaths due to coronary atherosclerosis usually begin to appear in the late 40’s. Individuals such as Mr. Irons have a genetic predisposition to early development of the coronary artery disease. In about 25% of the population, the first symptom of severe coronary atherosclerosis is sudden death. There were no other factors contributing to the death.

So what about those U.S. soldiers in Korea? Did 80% of them have a “genetic predisposition to early development” of coronary artery disease? I think not, and Dr. Esselstyn would agree. He now begins many of his lectures by telling the audience that most of them already have coronary artery disease — if they have been consuming the typical Western diet for more than 20 years. He also tells them how to reverse it easily and quickly — in months, not years.

Do your family and friends a favor and send this information to everyone you know that might be receptive to hearing about a way to get rid of their heart disease. Help them avoid the statins, stents and bypasses which are the conventional treatment paradigm for virtually all cardiologists in the Western world…the same cardiologists who recommend plaque-building salmon and olive oil for their patients. (See earlier post re Dr. Mosca at Columbia University.)

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Bracing for a catastrophic hurricane here in CT. Scroll down for a special New England moment captured earlier this week — PRE-IRENE. I just hope and pray that our little boat will be enjoying a similar moment this time next week.

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

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

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 Heart Disease, Medical Experts | 4 Comments

Brian Williams, super-foods, and “confusion over clarity.”

Posted on 08/24/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

Those employed in the “system” actually think that they are helping — but in fact they are only adding to the confusion.

Brian Williams, anchor

On the NBC Evening news (8-22-11), Brian Williams introduced a piece about healthy eating saying “What if science could take what’s good in the healthy foods and create a “superfood” that prevents disease?” First they featured a rather obese-looking MD by the name of Dr. Steve Clinton of Ohio State, who was busy combining foods in “unique ways to target very specific cancers.”

Believe it or not, he was talking about extracting the superfood nutrients to make lollipops that could be used by smokers to prevent oral cancer. Then, they trotted out their very own Dr. Nancy Snyderman (NBC’s Chief Medical Editor) who introduced Dr. Lori Mosca, a cardiologist from Columbia University. While shopping for healthy foods in the grocery store, Dr. Mosca said with a big smile that…

…salmon is a home run because it’s rich in Vitamin D and in omega-3 fatty acids….She then added that olive oil is one of the ‘good fats’ that can help you ward off disease.

If the reader had just read The China Study, they would be very confused by that advice. That’s because the system likes to keep us confused. As Dr. T. Colin Campbell stated in his book, “the entire system—government, science, medicine, industry and media—promotes profits over health, technology over food and confusion over clarity.” For, if they were CLEAR about how to prevent or reverse disease, that entire system would lose about two trillion dollars a year in revenue — as people everywhere learned how to take charge of their own health.

Dr. Steve Clinton, Ohio State

If Dr. Campbell and Dr. Esselstyn had also been on the show, they would have disagreed vehemently with Dr. Clinton and Dr. Mosca respectively. They would have encouraged the eating of more whole foods in nature’s package (not in lollipops) and would have confidently stated that neither salmon or olive oil has any place whatsoever in a truly health-promoting, heart disease-reversing dietary regimen. Question:

Who would you trust to tell you how to reverse your heart disease? Someone who has done it successfully for over 95% of his patients (Dr. Esselstyn) or a cardiologist who makes her living repeatedly treating ‘symptoms’ with stents & bypasses (Dr. Mosca)?

As for the “superfood” segment; while some of the foods mentioned were excellent, plant-based, health-promoting choices — the casual viewer will get nothing of real value from the segment — just more confusion. That’s because they’ll hear something completely different tomorrow night and the next night.

Ironically, there were five ads during the break leading up to the superfood piece; three of them were promoting products for which there would be no market if everyone shifted to a truly health-promoting diet of mostly whole plants — Zantac for heartburn, Centrum Silver for making you feel less guilty about your poor eating habits, and VisiCare for over-active bladder. When will the madness end? When will our “system” start telling the truth about our food to the innocent public?

Without strong leadership focusing on changing our vast interconnected “system” of misinformation, only a relentless grassroots revolution will be able to get the human race back on the right track. A few recent posts on that topic might be interesting for you as you consider joining us that revolution:

FOOD — World’s brightest are missing the main point.

“One Term President” — just might be the answer — for true leadership

LEADERSHIP. Grassroots revolution or one-term president?

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

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, Medical Experts | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment