(This is a repost from September 29, 2010.)
September 22, 2010. CNN Transcript:
BLITZER: My last question, and it comes to me as a lot of my followers, as they're called on Twitter, sent me this question. They wanted me to ask you a variation of this question. How did you lose so much weight? What kind of diet are you on?
CLINTON: Well, the short answer is, I went on essentially a plant-based diet. I live on beans, legumes, vegetables, fruit. I drink a protein supplement every morning. No dairy. I drink almond milk mixed in with fruit and a protein powder. So I get the protein for the day when I start the day out.
And it changed my whole metabolism, and I lost 24 pounds, and I got back basically what I weighed in high school. But I did it for a different reason. I mean, I wanted to lose a little weight. But I never dreamed this would happen.
I did it because, after I had this stent put in, I realized that, even though it happens quite often that, after you have bypasses, you lose the veins, because they're thinner and weaker than arteries, the truth is that it clogged up, which means that the cholesterol was still causing buildup in my vein that was part of my bypass. And thank God I could take the stents. I don't want it to happen again.
So I did all this research, and I saw that 82 percent of the people since 1986 who have gone on a plant-based, no dairy, no meat of any kind, no chicken or turkey, and I eat very little fish. Once in a while, I will have a little fish, not often. But if you can do it, 82 percent of the people who have done that, they've begun to heal themselves. Their arterial blockage cleans up. The calcium deposits around their heart breaks up.
This movement has been led by a doctor named Caldwell Esselstyn* at the Cleveland Clinic, Dean Ornish whom you know out in California, the doctors Campbell, father and son, who wrote The China Study, and a handful of others.
But we now have 25 years of evidence, and so I thought, well, since I needed to lose a little weight for Chelsea's wedding, I'll become part of this experiment, I'll see if I can be one of those that can have a self-clearing mechanism. We'll see.
BLITZER: I hope you're healthy for many years and get to see grandchildren for many years.
CLINTON: Me, too. That's really the big deal. You know, Hillary and I, we're happy. We love our son-in-law, and we admire him, but -- and we'd like to be around if there's grandkids. We want to be there to do our part.
BLITZER: Mr. President, good luck.
CLINTON: Thank you.
* Dr. Esselstyn's diet also omits all oil. No olive oil, soybean oil, corn oil, coconut oil, fish oil, or any other processed or extracted fat/oil.
9 comments:
Yesterday I came across a presentation by Dr. Joel Fuhrman on my local PBS TV station. His main thesis is good nutrition as treatment for chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Basically, he prescribes a mostly vegan diet very heaving on vegetables followed by fruits, beans, legume and nuts. Its light on grains and allows only occasional meat and dairy. Its very similar to what Clinton is saying. Dr. Fuhrman's food pyramid can be found at http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx "Eat food, mostly plants, ..." seems to be excellent advice.
Hardly any grains? Aaaggg! Don't the Chinese in The China Study eat a LOT of rice? White rice? And that guy who ate nothing but potatoes. That's a starch, and he did well.
Oh, and thanks Bix, for this. Gary knows when the Gupta show is going to be run on CNN; I'll have to ask him & let you know.
That's a great link, RB. I heard that Fuhrman likes nuts. I think it's a little too easy to overeat them, but really I'm nitpicking.
I eat a little oatmeal, and brown rice or quinoa every day. Oh, and some of my sprouted wheat bread. I don't know ... is it harmful?
You're better off eliminating animal foods entirely and eating plenty of starches. Of course, some people have particular problems with certain grains. For example, people with celiac disease can't eat wheat, rye, or barley.
Fuhrman said:
"... meat is a disease-promoting food..."
I think that's a little far-fetched. Meat happens to be our best source of vitamin B12. I think a diet with some meat is better than a diet with no meat.
I agree, Bix, I think a plant based diet with a bit of fish, just a touch of red meat is probably the way to go. Of course, I really love bacon, which is healthy by nobody's definition.
too much gas is not good either. you know what i mean !
is clinton eating beans news ? people with fewer resources have been eating beans for centuries. just like how eating "healthy " has become a fab - because corporations decide what we eat ?
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