Is a Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet Extreme?

I have a friend who is savvy about health and has given me good advice in the past about various conditions my husband and I have struggled with, so when I recently received a note from her saying, "I'm curious about why you chose Esselstyn's diet - it's so extreme," I took her question seriously.

The simple answer to this question is that I'm on this diet because Dr. Esselstyn's research, which is backed up by an incredible amount of data from other studies, has shown remarkable results reversing heart disease with a whole-food, plant-based diet, and that's exactly what I want. 

The discovery that I had 100% blockage in one of my coronary arteries came as quite a surprise, since I honestly thought my vegan diet would protect me from any such outcome. I knew that my cholesterol level was at the high end of the the "normal" range (my total cholesterol was 191 when I first started seeking treatment for my angina), and this concerned me, but I didn't know what I could do about it. My doctors weren't prescribing statins because my levels were still in the normal range. All the docs would say when I expressed frustration is that high cholesterol can be hereditary. So, I figured that it was just a matter of time before I went on statins and in the meantime there wasn't much I could do.

I was aware of the whole-food, plant-based diet mostly because my daughter, Laura, was an advocate even though she herself found she wasn't able to stick with it. And frankly, the idea of no oils sounded pretty impossible to me, too. What I've discovered is that it isn't too difficult to cook this way, but the biggest adjustment is in being able to use only very few packaged convenience foods and the difficulty of eating restaurant food. Thankfully we have a very good Thai restaurant near us that makes steamed vegetables and brown rice with peanut sauce that's to die for. And I'm sure there are other options out there that I haven't discovered yet.

I really don't consider this diet extreme. In my case, I think it's just necessary. For whatever reason, my body needs me to consume less fat, so that's what I'm doing. I'm eating a lot of carbs (brown rice pasta is one of my new favorite staples) and fruits and vegetables, and I'm eating a LOT. Even so, I've lost 8 lbs since I got home from the hospital 8 days ago. And this is not a small thing. I have been trying to control my weight for years, yo-yo dieting typically using a low-carb, calorie-tracking strategy to keep my calorie consumption to a level where I could reverse what honestly felt like my body's almost demented urge to balloon up on me. Now there's no more calorie counting, no more feeling hungry and deprived and pathetic. I can eat as much as I want as long as I stick to the right stuff.

My friend told me that she has always understood that healthy fats are necessary for proper brain function. I don't have any information on that topic, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is correct. What I do have information on is that "healthy fats" come from plants. Period. And I also know that a diet where 10% of nutrients come from fat, another 10% from protein and 80% comes from carbohydrates correlates very highly with low levels of heart disease, diabetes, breast, colon and prostate cancer and Alzheimer's, not to mention the whole range of auto-immune diseases. 

If you're interested in learning more, one easy way is to watch the movie Forks Over Knives. Sometimes it's available to stream for free. I think I paid $4 to buy it on Amazon Prime. I'm sure you could get it on DVD from the library. It's great, and the Forks Over Knives organization publishes excellent magazines and books. Another great introduction is T. Colin Campbell's book, The China Study. It's true that Dr. Esselstyn's initial study (which he describes in his book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease) was relatively small, with only 23 participants. His results were, none-the-less, compelling. But if you want big numbers, read The China Study, which describes the results of studying 6,500 people in China. The correlations between diet and health outcomes are irrefutable, and the healthiest people in the study ate like I'm eating now.