“Big Dog” Goes (Almost) Vegan—Will Bill Clinton Inspire A “Seismic Revolution In Health”?

by Bruce Friedrich

The biggest killer in America is heart disease (it kills almost fifty percent of Americans), and obesity is at epidemic levels.

For years, Doctors like Dean Ornish, John McDougall, Caldwell Esselstyn, and Neal Barnard have been pointing out that obesity among vegans is a tiny fraction of the obesity rate among the general population, and that heart disease can be not just prevented, but reversed on a low fat, vegan diet.

The American Dietetic Association, in its position paper on vegetarian diets, looked at all of the evidence, and found that vegetarian and vegan diets are appropriate for all populations, and that vegans and vegetarians have much lower rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity.

The vegan message just got a big boost—after reading books by Ornish and Esselstyn, Big Dog Bill Clinton has lost 24 pounds on the diet, and is talking about how he expects it to save his life.

As Dr. Ornish puts it in his interview with Wolf Blitzer, on a vegan diet, “Your brain gets more blood, you think more clearly, you have more energy, [and] your skin gets more blood so you don’t age as quickly. Even your sexual organs get more blood in the same way that Viagra works. So yeah you’ll probably live longer, but you’ll also feel better.”

Here’s hoping that the Big Dog starts a veggie revolution!

By: BruceGFriedrich

Vice President, Policy, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals