Bill Clinton healed heart disease with a vegan diet, after reading Dr. Esselstyn’s book on reversing heart disease.
In fact, we could say that he went on a super healthy vegan diet too. In one interview, he described his daily eating as something I would endorse as “truly healthy.”
However, after four years on the diet that saved his life, it appears that President Clinton is no longer vegan.
Reports are confusing on the topic.
One article claims that Dr. Hyman convinced Clinton to eat a “Paleo-style” diet instead of his vegan diet, saying that his diet contained “too much starch” and “insufficient protein.”
What I hate about these statements is that they mean nothing.
“Starch” is not food. It’s a component of food, which can be vastly different from each from one food to another! There’s a big difference between white rice and say, sweet potatoes.
As for “insufficient protein,” if that’s someone’s concern, then why not get it from plant foods? There are plenty of ways to do that. In fact, I could show you that if someone wanted to eat 100 grams or even 150 grams of protein from plant foods, it would be super easy to do that, with some diet modifications.
No, all these reasons are not why Bill Clinton started eating meat or fish again.
I think that fear of deficiencies is the reason.
Ever since President Clinton started his vegan diet, he has shown that in spite of the amazing results that he got, there’s a part of him that was afraid that he wouldn’t get the vitamins he needs.
For example:
In one interview, when he had recently started his plant-based diet, he talked about consuming a protein powder containing milk products. Then, Dr. Esselstyn pushed him to drop it, which he apparently did.
In another interview, he mentioned that “[My doctor] asked me to eat organic salmon once a week,” Clinton said. “I do, but I’d just as soon be without it.”
In one interview, we discovered that, “Clinton’s reasoning for including some animal products in his diet is to add back missing nutrients.” Apparently, he eats some eggs and “lean protein.”
Clinton said many times publicly that the vegan diet saved his life.
But I think a part of him wasn’t entirely ready to do it, and then Dr. Hyman might have influenced him to eat some animal products, out of fear of deficiencies.
Let’s Be Clear
There’s only one nutrient that can truly be a problem on a vegan diet: B12.
You can take care of everything else without animal products, including protein, “too much starch,” Vitamin D, and Omega 3 fact.
You don’t need to eat salmon once a week to get your B12. As you might know, salmon (even “organic”) is one of the most contaminated foods there is.
Instead, just make sure that your B12 levels are truly in the healthy zone and you’ll never have to worry about the terrible problems that can come with B12 deficiencies.
To your health,
Frederic
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Frederic loves to relentlessly debunk nutritional myths. He advocates a low-fat, plant-based diet and has had over 10 years of experience with raw vegan diets. He lives in Montreal, Canada.
Seems to me that since you can’t get B-12 without some animal protein in the diet, that our bodies do require a bit of meat/fowl/fish/egg/insect. A B-12 supplement is not available in nature!
Even grass-eating & vegetarian animals do get a lot of protein as a by-product from insects that are in the grasses & leaves.
I think the the key is to seek out superior sources of organic, grass fed products, and consume small amounts when you are craving them.
My family (Irish) were always healthy and lived well into their 90s and 100. They ate dairy and meat such as lamb. Even those who now live in the US live into their 90s. and some passed the 100 mark. Why does such a diet allow them to live a long healthy life?
It is not about how long you live only, but how healthy you are and your chances of getting disease as you get older, I for one like to think that my chances of a long and disease free life is far greater if I do not consume animal products, and besides I do not like using animals as food, why should we? It is the very cruel and unneccessary to make animals suffer for us. And animal products are not as pure as they used to be either, you are more likely to become antibiotic resistant and pick up bad bacteria from using animals as food. Chicken is one of the most contaminated.
One of the things I hate hearing all the time when I say I am vegan is “how do you get your protein?” yes fear is one of the many things that keep people eating animal products, but I say it is the fear of the animals that keep me away from eating them, not just for health reasons. B12 has always been used as an issue, but there are many ways to get B12 not just from supplements, and we need very very little. Many animal product eaters still suffer from nutrient deficiencies too.
I feel movements such as natural hygiene and many others focus too much on the toxin aspect of disease and not enough on the deficiency aspect. I personally worry that the vegan diet is very deficient if one is not extremely careful. Even the vegetarian diet is hard and one has to work at it. I personally eat eggs a few times a week as well as hard cheeses to ensure at least that I get a good variety of nutrients. I’m assuming that a varied diet provides the most comprehensive range of nutrients. I also assume that all human civilizations have eaten fish, or animals since prehistoric times. On the coast, fish and seafood such as clams and so forth are eaten abundantly. In contrast, vegan processed protein. I find unhealthy. And there is only so much tofu and lentils one can eat. Protein is definitely an issue. One needs to get enough protein daily. I’ve also seen over the last twenty years that there are at least a few people I’ve met who did not thrive in a vegetarian diet and had to go back to eating meat. Once they do, they feel immediately better. I personally don’t eat meat and I consider myself a vegetarian but I do eat eggs and cheese. As a result I do feel I am stronger and have more energy than before I included those items. I was always weak. Now I’m not sure which is the best diet. It’s probably individualistic. But I feel all diet dogma is counterproductive ie these are all dogmas – vegan, paleo, low carb, high carb etc.
Calories not protein are what you needed all the time.
You only have to look up the protein content of vegetables, grains, sprouts, nuts, seeds and even weeds to know it is very easy to get your protein, and most people have too much protein, You need to eat enough of a varied diet but does not have to include animal protein which has a link to cancer, heart disease and other diseases.
I knew a man hat was a Naturopath and he did Live Blood Analysis. He told me he saw B 12 deficiencies in meat eaters as well as Vegans.
B12 is also not a deficiency issue; it’s an absorption one.
Just because you “take B12” doesn’t mean that your stomach will absorb it. The key is to get your colon, and for that matter your entire cellular system clean.
Furthermore, those who “worry” about “deficiencies” are missing the boat. Case in point: I’ve not suffered a single cold, flu, headache, stomach ache, rash, itch, runny nose, congestion, even foul foot. body or bathroom odor fo 20 years in a row. In that time I took no B12 supplementation, or ANY pill, powder or gimmick, or drug, not even an aspirin. Or coffee for that matter.
What is “health” anyway” What good are “supplement” anyway if they don’t produce real, tangible, practical results?
So many people are brainwashed and worried, yet they never actually reverse- engineer their health to allow their immune system to work the way it was designed. It only takes a small handful of food, in the right quantity.
That’s true Chris, absorption is key. I have even read that a clean, properly functioning colon can manufacture B-12 as needed.
Hi,
Are you aware that there also is a problem with vitamin A conversion (from beta-carotene)? Or it is false information?