The problem I have with anyone saying that *any* eating style is *the* eating style is that our bodies are designed for diversity. Our teeth are designed to tear meat and crush plant fibers, and our bodies require nutrients and proteins that come from multiple sources, plant and animal alike.

I'm more a proponent of the 'Put down the chips and soda' lifestyle change. I definitely don't think our bodies are designed to process the additives and chemicals fed to us via junk food.

We've gone 95% whole foods vegetarian AT HOME (and packed lunches), and are trying towards moving vegan at home. We do, however, go more "with the flow" when dining outside of our home with others. We still value dinner at Grandma's, even if she's cooking a pot roast.

I agree with Rhoswen, thinking that lifestyle changes with a heavy emphasis on all things in moderation are more effective in the long run.

I became a vegetarian a few months ago after reading extensively about it, 1/2 for my health and 1/2 out of ethical motivations. I love it! it really forces you to be that much more creative with the wide array of plant products that are available.

I try to eat vegan when I can, but it just makes it too difficult to enjoy some of the things I love, like meeting friends for a dinner out.

I noticed they didn't mention what her eating habits were beforehand at all. I agree that eating more fresh veggies is absolutely necessary: everyone should do it.

Esselstyn and his diet, however, are not and have not ever been a test of veganism vs. meat eating. In each one of his studies and cases, he has put his patients through a complete lifestyle change: no refined grains, less starchy nutrient deficient veggies, no processed cane sugars, no smoking, reduced alcohol intake, reduced sodium intake, increased exercise routines, and - most importantly - the cutting of those awful hydrogenated corn/canola/vegetable oils, in addition to elimination of animal products.

And yet, his studies are touted as proof that animal products cause all these issues. In truth, the hydrogenated oils, smoking/drinking, and eating of highly refined carbs are the real culprits. Man is built to eat meat and dairy from a biological standpoint. I'll enjoy my butter, thanks, but I'll make sure to have it on my brussels sprouts instead of white bread.

I agree with common sense. Technically a vegan could eat French fries and highly processed soy products and loads of nuts and still be vegan.

I went vegan while dealing with a myriad of digestive problems - I had fantastic cholesterol, blood pressure, and was in the best health of my life. It is really, really hard to stay vegan though - there are virtually no quick-fix, cheap convenience foods, and eating out at a restaurant with friends is nigh-impossible (unless you can convince them to go to an all-vegan place, which are few and far between). I would love to transition back to eating vegan, at least while at home, but my boyfriend steadfastly refuses. It doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint to buy groceries for two sets of meals (plus the time commitment to make enough vegan food in advance to eat dinner quickly on weeknights).

I think it would be a lot easier to sell vegan options to the American public if they were more readily available, and the easier-to-use "meat substitutes" weren't so horribly expensive - sure, they're not as healthy for you as preparing vegan food from scratch, but it was way easier for me to get my family to make vegan meals using some of the fake ground meat, etc. then getting them to branch out into entirely new foods and recipes.

I'm sorry, I just never can take Sanjay Gupta or any other "doctor" who made a career of being all over your tv seriously.

The problem I have with anyone saying that "our bodies require nutrients and proteins that come from multiple sources, plant and animal alike" is that it implies that a vegetarian or vegan diet is innately lacking. I'll bet anything that there are many vegetarians and vegans out there who are on much healthier diets than many omnivores. So, spare them lecture, why don't you?

Thanks to the above for the vegan-French fries crack - I know two high schoolers (one of whom is well over 250 pounds) whose father insists that they practice a vegetarian lifestyle. So, instead of having a slice of turkey at a potluck, they'll sit down with a box of Krispy Kremes and go to town. It's about common sense. People know what is good and bad for them, even if they're not ready to give up the bad stuff. Now, I'm off to Wendy's for lunch...
;)

That said, I agree with all the above commenters that just get off your butt, eat smart and you'll be fine.

@unabridged: That was actually part of my point. Many people switch to a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle for health reasons. As such, they tend to lead healthier lifestyles (including smoking habits, exercise, etc.) than the average person. The problem comes when only the diet is used to compare individuals whose lifestyles are drastically different. These studies tend to compare people who sit around and processed junk food on little exercise with their meats to vegetarians who are active and trying to be healthy, which is an unfair comparison in the other direction.

I enjoy butter, lard, grass fed beef, organ meats, eggs, and raw milk. I also really enjoy broccoli (favorite food), avocados, sweet potatoes, and in season fruit. My body is designed to eat animal products, and so I don't feel the need to cut these products and struggle to get enough protein from omega-6 laden nuts and carb-laden beans or flaky "vegetable protein".

I guess my big point comes down to this: move around, eat real food, and don't skimp on veggies, but don't sweat the butter or steak.

I don't see how any of this is new; wasn't Dr. Dean Ornish reversing heart disease with a vegan (or near vegan) diet 20 years ago?

I have cut back on animal products but wouldn't call myself vegan. I believe we're so (comparatively) wealthy these days that we can afford to eat MUCH more in the way of animal products that our ancestors were able to. The China Study is an amazing read if you are interested in learning more about the benefits of going vegan. I will say - my mom is vegan after reading it :)

I like Mark Bittman's vegan until 6 p.m. approach. Seems like a good and doable compromise when combined with exercise and reasonable portion size.

Food that lacks good nutritional value is still going to kill you.Doesn't matter what kind of diet your on.Not every person that eats meat is going to die with clogged arteries and not every person who is vegan is healthy.Why is that so difficult for people to figure out?The hysterics every time someone suggests your 'magic' fix isn't all it's cracked up to be shouldn't make anyone feel slammed.If your under 40 and think your never going to have a heart attack because you eat so well.....think again.Your not out of the woods until your life ends.Be that today or a very long time from now.Hearts DO wear out.Some are bad from day one.Others are damaged from disease unrelated to clogged arteries.There's no magic involved.In certain age groups heart attacks have come down in numbers,in other other age groups statistics stay the same.

unabridged is clearly obnoxious, get over yourself. No body is "lecturing" here, just opinions and thoughts. I appreciate the diverse responses. No single diet it right for everyone, let people eat what they like, that's my motto.

To answer Stephanie's post questions, yes, I've changed my diet for my health but also for ethics. I was getting so much spoiled meat, at markets and delis and the company cafeteria and restaurants, that the whisper to go vegetarian was no longer a whisper but a shout (something is clearly wrong with the industry). I eliminate things one by one from my diet and make substitutions where I can. If the substitution is really unpalatable I give myself time to adjust to life without that item, by weaning off it, letting my tastebuds adjust. The funny thing is now that I'm leaning more toward veganism, and have reduced my consumption of dairy, I can't go backwards because my body just won't tolerate certain dairy products anymore. Would I switch to a full vegan diet if it meant being heart attack proof? Well, if I had little kids to raise, absolutely.

Of course an "all things in moderation approach" paired with exercise can keep you healthy... These patients are suffering from heart disease from ignoring that parable. The time for moderation has passed and stronger action needed to be taken to reverse the heart disease.

I actually just signed up to take place in a lifestyle program based on Dr. Esselstyn's ideas. I don't have heart disease, though I'm certainly at risk and wouldn't mind avoiding it! I don't necessarily believe that it will make me heart attack proof, but I also think it's never a bad idea to have a better idea of what good, whole foods you can eat and have a few extra healthy recipes in your back pocket. I'm looking forward to feeling better!

I've been vegan for almost 6 years, and have never felt healthier! I lost about 10 pounds when I made the switch from vegetarian to vegan (was at the higher end of my 'healthy weight range' prior to the switch). It's a lot easier to be vegan than I expected, especially in NYC. Most restaurants are happy to accomodate vegan diets, especially if you call in advance.
We batch cook on the weekends and freeze food in meal size glass containers, so we always have options at home.
For those without time to cook from scratch, Trader Joe's has V's on the front of their vegan convenience foods, and Amy's frozen food and soups say vegan right on the ingredients list of their vegan options.
Even just reducing the amount of animal products from your diet can help with health-and the health of your budget, too. If you scratch cook, vegan protein (from legumes and grains) is cheaper than meat/dairy alternatives. It's also better for the environment to eat low on the foodchain. win-win-win!

It makes complete sense that a non-animal based diet would improve your health, especially of the heart. But I imagine there are multiple other factors and that the Dr. has mentioned this (I haven't listened or read to anything).

I was once vegetarian to improve my health but lacked the drive to maintain it. Now, I aim to eat meat only once a day (and of the proper portion size). It's much easier this way and a happy medium. Even if we all just aimed for this most days, we could do a lot of good for our bodies and the earth. Our society is way dependent on meat.

@STH: The Ornish diet reversed heart disease the same way Esselstyn did - that is a lifestyle change that included cutting out unnatural corn/safflower/vegetable/canola oils, eliminating procesed sugars, more exercise, cessation of smoking, reduction in alcohol, and an increase in exercise in addition to cutting animal products. This makes it equally hard to determine what actually reversed heart disease.

@sarah: I was amazed by the China Study until I stumbled upon a robust takedown of it.

I have to make comment about reasons for practicing a heart healthy diet.

Everyone has a vested interest in a healthy heart.If you need to have children to live for or any other good reason as such....in my opinion,your missing the point of it.Heart disease is a huge burden on society.That is why it is researched and monitored continually by the healthcare community.Including many others who have a commercial interest.

Even if you do survive a heart attack,as many people will,medications tend to be a lifelong requirement for survival and would include lifestyle changes such as food and exercise.Chronic heart disease causes all types of related problems with your health.Some are due to the poor function of the heart and others with the meds being used to prolong life.For many ,all combined, can be a slippery slope into chronic degenerative disease affecting any number of body systems and functions.

Esselstyn isn't saying to just eat vegan/vegetarian. If you're living on french fries and krispy kremes, you're not following his diet.

My husband has been following the Ornish plan (diet & lifestyle -- exercise, etc) since he had a triple bypass at age 29 (before that he had 2 heart attacks, which he didn't know about at the time.) He's always eaten tons of veggies and tofu and rice, but he also ate plenty of "standard" fare like fried chicken, soda, vending machine goodies. He is 5'5" and weighed 170lbs at the time of his surgery. He had smoked for 10 yrs, but quit almost 2 years before his surgery.

Now, he's 20lbs lighter and all measures of his health have improved. Lower cholesterol, blah blah, but also his most recent heart tests showed that he has excellent heart function. It's challenging to stick to the plan, but it's worth it for him.

To those who argue that no evidence supports Esselstyn and Ornish's claims -- you're wrong. The evidence shows that this kind of diet IS the best diet for preventing heart disease. The question is whether it's worth adopting or not. And the answer to that question will be different for each individual person, based on his own risk factors, lifestyle, etc etc.

It's NOT hard to determine what causes heart disease or what eliminates it in these diets. We **know** that animal fat (cholesterol) and hydrogenated fats solidify in the arteries and block them. Vegetables don't block arteries. Carbs don't block arteries. good fats don't block arteries. Certain kinds of fat block arteries. Arterial blockage is what causes heart attacks. Smoking can weaken the vessels and contribute to heart disease, but people who smoke are also more likely to have unhealthy diets, so in that case, it would be a 1-2 punch. In the case of people who don't smoke, if they were never exposed to animal fat and hydrogenated oils, it is VERY unlikely, if not impossible for them to have heart disease since there would be nothing to clog the arteries. There is a small chance that someone could have genetic defect and their liver could make too much cholesterol, but that is uncommon.

Saying it's hard to determine what changes cause improvements in health doesn't actually make it hard to determine. Denial is a powerful thing when one is so entrenched in their lifestyle that they don't want to make changes. But from a scientific stand point, there is literally no question about what causes clogged arteries.

@hello123 - it's largely driven by corporate commercial interests, I used to work at one of the prominent heart attack drug companies, I saw firsthand that hard push toward studies and drug development (not pretty!). Still, if someone doesn't have the personal motivation to do it there's little anyone can do to convince them, and me - because I don't have little kids to raise - now and then still enjoy bread hot from the oven slathered with fresh butter.

I enjoy many things that would make a cardiologist jump out a window....don't we all?

I am trying to say to people that preventing clogged arteries doesn't eradicate heart disease.Surviving a clogged artery doesn't mean you will be free from heart disease or related disease.Unfortunately,heart disease is called a silent killer for a reason.It can take years to get a diagnosis and many more years to die from the disease.A damaged heart isn't the last of your worries should you suffer heart disease.The list of ailments that accompany a damaged heart are varied and numerous.Not all of them even remotely treatable by diet and exercise alone.Unlike blockages.And blockages aren't the only type of heart disease people should be educated about.There are many different types and many different conditions,considered unusual in most people,that become common in heart patients.That would include some non dietary related blockages.Poor heart function causes a host of problems for your body.

Proactive programs of diet and exercise will works wonders for many.Others will gain much less.Survival rates for heart disease are better now than ever before,but they are dependent on medicine and lifestyle.Should you suffer a heart attack ,your lifestyle changes for long term survival,will most likely require a fair amount of work on your part.I agree with people who are skeptical of grandiose claims regarding heart disease.Preventing clogged arteries,brings your chances of never suffering a clogged artery way down.There are still many factors at work in regards to a healthy heart overall.

Personally,I don't want to suffer poor circulation,chronic infection,the stripping of my veins elsewhere to fix my heart and the ravages of the drugs,that I would need to survive,any goodly length of time.I think people should look further into heart disease,in general,and the realities of living with it,before they say........I'm ok,because I don't(whatever).

I'll still make cardiologists cringe...I'm sure,but when I think information has some merit,I'll give it serious thought.

@Sisterfunkhaus

You need to educate yourself about vascular disease.You obviously don't know a thing about it.You are grossly misinformed and seem to feel superior somehow,for all your ignorance.

It is very possible for anyone to suffer undiagnosed vascular disease that leads to full blown cardiac,among many other illnesses associated with heart disease..Assuming the cause to be genetic,based on diet and lifestyle, is the most bogus science I've ever heard of.

It is not impossible for anyone,under any circumstance,to suffer heart disease.What will be possible is to have an unhealthy heart and not understand why.I blame sensationalistic media stories and people like you that take them as dogma.

@ Sister: Actually, the hypothesis that saturated fats *CAUSE* heart disease is a hypothesis proposed by Ancel Keys, and one that has never been proven. Similarly, the idea that saturated fats cause elevated cholesterol levels is true for some types of saturated fats (eg. oleic and lineolic) but not others. Additionally, the saturated fats that raise cholesterol tend to raise both LDL and HDL in a positive ratio. (link to a nice recap at the bottom of this post)

To claim that saturated fats "solidify" in the arteries is downright wrong. Body temperatures in the living range are far too high for any fat to be solid. What causes plaque buildup in arteries is bad cholesterol (the large ones) depositing itself in artery lesions - lesions that are usually caused by other forms of abuse.

Also, denying that confounding factors in purely observational studies muddy what causes results makes no sense. If I get a group of smokers, for instance, and have half of them quit while also wearing no shirts, and rates of cancer are lowered, I can't very well claim that taking shirts off fights cancer. Now, replace shirts with eliminating eating animal products...

link mentioned above: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22116724/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/what-if-bad-fat-isnt-so-bad/

Unfortunately conversations like this often devolve into extreme positioning and sharing a (relatively) small body of knowledge based on pop nutrition, "common sense," limited reading, a college class, etc. True experts (dietitians, among other experts) understand that food and health is a nuanced and complex relationship. One example, is that the idea "Of course an "all things in moderation approach" paired with exercise can keep you healthy... " could possibly be false- but we don't know enough yet. It is impossible to have a conversation about "which diet is best" that addresses the subtleties and individuality of health, in an online comments forum.

This is a very interesting video of a lecture on a study by Christopher Gardener of Stanford's School of Medicine on comparing popular diets and their effects on not only weight loss but also factors like serum lipids that are said to relate to heart disease. Not only is his study impressively set up but he's a fun lecturer -- and a long-time vegetarian. It's called the A to Z study (Atkins to Zone, and it includes Ornish and Mediterranean-like diet).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eREuZEdMAVo

Vegan means no animal products or animal by products. No dairy, no eggs. AND there is one thing people don't realize about no animal by products. No marshmellows, no licorice, no pudding, no jello, because they have gelatin in them that is made up from ground up beef bones and other beef parts. In other words the carcass is ground up and used to form the product. I read an article about a vegan trying to come up with a recipe for home made marshmellows without dairy and she thought that gelatin was non-dairy but was advised otherwise. Everything you buy, even though it may seem vegan you will have to read the label on the back for the ingredients.. Vegan is basically, vegetable, fruits and nuts - what else is there. Forget chewing gum.

ugh. Recently had a teen in my home for dinner who was a "real vegetarian" for ethical reasons. Did not stop him from eating the veggies cooked underneath the whole roasted chicken, or getting massive seconds of the Breyer's ice cream. And drinking chocolate milk with his dinner. His aunt did give me a heads up beforehand, but I kind of forgot about it the day of, and she'd said not to make any special prep for him since he still eats pizza with everything on it. I think he's just trying to piss his parents off.

@Rhoswen Please find me on Facebook and send me a friend request. I love your comment and totally agree! I rarely find people that agree with my point of view on this, which you and I share completely. Thanks dear! facebook.com/annieminette

There is a saying that animals kill from their graves. Animals are sentient beings capable of experiencing pain and suffering. So all those "eat animals in moderation people" admit that you are cruel, selfish, resistant to change, and spare others the lecture.