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YouTubeDr Steven Lome's story (cardiologist; heart surgeon): Eureka moment was chance discovery of Forks Over Knives (recommended by NetFlix).
Dr Saray Stancic's story (infectious diseases; now lifestyle medicine): Eureka moment was coming in touch with a research paper on blueberries purporting to heal a chronic disease, which prompted Dr Stancic, "Could food have a role to play in the course of disease?"
Dr Rajiv Bajekal's story (spine surgeon; orthopedist): Eureka moment was chance discovery of Forks Over Knives (recommended by NetFlix).
Dr Will Bulsiewicz' story (gastroenterologist): Dr B was initially influenced by his girlfriend who was plant-based. When he introduced dietary changes into his own life, for example, a daily green smoothie, he started noticing positive changes in his health. So he searched for research papers on PubMed and was stunned to find so much WFPB research already in place!
Dr Ron Weiss' story (general physician): Chanced upon plant-based guidelines via the 'macrobiotic diet' recommended to his dad who had recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Dr Kristi Funk's story (breast surgeon; surgical oncologist): Chanced upon WFPB guidelines in the process of finding citations for her book on breast cancer. In the middle of writing that book, she made dramatic changes to her own food habits by adopting WFPB, then re-wrote the book to promote WFPB!
Dr Laurie Marbas' story (general physician): Learnt about WFPB from a patient of hers!
Dr Benjamin Spock (pediatrist): Learnt of WFPB after running into serious sickness in his senior years, then coming in touch with WFPB luminaries like Dr T Colin Campbell and Dr Neal Barnard. He went on to recommend WFPB for children aged two and beyond in the 7th Edition of his famous book "Baby and Child Care"!
Dr Michael Greger's story (general physician): In his childhood, Dr Greger came in touch with Nathan Pritikin who cured his grandmother of end-stage heart disease!
Dr Neal Barnard's story (general physician): Impacted when he saw atherosclerosis with his own eyes; it was clogging myriad arteries during an autopsy. Soon, he connected dots between food and health.
Dr Dean Ornish's story (general physician): Inspired by Swami Satchidananda who encouaged him to become vegetarian, meditate, practice yoga and always be of service to others. Those teachings became the foundations of his landmark research in late 70s into a plant-based intervention for tackling heart disease!
Dr Evan Allen's story (general physician): Dr Evan Allen came to know of Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) guidelines when his wife asked him to watch Forks Over Knives. He watched but refused to believe much of the documentary! Started researching to find flaws in Forks Over Knives narrative. To his surprise, he couldn't! Later, he attended Dr McDougall's Advanced Study Weekend with his wife, adopted strict WFPB guidelines and started evangelizing them to others.
Dr Aajay Shah's story (cardiologist): Dr Aajay Shah was a lifelong vegetarian who then adopted Whole Food Plant-Based guidelines. He experienced 55 lbs weight loss, his triglycerides dropped from 400 to 70, HDL increased from 28 to 48, A1C dropped from 5.9 to 5.2, and his waist reduced from 42 to 32. Pretty remarkable!
Dr Akil Taher's story (general physician): Dr Taher experienced coronary artery disease at young age, angioplasty & stents at 56, bypass surgery at 61. He switched to Whole Food Plant-Based at age 61. He also started pursuing exercise, meditation and yoga. Soon, he ran a half-marathon, a full-marathon & is now participating in triathlons (came 3rd in his age group). A sharp, passionate & inspiring speaker!
Dr Michael Klaper's story (general physician): Influenced by non-violence ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and other Indian saints. Additionally, as an anesthesiologist, he witnessed what fatty meals do to our arteries, and how clogged arteries visually look like. He decided that he didn't want to end up like that.
Brenda Davis story (nutritionist): Turned vegan when a friend helped her recognize that animal cruelty underlies the meat and dairy products we regularly consume.
Dr John McDougall's story (general physician): Learnt about healthy eating by observing multi-generation families of Asian origin (Filipino, Japanese, Chinese) in Hawaii. He noticed that the older population, who retained much of their traditional eating habits, had far less chronic disease than the younger population who had gravitated to a 'rich Western diet'.
Dr T Colin Campbell's story (nutrition researcher):
Dr Angie Sadeghi (gastroenterologist): Dr Angie Sadeghi first turned vegetarian out of compassion for animals. Many years later, she dropped milk too from her diet, becoming vegan. And to her great surprise, her longstanding chronic eczema vanished! She learnt more about Whole Food Plant-Based guidelines and now practices Lifestyle Medicine too.
Dr Nitu Bajekal (ob-gyn in UK): Dr Nitu Bajekal turned vegan when her daughter turned vegan at age 10. Coincidentally,she was experiencing early menopause symptome at that time; she was only 38 years old. Within 3 months of switching to a vegan diet, her symptoms vanished. However, she failed to connect the dots that her diet had led to the resolution of her symptoms. Why? Because nutrition education is virtually missing in medical school! Only about 8 years later, when she learnt of Whole Food Plant-Based guidelines did she realize that diet has so much power.
Dr Jimmy Conway: Introduction To WFPB (orthopedic surgeon): Dr Conway had been scheduled for a triple bypass surgery. Just a few days before his surgery, he chanced upon China Study, then Dr Esselstyn's book on heart disease. He switched his diet and never looked back.
Dr Mahima Gulati's story (endocrinologist): Dr Gulati was feeling burnt out and attended a leadership conference for women physicians at Harvard to rejuvenate herself. Perchance she met Dr Beth Frates who was hula hooping and addressing the audience. Dr Frates introduced her to LM (Lifestyle Medicine).
Dr David Bowman: Introduction to WFPB (pediatrist; board certified in Lifestyle Medicine): Dr Bowman did a 21-day Daniel Fast for spiritual reasons and he felt so much better!
Dr Shivam Joshi: Introduction to WFPB (nephrologist, primary care physician): Dr Shivam Joshi learnt about plant-based diet by reading The China Study book. He remarks that almost nothing in the book was taught to him in medical school. It influenced him to become a vegetarian, then a vegan and finally adopt Whole Food Plant-Based guidelines.
Dr James Loomis: Personal Story (internal medicine): Dr James Loomis was overweight, with high cholesterol, sleep apnea and metabolic syndrome. Perchance, he watched Forks Over Knives. Within 3 months of WFPB adoption, his cholesterol dropped from 260 to 150, sleep apnea went away, he lost 30 lbs, metabolic syndrome went away, a-fib went away.
Dr Ellsworth Wareham (104-year old) (cardiothoracic surgeon): Dr Wareham [1904-2018] lived for 104 years. He retired as cardiothoracic surgeon at age 95. Since childhood, he was never inclined towards animal products. As an adult in his 40s, he was worried about nutritional adequacy of a diet without animal products. Once he learnt that Vitamin B12 supplementation is all he needs, he switched to veganism.
Dr Russell Thacher Trall: Author of First Vegan Book in USA (1874).
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