Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, author, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011.

Esselstyn is the author of the Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, in which he discusses his patients’ reversals of atherosclerosis by following a low-fat, whole foods, plant-based diet. The second half of the book contains recipes from his wife Ann Esselstyn who works with him to counsel patients on cooking practices. Esselstyn and his family of four children have maintained a plant-based diet since the mid-1980s. Esselstyn attributes the success of his twelve-year trial with heart patients to low mean levels of both total cholesterol (145 mg/dl) and LDL cholesterol (82 mg/dl).

Esselstyn stars in the 2011 documentary Forks Over Knives, based on his work in Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease and the research of his colleague T. Colin Campbell in The China Study. It also explores the work of other doctors who share this approach, as well as the personal experiences of some Esselstyn’s patients. Esselstyn’s son, Rip Esselstyn, a former “professional triathlete,” firefighter, and author of The Engine 2 Diet based on his father’s research, also appears in the film.

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