Bill Clinton's Vegan Diet

There has been much discussion of ex-president Bill Clinton's extraordinary weight loss over the last few weeks. It appears that the once corpulent aficionado of McDonald's and other fast foods has become enamoured of all things natural. He now eats a truly restrictive vegan diet eschewing dairy products meat and fish. Since daughter Chelsea's wedding in April this year, Bill has managed to lose 12 kg in weight. But it's not just the wedding that caused this profound change in his lifestyle. In 2004 he underwent quadruple coronary artery bypass, but due to his intemperate eating habits, the cardiologists this year have had to insert stents into his grafted arteries.

Mr Clinton is no slouch academically. He has researched the subject of longevity with heart disease extensively and in a recent quote to CNN he said "I did all this research, and I saw that 82 percent of the people since 1986 who have gone on a plant-base, no dairy, no meat of any kind, no chicken, no turkey—I eat very little fish, once in a while I'll have a little fish—If you can do it, 82 percent of people have begun to heal themselves."

Perhaps if we look at Bill Clinton as an archetypal baby boomer, some clear explanation for his behaviour will emerge. Like most men of his age, by the time symptoms arrive it is too late for primary prevention and his doctors moved to medical or surgical treatment. It is not as though Mr Clinton did not have access to the best and brightest medical treatment in the world. His six monthly medical checkups as president, would have involved extensive cardiological investigations.

We may conclude then, that he was warned about lifestyle issues and encouraged to take medication long before his coronary artery surgery in 2004.

How did he fail to heed the constant exhortations of his medical attendants? Was he so addicted to salt and fat that even armed with the best possible medical information, he failed to significantly effect change that would keep him away from the interventional cardiologists?.
Sometimes an addiction can overwhelm even the most intelligent and erudite person and it certainly appears that despite all the warnings Bill continued to eat junk. His biography in Wikipedia gives us an inkling into the dysfunctional family life Bill was exposed to early on.

"Clinton says he remembers his stepfather as a gambler and an alcoholic who regularly abused his mother and half-brother Roger Clinton, Jr., to the point where he intervened multiple times with the threat of violence in order to protect them." He shares this problematic violence with many other people who suffer addiction and seem powerless to change their life course.

In 2010 Clinton has fallen under the spell of two charismatic diet and lifestyle doctors: Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyne. Ornish practices in Sausalito California and has been influenced by Swami Satchidananda in his quest for holistic health, while Esselstyn has written 'Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease' and his website quotes:

"A groundbreaking program backed by the irrefutable results from Dr. Esselstyn’s 20-year study proving changes in diet and nutrition can actually cure heart disease"

Bill Clinton's profound metamorphosis into this fit man has captured the popular imagination. Many commentators are concerned that Bill now has a gaunt look that makes him appear unhealthy.

It will not be too long before patients in Australia present to their GPs asking to go on to the Bill Clinton regime. Be aware however that the use of almond milk as suggested online is expensive and probably not environmentally sustainable.
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