WEBVTT

00:00:16.438 --> 00:00:20.031
So, can anybody tell me what this is?

00:00:22.024 --> 00:00:24.828
Somebody there said it,
a Redneck smoke detector.

00:00:24.848 --> 00:00:26.668
(Laughter)

00:00:26.698 --> 00:00:28.310
That's a Redneck smoke detector,

00:00:28.330 --> 00:00:31.364
and I want you to know
that as a former firefighter,

00:00:31.370 --> 00:00:34.449
I can tell your that this is not
a very good smoke detector.

00:00:34.469 --> 00:00:36.009
(Laughter)

00:00:36.020 --> 00:00:40.182
And in all seriousness,
when you go home tonight,

00:00:40.192 --> 00:00:42.972
it'd be nice if everybody
would check their smoke detectors

00:00:42.992 --> 00:00:45.443
to make sure that you have
a working smoke detector.

00:00:45.463 --> 00:00:48.615
Working smoke detectors save lives.

00:00:49.095 --> 00:00:50.570
(Audience) Thank you!

00:00:50.590 --> 00:00:52.664
You're welcome!

00:00:53.179 --> 00:00:57.483
My name is Rip Esselstyn,
and I'm a former professional triathlete,

00:00:57.503 --> 00:01:01.556
and a former firefighter
for the Austin Fire Department.

00:01:01.566 --> 00:01:07.219
And for the last 23 years,
I have eaten a plant-based diet

00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:13.250
to fuel me as an athlete,
as a firefighter, and as a man.

00:01:13.660 --> 00:01:18.134
And I can not tell you over the years
how many people have told me,

00:01:18.154 --> 00:01:21.184
"That is just way too insane.

00:01:21.204 --> 00:01:23.772
That's way too radical,
I could never do that."

00:01:23.872 --> 00:01:26.128
What I want to talk to you today,

00:01:26.148 --> 00:01:32.118
is about why it's really the standard
American diet that is so radical,

00:01:32.138 --> 00:01:34.510
and why eating a plant-based diet

00:01:34.520 --> 00:01:37.800
has a potential to be
absolutely revolutionary,

00:01:37.830 --> 00:01:42.956
and why it can revolutionize your health,
and this whole country's health.

00:01:45.343 --> 00:01:48.372
If you are eating
the Standard American Diet,

00:01:48.392 --> 00:01:51.632
you'll more than likely die
the standard American death,

00:01:51.642 --> 00:01:55.526
and acquire the standard
American diseases, okay?

00:01:55.772 --> 00:01:58.104
Let's talk for a second

00:01:58.124 --> 00:02:02.224
about why the standard American diet
is such an abomination.

00:02:03.973 --> 00:02:07.282
Sixty-three percent of America's calories

00:02:07.302 --> 00:02:12.225
are coming from refined 
and processed foods

00:02:12.245 --> 00:02:14.935
that are nothing but empty calories

00:02:14.955 --> 00:02:20.520
that do nothing to enhance
your health and only hurt it, 63%!

00:02:22.498 --> 00:02:26.433
Twenty-five percent are coming
from animal-based products,

00:02:26.453 --> 00:02:29.053
like meat, dairy, eggs,

00:02:29.073 --> 00:02:33.893
that have all the building
blocks that create disease.

00:02:34.153 --> 00:02:38.841
We have animal fat, animal
cholesterol, and animal protein.

00:02:39.581 --> 00:02:45.211
And we have 12% that are coming
from plant-based foods,

00:02:45.231 --> 00:02:48.549
wonderful plant-based foods,
and believe it or not,

00:02:48.570 --> 00:02:53.132
half of that 12% is coming
from french fries.

00:02:53.152 --> 00:02:54.662
(Laughter)

00:02:54.687 --> 00:02:57.510
So really ...

00:02:59.992 --> 00:03:03.467
Really, only 6% of America's calories

00:03:03.487 --> 00:03:08.252
are coming from fruits, vegetables,
whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds.

00:03:08.482 --> 00:03:11.876
So we really are a country
that is incredibly plant-weak,

00:03:11.896 --> 00:03:13.996
and it is my mission, it is my goal,

00:03:14.016 --> 00:03:19.370
it is my crusade to get America
to become more plant-strong.

00:03:19.390 --> 00:03:21.028
Okay?

00:03:24.336 --> 00:03:28.590
Last year, there were five diseases

00:03:28.610 --> 00:03:31.775
that were responsible for 75%

00:03:31.795 --> 00:03:36.483
of America's 2.3 trillion
dollar health care cost.

00:03:38.398 --> 00:03:42.263
And every one of these diseases

00:03:42.273 --> 00:03:46.243
is either preventable, or reversible
by eating a plant-based diet.

00:03:46.273 --> 00:03:49.645
And the research is irrefutable.

00:03:50.563 --> 00:03:54.558
Heart disease, number one killer
of Americans, this is radical.

00:03:54.578 --> 00:03:58.078
What is radical is that
one out of two of you

00:03:58.098 --> 00:04:00.143
will die of heart disease.

00:04:00.163 --> 00:04:01.873
Those are the facts.

00:04:01.913 --> 00:04:04.817
What is radical is that 50% of the time,

00:04:04.827 --> 00:04:08.547
the first sign
of a heart disease is what?

00:04:08.572 --> 00:04:10.712
Instant death!

00:04:11.047 --> 00:04:12.512
It's true.

00:04:12.542 --> 00:04:17.724
What is radical
is that 50 million Americans

00:04:17.744 --> 00:04:20.219
are taking a statin
cholesterol lowering drug,

00:04:20.239 --> 00:04:23.561
and the only subgroup
that benefits marginally

00:04:23.581 --> 00:04:26.067
are those people who've had
a prior heart attack.

00:04:26.237 --> 00:04:31.492
For everybody else taking a statin,
the benefits are about 1%.

00:04:31.732 --> 00:04:35.304
Big pharma has messed
with the numbers so much

00:04:35.314 --> 00:04:38.732
that everybody thinks
they are being helped 30, 40, 50%.

00:04:38.742 --> 00:04:40.413
The reality is 1%.

00:04:40.423 --> 00:04:44.013
You're just as well off
eating a placebo sugar pill.

00:04:44.245 --> 00:04:47.593
What is radical is that bypass
surgery, open heart surgery,

00:04:47.613 --> 00:04:51.635
where we basically cut our sternum,

00:04:51.655 --> 00:04:56.818
take a vein from our leg
and graft it around the blockage,

00:04:56.838 --> 00:05:00.175
or when we put a balloon up in there,
it's called a angioplasty,

00:05:00.185 --> 00:05:01.505
and spread it open,

00:05:01.535 --> 00:05:04.041
or when we put a metal cage
in there called a stent -

00:05:04.061 --> 00:05:07.313
which President Clinton just had
another one - and open that up,

00:05:07.333 --> 00:05:09.803
the thing about these
procedures, believe it or not,

00:05:09.823 --> 00:05:12.944
is they do little
to nothing to extend life

00:05:12.964 --> 00:05:15.864
or protect you from another heart attack.

00:05:15.874 --> 00:05:20.624
That is because these types
of blockages here are stable.

00:05:20.801 --> 00:05:23.501
Believe it or not,
90% of the hearth attacks

00:05:23.521 --> 00:05:25.451
occur when a little juvenile plaque,

00:05:25.471 --> 00:05:28.356
almost like a little pimple
on the inside of the artery,

00:05:28.376 --> 00:05:31.440
ruptures, a blood clot ensues,

00:05:31.450 --> 00:05:33.820
and now there is no blood
getting to the heart.

00:05:33.840 --> 00:05:38.022
So all these procedures, and all these
pills that Americans are taking

00:05:38.042 --> 00:05:40.455
are really doing almost nothing

00:05:40.485 --> 00:05:43.576
to protect us from the
number one killer of Americans.

00:05:43.775 --> 00:05:48.857
However, the research
is absolutely clear,

00:05:48.867 --> 00:05:52.277
that if we decide to play big,

00:05:52.287 --> 00:05:57.069
if we decide to go plant-strong,
we can absolutely eradicate this disease.

00:05:57.099 --> 00:05:59.733
The number one killer of Americans,
we can eradicate it.

00:05:59.753 --> 00:06:04.465
And I'm intimately acquainted
with the 25 years of research

00:06:04.485 --> 00:06:06.675
at the Cleveland Clinic,

00:06:06.685 --> 00:06:10.658
were they have shown that you can prevent,
halt and reverse heart disease,

00:06:10.678 --> 00:06:15.257
because that researcher
has been my father.

00:06:18.870 --> 00:06:22.788
So really, you can die with arteries
that look as clean as this one.

00:06:22.808 --> 00:06:25.448
They don't have to get all blocked up.

00:06:26.142 --> 00:06:29.999
What is radical is that cancer

00:06:30.019 --> 00:06:35.149
is projected to surpass heart disease
as the number one killer of Americans.

00:06:35.349 --> 00:06:38.978
What is radical to me, is that cancer ...

00:06:48.652 --> 00:06:53.287
... is that cancer is a war
that we've been fighting since 1972,

00:06:53.307 --> 00:06:55.924
when Richard Nixon
declared war on cancer.

00:06:55.959 --> 00:06:58.349
And to me, it's almost
like we've been pile driving

00:06:58.369 --> 00:07:02.274
all this money, all this research
into trying to find an answer to cancer.

00:07:02.284 --> 00:07:06.386
We've been walking for the cure,
running and shopping for the cure,

00:07:06.420 --> 00:07:08.175
we've been flying for the cure,

00:07:08.232 --> 00:07:11.135
and the thing is
we know what the cure is.

00:07:11.145 --> 00:07:13.349
It's about eating for the cure.

00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:17.204
If you eat for prevention,
you're not going to get

00:07:17.224 --> 00:07:20.464
the two major cancers
that are bringing America down:

00:07:20.474 --> 00:07:22.654
breast cancer and prostate cancer.

00:07:22.694 --> 00:07:26.124
And the research
is absolutely clear on this.

00:07:26.344 --> 00:07:29.341
Dr Dean Ornish at the University
of California at San Francisco

00:07:29.361 --> 00:07:33.001
has shown that you can slow down,

00:07:33.021 --> 00:07:36.026
stop and even reverse
prostate cancer and breast cancer.

00:07:36.047 --> 00:07:40.071
And he has also shown that you can
actually change your gene expression,

00:07:40.091 --> 00:07:42.597
that you can turn off
cancer promoting genes,

00:07:42.617 --> 00:07:46.137
and you can turn on
cancer preventing ones.

00:07:48.499 --> 00:07:53.037
What is radical is that type 2 diabetes,

00:07:53.047 --> 00:07:57.641
which used to be called adult-onset
diabetes, has become a pandemic.

00:07:57.657 --> 00:07:59.990
One in three children
born after the year 2000

00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:02.560
will come down with type 2 diabetes,

00:08:02.580 --> 00:08:06.801
and this is a springboard
to heart disease, to amputation,

00:08:06.821 --> 00:08:11.436
to kidney failure,
and a host of other ailments.

00:08:12.346 --> 00:08:16.772
And once again, this is a disease
that never has to occur.

00:08:16.792 --> 00:08:21.131
Dr Neal Barnard

00:08:21.151 --> 00:08:23.903
at George Washington University

00:08:23.923 --> 00:08:30.256
has shown that type 2 diabetes
can be reversed by a plant-strong diet.

00:08:30.276 --> 00:08:32.693
Eat big, go plant-strong.

00:08:33.560 --> 00:08:37.487
And of course, everybody knows about
the obesity epidemic in America right now.

00:08:37.537 --> 00:08:41.644
Almost 70% of America is overweight,
almost 34% of America is obese,

00:08:41.664 --> 00:08:44.865
and this is a tragedy because once again,

00:08:44.885 --> 00:08:49.932
this is the springboard to heart disease,
to Alzheimer's, major cancers.

00:08:52.393 --> 00:08:57.158
I joined the Austin Fire Department
in 1997, and I was convinced

00:08:57.168 --> 00:09:00.499
that every shift, I'd be making
a big old burner like this one here.

00:09:00.534 --> 00:09:04.962
The reality is, over 80% of our calls,
and this isn't just in Austin,

00:09:04.982 --> 00:09:07.893
this is in San Francisco,
in Chicago, New York,

00:09:07.913 --> 00:09:09.547
over 80% of our calls,

00:09:09.567 --> 00:09:14.237
we are responding to
and fighting Western disease.

00:09:14.257 --> 00:09:16.750
So we get to see up-close and front

00:09:16.770 --> 00:09:19.825
the destruction that is being caused
by the fork and the knife,

00:09:19.845 --> 00:09:22.647
and it is absolutely disheartening.

00:09:23.958 --> 00:09:27.762
Here is a quick video to show

00:09:27.782 --> 00:09:31.142
what the average firehouse
eats for breakfast.

00:09:31.172 --> 00:09:33.985
(Video) RE: Ah, ah, ah! And eggs.

00:09:33.995 --> 00:09:35.975
"And eggs, moon eggs!"

00:09:36.205 --> 00:09:39.781
RE: So, how are we having
the eggs today? Sunny-side up?

00:09:40.176 --> 00:09:43.792
VV: No, I'm going to flip them,
I don't know, I guess I just fry them.

00:09:43.812 --> 00:09:45.713
RE: And is this just like sausage?

00:09:45.743 --> 00:09:48.088
VV: Yes, pork sausage.

00:09:48.118 --> 00:09:50.252
RE: And then what do we got here?

00:09:50.275 --> 00:09:51.939
VV: Croissant rolls, baby!

00:09:51.969 --> 00:09:54.435
RE: Croissant rolls. And this?

00:09:54.475 --> 00:09:56.435
VV: Somebody made that
while we were gone.

00:09:56.455 --> 00:09:59.467
RE: I got you. Alright.

00:10:00.322 --> 00:10:02.710
And here's a little fun.

00:10:02.848 --> 00:10:06.488
We got chips, oatmeal creme pies.

00:10:06.518 --> 00:10:11.320
We got granola bars, Nutty bars.

00:10:11.806 --> 00:10:19.166
We got Big Texas,
Skittles, Starburst, M&M's.

00:10:20.012 --> 00:10:23.469
We got Oreos,

00:10:23.499 --> 00:10:28.359
and this is Butter Lovers popcorn.

00:10:29.709 --> 00:10:32.797
We got Monster Drinks down here,

00:10:32.817 --> 00:10:36.267
and then, what do we got? Oh yeah!

00:10:36.517 --> 00:10:38.591
(On stage): You get the picture!

00:10:38.621 --> 00:10:41.481
And it gets worse for lunch
and even worse for dinner.

00:10:41.491 --> 00:10:44.174
And it's probably very similar
in every house in America.

00:10:44.194 --> 00:10:46.906
This is Station 2, it's a hop skip
and a jump from here.

00:10:46.926 --> 00:10:50.322
This is were I spent the last eight years
of my career as a firefighter,

00:10:50.352 --> 00:10:54.198
and we are an island of health
in a sea of fast food restaurants.

00:10:54.218 --> 00:10:58.876
We've got McDonald's, Wendy's,
Papa John's, Domino's and Pizza Hut.

00:10:58.896 --> 00:11:01.283
Right next door, we used
to have a Burt's Barbecue,

00:11:01.323 --> 00:11:04.047
It burned down about three
years ago, and they are blaming

00:11:04.067 --> 00:11:06.437
the vegetarian firehouse
for not putting it out.

00:11:06.457 --> 00:11:07.897
(Laughter)

00:11:07.917 --> 00:11:13.068
But we were not
always an island of health.

00:11:13.364 --> 00:11:18.596
What happened is - those 
numbers are a little funny -

00:11:18.606 --> 00:11:22.006
in 2003, we had a bet to see
who had the lowest cholesterol.

00:11:22.226 --> 00:11:29.063
The results came back, and J.R.'s
cholesterol was 344 at the age of 33.

00:11:29.084 --> 00:11:32.902
and so, in an act of solidarity
to save J.R.'s life,

00:11:32.922 --> 00:11:36.622
we as a group, started eating
plant-strong the very next shift.

00:11:36.662 --> 00:11:40.241
Within a month, he had
his cholesterol rechecked,

00:11:40.281 --> 00:11:43.561
and it had gone from 344 to 196.

00:11:43.591 --> 00:11:47.302
We got a flood of media attention.

00:11:47.332 --> 00:11:50.802
The word got out about
what we were doing at Station 2,

00:11:50.832 --> 00:11:54.018
the charming dissonance
of a bunch of Texas male firefighters

00:11:54.038 --> 00:11:57.024
eating this plant-based vegetarian diet.

00:11:57.164 --> 00:12:03.484
... New York Times, NPR,
Austin American Statesman ...

00:12:03.514 --> 00:12:06.590
So, I got solicited
by literary agents to write a book,

00:12:06.620 --> 00:12:09.414
and all of the sudden
I realized that as a firefighter,

00:12:09.434 --> 00:12:12.204
not a doctor, not a nutritionist,
but as a firefighter,

00:12:12.224 --> 00:12:14.565
I could reach a segment of America

00:12:14.575 --> 00:12:19.189
that would never otherwise hear
this message about eating more plants.

00:12:19.289 --> 00:12:24.249
So I almost felt an obligation
to go ahead and write this book,

00:12:24.269 --> 00:12:29.642
and teach people the absolute,
undeniable connection

00:12:29.672 --> 00:12:31.642
between what we put in our mouths,

00:12:31.652 --> 00:12:36.165
and your ability to have
a perfect weight, ideal health,

00:12:36.195 --> 00:12:39.755
and be bullet proof
to chronic Western disease.

00:12:41.539 --> 00:12:44.566
And really, it's all...

00:12:50.396 --> 00:12:52.733
Really, it's all about the food.

00:12:52.763 --> 00:12:56.051
It's all about the food,
it's all about the food.

00:12:57.251 --> 00:12:59.224
Here for example

00:13:01.081 --> 00:13:02.788
is red meat.

00:13:03.410 --> 00:13:06.928
Just about everybody knows red meat
probably isn't the best thing for them.

00:13:06.948 --> 00:13:12.534
But how many people know that chicken
has just as much cholesterol as red meat,

00:13:12.554 --> 00:13:15.906
and it also has acidic
producing animal protein,

00:13:15.926 --> 00:13:19.159
which leaches calcium from the bones,

00:13:19.169 --> 00:13:23.044
is an incredible tumor and cancer
promoter and inflames the arteries.

00:13:23.044 --> 00:13:24.310
And what about fish?

00:13:24.340 --> 00:13:26.980
Everybody thinks that fish
is healthy these days, right?

00:13:26.990 --> 00:13:28.177
Omega-3 fatty acids!

00:13:28.187 --> 00:13:30.622
In reality, if you get a piece of fish,

00:13:30.642 --> 00:13:33.512
that is not tainted with mercury
and PCPs and dioxins,

00:13:33.512 --> 00:13:37.096
you still get a piece of flesh
which has the animal protein,

00:13:37.116 --> 00:13:39.716
the animal cholesterol,
and the animal fat.

00:13:39.736 --> 00:13:41.983
And then eggs, what about eggs?

00:13:42.003 --> 00:13:45.203
There're only two things wrong with eggs,
the yolk and the white.

00:13:45.221 --> 00:13:46.471
(Laughter)

00:13:46.481 --> 00:13:48.743
The yolk has over 200 mg
of dietary cholesterol,

00:13:48.763 --> 00:13:52.843
and the white is a concentrated
form of what? Animal protein.

00:13:54.183 --> 00:14:00.156
And dairy is just milk, flesh
in a liquid, cream or solid form.

00:14:00.186 --> 00:14:04.602
It has the same amounts of animal protein,
animal cholesterol, and animal fat.

00:14:04.682 --> 00:14:09.051
Now these foods here, these are the ones
that are going to give us back our lives.

00:14:09.211 --> 00:14:11.862
The fruits, the vegetables,
the whole grains,

00:14:11.882 --> 00:14:14.112
the beans, they have
all the phytochemicals,


00:14:14.132 --> 00:14:18.526
all the antioxidants,
over 100,000 micro-nutrients

00:14:18.556 --> 00:14:21.336
that are just jonesing
to go to work for you

00:14:21.356 --> 00:14:26.486
and protect you from heart disease,
diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's,

00:14:26.516 --> 00:14:28.655
all these diseases.

00:14:30.904 --> 00:14:35.350
And before I forget, what about olive oil?

00:14:35.370 --> 00:14:37.474
It's heart healthy, right?

00:14:37.790 --> 00:14:39.178
No, it's not.

00:14:39.198 --> 00:14:42.698
Extracted oils are the most concentrated
source of calories on the planet,

00:14:42.718 --> 00:14:45.588
at 120 calories per tablespoon,

00:14:45.608 --> 00:14:49.702
and they have more empty calories
than either white sugar, or white flour.

00:14:50.434 --> 00:14:55.788
And as you'll see here,
it's 15% artery clogging saturated fat,

00:14:56.038 --> 00:15:01.729
and there's absolutely
zero nutrients to speak of.

00:15:01.869 --> 00:15:04.449
And that's olive oil, okay?

00:15:06.762 --> 00:15:12.998
Now, the results can be revolutionary
when you eat plant-strong.

00:15:13.238 --> 00:15:17.230
And these are just some of the results
that can revolutionize your health.

00:15:17.580 --> 00:15:21.298
This individual here as you can see,
16 pounds in 28 days,

00:15:21.338 --> 00:15:25.073
cholesterol dropped 45%,

00:15:25.093 --> 00:15:30.021
and his LDL which is
the lethal, dropped 55%.

00:15:31.069 --> 00:15:34.648
This gentlemen here looks like
he's lost 15 years of his life,

00:15:34.678 --> 00:15:37.308
he looks 15 years younger.

00:15:37.918 --> 00:15:41.576
The slide is a little cut off at the top,
but it's pretty amazing what he did.

00:15:41.596 --> 00:15:43.256
He also dropped his triglycerides,

00:15:43.276 --> 00:15:47.641
which is the amount of fat
in your blood, by threefold.

00:15:48.331 --> 00:15:51.812
And then Tim here
lost 33 pounds in 28 days.

00:15:51.832 --> 00:15:54.512
His cholesterol got down to 93,

00:15:54.532 --> 00:15:57.514
basically the equivalent
of a rural Chinese person.

00:15:57.524 --> 00:15:59.154
(Laughter)

00:15:59.534 --> 00:16:05.419
And Tim wrote in one of his food logs,

00:16:05.449 --> 00:16:09.539
"For dessert, watermelon," and then
in parenthesis "the whole thing."

00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:11.029
(Laughter)

00:16:11.049 --> 00:16:13.304
And the beautiful thing
is that by eating foods

00:16:13.324 --> 00:16:15.534
that are low in calories
and high in nutrients,

00:16:15.554 --> 00:16:17.943
you get to eat all you want,
as opposed to foods

00:16:17.953 --> 00:16:20.633
that are high in calories
and low in nutrients.

00:16:21.473 --> 00:16:23.855
This is one of my heroes,
Sir Winston Churchill,

00:16:23.875 --> 00:16:25.945
and he has a quote
that I love, and it goes,

00:16:25.965 --> 00:16:27.902
"America always gets it right,

00:16:27.932 --> 00:16:30.192
but only after they have
tried everything else."

00:16:30.202 --> 00:16:31.712
(Laughter)

00:16:31.732 --> 00:16:34.688
I think it's fare to say
that we as a country

00:16:34.718 --> 00:16:38.560
have tried everything else, and now
it's time to get it right, alright?

00:16:38.580 --> 00:16:40.719
It's time to play big.

00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:44.034
We all have a skin in this game.

00:16:44.244 --> 00:16:47.604
And the answer to this
healthcare crisis that we have

00:16:47.624 --> 00:16:49.803
is not about a pill,
not about a procedure,

00:16:49.813 --> 00:16:53.833
not about more legislation,
not about rejiggering the numbers.

00:16:53.953 --> 00:16:57.789
It's about everybody stepping up
and looking in the mirror,

00:16:57.809 --> 00:17:00.446
and deepening their personal
commitment to their health.

00:17:00.466 --> 00:17:04.013
And we can turn this ship around,
we absolutely can.

00:17:04.053 --> 00:17:07.073
And that right there is my TED wish!

00:17:07.260 --> 00:17:09.520
(Applause)