The life-saving diet | Rip Esselstyn | TEDxAustin

Rip Esselstyn is an Austin firefighter who transformed the health and wellness of the entire Austin Fire Department through his Engine2Diet program (see www.theengine2diet.com), which is now outlined in a book of the same name. A vocal proponent of a plant-strong approach to eating, Rip illustrates how we all can benefit from taking a closer look at what's on our plates.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

So, can anybody tell me what this is?

Somebody there said it,
a Redneck smoke detector.

(Laughter)

That's a Redneck smoke detector,

and I want you to know
that as a former firefighter,

I can tell your that this is not
a very good smoke detector.

(Laughter)

And in all seriousness,
when you go home tonight,

it'd be nice if everybody
would check their smoke detectors

to make sure that you have
a working smoke detector.

Working smoke detectors save lives.

(Audience) Thank you!

You're welcome!

My name is Rip Esselstyn,
and I'm a former professional triathlete,

and a former firefighter
for the Austin Fire Department.

And for the last 23 years,
I have eaten a plant-based diet

to fuel me as an athlete,
as a firefighter, and as a man.

And I can not tell you over the years
how many people have told me,

"That is just way too insane.

That's way too radical,
I could never do that."

What I want to talk to you today,

is about why it's really the standard
American diet that is so radical,

and why eating a plant-based diet

has a potential to be
absolutely revolutionary,

and why it can revolutionize your health,
and this whole country's health.

If you are eating
the Standard American Diet,

you'll more than likely die
the standard American death,

and acquire the standard
American diseases, okay?

Let's talk for a second

about why the standard American diet
is such an abomination.

Sixty-three percent of America's calories

are coming from refined
and processed foods

that are nothing but empty calories

that do nothing to enhance
your health and only hurt it, 63%!

Twenty-five percent are coming
from animal-based products,

like meat, dairy, eggs,

that have all the building
blocks that create disease.

We have animal fat, animal
cholesterol, and animal protein.

And we have 12% that are coming
from plant-based foods,

wonderful plant-based foods,
and believe it or not,

half of that 12% is coming
from french fries.

(Laughter)

So really ...

Really, only 6% of America's calories

are coming from fruits, vegetables,
whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds.

So we really are a country
that is incredibly plant-weak,

and it is my mission, it is my goal,

it is my crusade to get America
to become more plant-strong.

Okay?

Last year, there were five diseases

that were responsible for 75%

of America's 2.3 trillion
dollar health care cost.

And every one of these diseases

is either preventable, or reversible
by eating a plant-based diet.

And the research is irrefutable.

Heart disease, number one killer
of Americans, this is radical.

What is radical is that
one out of two of you

will die of heart disease.

Those are the facts.

What is radical is that 50% of the time,

the first sign
of a heart disease is what?

Instant death!

It's true.

What is radical
is that 50 million Americans

are taking a statin
cholesterol lowering drug,

and the only subgroup
that benefits marginally

are those people who've had
a prior heart attack.

For everybody else taking a statin,
the benefits are about 1%.

Big pharma has messed
with the numbers so much

that everybody thinks
they are being helped 30, 40, 50%.

The reality is 1%.

You're just as well off
eating a placebo sugar pill.

What is radical is that bypass
surgery, open heart surgery,

where we basically cut our sternum,

take a vein from our leg
and craft it around the blockage,

or when we put a balloon up in there,
it's called a angioplasty,

and spread it open,

or when we put a metal cage
in there called a stent -

which President Clinton just had
another one - and open that up,

the thing about these
procedures, believe it or not,

is they do little
to nothing to extend life

or protect you from another heart attack.

That is because these types
of blockages here are stable.

Believe it or not,
90% of the hearth attacks

occur when a little juvenile plaque,

almost like a little pimple
on the inside of the artery,

ruptures, a blood clot ensues,

and now there is no blood
getting to the heart.

So all these procedures, and all these
pills that Americans are taking

are really doing almost nothing

to protect us from the
number one killer of Americans.

However, the research
is absolutely clear,

that if we decide to play big,

if we decide to go plant-strong,
we can absolutely eradicate this disease.

The number one killer of Americans,
we can eradicate it.

And I'm intimately acquainted
with the 25 years of research

at the Cleveland Clinic,

were they have shown that you can prevent,
halt and reverse heart disease,

because that researcher
has been my father.

So really, you can die with arteries
that look as clean as this one.

They don't have to get all blocked up.

What is radical is that cancer

is projected to surpass heart disease
as the number one killer of Americans.

What is radical to me, is that cancer ...

... is that cancer is a war
that we've been fighting since 1972,

when Richard Nixon
declared war on cancer.

And to me, it's almost
like we've been pile driving

all this money, all this research
into trying to find an answer to cancer.

We've been walking for the cure,
running and shopping for the cure,

we've been flying for the cure,

and the thing is,
we know what the cure is.

It's about eating for the cure.

If you eat for prevention,
you're not going to get

the two major cancers
that are bringing America down:

breast cancer and prostate cancer.

And the research
is absolutely clear on this.

Dr Dean Ornish at the University
of California at San Francisco

has shown that you can slow down,

stop and even reverse
prostate cancer and breast cancer.

And he has also shown that you can
actually change your gene expression,

that you can turn off
cancer promoting genes,

and you can turn on
cancer preventing ones.

What is radical is that type 2 diabetes,

which used to be called adult-onset
diabetes, has become a pandemic.

One in three children
born after the year 2000

will come down with type 2 diabetes,

and this is a springboard
to heart disease, to amputation,

to kidney failure,
and a host of other ailments.

And once again, this is a disease
that never has to occur.

Dr Neal Barnard

at George Washington University

has shown that type 2 diabetes
can be reversed by a plant-strong diet.

Eat big, go plant-strong.

And of course, everybody knows about
the obesity epidemic in America right now.

Almost 70% of America is overweight,
almost 34% of America is obese,

and this is a tragedy because once again,

this is the springboard to heart disease,
to Alzheimer's, major cancers.

I joined the Austin Fire Department
in 1997, and I was convinced

that every shift, I'd be making
a big old burner like this one here.

The reality is, over 80% of our calls,
and this isn't just in Austin,

this is in San Francisco,
in Chicago, New York;

over 80% of our calls,

we are responding to
and fighting Western disease.

So we get to see up-close and front

the destruction that is being caused
by the fork and the knife,

and it is absolutely disheartening.

Here is a quick video to show

what the average firehouse
eats for breakfast.

(Video) RE: Ah, ah, ah! And eggs.

"And eggs, moon eggs!"

RE: So, how are we having
the eggs today? Sunny-side up?

VV: No, I'm going to flip them,
I don't know, I guess I just fry them.

RE: And is this just like sausage?

VV: Yes, pork sausage.

RE: And then what do we got here?

VV: Croissant rolls, baby!

RE: Croissant rolls. And this?

VV: Somebody made that
while we were gone.

RE: I got you. Alright.

And here's a little fun we got.

We got chips, oatmeal creme pies.

We got granola bars, Nutty bars.

We got Big Texas,
Skittles, Starburst, M&M's.

We got Oreos,

and this is Butter Lovers popcorn.

We got Monster Drinks down here,

and then, what do we got? Oh yeah!

(On stage): You get the picture!

And it gets worse for lunch
and even worse for dinner.

And it's probably very similar
in every house in America.

This is Station 2, it's a hop skip
and a jump from here.

This is were I spent the last eight years
of my career as a firefighter,

and we are an island of health
in a sea of fast food restaurants.

We've got McDonald's, Wendy's,
Papa John's, Domino's and Pizza Hut.

Right next door, we used
to have a Burt's Barbecue,

It burned down about three
years ago, and they are blaming

the vegetarian firehouse
for not putting it out.

(Laughter)

But we were not
always an island of health.

What happened is - those
numbers are a little funny -

in 2003, we had a bet to see
who had the lowest cholesterol.

The results came back, and J.R.'s
cholesterol was 344 at the age of 33.

and so, in an act of solidarity
to save J.R.'s life,

we as a group, started eating
plant-strong the very next shift.

Within a month, he had
his cholesterol rechecked,

and it had gone from 344 to 196.

We got a flood of media attention.

The word got out about
what we were doing at Station 2,

the charming dissonance
of a bunch of Texas male firefighters

eating this plant-based vegetarian diet.

... New York Times, NPR,
Austin American Statesman ...

So, I got solicited
by literary agents to write a book,

and all of the sudden
I realized that as a firefighter,

not a doctor, not a nutritionist,
but as a firefighter,

I could reach a segment of America

that would never otherwise hear
this message about eating more plants.

So I almost felt an obligation
to go ahead and write this book,

and teach people the absolute,
undeniable connection

between what we put in our mouths,

and your ability to have
a perfect weight, ideal health,

and be bullet proof
to chronic Western disease.

And really, it's all...

Really, it's all about the food.

It's all about the food,
it's all about the food.

Here for example

is red meat.

Just about everybody knows red meat
probably isn't the best thing for them.

But how many people know that chicken
has just as much cholesterol as red meat,

and it also has acidic
producing animal protein,

which leaches calcium from the bones,

is an incredible tumor and cancer
promoter and inflames the arteries.

And what about fish?

Everybody thinks that fish
is healthy these days, right?

Omega-3 fatty acids!

In reality, if you get a piece of fish,

that is not tainted with mercury
and PCPs and dioxins,

you still get a piece of flesh
which has the animal protein,

the animal cholesterol,
and the animal fat.

And then eggs, what about eggs?

There're only two things wrong with eggs,
the yolk and the white.

(Laughter)

The yolk has over 200 mg
of dietary cholesterol,

and the white is a concentrated
form of what? Animal protein.

And dairy is just milk, flesh
in a liquid, cream or solid form.

It has the same amounts of animal protein,
animal cholesterol, and animal fat.

Now these foods here, these are the ones
that are going to give us back our lives.

The fruits, the vegetables,
the whole grains,

the beans, they have
all the phytochemicals,

all the antioxidants,
over 100,000 micro-nutrients

that are just jonesing
to go to work for you

and protect you from heart disease,
diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's,

all these diseases.

And before I forget, what about olive oil?

It's heart healthy, right?

No, it's not.

Extracted oils are the most concentrated
source of calories on the planet,

at 120 calories per tablespoon,

and they have more empty calories
than either white sugar, or white flour.

And as you'll see here,
it's 15% artery clogging saturated fat,

and there's absolutely
zero nutrients to speak of.

And that's olive oil, okay?

Now, the results can be revolutionary
when you eat plant-strong.

And these are just some of the results
that can revolutionize your health.

This individual here as you can see,
16 pounds in 28 days,

cholesterol dropped 45%,

and his LDL which is
the lethal, dropped 55%.

This gentlemen here looks like
he's lost 15 years of his life,

he looks 15 years younger.

The slide is a little cut off at the top,
but it's pretty amazing what he did.

He also dropped his triglycerides,

which is the amount of fat
in your blood, by threefold.

And then Tim here
lost 33 pounds in 28 days.

His cholesterol got down to 93,

basically the equivalent
of a rural Chinese person.

(Laughter)

And Tim wrote in one of his food logs,

"For dessert, watermelon," and then
in parenthesis "the whole thing."

(Laughter)

And the beautiful thing
is that by eating foods

that are low in calories
and high in nutrients,

you get to eat all you want,
as opposed to foods

that are high in calories
and low in nutrients.

This is one of my heroes,
Sir Winston Churchill,

and he has a quote
that I love, and it goes,

"America always gets it right,

but only after they have
tried everything else."

(Laughter)

I think it's fare to say
that we as a country

have tried everything else, and now
it's time to get it right, alright?

It's time to play big.

We all have a skin in this game.

And the answer to this
healthcare crisis that we have

is not about a pill,
not about a procedure,

not about more legislation,
not about rejiggering the numbers.

It's about everybody stepping up
and looking in the mirror,

and deepening their personal
commitment to their health.

And we can turn this ship around,
we absolutely can.

And that right there is my TED wish!

(Applause)