It later. You had something scary happen to you what . About a year or two ago . Two years ago, i was on the treadmill, exercising, finishing up and my heart rate goes up to about 230. I pass out. I wake up. My heart rate is still at 230. It stays at 230 for about an hour. They rush me over to the emergency. They have to cardiovert me three times and they said i was this close to going. So if this is wood, knock on wood, i am lucky to be here. This affects all americans. Right. And we have our community. We ask them how do you stay healthy in this day and age . On facebook, shara said you avoid smoking. You avoid alcohol. You avoid sugars, carbs, get 20 minutes exercise and fast once a week and eat everything in moderation. Sounds like a miserable existence, lisa. Then we have mario on twitter who says inactually lightly, be as vegan as possible. Colorful plates, no stress. Dont worry about calorie counting and food can be pleasurable. I like marias routine. I like it, too. America spends nearly twice as on healthcare but we werent in the top 25 for long, healthy lives with billions spent annually on doctors, sophisticated procedures and pills, to conditions like obesity and Heart Disease have a stranglehold . Dr. Dean ornish has spent years wrapping his brain around this issue and explains how conditions like Heart Disease can in most cases be reversed. He has been called one of the cest most powerful teachers in the world by Forbes Magazine and one of his most famous patients is president bill clinton. He got the former fast food lovers lover to get serious after clinton underwent major procedures like triple by pass surge. Dr. Ornish is the founder of Preventive Medicine institute and author of the spectrum detailing how to even turn off disease promoting genes by adjusting four areas of your life. You decide how much you want to change of these four elements of the spectrum. And they are what you eat, how much activity you have, how you respond to stress, and how much love and support you have in your life the doctor is here to break down his latest in0 vations making waives in the medical communityves in the medical community . Thanks. More people are dying from Heart Disease, other chronic illnesses and malaria and tb and aids combined . That right. Spending 2. 8 trillion a year in the united states. Doesnt sound like we are making much ground. I cant though to things these ailments are a symptom of a larger issue . Thats a good way to put it. They are. Threequarters of th 3quarters 2. 8 trillion is for chronic diseases that can be largely prevented or reversed if we make big enough changes in our diet and lifestyle when we talk about these being symptomatic, what is the number 1 problem if we can pick one out that may be leading to all of these chronic illnesses . The four things we just talked about what we eat, how we respond to stress, how much where size we get and perhaps most important, how much love and support we have. When we can change those things, we found, we are using hightech, expensive scientific measures to prove how powerful these simple and lowtech and lowcost interventions can be. What we find is when we do that, our bodies begin healing, more quickly than we once realized. Sometimes i will show a cartoon of doctors visiting mopping up the floor around a sink thats overflowing but nobody is turning off the faucet. The faucet are the lifestyle choices we make. To some degree, our genes play a role. En our genes can change when we change our lifestyle i want to talk about that a little bit later in the show because that is fascinating work that you are doing. But i think, you know, that phrase has a lot of different meanings for a lot of different people depending upon who you ask. I spent some time out around d. C. This week asking people what healthy means to them. And even within groups of friends has radically different definitions. I think healthy is just feeling well enough to do the things you want to do throughout the day healthy means finding something that works for you that you can maintain and not be stressed about i think what healthy means to me is being comfortable and confident in your skin . No cigarette smoking, not a lot of alcohol. Just like a little bit. Balanced diet,fruits action v, vegetables, a little bit of chocolate chip cookies. I like chocolate chip cookies. Everybody has a different view of what healthy means. As a nation if we dont have a fundamental idea of what health means, does that present us from getting anywhere on this journey of becoming a healthier nation . To the extent we think healthy means boring like am i going to live longer or will it seem longer if i live a healthy lifestyle. You can live to be 100 if you give up all of the things you want until you are 100. What we have been able to show is that when you make the simple changes in lifestyle, most people find they feel so much better so quickly from fear of dying or fear of something bad happening, not sustainable to joy and feeling good, you know, because these mechanisms are so dynamic, your brain gets more blood, you have no emergency. You get less sleep, grow some new brain neurons that your brain can get billinger. Your skin gets more blood. You dont age as quickly. You can reverse Heart Disease. Your sexual organs get more blood, like viagra works. These are choices not to live longer but bitter . We have a but better. Ask dr. Ornish. Lana sends in a question. Will i age gracefully on, on a vegan diet . Yeah. Most people do. Instead of this chronic decline over, as you get older, its more like squaring the curve. You live a happy, healthy life and in the last few weeks, you die. You dont have to have this decline as you get older. Lets talk a little bit about surgeries and pills because americans want a quick solution to everything. I think i read we spend Something Like 60 billion on stints and angioplasties . 77 billion. Do those work and save and prolong your life . Thats how i got interested in doing this work. In the i guess it was probably late 70s when i was a medical student, i learned how to do bypass subject with a heart surgeon. We cut people open and by passed arteries and they would go home and Smoke Cigarettes and have chronic stress, eat junk food, wouldnt exercise and often their bypasses would clog up. We cut them open again, sometimes multiple times. So for me, by pass surgery became a metaphor of an incomplete approach. Whats interesting, even though we spent all this money on it, they generally dont work. There was a metanalysis looking at stints and angioplasties and unless you are in the middle of having a heart attack, they dont prolong life, prevent heart attacks or reduce chest pain. The same is true for bypass surgery. 1 or 2 have the most severe disease benefit. Others dont. What we are finding at the same time that the limitations of these hightech approaches are becoming clearer, the of these simple and lowtech interventions is becoming clearer that you can actually reverse Heart Disease, stop or reverse Prostate Cancer at a time when only one out of 49 men benefits from the surgery or radiation but changing lifestyle, you can reverse it most cases we have noticed, what i have noticed when i have traveled the world is obesity. We global eyes globalize obesity. You said, we are responsible. How do we reverse that trend . Globalizing obesity and most chronic diseases. More are dying not just in this country but throughout the world, even most of africa from Heart Disease and diabetes than aids, tb and malaria combined. Countries are starting to eat and live and die like us. Its completely preventable. Its diverting precious resources away from things that do require drugs like aids, tb, and malaria to things that could be reversed by changing lifestyle coming up next, dean ornish talks about the tough love he had to show one of his more famous patients, how he guided him along the heart sdpooez that the president had been convinced was uncontrol room able because of his general bennettics. Reframing how we eat and live in america, four things that bring more joy, intimacy and longterm health into your life. I went on essentially a plantbased diet. I live on beans, legumes, vegetable did, fruit. I did it because after i had this spitint put in, i realized even though it happens quite often that after you have bypass, you lose the veins because they are thinner and weaker than arteries. They clog up. This movement has been led by a doctor at the cleveland clinic. We know him and we have him on the set. Former president bill clinton talking about Lifestyle Changes he made under dr. Dean ornishs guidances. The president s situation with his heart didnt really improve after surgery. Tell us about the hard conversation you had with him that retrospecttively may have easily saved his life. I love president clinton. We have phone each other since 1993, shortly after he became president , secretary clinton, mrs. Clinton asked me to work with the white house chefs, the air force one chefs who cook for them and worked as one of the consultants. When his by pass graphs were occluded, he was told it was in his gene s reclogged . Like mopping up the floor. If you dont turn off the faucet, the problem comes back again. So, he was told it was all in his genes and his lifestyle had nothing to do with it. He has talked publically about this or i wouldnt talk about it. I sent him an email and said its not all in your genes. I say that not to blame you but to empower you. If its all in your genes, you cant do anything. You are not a victim. You are the most powerful guy on the plan bennett. If you are willing to make these changes for the last 37 years, we were able to show for the first time that you can actually reverse conditions instead of getting more clogged, i thought, well, you know, the friendsival the most are the ones who tell me what i need to hear, not what i want to hear. Maybe i wont hear from you again. But he contacted me. We met a few days or weeks later and he began eating this way. I think whatever your politics, when the former president of the united states, particularly one that wasnt known for eating healthy lives and eats this way and you can see how much better he looks and feels, thats a great example for everyone a lot of people are thinking, look. You are an m. D. You have encyclopedic knowledge of health, nutrition and wellness. You have every resource at your disposal as does the former president. Thats great. H how does Family Living in the midwest on a fixed income thats busy with kids and jobs and work, how do they, one, put this into practice and, two, afford it . Right. Well, this is a thirdworld diet. Before the break, i mentioned, you know, we are exporting our conditions. This is globalization of chronic diseases. Other countries live like us, eat like us and die like us but the supreme irony is the diet we found that can reverse Heart Disease and other conditions is a thirdworld diet, the way people were eating before they started copying our way of eating. So, i designed this program in such a way that its for everyone. It doesnt require any special equipment other than a pair of walking shoes and a map and thats it. You can eat less expensively when you eat fruits and vegetables and whole grains and so on. Meditation and yoga dont cost anything. Walking half an hour a day, having more love and intimacy in your life doesnt cost anything. Thats why we are doing that. After 16 years of being reviewed medicare, three years ago, they agreed to cover our program as a medicare benefit. And most other Insurance Companies are doing that as well because having seen what a powerful difference these simple changes can make, i want it to be available to everybody who can benefit from it. Now it is. If you go to ornish. Com, its all there, all of the information, the science, the recipes, guided meditations, everything you need the clinic is open. Dr. Ornish is here we ask joe, jane and habib on the street to ask you a question. We have alejandro who has a question for you about high cholesterol that plagues millions of americans and every Single Person in my family above the age of 50. Dr. Orn issue, i have been diagnosed with high cholesterol, very healthy video is there anything more i can do to help me lower my cholesterol without taking any type of pharmaceutical drugs . Most would say take drugs. You can get an avenue reduction of 40 on average simply by changing lifestyle. So, if you are not willing to change lifestyle, then take the drugs. But to the degree you change, the whole prem is of the Spectrum Book is that the more you change, the more you improve. You are cholesterol, you want to get it down 50 points or lose 10 points or your Blood Pressure 10 millimeters, whatever it happens to be, if you go on a diet, chances are you are going to go off a diet because they are nal about what you can have and must do. And we have learned more than being Healthy People want to feel free and in control. When i tell somebody eat this and dont eat that, they immediately want to do the opposite. It goes back to, you know, dont eat the apple, the first dietary intervention that failed. That was god talking. Who can do better than that . Once you call foods good or bad, its a step to say i am a bad person because of the shame and guilt, so i say look. Food is food. Some are healthier. So, i categorize them from the most Healthy Group i to the least, 5. What matters is your overall way of eating andlying. Lets say you want to get your cholesterol down 50 points like this guy and you say i am 50e9ing mostly groups 4 and 5, the usual suspects, donuts and fat did and meats. How much are you willing to change . Well, i am not willing to go all the way to veganbased diet but less of the harmful 4 and 5 foods and more of the fruits and vegetables in 1 through 3. Great. How much exercise . Not much but i will walk maybe 10 minutes a day. Maybe i will do a meditation and spend more time with friends and family. Great. Lets see how you are doing. After a month and if you indulge yourself it doesnt mean you cheated or are bad, eat health year. If you fail to exercise one day, do a little more. You say you wanted to get your cleft local down 50 points and it came down 30. If you go a little further, you can do the rest of it. Its a compassionate way to do things because you cant fail. There is no diet to get on so there is no diet to get off one of my coworkers husbands was admitted to the er this last weekend . Sorry to hear that. For some sort of cardiac event. He is laying in his hospital bed the next day. He is telling his wife, can you get me a cheese burger, tobacco dip and a soda . She was mortified. A major health chrys and it may be a brush with death doesnt insei incentivise you, what does . Fear is not a sustainable motivator. After four or six weeks, they are scared but even then its not enough for everyone as your friend had. But then the denial comes back. The mortality rate is with y100 its too scary to think about. Fear is not sustainable. The joy and pleasure are. Because these underlying biological mechanisms are so dynamic, most people when they make changes in their lifestyle to the degree they make them feel so much better so quickly, it reframes the whole reason for making it from fear of dying, not sustainable to joy of living which is. Another ask dr. Ornish moment. Lauren, who like so many americans, chronic disease runs in her family . Dr. Orn issue, what kind of wisdom can you provide about chronic disease . You know whats interesting is that we found that the same lifestyle recommendations, we started with Heart Disease and were able to show that could be reversed. Then we did a study with dr. Peter carol with ecsf and dr. Bill fairwin at the Cancer Center show she could slow or stop early stage Prostate Cancer, type ii diabetes, turn off bad changes, in three months, our engines are not our fate. Most recently, we did a study with dr. Elizabeth blackburn who got the nobel prize for discovering telemers, thends of chrome zones chromosones to reverse aging. Its the same lifestyle intervention. The person asking how can i present chronic diseases, its the same recommendations as we have been talking about. Healthier eating, exercise, stress management and have more love and support. Thats what i wanted to ask you about because you hear go to the gym, change your diet, destress, but the love and support and the intimacy, how does that play a role . Thats the part people think, thats touchyfeely. That used to bother me. One day i embraced it. It is touchyfeely. We are creatures of community. Study after study show, the book before this one was love and survival, reviewing hundreds and thousands of studies showing people who are lonely and depressed and isolated, the real epidemic in our culture. More antidepressants are prescribed than any other category of drug. People are lonely and depressed are three to 10 more times to die prematurely than those who have a connection with love and community. You are more likely to abuse yourself and through mechanics we dont understand these are adaptipive. 20 friends in this pack of cigarettes. They are always there for me. Nobody else is. Are you going to take away my 20 friends . What are you going to give me . Food fills that void or alcohol nums the pain or working all the time or video games that we try to distract ourselves. We say the pain is not the problem. The pain is the messenger. Saying listen up. Pay attention. And change. Nicholas is a professor at harvard who found if your friends are obese, you are 45 more likely to be obese, yourself. If your friends are obese, its 25 . If your friends friends friends, you are 10 more more likely even if you have never met them. Thats hour interconnected we are. When people feel a sense of love and support and community, they are much more likely to make lifestyle choices that arent self destructive and be health. Americans spent 329,000,000,000 on prescription medicine last year. Are we focusing our resources on the wrong solution . Dr. Orn issue weighs in. He will answer your questions when we come back, like this one dr. Ornish do you think there is too much focus on womens weight and not enough on Womens Health . As america strives for energy independence. We cant do it on just solar panels or some wind turbines. We look to alternatives you are sitting on top of a time bomb and the familiar. Its amazing what oil can do for ya. Black gold and what are the human costs of the new energy boom . Lots of men, and lots of money, your going to find prostitution people are just dropping like flies. Were paid with our lives. Dirty power an america tonight special series only on Al Jazeera America [ music ] welcome back. We are discussing how to reframe our approach to Healthy Living with dr. Dean ornish. Before the break, one of our viewers asked if there was too much emphasis on womens weight and not enough on Womens Health . Its true. You can lose weight that harms your health. So what we found is if we can focus on health, everything gets better including weight without having to mortgage it in the process i will shamelessly promote your book . Thank you. The spectrum trum now, medicare is covering your program. This is kind of a big deal. Explain this . Its a really big deal. I used to think if we had good science, it would change medical practice. If its not reimbursable, its not sustainable. We have been training recently ucla and beth israel, the cleveland clinic. We will be training sites around the country. We are trying to create and we are creating a new paradigm of healthcare rather than sick care that empowers people to transform their lives for the better. Often without drugs and surgery speaking of creating a new paradigm, i often think we live in a culture that creates barriers to health. We have heart attack burgers, the fast food industry, food giants. How do you make health and wellness marketable, and how do you partner with some of these industry giants to make that happen . I worked with macdonalds 10 years ago to get them to put sal ads but because of the perverse incentives, the salad is 6, the burger 0. 99. You get more calories for the buck if youre on a fixed income by eating junk food because it doesnt price in what the cost is to society. So, i am always looking for leverage points. But once people understand how good you feel when you begin making these changes, then we can try to get Food Companies who respond to their customers to make it easier and more convenient to make it fun and sexy and cool and hip and churchy and convenient for people to eat and live more healthy. We are talking about holistic medicine. Supplements can be toxic and provide nothing that cant be better provided by whole plant foods. Dr. Dean, my wife is a doctor. She puts in my hand every day like as if i am a child an omega 3 fish oil capsule and said eat this or i will hurt you. How do you separate between those supplements that help versus those that dirk says are toxic or unnecessary . Most really arent necessary but fish oil, i think is a good one. Your wife is smart because all fish are contaminated. Its a question to what degree with mercury, pcbs, bad stuff but you can buy fish oil or plankton base which has that stuff removed is there any connection we can draw between whats good for us and whats good for the plan bennett . Whats personally sustainable is good for the plan bennett. Many are shocked to learn more global warning is caused by Meat Consumption than all transportation so you could drive a hummer and do less than being a vegan incentivize and make it less burdensome 30 seconds left. This is about a lot more to you than unclogging arteries . We are all going to die. Its just a question of when. I got interested in this when i got proceed foundly depressed depressed so i realized its not just how long we live. Its how well we live. Its like a conspiracy of love, a trojan horse to talk about what matters. What matters is forgiveness, love, a lot throughism, compassion, the spiritual truth did you find in the religions once you get past the things people fight over. 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