CNN: Dr. Ornish Interviewed in “The Last Heart Attack”

In this 2011 CNN special, “The Last Heart Attack,” Dr. Sajay Gupta spends a year investigating the causes of rampant heart disease in America, and offers some of the key lessons that he learns. As he says: “Things that you need to know, things that your doctor may not be telling you.”

Dr. Gupta interviews Dr. Ornish about his experience working with Bill Clinton as a consulting physician.

The evidence is overwhelming, he finds, that if people make the right choices and doctors properly inform their patients, that we can rid the country of the biggest killer of men and women in the country. Among his interviewees are Bill Clinton, who talked candidly about how lucky he was that he didn’t die of a heart attack. The show also follows the story of Tom Bear, 53, thin and seemingly healthy, a man who was “ a case of what you see on the outside doesn’t always match the inside.”  He was “one step short of a heart attack.”

Dr. Gupta interviews Dr. Ornish about his experience working with Bill Clinton as a consulting physician after Hilary Clinton asked him to consult with the chefs who cooked for the first family.

“The President didn’t like healthy foods,” Dr. Ornish explains. “And then we were able to put soy burgers in the White House, and have him get foods that were delicious and nutritious.”

But Bill Clinton continued to gain weight, and needed even more radical changes to get healthier.

“It was rather public knowledge that he was going through some pretty stressful times, and it just goes to show you that information alone is not sufficient,” said Dr. Ornish. “We need to work at a deeper level. We need to work with the underlying stresses that people are experiencing: the loneliness, the isolation that in many cases people are experiencing.”

Clinton’s doctor, Dr. Allen Schwartz concludes: “Check-ups are not a substitute for lifestyle.”

Dr. Ornish concludes: “The more people change their diet and lifestyle, the more they improve, in direct proportions.”

Click here for the full show.