Letter from Co-Founder, Dan Purjes
Six years ago I had a heart attack. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me.
While recuperating in the ICU, I saw an interview on CNN with President Bill Clinton that changed my life. He spoke of how a plant-based diet had caused him to
lose 30 pounds in 3 months, and may have reversed his heart disease. He cited the book, “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” by Caldwell Esselstyn, M.D. of the Cleveland
Clinic. It had remarkable cardiac images showing dramatic reversal of cardiovascular disease symptoms solely through diet.
My wife and I read the book that night while I was in the ICU, and we immediately converted to a plant-based lifestyle. In 60 days, I lost 20 pounds, my total cholesterol fell from 215 to 147, my LDL fell from 140 to 74, my CRP fell from 3.4 to 0.5, my triglycerides fell from 155 to 73, and my blood pressure fell significantly. Subsequent angiograms, PET scans, and other cardiac image scans I’ve had done years later showed definite reversal of atherosclerosis, in some cases complete reversal. I had not been this healthy since my teenage years.
There’s a beautiful saying attributed to the Buddha: “When you are saved, the only thing left is to help save others.” This has been my mission since my heart attack and subsequent reversal of cardiovascular disease. I have devoted considerable time, energy and money to promote nutrition as the preferred treatment for chronic diseases of all kinds.
In the past few years, the Purjes Foundation has launched many initiatives. I executive produced a movie called, “Eating You Alive,” that dramatically demonstrates numerous reversals of such dreaded diseases as cancer (breast, ovarian, and renal), diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and other chronic diseases. The Purjes Foundation funded a randomized, controlled, cardiovascular trial (n = 100) at NYU Medical School that demonstrated a four-fold drop in CRP levels of plant-based participants versus those on the diet recommended by the AHA for cardiovascular diseased patients. The Purjes Foundation funded an educational program for physicians at the University of Florida College of Medicine on how plant-based nutrition can treat illness.*
Most importantly, I helped launch this peer-reviewed medical journal: The International Journal of Disease Reversal & Prevention. I proposed the idea to Dr. Scott Stoll, the Chairman and Co-Founder of the Plantrician Project, a non-profitt organization with 30,000 physicians and healthcare professionals in its network, whose mission is to educate professionals about the benefits of whole foods, plantAbased nutrition. The idea to create this Journal arose when I realized that despite the existence of over 8,000 medical journals, none addressed disease reversal through nutrition. Yet I had learned of myriad numbers of people who had reversed dreadful diseases by converting to a healthier diet. I offered to partner with the Plantrician Project, to fund and help launch the Journal and its companion Disease Reversal Digest.
I have personally witnessed and been involved with “miraculous” reversal of various chronic diseases. I put the word “miraculous” in quotes because that’s how most people would describe these disease reversals, but I have come to learn that they are the norm, not the exception. It is high time that the science of disease reversal be brought forth to the medical community in a rigorous, scientific, and peer-reviewed manner of the highest caliber and integrity. That is what the International Journal of Disease Reversal & Prevention is all about.
We are embarked on a journey to do nothing less than change the course of medicine. Hippocrates said: “Let food be thy medicine.” It was true then, and it is even more true now.
Thank you for being part of this immensely important journey.
In health,
Dan Purjes
Note
*. For more information on the many initiatives and programs of the Purjes Foundation, please visit its website www.PurjesFoundation.org.