Interview Transcript
From Diagnosis to Reversal: A Cyclist’s Journey Through Heart Disease
Introduction
In this interview, an elite cyclist and PhD-trained researcher shares the story of discovering severe coronary artery disease despite appearing exceptionally healthy. What began as a small drop in cycling power led to an invasive angiogram, a stent, and the discovery of multiple arterial blockages.
Rather than accept a future of simply “managing” heart disease, he immersed himself in the scientific literature, adopted a low-fat whole food plant-based diet, worked closely with his cardiologist, combined lifestyle changes with aggressive cholesterol-lowering medication, and tracked his own results as a case study.
His story is about diagnosis, research, patient advocacy, lifestyle change, athletic performance, and the belief that people with heart disease should not be told only to survive—they should be shown how to thrive.
[00:00] The First Sign Something Was Wrong
Interviewer: How did it all begin?
Interviewee: It began in 2010 when I was riding my bike and started having problems with my power output. I had been racing since I was 19 years old, and I had a power meter on my bike. The power meter showed that my power had dropped.
I didn’t know what was wrong, but I was concerned because I like to compete. So I hired a coach and worked on it for another three or four years. Eventually, I gave in and decided to see a cardiologist.
That’s when all hell broke loose.
They put me on an ergometer, and during the EKG there was a signal that showed ischemia, which means reduced blood flow to the heart.
The funny thing is that the day before the test, my doctor told me, “I don’t think you’re going to have a problem at all. You look so healthy, and you’ve been competing.” But after the signal appeared, he said, “The only way to really check whether you have a problem is to undergo an angiogram.”
At that point, I had a PhD, but it was in nutrition. I didn’t really know this area of medicine, so I followed the doctor’s orders. Two weeks later, I had an invasive angiogram. They inserted a wire into my artery and injected dye into my heart while I was awake on the table. I had mild sedation, but it was still a strange experience.
My wife was in the waiting room. The interventional cardiologist was doing the procedure, and my medical cardiologist was also in the room watching. Before the procedure, he had explained that if they found something, they would put in a stent.
A stent is a small metal scaffold that goes inside the artery and opens it back up.
They found five different blockages in my arteries. This was the same year I had taken third place in the regional cycling championships and had a VO2 max of 60 milliliters per kilogram at age 55. Nobody thought I would have a problem.
[01:45] The Shock of Diagnosis
Interviewer: Tell me more about your status at that point. You were a cyclist, correct?
Interviewee: Yes, I was a cyclist. I didn’t have any obvious symptoms. I didn’t have any acute problems, and I didn’t notice anything that seemed like heart disease. The only thing I noticed was that I wasn’t performing as well as I used to.
At that time, I was competing at both the national and local levels. I was placing around 22nd at nationals and third at regionals. This was age-group racing, so I wasn’t doing anything spectacular, but I was a good racer.
Interviewer: So you left the hospital with a stent?
Interviewee: Yes. I was on the table, and they put a stent in one of my arteries. We thought everything would be fine and that my performance would return to where it had been before.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Four months later, I was retested, and my exercise capacity had actually gone down.
In 2014, about three or four months after the procedure, I found out my exercise capacity was declining. That was obviously not good because we thought the stent had fixed me. But I still had four other lesions that they could not treat because those arteries were too small to place stents in.
That scared me. The option at that point was basically to continue getting worse, even though they had put me on a statin.
That’s when I started doing heavy research. I decided to quit my job and focus on taking care of myself completely. I had saved some money, my wife was supporting me, and I had a research background.
For about five months, I went into intense research mode.
[05:41] Diving Into the Research
Interviewer: What did you study during that time?
Interviewee: I read several books, including Caldwell Esselstyn’s book on reversing heart disease and T. Colin Campbell’s The China Study. I also looked at the Okinawa program by Suzuki and other sources.
But I kept thinking, “Anyone can write a book.” So as a researcher, I started going back to the original citations and reading the actual science.
It took me about five months to convince myself that I had to go on the diet I was considering: a low-fat whole food plant-based diet. That meant no animal products, no milk, no meat, no eggs, and naturally very low fat.
Interviewer: When you started doing your research, what were the big things you found?
Interviewee: What I found was that animal products and dietary fat were strongly connected to heart disease. I had no major risk factors except genetics. But genetics are not the end-all, be-all. They don’t determine your future on their own. Genetics interact with environment.
For me, it was fairly easy to identify the problem because I was lean and had always exercised. So the diet was the problem. From the research, I could clearly see that I needed to cut out fat and animal products.
I also looked at Dean Ornish’s work. He had published good studies looking at meditation and exercise as part of the solution. I was already exercising, and I began meditating about halfway through my program.
It took about four years to get where I am now, but I started meditating every day to reduce stress and gain more control over my mind. That seemed to help too.
[07:33] Choosing Both Lifestyle and Medication
Interviewer: After realizing you needed to change your diet, what path did you take?
Interviewee: As I continued researching, I noticed that many people want to be in either the medication camp or the diet camp. I decided there was good research on both.
Going forward, I chose to present myself as a case study that could eventually be published in a scientific journal. Working with my doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital, I went on a very strict medication regimen to lower my cholesterol.
My LDL went from about 140 down to around 20. My total cholesterol went from nearly 200 down to about 70.
Interviewer: So now you want to be a spokesperson for this approach?
Interviewee: One of the things I want to do is continue tracking my progress. Diet alone, specifically a whole food plant-based diet, has been shown in studies to significantly reduce plaque in arteries. Medications have also been shown to help.
I decided to do both because I wanted the best possible chance of improving. In most of the studies—and there have only been a few large studies on this—only about 30% of people actually regress the plaque in their arteries. Because I wanted to get back to the athletic ability I had before I started slowing down, I wanted better odds.
That’s why I chose both medication and diet.
I had my second angiogram this year, and it showed that most of my arteries had become wider, meaning there was less plaque. One of my arteries had a complete reversal of a 65% stenosis, or blockage. It went from 65% blocked to 100% unblocked.
[10:10] Learning to Talk to Your Doctor
Interviewer: One of the important things you’ve talked about is teaching people how to speak to their doctor. Why is that so important?
Interviewee: It’s key. If you see your doctor and they tell you that because you have chest pain, or because you have a blockage, you need a stent—as in my case—you may want to pause, talk to your doctor, or even consider another doctor.
There have been multiple studies, and newer cardiology guidelines increasingly emphasize that stents and bypass surgery should not automatically be the first line of defense for stable disease. Lifestyle modification and medications are often part of the recommended approach.
Even if you strictly follow something like the Dean Ornish diet, which is a low-fat whole food plant-based diet, and take your medications, you may not always reduce your chances of having a heart attack or improve your arteries. There are now guidelines and studies looking at very low LDL cholesterol levels—sometimes as low as 20 or below—and that appears to help open the arteries.
When you talk to your doctor, one of the things you want to discuss is what they think about diet. After you read some of the books, articles, and resources on my website, you’ll notice that to really make progress, you have to take the diet seriously.
Otherwise, if you’re just using cholesterol-lowering drugs, you may not be addressing the root problem, which is diet and lifestyle.
Talk to your doctor about that. See how responsive your physician is.
The key is that your goal should be regression or cure of your heart disease—not just monitoring it and letting it progress more slowly.
Right now, cardiology often treats atherosclerosis as a progressive disease. The goal is usually to slow progression through medication and rehab. But if you are going to forgo a stent or bypass surgery, slowing progression might not be enough. You may want to actually regress the plaques, regress the disease, or, as I like to say now, cure the disease.
[13:21] The “Magic Number”: LDL Cholesterol
Interviewer: What do doctors typically advise after a stent or heart procedure?
Interviewee: Most cardiologists try to get LDL cholesterol to around 100. LDL is often called the “bad” cholesterol. If you’ve had a stent, newer guidelines often target around 70.
Part of the reason for that target is that, even with a high-dose statin, it can be difficult to get LDL below 70. But there is a newer class of drugs called PCSK9 inhibitors. These are injectable drugs that work through a completely different mechanism and have a different side-effect profile.
These drugs can get LDL well below 50. Newer studies show that this may significantly increase the chances of plaque regression, potentially reducing the need for a bypass surgery or stent in stable situations.
To be clear, if you’re having a heart attack or medical emergency, stents can save lives. But studies show that in many stable cases, stents and bypass surgery do not necessarily prolong life. People need to keep that in mind when discussing options with their physician.
Interviewer: It seems like doctors know cholesterol should be lowered, but they may not tell patients how aggressively to pursue it.
Interviewee: Your general practitioner might try to get your cholesterol down to a certain level. If you’re having symptoms and seeing a cardiologist, then it becomes a different situation.
But in my case, even at a top hospital, diet was never discussed with me. Interestingly, I have a PhD in nutrition, and even I did not know about reversing cardiac disease through nutrition. I learned it the hard way.
Your physician may or may not talk to you about nutrition. Most likely, they won’t. In many cases, if you bring up people like Caldwell Esselstyn or Dean Ornish and explain that these programs advocate a low-fat plant-based diet, the physician may be uninterested or even opposed.
My advice is this: if you have to argue with your physician against the science, it might be time to look for a different doctor.
[15:41] Life After Diagnosis: Returning to Elite Performance
Interviewer: Did being an athlete change your perspective on heart disease?
Interviewee: Yes. Being an athlete with heart disease is a completely different story. Most people with heart disease are doing their regular jobs and just want to survive. I was trying to operate at an elite level.
After I went through this program—low-fat whole food plant-based diet, medication, exercise, and meditation—I went from placing third at regionals and 20th or 30th at nationals to earning second and third place at national events.
In 2018, I took fourth at the World Championships and set the national record for the hour.
Not only have I been regressing my disease, but my athletic performance has improved dramatically on this regimen.
For the general public, that translates into daily life: playing with your grandkids or kids, going hiking, or even walking through the grocery store. Whatever your level of activity is, you should be able to improve beyond where you started.
[17:37] How to Bring Research to Your Cardiologist
Interviewer: How would you suggest someone talk to their doctor about this?
Interviewee: I sought out my doctor because he was a cardiologist who specifically worked with athletes. For me, having a PhD and being comfortable talking to doctors made that easier.
But many people feel timid about asking questions. One thing you can do is bring in a video of my story and have your physician watch a clip. You can also ask specific questions, such as whether they advocate diet as part of treatment.
Don’t be antagonistic or confrontational. Just ask questions.
After watching these videos and reading some of my blogs, you’ll know that diet is important. You’ll know that LDL may need to be below 50. When speaking with your physician, bring it up conversationally and see how they react.
Unfortunately, many physicians want to be the boss and tell patients what to do. If you find that you can’t relate to your physician, there’s nothing wrong with getting a second opinion or seeking a different doctor.
You can also look online for physicians who advocate a vegan or whole food plant-based diet. If you have limited options or you like your current physician, talk to them matter-of-factly. Bring studies from my website and ask, “What about this?”
That’s what I did with my physician. We worked hand in hand over a four-year period to develop the program I’m on now.
[19:20] The Evidence Behind a Low-Fat Whole Food Plant-Based Diet
Interviewer: What is the evidence that this diet works?
Interviewee: The evidence for low-fat whole food plant-based diets originally comes from population studies.
When you look at populations such as Sardinians, Seventh-day Adventists, Okinawans, and certain populations in China, you see very low heart attack rates and very low rates of atherosclerosis.
One common thread is that these populations tend to eat in a more plant-centered way. This is also discussed in books such as The Blue Zones. Population studies cannot prove cause and effect by themselves, but they are important.
Then there are interventional studies, such as Dean Ornish’s study, and studies from India, where people were placed on this type of diet and then evaluated using quantitative angiograms. That means doctors inserted a wire into the artery, took images of the heart, and measured whether the arteries progressed or regressed.
In major studies—including Dean Ornish’s work and Caldwell Esselstyn’s work—dietary interventions showed that arteries could become cleaner and open up.
There are also animal studies, including studies on primates, our closest relatives. When they were fed high-fat diets and less plant-based diets, they developed atherosclerosis. When those items were removed from the diet, they improved.
So the evidence includes population studies, interventional studies in people with heart disease, and animal studies. All point toward the same idea: diet matters, and diet can help reverse or cure heart disease.
[21:22] Medication Is Not the Whole Answer
Interviewer: Heart disease affects so many people. Often, the first response from the medical system is medication. How should people think about that?
Interviewee: In the United States alone, hundreds of thousands of people die each year from heart attacks, and many more have known heart attacks. A large number also have silent heart attacks, where they might think they have indigestion and not realize they had a heart attack. Similar issues happen with strokes.
If you are in a high-risk group and taking a statin, but your doctor is not talking to you about diet, that is a serious issue.
We are not statin-deficient in the United States. We are nutrient-deficient. We take in too many calories, and too many of the wrong calories.
Interviewer: Are people taking medication blindly, just because a doctor orders it?
Interviewee: Statins can have side effects. They work on mechanisms inside the cell and affect cells throughout the body. There are side effects, although statins do reduce heart attack rates.
But some of the diets we’re talking about, in certain populations and interventional studies, appear to have a much greater effect than medication alone.
You can’t just rely on taking a statin and think that will cure your situation. Statins are only partially protective. The problem needs to be addressed at its core—what is causing the disease in the first place?
Unfortunately, physicians often have very limited time with patients, and many do not have much education in nutrition. They may not feel comfortable or qualified discussing it.
But even within the nutrition field, many nutritionists and licensed nutritionists do not know enough about low-fat whole food plant-based diets to give people the education they need.
When I was a graduate student, I was initially trained by people connected to the American Dietetic Association, which has been influenced by industry. When I moved into pure research, I could look at the biochemical data and see what was really happening.
From that standpoint, changing the diet is truly necessary because the diet is causing the problem.
[24:34] What “Whole Food Plant-Based” Really Means
Interviewer: How do you define a whole food plant-based diet?
Interviewee: A whole food plant-based diet means eating foods in their natural or more natural state.
Instead of eating highly refined foods like candy bars or processed foods, you eat foods such as spinach, corn, kale, whole wheat pasta, and whole wheat bread. These are foods closer to their natural state, where the nutrients are.
It is not the same as eating a candy bar and taking a vitamin.
[25:11] Diabetes, Statins, and Risk
Interviewer: Diabetes is another major issue. Can you speak about that?
Interviewee: Diabetes is a major killer, and it can lead to heart disease. People with diabetes have a much greater chance of developing heart disease.
There is also a risk with statins. A recent study in the British Journal of Medicine showed an increased risk of diabetes among people taking statins. The risk was not insignificant. A high-dose statin may increase your risk of diabetes, which can paradoxically increase your risk of heart disease.
That doesn’t mean people should stop taking medicine. Any change in medication should be discussed with a physician. But people need to understand the risks and benefits.
[26:28] Is There Synergy Between Diet and Medication?
Interviewer: Is there synergy between medication and diet?
Interviewee: Yes, I believe medication and diet can work together. I am not telling anyone not to take their medicine. Anytime you want to make a change, you need to talk to your doctor.
Interestingly, there has never been a study directly comparing a whole food plant-based diet, which is known to reverse heart disease in some studies, with medications alone. Even with newer drugs like Repatha and other PCSK9 inhibitors, studies usually look at the drug alone. They do not study the drug in combination with this type of diet.
My belief is that there is synergy between the two.
If you have been sick your whole life and are just starting out, I think it is a good idea to use both approaches.
In my particular situation, I have been on a PCSK9 inhibitor to lower my cholesterol significantly. I also take other lipid-lowering medications. Specifically, I take Repatha, which is a PCSK9 inhibitor; Zetia; niacin; and a very low-dose statin. That combination drops my total cholesterol below 100 and my LDL close to 20.
In addition, I exercise at least one hour a day, meditate for at least 30 minutes a day, and follow a low-fat whole food plant-based diet.
That is a lot, but I am reversing my disease. I have posted data on my website showing reductions in plaque in the arteries of my heart.
The closer you can stick to a good regimen, the better your outcome is likely to be.
[28:45] Meditation, Exercise, and Inflammation
Interviewer: What role do meditation and exercise play in reducing plaque?
Interviewee: Meditation is important because it can reduce inflammatory markers and inflammation in the blood, which are connected to heart disease. Meditation helps reduce stress and cortisol so the body can heal and feel better.
Exercise is also extremely important. There is a good study showing that the more people exercised, the more their arteries opened up and the more plaque was reduced. There was a direct linear relationship between the amount of exercise and improvement in the arteries.
In other words, the more you exercise, the better your arteries can become.
In the Dean Ornish program and some other programs, they recommend walking an hour a day. If you are an athlete, you may be able to do more than that, but it is something you should discuss with your physician.
Exercise is a key feature of getting better.
[30:19] Family Support and Living the Diet at Home
Interviewer: Does your wife follow your diet?
Interviewee: Absolutely. My wife follows the diet. She is a great cook, and we are planning to post some of her recipes on our website, including whole food plant-based spaghetti sauce and other dishes.
She follows the diet 100% with me and has noticed increased energy. She does not have active heart disease. She was tested on the same bicycle ergometer I used, and her VO2 max test came out totally clean.
She follows the same program because she wants to be as healthy as possible.
[31:05] Two Websites, Two Missions
Interviewer: You are working on two different websites, correct? Tell me about them.
Interviewee: Yes. I have two websites: CuringHeartDisease.com and ReversingMyHeartDisease.org.
ReversingMyHeartDisease.org is designed strictly to collect and distribute money for research. We just started the website and have not begun fundraising yet. The idea is that we need much more research on how to reverse and cure heart disease—not only from a medical standpoint, but from an integrative medicine standpoint.
There was an $80 million grant awarded last year for curing heart disease through the American Heart Association and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The chief investigator there will be looking at biochemistry, biomarkers, medications, and the body’s response to heart disease.
My goal is to support research on what is already known. What has Dean Ornish done? What have I done personally to reverse heart disease? We already know many of the tools. We need research showing how medicine can work better with diet.
There is not a single study looking at the combination of medication and this type of diet to reverse or cure heart disease. Those studies need to be done.
We also need research on the psychological aspects of changing habits, creating support groups, and building hospital and medical community support for lifestyle change.
I currently run a support group out of my house for athletes with heart disease. We also have a couple of people who are not athletes but have heart disease. In the group, I give mini-lectures on topics people are interested in, and we support each other with diet and exercise.
We live in an environment that is toxic from a health standpoint. Western society—not just the United States—is filled with advertising and bad food. There is a McDonald’s on almost every corner. People don’t know what to eat.
We try to support each other in following what the scientific literature shows is the right direction.
Research dollars are needed for programs that help people take care of themselves in a realistic way. Right now, people are confused.
Interviewer: And what about the second site?
Interviewee: CuringHeartDisease.com is where I present data. Through lectures and articles, I show people what the medical community has actually published.
A lot of studies never make it into public awareness. I am a published scientist myself, and one of my best papers had 38 citations in four years, but it was buried in the medical literature. The general public is not going to read those studies.
My goal is to sift through the medical literature and bring it to the public—or to physicians who may be interested—so they can see the actual facts.
You are not necessarily going to get this information from the Boston Globe, the New York Times, or USA Today. Popular media often publishes confusing stories saying eggs are good, then eggs are bad. People get confused.
From population studies and interventional trials, we already know a lot of the answers. We just need to get that message out to the general public.
[35:36] The Personal Impact of Heart Disease
Interviewer: Personally, what has been the biggest effect of heart disease on you and your family?
Interviewee: The biggest effect of my program is that I feel fantastic.
Untreated cardiovascular disease is a progressive and fatal disease. My father, my mother, and my younger brother all died from heart disease. My older brother is disabled from heart disease. My whole family had diabetes.
I do not have diabetes. I do have heart disease, but I was heading down a path I did not want to be on because I saw what it did to my family.
Now I am competing for a world record after setting a national record in cycling. That is not supposed to happen. What is supposed to happen, at best, is that you stay the same and are considered “fine.”
That was not good enough for me. I did not want to just survive. I wanted to thrive.
That is what I am doing now. I look forward to hopefully living healthy to at least 90, maybe 100. As long as I am healthy, I am okay with that.
[37:38] Advice for the Newly Diagnosed
Interviewer: What advice would you give someone who was just diagnosed with heart disease?
Interviewee: If I ran into someone in a coffee shop who had just had a heart attack, the first thing I would say is: go to my website. Look at the resources there. I include other websites and sources where people can get more information.
But most importantly, question your doctor. Always question your doctor. Question the status quo.
And remember: you can always get better.
If you have been diagnosed with heart disease, know that you do not just have to survive. You do not even just have to get better. You can thrive.
[38:36] Why a Stent Is Not a Cure
Interviewee: Many people are in survival mode. They may think, “I had a heart problem. It was taken care of. I had a stent put in.” Then the doctor says, “Take your medicine,” and that’s it.
But revascularization is a term used when another stent or procedure is needed. Doctors can put two or three stents inside previous stents. It happens all the time because people continue to get worse.
The real problem has not been addressed.
If someone has heart disease and is put on a statin that lowers their LDL from 150 to 100, they still have heart disease. The science suggests that LDL often needs to be below 50 to dramatically reduce risk and allow regression.
That is why I am concerned about people. Heart disease is a slow process, but we do not know when a major event will happen.
If you have a procedure done, there is a significant chance you may need another procedure later or still die from the disease. That means we are not truly curing people.
[39:58] Plant-Based vs. Vegan
Interviewer: What is the difference between a plant-based diet and a vegan diet?
Interviewee: That is a great question.
Both involve not eating animals or animal products. But a whole food plant-based diet—particularly a low-fat whole food plant-based diet—is a specific subset of what people might call vegan.
Historically, many vegans avoid animal products for religious, ethical, or moral reasons. On a vegan diet, you can eat anything that is not animal-based. That means you can eat donuts, candy, and all kinds of processed junk food, as long as it does not contain animal products.
A whole food plant-based diet is different. It does not include animal products, so it could be considered vegan, but it is much more specific. You avoid highly refined foods and focus on whole plant foods that are not high in fat.
You may have a few nuts here or there, but the goal is to keep fat around 10% of total calories. That is very low. The average American diet is closer to 40% fat.
I am not perfect. I am usually around 12% to 15%, but I am always trying to get closer to 10%. The fats I eat come from foods like nuts, a little peanut butter, and occasionally a little avocado. I do not use added oils in my food.
So yes, there is a significant difference. A low-fat whole food plant-based diet focuses on healthy whole foods and keeping fat low.
Even so, studies show that vegans are generally healthier than people who eat meat. But for heart disease reversal, the low-fat whole food plant-based approach is much more specific.
[41:50] The Shock of the Diagnosis
Interviewee: When I was first diagnosed, I was absolutely stunned. I had no idea I would have heart disease.
I had watched my father and mother die, and it was a long, hard process. They did not die right away. It was terrible. They had bypass surgeries. Then my brother died suddenly.
When I was diagnosed, I was shocked and stunned. I think it took me about a year to get over it.
But I decided I was going to fight. I was not going to succumb to the disease.
[42:19] Closing Message
Heart disease does not have to mean surrendering to decline. For this cyclist, diagnosis became a turning point—not just toward treatment, but toward research, advocacy, lifestyle transformation, and renewed athletic achievement.
His message to others is direct: ask questions, educate yourself, work with a physician who respects the science, and do not settle for simply slowing the progression of disease.
Survival is not the only goal.
Thriving is possible.
Editorial Note
This interview reflects one person’s experience and interpretation of the research. Anyone diagnosed with heart disease, considering dietary change, or taking cholesterol-lowering medication should consult a qualified physician before making medical decisions or changing treatment.