I had a 100% block in my right artery, two other arteries at 70%, I had a left bundle block,
a heart murmur, I had an enlarged heart with leaky valves, and sarcoidosis of the right side
of my heart muscle. I would sit there and say,
"God, if you get me out of this mess, I promise I will give something back
to this world." And it won't just be … you know like my self-improvement.
I want to do something good and big. I wake up one day … and I feel incredible pain in my chest. And they give the analogy of … it's like an elephant on your chest.
They were so right, I would sit there in bed, and I would just wait and breathe slowly and say,
"Something is really wrong." And it wasn't getting better,
in fact it was getting worse. I remember once going to some location, and I literally couldn't take
seven steps without stopping, and it was during the day
and my chest was really hurting and I'm like, "Oh man, something is really wrong.

I've got to go see the doctor." And they did every single test
other than a heart catheter and a heart biopsy. And the test results came
back and the cardiologist said to me, "Well, listen, we need to do a heart catheter
and a heart biopsy next, but the indicators are you may need
a heart transplant or bypass surgery." So, we're being wheeled in toward the surgical ward,
and he stops, he looks at me and says, "Hey, Paul, I've only done this for
two/one other patient in twenty years… Would you consider a nutrition change
instead of having bypass surgery today?" And I'm like, "Yes,
immediately, I'll do anything." Well, I didn't know what this meant.

I had never heard of whole-food, plant-based, I just knew I didn't have to have surgery today. Everything that was processed, all meat, dairy,
and oil was removed from my house that day. So, I went whole-food,
plant-based perfect that day. And now the journey just began. So, here I am two weeks into it.
I'm eating vegetables … that I never liked. And I'm like, okay, well, you can just ignore that and have bypass
surgery or you can just try and fill up, eat a lot of this, because I mean like … I never ate kale, I'd never even heard of kale.
It was iceberg lettuce, that was the big thing. 14 days in, I started saying,
"Wow, this isn't so bad." I'd follow the recipe…

I realized I was not a good cook. I went to Dr. Esselstyn's half-day seminar,
where they teach you how to cook. And I said,
"Oh my God, that's my mission." I was on that gurney, I promised the Lord I would
give something back, so here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to put a little ad in the paper, and I'm going to invite
anybody in the community … to come to my house … if they have any heart concerns.
And I only knew about heart … because that's what … I had heart disease.
I didn't know about diabetes or obesity or … anything else that would benefit
from whole-food, plant-based. So, we started having our meetings … and it kept growing,
and growing, and growing. When people have a problem with alcohol,
they go to AA. And the reason is they need
a support group … of like-minded people to get
through that moment or get through that day. We created that same model … with making a food change … because it is not just a food change,
it's a lifestyle change.

And we would just start having
more people and more people because … people were willing to consider nutrition
before pills and procedures … and they were not getting
the answer from their doctors. So, they came to our organization for those
answers and we had the experts talk to them. So, here we are today … at the Plant-Based
Nutrition Support Group, we're closing in on 6,000 members
in about four years. I feel great,
my cholesterol number is under 100, so I went from 347 to under 100. I have lost almost 70 pounds,
and I've kept it off. I'm now 60 years old
and I want to enjoy the next 20 years, 25 years. And I think by eating this way,
I am going to do it..

Video Transcript – As found on YouTube