George Lawrence’s Plant-Based Strategy to Live to 100
by Howard Jacobson, PhD on November 16, 2015One moral of George Lawrence’s story could be: it’s never too late to get well. Here it is in his own words, along with some compelling and inspiring pictures (you can click the photos to see them bigger). – HJ
My grandfathers died young of heart disease, and my heart attack was at age 66—in spite of maximum dose statins and niacin. I didn’t want to believe I was having a heart attack so I will live with scar tissue on the right side of my heart from the delay in calling 911. The following year I was on a Pfizer study pill that raised my HDL from 35 to 85, but it did no good for calcium score, my stamina, or my arterial measurements.
67-year-old George and his Airedale, 2004 (both carnivorous)
72-year-old Carnivorous George 2009
I tried to eat the “chicken, fish, and olive oil diet” for six years but I kept putting on weight and slowing down. At age 72 I read The China Study and Esselstyn’s Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease—and immediately became a very-low-fat-plant-eater. I lost 30 pounds in 30 weeks, felt much better, and got more optimistic blood tests. My fasting insulin went from 15 to 5—so I was processing 4 times more carbohydrates with 3 times less insulin. Now, at age 78, the weight is still off, I ski well at 12,000 feet elevation, am active, and I can still solve difficult physics problems.
Vegan age 77
Vegan age 77
My plan is to live well at least to age 100. My reading of Proteinaholic is like the choir hearing the sermon—but it strengthens my resolve, resets my priorities, and gives me some new things to watch.
George Lawrence
Boulder, Colorado