My Story

December 1, 2024, 12:18 PM IST Lalit Kapoor in FIVE PILLARS OF HEALTH: A Blueprint for Wellbeing, India, TOI

Today, I’d like to share a personal story of how I became interested in healthy eating and lifestyle, the sources of information I rely on, and my approach to research.

Like many people, I used to believe that my diet and lifestyle were healthy and that my chronic illnesses were largely due to genetics. My dad and his brothers all had heart issues, hypertension, and diabetes. Two of them passed away from heart attacks in their 40s and 50s. I didn’t smoke, and my alcohol intake was limited to a few margaritas on weekends. We were mostly vegetarian, only having meat or seafood when eating out or at gatherings. I drank a lot of milk and loved eggs, convinced they were good for me. My morning and evening tea was made mostly of milk, which I took pride in. In the summer, I enjoyed cold coffee, mango milkshakes, and Rooh Afza lassi. Most mornings, I had either fried eggs or avocado masala omelettes with parathas.

After graduating from IITK in 1971, my BMI was 22.7. I was a weightlifter and bodybuilder, even winning third-place prizes in these categories. However, over the years, my BMI gradually increased to 30.4 by the age 62. At 47, I started medication for gout. At 50, I began BP medication, and by 51, I was on diabetes medication, starting with Metformin. Within three years

Avandia, another diabetes medication, was added which was later replaced with Actos due to cardiac risks. Later, Actos was banned for similar reasons. At 54, I started thyroid medication, and by 58, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and advised to use a CPAP machine due to loud snoring. My snoring was so loud that nobody could share a room with me at night and my wife had to use ear plugs.

Our meals were largely vegetarian but high in ghee. Growing up, our meals were divided into “Kachcha Khana” and “Pakka Khana.” Lunch typically consisted of daal, roti, subji, curd, and rice, while dinner included parathis, curried potatoes, other vegetables, and curd. In the evenings, we always had snacks with tea.

In March 2012, Swami Ishwarananda of Chinmaya Mission West, with whom I was closely involved, stayed overnight at our home and requested steel cut oatmeal for breakfast. We happily prepared it, and that became the first conscious change I made to my diet. To my surprise, I began losing 1.5 pounds a month without trying, likely due to other subtle changes I’d started making unconsciously. That’s the beauty of intentional change—it often leads to other positive habits.

On January 1, 2013, we decided to put to use the Christmas gifts from our daughters: an Apple TV and a Netflix subscription. The first documentary we watched was “Happy”, and soon after, we found “Forks Over Knives”. Since we were food lovers, we decided to watch it, and that sparked my interest in health documentaries. We watched “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead” and immediately ordered an Angel juicer. We joined a farm cooperative that delivered fresh organic produce twice a week, went on a three-day juice fast, adopted a vegan diet, and cut down on oil and sugar. My wife, who loves cooking, started experimenting with oil-free recipes.

South Indian dishes like idli and uttapam, as well as Gujarati snacks like dhokla, handwa, and muthia, became household favorites. Tadka in our meals was replaced with chaunka (reducing ghee from 45 grams to 9 grams). Oil-based salad dressings were swapped for balsamic vinegar or lemon-ginger-honey-mustard, and we developed new soup recipes. We also adopted a practice of drinking green juice before each meal.

At the time, I wasn’t aware of the benefits of intermittent or prolonged fasting—that came after the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology. Our weekend parties still included oil and sugar, but I started noticing immediate, visible weight loss, which others commented on. My doctors, however, were cautious and encouraged me to stay on my medications. Over the next few years, I gradually phased out my medications: BP medication within 6 months, gout medication in one year, and diabetes medication took two years because of consistently high fasting glucose levels. Eventually, I also stopped my thyroid medication. My confidencte grew as friends and family noticed my changes, and soon, many of them bought green juicers, too.

In September 2017, I formed my first WhatsApp group with my IITK ’71 batchmates. Milk and curd were the most controversial topics but, over time, some members also started following and noticed improvements. New groups formed, expanding our collective knowledge and experience.

To stay motivated, I started watching health documentaries and YouTube videos daily, learning from doctors and medical researchers. In 2015, I began attending Advanced Study weekend seminars organized by Dr. John McDougall in Santa Rosa, where I met experts like Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr. Michael Greger and others all of whom were very helpful in answering questions. In 2016 I began experimenting with intermittent fasting, followed by prolonged fasting in 2019.

Besides seminars, documentaries, and YouTube lectures, my primary sources of information are PubMed, books, and Google. PubMed has been invaluable for access to research on various health topics. Being retired, I had the time to dedicate 20-30 hours a week to this research, with a strong motivation to prove my doctors wrong—and I did. Now, I spend even more time on the subject.

Different doctors in the plant-based, whole-foods (PBWF) movement have varying opinions. I had to choose among them and prioritize on my own. I drew heavily from my Indian cultural heritage. These decisions are mine alone and are reinforced by personal experiences and feedback from others who follow me.

For example, Dr. Jason Fung advocates a keto diet with intermittent fasting, while PBWF doctors strongly oppose keto. Dr. Greger and Dr. Campbell support eating nuts, while Dr. Esselstyn is against it, especially for patients with critical heart conditions. Dr. McDougall focuses on starch, while Dr. Joel Fuhrman emphasizes fruits and vegetables. True North Health Center doctors, like Dr. Goldhammer and Dr. Klaper, focus on fasting therapy, though they have not yet introduced dry fasting as recommended by Nobel laureates Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi (2016) and Dr. Tasuku Honjo (2018).

I believe that by following these changes precisely and incorporating fasting, one can achieve similar results in much less time than I did. Many members of my health groups have reported success. I encourage everyone, especially those hesitant to begin, to make significant changes for just three weeks and see the results. You’ll feel better, and others will notice as well.  If you make only minor changes, the results will also be minor and if you are a skeptic you will not connect the two and fall back.

My Teachers: Doctors I Follow

Here’s a partial list of doctors I’ve learned from, and I highly recommend watching their videos on YouTube:

1. Dr. Collin Campbell

2. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn

3. Dr. John McDougall

4. Dr. Michael Greger

5. Dr. Dean Ornish

6. Dr. Neil Bernard

7. Dr. Janice Stanger

8. Dr. Robert Lustig

9. Dr. B.M.Hegde

10. Dr. Satchin Panda

These doctors don’t always agree with each other 100%, but I align most closely with Dr. Colin Campbell, who was influenced by Dr. Gopalan of the National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad. Recently, Dr. Hemalatha, the previous director of this institute, has agreed to join my Plant-Based Wellness (PBW) Foundation, for which I’m deeply grateful.

In 2021, I founded two NGOs by the name PBW Foundation in the US and India. Last year, a company, PBW Foods Pvt. Ltd., was started that launched its first Experiential Center in Cyber City. All the promoters’ equity has been donated to the foundation, making it a 50% partner. Our aim is to provide healthy foods like fresh green juices, nut milks, yogurts, butters, naturally sweetened beverages, and whole grain and seed breads throughout India and, eventually, worldwide. The foundation offers free courses and lectures across India, the U.S., and other English-speaking countries. This year (2024) the number of students who have completed my course has surpassed 250,000 and virtual groups span over 50 cities worldwide. Thank you all for your participation.

Click here to read the full article on Times of India