Ep. 13: Dr. Kim Williams- Vegan Cardiologist Influencing Patients, Doctors and Medicine

Before we begin today's interview, I have one housekeeping item to take care of this week. I recently received an extremely generous donation to the Patreon account of this podcast. As a testament to the power of social media, I extend a big Thank You to Julian from South Korea who became the newest patron and the first member of the Board of Directors for the Ian Cramer Podcast. Why does he choose to be a patron? Because he sees the value of these podcasts. He recognizes the work that goes into them and the enjoyment and value they provide to his life, and he wants to chip in to affirm that message. These podcasts are free and always will be, but I appreciate any donation you care to make to demonstrate your support. Check out Patreon.com/IanCramerPodcast for more information. Thank you! Dr. Kim Williams is the chief cardiologist in the Division of Cardiology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He’s also a professor of heart research within Rush University’s medical school. Dr. Williams has treated thousands of heart patients, the vast majority of whom suffered chronic, preventable conditions. Over the course of his stellar career, he realized that much of what he was doing was mitigating symptoms. The standard treatments he was prescribing helped but he wasn’t getting to the root causes. Over time he re-considered many questions: why did so many of his patients need these medications? Why did they suffer heart attacks in the first place? And were stents or bypass surgery their only recourse? When he realized his own LDL cholesterol was creeping up, Dr. Williams made important dietary changes based on what he knew about diet and its effects on cholesterol and he saw nearly a 50% decrease in his LDL number. He said “Wait a minute, if changing my diet can lower my high cholesterol by 50% and lower my risk of chronic diseases, why am I not prescribing this to my patients? It's this powerful shift in his thinking -- from treating illness to fostering wellness -- that we focus on today. Receiving one of the highest honors for a cardiologist in the world, he was elected by his peers to serve as President of the American College of Cardiology in 2015. Trust me, he’s not trying to ruffle any feathers, but as a seasoned cardiologist who is now prescribing lifestyle medicine and dietary changes to his patients, his methods are certainly viewed as unorthodox and going against the grain within the current medical paradigm. But as you will hear in the podcast, we talk about how these recommendations are firmly based in peer-reviewed research. What's more, they’re evidence based treatments shown to prevent or reverse chronic diseases of the heart and, finally....they work better and are safer than surgeries or prescriptions. I hope you enjoy our conversation, Episode #13 with Dr. Kim Williams. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IanCramerPodcast Website: http://www.plant-basedcyclist.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlantBasedCyclist1/ E-mail: [email protected] Intro Music Credit: "You Were" by Birocratic http://birocratic.bandcamp.com