Late last year, Bill Clinton has made news headlines, not with his politics but with his shrunken waistline. He said thanks to a plant based diet made up of beans, legumes, vegetables and fruits, he's feeling great, like never before. "Almond milk" has taken the place of dairy milk. And he referred to taking protein powder with fresh berries.

He said restoring his high school weight and losing 24 pounds in time for his daughter Chelsea's wedding was an unexpected effect. But he was most impressed with how his whole metabolism has changed and he said he made the dramatic change because he wants to be around to see his grand child/children...As he understood his previous by-pass operations did not give him the security of his heart disease not returning.

This is the orginally clip on CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2010/09/21/intv.clinton.blitzer.weight.loss.cnn.html

Chelsea who allegedly had a mostly raw vegan wedding (and a wedding cake free of gluten and sugar) must have inspired her father who used to love fast food (and was public about it) to make the change. And Clinton said he has done his own research as well.

Here is another clip which is a follow-up with the doctors he said had inspired him explaining what this diet can do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoHt9cSWJVI

The doctors he referred to are Dr. Dean Onish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. Dr. Esselstyn urges to avoid "anything with a mother and a face" in our diet. Both of them referred to by-pass and typical medical solutions to diseases as ineffective, and that a wholesome plant based diet and healthy lifestyle is a lot more effective, not just for reversing heart diseases but most other chronic diseases. I like how they say this kind of diet gives one better SEX life too as I am sure it gets people's attention! (Remember the Supersize Me guy who became impotent half way through his McDonald's experience?)

Back in Hong Kong, many people are becoming wise to this way of living and have turned to green living after finding out their (in)tolerances to chemcials. Smoothies and uncooked food is beneficial to health and is becoming more popular and practiced as highlighted in recent television shows. This is so refreshing and helps to bust the myth that "raw" is "too cold", and bad for health in simplistic traditional thinking.

I particularly like the message conveyed about simple living and having local celebs like Do Do Cheng sharing her life journey from wanting a lot to wanting less and simplifying...

Considering a few months ago TVB Jade were showing Shark's Fin soup and emphasizing "the bigger the better"...I am impressed with the progress... Afterall dead animals in every food show is...well...boring to say the least...

I hope this trend continues. Hong Kong is ready...