Q&A: Ellsworth Wareham

A: Well, let's take heart disease, which is the leading killer in this country. Coronary artery disease should be prevented by lifestyle. So we should address that more than we do. The medical profession has done a great job of treating a disease, but I think we need to do a much better job of preventing a disease. There are two doctors who have proved scientifically that they can reverse coronary artery disease . . . They put the people on a low-fat, plant-based, vegetarian diet and reversed coronary disease. So here you have a disease that is a major killer in America . . . and it is largely preventable. That's where we get into this business of longevity and so forth. There's no great mystery about this.

The Congress, the president and everybody are carrying on about the cost of health care, but what we ought to be doing is getting at the prevention of these diseases.

Q: How have you been able to stay healthy and active for so long?

A: You can't take any one individual and prove too much from one individual, but it's generally available in the scientific literature and even in the lay press of what a healthy lifestyle consists of. And a healthy lifestyle consists of a largely plant-based diet.

Now I happen to be a vegetarian. In fact, as much as possible I'm a vegan — that is to use no animal products at all.

And vegetarianism is proven to be a much healthier lifestyle . . . I follow just what everybody I think would know would be a healthy lifestyle.

I exercise. I do that by working in my yard. I take care of the landscaping myself, maybe I'll get a man in once a month to help me, but I try to get a couple hours of exercise at least three or four times a week. And fairly heavy exercise. And then eat a largely plant-based diet, which is healthy.

You see, there isn't any mystery about where heart disease comes from. It largely comes from inactivity and eating a lot of saturated fat and cholesterol.

And as you know, one-third of Americans are overweight.

Q: So you think a large part of what has made you healthy is your diet?