Beginning My Whole Food Plant-Based Journey

From the forthcoming memoir, “A Sustainable Life" 

In Fall 2019 my wife Deb and I purchased an old farm property in Oldwick, New Jersey and over the following two years transformed it into a sustainable homestead where we farm organic cereal grains, fruits, berries, and vegetables.  As lifelong foodies, one of the first things we did after purchasing our property was to search out the finest local organic farms so that we’d have great food to eat while we lived in a rental and built our farmhouse.  Little did we know that finding The Doctor’s Farm Market at Ethos would completely change our lives. 

 In early 2022 I was fifty-four years old when, at my annual physical, I learned that my cholesterol had clocked in at a new lifetime high of 235.  I’d been seeing the same primary care physician for over a decade and despite being a competitive cyclist and marathoner who ate a Mediterranean Diet, and outwardly looked physically fit, we’d watched my cholesterol steadily climb to a level that could no longer be ignored.  Since my brother could eat bacon and fried foods multiple times each week and never see his cholesterol get over 160, my doctor and I chalked it up to me having “bad genes.”  The fact that both my grandfathers had had serious heart disease with my paternal grandfather dying of a massive heart attack at 78 years old, left me uneasy and scared for my future. 

“I think we should start you on a statin,” my doctor offered. 

 “Can’t we do more with diet and exercise?” I pleaded.  The thought of being on a statin for the rest of my life ran completely counter to the natural, healthy lifestyle I wanted for myself. 

 “Jason, you already eat optimally and exercise more than any other patient I work with.  Let’s see how you do on a low dose statin.”  Without further discussion, I left her office with a prescription for Lipitor and feeling utterly defeated. 

 I had successfully managed my cholesterol for many years by closely watching my diet and exercising regularly.  If my family was eating steak and sausages at dinner, I’d be eating white meat chicken.  Scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast?  Not me – egg whites and sautéed veggies (in extra virgin olive oil, of course).   

 “Jason, I do not understand why you deprive yourself like this,” my father (who is a physician) would shake his head sometimes say at meals together, “Just take a low-dose statin.  The medical literature supports that taking statins is healthier for you than not taking them, so I really don’t understand why you won’t at least give them a try.” 

Throughout the remainder of the first half of 2022, I was in denial about the need to take decisive action to change my health trajectory.  For several years I’d also been suffering with what I assumed were early symptoms of arthritis in my hands, knees, and shoulders that I chalked up to the “normal aging process.”  A mere annoyance before we moved to our farm, they had grown more obvious and debilitating now that Deb and I regularly engaged in long hours of physical labor.    Between the aches and pains in my joints and family history of heart disease, what would farming be like at 65?  Would I even be able to? 

These concerns weighed heavily on me one Saturday morning in July 2022 as I drove up the picturesque winding gravel driveway to do our weekly shop for vegetables at Ethos.  Deb and I have visited farmer’s markets all over the world and have never come across finer vegetables than those grown at Ethos.  The excellence of the regenerative, organic farming practices can be tasted in every delicious bite of food they grow – kale, lettuce, radishes, green beans, kohlrabi, collards, fennel, onions, scallions, you name it!  Today, however, was all about tomatoes.  It was late July and that meant some of the best tomatoes on the planet were both ripe and abundant. 

On my way to the cash register and struggling with my usual haul of fresh veggies plus two large boxes of tomatoes, Nora Pugliese (Ethos’ Farm Manager extraordinaire) and a regular patron, Iris Kadosh (who runs the wonderful B&B named Neighbour House nearby), came over to help me carry everything.  By now Deb and I had been shopping here long enough that Nora and Iris knew that we loved nothing more than composing our meals around whatever was fresh and abundant at market. 

“What deliciousness is in the DeSalvo Family’s future?” Nora asked. 

“Pasta sauce.  And lots of it!  My grandmother’s recipe.” 

 “Make sure you don’t use any oil!” Iris chimed in. 

 I had frequently heard things like this spoken by patrons at the Doctor’s Farm Market – “don’t use oil when you cook; eat whole plant-based foods; avoid animal proteins; use only whole grain flours for baking,” and so on.  When Deb and I shopped together and were safely out of earshot, we would often chuckle about how “kooky” some of the customers sounded when talking about food.   

But on this day, rather than just smiling and casting Iris’ comment aside, I decided to engage and asked, “what’s wrong with cooking with great olive oil?” 

“Because it’s unhealthy,” Iris said smiling with a caring tone in her voice.  “Look it up online.” 

“Sure thing Iris.  As soon as I get home and finish turning these tomatoes into a glorious pasta sauce with lots of garlic, fresh herbs, and olive oil,” I shot back sarcastically. 

On the way to my car, I noticed Dr. Weiss planting flowers outside his medical office that is also located on Ethos Farm.  We’d known each other as fellow local farmers for several years and he looked up from his work, smiled, and asked me how I was doing.  Call it fate, divine intervention, karma or whatever else, but the concerns about my health and years of hearing very healthy-looking patrons at The Doctor’s Farm Market say strange things about food and health created a spark.  

“Ron, would you be comfortable being my doctor even though we are friends?” I asked. 

“Would you be comfortable listening to me as your doctor even though we are friends?” Dr. Weiss replied with a broad grin. 

“As long as you are comfortable with the fact that I will never give up eating olive oil or drinking wine!” I stated emphatically – making it clear that changing my eating habits would have limits. 

“Of course, Jason.  I will simply show you the science and you’ll decide where to go from there.” 

 I placed the produce in my car, walked up the pathway to Dr. Weiss’ office and announced that I wanted to become Dr. Weiss’ newest patient.  Asha emailed me an extensive set of digital forms about my health history and goals later that day and before my pasta sauce was done simmering on the stove that evening, I had become a patient of Ethos Primary Care and my Whole Food Plant Based journey had begun. 

A week later at my initial consult, Dr. Weiss spent over an hour with me reviewing everything in my medical history in minute detail, asking thoughtful questions about what I ate, how I felt and what concerns I had about my health.  This was a completely different experience than my last several 10-minute annual “well visits,” for sure!   

Dr. Weiss ordered a comprehensive battery of blood tests and told me that we’d meet again in mid-August.  He assigned numerous learning experiences for me about the importance of nutrition in human health including books, movies, videos, and suggested that I investigate the National Health Association (several copies of past issues of Health Science were available in the patient waiting room). 

As soon as I got home, I ordered How Not to Die and The Pleasure Trap and read them cover-to-cover within days of their arrival.  I also immediately joined The National Health Association and dove into the wealth of educational material on NHA’s website. 

What I learned was astounding and it initially made me angry.  Why hadn’t my previous physician, or the healthcare establishment in general, ever told me that what we ate was the single most important determinant of health and longevity and that animal proteins had long been implicated in an astounding variety of chronic diseases – including heart disease and inflammatory processes?   

Setting aside my anger, I soon realized the power this new knowledge gave me.  “Bad genes” that I long thought destined me to struggle with heart disease and a never-ending series of prescriptions did not need to become my reality!  I had the ability to change my diet and prevent both heart disease and the aches and pains that I had associated with normal signs of aging.  This created an incredible new positive energy in me.   

Within a week after my first appointment with Dr. Weiss I stopped eating all animal proteins and eliminated added salt, oil, and sugar from my diet and within four days after that I was no longer waking up in the morning with aches and pains in my joints.  A week later I found myself with nearly boundless energy and by my second appointment with Dr. Weiss in mid-August, I had lost over eight pounds! 

At this appointment we reviewed my lab results and learned that in addition to high cholesterol I had several other significant markers for heart disease as well as several markers for inflammatory-based diseases as well as a visceral fat reading of 11 that Dr. Weiss hoped I would be able to lower to 4 over time.  Most importantly, however, I learned that the conditions these blood markers previously made seem inevitable were, in fact, completely reversible!  A detailed “Care Plan” including more reading and changes to my diet, exercise and sleep regimens were provided and I was off to the races.  

Was it all easy?  Not at all.  Dr. Weiss put Deborah and me through his 30-day plant-based detox and it was one of the hardest things physically and psychologically I have ever done and the reactions of our friends and family to our new way of eating were harder still.   

I am certain that we could have told friends and family we had met aliens from Pluto who were now living with us on our farm, and they would have been less shocked than when we told them we would be eating only whole plant-based foods from now on and had given up eating olive oil and drinking alcohol.  After all, I was a trained sommelier (with an extensive wine cellar), Deb was a phenomenal baker, and many of our vacations and much of our leisure time had involved traveling to eat local foods and drink local wines – the vast majority of which would now be off limits.  In fact, we lost several long-time friends because they simply could not accept our change in lifestyle. 

Were the hardships worth it?  Yes – many times over.  My cholesterol is now 150, I feel better physically and mentally than I have since my early twenties (perhaps ever!), I’ve lost 30 pounds, my visceral fat is now an astoundingly low 3, my overall body fat varies between 5% and 8%, my resting pulse has dropped from the mid-50’s to low 40’s and my marathon running pace has decreased from 8:34 per mile to 7:39!  More importantly, all my blood markers have improved so much that I have gone from having a “moderate risk” of developing heart disease to essentially no risk and with that, my lifelong worries about someday suffering a major cardiac event have all but disappeared. 

A sidebar from Deb’s perspective: 

I remember the moment with such clarity.  Jason called me into his study, looked directly at me and then looked away.  I could see he was struggling to say something in a delicate way.  He turned to me again and hesitantly said “I think I am going to start seeing Dr. Weiss.”  He knew I understood what this meant and that his decision would impact us both.  I had seen this coming, though I was taken aback when he made this announcement, and a torrent of thoughts and feelings came rushing over me.  The first one was absolute dread.  

I didn’t want to make any changes to the way I ate.  I had always thought of myself as a relatively healthy person.  I loved fresh produce and incorporated fruits and vegetables into all my meals.  Yet, I loved butter.  And eggs.  And I loved to bake cookies, scones, pies, cakes.  Since my thirties, I had exercised and eaten relatively healthily, yet now I was in my late fifties and had put on some extra pounds and my cholesterol was around 260.  I was in denial.  I thought I had plenty of time to bring my cholesterol to a healthier level and lose the extra fat on my body.  I liked the way I lived my life.  And I loved the way I ate. 

I was angry at Jason for making this change, as I felt that he was forcing my hand.  In the next couple of weeks, however, my perspective changed.  I decided he was being bold and brave and that if I didn’t like what this new regimen was like, I could create one that worked for me.  So, I started seeing Dr. Weiss, too.  And then I started to shed the pounds.  And had more energy.  And felt clean.  And eventually, my cholesterol got to a healthy level of 177.  And I lost 40 lbs.  And I started running again.  And now, though I miss baking in a “traditional” way, using butter and eggs, I am learning to bake things within the WFPB SOS-free parameters.  And it makes me happy to know that Jason and I just gave our kids and us the greatest gift: our health and longevity.  And I haven’t looked back. 

Ethos Farm to Health supports both human and planetary health

Ethos Farm to Health (EFTH) was founded and nurtured by Dr. Ronald Weiss. Dr. Weiss has embraced the fabled quote attributed to Hippocrates, the “father of medicine:” “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. The best medicine would be the healthiest food – for the health of both people and the planet. Ethos Farm supplies just such food, using strictly organic agricultural practices.

EFTH is about workable, scalable solutions, supporting the movement toward local, decentralized, regenerative agriculture, placing it at the vanguard of the planetary health movement. Wikipedia defines planetary health as “a new science for exceptional action” that supports “the health of human civilization and the state of the natural systems on which it depends”.

EFTH and Dr. Weiss also promote whole food plant-based eating, one of the best hopes for planetary health and human health. I can vouch for this firsthand having been vegan for about a dozen years (and having been an organic gardener since the 1970’s). My wife and I decided to go on a plant-based diet when I hit my 60’s, after watching the movie “Forks over Knives.”

We wanted to remain healthy for the next phase of our lives, and to avoid the diseases we saw many of our friends contracting. We wanted to prevent the common, life-ending cycle of multiple prescriptions and procedures that are regularly endorsed by those industries that benefit financially from people getting sick, like many medical, pharmaceutical and insurance companies. Plant-based eating worked for us. Now in our 70’s we are prescription-free, as well as a few pounds lighter and a lot healthier.

A few years ago, we found Dr. Ronald Weiss and realized that although we were on a plant-based diet – which was great for the planet and the animals – we really should tweak it a bit to maximize our health. We had slipped into the “pleasure trap” of eating a lot of vegan junk food (most deserts can be vegan-ized, which we quickly discovered).

Dr. Weiss is double Board certified, with a degree in internal medicine plus a second degree from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM). He writes prescriptions when a patient is sick, but his focus is on wellness – preventing disease in the first place.

Dr. Weiss explained the value of avoiding processed foods and eating mostly a whole food plant-based diet. When we can pick up fresh organic produce from Ethos Farm, it makes our lifestyle easier! But beyond our diets, Lifestyle Medicine also rests on other important pillars, like exercise, stress reduction, mindfulness, encouraging positive social connections, sleeping well, avoiding tobacco and risky substances, and connecting with nature.

My wife and I looked at the many benefits of embracing those pillars, and also at the challenges. We are pragmatists, but committed to health and we understand the benefits of incremental progress in our plant-based journey. We find a comforting truth in an old quote repeated by Dr. Michael Greger (a Founding Member and Fellow of the ACLM): “the perfect is the enemy of the good.” We do our best with our food, with mostly good days, weeks and months, as well as a few less-good patches. But seeing the improvement in our health, especially compared to most people our age, has been remarkable.

I play adult recreational ice hockey. Soon after going vegan my teammates asked repeatedly how I was getting better at my age. When I credited my improved stamina and agility to not eating meat – they stopped asking. But later, a few of them came up to me privately and asked how they could get started.

Plant-based eating is not just about living longer (which is nice), but more importantly it is about being healthier every day. We want to be active, to garden, to engage in sports and to enjoy life with our children and grandchildren – and we do!

People talk about 3 reasons to move to a plant-based diet: personal health, reducing animal cruelty, and concern for the environment – all of which are important to me. But I have a fourth and it is big. In fact, it may have been the biggest motivator for me – but I will save it for the next blog.

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