Bill Clinton signs his memoir My Life

Source: “Ex-President Presents His Memoir ‘My Life’ – Millions of TV Viewers,” www.meaus.com, Summer 2004 Former President Bill Clinton, who replaced his love for junk food with a vegan diet in 2010, recently endorsed three diet books. Clinton wrote of Dr. Mark Hyman’s forthcoming book The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now, “I’ve made drastic changes to my own diet and exercise routine since my heart troubles surfaced in 2004 and I hope Dr. Hyman’s new book will inspire you as he has inspired me.” Clinton lost 24 pounds in less than two years on a vegan diet he adopted in 2010 after heart surgery and in preparation for his daughter’s wedding. Veganism is a stricter form of vegetarianism, with vegans abstaining from all animal products including meat, eggs, and dairy products. Vegans make up 1% of the US population, compared to 3.2% who are vegetarians. “I went on essentially a plant-based diet,” Clinton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Sep. 22, 2010. “I live on beans, legumes, vegetables, fruit. I drink a protein supplement every morning. No dairy. It changed my whole metabolism and I lost 24 lb., and I got back basically to what I weighed in high school.” Clinton endorsed former New York City Mayor Ed Koch’s Sep. 2010 children’s book Eddie Shapes Up. He wrote in a blurb for the book, “I’m delighted to see books like Eddie Shapes Up encouraging children to embrace wellness at an early age. After undergoing two heart surgeries, I knew I would have to change my lifestyle in order to stay well. The rewards of good health have made it all worthwhile. I only wish I had started on this adventure as a young man.” The former president also endorsed weight-loss coach Charles D’Angelo’s Jan. 2012 book Think and Grow Thin. The United States is the most obese industrialized country in the world with a 33.9% obesity rate according to the World Health Organization.

Sources:

Andrea Sachs, “Galley Girl: Bill Clinton Has a Healthy Appetite for Diet Books,” TIME, Jan. 2, 2012 Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger, “Ex-White House Chef Roland Mesnier Spills Secrets,” www.washingtonpost.com, Jan. 6, 2012