I can empathize with Galileo of knowing how when you know a truth and you know it to be true, you can't turn your back on it. It just won't let you sleep with good conscience. You just can't pretend. They say once you look behind the curtain, you can't pretend you don't know what's behind the curtain. And, those of us in plant-based nutrition, we've seen these diseases go away with a plant-based diet. We know. We've looked behind the curtain. So now it's a matter of getting that word out and helping our colleagues wake up. - Dr. Michael Klaper

Season 3 of the PLANTSTRONG Podcast explores those Galileo Moments, when you seek the real truth about your health and dare to see the world through a different lens. This season, we honor those courageous seekers who have paved the way for all of us, which is why there could be no more perfect guest to kick off this season than Dr. Michael Klaper.

Dr. Klaper, of course, went to Medical school, but also minored in Astronomy, marrying his lifetime fascination with the nighttime sky and the world according to natural law.

His own Galileo moment came in 1981 when he was an anesthesiology resident in Vancouver. He would put patients to sleep so that surgeons could open up their patients' chests. What he saw inside those arteries was unforgettable - yellow gunky atherosclerosis caused by the foods and the high-cholesterol diets they were consuming.

He could no longer deny the truth. He looked through the lens. Not only did Dr. Klaper change his diet to a whole-foods plant-based diet right away, but he also changed his own area of focus in medicine, from anesthesia to plant-based lifestyle medicine. That was almost 40 years ago and he's been going strong ever since, helping to clear those arteries and get his patients off medicine rather than performing these massive avoidable surgeries.

His goal now? Help others, including aspiring physicians, to peel back the curtain and seek the truth about the real cause of illness in our society. "It's the food, it's the food, it's the food."

Episode and PLANTSTRONG Resources:

• Dr. Michael Klaper Website- Moving Medicine Forward

• PLANTSTRONG Challenge Starts January 9th

• PLANTSTRONG Foods - Order your favorites!

• PLANTSTRONG Meal Planner - Discover the easy way to eat PLANTSTRONG

• Rescue 10X Program

• Have you had your own ‘Galileo moment’ that you’d like to share? What happened when you stepped into the arena and shed the beliefs you thought to be true? We’d love to hear about it! Email us at [email protected] to submit your story

• Theme Music for Episode