80% of chronic diseases that are causing our country a fortune, causing people to lose relatives and lose limbs and lose loved ones and work interruptions and all kinds of tragic situations are entirely preventable by simple inexpensive lifestyle steps.

That was Dr. Joel Khan and this week it's all about heart health on episode 128 of the RetroL podcast.

Hey everybody, I'm Rich Roll, your friendly neighborhood ultra endurance athlete best selling author, wellness evangelist, husband, father of four, dog owner, plant eater.

Thanks for tuning in. What do I do here? Well, each week I sit down with somebody really amazing. Sometimes it's somebody you've heard of, sometimes not. But collectively in my opinion, together these people constitute some of the brightest, most forward thinking minds and health wellness fitness sports, nutrition and sometimes even the arts and entrepreneurship.

All people looking at the world differently, all challenging the status quo, breaking paradigms. Why do I do this? To help you discover, uncover, unlock and unleash your best, most authentic self.

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All right you guys, you've heard me say it a million times, despite all this interest, all this intrigue out there that's revolving around wellness and health and diet and nutrition and fitness. The simple fact remains that in the United States at least we are in the midst of an almost unspeakable healthcare crisis.

Let's look at heart disease. America's number one killer. Well, heart disease kills millions of people annually millions. In fact, one out of every two Americans will suffer from some form of heart disease in their life.

And one out of every three deaths in the United States is attributable to heart disease. 70% of Americans are obese and indications are we're getting fatter.

And studies forecast that by 2030 50% of Americans will be diabetic or pre-diabetic. So right now, what does this mean? Well, 75% of all health care costs are attributable to just four chronic conditions heart disease, obesity, diabetes and two forms of cancer, prostate and breast.

And the great irony in all of this is that 90% of all chronic health problems can be resolved by a pretty simple diet and lifestyle alterations.

But here's the tricky part amidst all of this is a ton of confusing information about health and nutrition and diet. And it's really difficult, if not altogether impossible for even a very, very savvy consumer.

To separate back from fiction, to separate truth from hyperbole to divine the difference between good information on the one hand and good news about bad habits on the other hand.

Because those are two different things. So today to help me sift through all of this. I sit down with my good buddy, Dr. Joel Khan. If you're a long time listener of the podcast, you might remember that I had him on the show.

Well, it must have been a year and a half ago. It was episode 44. So if you want his whole origin story, go back and listen to that episode. But real quick, who is Joel? Well, Joel is a guy who calls himself an inter-preventional cardiologist. What does that mean? Well, it means basically that he treats his patients with a blend of traditional interventional cardiology. In other words, things like stents.

And also preventive cardiology. And it's this rare combination that makes him pretty unique in his field. This is a really smart guy. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan's prestigious in a flex program, which is this crazy six year undergraduate slash graduate program that basically develops doctors fresh out of high school. It's like you graduate from high school and you're immediately in medical school.

And Joel has served as clinical assistant professor of medicine and cardiology at Wayne State University School of Medicine since 1993. He has authored over 130 articles on heart disease. He is a frequent lecturer on heart disease and its prevention. And he has performed thousands of cardiac procedures and has been advising patients on heart healthy programs for over 20 years. So what am I saying? Well, basically I'm saying,

Joel is a guy that knows what he's talking about and his basic message is, look, if you want to experience true long term wellness, then you're going to have to focus on implementing sustainable long term preventive protocols into your lifestyle. And this starts and ends with diet and active lifestyle. This is not brain surgery you guys.

But today, the main and really the specific thrust of our conversation is focused on what is really going on in nutritional science? What is truth and what is marketing? In other words, or for example, is butter really back? And what are the health impacts of a low carb high fat diet versus a plant based diet? What are the risks and what are the benefits?

If any of hyped up trends like butter and oil in your morning coffee, what is going on with this idea that suddenly everything we thought we knew about saturated fat is wrong. And now suddenly it's our best friend. And this related idea that dietary cholesterol intake has no bearing on heart health.

And this is like the new idea that's out there right now. I really wanted to get his opinion on this subject as well as his opinion on the optimal protocol to maintain heart health in this culture in which heart disease is literally an epidemic that has already spiraled far, far out of control.

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