Rip Esselstyn: In honor of Father's Day last Sunday, I gathered up your questions, called my dad, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Junior. Affectionately known as Esse. I want you to know that there's probably nothing in this world that he loves more than to help people to understand the importance of their fork, the simple fork in fighting disease, and how we should never think that it's okay to injure our endothelial cells. He is the ultimate taskmaster. Much to everyone's disappointment, he doesn't prescribe a 90% plan. He is 100% all-in, and he expects the rest of us to follow suit. He does not believe in moderation, as most of you know, but he does believe in you, and your ability to tackle this disease head-on, and bring it to its knees. Rip Esselstyn: Nobody said that this was going to be easy, and that's okay. All of us, from time to time, need a really good challenge in our lives, to push ourselves outside our comfort zones, test our limits, and see exactly what we're made of. My father speaks the truth. He never rounds up to make an argument land in his favor. He just wants us to live our best, most vibrant lives. Now, to give you a sneak peek, some of the topics we discuss are nitric oxide, and why chewing leafy greens every day is your best defense against chronic Western disease, including COVID-19. Why fluoride toothpaste is a no-no. My father's take on statins, and supplements. Of course, the fear of getting enough protein. Rip Esselstyn: You've got questions, we've got easy answers, so let's dive in. Before we do, a quick reminder, all of you are invited to join our new live, and online Plant-Stock event. It's from August 14th to the 16th. We'll be streaming this interactive weekend learning lab straight from the Esselstyn family farm, which is where my father grew up, and where he formed his early world view, and unwavering work ethic that led to a lifetime of research, and truth-seeking. We have a world class video team that's going to be on hand giving each of you a front row seat to the history of the farm, and very candid conversations that I'll be having with my parents in between talks by the [brockstars 00:02:52] of the Plant Strong Movement. Visit the show notes, or go to plantstock2020.com to register today. I've got some good news. Partial proceeds will benefit the Esselstyn Foundation, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to helping share the good news about plants. Rip Esselstyn: All right, I want to welcome everybody to another episode of the Plant Strong podcast. In honor of Father's Day, I'm going to be interviewing my father. We last brought him on the podcast three months ago, when we just had the outbreak of COVID-19 here in the United States. We'd love to get his thoughts on that. Also, we have a bunch of questions from our podcast listeners, really that are directed towards you, daddy. Let me open this up by saying, in honor of Father's Day, how lucky I am to have you as my father. You have done such a great job blazing such a wonderful, bright path forward. Not only for me, but for so many other people that have had the privilege, and the honor of embracing your tenets around a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle. Beyond that, I've had the privilege of seeing just how you conduct yourself as a father, a man, and a great human being. Thank you for that. Rip Esselstyn: Let me start by... I want to share something with the listeners. Something that happened to me last Sunday. It's obviously something that you're well aware of. I love mountain biking. I mountain bike behind my house. There's this green space of probably anywhere between 20 to 50 miles of mountain biking trails. I've been mountain biking back there for well over 20 years, without any kind of mishap, or injury. Last Sunday morning I was riding with two of my friends, and on a decline that was going into a creek bed, I hit a slippery rock, took a nice tumble, and basically broke the distal part of my fibula. Would you say that's considered part of the ankle? Fair to say? Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: Yes. Rip Esselstyn: Yeah. I immediately knew that something was seriously wrong. I tried to stand up, and got nauseous and wanted to vomit, got lightheaded. These two guys had to end up carrying me out, through the woods, into a back yard. Long story short, went in for x-rays the next day, and in fact it showed that it was fractured. Now, over the next couple days we were trying to get some reassurance as to whether or not I should have a surgery to try and determine if this was a stable, or unstable fracture. We were able to determine a week later, after the inflammation was down, that it was an unstable fracture and needed to be set. Needed to have eight screws and a plate. That surgery happened two days ago. I think everything went really, really well, but I am now convalescing in bed, and it's been really a bit of a torturous last six, seven, eight days on my back, trying to take care of this thing. You've been so helpful as far as guiding me through this process, so thank you. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: Well, Rip, I'm just delighted to have you share your story with the audience. The key, when you have a fracture of the distal fibula, that, along with the tibia makes up the ankle mortis. The bone on either side that rides on the talus. It was very nice to see that they absolutely brought back precisely, as it should be, the anatomy of those bones, even though it took eight screws and a metal plate. Rip Esselstyn: Also, on the other side... Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: You may have some excitement. You can join me when you go through the airport line, and the bells go off. Yeah. Rip Esselstyn: Yeah, yeah. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: Well, it's a little more tincture of time, and skillful neglect, and this will take care of itself nicely, for sure. Rip Esselstyn: Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: Remember what Ralph Waldo Emerson said. Rip Esselstyn: What? Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: This time, like all times, is a great time if one knows but what to do with it. Rip Esselstyn: Yes. Well, I'm trying to figure out what to do with this. I want to get out. I want to swim. I want to walk. I want to do something, ugh. The last time that we had you on the podcast, COVID-19 had just hit. It was back in March, I believe. We're now April, May, June... it's three months later. Do you have any thoughts on where we are right now with the coronavirus? Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: Well, what is very apparent, if you follow the television update every day is that, there are a number of states in the east who really buckled down and played hardball with the masks, social distancing, staying at home, hand washing, and getting, really it was interesting how Governor Cuomo absolutely pounded that message home day after day, after day. The states there in the east have really kept it pretty well under control. On the other hand, those that opened early, and were a bit more lax, or never closed, it looks like we're paying the price. I think the next week will really tell. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: The virus doesn't listen to anybody. The virus has its own pace, and what it's going to do. There has been something that I'm particularly keen on, because it fits right into the lifestyle that we want our patients who have cardiovascular disease to follow. Just to give you a bit of background, this has to do with nitric oxide, and we may have talked about it somewhat last time, but I think it bares repeating because sometimes the whole concept is not that easy for people to grasp the first time. It was actually, I think, a decade or two ago... maybe more, that it was found out that earlier, coronavirus could be killed by nitric oxide, which is obviously a molecule of gas. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: At the present time, there are two academic institutions, both the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, where they have set up a study where the patients who come in with coronavirus will be first exposed to 30 minutes of inhaling nitric oxide. That's repeated three times a day. They're also doing the same with the healthcare workers who will get 30 minutes of inhalation of nitric oxide when they arrive at work, and 30 minutes of inhalation again when they depart for the day. Hopefully, we only really begin to get some results from that, I would think, within the next three or four weeks. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: I'm going to try to stay close to the internet to see whether that progresses. Remember, where the virus enters your system is not through your mouth, it's through your nasal passages, and your trachea, and your bronchus and so forth, down into your lungs.