Ep. 150: Paul Young - This Firefighter Responded to His Own 911 Alarm Call with Plants

Paul Young is a hero. He's a husband, father of three, and has been a firefighter in Southern California for 17 years. He LOVES his life and his job.

Imagine his surprise when he had his annual firefighting physical and received results that frightened him: 243 total cholesterol, 173 LDL, and a heart calcium score of 104, which put him in the 90th percentile in his age for a cardiac event.

As Paul says, he thought he was healthy and had dabbled with whole-food plant-based nutrition but, after thoughtful consideration, realized he was still consuming too many processed foods, cheese, and seafood, and wasn't "all-in."

Earlier this year, Paul went ALL IN and, in just a few short weeks, the results astonished even his Doctor. It inspired Paul to reach out to Rip.

Paul graciously shares his story with Rip, his "why" wanting to improve his health, his doctor’s reaction when those follow-up tests came back, and what this means for his life and his family now. I can promise you - there’s no turning back for this firefighting brother who ditched the meat-and-potato firehouse culture for tofu and broccoli!

Episode Timestamps

6:00 Rip introduces Paul

11:14 Almost 90% of his calls are medical calls and not fires!

13:10 What happened at his annual fire department physical?

15:07 Why he didn't want to take statins

16:21 The pitfalls of moderation

17:30 The results speak for themselves!

21:30 Feeling empowered and in control, despite a family history

22:50 A day in the life of Paul's diet

25:00 Reactions from the firehouse and the family

28:45 What happened when he found out his white blood cell count was low

31:15 What's next for this firefighting athlete?

35:40 Paul's advice for fellow firefighters

Episode Resources

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Theme Music for Episode

Promo Music: Your Love by Atch License: Creative Commons License - Attribution 3.0