3 Minute Interview-Vogel

Examiner Staff Writer 10/10/08

Dr. Robert Vogel, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, co-authored the book titled “The Pritikin Edge” about the Pritikin program, a health and wellness plan. Vogel spoke with The Examiner about the program, founded by Nathan Pritikin, which advocates healthy eating and exercise as the keys to longevity.

How would you characterize the Pritikin philosophy?

We teach lifestyle from the point of view of healthy, long living. It’s not a quick-fix weight loss [plan]. It is a simple comprehensive plan for eating well, for exercising, for de-stressing. All the components are important. I have tried to boil down the entire lifestyle into 10 essentials.

How did you decide on the 10 essentials?

That was my job. I am a cardiologist at the University of Maryland. Everyone is interested in lifestyle, and I started sitting down and thinking about all the different things I need to tell my patients. There was not a place to go that put it all together.

How did your background as a cardiologist help?

My research is the area of lifestyle. I am very interested in how lifestyle affects heart disease. I study where people eat healthy meals or get healthy exercise or watch TV. We can measure the impact on your health and your arteries.

Is this program mainly for people concerned about heart disease?

It’s for people who want to live a long, healthy life. We have programs for kids in the summertime. Many are overweight or have a medical problem, such as diabetes, but we have them all the way from young kids to people who have had a heart attack.

With recipes and tips, this looks a lot like a diet plan. How is it different?

There are lots of pages with just recipes, then a second piece that is a two-week diet plan that is separate. Then there is another section on Pritikin eating. We also talk about going out to restaurants. So we have all approaches. We come from all directions.

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