Dean Ornish Quotes

#1. When most people think about my work, they think about diet. To me, diet has always been the least interesting part of it.

Dean Ornish

#2. I never give up hope.

Dean Ornish

#3. Our survival depends on the healing power of love, intimacy and relationships. As individuals. As communities. As a country. As a culture. Perhaps even as a species.

Dean Ornish

#4. People who are lonely and depressed are three to 10 times more likely to get sick and die prematurely than those who have a strong sense of love and community. I don't know any other single factor that affects our health - for better and for worse - to such a strong degree.

Dean Ornish

#5. The reason I spend so much of my time doing science is that the whole point of science is to help people resolve conflicting claims by saying: 'Show me the data.'

Dean Ornish

#6. People don't dislike change, they dislike being changed.

Dean Ornish

#7. Eating a vegetarian diet, walking (exercising) everyday, and meditating is considered radical. Allowing someone to slice your chest open and graft your leg veins in your heart is considered normal and conservative.

Dean Ornish

#8. We all know we're going to die one day, but who wants to think about it? What's sustainable is joy, pleasure and freedom.

Dean Ornish

#9. Stress is not so much what you do, but how you react to what you do.

Dean Ornish

#10. I usually find that the process of discovery is more interesting than the answers.

Dean Ornish

#11. When I talk about forgiveness, I mean letting go, not excusing the other person or reconciling with them or condoning the behavior. Just letting go of your own suffering.

Dean Ornish

#12. What matters most is your overall way of eating and living.

Dean Ornish

#13. I've found that if I tell somebody 'Eat this and don't do that,' it's not only not helpful, it's counterproductive because even more than being healthy, we want to feel free and in control, and as soon as somebody tells us to do something, there's a tendency to do just the opposite.

Dean Ornish

#14. I am as non-accepting of medical quackery and unscientific approaches as anybody else. I've grown up as a card-carrying scientist, and I know the power of science to answer questions, and for many questions I don't know of anything better than scientific approaches to answer them.

Dean Ornish

#15. Curious patients are more receptive to new ideas, and those who engage their health practitioners in a dialogue are much more likely to adhere to these recommendations.

Dean Ornish

#16. With everything that you can imagine at our fingertips, many of the social interactions that help tie people together in a community have faded away. Are communities traditionally built on relationships, trust and familiarity a thing of the past?

Dean Ornish

#17. Science is simply a powerful way of understanding what's real and what isn't, what's true and what's not. It can help us determine what works, what doesn't, for whom, and under what circumstances.

Dean Ornish

#18. If I eat mindlessly while watching television, reading, or talking with someone else, I can go through an entire meal without tasting the food, without even noticing that I've been eating. The plate is empty but I didn't enjoy the food - I had all of the calories and little of the pleasure.

Dean Ornish

#19. In general, losing weight is a good thing for those who are overweight, but it's important to lose weight in a way that enhances your health rather than one that may compromise it.

Dean Ornish

#20. I grew up in Texas, eating meat five times a day, and I liked meat. But I began being a vegetarian when I was 19 because I found that I felt better.

Dean Ornish

#21. A valid scientific theory is predictive, verifiable, and replicable. To me, that's beautiful.

Dean Ornish

#22. The need for connection and community is primal, as fundamental as the need for air, water, and food.

Dean Ornish

#23. I'm a big admirer of Walter Willett's work. I think he's done some really important research. He and I agree on most things.

Dean Ornish

#24. When I use the word spirituality, I don't necessarily mean religion; I mean whatever it is that helps you feel connected to something that is larger than yourself.

Dean Ornish

#25. Real power is not given to us or even created; real power is realized. It comes from realizing an inner sense of peace, self-worth, and happiness.

Dean Ornish

#26. Poor health is not caused by something you don't have; it's caused by disturbing something that you already have. Health is not something you need to get, it's something you have already if you don't disturb it.

Dean Ornish

#27. I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol lowering drugs for the rest of their lives.

Dean Ornish

#28. There's no point in giving up something you enjoy unless you get something back that's even better, and quickly.

Dean Ornish

#29. The Internet has transformed many parts of our daily lives, touching everything from how we find information to how we go shopping, get directions, and even stay in touch with friends and family.

Dean Ornish

#30. Although scientists can often be as resistant to new ideas as anyone, the process of science ensures that, over time, good ideas and theories prevail.

Dean Ornish

#31. Meaning is malleable: take it out, you get nihilism and despair. Put it in, you get sacredness and something most special.

Dean Ornish

#32. While the digital age has done so much to improve our world, it has dramatically changed our social structure, often further isolating us from each other.

Dean Ornish

#33. An educated patient is empowered; thus, more likely to become healthy.

Dean Ornish

#34. One of the reasons my father ... became a dentist was so he could always be home for dinner and spend weekends with his family. At one point he had thought about being a musician, but he said, I'm not going to do that because I'd be on the road all the time and I wouldn't be with my family.

Dean Ornish

#35. Think about it: Heart disease and diabetes, which account for more deaths in the U.S. and worldwide than everything else combined, are completely preventable by making comprehensive lifestyle changes. Without drugs or surgery.

Dean Ornish

#36. The healing power of love and relationships has been documented in an increasing number of well-designed scientific studies involving hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world.

Dean Ornish

#37. Even more than feeling healthy, most people want to feel free and in control.

Dean Ornish

#38. Whether you're six or sixty, if you go on a diet and lifestyle program and feel constrained, you're likely to go off it sooner or later. Offering a spectrum of choices is much more effective; then, you feel free and empowered.

Dean Ornish

#39. The need for love and intimacy is a fundamental human need, as primal as the need for food, water, and air.

Dean Ornish

#40. Joy of living is sustainable; fear of dying is not.

Dean Ornish

#41. At a time when 20% of people in the US go to bed hungry each night and almost 50% of the world's population is malnourished, choosing to eat more plant-based foods and less red meat is better for all of us-ourselves, our loved ones, and our planet.

Dean Ornish

#42. Awareness-mindfulness-is the first step in healing. In Counterclockwise, Dr. Ellen Langer eloquently describes how becoming more aware of our beliefs and expectations allows us to powerfully transform our lives for the better. A pioneering, beautifully-written book.

Dean Ornish