Bill Clinton Diet: Has Junk Food Lover Really Gone Vegetarian?

Former President Clinton walks his daughter, Chelsea, down the aisle on July 31, 2010. (de Manio Photography)

(CBS) President Clinton - famous for his appetite for junk food - says he's made the switch to a healthy, plant-based diet.

He told Wolf Blitzer on CNN that although he eats a little fish, he stays away from other meat - dairy too. He's learned to like almond milk.

His reasoning? His surgically cleared coronary arteries began to re-clog, he said on the CNN program. It was then that  he learned that heart patients who adopt a plant-based diet usually start getting better on their own.

"Their bodies begin to heal themselves," he said. "Well, since I needed to lose a little weight for Chelsea's wedding, I thought I'd be a part of the experiment and see if I could be one of those."

He ended up shedding 24 pounds. No word on the condition of his coronary arteries, though science seems to back his new diet.

Says the American Dietetic Association: "Appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases."

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[lifewatchgroup]

WE applaud Clinton. We humans, as per DNA studies, are veegans. This is why heart attacks, strokes and cancers are killing us in meat ( ckicken and fish too) eating nations.
Please watch HOME in youtube by Yann Arthus, to see how changing our diet, we also will save the planet. Over 51 % OF POLLUTION COMES FROM ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, SO EATING VEGETABLES WILL HELP US ALL.

[edixope4842]

Bill's favorite vegetable at one time was Monica Lewinsky.

[Amethystmoon]

One who avoids meat except fish is pescatarian, NOT vegetarian. I wish these news sites would do their research. Granted, fish is still healthier than eating red meat. But they need to get their terms right.

No, I'm not vegetarian now, but I have done vegetarian diets to lose weight.

[stuwerb]

Silver lining for Clinton -- he can still eat those 100% potato McDonald's fries.

[amerilatino]

If he'd gone veggie back in '95, he'd never have gotten in the trouble he did...