Our Inspiration

Please meet 2 of our inspirational key opinion leaders who are leading the Plant Based movement here in Thailand & across South East Asia!!

Name: Dr. Sant Chaiyodslip

Sant Chaiyodsilp MD (FCTS, FRCST, FRCFMT) is the Senior Consultant and Specialist at Check-up Center, Phyathai 2 Hospital and Chief Wellness Coach at Mega Lifesciences. Currently he is the President of The Thai Resuscitation Foundation, and Council Member of The Thai Resuscitation Foundation (Thai Heart Association).

‘After having done more than 2,000 open heart operation cases, he himself suffered from ischemic heart disease.’

Previously Dr.Sant Chaiyodsilp 65, was a well-known Thai cardiac surgeon. Since his training in New Zealand and USA his lifestyle had not changed much from eating meat-based European food, drinking sugary soft drink, working long hours with no time for any type of exercise until at 56 years old. After having done more than 2000 open heart operation cases, he himself suffered from ischemic heart disease. The chest pain on exertion was so obvious that he had to call his junior cardiologist to provide him proper treatment. After spending a few months taking medications including statin and antihypertensive drugs, he decided to quit the conventional path which inevitably will lead him to balloon angioplasty or coronary bypass surgery. He wanted to search for better way to deal with his own disease.

After a few weeks of reviewing scientific literature he decide to go ahead with a total lifestyle modification path he learnt from Dr.Dean Ornish’s study. Starting with changing his animal based food pattern to a low fat, plant-based, whole food pattern in conjunction with regular moderate intensity exercise and managing his stress by attempting bed-time meditation. After 6 months, he could stop all medications and maintain all normal health indicators including weight, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, blood sugar etc. By then he was of course free from all the chest pain symptoms.

Such impressive power of total lifestyle modification prompted him to seriously consider what he should do in the future. He decided to quit heart surgery and got further training in family medicine to become a full-fledged family physician. He, together with his new friend, Mr. Vivek Dhawan, established Wellness We care Center at Muaklek, Saraburi in 2016 to teach people how to transform their lives through total lifestyle modification by themselves. The Center is now offering courses and programs every week. Dr.Sant Chaiyodsilp himself is still continue teaching in nearly every course.

You can find out more about the wellness center by following the link to their website: www.wellnesswecare.com

Name: Vivek Dhawan
Chief Coach of Mega Lifesciences Pty

“IT IS NOT SO WE LIVE LONG, BUT TO STAY HEALTHY AS LONG AS WE LIVE”

I am the CEO of a company in Thailand called Mega Lifesciences and I wish to share my story of how I went through heart disease.

I was born and brought up in India and although I was mostly a vegetarian, my diet included dairy products, oils and ghee. After finishing my bachelor’s degree, I went to the US for 2 years. Then I moved to Thailand and started working here. My diet was mostly Thai food - noodles and rice with different sorts of meats, seafood and vegetables. I had always believed I lived a relatively healthy lifestyle.

At 51, while playing Squash one day I started to feel chest pains. I decided to go see a doctor, who suggested I see a cardiologist. They suggested I do a CT Scan, the results were not good. Multiple arteries disease, some of which were almost completely blocked so they advised me to go ahead and operate - stenosis. While I did not agree initially, due to my lifestyle and work I decided to go ahead with it. On my wedding anniversary, 15th August 2012, I was gifted with 4 stents in my chest.

I started my career making supplements and selling them and always believed in the philosophy –food is thy medicine. Now here I was sick and I wanted to find out more about what I could do for my own disease. I stumbled upon Pritikins and how he changed his life, from there more connects with Dr. Ornish, Dr. Mcdougall, Dr. Collin Campbell and his China Study, Dan Beutner and his work on the Blue Zones. The more I read, the more I watched, the more I was convinced that the key to human health lies in the food. I wanted to try for myself. I decided to cut out red meats and only eat fish and some chicken. I decided to reduce sweets and many dairy products. So, I continued to live like this for a year, while taking medicines like Plavix and statins, on and off against my doctor’s orders. I gave up the drugs 6 months after the operation but regularly checked and tested myself. My LDL still remained high in the 170-190 range.

In 2015, with more education from scientific literature, I decided to make my 2nd change: To go totally Plant Based. No animal products, no oil, no dairy, low sugar and salt. The diet is high on grains, legumes, lentils, vegetables and starch. I have never looked back and have now been eating like this for almost 3 years. My LDL cholesterol which had been around 190 since I was in my 30’s has now dropped to 131mg/dl. All my other parameters are normal and I have done this without the use of any drugs. I have lost 8kg in this time and have importantly kept off the weight for 3 years.

I promise you I feel healthier and stronger than before, and I am told I look better now than I did 20 years ago. I believe there is a lot of truth to the PBWF lifestyle. The growth of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and other lifestyle diseases can be prevented and reduced if we eat right. Genetically we are all blessed differently, but we do still have power over our lifestyle choices….

IT IS NOT SO WE LIVE LONG, BUT TO STAY HEALTHY AS LONG AS WE LIVE!!

You can find out more about the publicly listed Health & Wellness Company at the website: www.megawecare.com