Doctors Gave Him 4 Years To Live: How A Biochemist REVERSED His Heart Disease - With Patrick Theut

Ben Greenfield (0:00)

My name is Ben Greenfield, and on this episode of the Boundless Life podcast.

Patrick Theut (0:05)

He said, you've got four years to live. The stint ain't gonna work, because your pipe's already large. The wall's gonna get thinner, thinner, thinner, and it's gonna burst. And this exact quote that I said to him, my body got me into this mess, my body can get me out of this mess. And then he said to my friends, this guy's in denial.

Ben Greenfield (0:21)

Welcome to the Boundless Life, with me, your host, Ben Greenfield. I'm a personal trainer, exercise physiologist, and nutritionist, and I'm passionate about helping you discover unparalleled levels of health, fitness, longevity, and beyond.

All right, here's a doozy of an episode. This is a throwback to my conversation with Patrick Theut. He was 48, he was winning 5Ks, he was playing ice hockey. He went to Mayo Clinic for a full physical. He passed every test they gave him. On the way out, he asked for one more. You're gonna find out what that is. They told me he didn't need it, he got it anyway.

And what came back sent him down the road that ended with him reversing his own coronary artery disease and regressing plaque. I went through something very similar myself, so this one really stuck with me. I'm still on a plaque regression journey that I'll continue to share with you guys as we go. Super important when it comes to cardiovascular disease management. All the show notes are gonna be at bengreenfieldlife.com/healthyheart.

Patrick Theut (1:24)

Enjoy.

Ben Greenfield (1:25)

So, Patrick, welcome to the show, and I would just love to hear your story about what happened to you and your heart to get you interested in this in the first place.

Patrick Theut (1:35)

Well, it all happened by accident in 2001, when I was getting my 2NBA at the University of Minnesota, Cal State School. One of my classmates was the vice chair of psychology and psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic. The class in front of us had the head of cardiology, and the three of us got to talking, and they convinced me to get what's called an executive physical.

And it's a 3D physical. Now, mind you, at that time, I was 48 years old, winning 5Ks, 10Ks, still playing ice hockey. You know, I'm doing fine.

Ben Greenfield (2:17)

Yeah.

Patrick Theut (2:18)

Well, one thing leads to another. They conchaled me and teased me and all that. So I went there for a three-day physical. Honest, I freaking got three days. Boy, that was something. So, and I passed everything with flying colors, as I pretty much assumed I would. But what was really crazy was my last afternoon, well, my last morning there, my attending personal care physician said, is there any other tests that you would like run? And I had heard about these calcium score tests while driving through Chicago, almost six, eight months earlier. And I just said, hey, do you have something to do with a calcium test or a calcium score? They said, yes, we will, but we don't recommend it. I said, why? I said, because you passed all your tests without a problem. I said, okay, but don't you have to give me what I asked for? Oh yeah, we do. I says, okay, I want one.

Well, she gave me one at like 11 o'clock in the morning. That took like five minutes. It was an EDT scanner, very, very accurate. So then I go to lunch and that's what it all changed.

I had pot roast, potatoes, they gave me some green beans and a chouper of beer. I'll never forget that, that was kind of my last meal before.

Ben Greenfield (3:41)

I was going to say, were you trying to game the test?

Patrick Theut (3:47)

My next interview was with all the attending physicians. And I wanted to say one thing, if I wasn't for the Mayo Clinic, I'd be dead. So hats off to them, they did a great job. They really did. So I go into the 130 meeting and there's my two friends and the other attending physicians based on my various things, like the kidney guy was there and the heart guy was there and the this and that and the other thing. I sat down and I said, boy, it looks like somebody just died. My friend, Donnie, goes, Pat, you really don't underestimate things or understate things. So they put on my chelsea score in the flat screen. So I'm going to go on to the sagittal sections of my heart and get to my left main and it's glowing like a rib.