Rip Esselstyn (born February 16, 1963) is an American health activist, food writer, and former firefighter and

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

. He is known as an advocate of

low-fat Diet food (or dietetic food) refers to any food or beverage whose recipe is altered to reduce fat, carbohydrates, and/or sugar in order to make it part of a weight loss program or diet. Such foods are usually intended to assist in weight loss o ...

, whole-food,

plant-based diet A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. It encompasses a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of fiber-rich plant products such as vegetables ...

that excludes all animal products and processed foods.Deborah Blumenthal
"Firefighters Gone Vegan? Even Austin Is Impressed"
''The New York Times'', March 26, 2006: "The five firefighters of Team C at Firehouse 2 — Rip Esselstyn, James Rae, Matt Moore, Derick Zwerneman and Scott Walters — now eat vegan".
"Vegan firefighter on his 'Beef With Meat'"
CBS ''This Morning'': "Rip Esselstyn, a firefighter in Austin, Texas, convinced his firehouse to switch to a vegan diet." *Roseann Marulli Rodriguez
Interview with Rip Esselstyn
''Super Vegan'', August 16, 2010. He calls it a "plant strong" diet, a term he has trademarked. He has appeared in two documentaries about plant-based nutrition: '' Forks Over Knives'' (2011) and ''

The Game Changers ''The Game Changers'' is a 2018 American documentary film about vegan athletes who follow plant-based diets. Release ''The Game Changers'' debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018, with a second edit released worldwide for a one-da ...

'' (2018). He is the author of ''The Engine 2 Diet'' (2009), ''My Beef With Meat'' (2013), ''Plant-Strong'' (2016), and ''The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet'' (2017). Rip is the founder and CEO of PLANTSTRONG, a company focused on whole food, plant-based nutrition and combating the rise of ultra-processed foods.

Early life

Esselstyn was born in

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

on February 16, 1963, the son of Ann and surgeon Caldwell Esselstyn. He was named after

Rip Van Winkle "Rip Van Winkle" () is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in Colonial history of the United States, colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Du ...

. He is the grandson of surgeon George Crile, Jr. and the great-grandson of surgeon

George Washington Crile George Washington Crile (November 11, 1864 – January 7, 1943) was an American surgeon. Crile is now formally recognized as the first surgeon to have succeeded in a direct blood transfusion. He contributed to other procedures, such as neck d ...

. His father is a former Olympic

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

champion who was one of the early advocates of a whole-food, plant-based diet in the prevention and reversal of heart disease.Spector, Kaye.
Great-grandson of Cleveland Clinic founder offers his own advice for healthy living
''The Plain Dealer'', May 5, 2009. He has a sister named Jane and grew up in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

.Rip Esselstyn biography
, engine2diet.com.Howard Lyman

''The Mad Cowboy'', undated. He graduated from the Mercersburg Academy in 1981 and attended the

University of Texas, Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 20 ...

on a swimming scholarship from 1982 to 1986.INTERVIEW: "The Engine 2 Diet" author and "Forks Over Knives" star Rip Esselstyn
, ''Philadelphia City Paper'', May 19, 2011 During that time, he became an All-American swimmer. After college, he became a

and competed for approximately ten years. In 1997, he retired as a triathlete and turned his attention towards becoming a firefighter and

emergency medical technician An emergency medical technician (often, more simply, EMT) is a medical professional that provides emergency medical services. EMTs are most commonly found serving on ambulances and in fire departments in the US and Canada, as full-time and som ...

, joining Engine 2 of the

Austin Fire Department The Austin Fire Department provides fire protection and first-response emergency medical services to the city of Austin, Texas. The Austin Fire Department is the fourth largest fire department (by number of personnel) in the state of Texas. I ...

. He retired from firefighting to focus on becoming an advocate for plant-based nutrition.

Career

PLANTSTRONG and Recent Work

In 2019, Esselstyn rebranded his Engine 2 business as PLANTSTRONG, expanding into a line of whole-food, plant-based food products, meal planning services, and educational content. The company emphasizes simplicity, accessibility, and avoiding ultra-processed foods. As CEO, Esselstyn has positioned PLANTSTRONG as a voice in the fight against nutritional confusion, advocating for evidence-based, minimally processed diets. He also hosts the PLANTSTRONG Podcast, where he interviews experts in nutrition, lifestyle medicine, and plant-based living.

Writing

Whilst he grew up eating the standard American diet, Esselstyn switched to a whole-foods plant-based diet in 1987, cutting out meat, fish, eggs and dairy. He was also inspired by Dave Scott, who was a vegetarian. Esselstyn describes his approach as "plant-strong" and has trademarked the term. He says he avoids the word "

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

" in case it discourages people, and believes that "plant strong" sounds healthier and more inclusive. Howard Lyman
Mad Cowboy Interview 07: Rip Esselstyn (Part 1)
''The Mad Cowboy'', undated. * Kerry Lengel

''Arizona Living'', May 12, 2011: "'I like "plant-strong" as opposed to vegan or vegetarian,' he says. 'I think it's much more inclusive and embracing and friendly, and a more accurate description of what it is we're trying to do here, because it's about a whole-food, nutrient-rich, plant-based diet.'"

''The Engine 2 Diet'' (2009)

In 2003, when a co-worker at the Engine 2 fire department discovered that his

cholesterol Cholesterol is the principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body Tissue (biology), tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in Animal fat, animal fats and oils. Cholesterol is biosynthesis, biosynthesized by all anima ...

was very high, Esselstyn encouraged the Engine 2 team to switch to a whole foods, plant-based diet to help their colleague. This experience eventually led him to write ''The Engine 2 Diet'', which begins with a foreword by T. Colin Campbell, author of ''

The China Study ''The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health'' is a book by T. Colin Campbell and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II. The book argues for heal ...

'' (2005).Former fireman preaches 'plant-strong' gospel in doc
''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Free Press'' (or FP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press''; previously known as the ''Winnipeg Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, natio ...

'', June 2, 2011. ''The Engine 2 Diet'' appeared on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list and was endorsed by Chicago Mayor

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...

, who made a public appearance with Esselstyn in January 2013. In 2010,

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from Hydrogenated fat, hydrogenated fats and artificia ...

included ''The Engine 2 Diet'' as a "Healthy Eating Partner".

''My Beef With Meat'' (2013)

In 2013, Esselstyn released another book, ''My Beef With Meat.'' It was a ''New York Times'' best seller ("Advice, How-To, & Miscellaneous List") that reached the #1 spot for the week of June 2, 2013.

''Forks Over Knives''

Esselstyn appeared, along with his father and T. Colin Campbell, in the 2011 American documentary on whole foods, plant-based eating, '' Forks Over Knives.'' He later developed and starred in the follow-up documentary, ''Forks Over Knives Presents: The Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue with Rip Esselstyn''.Forks Over Knives Cast
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Personal life

Esselstyn is married to Jill Kolasinski, with whom he has three children.

Awards

*2001

World Police and Fire Games The World Police and Fire Games (WPFG) is a biennial athletic event, open to active and retired law enforcement and fire service personnel throughout the world. The WPFG Federation is an arm of the California Police Athletic Federation (CPAF), ...

: First Place * Capital of Texas triathlon: Eight-time winner *

Escape from Alcatraz (triathlon) Escape from Alcatraz is the name for two different triathlons held in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. The Escape from Alcatraz originated in 1981 as a private club event, beginning in San Francisco and ending in Marin County, Califor ...

: Six-time winnerEsselstyn, Rip. ''The Engine 2 Diet.'' New York: Wellness Central/

Hachette Book Group USA Hachette Book Group, Inc. (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardè ...

, 2009 :10. * U.S. Masters Swimming 200 Meter Backstroke record for men 55–59, set 7/20/2019''Lifetime Records for Rip Esselstyn'' https://www.usms.org/comp/poolrecords.php?ri=i&SwimmerID=02R25

Works

;Books * * Foreword by T. Colin Campbell. *Esselstyn, Rip (December 2016). The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet. Hachette Book Group USA. . With recipes by Jane Esselstyn. ;DVDs *''Forks Over Knives Presents The Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue with Rip Esselstyn'' (2011)

References

External links

Official website of the Plantstrong diet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esselstyn, Rip 1963 births Living people Activists from New York (state) American health activists American male triathletes American food writers American health and wellness writers American veganism activists Plant-based diet advocates Plant-based cookbook writers Sportspeople from Texas University of Texas at Austin alumni 20th-century American sportsmen