Ted Barnett, MD, is also known as “Dr Veggie.” An interventional radiographer by day, Dr Veggie has been a plant-based advocate, educator, activist, and gadfly in Rochester, NY and nationally since the early 1990s.

Ted got his first glimpse of the power of plants in 1991 when he stumbled upon Dean Ornish’s book about reversing heart disease through an extremely low-fat diet. Already sold on the ethical and environmental benefits of eliminating animal consumption, he was doing his due diligence to make sure that a vegan diet wasn’t going to compromise his health and that of his growing family. Hopefully, he thought, it won’t be any worse than a regular diet.

Ornish’s work provided actual proof of the efficacy of a low-fat, mostly plant-based diet to reverse arterial damage, including before and after angiography. As a radiographer, Ted was impressed by the pictures. His family went vegan overnight.