page_title: Kevin Smith
section_title: Health
hierarchical_section_title: Kevin Smith / Personal life / Health
caption_attribution_description: Kevin Smith speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.
context_page_description: Kevin Patrick Smith is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, public speaker, comic book writer, author, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy film Clerks, which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in as the character Silent Bob of stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob. Jay and Silent Bob also appeared in Smith's later films Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which are set primarily in his home state of New Jersey. While not strictly sequential, the films have crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon known as the "View Askewniverse", named after Smith's production company View Askew Productions, which he co-founded with Scott Mosier.
  Since 2011, Smith has mostly made horror films, including Red State and the "comedy horror films" Tusk and Yoga Hosers, two in a planned series of three such films set in Canada dubbed the True North trilogy. He has also served as a director-for-hire for material he did not write, including the buddy cop action comedy Cop Out and various television series episodes.
context_section_description: Smith never smoked until his debut film, Clerks, in which he used the cigarettes as a prop, but did not inhale. He quit smoking cigarettes in 2008 after taking up smoking cannabis after working with Seth Rogen on Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
  Smith has had a history of yo-yo dieting, being an avid supporter of "Optifast". He lost 50 pounds (23 kg) upon meeting his wife. During production of Clerks II in 2005, Smith used OptiFast to go from 319 pounds (145 kg) to 269 pounds (122 kg). In 2008, he weighed in excess of 400 pounds (180 kg). After watching Fed Up, Smith eliminated sugar from his diet and took up juice fasts in 2014, lowering his weight from 330 pounds (150 kg) to 240 pounds (110 kg).
  On February 25, 2018, after performing a stand-up comedy show at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California, Smith suffered a severe heart attack caused by a total blockage of the left anterior descending artery. An ambulance rushed him to the nearby Glendale Adventist Medical Center for emergency surgery, from which he recovered. Following the episode, his doctor told him he needed to lose another 50 pounds (23 kg). Smith adopted a diet devised by scientist Ray Cronise based on work by Joel Fuhrman, which involves eating a single plant-based food (in Smith's case, potatoes) with no added salt or fat for two weeks, then gradually adding additional foods but remaining on an all-vegan diet. Smith heard about the diet from Adam Rifkin, who told him about magician Penn Jillette's weight loss on that diet in 2015 after Jillette's own health scare. Nine days into the diet, Smith had already lost 17 pounds (7.7 kg). Eight months later, Smith had lost 58 pounds (26 kg), going from 256 pounds (116 kg) to 198 pounds (90 kg). He also joined Weight Watchers and became a paid spokesperson for the brand. As of 2019, Smith maintains a vegan diet.
caption: Smith in 2018, several months after his heart attack and having lost significant weight via a vegan diet
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