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Turbocharging the body's healing efforts
MAC & Bronchiectasis | Last Active: Mar 13 3:12am | Replies (36)Comment receiving replies
Shari, You're probably gonna think I'm the Grinch who took the enjoyment out of eating. At that risk I'll tell you that since 2007 I've been eating an exclusively low-fat, whole-food, plant-based diet. It was prompted by reading a remarkable book by Emeritus Cornell Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry, T. Colin Campbell who authored a book with a regrettably misleading title called The China Study which The New York Times deemed to be the most comprehensive study of human nutrition ever undertaken. Campbell is of a mind with a comparatively small cadre of like-minded physicians, dieticians and hangers-on like me who champion this way of eating. At least two of those physicians have conducted research which yielded angiographic evidence that this way of eating, strictly pursued, can actually not only arrest, but reverse heart disease: Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. and Dean Ornish.
In my "down-home" way of thinking I figure if this way of eating can reverse heart disease it's probably good for me too, even though I don't have heart disease. Now here's the part you're probably not gonna like. The "low-fat" element is no where near the "anything below 30% of calories from fat the the USDA considers "low." The diet that Esselstyn and Ornish consider low-fat is at or below 10% of calories from fat. It's difficult, perhaps impossible, to achieve that level without jettisoning cooking oils from one's diet. Here's a section from a plant-based nutrition blog I used to write which explains the rationale.
My Early Light posting last time included the following verbiage, “…Cornucopia of seven or eight colorful vegetables steaming in a Wok with a splash of water…” There’s a stealth health message in them there words, drawing so little attention to itself that you may have missed it. It involves a significant departure from the Standard American Diet (SAD) and it’s the fact that I used no oil in cooking the vegetables. Truth to tell,I use no oil in any of my food prep. Not even olive oil one might ask? Correct. Not even olive oil. And here’s why.
To begin with olive oil isn’t a food but a highly refined, processed food extract. It has no protein or essential amino acids, it has no carbohydrates, it has no fiber, it has no minerals and almost no vitamins except a little vitamin E and some phytosterols. So if it’s not a food, what is it? Well, it’s pure fat, and nothing in your food pantry or on the planet is more calorie-dense. Most oils are low in Omega 3 fats (which we need more of) and very high in Omega 6 fats (which most American need less of) It’s true that both of these fatty acids are “essential,” but most American diets are heavily unbalanced in favor of Omega 6’s which is undesirable.
A convenient definition of a junk food is a food that’s calorie-dense (high fat, high sugar and usually high salt) and has little or no nutrient value. Assessed in this way cooking oils, including olive oil, are checkmated.
But if you really feel you need olive oil, why not go for the gusto. Eat a few olives and have the benefit of the WHOLE FOOD with its marvelous symphony of interacting nutrients, not just the processed extract of pure fat. Stay tuned.
This post, other than being about an increasingly popular and healthful way of eating, has nothing to do with Bronchiecstasis and MAC which arouses concern in me that I'm at risk of becoming persona non Grata on this discussion board. Don (Thumperguy)
Replies to "Shari, You're probably gonna think I'm the Grinch who took the enjoyment out of eating. At..."
interesting post to consider thanks Thumperguy for reminding us to eat healthier than what we currently are!
Well...I had been an ovo-lacto vegetarian since the 70's and gradually became a vegan in the past twenty years. But guess what? The amount of food that one must eat to be a healthy vegan, completely goes against my own experience with bronchiectasis. Whole grains and beans, nuts and seeds eaten in the quantities one must eat them to be healthy created so much mucus in my system once BE set in that I started having hemoptysis on a regular basis. Now I can only eat soups if I want to avoid these episodes, and my weight declined dramatically b/c of the smaller quantities of food that my lungs could tolerate. Now I have to put bone broth in my soups in order to get the 70 grams of protein I need, and I eat sardines maybe once a week, and no dairy. Salmon occasionally too for the protein hit. I know a TON about vegan nutrition--followed the Food Revolution Network for a few years and still get their daily email, which is full of great information. But one has to eat A LOT to be a healthy vegan and my lungs no longer can tolerate it. A strange case, I know. But I have documented every last thing I eat and the quantity and this is irrefutable. I am very sad that I have not found the way to revert to my vegan diet. Maybe something will change.
I'm also curious to know whether fresh produce carries MAC and what one should do to minimize the load of that. I eat a ton of pureed organic greens and vegetables: dandelion greens, collard, kale, bok choy, broccoli rabe, rutabaga, parsnips, etc. --all coming from my local farmers in northern california--do you know about any preparation and washing tips? I only steam the vegetables before I puree them for my soups, so wonder if MAC from the dirt can be lurking on the vegetables themselves. Thanks for any insights you may have.
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@thumpeprguy Don, I totally disagree with you that this has nothing to do with Bronchiectasis and MAC because I believe what you're saying about your diet, no oils, COULD lead to helping us all out with this disease. I also follow the doctors you follow plus Dr. Furhman, Dr. Greger, Dr. Hyman....Dr. Furhman reverses diabetes and heart disease all the time with his patients and he believes in no oils. If you notice you NEVER hear of reversing lung disease and I truly believe it's because it really hasn't been tested with these ways of eating and we're just not there yet. I mean look at Dr. Terry Wahls who reversed her MS with her diet. (I don't know that it totally reversed but she sent it into remission) And my closest friend, who is a doctor and has an autoimmune disease (Excema) and had been given steroids for TWENTY years by DOCTORS went on the Terry Walh's diet recently after going to a functional medicine doctor (she apparently has three diets, one being stricter than the others) and she says her excema is almost 95% BETTER! Think about that. FOOD. It was food that was the medicine. So I'm a huge supporter of what you say. I so want to try that diet just to see what would happen but it's ALOT of vegetables...six cups a day. My problem is the sweet tooth. I just can't give up chocolate or any variation thereof. And look at Daniel Pecaut. He did it. I've tried a lot of the things he did. No complete success yet but I'm not giving up. I believe that all you're writing is very helpful. You're a smart guy. You will not become a persona non grata on this discussion board in my eyes. It only helps people become healthier. Nan