Valter Longo has written a book, "The Longevity Diet." He's a researcher from USC and advocate of the Mediterranean diet plus fasting once or twice a month. He also developed the Fasting Mimicking Diet which had a clinical trial at Mayo Rochester. It seems to be very beneficial before chemotherapy.
I've not posted here before. Jumpin' in now apropos of nothing in particular, but for many years I wrote a piece on plant-based eating. I'm posting an old one here to see how the forum participants respond.
KILLING OURSELVES (slowly) WITH OUR KNIVES AND FORKS
Thursday, November 27th, Breakfast, Drury Inn, Joplin, Missouri. Piggin’ out on rolled oats. A darling, maybe 10 year old, girl heads for a table to join her family, taking care to not drop or spill her food. Like the old song says, “it’s a wonderful sight when the family unites.”
A steaming bowl of oats, a box of almond milk, topped with some chopped dates, a sprinkle of walnut pieces, a banana, and an orange. That’s breakfast. Pretty healthful stuff. Problem is, that’s what I’m eatin’. The girl’s plate isn’t my sissy food but rather the embodiment of the larrupin’ good standard American diet. She was having scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, a biscuit with gravy and a doughnut. What evil could possibly lurk in food that tastes so good and is so comfortably familiar? The Shadow knows and so do I. You probably know too, but in case not, it’s you’re lucky day ‘cause I’m gonna tell ya. The unsuspecting child was about to take on an ample load of animal fat, sugar, salt and cholesterol. The latter from “nature’s perfect food,” the egg. But this meal isn’t just one of excess. There’s a deficit here too. So, what’s missing? Well it’s FIBER. Natural born enemy of colon cancer, etc. Hardly enough in her breakie to bother counting.
But Don, you curmudgeon, let up, it’s Thanksgiving for goodness sake. Feast day! Okay, but the rub is, the youngster’s breakfast tomorrow, coupled with similar meals day in, day out for weeks, and months, and years will almost surely, eventually make this innocent child sick and fat. Her chances of developing one of the “diseases of affluence” will be markedly increased. These are the diseases from which most Americans die, and all too frequently they die only following years of dependence on outrageously costly drugs, drastically compromised health and outright disability. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer (colo-rectal, breast, prostate), various autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, kidney disease is but an incomplete list of ailments that are linked in varying degrees to the high fat, high sugar, high salt, animal-based Western diet.
Adopting a low-fat, plant-based diet too demanding though, too drastic, too weird? Drastic? How ‘bout having your chest split open to temporarily rescue your vascular system, or you watch helplessly as a wound that won’t heal gives new and personal meaning to the word diabetes, or you’re wheelchair bound with an arm or hand gnarled from the sequela of a stroke. Pretty “drastic” stuff compared to a benign plateful of healthful starches and colorful vegetables. Think about it.
NOT ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT? TRY THIS
A year or so ago Consumer Reports told us that rice, due to growing largely submerged in water, is unusually proficient at absorbing adventitious arsenic from its growing environment. Making matters worse, brown rice has more of the poison than does white rice. This is because the arsenic is concentrated in the otherwise health promoting outer bran layer which is removed to turn brown rice into white. When this is done it removes a substantial load of arsenic. This is bad news to those of us
who buy brown rice in 15 – 20 pound lots and hose it down like candy. The FDA has reported that arsenic levels are too low to be of immediate or short-term concern. The long-term question remains open and the FDA’s work going forward will focus on how long it’ll take the stuff to kill us. Here’s what one can do to reduce the toxicity level of brown rice. Thailand and India are typically mentioned as sources of rice with the lowest levels of arsenic. Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas generally have higher levels than rice from other areas. I’ll continue to use brown jasmine rice which I buy at an Asian food store. Expert opinion suggests rinsing at least a full minute before cooking. Cook in 6:1 water to rice ratio. When done, drain and thoroughly rinse again. Consider alternatives, e.g., quinoa, millet (yuck!).
A FINAL THOUGHT
Though I know and appreciate that there are individual factors in each person's life that can present real impediments to giving up all animal foods and cooking oils. Notwithstanding, I’ve become increasingly convinced that there are few, if any, overwhelming reasons for one to continue to eat in a way that supports the cruel travesty of factory farming of sentient creatures, wreaks havoc on the environment, and, sooner or later, engenders grave health problems in most human beings.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener, for that is what I’d really like to be. For if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener, everyone would be in love with me.”
Sound familiar? An example of how our “friend’s” in the food business convince children that nothing could be more fun that eating junk food.
I've not posted here before. Jumpin' in now apropos of nothing in particular, but for many years I wrote a piece on plant-based eating. I'm posting an old one here to see how the forum participants respond.
KILLING OURSELVES (slowly) WITH OUR KNIVES AND FORKS
Thursday, November 27th, Breakfast, Drury Inn, Joplin, Missouri. Piggin’ out on rolled oats. A darling, maybe 10 year old, girl heads for a table to join her family, taking care to not drop or spill her food. Like the old song says, “it’s a wonderful sight when the family unites.”
A steaming bowl of oats, a box of almond milk, topped with some chopped dates, a sprinkle of walnut pieces, a banana, and an orange. That’s breakfast. Pretty healthful stuff. Problem is, that’s what I’m eatin’. The girl’s plate isn’t my sissy food but rather the embodiment of the larrupin’ good standard American diet. She was having scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, a biscuit with gravy and a doughnut. What evil could possibly lurk in food that tastes so good and is so comfortably familiar? The Shadow knows and so do I. You probably know too, but in case not, it’s you’re lucky day ‘cause I’m gonna tell ya. The unsuspecting child was about to take on an ample load of animal fat, sugar, salt and cholesterol. The latter from “nature’s perfect food,” the egg. But this meal isn’t just one of excess. There’s a deficit here too. So, what’s missing? Well it’s FIBER. Natural born enemy of colon cancer, etc. Hardly enough in her breakie to bother counting.
But Don, you curmudgeon, let up, it’s Thanksgiving for goodness sake. Feast day! Okay, but the rub is, the youngster’s breakfast tomorrow, coupled with similar meals day in, day out for weeks, and months, and years will almost surely, eventually make this innocent child sick and fat. Her chances of developing one of the “diseases of affluence” will be markedly increased. These are the diseases from which most Americans die, and all too frequently they die only following years of dependence on outrageously costly drugs, drastically compromised health and outright disability. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer (colo-rectal, breast, prostate), various autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, kidney disease is but an incomplete list of ailments that are linked in varying degrees to the high fat, high sugar, high salt, animal-based Western diet.
Adopting a low-fat, plant-based diet too demanding though, too drastic, too weird? Drastic? How ‘bout having your chest split open to temporarily rescue your vascular system, or you watch helplessly as a wound that won’t heal gives new and personal meaning to the word diabetes, or you’re wheelchair bound with an arm or hand gnarled from the sequela of a stroke. Pretty “drastic” stuff compared to a benign plateful of healthful starches and colorful vegetables. Think about it.
NOT ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT? TRY THIS
A year or so ago Consumer Reports told us that rice, due to growing largely submerged in water, is unusually proficient at absorbing adventitious arsenic from its growing environment. Making matters worse, brown rice has more of the poison than does white rice. This is because the arsenic is concentrated in the otherwise health promoting outer bran layer which is removed to turn brown rice into white. When this is done it removes a substantial load of arsenic. This is bad news to those of us
who buy brown rice in 15 – 20 pound lots and hose it down like candy. The FDA has reported that arsenic levels are too low to be of immediate or short-term concern. The long-term question remains open and the FDA’s work going forward will focus on how long it’ll take the stuff to kill us. Here’s what one can do to reduce the toxicity level of brown rice. Thailand and India are typically mentioned as sources of rice with the lowest levels of arsenic. Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas generally have higher levels than rice from other areas. I’ll continue to use brown jasmine rice which I buy at an Asian food store. Expert opinion suggests rinsing at least a full minute before cooking. Cook in 6:1 water to rice ratio. When done, drain and thoroughly rinse again. Consider alternatives, e.g., quinoa, millet (yuck!).
A FINAL THOUGHT
Though I know and appreciate that there are individual factors in each person's life that can present real impediments to giving up all animal foods and cooking oils. Notwithstanding, I’ve become increasingly convinced that there are few, if any, overwhelming reasons for one to continue to eat in a way that supports the cruel travesty of factory farming of sentient creatures, wreaks havoc on the environment, and, sooner or later, engenders grave health problems in most human beings.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener, for that is what I’d really like to be. For if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener, everyone would be in love with me.”
Sound familiar? An example of how our “friend’s” in the food business convince children that nothing could be more fun that eating junk food.
@thumperguy, Don, I really enjoyed reading your article. When I was diag. with pre-diabetes and then kidney disease this past year, I made radical changes to my diet. My doing so and following much of what you mention, I changed my lab values from pre-diabetes to normal and my CKD gfr values from stage 3 to stage 2. While eliminations and restrictions of some foods were harder than others, I am now a firm believer in how adapting the appropriate diet for serious health issues can make a data based improvement. While I've made friends with foods I'd never met before like quinoa, chia and flax seeds and many others, I'll never go back to my heavily laden red meats, too salty, too sweet, overdosed preservative additions found in most prepared, canned foods popular in the groceries. Cooking from scratch has been an adventure but the time spent in learning is well worth the effort. Thank you for your post. Did a personal health issue prompt your dietary changes?
Right you are, like Atkins (the granddaddy of all the "let's eat fat to get skinny wonders) Keto creates an unnatural condition (Ketosis) which I once read is the final state of the body prior to starvation. Keto ain't good fer us. Plus as JoDee says it's "short term." I'd suggest that to be true if for no other reason than it would be monumentally boring to eat "Keto" all the time. Even the "Mediterranean" is healthful not due to but in spite of the Olive oil. Here's my take on Oils, including the haloed Olive kind.
COOKING OILS (and why I no longer use them) November 15, 2014
I once read that oils are wonderful flavor carriers. I can't deny that and I guess it's a good thing oils have at least that virtue, because from a nutritional standpoint they're non-starters. What? Am I out of my tree asks the straw man in my head. Non-starters? Maybe some oils, but do I not know that olive oil is a health food and good for everything this side of my car's crankcase? But hold on straw guy. Think about this. To be a food something must be able to support healthy life and be of some benefit. Olive oil is a highly refined processed and extracted food "product." It has no protein or essential amino acids, it has no carbohydrates, or sugar, 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 and very high in Omega 6 fats and while both are essential, most American's 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 high calorie, (high fat, high sugar, high salt) and has little or no nutrient value. Assessed in this way cooking oils are checkmated.
Brix, you nutritional dilettante, sez straw man. You're overlooking the fact that some research shows that polyunsaturated,...or was it monounsaturated oils, oh who cares, one of those oils, can lower blood cholesterol. Ah yes straw man, but only if the unsaturated oil is replacing the more onerous saturated fat in the experimental subject's diet. The "oil companies," don't bust their chops drawing attention to this wrinkle when they tell us polyunsaturated oil may improve our lipid profile. This, btw, is an example of why much nutritional research, particularly those studies sponsored by food industry sources, is not to be trusted.
And here's a no-oil rationale I hatched a few years ago. When you examine the programs of those physicians who have demonstrated success in not only arresting, but reversing killer diseases: CAD, DMII, HTN they seem overwhelmingly to omit all oils from their dietary regimens. The names include Ornish, Esselstyn, McDougall, Barnard and likely others with whom I'm unfamiliar. So, Okie that I am, I reason, well if this way of eating can fix people with big problems maybe it'd make sense for people, like me, without big problems, to eat the same way. If it can make the unhealthy healthy again, it can hardly be a bad thing for the other folks too. Or as Dr. Michael Greger, founder of Nutrition Facts.org recently put it. If someone is trying to convince you of the virtues of their diet, the only question one need ask is, "will your diet reverse heart disease?" He, of course, is a plant-based, no-oil advocate and is fully aware that a low-fat, plant-based diet is the only one that has been demonstrated to do so.
* A high omega-6/omega-3 ratio, as found in the standard American diet (SAD), promotes the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, whereas increased levels of omega-3 (a low omega-6/omega-3 ratio) exert suppressive effects. Humans are thought to have evolved with a diet of a 1:1 ratio. Optimum is now considered to be 4:1 or lower. SAD (Standard American Diet) is 15:1 or higher. We're killing ourselves with our knives and forks.
Attribution. I'm indebted to the work of Jeff Novick, Registered Dietician for much of the information about oils which I've acquired over the past several years.
***Among those on the leading edge of plant-based nutrition, low-fat is generally regarded as no-greater than 10% of calories from fat. This, in contrast, to USDA guidelines which encourages not over 30% calories from fat. And this leads to, perhaps otherwise well meaning, researchers adding to nutrition confusion with statements like "a low fat diet doesn't lower blood cholesterol." Examination of publications underlying such remarks generally reveal that the experimental low-fat diet is at or near 30% fat and is being compared to a control group eating ad libitum. Thirty percent fat is simply not low enough to do the trick. In fact, there could well be subjects in the ad libitum group eating a lower-fat diet than the experimental group. IMHO it's likely not possible for most people to get anywhere near the gold standard 10% without omitting cooking oil from their diet.
CALDWELL ESSELSTYN, JR'S. HEART DISEASE REVERSAL DIET is a zero oil regimen. Here's a brief excerpt from a 2011 interview by Kathy Freston, another advocate of plant-based diets, in which Dr. Esselstyn explains the prohibition.
KF: Who develops heart disease?
CE: Everyone eating the typical western diet. In autopsy studies of our GI's who died in the Vietnam and Korean wars almost 80% at an average age of 20 years, had disease that could be seen without a
microscope. Forty years later in 1999, a study of young persons between the ages of 16-34 years who have died of accidents, homicides and suicides, finds the disease is now ubiquitous.
KF: What is the cause of the disease?
CE: It is the typical western diet of processed oils, dairy, and meat which destroys the lifejacket of our blood vessels known as our endothelial cells. This cell layer is a one cell thick lining of all of our blood vessels. Endothelial cells manufacture a magical protective molecule of gas called nitric oxide, which protects our blood vessels. It keeps our blood flowing smoothly, it is the strongest dilator (widener), of our blood vessels, it inhibits the formation of blockages (plaques), and it inhibits inflammation.
KF: With such natural protection, why do we ever develop heart disease?
CE: Every western meal of processed vegetable oils, dairy products, and meat (including chicken and fish) injures these endothelial cells. As individuals consume these damaging products throughout their lives, they have fewer functioning endothelial cells remaining and thus less of the protective nitric oxide. Without enough nitric oxide the plaque blockages build up and grow creating eventually heart disease and strokes.
KF: Can it be stopped or even reversed?
CE: Yes. First we must look at the lessons learned from cultures where there is a virtual absence of coronary artery heart disease such as rural China, the Papua Highlands of New Guinea, Central Africa, and the Tarahumara Indians of Northern Mexico. Their nutrition is plant based without oil.
TILTING AT THIS WINDMILL FOR YEARS
I discovered this in my file recently and was surprised to see how long I've been singing this song.
August 27, 2011
Bonnie Liebman, M.S. Director of Nurtrition
Nutrition Action Newsletter
1220 L Street, N.W., Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
Re: Vol. 38, No. 7
(Sep't. 2011)
Dish of the Month
Dear Ms. Liebman:
I've been a reader of Nutrition Action Newsletter for many years. As I've become more conscious of good nutrition (as e.g., the heart healthy way your Advisory Board Member, Dr. Esselstyn eats and insists his heart patients eat) I've become more frequently aware of how, with just a bit of tweaking your recipe suggestions could become much more nutritionally sound. I realize that only a small sample of your readership is prepared to eat the way Dr. Esselstyn does, but as he is prone to say, why not tell them about the best way and let them decide. I ran the numbers on the Dish of the Month and discovered that, as published, it totals around 568 calories with 22% from fat. Almost all of the fat comes from the oil. Eliminating the oil drops the total to 446 with scarcely 1% from fat. The dish is perfectly tasty prepared as a "steam fry." When I began cooking without oil, I was immediately surprised by how little it was missed. Commendably, even as published the dish is way under the government recommendation of less that 30% calories from fat, nonetheless by omitting the oil, it becomes a (really) low-fat, whole foods, nutritional cannonball. One that would make Esselstyn, Colin Campbell, McDougall, et.al jubilant. And, here's the thing, it seems to me that with just a few more lines of text you could tell your readers of the no oil option. And you'd also stop me from writing letters to you. Keep up the good work you do.
Sincerely,
Don J. Brix, Ph.D
NO OIL VEGAN BROWNIE
Rich, moist and chewy. Possibly the world's most healthful brownie. And your family and friends will never guess what's in 'em. I still find it hard to believe.
Makes 12 rectangles
1 (15 ounce) can Black Beans, drained and rinsed. (no salt added preferred)
3/4 to 1 cup Agave syrup. Or use honey, brown rice syrup or even maple syrup, to your taste
2 tbsp Ground Flaxseed
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Cocoa powder
1 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt (I omit this)
3/4 cup Whole Wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup Chopped Nuts (I use walnuts).
Preheat oven to 350.
Line an 8" x 8" baking pan or dish with parchment paper with a little hang over so you can easily lift out the "cake" when baked.
Place beans and syrup in a food processor and puree until very smooth. Add the flax seeds, vanilla, cocoa, baking soda and salt (if using) and pulse to combine. Add the flour and pulse until just barely combined, scraping the sides as needed. Don't overmix. Stir in the nuts. Pour into prepared pan or Pyrex dish. Bake approx. 30 minutes or until center no longer jiggles when shaken gently and a toothpick stick comes out almost clean. Allow to cool completely before slicing. You'll probably need to wipe off the knife a time or two as you slice as these are kinda sticky, but they're worth the hassle.
AND THIS WEEK'S QUOTE IS: The fat you eat is the fat you wear. John McDougall, M.D.
The Mediterranean diet is probably one of the most sensible diets around and is plant based, not meat based. The trick is to eat less red meat , more fish and fowl although you can certainly have red meat . Any vegetable you prefer and are able to eat is what you should be eating more of. Beans and nuts and grains are emphasized . However, I attribute a lot of weight gain or inability to lose weight to WHEAT. Anything with white flour is best not eaten or occasionally eaten. I personally follow a somewhat gluten free /Mediterranean meal plan with very little starches like potatoes and bread. I don’t eat beans which is somewhat paleo style.
I don’t eat processed foods like cold cuts.
I’ve never had a weight problem but I have eliminated the belly bloat that white flour causes by rarely eating it and have lowered my carb intake to no more than one a day...and I have eliminated most dairy
The space on your Mediterranean food plate should be taken up by vegetables and then a small lean protein side.
I don’t deprive myself at all. I enjoy my occasional pizza and whole grain sandwich with tuna or salmon salad and cheesecake and filet mignon. I don’t count calories myself but my think athletic daughter does....don’t know why.
You should research several diets and take the best from all of them. Fried foods are just not good for you and not necessary.
I personally feel the best I have ever felt in my 78 years on this planet and have been attending the gym and tweaking my diet since I retired 6 hrs ago actually 10 lbs less at a steady 108-110..5ft 7... Cutting out wheat products was the biggie .
You’ll be doing your gut an enormous favor not to mention your heart, lungs, eyes and ears, and you will feel a difference in a short time. I enjoy cooking and don’t miss anything...but if I crave a luscious juicy hamburger with the fixings..I’ll have one and then I’m done for a while.
You’ll find something that works for you but invest in a little online research first and maybe a cookbook or two. By all means enjoy what you eat......and substitute the word “diet” for “eating lifestyle”.
FL Mary, your management of your nutritional needs (and pleasures too) is impressive. You praise the Mediterranean diet At one point you say " lowered my carb intake to no more than one a day. You also mention that the Mediterranean diet is largely vegetables. Is there some reason that you do not consider vegetables to be carbohydrates? Don
Regarding Carbs.....While veggies are certainly complex carbs, I surmise I was referring to simple carbs. What I really try to do is limit the gluten to zero or no more than daily although that is not always the case. I do love my oils, though and have a variety of avacado and olive oils which I use in moderation.
My dinners are basically a protein which includes chicken, fish and yes....meat plus a vegetable. But if I want a pizza or a baked potatoI will have it.
I love to cook and I love to eat and have found that a well stocked pantry of spices and herbs can bring a whole new level of taste to meals.
Most of the diseases and ills in this country find their beginnings in poor diets. Growing up there were no fast food restaurants and my mom shopped the local butcher, fish market and vegetable stands in NY. I did the same when I married and was raising my kids as we had the greatest farm stands around in Long Island and the best Italian markets. Shopping in a supermarket was for other things. It's how we lived. I have good genes and no organic problems so I am lucky there and am inclined to be on the slim side.
Luckily my children are excellent cooks and my daughter, especially, is passionate about food and its effect on the human body. I have one friend on the "dirty" keto diet and she is happy with that and has lost 50 pounds. It's not easy to get people to change their ways because it involves some research into all aspects of what you put into your body as fuel. I can understand that it is hard when it comes to a busy working family raising children. I tell my female friends who complain about belly fat to ditch anything in the house that has white flour. How different they would look and feel even if they just did that. Food affects your mood too. But you know all this.
I am not extreme in any way at all. And I always have my wine and one piece of dark chocolate at night because I just love it. I will also steal a couple of french fries off your plate when you are not looking...carbs be dammed.
Regarding Carbs.....While veggies are certainly complex carbs, I surmise I was referring to simple carbs. What I really try to do is limit the gluten to zero or no more than daily although that is not always the case. I do love my oils, though and have a variety of avacado and olive oils which I use in moderation.
My dinners are basically a protein which includes chicken, fish and yes....meat plus a vegetable. But if I want a pizza or a baked potatoI will have it.
I love to cook and I love to eat and have found that a well stocked pantry of spices and herbs can bring a whole new level of taste to meals.
Most of the diseases and ills in this country find their beginnings in poor diets. Growing up there were no fast food restaurants and my mom shopped the local butcher, fish market and vegetable stands in NY. I did the same when I married and was raising my kids as we had the greatest farm stands around in Long Island and the best Italian markets. Shopping in a supermarket was for other things. It's how we lived. I have good genes and no organic problems so I am lucky there and am inclined to be on the slim side.
Luckily my children are excellent cooks and my daughter, especially, is passionate about food and its effect on the human body. I have one friend on the "dirty" keto diet and she is happy with that and has lost 50 pounds. It's not easy to get people to change their ways because it involves some research into all aspects of what you put into your body as fuel. I can understand that it is hard when it comes to a busy working family raising children. I tell my female friends who complain about belly fat to ditch anything in the house that has white flour. How different they would look and feel even if they just did that. Food affects your mood too. But you know all this.
I am not extreme in any way at all. And I always have my wine and one piece of dark chocolate at night because I just love it. I will also steal a couple of french fries off your plate when you are not looking...carbs be dammed.
You lead an intentional life with just enough wickedness to add some zest. I’d guess it’s an adventure to get up in the morning. We do the dark chocolate thing once a week, then other days we cheat like Riverboat gamblers. Good Eaton’, Don
FL Mary, I hope you can forgive me for being persnickety about carbs. I've been jousting at this windmill for years. There is so much confusion about diet; what's good, what's gonna kill us in short order, etc. that I get annoyed by the widespread failure of, the media for example, to clarify that not all carbs are created equal. The result among people, unlike you, who are not well informed about nutrition, is to lump all carbs together as bad and to be avoided. which just keeps the confusion rolling on. good eatin', Don
Regarding Carbs.....While veggies are certainly complex carbs, I surmise I was referring to simple carbs. What I really try to do is limit the gluten to zero or no more than daily although that is not always the case. I do love my oils, though and have a variety of avacado and olive oils which I use in moderation.
My dinners are basically a protein which includes chicken, fish and yes....meat plus a vegetable. But if I want a pizza or a baked potatoI will have it.
I love to cook and I love to eat and have found that a well stocked pantry of spices and herbs can bring a whole new level of taste to meals.
Most of the diseases and ills in this country find their beginnings in poor diets. Growing up there were no fast food restaurants and my mom shopped the local butcher, fish market and vegetable stands in NY. I did the same when I married and was raising my kids as we had the greatest farm stands around in Long Island and the best Italian markets. Shopping in a supermarket was for other things. It's how we lived. I have good genes and no organic problems so I am lucky there and am inclined to be on the slim side.
Luckily my children are excellent cooks and my daughter, especially, is passionate about food and its effect on the human body. I have one friend on the "dirty" keto diet and she is happy with that and has lost 50 pounds. It's not easy to get people to change their ways because it involves some research into all aspects of what you put into your body as fuel. I can understand that it is hard when it comes to a busy working family raising children. I tell my female friends who complain about belly fat to ditch anything in the house that has white flour. How different they would look and feel even if they just did that. Food affects your mood too. But you know all this.
I am not extreme in any way at all. And I always have my wine and one piece of dark chocolate at night because I just love it. I will also steal a couple of french fries off your plate when you are not looking...carbs be dammed.
Keto was recommend to me by my primary care physician....Went to a website the docs assistant recommended....
Followed the food plan to the letter....Went from 190 to 183...Year and a half later 183...It works and kept me stable...
I am not plump to begin with ,just the middle age spread (hate it)....The fat and eggs in the keto, I could no longer handle...
I am back to fruit ,cereal milk wine all in moderation and I feel great...81, still hike ,fly fish and lots of manual labor...
From what I understand the dirty keto diet has a high fat intake. The clean keto diet is more whole food and non starchy veggies and no processed foods. I don’t know if many people can sustain the clean keto diet for a long time but it does make you drop the weight initially. My friend, who is still on the dirty keto plan, has not lost any more weight but is happy where she is. She could do with shedding more pounds. I read somewhere that someone on a dirty keto diet will eat a bacon cheeseburger without the bun and someone on the clean keto diet will grill a grass fed burger with veggies.
If you are still very active at your age and feel good and your weight is commensurate with your build then you are doing great. At least you know what you should eat . Routine blood panels will keep you in line. Us oldies are goldies.
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Valter Longo has written a book, "The Longevity Diet." He's a researcher from USC and advocate of the Mediterranean diet plus fasting once or twice a month. He also developed the Fasting Mimicking Diet which had a clinical trial at Mayo Rochester. It seems to be very beneficial before chemotherapy.
I've not posted here before. Jumpin' in now apropos of nothing in particular, but for many years I wrote a piece on plant-based eating. I'm posting an old one here to see how the forum participants respond.
KILLING OURSELVES (slowly) WITH OUR KNIVES AND FORKS
Thursday, November 27th, Breakfast, Drury Inn, Joplin, Missouri. Piggin’ out on rolled oats. A darling, maybe 10 year old, girl heads for a table to join her family, taking care to not drop or spill her food. Like the old song says, “it’s a wonderful sight when the family unites.”
A steaming bowl of oats, a box of almond milk, topped with some chopped dates, a sprinkle of walnut pieces, a banana, and an orange. That’s breakfast. Pretty healthful stuff. Problem is, that’s what I’m eatin’. The girl’s plate isn’t my sissy food but rather the embodiment of the larrupin’ good standard American diet. She was having scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, a biscuit with gravy and a doughnut. What evil could possibly lurk in food that tastes so good and is so comfortably familiar? The Shadow knows and so do I. You probably know too, but in case not, it’s you’re lucky day ‘cause I’m gonna tell ya. The unsuspecting child was about to take on an ample load of animal fat, sugar, salt and cholesterol. The latter from “nature’s perfect food,” the egg. But this meal isn’t just one of excess. There’s a deficit here too. So, what’s missing? Well it’s FIBER. Natural born enemy of colon cancer, etc. Hardly enough in her breakie to bother counting.
But Don, you curmudgeon, let up, it’s Thanksgiving for goodness sake. Feast day! Okay, but the rub is, the youngster’s breakfast tomorrow, coupled with similar meals day in, day out for weeks, and months, and years will almost surely, eventually make this innocent child sick and fat. Her chances of developing one of the “diseases of affluence” will be markedly increased. These are the diseases from which most Americans die, and all too frequently they die only following years of dependence on outrageously costly drugs, drastically compromised health and outright disability. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer (colo-rectal, breast, prostate), various autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, kidney disease is but an incomplete list of ailments that are linked in varying degrees to the high fat, high sugar, high salt, animal-based Western diet.
Adopting a low-fat, plant-based diet too demanding though, too drastic, too weird? Drastic? How ‘bout having your chest split open to temporarily rescue your vascular system, or you watch helplessly as a wound that won’t heal gives new and personal meaning to the word diabetes, or you’re wheelchair bound with an arm or hand gnarled from the sequela of a stroke. Pretty “drastic” stuff compared to a benign plateful of healthful starches and colorful vegetables. Think about it.
NOT ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT? TRY THIS
A year or so ago Consumer Reports told us that rice, due to growing largely submerged in water, is unusually proficient at absorbing adventitious arsenic from its growing environment. Making matters worse, brown rice has more of the poison than does white rice. This is because the arsenic is concentrated in the otherwise health promoting outer bran layer which is removed to turn brown rice into white. When this is done it removes a substantial load of arsenic. This is bad news to those of us
who buy brown rice in 15 – 20 pound lots and hose it down like candy. The FDA has reported that arsenic levels are too low to be of immediate or short-term concern. The long-term question remains open and the FDA’s work going forward will focus on how long it’ll take the stuff to kill us. Here’s what one can do to reduce the toxicity level of brown rice. Thailand and India are typically mentioned as sources of rice with the lowest levels of arsenic. Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas generally have higher levels than rice from other areas. I’ll continue to use brown jasmine rice which I buy at an Asian food store. Expert opinion suggests rinsing at least a full minute before cooking. Cook in 6:1 water to rice ratio. When done, drain and thoroughly rinse again. Consider alternatives, e.g., quinoa, millet (yuck!).
A FINAL THOUGHT
Though I know and appreciate that there are individual factors in each person's life that can present real impediments to giving up all animal foods and cooking oils. Notwithstanding, I’ve become increasingly convinced that there are few, if any, overwhelming reasons for one to continue to eat in a way that supports the cruel travesty of factory farming of sentient creatures, wreaks havoc on the environment, and, sooner or later, engenders grave health problems in most human beings.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener, for that is what I’d really like to be. For if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener, everyone would be in love with me.”
Sound familiar? An example of how our “friend’s” in the food business convince children that nothing could be more fun that eating junk food.
Good eatin’, Don
@thumperguy, Don, I really enjoyed reading your article. When I was diag. with pre-diabetes and then kidney disease this past year, I made radical changes to my diet. My doing so and following much of what you mention, I changed my lab values from pre-diabetes to normal and my CKD gfr values from stage 3 to stage 2. While eliminations and restrictions of some foods were harder than others, I am now a firm believer in how adapting the appropriate diet for serious health issues can make a data based improvement. While I've made friends with foods I'd never met before like quinoa, chia and flax seeds and many others, I'll never go back to my heavily laden red meats, too salty, too sweet, overdosed preservative additions found in most prepared, canned foods popular in the groceries. Cooking from scratch has been an adventure but the time spent in learning is well worth the effort. Thank you for your post. Did a personal health issue prompt your dietary changes?
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3 ReactionsRight you are, like Atkins (the granddaddy of all the "let's eat fat to get skinny wonders) Keto creates an unnatural condition (Ketosis) which I once read is the final state of the body prior to starvation. Keto ain't good fer us. Plus as JoDee says it's "short term." I'd suggest that to be true if for no other reason than it would be monumentally boring to eat "Keto" all the time. Even the "Mediterranean" is healthful not due to but in spite of the Olive oil. Here's my take on Oils, including the haloed Olive kind.
COOKING OILS (and why I no longer use them) November 15, 2014
I once read that oils are wonderful flavor carriers. I can't deny that and I guess it's a good thing oils have at least that virtue, because from a nutritional standpoint they're non-starters. What? Am I out of my tree asks the straw man in my head. Non-starters? Maybe some oils, but do I not know that olive oil is a health food and good for everything this side of my car's crankcase? But hold on straw guy. Think about this. To be a food something must be able to support healthy life and be of some benefit. Olive oil is a highly refined processed and extracted food "product." It has no protein or essential amino acids, it has no carbohydrates, or sugar, 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 and very high in Omega 6 fats and while both are essential, most American's 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 high calorie, (high fat, high sugar, high salt) and has little or no nutrient value. Assessed in this way cooking oils are checkmated.
Brix, you nutritional dilettante, sez straw man. You're overlooking the fact that some research shows that polyunsaturated,...or was it monounsaturated oils, oh who cares, one of those oils, can lower blood cholesterol. Ah yes straw man, but only if the unsaturated oil is replacing the more onerous saturated fat in the experimental subject's diet. The "oil companies," don't bust their chops drawing attention to this wrinkle when they tell us polyunsaturated oil may improve our lipid profile. This, btw, is an example of why much nutritional research, particularly those studies sponsored by food industry sources, is not to be trusted.
And here's a no-oil rationale I hatched a few years ago. When you examine the programs of those physicians who have demonstrated success in not only arresting, but reversing killer diseases: CAD, DMII, HTN they seem overwhelmingly to omit all oils from their dietary regimens. The names include Ornish, Esselstyn, McDougall, Barnard and likely others with whom I'm unfamiliar. So, Okie that I am, I reason, well if this way of eating can fix people with big problems maybe it'd make sense for people, like me, without big problems, to eat the same way. If it can make the unhealthy healthy again, it can hardly be a bad thing for the other folks too. Or as Dr. Michael Greger, founder of Nutrition Facts.org recently put it. If someone is trying to convince you of the virtues of their diet, the only question one need ask is, "will your diet reverse heart disease?" He, of course, is a plant-based, no-oil advocate and is fully aware that a low-fat, plant-based diet is the only one that has been demonstrated to do so.
* A high omega-6/omega-3 ratio, as found in the standard American diet (SAD), promotes the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, whereas increased levels of omega-3 (a low omega-6/omega-3 ratio) exert suppressive effects. Humans are thought to have evolved with a diet of a 1:1 ratio. Optimum is now considered to be 4:1 or lower. SAD (Standard American Diet) is 15:1 or higher. We're killing ourselves with our knives and forks.
Attribution. I'm indebted to the work of Jeff Novick, Registered Dietician for much of the information about oils which I've acquired over the past several years.
***Among those on the leading edge of plant-based nutrition, low-fat is generally regarded as no-greater than 10% of calories from fat. This, in contrast, to USDA guidelines which encourages not over 30% calories from fat. And this leads to, perhaps otherwise well meaning, researchers adding to nutrition confusion with statements like "a low fat diet doesn't lower blood cholesterol." Examination of publications underlying such remarks generally reveal that the experimental low-fat diet is at or near 30% fat and is being compared to a control group eating ad libitum. Thirty percent fat is simply not low enough to do the trick. In fact, there could well be subjects in the ad libitum group eating a lower-fat diet than the experimental group. IMHO it's likely not possible for most people to get anywhere near the gold standard 10% without omitting cooking oil from their diet.
CALDWELL ESSELSTYN, JR'S. HEART DISEASE REVERSAL DIET is a zero oil regimen. Here's a brief excerpt from a 2011 interview by Kathy Freston, another advocate of plant-based diets, in which Dr. Esselstyn explains the prohibition.
KF: Who develops heart disease?
CE: Everyone eating the typical western diet. In autopsy studies of our GI's who died in the Vietnam and Korean wars almost 80% at an average age of 20 years, had disease that could be seen without a
microscope. Forty years later in 1999, a study of young persons between the ages of 16-34 years who have died of accidents, homicides and suicides, finds the disease is now ubiquitous.
KF: What is the cause of the disease?
CE: It is the typical western diet of processed oils, dairy, and meat which destroys the lifejacket of our blood vessels known as our endothelial cells. This cell layer is a one cell thick lining of all of our blood vessels. Endothelial cells manufacture a magical protective molecule of gas called nitric oxide, which protects our blood vessels. It keeps our blood flowing smoothly, it is the strongest dilator (widener), of our blood vessels, it inhibits the formation of blockages (plaques), and it inhibits inflammation.
KF: With such natural protection, why do we ever develop heart disease?
CE: Every western meal of processed vegetable oils, dairy products, and meat (including chicken and fish) injures these endothelial cells. As individuals consume these damaging products throughout their lives, they have fewer functioning endothelial cells remaining and thus less of the protective nitric oxide. Without enough nitric oxide the plaque blockages build up and grow creating eventually heart disease and strokes.
KF: Can it be stopped or even reversed?
CE: Yes. First we must look at the lessons learned from cultures where there is a virtual absence of coronary artery heart disease such as rural China, the Papua Highlands of New Guinea, Central Africa, and the Tarahumara Indians of Northern Mexico. Their nutrition is plant based without oil.
TILTING AT THIS WINDMILL FOR YEARS
I discovered this in my file recently and was surprised to see how long I've been singing this song.
August 27, 2011
Bonnie Liebman, M.S. Director of Nurtrition
Nutrition Action Newsletter
1220 L Street, N.W., Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
Re: Vol. 38, No. 7
(Sep't. 2011)
Dish of the Month
Dear Ms. Liebman:
I've been a reader of Nutrition Action Newsletter for many years. As I've become more conscious of good nutrition (as e.g., the heart healthy way your Advisory Board Member, Dr. Esselstyn eats and insists his heart patients eat) I've become more frequently aware of how, with just a bit of tweaking your recipe suggestions could become much more nutritionally sound. I realize that only a small sample of your readership is prepared to eat the way Dr. Esselstyn does, but as he is prone to say, why not tell them about the best way and let them decide. I ran the numbers on the Dish of the Month and discovered that, as published, it totals around 568 calories with 22% from fat. Almost all of the fat comes from the oil. Eliminating the oil drops the total to 446 with scarcely 1% from fat. The dish is perfectly tasty prepared as a "steam fry." When I began cooking without oil, I was immediately surprised by how little it was missed. Commendably, even as published the dish is way under the government recommendation of less that 30% calories from fat, nonetheless by omitting the oil, it becomes a (really) low-fat, whole foods, nutritional cannonball. One that would make Esselstyn, Colin Campbell, McDougall, et.al jubilant. And, here's the thing, it seems to me that with just a few more lines of text you could tell your readers of the no oil option. And you'd also stop me from writing letters to you. Keep up the good work you do.
Sincerely,
Don J. Brix, Ph.D
NO OIL VEGAN BROWNIE
Rich, moist and chewy. Possibly the world's most healthful brownie. And your family and friends will never guess what's in 'em. I still find it hard to believe.
Makes 12 rectangles
1 (15 ounce) can Black Beans, drained and rinsed. (no salt added preferred)
3/4 to 1 cup Agave syrup. Or use honey, brown rice syrup or even maple syrup, to your taste
2 tbsp Ground Flaxseed
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Cocoa powder
1 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt (I omit this)
3/4 cup Whole Wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup Chopped Nuts (I use walnuts).
Preheat oven to 350.
Line an 8" x 8" baking pan or dish with parchment paper with a little hang over so you can easily lift out the "cake" when baked.
Place beans and syrup in a food processor and puree until very smooth. Add the flax seeds, vanilla, cocoa, baking soda and salt (if using) and pulse to combine. Add the flour and pulse until just barely combined, scraping the sides as needed. Don't overmix. Stir in the nuts. Pour into prepared pan or Pyrex dish. Bake approx. 30 minutes or until center no longer jiggles when shaken gently and a toothpick stick comes out almost clean. Allow to cool completely before slicing. You'll probably need to wipe off the knife a time or two as you slice as these are kinda sticky, but they're worth the hassle.
AND THIS WEEK'S QUOTE IS: The fat you eat is the fat you wear. John McDougall, M.D.
Good eatin', Don
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2 ReactionsFL Mary, your management of your nutritional needs (and pleasures too) is impressive. You praise the Mediterranean diet At one point you say " lowered my carb intake to no more than one a day. You also mention that the Mediterranean diet is largely vegetables. Is there some reason that you do not consider vegetables to be carbohydrates? Don
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1 Reaction@thumperguy
Regarding Carbs.....While veggies are certainly complex carbs, I surmise I was referring to simple carbs. What I really try to do is limit the gluten to zero or no more than daily although that is not always the case. I do love my oils, though and have a variety of avacado and olive oils which I use in moderation.
My dinners are basically a protein which includes chicken, fish and yes....meat plus a vegetable. But if I want a pizza or a baked potatoI will have it.
I love to cook and I love to eat and have found that a well stocked pantry of spices and herbs can bring a whole new level of taste to meals.
Most of the diseases and ills in this country find their beginnings in poor diets. Growing up there were no fast food restaurants and my mom shopped the local butcher, fish market and vegetable stands in NY. I did the same when I married and was raising my kids as we had the greatest farm stands around in Long Island and the best Italian markets. Shopping in a supermarket was for other things. It's how we lived. I have good genes and no organic problems so I am lucky there and am inclined to be on the slim side.
Luckily my children are excellent cooks and my daughter, especially, is passionate about food and its effect on the human body. I have one friend on the "dirty" keto diet and she is happy with that and has lost 50 pounds. It's not easy to get people to change their ways because it involves some research into all aspects of what you put into your body as fuel. I can understand that it is hard when it comes to a busy working family raising children. I tell my female friends who complain about belly fat to ditch anything in the house that has white flour. How different they would look and feel even if they just did that. Food affects your mood too. But you know all this.
I am not extreme in any way at all. And I always have my wine and one piece of dark chocolate at night because I just love it. I will also steal a couple of french fries off your plate when you are not looking...carbs be dammed.
Bon Appetit
FL Mary
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6 ReactionsYou lead an intentional life with just enough wickedness to add some zest. I’d guess it’s an adventure to get up in the morning. We do the dark chocolate thing once a week, then other days we cheat like Riverboat gamblers. Good Eaton’, Don
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2 ReactionsFL Mary, I hope you can forgive me for being persnickety about carbs. I've been jousting at this windmill for years. There is so much confusion about diet; what's good, what's gonna kill us in short order, etc. that I get annoyed by the widespread failure of, the media for example, to clarify that not all carbs are created equal. The result among people, unlike you, who are not well informed about nutrition, is to lump all carbs together as bad and to be avoided. which just keeps the confusion rolling on. good eatin', Don
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1 ReactionKeto was recommend to me by my primary care physician....Went to a website the docs assistant recommended....
Followed the food plan to the letter....Went from 190 to 183...Year and a half later 183...It works and kept me stable...
I am not plump to begin with ,just the middle age spread (hate it)....The fat and eggs in the keto, I could no longer handle...
I am back to fruit ,cereal milk wine all in moderation and I feel great...81, still hike ,fly fish and lots of manual labor...
Just could not take the pure KETO....
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1 Reaction@sailor1750
From what I understand the dirty keto diet has a high fat intake. The clean keto diet is more whole food and non starchy veggies and no processed foods. I don’t know if many people can sustain the clean keto diet for a long time but it does make you drop the weight initially. My friend, who is still on the dirty keto plan, has not lost any more weight but is happy where she is. She could do with shedding more pounds. I read somewhere that someone on a dirty keto diet will eat a bacon cheeseburger without the bun and someone on the clean keto diet will grill a grass fed burger with veggies.
If you are still very active at your age and feel good and your weight is commensurate with your build then you are doing great. At least you know what you should eat . Routine blood panels will keep you in line. Us oldies are goldies.
FL Mary
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