Our journey to a whole foods plant based diet began with a phone call last October. I’d been feeling rather run down physically and thought I’d get some words of wisdom from my niece, Melissa. She runs a virtual franchise for Juice Plus+ and has helped scores of people realize significant gains in health and vitality through lifestyle changes combined with use of her products. Her husband and two children join her in whole foods plant based eating, and Melissa reports that they rarely get sick. Wow!

In the course of our conversation, Melissa mentioned Dr. Michael Greger, MD and his New York Times bestselling book, How Not To Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease. I was intrigued and made a quick trip to the library to check it out.

The book is divided in two sections. The first section reviews the 15 leading causes of death in the United States: heart disease, lung disease, brain diseases, digestive cancers, infections, diabetes, hypertension, liver diseases, blood cancers, kidney disease, breast cancer, suicidal depression, prostate cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and iatrogenic causes (e.g., hospital-acquired infections, medical errors, side effects from prescription drugs). For each disease, he provides nutritional strategies that minimize one’s risk of an untimely demise. While the particulars vary somewhat by condition, the message “Eat a whole foods plant based diet!” shines through consistently.

Part II provides detailed recommendations for daily eating habits. These habits are informed by the findings in Part I and are designed to yield the requisite vital nutrients and maximize health-promoting benefits. Frankly, given the degree to which my head was spinning after reading Part I, I was delighted that he transformed all of his research into a simple set of instructions. I’ve summarized his recommendations in the attached one-page document and created a simple check list to track weekly consumption.

Note that neither Dr. Greger nor Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus at Cornell University is big on vitamin supplementation with two notable exceptions:

• Vitamin B12: Meat, milk, and eggs are the primary sources of Vitamin B12 in the American diet. Dr. Thomas Campbell recommends a daily dose of B12 (usually 100 mcg) for adults following a whole foods plant based diet. (See 12 Questions Answered Regarding Vitamin B12.)
• Vitamin D: Our bodies have the ability to manufacture Vitamin D given exposure to the midday sun (between 10am to 3pm) on the arms and legs for 30 minutes at least twice weekly. If the climate or one’s schedule proves inhospitable to that regimen, then some supplementation might make sense. (See Shining a Light on Vitamin D.)

In addition to a daily dose of wholesome food, vitamins, and exercise, Dr. Greger says: “We need to make each day count by filling it with fresh air, laughter, and love.” Now that’s a recipe for good health!

For the latest research on nutrition, check out the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies for an impressive array of blog posts and Dr. Greger’s NutritionFacts.org for an equally impressive array of videos.

Throughout my life, I’ve struggled to maintain my weight within the normal range for my height. I’ve been on many, many diets. I’ll reach my goal weight and then allow 15-20 pounds to creep back on due to a lapse in healthy eating habits. I’ve gotten really frustrated with myself and wondered why I couldn’t exercise the kind of discipline in this area of my life that serves me so well in others.

A good friend put me on to a collection of books that helped me understand why weight management has proven troublesome for so many of us. (Check out the bibliography at the end of this blog post.) Here’s my understanding of the biological mechanisms that are in play:

• When we eat foods that are consistent with our body’s fundamental design, the sensory receptors in our brains tell us when we have eaten enough and shut our appetites down.
• Sugar and fat interferes with this mechanism. They stimulate the pleasure centers of our brains in ways that mirror addictive drugs. The drive for reward overrides signals that the body has had enough food.
• Chronic exposure to highly palatable food rewires our brains and compels us to seek its rewards. Over time, we need to increase the quantities of sugar and fat that we consume to get the desired pleasure.
• In addition to physiological cravings, we’re triggered by food-related emotional cues which contribute to unhealthy eating habits that are very difficult to break.

Not surprisingly, food manufacturers know all about these dynamics. Their profit motive combined with an intensely competitive marketplace drive them to exploit our culinary weakness and get us to buy as much of their products as possible. They employ highly trained scientists who determine the precise amounts of sugar, fat, and salt that will make their offerings irresistible. They also spend large sums of money on advertising to work on our emotional triggers and build brand loyalty.

Here are a few startling facts regarding the American diet from the book Salt, Sugar, Fat:

• Two-thirds of our diet comes from processed foods. In the relentless battle for shelf space, food manufacturers launch 14,000 new offerings annually. Salt, sugar, and fat boost allure; salt extends shelf life.
• We’re hooked on sugar. The average American takes in the equivalent of 22 teaspoons of sweetener each day.
• The average American eats 33 pounds of cheese per year, triple what we ate in 1970. This level translates to 60,000 calories and 3,100 grams of saturated fat.
• According to a 1991 study, three-quarters of our daily salt consumption is embedded in the processed foods we eat. High salt intake increases the risk for hypertension, a condition that afflicts 1 in 4 Americans.
• Every 4 years since 1986, study participants exercised less, watched more TV, and gained 3.35 pounds.

Food engineering, marketing, and emotional triggering all contribute to this unfortunate state of affairs. We’re also driven powerfully by convenience. With congested schedules and a substantive uptick in daily screen time, we avoid kitchen duties like the plague. According to a 2011 study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), we spend only 30 minutes per day cooking, the lowest among the 34 OECD members. We’re third lowest in the time spent eating (1 hour 14 minutes daily), and we have the highest obesity rate.

Armed with this information, I’m able to treat my culinary transgressions with far more compassion. I understand why I have a weakness for certain foods and why it’s so easy to overindulge. I also know that I can’t keep them around the house and need to put some distance between myself and temptation when in social situations.

The good news is that it’s possible to put a stop to the cravings. When I remain faithful to our whole foods plant based diet, I don’t miss all of the fattening treats that I used to relish. I’m satisfied by the delicious meals that we prepare. Yes, it takes more time to pursue this path. But it’s easy enough to pair kitchen duties with screen time or stimulating conversation with my husband (a.k.a. the sous-chef).

Bibliography:

Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings by Neal Barnard, MD, ©2003

The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, by David Kessler, MD, ©2009

Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss, ©2013

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan, ©2008

The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health and Happiness by Douglas J. Lisle and Alan Goldhamer, ©2003

“My goal is not only to help you live longer but also feel better.”
– Dr. Dean Ornish, MD

Given the frequency with which I’ve encountered references to Dr. Dean Ornish in my research, I decided that it was high time that I read his book. Its subtitle lays claim to being “the only system scientifically proven to reverse heart disease without drugs or surgery.”

While medical advances produced an astonishing array of procedures and medications to treat heart disease, Dr. Ornish focused his attention on the underlying causes. Clearly, preventing heart disease has benefits for the affected individuals as well as our rapidly escalating healthcare costs. Dr. Ornish also noted that prevailing treatment protocols have serious flaws:

• A daily dose of aspirin reduces the risk of a heart attack but increases the risk of a hemorrhagic stroke.
• Cholesterol lowering drugs are expensive and have unpleasant side effects.
• Blood pressure medication is expensive and may not help people live longer.
• One-third of arteries dilated by angioplasty clog up in 4-6 months.
• Open heart surgery is very expensive and provides temporary relief. Absent lifestyle changes, the disease will continue to progress.

In societies that consume whole food plant based diets, serum cholesterol lies well below 150 mg/dL, and heart disease is virtually non-existent. By mirroring their eating habits, we can substantially lower our risk of heart disease and reduce or eliminate some or all of the medication we take.

Dr. Ornish also examined the relationship between stress and coronary disease. For example, chronically stressed monkeys had significantly more arterial blockage than their more mellow counterparts, all other things being equal. Elevated stress also increased the permeability of artery walls to cholesterol. Even the muscle fibers within the heart wall “feel” the pain of stress. They contract so vigorously in response to stress that their fundamental architecture gets disrupted.

We may think of stress in terms of the “fight or flight” response induced by unexpected life circumstances. Or we may conjure up images of the floor of the New York Stock Exchange where traders work at a frenetic pace to maximize their daily profit. But even a sense of isolation engenders a powerful stress response. Heartbreaking life circumstances quite literally break the heart.

Armed with the best research available, Dr. Ornish devised a program with the following elements:

• A “Reversal Diet” with whole foods and no animal products except egg whites and nonfat dairy
• Cessation of smoking for those with that habit
• A daily stress management practice consisting of 20 minutes of stretches, 15 minutes of progressive relaxation techniques, 5 minutes of deep breathing, 15 minutes of meditation, and 5 minutes of directed or receptive imagery
• 30 minutes of daily exercise, or 1-hour workouts 3 times per week
• Psychosocial support

In working with thousands of patients, Dr. Ornish and his team saw a direct correlation between adherence to the program and the degree of improvement in the patient’s health. Among the physiological benefits cited:

• Reduced cholesterol due to elimination of animal products and fats from the diet
• Elevated HDL which removes excess LDL from the bloodstream
• Reduced LDL through diet and stress management
• Reduced salt in the bloodstream which lowers blood pressure (or rather doesn’t increase it artificially)
• Weight loss due to the decrease in caloric density of plant based versus animal based foods and the precipitous drop in fat consumption
• Elevated feelings of well-being

Admittedly, Dr. Ornish’s program takes a nontrivial investment in time and effort. It requires internal motivation to make the adjustment and stay the course. But if the pot at the end of that rainbow is a healthier, more fulfilling life, it’s certainly worth the quest, isn’t it?

“Nutrition is the real key to saving your life long-term.”
– Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, MD

Through the aegis of the Forks Over Knives documentary, I became acquainted with Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn and his work at the Cleveland Clinic. It was only natural that I check out his book from the library and read it cover-to-cover.

As a conscientious medical practitioner, Dr. Esselstyn was concerned about the prevalence of heart disease in this country. While Americans represent 5% of the world population, we account for ~50% of the heart procedures. His family history and the implications for his own health heightened his interest. With a nod toward the groundbreaking work of Dr. Dean Ornish and others, Dr. Esselstyn set about the business of curing the underlying disease rather than simply treating it with invasive surgeries and pharmaceuticals.

The work began with a group of 18 heart patients who were so sick that they were no longer candidates for further medical procedures or drugs. With a grim prognosis, they had nothing to lose by using diet as their primary treatment protocol. The rules were simple: no meat, no dairy, no oils or nuts, and minimal salt and sweeteners. To their collective amazement and joy, the treatment worked! The progression of each patient’s disease either halted or reversed, and they began to enjoy “normal” lives. Twelve years later, they were all still alive!

Dr. Esselstyn has leveraged this treatment protocol successfully with many more patients. His New York Times best-selling book – Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease – discusses his work and the science behind it. A few key facts caught my attention:

• Elevated blood serum cholesterol has been linked to heart disease. The body already produces as much cholesterol as it needs. When we ingest fat, we stimulate our bodies to produce excess cholesterol. The cholesterol we consume in animal products adds to our own production.
• A single meal containing fat and animal products can thwart the endothelium’s ability to produce nitric oxide. The endothelium lines the heart’s vascular system. Nitric oxide relaxes the blood vessels, prevents white blood cells and platelets from becoming sticky, and keeps the smooth muscle cells from accumulating plaque.
• By following Dr. Esselstyn’s whole food plant based diet, we can lower total cholesterol below 150 mg/dL and LDL to less than 80 mg/dL. At these levels, we should not deposit fat and cholesterol into our coronary arteries.
• By lowering the risk of heart disease, we also lower the risk of stroke.

As word spread about the benefits of a whole foods plant based diet, folks hungered for recipes to help them explore this brave new world. Dr. Esselstyn’s wife and daughter obliged with the 2014 publication of The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook. My husband and I have just started working our way through it. The food is quite tasty once you get the hang of preparing it. I can honestly say that I don’t miss eating meat, and I lost my craving for fat within 10-12 weeks of our dietary transition. I DO miss dairy – notably ice cream and really good cheese – but I’m (mostly) able to forego that indulgence based on an awareness of its impact on my body.

Critics claim that Dr. Esselstyn’s findings are not supported by a large enough sample size, and that factors other than diet and nutrition influence coronary health. The latest research seems to suggest that SUGAR is the principal actor in coronary artery disease, and that eating the right kinds of fats does a body and brain good.

I watched my father struggle with this disease during the final years of his life and suffer a painful death. I also took note of the astronomical costs of treatment – open heart surgery, carotid artery surgery, and a gaggle of medications. While I’m grateful for the technology that gave us many good years after his initial diagnosis, I can’t help but wish that he’d crossed paths with Dr. Esselstyn. I would love to have seen him in better health during his final years and, perhaps, enjoy his 1000 watt smile a little while longer.

“You need to know the truth about food and why eating the right way can save your life.”
– Dr. T. Colin Campbell, PhD

Over the years, I’ve been on many popular diets – Weight Watchers, Atkins, Stillman, South Beach, and Advocare, to name a few. My principal focus has been weight management with a secondary interest in my overall health. I’ve also done my part to prop up the supplements industry. But when I happened upon Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health last Fall, I experienced a seismic shift in how I view my food choices.

Dr. Campbell is a Professor Emeritus of Cornell University and a leading expert on the relationship between diet and disease. Having grown up on a dairy farm, he focused his early scientific investigation on finding ways to improve the quantity and quality of animal protein for human consumption. Yet his research consistently demonstrated a direct and powerful correlation between cancer and diets rich in animal protein.

The China Study lays out Dr. Campbell’s trail of evidence along with the scientific arguments to support a low protein, whole foods plant based diet. According to Dr. Campbell, low protein diets reduce the risk of cancer by:

• Decreasing enzyme activity that produces the toxins that can transform normal DNA into cancerous DNA
• Reducing the toxin’s capacity to permeate cell walls and mutate the cell’s DNA
• Lowering the growth rate of mutated cells
• Thwarting the development of cell clusters that grow into tumors

In one study, animal test subjects were exposed to a high level of carcinogens while fed a low protein diet (5% of calories). Their counterparts were exposed to a low level of carcinogens while fed a high protein diet (20% of calories). The high-protein subjects developed more tumors! Furthermore, tumor growth could be turned on and off by varying the amount of animal-based protein in the diet. In short, nutrition had more to do with cancer promotion than exposure to cancer-producing material.

Studies conducted with plant based protein demonstrated that these sources did not produce cancerous cell clusters even at higher rates of consumption. Admittedly, plant based protein is not absorbed as efficiently as animal protein. Yet Dr. Campbell argues that greater efficiency does not equal greater health. The slow and steady synthesis of plant protein provides the human body what it needs to sustain itself while minimizing the risk of life-threatening disease.

Dr. Campbell’s research also includes evidence from large-scale epidemiological studies. In fact, the book gets its name from a study that examined the diets, lifestyles, and disease characteristics of 6,500 people in 65 Chinese counties. Jointly funded by Cornell University, the University of Oxford, and the Chinese government, it confirmed that communities adhering to plant based diets had far fewer incidents of heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic (and deadly) diseases than those that consumed a diet rich in animal protein.

As I read through the book, I was particularly disheartened by research that drew a correlation between cow milk consumption and bone health. Given the risk of developing osteoporosis with aging, I’d always prided myself on the amount of dairy I’d included in my diet. In fact, bone health was my excuse for eating lots of ice cream! But according to Dr. Campbell, dairy products elevate the acidity in my blood stream. The body corrects the imbalance by leaching calcium from my bones to neutralize the acid. Yikes!

When I finished the book, I encouraged my husband to read it. Within a couple of weeks, we converted to a predominantly whole food plant based diet. I’m working through a handful of vegan cookbooks to develop my culinary skills and figure out what we like to eat.

I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Dr. Campbell’s book or check it out from your library to get the full story. If you don’t have time to read the book, you can catch a glimpse of Dr. Campbell’s work in the documentary Forks Over Knives, available on streaming Netflix as of this writing. It’s very well done and just may change your life.

For more information, check out the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies.