Misleading Research

Responses to the new Mediterranean Diet study from Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. McDougall http://heartattackproof.com/spanish_study.htm

Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.: Response to The New England Journal of Medicine article “Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet” | The Engine 2 Diet

You have probably heard of the new study that just came out claiming that The Mediterranean Diet (olive oil, fish, nuts, etc.) is absolutely phenomenal for heart health. Please read Dr.Esselstyn’s response: http://engine2diet.com/the-daily-beet/caldwell-b-esselstyn-jr-m-d-response-to-the-new-england-journal-of-medicine-article-primary-prevention-of-cardiovascular-disease-with-a-mediterranean-diet/

It’s Our One Year Plantcentric Anniversary!

I remember it like it was yesterday.  Last Christmas, after a substantial weight loss journey for both of us, I surprised my husband with
Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD’s Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, Rip Esselstyn’s The Engine 2 Diet, Julieanna Hever, M.S., R.D., CPT The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition, The Forks Over Knives Companion Book, and Kathy Hester’s The Vegan Slow Cooker.  After reading Dr. Esselstyn’s & Rip Esselstyn’s books, my husband, Bill, turned to me and said, “I’m going vegan.  You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I am.  I’m starting now.”  I about choked!  We had just “come out” as vegetarian, but this was different. This was really radical.  Go without cheese??  And ice cream and pudding?  I shakily said, “OK.  If you are, I am too.”  Gulp!

Then, we watched Dr. Robert Lustig’s The Bitter Truth About Sugar

We had already been following the Rule of 5 from You on a Diet by Michael F. Roizen, MD and Mehmet C. Oz, MD, one of which was no high fructose corn syrup, but now we cut out any kind of added sugar.

We are also learning about GMO’s and trying to cut them out of our diet.  Pretty hard when there is currently no labeling.  We definitely are supporting legislation to have all food that has GMO’s in them to be labeled.
What a great year it’s been.  It hasn’t been hard.  We just armed ourselves with knowlege about the effects of dairy and used vegan cookbooks.  We discovered great new flavors, spices and ways of cooking.  No meat, no dairy, no added oil and no added sugar.  Our palates have really grown.

                                                     

This was taken 3 years ago this Easter                                                                                                 Christmas 2012

 

Now, I daresay, we are actually becoming foodies again!  We love trying all new recipes.  I really love Chloe Coscerelli’s cookbook, Chloe’s Kitchen http://chefchloe.com/.

I hope you are enjoying following our journey.  I’ve been humbled when I hear how we’ve inspired you to make changes in your own life as we continue to make changes in ours.

Let me know how you’re doing and what you like about this blog!

Happy Plantcentric One Year Anniversary!!

Laura

Eye Opening Tidbits From Farms 2 Forks

From Happy Herbivore:

I wanted to pass along some facts from the Farms 2 Forks  event I recently attended. I thought these tidbits were eye-opening and if you follow me on Twitter  (@happyherbivore) you might have caught these live!

-Erectile dysfunction is the first sign of heart disease.

-In 20 years, we went from not having 1 state with 20% obesity to not having 1 state that’s not 20% obese.

-One third of children born today will have diabetes and obesity if we don’t make a change.

-Crisco consumption is up 77%.

-Don’t think about food as a component because all foods have carbs, protein, and fat.

-Minimum exercise recommendation is 150 minutes a week: 30 min x 5 days (or 50 mins x 3 days).

-“Moderation is a myth. “Moderation” will kill you” – Dr. Esselstyn 

-“The body knows how to heal with micronutrients in plant foods. It doesn’t know how to deal with pills” -Dr. Esselstyn

-“There is a cure for heart disease. It’s called plants. Heart disease is completely avoidable.” – Dr. Esselstyn

-“Oil, fish, fowl, meat, dairy, & caffeinated coffee all damage the endothelial cells as soon as you eat it.” – Dr. Esselstyn

-There are 101 different kinds of legumes. Who says plant-based is limited? 

-Health care is self care.

-Genes load the gun but diet pulls the trigger.

-Animal proteins (i.e. those in meat and dairy) feed cancer.

-“Don’t read the package, read the nutrition label.” – Jeff Novick

-“Plants are the original source of fats. You don’t even need concentrated sources like nuts. All plants, even lettuce, has fat.” – Jeff Novick  

-Label reading: only 20% of calories should come from fat.

-Sodium content should be less or equal to calories, no more. So if it’s 100 calories no more than 100mg sodium.

-Never believe anything on the front of a package EVER.

-If a form of sugar is in the first 3 ingredients, skip it.

-Carbs aren’t the problem, overly processed food with no nutrients are the problem. Eat lots of carbs but only whole grains.

-Pay attention to serving size and how many servings are in the whole package. Start with 1 serving.

-Supplements are worthless, eat real food. (This was a common comment among speakers at the farm. Basically they’re saying get the nutrients you need from eating the plants themselves, not capsules.

This Esselstyn Guy Knows His Stuff image

Me, Give Up Meat? Vegan Diets Surging in Popularity US News

While I don’t agree with the cons, I do agree that you must plan to be sure you are getting all the nutrients needed. Laura

The Pros (and a Few Cons) of Choosing a Vegan Diet

by Angela Haupt

Former President Bill Clinton had a legendary appetite: Hamburgers and steaks. Barbeque. Chicken enchiladas. But after having two stents inserted in 2010—on top of quadruple bypass surgery six years earlier—he radically changed his diet in the name of saving his health. Now a vegan, the strictest type of vegetarian, he has cut out meat, dairy, eggs, and most oils in favor of a super-low-fat diet that revolves around whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts. It appears to be working: He has said he’s dropped more than 20 pounds and has never been healthier. In a televised interview with film producer Harvey Weinstein in June, Clinton explained that he’d decided he wanted to live to be a grandfather. “So I just went all the way. Getting rid of the dairy was great, getting rid of the meat was—I just don’t miss it.”

Vegan diets have lately been surging in popularity, thanks in part to the example of celebrities who are publicly forswearing all animal products (Michelle Pfeiffer, Carrie Underwood, Russell Brand, and Ozzy Osbourne, to name a few others). Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have announced plans to open a vegan restaurant in Los Angeles. Vegan-centric books have been flying off the shelf, including Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet and The Engine 2 Diet by Texas firefighter and triathlete Rip Esselstyn, son of retired Cleveland Clinic physician Caldwell Esselstyn, whose research on the merits of plant-based eating inspired Bill Clinton. Vegan food trucks are making the rounds, schools are instituting meat-free days, and colleges are opening vegan dining halls.

While many vegans still take the stand because they believe in animal rights, a growing number are swayed by mounting research showing a profound impact on health. “It’s dramatic,” says Neal Barnard, a nutrition researcher and adjunct professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit group that promotes preventive medicine. “We’ve seen people whose chest pain has gone away within weeks, while their weight melts off, blood pressure goes down, and cholesterol plummets.” Barnard’s 2011 book 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart is a three-week introduction to the case for and how-tos of the vegan life. The panel of 22 experts who analyzed 25 diets forU.S. News’s ratings of the best eating plans overall—as well as the best for weight loss, heart health, and diabetes management and prevention—are not universally sold on absolute meatlessness. But without a doubt, the heavily plant-based plans tend to rise to the top of the U.S. News lists.

Exactly how you shape a vegan meal plan is up to you, but you’ll typically aim for six servings of grains from bread and calcium-fortified cereal, for example; five servings of protein-rich foods such as legumes, nuts, peanut butter, chickpeas, tofu, potatoes, and soy milk; and four servings of veggies, two of fruit, and two of healthy fats like avocado, coconut oil, and olive oil. (Both of the Esselstyns advocate avoiding all oils, too.) There’s no need to give up dessert, although you’ll be baking without butter or eggs.

It should come as no surprise that becoming a serious vegan is apt to help you lose weight. By loading up on fruits, veggies, and whole grains, vegans tend to feel full on fewer calories, and indeed they tend to weigh less and have a lower body mass index than their meat-eating peers. In a 2006 study coauthored by Barnard, 99 people with type 2 diabetes followed either a vegan diet or a standard diet based on American Diabetes Association guidelines. After 22 weeks, the vegans lost an average of 13 pounds, compared to 9 in the ADA group. Both groups’ control of their blood sugar levels also improved.

The cardiac case. A meatless diet’s power against heart disease also is well documented. “It’s an exceptionally healthy diet, especially when it comes to cardiac health,” says Michael Davidson, director of preventive cardiology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. He notes that cutting way back on saturated fat and eliminating cholesterol is just part of the equation; also key is piling on “cardiac protective” fruits, vegetables, and grains, packed with antioxidants and other phytochemicals that protect cells from damage caused by free radicals. The soluble fiber found in plant protein also helps to lower cholesterol. In the 2006 Diabetes Care report, LDL cholesterol dropped 21.2 percent in the vegan group after 22 weeks, compared with 10.7 percent in the group following the meat-allowing guidelines. Triglycerides fell from 140.3 mg/dL to 118.2. In an earlier 12-year study that compared 6,000 vegetarians and vegans with 5,000 meat-eaters, researchers found that vegans had a 57 percent lower risk of ischemic heart disease—reduced heart pumping due to coronary artery disease, which often leads to heart failure—than the meat-eaters. Vegetarians had a 24 percent lower risk.

Read the rest at:  http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2012/07/24/me-give-up-meat-vegan-diets-surging-in-popularity?page=2

Two Cardiologists & One Cardiac Surgeon Who Follow an Esselstyn-Style Plant-Based Diet. What’s Their Story and What Health Benefits Have They Seen?

“Most of my career I looked at coronary artery disease as a “terminal disease”.  You’d die from it.  But, I began seeing more research showing that not only was it preventable, but it was reversible.

I heard Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. speak at meeting three years ago–and it opened my eyes.  

I started studying & doing my own research on others who were doing similar research.  Esselstyn wasn’t alone.  There’s a building body of evidence that coronary artery disease is preventable & reversible. That was eye-opening.”

-Dr. Marc Katz, MD, PhD, cardiac surgeon, Medical Director of the Heart and Vascular Institute and Head of the Minimally Invasive Surgery Program at Bon Secours Richmond Health System–

I love http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com.  Go check it out.  It’s a wonderfully informative blog.

Read the rest of this at :  http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/happy_healthy_long_life/2012/07/cardiologists.html

Forks Over Knives Free on Hulu right now!

Share with your friends, FORKS OVER KNIVES is available for free onHulu right now: http://www.hulu.com/watch/279734

8 Tips on Becoming Plant-Strong by Ann Esselstyn

8 Tips on Becoming Plant-Strong by Ann Esselstyn (Rip’s Mom)

by Engine2 Diet·

We might be biased, but we think that Ann Esselstyn is the best food coach around! Here are some of her tips for becoming plant-strong.

“I am not a chef.  I don’t peel anything and if it looks even a little bit complicated, I don’t make it.  What we have found is that eating plant based  WITHOUT OIL is delicious, easy and  above all magical.

Follow 8 principles and you may well find yourself becoming PLANT PERFECT!

1. Eat oats (Old Fashioned) for breakfast, any way you can as oatmeal, as a cold cereal as we do with alternative milk and fruit or in waffles or pancakes or just put  your cereal bowl with oats, banana and alternative milk and a table spoon of flax seed into your waffle iron and you have your oat breakfast in waffle form  There are delicious ways to use steel cut  oats too.  Oats help lower cholesterol and also reduce artery inflammation.  Find the breakfast  with oats you love then eat it EVERY DAY!!!

2. Eat GREENS especially leafy greens as well as all the symphony of rainbow colored vegetables.  Cooked or raw vegetables are king!  Make leafy greens like Kale, collards and Swiss chard the nest on which you put your food, mix greens into your food or pile greens on the side of your plate.  Make kale sandwiches , mix greens into soup, cook kale, etc. cut in small pieces into pasta 4 minutes before it is done, then drain and you have a meal in one or mix a bunch of greens into pasta sauce and spread on your whole wheat, no oil pizza crust (see www. samis Bakery.com  on line for an awesome millet/flax pizza crust) and top with vegetables of your choice.  Never cheese.

3. Eat Beans and Lentils instead of meat and dairy.  All lentils are delicious.  Try red lentils in soup.  They cook quickly and make the soup a nice color.  Put beans in salads.  Hummus made without tahini or oil  has become our mayonnaise as a sandwich spread or dip for vegetables and crackers and even part of our favorite salad dressing.   Our main party dish is brown rice and black beans piled high with chopped tomatoes, thawed frozen corn, chopped green onions, water chestnuts, chopped cilantro, chopped arugula, chopped peppers, etc. and topped with salsa, low sodium tamari or if you don’t have heart disease with guacamole.  AVOID all the highly processed fake soy meats and any of the vegan cheeses, which have lots of oil in them.

4. Eat WHOLE  Grains.  Be sure that the word WHOLE is in front of wheat or rye in the ingredient list.   If not then it is just white flour fancied up to sound impressive.  Check also to be sure that there is no added oil in the bread.  Ezekiel makes many wonderful sprouted grain products available in the frozen food departments of health food stores. The Ezekiel Tortilla wraps are excellent and useful for everyday or parties.  Fill them with your choice and then roll them up and bake them for 10 minutes in a 450 degree oven.  Delicious!  Use whole wheat pastry flour or barley flour in baking instead of white flour.

5. Eliminate oil! Empty all oil, even virgin olive oil out of your cupboards then you CAN’T use it.  Instead any liquid works.  Vegetable broth (no sodium), water, wine, beer, orange juice, carrot juice, vinegar all work in stir -frying.  Instead of oil in baking, use applesauce, baby food prunes, bananas.    Finding a salad dressing you love is a challenge at first but there are so many possibilities out there you will soon never miss the oil filled ones.

6. Drink WATER! You can’t go wrong with water.  You can flavor it with a splash of  orange or apple, etc. juice occasionally.  Never drink juices!  And absolutely never drink pop, with or without added sugar.

7. Avoid sugar and salt as much as possible.   Save sugar for birthdays or special holiday treats.  Instead put grapes in your freezer for an amazing sweet treat or freeze bananas or mangoes and blend them in a strong blender for delicious “ice creams. “  Look at the government label for the amount of salt in a product.  No added salt is ideal or aim for the salt content being equal to the calorie content.  Instead of salt add vinegar, lemon juice,  lime juice or hot sauces.  You will lose your taste for salt before you know it.

8. Read Labels, especially the ingredients.    You will be surprised that often proclaimed zero fat products have oil listed in the ingredients.  The government allows anything under .5 grams of fat to be called FAT FREE.

Fill up with all the great plant based food.  Life is GOOD!!!”

http://www.heartattackproof.com

http://www.engine2diet.com

Michelle Pfeiffer on Piers Morgan Tonight: Why I Became Vegan

Check out Piers Morgan tonight at 9 pm est on CNN when Dr. Sanjay Gupta interviews Michelle Pfeiffer.  After having what she thought was a healthy diet, she discovered she had high cholesterol.

Michelle Pfeiffer admits in a new interview that vanity played a part in her decision to adopt a vegan lifestyle, but she adds that more than anything it was because of a desire to live a healthier life.

The 54-year-old actress tells Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Monday’s edition of “Piers Morgan Tonight” that watching his documentary, “The Last Heart Attack,” gave her plenty of food for thought.

“I was finishing up working on, I think it was ‘Dark Shadows,'” she says. “And I was watching CNN, and ‘The Last Heart Attack’ came on.”

As she was watching the documentary, which explores preventative measures for heart disease, it was former President Bill Clinton’s story that really hit home.

Pfeiffer, who considers herself to also be a “foodie,” watched Clinton and said, “OK, Bill Clinton loves food, so there must be something to [veganism] that’s making him stick to it. And also, he’s smart, so he’s not going to do something unless he really thinks there’s some science behind it.”

After reading the book “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease,” which advocates for a plant-based, oil-free diet, Pfeiffer says her mind was made up.

“I just felt like…there was science behind it,” she says. “And, you know, it was sort of irrefutable. … I couldn’t not listen to it. My father died from cancer, and the older you get, there’s a lot of disease around you. And you see people struggling with chronic disease. You see people dying with terminal illnesses. And if in any way …. this is true, then you kind of have to listen to it.”

As someone who loves carbs, Pfeiffer says she’s enjoying the vegan diet, and has her husband of 19 years, David E. Kelley, trying to make the switch.

The older she gets, Pfeiffer says of her views on diet, the more her focus and intent is geared toward living a longer life.

“Vanity is right under there,” she admits, “but I have to say that it’s a close second with wanting to live long.”

Watch the full interview with Michelle Pfeiffer when she stops by “Piers Morgan Tonight” at 9 p.m. ET.

Watch Piers Morgan Tonight weeknights 9 p.m. ET. For the latest from Piers Morganclick here.

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/04/michelle-pfeiffer-why-i-became-a-vegan/