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

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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