Defining Health...

My definition of "health" and thoughts and passions on whole food, plant-based nutrition in an interview by Jeff Golfman of The Cool Vegetarian at Green festival Los Angeles 2011 with Earth Balance.

Evolving Backwards

And with seeing and being reminded comes…inspiration…each image of animals being treated with apathy in the most horrific manners…manners in which are impossible to imagine how a human could conceive of them-let alone implement and perpetuate them. And yet, they do…and these events continue to the tune of billions of animals per year in the United States alone.

And with hearing an expert in ecology comes…terror…the stab of shocking inescapable doom we are instigating by the shear consumption of massive quantities of animal-based products. We are literally eating ourselves into the next extinction.

As “evolved” thinking primates, one of the defining features we ought to boast is the ability to learn from our mistakes and ameliorate the choices that led to the ultimate poor results. And yet…have we? Is history not repeating itself? How many mass extinctions have occurred in history? Have you ever considered that we-in our evolved, learned culture-could repeat a catastrophic end of humanity as we know it?

And yet...here we are…right smack in the midst of a cataclysmic downward spiral. The more animal products we consume, the more inane senseless torture of sentient, innocent creatures, the more destruction of our air, soil, land, waters, loss of biodiversity, and then some. Oh yes…how can I forget? As a healthcare professional, I directly witness the impact of animal food consumption in my daily practice. I also happen to experience utter miraculous transformations regularly when people cease their consumption of animal products…as my sick clients get healthy, medications get put back in the medicine cabinet permanently, athletes beat their personal bests, and everyone in between thrives. 

Our fork determines our future like nothing else. Politics, powerful medications, advances in medical procedures, are laughable when you consider and witness the impact of the food that you eat. It is time we all recognize the blatantly obvious…we know too much now…there is no way out. As our 6.5 billion global population ensues, we are literally eating our planet…and we will soon be left with nothing…tick tock. What will you do? Knowledge is command…we are officially at the tipping point. Will we survive? We have the solution…but will we learn from our mistakes? Or will we remain safely protected in our blissful bubble…tick tock…choose wisely…

10 Reasons to Ditch Dairy

1. Dairy destroys your bones.  Countries around the world that drink the most dairy have the MOST osteoporosis and hip fractures. As dairy and calcium consumption increases, so do your risk factors for osteoporosis and bone fractures. The high levels of sodium and animal protein places your body in metabolic acidosis (when your blood becomes acidic). To compensate for that, your body pulls minerals out of the bone-thanks to their great alkalizing effects-and they are excreted in your urine. To recap: the more dairy you eat or drink, the more bone you lose.

2. There are excellent plant-sources of calcium that do not cause metabolic acidosis; rather, they are alkalizing and support bone health. Broccoli, kale, other leafy green veggies, sesame seeds, tahini, calcium-set tofu, and fortified plant milks/juices all have adequate amounts of calcium to meet daily requirements.

3. The number one most important factor in bone health is exercise. To increase and maintain bone density, stress needs to be applied to your bones regularly. Add resistance training, and exercises such as walking, jogging in order to increase mass, and prevent osteoporosis. This factor far outweighs any nutritional component.

4. Casein-the primary protein in milk-causes physiological addiction. Have you ever noticed that the more cheese you eat, the more of it you crave? Casomorphines are formed in your brain when you eat or drink dairy. These are opiate-like substances that produce euphoria, making you physically need more dairy. The only way to break this addictive cycle, is to cut it out entirely. 

5. Casein is a potent carcinogen. Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author or The China Study,  found casein to be a powerful cancer promoter after decades of laboratory research. He was able to turn cancer on and off simply by increasing the amount of raw casein fed.

6. Dairy provides high levels of saturated fat and cholesterol, which are known to cause atherosclerosis. This leads to heart disease.

7. Vitamin D plays an important role in bone health too. No matter how much calcium you are consuming, you need vitamin D to help absorb it. Plus. 70-97% of the population is insufficient or deficient in their vitamin D levels. Ask your doctor for a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test and if your level is below 35-50 ng/mL, add a daily dose of sunlight (a few minutes at peak hours with no sunscreen). If this doesn't improve your D levels, you need to supplement.

8. We are the only species that drinks the lactation excretions of another species AND the only species who continues to drink milk after being weaned.

9.  Besides being inherently unhealthy and disease-promoting, dairy comes packed with pesticides, antibiotics, hormones (even organic), steroids, heavy metals, and other toxins fed to the cows to improve milk production.

10. Seventy percent of the world's population is lactose-intolerant. The fact that more people than not react with painful gastrointestinal symptoms upon consumption of dairy demonstrates the fact that the human body is not intended to consume it. Doctors and dietitians are now pushing the use of lactase enzymes and other symptom-relieving medications in order to ensure "adequate" intake of dairy products. Yet, if we have to force our bodies to accept something it doesn't want, shouldn't that be a sign that something is wrong?

Guest Blog: Joel Fuhrman, M.D. on Sodium, Acid-Base Balance, and Bone Health

I am honored to introduce my readers to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D. in his first Guest Appearance on my blog:

Joel Fuhrman M.D. is a board-certified family physician, nutrition researcher, best-selling author, and one of the country’s leading nutritional medicine experts.

Dr. Fuhrman is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and he is presently involved in research trials of his high micronutrient, plant-based diet with physicians and scientists at the University of Pennsylvania health system as well as other researchers.

Dr. Fuhrman created the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) scoring system that evaluates the levels of micronutrients and antioxidants in food to aid people in making healthier food choices. Dr. Fuhrman is on the medical advisory board of Whole Foods Market.

Dr. Fuhrman is the author of six books, including Disease-Proof Your Child and his best-selling book, Eat To Live which has gone through 18 printings and several foreign language translations. His most recent book, Eat For Health was published in April 2008.

Dr. Fuhrman teaches nutritional excellence which is not only preventative, but is also the safest and most effective therapeutic intervention for most chronic medical conditions. Dr. Fuhrman is on the board of directors of the American Academy of Lifestyle Medicine and active in educating physicians and health professionals on nutritional medicine. His lectures have been approved for CME credit by the American Academy of Family Physicians.


To learn more about Dr. Fuhrman please visit his website at DrFuhrman.com and his blog at DiseaseProof.com.





Sodium, Acid-Base Balance, and Bone Health

We’ve known for years that excessive sodium intake contributes to hypertension, and a new meta-analysis of 13 studies has confirmed that high sodium intake is associated with increased risk of stroke and overall cardiovascular disease.1 Salt consumption is also associated with kidney disease, and a new study suggests that reduced sodium intake could benefit bone health.

Women 45-75 years old with prehypertension or stage 1 hypertension were assigned to either a low-sodium diet or a higher sodium, high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. Both diets supplied the same amount (800 mg) of calcium, but the low-sodium diet was designed to have a lesser acid load than the high-carbohydrate diet.2

Western diets, generally high in animal protein, produce acid in the body, forcing the body to buffer this acid in part by the release of alkalizing salts from bone (e.g. calcium citrate and calcium carbonate) – this is associated with urinary calcium loss and is thought to contribute to osteoporosis. Fruits, vegetables, and legumes have favorable effects on acid-base balance, since the acid-forming effect of their protein content, which is lower than that of animal products anyway, are balanced by their mineral content.3-4

After 14 weeks, the women on both diets increased markers of bone formation and reduced their calcium excretion – those on the low sodium diet had a greater reduction in calcium loss. The authors concluded that this diet was protecting the mineral reserves in bone, and that this could have long-term implications for bone health. Future studies will likely measure bone mineral density and fracture incidence in response to these diets.2

The average daily consumption of sodium for Americans is around 4000mg, almost double the U.S. recommended maximum of 2300mg. The low sodium diet in this study provided a maximum of 1500mg of sodium per day, but included up to six servings of red meat per week, limited the consumption of nutrient-rich legumes to 4-5 per week, and was based on high-calorie, nutrient-poor grain products - 7-8 servings per day.5 The high-carbohydrate low-fat diet was likely based on grain products as well.

Although both of these diets had favorable effects when implemented in place of a standard western diet, they both have room for improvement. By minimizing the high-protein, high-saturated fat animal products, and replacing grain products with mineral- and phytochemical-rich vegetables, fruits, and legumes as the base of the diet, both acid load and sodium would be further reduced, presumably leading to further benefits on bone health.

To learn more about this topic and more, please visit his website at DrFuhrman.com and his blog at DiseaseProof.com.

References:
1. Strazzullo P et al. Salt intake, stroke, and cardiovascular disease: meta-analysis of prospective studies. BMJ 2009;339:b4567
2. Nowson CA et al. The effects of a low-sodium base-producing diet including red meat compared with a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet on bone turnover markers in women aged 45-75 years. Br J Nutr. 2009 Oct;102(8):1161-70. Epub 2009 May 18.
3. Welch AA et al. Urine pH is an indicator of dietary acid-base load, fruit and vegetables and meat intakes: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and
Nutrition (EPIC)-Norfolk population study. Br J Nutr. 2008 Jun;99(6):1335-43. Epub 2007 Nov 28.
4. Massey LK. J Nutr. Dietary animal and plant protein and human bone health: a whole foods approach. 2003 Mar;133(3):862S-865S.
5. http://dashdiet.org/
http://www.bakeryandsnacks.com/Publications/Food-Beverage-Nutrition/FoodNavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Salt-reduction-may-also-benefit-bone-health/?c=9EU3KtLmkBBxmwtf4jYClA%3D%3D&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BDaily
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf