We may not have eaten so healthfully our entire lives. We may have a family history of breast, prostate or colon cancer. What should we do? Just wait until cancer is found?
Getting medical screenings is certainly a personal decision, but if you want to know what you can really do to protect yourself - eat lots of colorful vegetables, specifically including lots of green cruciferous vegetables.
Eating a diet rich in cruciferous vegetables is your best defense for fighting and preventing cancer.
If we really want to win the war against cancer, we must improve the nutritional quality of our diet.
We have all heard about the antioxidant effects our bodies derive from the phytochemicals in plant foods. However, the unique phytochemicals found in cruciferous vegetables offer superior benefits.
Cruciferous vegetables contain phytochemicals that have unique abilities to modify human hormones, detoxify compounds, and prevent toxic compounds from binding to human DNA, preventing toxins from causing DNA damage that could lead to cancer.
Studies have even shown that genetic defects that may lead to cancer are suppressed by the consumption of green cruciferous vegetables.
Certainly, many studies have shown that eating fresh fruits, beans, vegetables, seeds, and nuts reduces the occurrence of cancer.
I plotted cancer incidence in 25 countries against unrefined plant food intake and found that as vegetables, beans, and fruit consumption goes up 20% in a population, cancer rates typically drop 20%. But cruciferous vegetables are different; they have been shown to be twice as effective. As cruciferous vegetable intake goes up 20%, in a population, cancer rates drop 40%.
arugula
bok choy
broccoli
broccoli rabe
brocollina
brussels sprouts
cabbage
cauliflower
collards
horseradish
kale
kohlrabi
mustard greens
radish
red cabbage
rutabaga
turnips
turnip greens
watercress
Include them in both raw and cooked forms and eat a variety of them. These benefits cannot be duplicated by taking any one pre-formed compound or supplement.
The evidence is now overwhelming that cruciferous vegetables play a major and unique role in the widely recognized protective effects of natural plant foods against cancer--and are the most important players in this arena.
The biologically active compounds from raw and conservatively cooked green vegetables enhance the natural defenses of the human body against DNA damage and they even fuel the body's ability to block growth and replication of cells that are already damaged.
For those in the know, these foods are the most important nutritional factors to prevent common human cancers.
Showing posts with label Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Heart Disease and Impotence -Part II by Dr. Joel Fuhrman
Lifesaving Information to Reverse Your Condition
I have been in practice for 14 years. I have cared for hundreds of men with erectile dysfunction that have reversed their condition with nutritional excellence.
I have cared for hundreds of heart patients with angina and advanced heart disease, who have turned their backs on invasive cardiac procedures, recovered from angina and opened up the closed blood vessels in their diseased hearts.
Out of thousands of men with advanced heart and erectile problems who have followed my nutritional advice, I have never had a patient suffer a heart attack or cardiac related death.
Both these conditions are predictably reversible with nutritional excellence and the judicious use of dietary supplements. This same program will just as effectively lower your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol and protect you against prostate cancer.
In fact, my nutritional program, when analyzed in the scientific studies, was shown to lower cholesterol levels more powerfully than drugs, without the risks and side effects.
Another study showed a forty percent increase of blood flow to the heart within one year of starting this program, as described in my books, Eat For Health or Eat For Health.
Of pertinent note is that, in the same study, the patients following a high protein Atkins’ diet decreased blood flow to the heart by forty percent in one year. These dangerous high protein diets are a certain path to erectile impotence and a premature cardiac death.
Furthermore, a recently completed study by the University of Southern California (soon to be published) showed that, out of one hundred patients presenting to my practice, the average weight loss (sustained for more than two years) was 49 pounds. This approach is simply the ideal way to live and eat if you want to maintain your youthfulness and health into your later years.
It is not for everybody, and I do not expect the masses to embrace a dietary approach this healthful. Nevertheless, many thousands of people have chosen and will choose to enjoy fantastic tasting food that can also be nutrient dense and offer dramatic protection against disease.
It is better to start early and not wait until you have advanced disease. Forty percent of all cardiac deaths occur in people who had no warning, no pain and no symptoms. Their first symptom of heart disease was their deadly first heart attack. Let’s have this not be you.
When it comes to combating heart disease, most information sources promote drugs and surgery as the only viable options. As a result, the demand for high-tech, expensive, but largely ineffective medical care is soaring, causing medical costs and insurance rates to skyrocket. This chase for "cures" is both financially devastating and futile. Morbidity and premature mortality from heart disease continue to rise, with no sign of abating.
Interventional cardiology offers only partial benefits, since these procedures do not remove the causes of the problem.
Attempts to intervene with invasive procedures or surgery after the damage already has been done have not been shown to offer a significant reduction in cardiac deaths. We need to keep in mind that angioplasty and bypass surgery have some significant adverse outcomes, including heart attacks, stroke and death.
These invasive procedures only attempt to treat a small segment of the diseased heart, usually with only a temporary benefit. The patients treated with angioplasty and bypass will continue to experience progressive disability and most often die a premature death as a result of their heart disease.
The average person is not aware that there are safer, more effective options available. Unfortunately, government agencies often are slow to respond to new scientific information and economic and political forces make it difficult for our population to receive clear information informing them that heart disease is nutritionally induced and totally avoidable with dietary excellence.
For example, six of the eleven members, including the chairman of the USDA's Dietary Guidelines Committee in the year 2000, had financial ties to the meat, dairy and egg industries. Not surprisingly, the foods these industries produce figure prominently in government dietary recommendations in spite of their documented links to increased health risks.
Similar problems exist in recommendations by many non-profit health organizations. Sadly, even the American Heart Association advocates a diet that has been shown to actually increase heart disease.
To help spread the message that real heart attack protection is available for all, I wrote a book specifically addressing this point, Cholesterol Protection for Life. It is available now as an e-book and as a paperback. In about 100 pages, it clearly outlines the methods, the plan and the evidence necessary to show how this program works so effectively. This information is the most powerful weapon we have to save millions of lives. Start with yours.
I have been in practice for 14 years. I have cared for hundreds of men with erectile dysfunction that have reversed their condition with nutritional excellence.
I have cared for hundreds of heart patients with angina and advanced heart disease, who have turned their backs on invasive cardiac procedures, recovered from angina and opened up the closed blood vessels in their diseased hearts.
Out of thousands of men with advanced heart and erectile problems who have followed my nutritional advice, I have never had a patient suffer a heart attack or cardiac related death.
Both these conditions are predictably reversible with nutritional excellence and the judicious use of dietary supplements. This same program will just as effectively lower your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol and protect you against prostate cancer.
In fact, my nutritional program, when analyzed in the scientific studies, was shown to lower cholesterol levels more powerfully than drugs, without the risks and side effects.
Another study showed a forty percent increase of blood flow to the heart within one year of starting this program, as described in my books, Eat For Health or Eat For Health.
Of pertinent note is that, in the same study, the patients following a high protein Atkins’ diet decreased blood flow to the heart by forty percent in one year. These dangerous high protein diets are a certain path to erectile impotence and a premature cardiac death.
Furthermore, a recently completed study by the University of Southern California (soon to be published) showed that, out of one hundred patients presenting to my practice, the average weight loss (sustained for more than two years) was 49 pounds. This approach is simply the ideal way to live and eat if you want to maintain your youthfulness and health into your later years.
It is not for everybody, and I do not expect the masses to embrace a dietary approach this healthful. Nevertheless, many thousands of people have chosen and will choose to enjoy fantastic tasting food that can also be nutrient dense and offer dramatic protection against disease.
It is better to start early and not wait until you have advanced disease. Forty percent of all cardiac deaths occur in people who had no warning, no pain and no symptoms. Their first symptom of heart disease was their deadly first heart attack. Let’s have this not be you.
When it comes to combating heart disease, most information sources promote drugs and surgery as the only viable options. As a result, the demand for high-tech, expensive, but largely ineffective medical care is soaring, causing medical costs and insurance rates to skyrocket. This chase for "cures" is both financially devastating and futile. Morbidity and premature mortality from heart disease continue to rise, with no sign of abating.
Interventional cardiology offers only partial benefits, since these procedures do not remove the causes of the problem.
Attempts to intervene with invasive procedures or surgery after the damage already has been done have not been shown to offer a significant reduction in cardiac deaths. We need to keep in mind that angioplasty and bypass surgery have some significant adverse outcomes, including heart attacks, stroke and death.
These invasive procedures only attempt to treat a small segment of the diseased heart, usually with only a temporary benefit. The patients treated with angioplasty and bypass will continue to experience progressive disability and most often die a premature death as a result of their heart disease.
The average person is not aware that there are safer, more effective options available. Unfortunately, government agencies often are slow to respond to new scientific information and economic and political forces make it difficult for our population to receive clear information informing them that heart disease is nutritionally induced and totally avoidable with dietary excellence.
For example, six of the eleven members, including the chairman of the USDA's Dietary Guidelines Committee in the year 2000, had financial ties to the meat, dairy and egg industries. Not surprisingly, the foods these industries produce figure prominently in government dietary recommendations in spite of their documented links to increased health risks.
Similar problems exist in recommendations by many non-profit health organizations. Sadly, even the American Heart Association advocates a diet that has been shown to actually increase heart disease.
To help spread the message that real heart attack protection is available for all, I wrote a book specifically addressing this point, Cholesterol Protection for Life. It is available now as an e-book and as a paperback. In about 100 pages, it clearly outlines the methods, the plan and the evidence necessary to show how this program works so effectively. This information is the most powerful weapon we have to save millions of lives. Start with yours.
For additional resources for a healthier lifestyle visit Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Fitness Shop
To see Dr. Fuhrman's complete range of products, including books, DVD's, natural foods and more, click here: Store Home Page
Monday, March 30, 2009
Eat For Health - A Review
“EAT FOR HEALTH is the only eating style that will allow you to shed pounds while you reverse existing diseases and protect yourself from future health problems ...”
— Foreword by John Abramson, M.D.
Why do hundreds of medical doctors utilize Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat For Health system in their medical practice?
It is because all diets fail, for vast majority, in the long–run, unless there is an adequate understanding of nutrient density of food and how low–nutrient–eating leads to food cravings, food addictions and fuels overeating behavior.
Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat For Health is a medical breakthrough because without this fascinating information you are essentially destined to be struggling with dieting forever, compelled to consume excess calories, and not be able to comfortable and permanently maintain a lighter, healthier weight.
Dr. Fuhrman is the founder of the high nutrient eating style and a pioneer in the growing field of nutritional medicine. Now with the Eat For Health , (two–book set) Dr. Fuhrman has taken his bestselling Eat To Live book a gigantic step further, he has made his approach nation–friendly, now everyone can easily do it.
Dr. Fuhrman‘s nutritional approach to the prevention and management of chronic disease is the most significant medical advance I have seen in my career as a physician.
— John V. Forrest, M.D. Professor UCSD Medical School
Thousands who have recovered from their medical problems have been calling Dr. Fuhrman‘s Eat For Health program a medical miracle.
We are not just talking about the people who have lost their excess weight after failing for years on one diet after another, but diseases, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, allergies, asthma, autoimmune illnesses (including lupus) and headaches have simply melted away.
Published medical research already documents this as the most effective weight loss method ever recorded in medical history. There was an average two year weight loss of 53 pounds. Most importantly they kept the weight off.
This complete two–book set actually teaches you how to prefer a health–promoting diet–style over a disease–promoting diet.
The hallmark of healthy eating is to consume more foods that contain a high nutrient density and less food with a low nutrient density.
To make it easy, Dr. Fuhrman has scored thousands of foods so that in each of the 4 phases, the nutrient density of the suggested menus increases.
The outcome is that when you eat enough high nutrient foods you can reverse most medical problems without drugs.
If diets never worked for you in the past you will now understand why and you will be motivated to lose your excess weight and get well again. Eat For Health can save your life.
Dr. Fuhrman‘s MANDI food and meal scoring system (patent pending) lets you know exactly how healthy your diet is. You can choose your own level of nutritional excellence and you can move forward to a higher level at your own pace when you are ready or you can pump it up to phase four to get maximal weight loss and therapeutic effect to reverse disease.
High Nutrient Food, Not Drugs, Is The Prescription
Book two contains the menus and recipes. It teaches you how to make this diet work easily for you and your family.
With over 150 delicious and easy recipes, it makes high nutrient eating truly gourmet. From strengthening your taste buds to dealing with temptation, restaurant eating, to eating on the road, this program will make sure you can do it, enjoy it, and even fit it into your busy schedule. It is guaranteed to change your life forever.
A scientifically proven system to have you lose your food addictions and actually prefer healthy foods over low–nutrient food.
A gradual, 4 – phase program with custom menus so you can adjust the program to your individual needs and preferences.
* Everyday recipes that taste phenomenal and are easy to make.
* A nutrient scoring system to measure the nutritional quality of your diet.
* Remove toxic hunger and you will succeed at losing weight and keeping it off forever.
* Use high nutrient foods to beat disease, get rid of diabetes, lower your blood pressure and cholesterol without drugs and protect yourself against cancer and get more pleasure out of eating.
Physicians and Scientists Endorse Eat For Health
Dr. Fuhrman offers up a large serving of all–to–uncommon common sense about improving your diet and your health. Follow his advice about healing yourself and you will be well along the path to a healthier and longer life.
— John Abramson MD
Clinical Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Author of Overdosed America
Medicine is in great need of a paradigm shift in its approach to healthcare delivery. ”Eat For Health“ is an extraordinary book and can be an important catalyst for such a paradigm shift. It should be a must read for healthcare professional students, healthcare professionals, healthcare policy makers, and any individual seeking optimal health.
— Baxter Montgomery, MD, FACC
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine
University of Texas Healthscience Center, Houston, TX
As a physician, I follow Dr. Fuhrman's excellent recommendations myself and I have prescribed them to my patients with some wonderful results. “Eat For Health” is a great book for anyone who wants to see less of the doctor!
— Anna Quisel MD
Family Physician
Wilmington, Delaware
A terrific, "non–diet" diet. Dr. Fuhrman explains precisely what you should eat and he makes it delicious. “Eat For Health“ is effective, practical and sensible.
— Richard N. Podell, M.D., M.P.H.
Medical Director and Clinical Professor
Department of Family Medicine
UMDNJ–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
I trust Dr. Fuhrman with my patients because his insights make sense and work, a wonderful combination for any physician.
— Mehmet Oz, M.D.
Director, Cardiovascular Institute
Columbia–Presbyterian Medical Center
“Dr. Fuhrman’s book summarizes a practical and effective method to live a long and healthy life — devoid of chronic disease and full of the vitality intended for us all by Mother Nature. Here is a chance to make your most important investment...the rest of your life!”
— Matt Lederman, M.D.
Board Certified Internal Medicine
Director of Transition to Health’s Nutrition and Wellness Program
Los Angeles, California
Dr. Fuhrman’s nutritional prescription is a greatly–needed antidote to the US way of eating which has become a leading cause of disease and premature death. Despite all the sophisticated medical technology available today, the sobering truth is that the greatest tools for preventing and reversing disease are your fork and spoon. This way of eating will greatly benefit those in poor health as well as healthy persons desiring optimal wellness and vitality. Further, unlike most weight–loss approaches based on “will–power” and difficult to sustain, Dr. Fuhrman’s approach corrects the underlying causes of excessive hunger and cravings, resulting in permanent, naturally–occurring weight loss. I have had the privilege of personally seeing the tremendous disease reversal that occurs with this way of eating, and whole–heartedly recommend this book.
— Tonja R. Nansel, PhD
Investigator, Prevention Research Branch
Department of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Dr. Fuhrman’s message is scientifically valid, clinically proven, and very much worth considering for anyone who wants to really enjoy personal health. This prescription for health is both profound and broad in its effect.
— T. Colin Campbell, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry
Cornell University
Co-author, "The China Study"
Dr. Fuhrman has done a magnificent job of synthesizing the essence of thousands of peer reviewed medical journal articles and devising a dietary program that can work miracles for your health! This man is a pioneer in preventive medicine.
— David W. Bullock, D.O.
Physical Medicine &Rehabilitation Specialist
Lawrence, KS, & Social Security Medical Consultant
I love this book. It’s hard to believe that Dr. Fuhrman could surpass his earlier book, “Eat To Live”, but he did. “Eat For Health” empowers us to make change. It is the only prescription that will ensure that our golden years remain golden and not riddled with disability and disease. Dr, Fuhrman’s advice can enable you to achieve the same weight loss seen with gastric bypass surgery WITHOUT the surgery. A must read to “exercise” your taste buds and rev up your metabolic machinery.
— Deanna Cherrone, M.D.
Board Certified in Internal Medicine
Founder of Natural Health & Healing, LLC
Avon, CT
Dr. Fuhrman’s nutritional approach to the prevention and management of chronic disease is the most significant medical advance I have seen in my career as a physician.
— John V. Forrest, M.D.
Professor of Radiology
UCSD Medical School
In “ Eat For Health ” Dr. Fuhrman has taken the most accurate information about nutrition today and made it understandable for anyone who is interested in being responsible for their own health. Dr. Fuhrman’s food rating system—Aggregate Nutrient Density Index makes it easy to decide what to eat. Take this knowledge that’s presented so clearly and live a healthy life.
— Deborah Pate, D.C., D.A.C.B.R.
Chiropractor and chiropractic radiologist
San Diego, CA
If you took a pill every day that made you slimmer, healthier and reversed most disease processes in your body, you would call it a medical miracle. I have witnessed that Dr.Fuhrman’s “Eat For Health” program can provide that miracle makeover that you have been looking for. Plus, it is a delicious and pleasurable way to eat. “Eat For Health” and create your own miracle — today!
— Michael Klaper, M.D.
Family and Emergency Room Physician
Author and Nutritional Researcher
Follow Dr. Fuhrman’s easy–to–understand formula in this book and start having the healthiest time of your life. Fad dieting has no long–term weight and health benefits, but when you eat high nutrient foods the results stick.
— Gerald Deustch, President
National Health Association
At last, a way to eat that can prevent and even reverse disease! And you will stay slim without dieting. Dr. Fuhrman shows us exactly what we need to do and why we need to do it. My wife and I do it! You are what you eat and if YOU don’t take care of yourself...no one else can or will. Dr. Fuhrman teaches us nutritional excellence that can even prevent macular degeneration. Start now to live healthier and longer.
— Stephen Lichtenstein, M.D.
Attending Surgeon
Wills Eye Institute
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Awesome! “ Eat For Health “ is the best, real–world tool I have seen yet for helping people pursue optimal health and/or deal with the majority of today’s diseases. This approach is what "primary care" should be in modern healthcare. The "nutrient density" approach in “Eat For Health” is the cure for most of our diseases and our salvation from the fad diets that plague us. “Eat For Health” is both based on good science and very practical for real people, it could solve the healthcare crisis in America.
— Marc Braman, MD, MPH
Director of Lifestyle Medicine
Wellspring Medical Center
Wake up America and get slim and healthy. Dr. Fuhrman’s dietary program is good medicine and the results are simply amazing.
— William Menzin M.D., M.P.H.
Faculty, Harvard Medical School
To place your order click here: Eat For Health
— Foreword by John Abramson, M.D.
Why do hundreds of medical doctors utilize Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat For Health system in their medical practice?
It is because all diets fail, for vast majority, in the long–run, unless there is an adequate understanding of nutrient density of food and how low–nutrient–eating leads to food cravings, food addictions and fuels overeating behavior.
Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat For Health is a medical breakthrough because without this fascinating information you are essentially destined to be struggling with dieting forever, compelled to consume excess calories, and not be able to comfortable and permanently maintain a lighter, healthier weight.
Dr. Fuhrman is the founder of the high nutrient eating style and a pioneer in the growing field of nutritional medicine. Now with the Eat For Health , (two–book set) Dr. Fuhrman has taken his bestselling Eat To Live book a gigantic step further, he has made his approach nation–friendly, now everyone can easily do it.
Dr. Fuhrman‘s nutritional approach to the prevention and management of chronic disease is the most significant medical advance I have seen in my career as a physician.
— John V. Forrest, M.D. Professor UCSD Medical School
Thousands who have recovered from their medical problems have been calling Dr. Fuhrman‘s Eat For Health program a medical miracle.
We are not just talking about the people who have lost their excess weight after failing for years on one diet after another, but diseases, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, allergies, asthma, autoimmune illnesses (including lupus) and headaches have simply melted away.
Published medical research already documents this as the most effective weight loss method ever recorded in medical history. There was an average two year weight loss of 53 pounds. Most importantly they kept the weight off.
This complete two–book set actually teaches you how to prefer a health–promoting diet–style over a disease–promoting diet.
The hallmark of healthy eating is to consume more foods that contain a high nutrient density and less food with a low nutrient density.
To make it easy, Dr. Fuhrman has scored thousands of foods so that in each of the 4 phases, the nutrient density of the suggested menus increases.
The outcome is that when you eat enough high nutrient foods you can reverse most medical problems without drugs.
If diets never worked for you in the past you will now understand why and you will be motivated to lose your excess weight and get well again. Eat For Health can save your life.
Dr. Fuhrman‘s MANDI food and meal scoring system (patent pending) lets you know exactly how healthy your diet is. You can choose your own level of nutritional excellence and you can move forward to a higher level at your own pace when you are ready or you can pump it up to phase four to get maximal weight loss and therapeutic effect to reverse disease.
High Nutrient Food, Not Drugs, Is The Prescription
Book two contains the menus and recipes. It teaches you how to make this diet work easily for you and your family.
With over 150 delicious and easy recipes, it makes high nutrient eating truly gourmet. From strengthening your taste buds to dealing with temptation, restaurant eating, to eating on the road, this program will make sure you can do it, enjoy it, and even fit it into your busy schedule. It is guaranteed to change your life forever.
A scientifically proven system to have you lose your food addictions and actually prefer healthy foods over low–nutrient food.
A gradual, 4 – phase program with custom menus so you can adjust the program to your individual needs and preferences.
* Everyday recipes that taste phenomenal and are easy to make.
* A nutrient scoring system to measure the nutritional quality of your diet.
* Remove toxic hunger and you will succeed at losing weight and keeping it off forever.
* Use high nutrient foods to beat disease, get rid of diabetes, lower your blood pressure and cholesterol without drugs and protect yourself against cancer and get more pleasure out of eating.
Physicians and Scientists Endorse Eat For Health
Dr. Fuhrman offers up a large serving of all–to–uncommon common sense about improving your diet and your health. Follow his advice about healing yourself and you will be well along the path to a healthier and longer life.
— John Abramson MD
Clinical Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Author of Overdosed America
Medicine is in great need of a paradigm shift in its approach to healthcare delivery. ”Eat For Health“ is an extraordinary book and can be an important catalyst for such a paradigm shift. It should be a must read for healthcare professional students, healthcare professionals, healthcare policy makers, and any individual seeking optimal health.
— Baxter Montgomery, MD, FACC
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine
University of Texas Healthscience Center, Houston, TX
As a physician, I follow Dr. Fuhrman's excellent recommendations myself and I have prescribed them to my patients with some wonderful results. “Eat For Health” is a great book for anyone who wants to see less of the doctor!
— Anna Quisel MD
Family Physician
Wilmington, Delaware
A terrific, "non–diet" diet. Dr. Fuhrman explains precisely what you should eat and he makes it delicious. “Eat For Health“ is effective, practical and sensible.
— Richard N. Podell, M.D., M.P.H.
Medical Director and Clinical Professor
Department of Family Medicine
UMDNJ–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
I trust Dr. Fuhrman with my patients because his insights make sense and work, a wonderful combination for any physician.
— Mehmet Oz, M.D.
Director, Cardiovascular Institute
Columbia–Presbyterian Medical Center
“Dr. Fuhrman’s book summarizes a practical and effective method to live a long and healthy life — devoid of chronic disease and full of the vitality intended for us all by Mother Nature. Here is a chance to make your most important investment...the rest of your life!”
— Matt Lederman, M.D.
Board Certified Internal Medicine
Director of Transition to Health’s Nutrition and Wellness Program
Los Angeles, California
Dr. Fuhrman’s nutritional prescription is a greatly–needed antidote to the US way of eating which has become a leading cause of disease and premature death. Despite all the sophisticated medical technology available today, the sobering truth is that the greatest tools for preventing and reversing disease are your fork and spoon. This way of eating will greatly benefit those in poor health as well as healthy persons desiring optimal wellness and vitality. Further, unlike most weight–loss approaches based on “will–power” and difficult to sustain, Dr. Fuhrman’s approach corrects the underlying causes of excessive hunger and cravings, resulting in permanent, naturally–occurring weight loss. I have had the privilege of personally seeing the tremendous disease reversal that occurs with this way of eating, and whole–heartedly recommend this book.
— Tonja R. Nansel, PhD
Investigator, Prevention Research Branch
Department of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Dr. Fuhrman’s message is scientifically valid, clinically proven, and very much worth considering for anyone who wants to really enjoy personal health. This prescription for health is both profound and broad in its effect.
— T. Colin Campbell, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry
Cornell University
Co-author, "The China Study"
Dr. Fuhrman has done a magnificent job of synthesizing the essence of thousands of peer reviewed medical journal articles and devising a dietary program that can work miracles for your health! This man is a pioneer in preventive medicine.
— David W. Bullock, D.O.
Physical Medicine &Rehabilitation Specialist
Lawrence, KS, & Social Security Medical Consultant
I love this book. It’s hard to believe that Dr. Fuhrman could surpass his earlier book, “Eat To Live”, but he did. “Eat For Health” empowers us to make change. It is the only prescription that will ensure that our golden years remain golden and not riddled with disability and disease. Dr, Fuhrman’s advice can enable you to achieve the same weight loss seen with gastric bypass surgery WITHOUT the surgery. A must read to “exercise” your taste buds and rev up your metabolic machinery.
— Deanna Cherrone, M.D.
Board Certified in Internal Medicine
Founder of Natural Health & Healing, LLC
Avon, CT
Dr. Fuhrman’s nutritional approach to the prevention and management of chronic disease is the most significant medical advance I have seen in my career as a physician.
— John V. Forrest, M.D.
Professor of Radiology
UCSD Medical School
In “ Eat For Health ” Dr. Fuhrman has taken the most accurate information about nutrition today and made it understandable for anyone who is interested in being responsible for their own health. Dr. Fuhrman’s food rating system—Aggregate Nutrient Density Index makes it easy to decide what to eat. Take this knowledge that’s presented so clearly and live a healthy life.
— Deborah Pate, D.C., D.A.C.B.R.
Chiropractor and chiropractic radiologist
San Diego, CA
If you took a pill every day that made you slimmer, healthier and reversed most disease processes in your body, you would call it a medical miracle. I have witnessed that Dr.Fuhrman’s “Eat For Health” program can provide that miracle makeover that you have been looking for. Plus, it is a delicious and pleasurable way to eat. “Eat For Health” and create your own miracle — today!
— Michael Klaper, M.D.
Family and Emergency Room Physician
Author and Nutritional Researcher
Follow Dr. Fuhrman’s easy–to–understand formula in this book and start having the healthiest time of your life. Fad dieting has no long–term weight and health benefits, but when you eat high nutrient foods the results stick.
— Gerald Deustch, President
National Health Association
At last, a way to eat that can prevent and even reverse disease! And you will stay slim without dieting. Dr. Fuhrman shows us exactly what we need to do and why we need to do it. My wife and I do it! You are what you eat and if YOU don’t take care of yourself...no one else can or will. Dr. Fuhrman teaches us nutritional excellence that can even prevent macular degeneration. Start now to live healthier and longer.
— Stephen Lichtenstein, M.D.
Attending Surgeon
Wills Eye Institute
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Awesome! “ Eat For Health “ is the best, real–world tool I have seen yet for helping people pursue optimal health and/or deal with the majority of today’s diseases. This approach is what "primary care" should be in modern healthcare. The "nutrient density" approach in “Eat For Health” is the cure for most of our diseases and our salvation from the fad diets that plague us. “Eat For Health” is both based on good science and very practical for real people, it could solve the healthcare crisis in America.
— Marc Braman, MD, MPH
Director of Lifestyle Medicine
Wellspring Medical Center
Wake up America and get slim and healthy. Dr. Fuhrman’s dietary program is good medicine and the results are simply amazing.
— William Menzin M.D., M.P.H.
Faculty, Harvard Medical School
To place your order click here: Eat For Health
Sunday, March 29, 2009
What You Need to Know About Vegetarian or Vegan Diets - Part III by Dr. Joel Fuhrman
What are the drawbacks of an omnivorous diet?
Despite the availability of nutritious foods, much of the modern developed world today eats a much less than optimal diet.
In fact, the incidence of heart disease and cancer is higher in more developed countries and still kills about 80% of all adults, despite the fact that the nutritional causes of these illnesses have been explained by scientific studies.
Unfortunately, our society has developed to the point where half of all caloric intake today comes from refined or processed foods and about 40 percent from animal products. Both processed food and animal products lead to heart disease and cancer, according to scientific literature.
The most commercially successful diet books in our country appeal to America’s love-affair with saturated, fat-rich animal products and still leave the public with a relatively dangerous solution to their growing waistlines.
These books encourage a higher percentage of animal products in people’s diets in spite of the preponderance of evidence showing the links to heart disease and cancer.
There are three main problems with diets that contain significant amounts of animal products:
More than a thousand well-designed studies have led to all major health authorities around the world to conclude that saturated fat is a leading contributor to high cholesterol, heart disease, and many cancers. In spite of that, some still believe the earth is flat, and saturated fat is not harmful.
Fat soluble petrochemicals such as PCB’s and dioxin, as well as other toxic elements such as mercury are transferred to humans predominantly via the fatty portions of fish, dairy, meat, and poultry and in that order.
Fatty fish that are rich sources of omega-3 fats are also typically heavily contaminated with harmful pollutants.
Animal products contain no fiber, and almost no antioxidant vitamins such as vitamins C, K, E and folate. They also are lacking in all the anti-cancer phytochemicals, bioflavonoids, lignins, and carotenoids that are so essential to protect us against chronic illnesses, immune system disorders, and a premature death.
With animal products occupying a major caloric percentage of the diet, less remains for natural, unrefined plant produce, nutritious foods essential to our health.
The inclusion of sugar, white flour, oil and other low-nutrient calories in an omnivorous diet virtually guarantees phytonutrient deficiency and the occurrence of late life cancer.
So the low levels of certain essential nutrients are inevitable, unless an omnivorous diet is carefully designed to include substantial amounts of fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, raw nuts, and seeds to supply crucial food elements for optimal health.
The amount of produce necessary to afford a considerable degree of protection would automatically necessitate animal products be a significantly smaller percentage of ones dietary intake, rather than a main portion.
After that, the type of animal products chosen is crucial to minimize their potential harmful effects. The animal products that are lowest in saturated fat are egg whites, low fat fish, skinless white meat turkey, and chicken. The highest saturated fat animal products are butter, cheeses, and red meat.
Because animal products do not contain significant omega-3 fat it is important for those omnivorous diet to consume walnuts, flax, hemp, and other plant sources of omega-3.
The valuable omega-3 fats should not be derived exclusively from the regular consumption of fatty fish, which are such a polluted food. Instead, I recommend the lower fat (less polluted) fish such as flounder, sole, and tilapia and using the cleaner, plant sources of omega-3.
In addition, a multivitamin and a DHA supplement would still be a good idea, for the assurance that optimal levels of these nutrients are met.
Is a vegetarian or vegan diet safe for children?
Parents often ask me whether their children should be eating a vegetarian or vegan diet. A diet optimally designed for the human species, would naturally be ideal for the children of that species too. There are no special needs children have that would make them require a different diet.
Even at the time of rapid growth and brain development the optimal supply of energy and essential fats can be met by and appropriately planned vegetarian or vegan diet.
According to the American Dietetic Association and the Institute of Food Technologists vegan diets can provide adequate nutrition for children.
In May 1998, the seventh edition of Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care was published. In it, Dr. Spock recommends a vegan diet for children. Dr. Spock was concerned that the diet we fed our children, rich in animal products and dairy fat set them up for adult disabilities and a premature death.
He wasn’t wrong. But this sparked a long overdue discussion about the scientific and practical issues of optimal diets for children.
Clearly children of all ages need an adequate supply of healthy fats to fuel their growth and energy needs and for brain development.
Some people believe even a B12 supplemented vegan or vegetarian diet would not supply enough essential fats for comfort. This could be a concern if the diet is essentially carbohydrate-based, comprised of foods such as bread, potato, rice and fruit.
Conversely, raw nuts, seeds and avocados are rich in protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. Whole nuts, such as peanuts, should be avoided in young children as the shape makes them possible to get stuck in a toddler’s windpipe, if not chewed. But nuts can be safely utilized in the diet after one year of age utilizing nut butters, dressing, sauces and desserts to meet these concerns of fat adequacy.
Nuts are rich in protein and also a clean source of nourishment as they grow on deep-rooted trees and do not contain chemical residue. Avocados are appropriate food for infants starting at six months and can be mashed with bananas and mixed with other foods to add a nutritious fat source.
The addition of fortified soy milks and tofu, beans, and green vegetables assures complete nutrition for toddlers and children on vegetarian diets.
Of course, informed parents know that if children are to maximize their intellectual and health potential they must be breast fed. Breast feeding should be continued to at least the first and preferably the second birthday to maximize benefits at reducing cancer incidence for both the baby and the mother doing the nursing.
The real question is : Is an omnivorous diet safe for children?
Clearly the omnivorous diet that most children consume today is particularly dangerous to their future health.
The most recent scientific evidence is both overwhelming and shocking—apparently what our parents choose to feed or not feed their children during childhood has a greater effect on the cause of certain cancers than dietary intake over the next 50 years.
Today it is well recognized that our children eat less than 2% of their diet from natural plant foods such as fruits and vegetables.
American children move into adulthood eating 90% of their caloric intake from dairy products, white flour, sugar, and oil.
Then many develop autoimmune illnesses as young adults before heart disease and cancer strikes later. Diseases of nutritional ignorance flourish, but they have not been connected to their cause—childhood diets—until now. The diet rich in cheese, whole milk, white flour and sugar is implicated.
High dairy fat and animal food consumption in childhood assures unnaturally high levels of hormone promoters that raise our children’s blood level of estrogen and testosterone, induce an earlier maturity, and initiate changes that promote adult cancers.
It is well accepted that an earlier puberty significantly increase the adult risk of both prostate and breast cancer. Animal fats (especially dairy and fish) also contain contaminants that place children at increased risk.
One could make an omnivorous diet safer if dairy fat were removed, if one avoided the potential pollutants in fish, if processed food were significantly limited and if an abundance of produce were consumed.
I would rather a young child added eggs to her diet than fish or dairy, because of the potential for transmission of chemicals mercury and PCB’s in the fish and dairy.
Therefore I encourage consumption of a carefully planned vegetarian diet or one that includes a small amount of animal products, perhaps 10% of total calories or less, rather than 40 -60 % that children eat today. An animal-product-rich omnivorous diet cannot be considered nutritious food or called healthful.
If one is to utilize animal products in their family and children’s diet they should only choose low-fat or nonfat varieties of dairy products, if they are included in the diet at all.
I still recommend substituting nuts, seeds, and avocados as the major sources of fat in the diet.
Fruits, vegetables, avocados, nuts, seeds, beans/legumes, and whole grains are the optimal foods for children. Here are some of the long-term advantages of plant-based diets:
Vegetarian diets prevent and reduce high blood pressure Cholesterol levels are much lower in vegetarians
Cancer rates are much lower in vegetarians
Vegetarians are leaner and have less obesity in adulthood
Plant-based vegetarian diets encourage a later menarche, which has been shown to be associated with reduced risk of prostate and breast cancer
Summary
Both vegetarian and omnivorous and diets can be made healthful or harmful; nutritious food choices, wise supplementation and nutritional sophistication will make the difference in the type of diet you choose.
Following a strict vegetarian diet is not as important as eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Inclusion of high nutrient produce, including nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and beans are an essential part of every healthy diet.
Despite the availability of nutritious foods, much of the modern developed world today eats a much less than optimal diet.
In fact, the incidence of heart disease and cancer is higher in more developed countries and still kills about 80% of all adults, despite the fact that the nutritional causes of these illnesses have been explained by scientific studies.
Unfortunately, our society has developed to the point where half of all caloric intake today comes from refined or processed foods and about 40 percent from animal products. Both processed food and animal products lead to heart disease and cancer, according to scientific literature.
The most commercially successful diet books in our country appeal to America’s love-affair with saturated, fat-rich animal products and still leave the public with a relatively dangerous solution to their growing waistlines.
These books encourage a higher percentage of animal products in people’s diets in spite of the preponderance of evidence showing the links to heart disease and cancer.
There are three main problems with diets that contain significant amounts of animal products:
More than a thousand well-designed studies have led to all major health authorities around the world to conclude that saturated fat is a leading contributor to high cholesterol, heart disease, and many cancers. In spite of that, some still believe the earth is flat, and saturated fat is not harmful.
Fat soluble petrochemicals such as PCB’s and dioxin, as well as other toxic elements such as mercury are transferred to humans predominantly via the fatty portions of fish, dairy, meat, and poultry and in that order.
Fatty fish that are rich sources of omega-3 fats are also typically heavily contaminated with harmful pollutants.
Animal products contain no fiber, and almost no antioxidant vitamins such as vitamins C, K, E and folate. They also are lacking in all the anti-cancer phytochemicals, bioflavonoids, lignins, and carotenoids that are so essential to protect us against chronic illnesses, immune system disorders, and a premature death.
With animal products occupying a major caloric percentage of the diet, less remains for natural, unrefined plant produce, nutritious foods essential to our health.
The inclusion of sugar, white flour, oil and other low-nutrient calories in an omnivorous diet virtually guarantees phytonutrient deficiency and the occurrence of late life cancer.
So the low levels of certain essential nutrients are inevitable, unless an omnivorous diet is carefully designed to include substantial amounts of fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, raw nuts, and seeds to supply crucial food elements for optimal health.
The amount of produce necessary to afford a considerable degree of protection would automatically necessitate animal products be a significantly smaller percentage of ones dietary intake, rather than a main portion.
After that, the type of animal products chosen is crucial to minimize their potential harmful effects. The animal products that are lowest in saturated fat are egg whites, low fat fish, skinless white meat turkey, and chicken. The highest saturated fat animal products are butter, cheeses, and red meat.
Because animal products do not contain significant omega-3 fat it is important for those omnivorous diet to consume walnuts, flax, hemp, and other plant sources of omega-3.
The valuable omega-3 fats should not be derived exclusively from the regular consumption of fatty fish, which are such a polluted food. Instead, I recommend the lower fat (less polluted) fish such as flounder, sole, and tilapia and using the cleaner, plant sources of omega-3.
In addition, a multivitamin and a DHA supplement would still be a good idea, for the assurance that optimal levels of these nutrients are met.
Is a vegetarian or vegan diet safe for children?
Parents often ask me whether their children should be eating a vegetarian or vegan diet. A diet optimally designed for the human species, would naturally be ideal for the children of that species too. There are no special needs children have that would make them require a different diet.
Even at the time of rapid growth and brain development the optimal supply of energy and essential fats can be met by and appropriately planned vegetarian or vegan diet.
According to the American Dietetic Association and the Institute of Food Technologists vegan diets can provide adequate nutrition for children.
In May 1998, the seventh edition of Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care was published. In it, Dr. Spock recommends a vegan diet for children. Dr. Spock was concerned that the diet we fed our children, rich in animal products and dairy fat set them up for adult disabilities and a premature death.
He wasn’t wrong. But this sparked a long overdue discussion about the scientific and practical issues of optimal diets for children.
Clearly children of all ages need an adequate supply of healthy fats to fuel their growth and energy needs and for brain development.
Some people believe even a B12 supplemented vegan or vegetarian diet would not supply enough essential fats for comfort. This could be a concern if the diet is essentially carbohydrate-based, comprised of foods such as bread, potato, rice and fruit.
Conversely, raw nuts, seeds and avocados are rich in protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. Whole nuts, such as peanuts, should be avoided in young children as the shape makes them possible to get stuck in a toddler’s windpipe, if not chewed. But nuts can be safely utilized in the diet after one year of age utilizing nut butters, dressing, sauces and desserts to meet these concerns of fat adequacy.
Nuts are rich in protein and also a clean source of nourishment as they grow on deep-rooted trees and do not contain chemical residue. Avocados are appropriate food for infants starting at six months and can be mashed with bananas and mixed with other foods to add a nutritious fat source.
The addition of fortified soy milks and tofu, beans, and green vegetables assures complete nutrition for toddlers and children on vegetarian diets.
Of course, informed parents know that if children are to maximize their intellectual and health potential they must be breast fed. Breast feeding should be continued to at least the first and preferably the second birthday to maximize benefits at reducing cancer incidence for both the baby and the mother doing the nursing.
The real question is : Is an omnivorous diet safe for children?
Clearly the omnivorous diet that most children consume today is particularly dangerous to their future health.
The most recent scientific evidence is both overwhelming and shocking—apparently what our parents choose to feed or not feed their children during childhood has a greater effect on the cause of certain cancers than dietary intake over the next 50 years.
Today it is well recognized that our children eat less than 2% of their diet from natural plant foods such as fruits and vegetables.
American children move into adulthood eating 90% of their caloric intake from dairy products, white flour, sugar, and oil.
Then many develop autoimmune illnesses as young adults before heart disease and cancer strikes later. Diseases of nutritional ignorance flourish, but they have not been connected to their cause—childhood diets—until now. The diet rich in cheese, whole milk, white flour and sugar is implicated.
High dairy fat and animal food consumption in childhood assures unnaturally high levels of hormone promoters that raise our children’s blood level of estrogen and testosterone, induce an earlier maturity, and initiate changes that promote adult cancers.
It is well accepted that an earlier puberty significantly increase the adult risk of both prostate and breast cancer. Animal fats (especially dairy and fish) also contain contaminants that place children at increased risk.
One could make an omnivorous diet safer if dairy fat were removed, if one avoided the potential pollutants in fish, if processed food were significantly limited and if an abundance of produce were consumed.
I would rather a young child added eggs to her diet than fish or dairy, because of the potential for transmission of chemicals mercury and PCB’s in the fish and dairy.
Therefore I encourage consumption of a carefully planned vegetarian diet or one that includes a small amount of animal products, perhaps 10% of total calories or less, rather than 40 -60 % that children eat today. An animal-product-rich omnivorous diet cannot be considered nutritious food or called healthful.
If one is to utilize animal products in their family and children’s diet they should only choose low-fat or nonfat varieties of dairy products, if they are included in the diet at all.
I still recommend substituting nuts, seeds, and avocados as the major sources of fat in the diet.
Fruits, vegetables, avocados, nuts, seeds, beans/legumes, and whole grains are the optimal foods for children. Here are some of the long-term advantages of plant-based diets:
Vegetarian diets prevent and reduce high blood pressure Cholesterol levels are much lower in vegetarians
Cancer rates are much lower in vegetarians
Vegetarians are leaner and have less obesity in adulthood
Plant-based vegetarian diets encourage a later menarche, which has been shown to be associated with reduced risk of prostate and breast cancer
Summary
Both vegetarian and omnivorous and diets can be made healthful or harmful; nutritious food choices, wise supplementation and nutritional sophistication will make the difference in the type of diet you choose.
Following a strict vegetarian diet is not as important as eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Inclusion of high nutrient produce, including nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and beans are an essential part of every healthy diet.
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Friday, March 27, 2009
What You Need to Know About Vegetarian or Vegan Diets - Part 1 by Dr. Joel Fuhrman
Following a strict vegetarian diet is not as important as eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
All types of diets—vegetarian or non-vegetarian--have potential health risks as well as associated benefits. My patients frequently ask me questions about the most nutritious foods, and positive aspects and the dangers of different types of diets, particularly vegetarian and vegan.
Is a vegetarian or vegan diet the healthiest diet for my family?
What are the drawbacks of a vegetarian diet?
What are the drawbacks of an omnivorous diet?
Is a vegetarian or vegan diet safe for children?
Is an omnivorous diet safe for children?
As a start, we can define the various types of diets in these ways:
Vegan Consists totally of plant foods, with no dairy, eggs, or other foods of animal origin.
Vegetarian Avoids eating animals, but may or may not include some dairy, eggs or other products of animal origin.
Omnivorous Utilizes both animal products and plant foods
Lacto-ovo-vegetarian Contains no meat, fowl, or fish, but allows eggs and dairy products
Is a vegetarian or vegan diet the healthiest diet for my family?
When looking for the healthiest diet, people often consider vegetarian diets. But are vegetarian diets the healthiest diets?
There are two things we all know with certainty. First of all, more nutritious food, such as vegetables, beans, fruits, raw nuts, and seeds in the diet have dramatic effects at reducing the risk of both heart disease and most cancers.
The other thing we know is that as animal products increase in a population’s diet, the risk of both heart disease and cancer increase.
It has been observed in multiple scientific studies that vegetarians have fewer heart attacks and less incidence of cancer than those on omnivorous diets.
The chief feature that makes a vegetarian diet beneficial compared to more conventional ways of eating is that a person following a vegetarian diet is likelier to be consuming more high nutrient produce that contains protective fibers and antioxidant nutrients.
This diet will naturally be lower in saturated fat, which is an accepted risk factor for both heart disease and cancer.
Not surprisingly, fruits and vegetables are the two nutritious foods with the highest correlation with longevity in humans.
Not whole wheat bread, not bran, not even a vegetarian diet shows as powerful a correlation with decreased mortality as does a high level of fresh fruit and raw green salad consumption1. The National Cancer Institute recently reported on 337 different studies, with all showing the same basic information:
Vegetables and fruit protect against all types of cancers if consumed in large enough quantities. Thousands of scientific studies document this. The most prevalent cancers in our country are primarily a plant-food deficiency disease.
Raw vegetables have the most powerful anti-cancer properties of all foods.
Beans, in general, and not just soy, have additional anti-cancer benefits against reproductive cancers, like breast and prostate cancer.
Clearly, the chief health reason to choose a vegetarian diet is to consume high levels of fruit, green vegetables, and beans. A diet primarily comprised of nutritious foods, not processed food or animal products is the key both to better health, and healthy weight loss.
People often ask me whether it is absolutely necessary to follow a vegetarian diet. Let me stress this: Following a strict vegetarian diet is not as important as eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
A vegetarian whose diet is mainly refined grains, cold breakfast cereals, processed health food store products, vegetarian fast foods, white rice, and pasta will be worse off than a person who eats a little turkey, chicken, fish, or eggs but consumes large volumes of fruits, vegetables, and beans.
That combination of little or no animal products with a higher consumption of fresh produce is the crucial factor that makes a vegetarian diet healthful.
Research has confirmed this. Multiple studies have shown that vegetarians live longer than non-vegetarians do. The research shows those who avoid meat and dairy have lower rates of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity, which are the leading causes of death in America.
But when we take a close look at the data, it appears that those who weren’t as strict with their diets as the vegetarians had longevity statistics that were equally impressive -- as long as they consumed high volumes of a variety of unrefined plant foods.
So the question is: can the total protection offered by increasing the nutritious foods - the high phytochemical/antioxidant (protective plant foods)-- to make ones diet produce-predominant be achieved, even if the diet is not totally vegetarian and includes some animal products? I think the answer is yes.
In other words, you can achieve the benefits of a vegetarian diet, without being a vegetarian or a vegan, and the science available seems to support this.
So let’s not debate whether it is all right to eat a little bit of animal food or not. The main focus here that cannot be contradicted or disagreed with is: Whether you eat a vegan or vegetarian diet or you include a small amount of animal foods you must get the majority of calories from unrefined plant food for optimal health.
A large quantity of unrefined plant food grants the greatest protection against developing serious disease.
A strict vegetarian diet, then, may be the healthiest diet, but it also may not be. One can choose to be on a healthy vegetarian diet, with careful planning; and one can choose to be on a healthy omnivorous diet, with careful planning too.
Both ways of eating still require knowledge about the most nutritious food to eat to assure excellent health and disease protection.
End of Part 1
What are the drawbacks of an omnivorous diet?
Despite the availability of nutritious foods, much of the modern developed world today eats a much less than optimal diet. In fact, the incidence of heart disease and cancer is higher in more developed countries and still kills about 80% of all adults, despite the fact that the nutritional causes of these illnesses have been explained by scientific studies.
Unfortunately, our society has developed to the point where half of all caloric intake today comes from refined or processed foods and about 40 percent from animal products. Both processed food and animal products lead to heart disease and cancer, according to scientific literature.
The most commercially successful diet books in our country appeal to America’s love-affair with saturated, fat-rich animal products and still leave the public with a relatively dangerous solution to their growing waistlines. These books encourage a higher percentage of animal products in people’s diets in spite of the preponderance of evidence showing the links to heart disease and cancer.
There are three main problems with diets that contain significant amounts of animal products:
More than a thousand well-designed studies have led to all major health authorities around the world to conclude that saturated fat is a leading contributor to high cholesterol, heart disease, and many cancers. In spite of that, some still believe the earth is flat, and saturated fat is not harmful.
Fat soluble petrochemicals such as PCB’s and dioxin, as well as other toxic elements such as mercury are transferred to humans predominantly via the fatty portions of fish, dairy, meat, and poultry and in that order. Fatty fish that are rich sources of omega-3 fats are also typically heavily contaminated with harmful pollutants.
Animal products contain no fiber, and almost no antioxidant vitamins such as vitamins C, K, E and folate. They also are lacking in all the anti-cancer phytochemicals, bioflavonoids, lignins, and carotenoids that are so essential to protect us against chronic illnesses, immune system disorders, and a premature death.
With animal products occupying a major caloric percentage of the diet, less remains for natural, unrefined plant produce, nutritious foods essential to our health. The inclusion of sugar, white flour, oil and other low-nutrient calories in an omnivorous diet virtually guarantees phytonutrient deficiency and the occurrence of late life cancer. So the low levels of certain essential nutrients are inevitable, unless an omnivorous diet is carefully designed to include substantial amounts of fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, raw nuts, and seeds to supply crucial food elements for optimal health.
The amount of produce necessary to afford a considerable degree of protection would automatically necessitate animal products be a significantly smaller percentage of ones dietary intake, rather than a main portion. After that, the type of animal products chosen is crucial to minimize their potential harmful effects. The animal products that are lowest in saturated fat are egg whites, low fat fish, skinless white meat turkey, and chicken. The highest saturated fat animal products are butter, cheeses, and red meat.
Because animal products do not contain significant omega-3 fat it is important for those omnivorous diet to consume walnuts, flax, hemp, and other plant sources of omega-3. The valuable omega-3 fats should not be derived exclusively from the regular consumption of fatty fish, which are such a polluted food. Instead, I recommend the lower fat (less polluted) fish such as flounder, sole, and tilapia and using the cleaner, plant sources of omega-3.
In addition, a multivitamin and a DHA supplement would still be a good idea, for the assurance that optimal levels of these nutrients are met.
Is a vegetarian or vegan diet safe for children?
Parents often ask me whether their children should be eating a vegetarian or vegan diet. A diet optimally designed for the human species, would naturally be ideal for the children of that species too. There are no special needs children have that would make them require a different diet. Even at the time of rapid growth and brain development the optimal supply of energy and essential fats can be met by and appropriately planned vegetarian or vegan diet.
According to the American Dietetic Association and the Institute of Food Technologists vegan diets can provide adequate nutrition for children.
In May 1998, the seventh edition of Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care was published. In it, Dr. Spock recommends a vegan diet for children. Dr. Spock was concerned that the diet we fed our children, rich in animal products and dairy fat set them up for adult disabilities and a premature death. He wasn’t wrong. But this sparked a long overdue discussion about the scientific and practical issues of optimal diets for children.
Clearly children of all ages need an adequate supply of healthy fats to fuel their growth and energy needs and for brain development. Some people believe even a B12 supplemented vegan or vegetarian diet would not supply enough essential fats for comfort. This could be a concern if the diet is essentially carbohydrate-based, comprised of foods such as bread, potato, rice and fruit.
Conversely, raw nuts, seeds and avocados are rich in protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. Whole nuts, such as peanuts, should be avoided in young children as the shape makes them possible to get stuck in a toddler’s windpipe, if not chewed. But nuts can be safely utilized in the diet after one year of age utilizing nut butters, dressing, sauces and desserts to meet these concerns of fat adequacy.
Nuts are rich in protein and also a clean source of nourishment as they grow on deep-rooted trees and do not contain chemical residue. Avocados are appropriate food for infants starting at six months and can be mashed with bananas and mixed with other foods to add a nutritious fat source. The addition of fortified soy milks and tofu, beans, and green vegetables assures complete nutrition for toddlers and children on vegetarian diets.
Of course, informed parents know that if children are to maximize their intellectual and health potential they must be breast fed. Breast feeding should be continued to at least the first and preferably the second birthday to maximize benefits at reducing cancer incidence for both the baby and the mother doing the nursing.
The real question: Is an omnivorous diet safe for children?
Clearly the omnivorous diet that most children consume today is particularly dangerous to their future health.
The most recent scientific evidence is both overwhelming and shocking—apparently what our parents choose to feed or not feed their children during childhood has a greater effect on the cause of certain cancers than dietary intake over the next 50 years.
Today it is well recognized that our children eat less than 2% of their diet from natural plant foods such as fruits and vegetables. American children move into adulthood eating 90% of their caloric intake from dairy products, white flour, sugar, and oil. Then many develop autoimmune illnesses as young adults before heart disease and cancer strikes later. Diseases of nutritional ignorance flourish, but they have not been connected to their cause—childhood diets—until now. The diet rich in cheese, whole milk, white flour and sugar is implicated.
High dairy fat and animal food consumption in childhood assures unnaturally high levels of hormone promoters that raise our children’s blood level of estrogen and testosterone, induce an earlier maturity, and initiate changes that promote adult cancers. It is well accepted that an earlier puberty significantly increase the adult risk of both prostate and breast cancer. Animal fats (especially dairy and fish) also contain contaminants that place children at increased risk.
One could make an omnivorous diet safer if dairy fat were removed, if one avoided the potential pollutants in fish, if processed food were significantly limited and if an abundance of produce were consumed. I would rather a young child added eggs to her diet than fish or dairy, because of the potential for transmission of chemicals mercury and PCB’s in the fish and dairy.
Therefore I encourage consumption of a carefully planned vegetarian diet or one that includes a small amount of animal products, perhaps 10% of total calories or less, rather than 40 -60 % that children eat today. An animal-product-rich omnivorous diet cannot be considered nutritious food or called healthful.
If one is to utilize animal products in their family and children’s diet they should only choose low-fat or nonfat varieties of dairy products, if they are included in the diet at all. I still recommend substituting nuts, seeds, and avocados as the major sources of fat in the diet.
Fruits, vegetables, avocados, nuts, seeds, beans/legumes, and whole grains are the optimal foods for children. Here are some of the long-term advantages of plant-based diets:
Here are some of the long-term advantages of plant-based, vegetarian diets:
Vegetarian diets prevent and reduce high blood pressure 6
Cholesterol levels are much lower in vegetarians7
Cancer rates are much lower in vegetarians8
Vegetarians are leaner and have less obesity in adulthood9
Plant-based vegetarian diets encourage a later menarche, which has been shown to be associated with reduced risk of prostate and breast cancer10
Summary
Both vegetarian and omnivorous and diets can be made healthful or harmful; nutritious food choices, wise supplementation and nutritional sophistication will make the difference in the type of diet you choose. Following a strict vegetarian diet is not as important as eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Inclusion of high nutrient produce, including nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and beans are an essential part of every healthy diet.
All types of diets—vegetarian or non-vegetarian--have potential health risks as well as associated benefits. My patients frequently ask me questions about the most nutritious foods, and positive aspects and the dangers of different types of diets, particularly vegetarian and vegan.
Is a vegetarian or vegan diet the healthiest diet for my family?
What are the drawbacks of a vegetarian diet?
What are the drawbacks of an omnivorous diet?
Is a vegetarian or vegan diet safe for children?
Is an omnivorous diet safe for children?
As a start, we can define the various types of diets in these ways:
Vegan Consists totally of plant foods, with no dairy, eggs, or other foods of animal origin.
Vegetarian Avoids eating animals, but may or may not include some dairy, eggs or other products of animal origin.
Omnivorous Utilizes both animal products and plant foods
Lacto-ovo-vegetarian Contains no meat, fowl, or fish, but allows eggs and dairy products
Is a vegetarian or vegan diet the healthiest diet for my family?
When looking for the healthiest diet, people often consider vegetarian diets. But are vegetarian diets the healthiest diets?
There are two things we all know with certainty. First of all, more nutritious food, such as vegetables, beans, fruits, raw nuts, and seeds in the diet have dramatic effects at reducing the risk of both heart disease and most cancers.
The other thing we know is that as animal products increase in a population’s diet, the risk of both heart disease and cancer increase.
It has been observed in multiple scientific studies that vegetarians have fewer heart attacks and less incidence of cancer than those on omnivorous diets.
The chief feature that makes a vegetarian diet beneficial compared to more conventional ways of eating is that a person following a vegetarian diet is likelier to be consuming more high nutrient produce that contains protective fibers and antioxidant nutrients.
This diet will naturally be lower in saturated fat, which is an accepted risk factor for both heart disease and cancer.
Not surprisingly, fruits and vegetables are the two nutritious foods with the highest correlation with longevity in humans.
Not whole wheat bread, not bran, not even a vegetarian diet shows as powerful a correlation with decreased mortality as does a high level of fresh fruit and raw green salad consumption1. The National Cancer Institute recently reported on 337 different studies, with all showing the same basic information:
Vegetables and fruit protect against all types of cancers if consumed in large enough quantities. Thousands of scientific studies document this. The most prevalent cancers in our country are primarily a plant-food deficiency disease.
Raw vegetables have the most powerful anti-cancer properties of all foods.
Beans, in general, and not just soy, have additional anti-cancer benefits against reproductive cancers, like breast and prostate cancer.
Clearly, the chief health reason to choose a vegetarian diet is to consume high levels of fruit, green vegetables, and beans. A diet primarily comprised of nutritious foods, not processed food or animal products is the key both to better health, and healthy weight loss.
People often ask me whether it is absolutely necessary to follow a vegetarian diet. Let me stress this: Following a strict vegetarian diet is not as important as eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
A vegetarian whose diet is mainly refined grains, cold breakfast cereals, processed health food store products, vegetarian fast foods, white rice, and pasta will be worse off than a person who eats a little turkey, chicken, fish, or eggs but consumes large volumes of fruits, vegetables, and beans.
That combination of little or no animal products with a higher consumption of fresh produce is the crucial factor that makes a vegetarian diet healthful.
Research has confirmed this. Multiple studies have shown that vegetarians live longer than non-vegetarians do. The research shows those who avoid meat and dairy have lower rates of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity, which are the leading causes of death in America.
But when we take a close look at the data, it appears that those who weren’t as strict with their diets as the vegetarians had longevity statistics that were equally impressive -- as long as they consumed high volumes of a variety of unrefined plant foods.
So the question is: can the total protection offered by increasing the nutritious foods - the high phytochemical/antioxidant (protective plant foods)-- to make ones diet produce-predominant be achieved, even if the diet is not totally vegetarian and includes some animal products? I think the answer is yes.
In other words, you can achieve the benefits of a vegetarian diet, without being a vegetarian or a vegan, and the science available seems to support this.
So let’s not debate whether it is all right to eat a little bit of animal food or not. The main focus here that cannot be contradicted or disagreed with is: Whether you eat a vegan or vegetarian diet or you include a small amount of animal foods you must get the majority of calories from unrefined plant food for optimal health.
A large quantity of unrefined plant food grants the greatest protection against developing serious disease.
A strict vegetarian diet, then, may be the healthiest diet, but it also may not be. One can choose to be on a healthy vegetarian diet, with careful planning; and one can choose to be on a healthy omnivorous diet, with careful planning too.
Both ways of eating still require knowledge about the most nutritious food to eat to assure excellent health and disease protection.
End of Part 1
What are the drawbacks of an omnivorous diet?
Despite the availability of nutritious foods, much of the modern developed world today eats a much less than optimal diet. In fact, the incidence of heart disease and cancer is higher in more developed countries and still kills about 80% of all adults, despite the fact that the nutritional causes of these illnesses have been explained by scientific studies.
Unfortunately, our society has developed to the point where half of all caloric intake today comes from refined or processed foods and about 40 percent from animal products. Both processed food and animal products lead to heart disease and cancer, according to scientific literature.
The most commercially successful diet books in our country appeal to America’s love-affair with saturated, fat-rich animal products and still leave the public with a relatively dangerous solution to their growing waistlines. These books encourage a higher percentage of animal products in people’s diets in spite of the preponderance of evidence showing the links to heart disease and cancer.
There are three main problems with diets that contain significant amounts of animal products:
More than a thousand well-designed studies have led to all major health authorities around the world to conclude that saturated fat is a leading contributor to high cholesterol, heart disease, and many cancers. In spite of that, some still believe the earth is flat, and saturated fat is not harmful.
Fat soluble petrochemicals such as PCB’s and dioxin, as well as other toxic elements such as mercury are transferred to humans predominantly via the fatty portions of fish, dairy, meat, and poultry and in that order. Fatty fish that are rich sources of omega-3 fats are also typically heavily contaminated with harmful pollutants.
Animal products contain no fiber, and almost no antioxidant vitamins such as vitamins C, K, E and folate. They also are lacking in all the anti-cancer phytochemicals, bioflavonoids, lignins, and carotenoids that are so essential to protect us against chronic illnesses, immune system disorders, and a premature death.
With animal products occupying a major caloric percentage of the diet, less remains for natural, unrefined plant produce, nutritious foods essential to our health. The inclusion of sugar, white flour, oil and other low-nutrient calories in an omnivorous diet virtually guarantees phytonutrient deficiency and the occurrence of late life cancer. So the low levels of certain essential nutrients are inevitable, unless an omnivorous diet is carefully designed to include substantial amounts of fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, raw nuts, and seeds to supply crucial food elements for optimal health.
The amount of produce necessary to afford a considerable degree of protection would automatically necessitate animal products be a significantly smaller percentage of ones dietary intake, rather than a main portion. After that, the type of animal products chosen is crucial to minimize their potential harmful effects. The animal products that are lowest in saturated fat are egg whites, low fat fish, skinless white meat turkey, and chicken. The highest saturated fat animal products are butter, cheeses, and red meat.
Because animal products do not contain significant omega-3 fat it is important for those omnivorous diet to consume walnuts, flax, hemp, and other plant sources of omega-3. The valuable omega-3 fats should not be derived exclusively from the regular consumption of fatty fish, which are such a polluted food. Instead, I recommend the lower fat (less polluted) fish such as flounder, sole, and tilapia and using the cleaner, plant sources of omega-3.
In addition, a multivitamin and a DHA supplement would still be a good idea, for the assurance that optimal levels of these nutrients are met.
Is a vegetarian or vegan diet safe for children?
Parents often ask me whether their children should be eating a vegetarian or vegan diet. A diet optimally designed for the human species, would naturally be ideal for the children of that species too. There are no special needs children have that would make them require a different diet. Even at the time of rapid growth and brain development the optimal supply of energy and essential fats can be met by and appropriately planned vegetarian or vegan diet.
According to the American Dietetic Association and the Institute of Food Technologists vegan diets can provide adequate nutrition for children.
In May 1998, the seventh edition of Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care was published. In it, Dr. Spock recommends a vegan diet for children. Dr. Spock was concerned that the diet we fed our children, rich in animal products and dairy fat set them up for adult disabilities and a premature death. He wasn’t wrong. But this sparked a long overdue discussion about the scientific and practical issues of optimal diets for children.
Clearly children of all ages need an adequate supply of healthy fats to fuel their growth and energy needs and for brain development. Some people believe even a B12 supplemented vegan or vegetarian diet would not supply enough essential fats for comfort. This could be a concern if the diet is essentially carbohydrate-based, comprised of foods such as bread, potato, rice and fruit.
Conversely, raw nuts, seeds and avocados are rich in protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. Whole nuts, such as peanuts, should be avoided in young children as the shape makes them possible to get stuck in a toddler’s windpipe, if not chewed. But nuts can be safely utilized in the diet after one year of age utilizing nut butters, dressing, sauces and desserts to meet these concerns of fat adequacy.
Nuts are rich in protein and also a clean source of nourishment as they grow on deep-rooted trees and do not contain chemical residue. Avocados are appropriate food for infants starting at six months and can be mashed with bananas and mixed with other foods to add a nutritious fat source. The addition of fortified soy milks and tofu, beans, and green vegetables assures complete nutrition for toddlers and children on vegetarian diets.
Of course, informed parents know that if children are to maximize their intellectual and health potential they must be breast fed. Breast feeding should be continued to at least the first and preferably the second birthday to maximize benefits at reducing cancer incidence for both the baby and the mother doing the nursing.
The real question: Is an omnivorous diet safe for children?
Clearly the omnivorous diet that most children consume today is particularly dangerous to their future health.
The most recent scientific evidence is both overwhelming and shocking—apparently what our parents choose to feed or not feed their children during childhood has a greater effect on the cause of certain cancers than dietary intake over the next 50 years.
Today it is well recognized that our children eat less than 2% of their diet from natural plant foods such as fruits and vegetables. American children move into adulthood eating 90% of their caloric intake from dairy products, white flour, sugar, and oil. Then many develop autoimmune illnesses as young adults before heart disease and cancer strikes later. Diseases of nutritional ignorance flourish, but they have not been connected to their cause—childhood diets—until now. The diet rich in cheese, whole milk, white flour and sugar is implicated.
High dairy fat and animal food consumption in childhood assures unnaturally high levels of hormone promoters that raise our children’s blood level of estrogen and testosterone, induce an earlier maturity, and initiate changes that promote adult cancers. It is well accepted that an earlier puberty significantly increase the adult risk of both prostate and breast cancer. Animal fats (especially dairy and fish) also contain contaminants that place children at increased risk.
One could make an omnivorous diet safer if dairy fat were removed, if one avoided the potential pollutants in fish, if processed food were significantly limited and if an abundance of produce were consumed. I would rather a young child added eggs to her diet than fish or dairy, because of the potential for transmission of chemicals mercury and PCB’s in the fish and dairy.
Therefore I encourage consumption of a carefully planned vegetarian diet or one that includes a small amount of animal products, perhaps 10% of total calories or less, rather than 40 -60 % that children eat today. An animal-product-rich omnivorous diet cannot be considered nutritious food or called healthful.
If one is to utilize animal products in their family and children’s diet they should only choose low-fat or nonfat varieties of dairy products, if they are included in the diet at all. I still recommend substituting nuts, seeds, and avocados as the major sources of fat in the diet.
Fruits, vegetables, avocados, nuts, seeds, beans/legumes, and whole grains are the optimal foods for children. Here are some of the long-term advantages of plant-based diets:
Here are some of the long-term advantages of plant-based, vegetarian diets:
Vegetarian diets prevent and reduce high blood pressure 6
Cholesterol levels are much lower in vegetarians7
Cancer rates are much lower in vegetarians8
Vegetarians are leaner and have less obesity in adulthood9
Plant-based vegetarian diets encourage a later menarche, which has been shown to be associated with reduced risk of prostate and breast cancer10
Summary
Both vegetarian and omnivorous and diets can be made healthful or harmful; nutritious food choices, wise supplementation and nutritional sophistication will make the difference in the type of diet you choose. Following a strict vegetarian diet is not as important as eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Inclusion of high nutrient produce, including nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and beans are an essential part of every healthy diet.
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Thursday, March 26, 2009
Dr. Joel Fuhrman Introductory Video Clip
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