Sunday, October 29, 2017

Another Great Resource

I've been watching Jeff Morgan's videos occasionally for a while now, and just watched a recent one where his wife does a "what I eat" video. These are popular as more and more of us look for clues and info about how to actually do a whole food plant based diet in "the real world" (wherever that is).

So can we call Jeff and family the typical family going to a healthier diet and lifestyle? Hummm, well maybe not...you decide:)


I'm also going to link Jeff's web site which I hadn't seen before (I think it's new), with Jeff's story and a free recipe book! (Can't have too many of those:)
https://guiltfreetv.org/

Friday, October 20, 2017

Does eating right protect you from air pollution?

From an article in the Oct 19 NYTimes:


It makes sense: the body has only so much capacity to deal with ongoing "housekeeping" activities. Ongoing and normal processing of metabolic waste byproduct presents a baseline load. The ingression of exogenous toxins, some of which is unavoidable to varying degree (like car exhaust), adds substantially to that load. How much capacity is left? If it is insufficient we will lose our health sooner or later as the body becomes overwhelmed with toxic waste.

This is why the foods we eat are so critical...adding "difficult" and toxic foods to the pre-existing load pushes us over the capacity limit, and we begin developing the so-called metabolic syndrome diseases.

The right amount of physical activity is important too, it increases "housekeeping" efficiency substantially.

None of this is hard to understand, so how did we get here? Answer: over-reliance on technological solutions to common sense problems ... the search for the magic bullet that enables us to stay firmly ensconced in "The Pleasure Trap".

Have you read it yet?

Monday, October 9, 2017

The "Disease Reversal" Diet

The Disease Reversal Diet is also the diet we are biologically adapted to. The logic for that is simple: the body is a self healing organism - when we eliminate toxic input, and get the correct amount of nutrition, not too much and not too little (which happens automatically on the disease reversal diet, we don't have to think about it, we simply eat as much as we want of the "correct" foods), the body begins immediately to "vector toward health on all fronts".

What that means is we immediately begin going toward our correct weight, and symptoms of physical (and even emotional) discomfort begin to lessen. Within a few weeks we begin to feel very noticeably better with increased energy and feelings of well being. Within a few months we are obviously undergoing a transformative process, noticeable to all around us, but especially to ourselves. We begin to feel amazing, typically for the first time in years. Within a few years we are quite literally a "new" person.

There are variations of this diet of course, the variations that meet our biological needs for fuel and nutrition more closely are also those that are more effective at disease reversal. This same diet reverses the variety of diseases that fall into the "post industrial disease" category, some more quickly and effectively, notably the vascular diseases (heart attack, stroke, and dementia), and type 2 diabetes.

Certain other diseases are also reversed, but a bit more gradually, depending on disease progression. Early cancers for example are reversible, especially those that are not yet symptomatic (those we are not yet aware of, as we know, cancers typically take a decade or more to become symptomatic). Our body intelligence, that complex of mechanisms that reverses diseases, does know however, and begins work on all pathological conditions once we eliminate toxic inputs. All pathological conditions, whether we are consciously aware of them or not, begin the process of reversal as soon as we begin using the diet we are biologically adapted to.

Other diseases reversed include the auto-immune conditions, and again, some more quickly depending on type and progression. In other words, all of the so-called metabolic syndrome conditions, or what some call the post-industrial diseases of dietary excess, can be reversed with the diet we are biologically adapted to.

There is very solid science on the phenomena of disease reversal through diet, an exponentially growing body of research, the earliest examples of which are now decades old.

Of course physical activity is an important component of any healthy lifestyle. The term we hear frequently is "diet and lifestyle", and it's true, we need more than nutrition, but nutrition is the key, and the most effective first step. The reason is simple: better nutrition increases energy and feelings of well being, and when we feel good and have energy we "feel" like moving. In fact it begins to come naturally, our bodies just "want to move" with increased energy.

Weight loss and moderate disease reversal can come with physical activity alone, but we know statistically very little of that is sustained. Other important factors for good health such as good sleep are also notably improved with the foods we are adapted to - these foods create much lower "load" on the body, consequently the body is more at ease, and rest and sleep come easier.

There are so many books to recommend. The first book I read that opened my eyes is "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, formally a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic. It's gets right to the point, an easy fast read. If you haven't read it yet, I recommend it very highly.

https://www.amazon.com/Prevent-Reverse-Heart-Disease-Nutrition-Based/dp/1583333002

edit: A friend comments via email on this post, "and we eat TOO MUCH". My response:

The disease reversal diet has a technical name "ad libitum", which simply means eat until completely satisfied. Fiber is high, caloric density is low (compared to disease causing diets), and it is somewhere between difficult and impossible to go to any other weight than the correct BMI range while maintaining this diet. People on this diet for years become lean and stay lean, it's unavoidable. There is some variation of course within the healthy BMI range depending on other factors.

Here's a link to a study that examined the effect on common health markers in human subjects using an "ad libitum" disease reversal diet:



Saturday, October 7, 2017

Going Whole Food Plant Based

I've been thinking recently about writing a blog titled "things I've noticed going vegan" based on my own experiences and observations and some of the challenges I ran into. I would still like to, but meanwhile want to share a vlog on a similar topic. One of the things I realized along the way is the importance of conceptual underpinning -- if it's explained in such a way that just makes tons of sense, it gets a whole lot easier to do.

Here's the personal story of one couple who read a book based on Dr Joel Fuhrman's "Nutritarian" approach that changed their lives:

Our 3 Year Whole Food Plant Based Vegan Transformation



Tuesday, October 3, 2017

The surprisingly dramatic role of nutrition in mental health

After the nearly unthinkable horrific tragedy in Las Vegas a friend sent an email with the sardonic header "we should declare WAR on ourselves" calling for increased sanity on gun control.

I'm all in favor of increased sanity. My response to the email was as follows:

I don't mean to negate the need for gun control in any way...it's a critical issue, and more and more apparent every time something like this happens.

But compare the number of gun deaths to car deaths, and then compare that number to heart attack deaths, then compare that number to all combined deaths due to heart disease, strokes, dementia, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disorders, and medical deaths due to meds.

We are a sick society in more ways than one...most people have no clue why they're sick, or that it is not normal, or that meds are not the answer, in fact they are part of the problem. No wonder people are pissed off?

I don't watch much tv, but i did tune into the news on this incident. I was struck by how many commercials for meds there are these days. Wow. This has become normal? We've been sold down the river.

And the juxtaposition of those commercials with the footage on the tragedy was more than just ironic...the promise of health via magic pills vs the tragedy...it was surreal and unsettling.

People don't know why they are sick, or how simple and cheap the (real) cure is, but they have vague notions they are being fucked by big industry and gov.

Yep they are pissed and getting more pissed...good mental health depends on correct chemical balances in the brain. Well, we've sold that commodity down the river too.

The surprisingly dramatic role of nutrition in mental health


clinical psychologist Julia Rucklidge explores a range of scientific research, including her own, showing the significant role played by nutrition in mental health or illness.