A surgeon goes off the reservation to save her own life

Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Lorraine Day talks in this interview about what she learned having cancer herself, and how she healed it. She covers a lot of ground here, certain things stood out for me and I'm tempted to comment on them, but I'm sure other things will resonate for other viewers. Here is Dr. Day:

A tale of two experts, young and old

 Here we have two people of very different age, background and experience, who have both come to a deep understanding of the disease reversal diet. They represent two very different perspectives we may find value in.

First, the older gentleman, Dr. Ellsworth Wareham, 98 years old at the time of this interview in 2013, vegan since about age 50, and according to Wikipedia, still amongst us, which would put him at 104 as of this writing. We might imagine Dr. Wareham, a cardiothoracic surgeon, has seen a lot of heart disease in his line of work, giving him perspective your average vegan advocate does not have. Let's hear what the good Dr. Wareham has to say:

Next up is Andrew Perlot, vegan for 10 years at the time of this Youtube vlog in 2014, who developed a severe case of colitis at a young age. Here he discusses challenges with the plant based diet he overcame through intelligent analysis and persistence. Andrew's perspective may be of considerable value also:

There's a major clue bus coming our way

Another family physician, Dr Ronald Weiss of New Jersey, who recently began treating and healing patients with the whole food plant based diet (the disease reversal diet), is raising his voice to a wider audience. The truth will out!

There's a major clue bus coming our way: the disease reversal diet is very very close to the optimal diet for humans. It is so close as to be almost completely indistinguishable. Many doctors and dietitians prescribing it to their patients (with incredible success) will say it IS the same diet exactly. But how can it work? There are no drugs or medications, or even alternative medical tinctures, potions, or supplements. How is that possible?

And the clue bus is: the body heals itself...all we have to do is get out of it's way! Getting out of it's way means a couple of things, first, stop putting toxic substances in our mouths and swallowing them! These substances do not produce the efficient energy the body needs to heal itself. Why? Because they do not contain high levels of that vital substance called "food value", and instead bog an already energy depleted body down further with difficult substances that the body will work to remove, without sufficient energy to do that.

And so they stay in the body, and build up over time, and sooner or later generate disease conditions.

The second thing "getting out of its way" means is to consume primarily only the foods that do two things: 1) produce efficient energy by not loading the body down excessively with the parallel jobs of converting food to energy, and detoxification, and 2) provide correct levels of the micronutrients we need for the body to operate optimally over the long haul.

A medical model that does not recognize the primary role of proper diet, and instead relies on pharmacology, or alternative tinctures, herbs and supplements, is an approach that believes in and relies on "magic bullets".  But there are no magic bullets because "the body heals itself" when we "just get out of it's way" by discontinuing the ingestion of "difficult" substances that provide little to no energy, and further load the (already energy deprived) body down with extra work. The "magic bullets" of pharmacology and alternative medicine, to the extent they are not "food" (most of them are not even close to food), bog the body down further.

Say to yourself a few times "the body heals itself". See how good that feels?

The "proof of concept" is how efficiently and rapidly the body heals once we go to a whole foods plant based diet, and let go of the (yes, sometimes stubborn) wishful belief in magic bullets.

And there is another proof of concept I hesitate to mention because many will find the idea strange, but the logical import is significant, so I will. The body heals the most rapidly under the conditions of a water only fast. This indicates it is not the substances we ingest that heal us, but rather the internal processes of the body alone that do the work: as the energy normally diverted to digestion, assimilation, and elimination is redirected to the reconstructive processes better known as "healing", speed of healing increases, typically rather dramatically.

So Listen! If you think you're ready for an approach to health that "just works" consider the whole foods plant based diet. Your body will thank you!

Doctors in the demystification business

A plant based medical doctor and a plant based nutritionist, both of long experience in the trenches of health care, discuss how it is that America spends more on health care than any country, while it's citizens have the highest incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and the many autoimmune conditions.

We Americans, the majority of us, are mystified when we hear about this. How could this be? These two practitioners are in the demystification business -- in this video they dispel some of the more entrenched myths and misunderstandings.

Heart attack...the ultimate wake up call

A heart attack is the ultimate wake up call...if you are one of the lucky ones who survives it. Something like 50% of first heart attack victims do not survive it. This is not good odds! A better plan is to make yourself heart attack proof before it gets to that point, and that is easier than you might think.

Think heart disease is not a problem for you? Did you know heart disease kills 1 in 4 Americans, and is the leading cause of death for men and women? Even more shocking is the fact every one of us who grew up eating a typical western diet has the beginnings of heart disease by the time we reach puberty...the question isn't whether you have it, the question is how progressed is it...



Unfortunately, as good as medical technology is, it is not yet good at seeing the actual condition of our arteries. Treadmill stress tests typically detect only very advanced heart disease, and even then not at all reliability.
http://epmonthly.com/article/special-report-the-truth-about-stress-tests/?option=com_content&task=view&id=591&Itemid=28

A high resolution imaging procedure that does show the exact condition of our arteries has been developed by the Cleveland Clinic in recent years, but it is not commercially available because it's complex and expensive. If you're curious to know more about it you may be interested in this lecture delivered by Cleveland Clinic Chief of Cardiology:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKXqO3FaBCY_YlnBV3diMEtKFHjrmKMQa

So yes, this is perhaps the most important diet related health topic of our time. Heart disease is not normal, it does not occur in cultures with correct diets (see the book "The Blue Zones"). And reversing heart disease completely is not only possible, it is not complicated from a procedural perspective (see the book "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" by Dr. Esselstyn, formerly of the Cleveland Clinic). Of course changing diet can be difficult for emotional and cultural reasons...motivation helps. The surprising thing is the overwhelming majority of people who make the change report the "new" diet is actually more enjoyable than the old...all the pleasure, none of the pain.

There is a hero story to wrap up this post: a health care industry professional who survived a heart attack herself, and then adopted the disease reversal diet. Hers is an encouraging story.

Basics! Where do you get your protein?

Dr. Barnard speaks to this perennial concern about a plant based diet:

Basics! Health and weight loss benefits of a plant based diet

Dr. Barnard speaks to the basic concerns people may have about a plant based diet: