Category Archives: Whole Food Plant-Based Diet Experts

Whole Food Plant-Based diet experts

The Bad Guys

When it comes to nutrition and diets, the “bad guys” leading to diseases and to weigh gain seem like a rotating cast of characters. When I was young,  it was all about fat. Over the years carbohydrates, sugar and lectin (to name a few) have been pinpointed as the culprits.

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Posted in Gundry, ketogenic, Obesity, Paleo, weigh loss, Whole Food Plant-Based Diet Experts, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Leave a comment

A New Record

obesity Last semester I took a class in Childhood Obesity. I spent fifteen weeks studying the policies and practices around childhood obesity. In the end  I concluded that the problem isn’t childhood obesity; it’s adult obesity. For every overweight/obese child there are three overweight/obese adults.

This idea was validated last week (Jun3 22, 2015). The Journal of American Medicine (JAMA) released a new analysis on weight in America. The conclusion? We’re fat and getting fatter.  The study found that in the population of those 25 and older 75% of men and 67% of women are overweight or obese.

Worse yet, for the first time Americans who are obese outnumber those who are overweight.  30% of women and 40% of men are overweight while 37% of women and 35% of men are obese.

Despite all the diets, the information campaigns, the warnings and social pressure to be thin we are getting fatter. Researchers blame our lifestyle, processed foods, inactivity and technology. And Lin Yang, the chief researcher for the study says “This is a wake-up call to implement policies and practices designed to combat overweight and obesity.” Unfortunately, she is resoundingly silent about what those policies and practices might be.

After weeks of studying food policy, years of studying nutrition and watching a few documentaries: Forks Over Knives, Food Inc, Fed up and Supersize Me, I have some ideas about where we need to start.

Over the next couple of months I will be writing and talking food policy and how to create change. Feel free to contribute to the discussion — your ideas and comments are wanted and appreciated!

Posted in environment, Food Additives, GMO foods, John McDougall, processed food, T. Colin Campbell, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Leave a comment

Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition by T. Colin Campbell and Howard Jacobson

Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition is based on two simple premises:

  • “First, nutrition is the master key to human health.
  • Second, what most of us think of as proper nutrition–isn’t.”

Campbell show how nutrition researchers approach the science of nutrition with one of two biases. They are either reductionists who presume that everything can be understood if you understand all its component parts. Or wholists who postulate that  the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Most nutrition research today, is done on a reductionist model. Studies that isolate a small specific nutrient or vitamin like Vitamin D. The research study is then created in an attempt to draw conclusions about its effects on overall health. The research does a terrific job on highlighting the strengths and weaknesses or benefits and dangers of that specific nutrient. Unfortunately this is often done by overlooking the bigger picture of how the information fits into an individuals overall health and wellness.

Campbell argues that nutrition can only be understood using by a wholist approach. The interactions of food and the human body are too complex to be rationally understood without acknowledgement of the whole organism.

I really appreciate his believe that scientist today have the tools to create and administer wholist nutrition research. And that over time they can and will change the research methods and that consumers will begin to demand more comprehensive research. The combination of these forces will ultimately change how our society thinks about health and nutrition. He writes that “the crucial shift in the way we think about our health will happen one person at a time. Eventually the policy will begin to change. Industry, deprived of the income produced by ill health and our ignorance, will follow.” I hope he’s right!

This is an important work that is simply written, easy to understand and even optimistic about that future. And is important for both professionals and laymen since it is clear and never condenses or preaches to the reader.

Posted in plant based diet, T. Colin Campbell, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Flavored Milk; Petition to Amend the Standard of Identity for Milk and 17 Additional Dairy Products

Every now and then there is something in the news that really gets me going! Right now it is chocolate milk.

Why?

Because the dairy lobby is pushing the FDA to approve the use of the artificial sweetener aspartame in chocolate milk. Sugar isn’t bad enough now they want to add excitotoxins to dairy products on the down low.

Terrific idea – take milk which has many harmful side-effects and up the ante by adding excitotoxins! And this is how my tax dollars are being spent. . .

Posted in excitotoxins, John McDougall, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Delicious Vegetarian Main Dishes by Jennifer S. Larson with Photos by Brie Cohen

I’m not sure when I begin to cook. I know I was young’; probably 7 or 8. My one childhood cooking memory is making brownies follow the recipe in the Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls.

When I was 8 (maybe 9) my Grandma sent me a cookbook for Christmas. I couldn’t wait to try it out. The first recipe I tried was for brownies. Trust me, I have never tasted a better brownie before or since!

That cookbook was the first in a collection of cookbooks that I  either don’t have or rarely even look at any more. These days I do Google search when I want to figure out what to cook. My current collection has 10 cookbooks I can’t bear to part with.  Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls is one of them.

Posted in book review, entrée, plant based diet, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean Diet is in the news. A Spanish study showed that people at risk for heart disease eating a Mediterranean diet were 30% less likely to die of cardio-vascular disease than the control group who ate a standard low-fat diet. It is interesting to note that group who ate the Mediterranean Diet added extra helpings of extra-virgin olive oil or mixed nuts.

The Mediterranean Diet in this study the Mediterranean diet is composed of plant-based foods:  olive oil, fruit, nuts, vegetables, legumes, and cereals. Along with some animal based products like fish and poultry, and limited amounts of dairy products, red meat and processed meats,. And just for fun wine and chocolate are allowed. (more…)

Posted in Caldwell Esselstyn, heart disease, heart disease, Italian, John McDougall, Pasta, plant based diet, T. Colin Campbell, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Music to my Ears

We are having a wonderful time – eating, walking and listening to music. Blues and Jazz.

This McDougall moment came in my email and it was also music to ears. In a different way, but still. . . Here Dr. McDougall eloquently states my belief about being a smart consumer of medical care.  Watch it and enjoy!

Posted in diabetes, John McDougall, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Vegetarian Diet Reduces Risk of Fatal Heart Disease by One-Third

healthinsA new study reported in Medical News Today, and  published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concludes that a Vegetarian Diet reduces the risk of dying of heart disease by one-third!

Starting in the early 1990s the study followed 45,000 Europeans who volunteered for the study.  34 percent of volunteers did not eat meat or fish. Hospital admissions and deaths were tracked and during the study. The final tally showed a total of 1,235 identified cases of cardiovascular disease: 1,066 by hospital admission and 169 by death.

Posted in Caldwell Esselstyn, Dean Ornish, diabetes, heart disease, plant based diet, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The War Within and Probiotics

bacteriaI’m sure you don’t have to be told that there is a constant war going on in your digestive tract. At one time or other you have eaten, “The Whole Thing,” and felt the wrath of your entire digestive system. It is a very uncomfortable warning that moderation is a wiser way to live.

We tend to think that the war inside us only pertains to our excesses or to our valiant immune system fighting off invaders. In fact it is more about us and our allies against invaders and their allies. (more…)

Posted in GERD, IBS, Whole Food Plant-Based Diet Experts, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Integrative Wellness Rules: A Simple Guide to Healthy Living by Jim Nicolai M.D.

Have I mentioned it’s cold here? The perfect time to catch up on my reading and the explanation for why I have reviewed so many books lately. Last weekend I read Integrative Wellness Rules by Dr. Jim Nicolai. I found it so impressive that I just have to write a little about it.

You may recognize Jim Nicolai’s name especially if you know about Andrew Weil, M.D., Integrative Wellness Center (Miraval) in Tuscon. Dr. Jim is the medical director at of the Miraval Health Spa and Wellness Center. (more…)

Posted in Andrew Weil, book review, Medicinal plants, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment