Dr Spock: A medical crisis that changed my life

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Dr Spock: A medical crisis that changed my life

 

By Dr. Benjamim Spock

 

Ever since I wrote my first edition of Baby and Child Care in 1946, I

have always put the emphasis on the need for eating lots of vegetables,

fruits, and whole grain cereals. But due to the fact that dairy products and

meats have been considered ideal foods for so long, I was hesitant to talk

about their hidden disadvantages. In fact, I was not entirely convinced,

until recently, that all parents should be alerted, and in some cases made

to feel guilty, when they continue to give these foods to their children.

What changed my mind was an episode in my own medical history.

My Bout with Heart Disease

In 1988, I fainted crossing the lobby of a hotel and spattered the marble

floor with blood. After a week's hospitalization it was concluded that my

condition was partly due to the irregular rhythm of my heart (atrial

fibrillation), a familial condition I'd had for several years. Also, I had a

supposed narrowing of arteries in my brain from arteriosclerosis, which had

stopped or interfered with the heart beat enough to allow blood to clot in

my heart. A piece of the clot presumably broke off and plugged an artery of

my brain long enough to cause the faint. Not long afterward, I had a brief

episode of speaking gibberish instead of English. I was put on a digitalis

medication to slow and steady the heart beat and given a pacemaker to

substitute for my heart if it decided to stop again. Since my mother and two

sisters died of strokes, that was enough to remind me that I am mortal like

all humans, a fact that I had ignored until then.

Without any particular intention on our part, my wife, Mary, and I were

introduced to a macrobiotic counselor. Macrobiotics

<http://www.macrobiotics.org> is a strict form of vegetarianism that was

originally formulated in Japan on the basis of their traditional diet and

brought to the West by George Osawa. It consists of a strong emphasis on

whole grains, green vegetables, and legumes (beans and peas) and an

avoidance, not only of meats and poultry, but of dairy products too. This is

the national diet in many parts of the non-industrial world, where there is

no cow's milk to be had.

I had a miserable year before this episode, with almost constant bronchitis

requiring antibiotics, as well as a further weakening and loss of

coordination in my legs, which had make walking and standing increasingly

difficult in my late eighties. My neurologist said there was no cure and

that it would be progressive.

I Lost 50 Pounds

So we said, " Let's give the diet a try. " In the four years since then, I

have had only a couple of respiratory infections and a very gradual

improvement in my legs instead of a further progression of the symptoms.

Involuntarily, I lost 50 pounds in three months from the lack of fat in my

diet.

Since this change, I have been thrown in with a number of cardiologists,

oncologists (tumor specialists), internists, neurologists, pediatricians and

their patients, who have become converted to various forms of a vegetarian

diet. Not all of these diets are macro-biotic, yet they are conducive to

health in general and serve to inhibit, and even in some cases reverse

coronary heart disease, strokes, and certain forms of cancer. I've met a few

people whose coronary heart disease and cancer were reversed even though,

despite surgery, they had been close to death. Such arrests of fatal disease

are not common, but they are extremely impressive.

 

The Problem with Animal Fat

 

I agree with Dr. Charles Attwood <http://www.vegsource.org/attwood/> who

suggests four stages to ease children into an acceptance of a low-fat

plant-based diet.

 

Dr. Attwood's Four Stages to an Ideal Diet

STAGE 1 Limit meat, including poultry and fish, to 3 ounces (cooked) per

day. Low-fat (1%) milk and low-fat dairy products if desired. No foods fried

in oil. One dessert and 1 snack daily. Unlimited vegetables, fruits, grains

and legumes.

STAGE 2 Limit trimmed meat, including skinless poultry and fish, to 3 ounces

(cooked) no more than 3 times per week. Skim milk and nonfat dairy foods, if

desired. No foods fried in oil. One low-fat dessert and 1 low-fat snack

daily. Unlimited vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes.

STAGE 3 Trimmed meat, including skinless poultry and fish, no more than 3

ounces (cooked) once a week, or used sparingly as a condiment to vegetable

dishes. Nonsoy fat-free meat substitutes. Skim milk and nonfat dairy foods,

if desired. No foods fried in oil. One fat-free dessert and 1 fat-free snack

daily. Unlimited vegetables, fruits, grains and legumes.

STAGE 4 No meat, poultry or fish. Unlimited vegetables, fruits, grains, and

legumes. Nonsoy fat-free meat substitutes. Skim milk and nonfat dairy foods,

if desired. Egg whites, if desired. One fat-free dessert and 1 fat-free

snack daily. Vitamin B12 sources or supplements.

It was assumed by many people in the past that a vegetarian diet, which is

essentially a diet without meat and sometimes without dairy products (which,

of course, are also animal in origin) was merely an obsession of a few

people with an exaggerated sentimental love of animals or a fear of being

poisoned by meat.

In recent years, we've discovered that a high-fat diet, which means eating

relatively large amounts of meat, dairy products, and fried foods, is the

main cause of arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease, stroke, certain

forms of cancer and obesity. Experts in these diseases realize that the true

cause is the excessively high animal fat content of the average American

diet (including dairy products).

 

In the days before this was discovered, nutritionists, professionals and

parents worried that a diet low in dairy products and meats might bring

about malnutrition, especially in regard to calcium, protein, and the growth

needs of children. But careful studies have shown that if diets are planned

sensibly, as all diets should be, protein, calcium, and growth needs will be

well covered by a diet of varied whole grains, legumes, vegetables and

fruits. (A much greater danger is that of heart disease, stroke, and cancer,

when children learn to love an animal-based diet and want it for the rest of

their lives.)

What's the answer? The overall aim in early childhood (after two years)

should be, I think, to steer away from an animal-based diet and favor a

largely plant-based one, so the child will become used to foods at an

adaptable age. Even if the child rebels in adolescence there is a good

chance of coming back to a plant-based diet in adulthood, especially if the

parents set the example.