old doc learns new tricks

[Guest guest]

Read this Star McDougaller online: http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007star/oct/stardarrell.html

 

 

Star McDougallers: Darrell Woodruff, MD and Norma Woodruff

“Threat of diabetes and heart disease steers couple to great

health”

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Dr. McDougall's Comments

Medical doctors, dietitians, nurses, chiropractors, and all other

allied health professionals should be the first ones to change their

diets and lifestyles. They are on the frontlines, having daily

encounters with patients with heart attacks,

strokes, cancer, and diabetes. The physical, emotional, family

and financial burdens are painfully real for them. No matter how

hard these educated experts try, no matter how much money is invested,

these dedicated professionals witness the downward clinical courses

for their patients—none regain their health. Something is

seriously not working and they should admit it, at least to

themselves. So why don’t they change the way they practice? Or

at least change their own diets so they can save themselves? The

obstacles that keep health professionals from making long overdue

changes range from ego to legal. Here are some of the reasons

for their inertia:

1) Recognizing that the root of most illnesses is diet and

lifestyle runs counter to everything they learn in school. No

surprise; training nurses, dietitians, and doctors receive their

education from industry—to be specific, the food, device, and drug

industries. These companies pay for the scientific research

these health professionals rely on and they also pay for their ongoing

education. Otherwise highly intelligent, these experts are too

naive to believe they could be fooled, and lied to for profit.

 

2) Recognizing diet as the cause of common health problems forces

health professionals to make personal changes, and most are not ready

to give up their cheese omelets and pepperoni pizzas. Every

medical meeting I have ever attended serves high fat and/or high

cholesterol foods to the attendees—and they eat it. Observe

the physical appearance of these health experts—fat and sick.

3) The fear of malpractice suits keeps most professionals from

doing the right thing—even after they know better. The ultimate

judgment given out in a medical malpractice suit is based on the

“community standard of practice.” As long as you harm the patient in

a manner similar to your fellow doctors, you are vindicated in the

eyes of the law. Many doctors have confided in me that they

would be afraid to recommend dietary changes and to eliminate

medications because of the criticisms from their colleagues and the

sanctions by the courts that might follow if something went

wrong.

 

4) When doctors, who are the “ultimate deciders,” finally

recognize the truth, they are faced with the painful admission that

their prior practice has been wrong and they have often caused serious

harm to their patients. That’s a powerful confession too few people

can make to themselves or to others.

5) Patients, also known as the customers, usually want pills,

surgery, and other quick fixes—they know no better options.

Health professionals offering effort-requiring diet and lifestyle

changes are not welcomed by the majority of customers.

6) Education takes hours of interaction between the health

professional and the patient. Insurance companies pay a standard

fee for a “visit”—whether 7 minutes is spent writing a

prescription or an hour is spent teach something life-changing.

Under the current system, lifestyle medicine does not promote

financial success. (However, there are methods of practice that will

allow energetic experts to build highly successful businesses around

doing the right things for people.)

Darrell Woodruff, MD is a notable exception in healthcare—he

changed his diet with resulting medical miracles for himself, and he

admits that if he were still in practice he would change the kind of

care he would deliver to his patients. Most students entered the

health professions with a sincere desire to help others. But along the

way their missions were diverted by big money and big egos—and by a

failure to have effective tools that really help their

patients—drugs don’t cure dietary diseases. With dissemination of

the truth these days, many students, medical doctors, dietitians,

nurses, chiropractors, and other allied health workers are realizing

the powerful benefits of lifestyle medicine and moving on to far more

rewarding careers.

 

 

 

 

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with anyone except as needed for the newsletter production

process.

Have you ever tried to lift a five-gallon jug of water? It

isn’t easy. If someone handed you one and asked you to carry it around

24 hours a day, could you do it? How about two jugs? Well, that’s

what I was carrying around with me in extra weight. But after

following the McDougall Program for over a year now, I am happy to say

that I am no longer carrying those two jugs (a total of 80

pounds).

Our journey to this point

started the day my lovely wife Norma came home from a visit to her

internist with fear in her voice: “The doctor told me that I will

need to start insulin injections very soon if my blood sugars don’t

improve.” We both needed to lose weight at that point, and the

internist told us the only chance we had was to go on the South Beach

Diet. But I knew enough to know that there must be a better way.

In our search for a better way, we attended an American College

of Lifestyle Medicine meeting in Ontario, California. Fortunately for

us, Dr. John McDougall was one of the many excellent speakers that

day. Norma listened carefully as he explained to the audience of

health professionals that many diabetics can lose weight, avoid

insulin injections, and even get off medication if they eat the right

food. That sounded good to us; we both knew it was time to make some

major changes.

After Dr.

McDougall’s talk, we approached him and mentioned that we were

considering attending one of his 10-Day Programs in the future. He

said, “Why wait? We have a program starting next week.” We were in

Santa Rosa the following Friday, the first day of the 10-day

program.

As a retired physician, I thought I was already following a

healthy lifestyle and eating the correct foods. Medical school had

taught me the biochemistry of how nutrients are metabolized, but not

much more. I knew it was wise to avoid saturated fats and to get

enough protein and fiber, but as I listened to Dr. McDougall’s talks

throughout the 10 days, I knew that I had been wrong all these years

about what constitutes healthy eating. I was most surprised upon

learning that egg whites, skim milk, and isolated soy protein were not

health-promoting. Norma and I had followed a modified Pritikin program

for quite some time, which had allowed these items, and we had thought

they were fine.

I find it hard to describe the

10-Day Program to those who have not experienced it. It is a total

immersion into eating delicious low-fat, plant-based foods, along with

exercise, education, medical care and much more. We also felt great

camaraderie with our fellow attendees. The 10-Day Program seemed like

a big financial investment at the time, but there is no question that

we got our money’s worth. I asked Norma at one point, “Wouldn’t

you trade anything you had for good health?” We both agreed that we

would.

Both of us have had several medical problems in recent years.

Norma’s diabetes gave her the most concern. Her fasting blood sugars

were running about 200 while she was taking maximum doses of oral

medications (which had significant side effects). She was beginning to

experience increasing neuropathic pain in her feet. Could other

complications be far behind? On the first day of the 10-Day Program

Dr. McDougall took her off of all of her diabetic pills. Within a few

short weeks her fasting sugars were down below 150. They have

continued to improve even more since then. The neuropathy has

certainly not progressed and may have even improved a little. She no

longer fears other complications.

Yes, we have the usual stories of lowered cholesterol, no more

heartburn, improved elimination, more energy, better sleep, reduction

of blood pressure and so forth, but the one thing that really

surprised me was that I now wear a full size smaller hat. (Please, no

fathead jokes.) My cholesterol was high enough (261) that the

internist had started me on statin drugs to lower it. The numbers

improved a little, but the muscle pains and tingling in my fingers

convinced me to stop taking them. Now, without medication, my

cholesterol is less than 150, and my triglycerides dropped from above

400 to 68.

I have struggled with my weight ever since I was in high school.

I was 6’1” and weighed 240 pounds before I graduated, and the

weight seemed to inch up almost every year after that. In 1965 I was

in an airplane accident that left my legs partially paralyzed. That

limited my activity and made any kind of exercise program very

difficult. I became so fat that my belt could no longer keep my pants

from sliding down past my ample belly, so I resorted to suspenders. As

my weight topped out well above 300 I found it very difficult to walk

20 feet to the end of the driveway and back. Now that I weigh in the

low 230s, I enjoy walking about two-tenths of a mile every day; and

Norma walks more than half an hour every day.

In the past year, we have read a few dozen books and watched many

hours of videos to add to our understanding of good health. We found a

couple of books to be especially helpful and informative. After

returning home from the McDougall 10-Day Program, we read The China

Study by T. Colin Campbell. This easy-to-read and well-documented book

cemented our belief that what Dr. McDougall had taught us was valid.

Campbell makes his points so clearly that it would be difficult to

read his book and not believe his statements linking the foods we eat

with our health.

In addition, the book McDougall’s Medicine is long out of

print, but one can usually find used copies on the Internet. Dr.

McDougall had a clear understanding of the concepts long before the

excellent reports of Campbell, Esselstyn, Ornish, and others. Even

though Dr. McDougall wrote the book more than 25 years ago, physicians

and other health professionals could (and should) use it as a textbook

of medicine. If I had read it when I was still practicing medicine, I

would have known how to actually help my patients.

I try to share my experience with other physicians I see around

the hospital, but it disappoints me that most of them believe that

eliminating animal foods could not possibly be healthy, for themselves

or for their patients. In addition, physicians often lack the time to

thoroughly study the materials that would convince them otherwise.

It’s unfortunate that even when a physician does believe that

lifestyle changes benefit patients, finding time for individual

counseling in a busy practice can be very tricky.

Norma and I realize that eating and other lifestyle habits are

very personal, and we do not expect anyone to make drastic changes

based solely on our beliefs and experiences. However, we want people

that we care about to have enough information to make informed

decisions about their health, and we hope they see that traditional

medical interventions may not be the most effective path to good

health. Many factors make a person decide to change. Fear is certainly

motivating, but is not sufficient alone: a person needs a passion for

life in order to change.

Our newfound health excites us, and we wonder why we had not

learned about these principles before. We find it difficult to

understand the reluctance that most people have in accepting the

concepts that are so clear to us now. Most people believe they could

not give up meat and other animal foods, or they think it is too late

for them to make changes. We often hear, “I am already eating a

healthy diet,” even though their diet still includes animal

foods.

Information is readily available through books, videos, lectures,

live-in programs, etc. There are programs that cost money (the best

money we have ever spent), or you can obtain the information on your

own for very little investment. There is so much convincing

information available that it is simply overwhelming.

Ten days is a good start for regaining health, but we have much

more to learn. We will continue to attend lectures, read books, and

watch videos. We are happy to have found a way of eating that reduces

our chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, many cancers, and

that improves a host of other medical problems. From this point

forward, we are life-long McDougallers.

Darrell Woodruff, MD

Montrose, California

 

 

We encourage you to pass this Star McDougaller along to

friends.

2006 John McDougall

McDougall Wellness Center P.O. Box 14039, Santa Rosa, CA

95402

http://www.drmcdougall.com

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