december mcdougall newsletter

[Guest guest]

The newsletter also has recipes and a chart of fat/protein/carb

percentages for animal and non foods.

 

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2008nl/dec/fat.htm

 

The Fat Vegan

 

You may consider this title an oxymoron-a figure of speech that

combines two normally contradictory terms, but in real life this

concurrence is all too common. You may also think the title is

offensive. My intention is to help, not to provoke anger. People

who have declared themselves "vegan," have said "no" to eating

all animal-derived foods. At extraordinary personal costs, many of

these guardians labor tirelessly to protect the welfare of all

animals. Fat vegans, however, have failed one important animal:

themselves. Furthermore, their audiences of meat-eaters and

animal-abusers may be so distracted by their appearance that they

cannot hear the vital issues of animal rights and the environment;

resulting in an unacknowledged setback for a fat vegan's hard work

for change.

 

I have a vested interest in helping vegans lose weight and become

healthier. People living the vegan lifestyle have already embraced the

most important tenet of the McDougall diet: consuming meat, poultry,

fish, and dairy-products is at the root of heart disease, cancer,

diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and intestinal problems. Ours

is a growing relationship. When I began my lifestyle-oriented medical

practice as an internist in 1978, I was interested in dietary change

only for the sake of my patients-I was unaware of animal rights and

environmental issues. Over the years I have grown to understand that

changing what humans eat is also essential for planet survival;

meaning eliminating cruelty at the dinner table, and slowing climate

change and pollution. People who believe in any or all of these

issues must stand together; helping each other in order to make a

difference in the future.

 

My first vegan experience was in 1977 in Honolulu, Hawaii. I was

working as a resident doctor at Queens Medical Center training to

become an internist. Jeff Lane, a young doctor, was my intern

and a vegan for ethical reasons-he did not want to harm animals.

Outward proof of his convictions was his nylon belt and plastic

shoes. But there was one glaring inconsistency: Jeff was not the

picture of good health. He was very overweight with greasy skin and

acne. I soon discovered why Jeff's health was so poor: most of his

calories came from potato chips and Coke-items easily available to

him in the hospital dining room, gift shop, and vending machines. He

was the ultimate "junk food vegan." Yet, most vegans are

very conscious of food quality and still many are overweight and

unhealthy. What's wrong with this picture?

 

Dietary Change Is Terrifying.

 

Almost all of us were raised on meat, poultry, seafood, milk, cheese,

oils, flours, and sugars. These foods have provided all of our

life-sustaining calories. To give these familiar foods up, in our

minds, means starvation. This would be akin to asking us to stop

breathing or go thirsty-unbearable, if not impossible, tasks.

I remember well my first experience with foods different from those I

was raised on. Mary, my wife of 37 years now, was pregnant with

our first child, Heather, in 1974. We were living on the Big

Island of Hawaii at that time. Buzz and Susan Hughes, a couple we met

at our childbirth education class, invited us over for dinner. Susan

prepared a wheat and barley casserole, a Caesar salad, vegetable side

dishes, and a peach pie for dessert. The meal was tasty, but a

drastic departure from my usual beef, chicken, cheese, egg, and ice

cream menu. Even after second helpings my stomach was still empty of

its customary fillings. On our drive home after dinner, I felt

unsatisfied and actually believed that I would be unable to sleep

through the night without "food." I entered the front door of our

house, which led directly to the kitchen with a well-stocked

refrigerator. I eagerly opened the bottom bin where the sliced turkey

was kept and made myself a Dagwood sandwich. After eating

sufficient amounts of fat, protein, flour, and sugar, I slept

well.

 

Old Habits Doom Vegans

 

Fat vegans are as terrified as anyone else of giving up their familiar

protein- and fat- centered diet. In their minds, this change would be

akin to starvation. How could they overcome the fear and still

transition to a vegan diet painlessly? By simply replacing real animal

foods with non-animal foods, that look, feel, smell, and taste the

same as the original. "What's for dinner?" Before, the answer

was steak, fried chicken, pork chops or cheese pizza. Now, as a vegan,

the response is "soy burgers, faux meatballs, meat substitute cold

cuts, soya chicken chunks, soy hotdogs, soy mozzarella pizza, and

mockduck (made with seitan)." Instead of animal fats and

proteins, fuel becomes vegetable oils and isolated soy proteins. Olive

oil and Earth Balance spread replace lard and butter. Glassfuls of

Elsie the cow's milk become soymilk. For dessert: a "dairy-free

decadent indulgence (ice cream)" and soy yogurt. Vegetables remain

insignificant side dishes, glistening with droplets of oil.

 

Calorie for calorie, in terms of nutrition, the fake food is no

better, and in some ways worse, than the "real thing." Isolated

soy protein causes greater calcium loss, leading to

osteoporosis and kidney stones, and also produces greater increases in

growth factors (IGF-1) that promote cancer and aging, than does

isolated cow's milk protein. "The fat you eat is the fat you

wear"-olive oil and Earth Balance spreads are just as

unattractively worn on the thighs, hips, and buttocks, as are lard and

butter. Vegetable oils are often more cancer promoting

than are animal fats.

 

 

Do You Really Want the Same Food?

 

In 1986 I started planning for my first live-in program at St. Helena

Hospital in the upper Napa Valley in Northern California. This

community is largely made up of people of the Seventh Day Adventist

faith. Their church is known for supporting vegetarian diets.

Naturally, I asked the local people where to eat. They

recommended the A & W restaurant on main street, Highway 29, on the

west side of St. Helena. That evening I ordered their famous

"veggie burger." My first bite told me a serious mistake was made. I

complained to the man behind the counter, "I ordered the veggie

burger and you gave me a beef hamburger." His response,

"Thanks for the compliment-our veggie burger tastes so real."

I threw the burger in the trash and walked out. It was

disgusting-A burger so greasy and beef-flavored, that I expected to

find chunks of bone and blood vessels.

 

The Natural Human (Near) Vegan, Starch-based Diet

 

Fortunately, there is one single big solution that will revitalize

people, cut food and health care costs, protect animals, and reduce

environmental pollution, overnight: reestablishing the natural human

diet of starches. My battle to spread this message relies on those

people most ripe for change: especially vegans of all shapes and

sizes. The switch is a simple one: rather than getting calories,

like all other Americans and Westerners-and most vegans-now do,

from fat and protein, the primary fuel becomes carbohydrate from

starches. Rather then starvation, this change means fuller

satisfaction and radiant health. The more you eat the trimmer and

healthier you become. All large populations of active, healthy people,

throughout written human history, have obtained the bulk of their

calories from starch. Examples of people once thriving on common

starches include Japanese and Chinese in Asia eating sweet potatoes,

buckwheat, and/or rice, Incas in South America eating potatoes, Mayans

and Aztecs in Central America eating corn, and Egyptians in the Middle

East eating wheat. Men following diets based on grains, vegetables,

and fruits have accomplished all of the great feats in history. The

ancient conquerors of Europe and Asia, including the armies of

Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC) and Genghis Kahn (1167 - 1227 AD)

consumed starch-based diets. Caesar's legions complained when

they had too much meat in their diet and preferred to do their

fighting on corn and other grains.

 

You Are What You Eat: The Low-fat Vegan

 

At every step of recipe design and food preparation, starches

replace fake meats and dairy products manufactured from soy, seitan,

sugar, salt, artificial flavorings and other chemicals. Oils,

even the "healthy ones," are banned.

 

 

*

 

Bean and grain burgers replace Boca Burgers.

 

*

 

Add rice to your bean chili instead of Gimme Lean.

 

*

 

Oatmeal for breakfast rather than greasy sausages and breakfast

links.

 

*

 

Olive oil is substituted with low-fat salad dressings.

 

*

 

Leave the soy cheese off the whole wheat pizza.

 

*

 

Replace oils in baking with fat replacers like "Lighter Bake,"

prune puree, or applesauce.

 

*

 

Just leave the oils out of the recipe whenever possible.

 

*

 

Have fruits for dessert.

 

*

 

Finally, for faster, greater weight loss minimize the use of all

processed plant foods, which means simple sugars and flours.

 

There is really no excuse for not making this big change. Even

my intern, Jeff Lane, had alternatives while working a 100-hour week

in the hospital. The dining room served oatmeal and cold grain

cereals with fruit juice for breakfast. For lunch and dinner

Jeff could have chosen salads with vinegar or salsa, rice, potatoes,

sweet potatoes, corn, beans, low-fat vegetable soups, vegetables, and

fruit. The end result would have been-with a little basic

knowledge and minimal effort-he, as an influential doctor, could

have been an extraordinary crusader.

 

Vegans Are Ripe For Change

 

Being vegan says to me this is a person with outstanding character.

Vegans are self-sacrificing and committed to making a difference.

When everyone else is certain that it is our God-given right to

mistreat and kill cows, pigs, chickens, and fishes in order to be

properly nourished; a vegan would rather risk protein and calcium

deficiency than to harm these beautiful creatures. Of course,

this deep sacrifice ends with the discovery that plants provide all

needed proteins, amino acids, essential fats, vitamins, and minerals

(including calcium) without the inherent risks of flesh and dairy.

Vegans are self-confident. They remain steadfast even when mom, dad,

dietitian, and doctor are visibly angered by their religion of

"veganism." Vegans are industrious. To avoid eating animals in a

world where beef, chicken, and cheese are mixed in with everything in

the market and on the menu is a daily struggle. Reading labels,

turning down invitations to dinner, and occasionally, going hungry,

require more effort than the average person is willing to

muster.

 

Obviously vegans are exceptional people. With this one simple shift to

a starch-based diet the word "vegan" will become synonymous with

terms like healthy, trim, active, young, strong, and energetic, and

finally the most important adjective, earth-changing.

 

 

 

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2008nl/dec/fav5.htm

 

Favorite Five Articles from Recent Medical Journals

 

Undeniable Evidence: Diabetes Treatments Do More Harm Than Good

 

Glucose Control and Vascular Complications in Veterans with Type 2

Diabetes by William Duckworth in the December 17, 2008 issue of the

New England Journal of Medicine found, "Intensive glucose control in

patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes had no significant

effect on the rates of major cardiovascular events, death, or

microvascular complications."1This study, called the Veterans

Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT) was of 1791 military veterans (mean age

60.4 years) who had a suboptimal response to therapy for type-2

diabetes. They were assigned to receive either intensive- or

standard-glucose control and studied for 5.6 years. The

intensive-therapy reduced the Hemoglobin A1c levels to 6.9%; compared

to 8.4% in the standard-therapy group. The patients were also

put on aspirin and a statin.

 

A weight gain of 18 pounds occurred with the intensive-treatment

compared to 9 pounds with standard-therapy. There were 95 deaths from

any cause in the standard-therapy group and 102 in the

intensive-therapy group. In the intensive-therapy group, the number of

sudden deaths was nearly three times the number as those in the

standard-therapy group (11 vs. 4). More patients in the

intensive-therapy group had at least one serious adverse event,

predominantly hypoglycemia, than in the standard-therapy group.

 

These pharmaceutical companies-Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Novo

Nordisk, Roche, Kos Pharmaceuticals, and Amylin-provided medications

and financial support for the study.

 

Comment: This is the third industry-funded study published this year

showing aggressive treatment hurts patients. On June 12, 2008 the

ACCORD* trial and ADVANCE** trials were also published in the New

England Journal of Medicine.2,3 Together, the effect of these three

well-designed randomized studies should be enough to halt aggressive

prescribing of diabetic pills and insulin to type-2 diabetics. Will

this overwhelming evidence change how doctors practice? Probably not.

Drug companies have millions of advertising dollars dedicated to

emphasizing any slight benefits their drug treatments may show and

minimizing the harms. In this manner they convince doctors to

prescribe and patients to buy useless and harmful products. Most

doctors are too afraid of lawsuits to stand up for the patients and

against the drug companies. To change current practice, doctors need

to fear being sued for too aggressively treating patients. Even

more, they need to fear being sued for failing to prescribe the

correct treatment for type-2 diabetics-a change in diet.

None of these three studies published in one of the world's most

prestigious medical journals taught dietary and lifestyle modification

to their patients.

 

Currently, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a diabetic

medication requires evidence that the drug will lower blood

sugar-not that it improves the patient's life. The title of

my February 2008 newsletter describes the results of such

narrowly focused therapy: "Intensive Therapy Means Dying Sooner with

Better Looking Numbers." The FDA is as of December 2008

recommending that all new drugs developed for the treatment of type-2

diabetes show that they do not increase the risk of cardiovascular

events. However, this is not a requirement, just a

recommendation or suggestion to the pharmaceutical companies.4

 

Eating the rich western diet causes type-2 diabetes. My February

2004 newsletter provides details on the cause and how a change

in diet will cure essentially all type-2 diabetics-at the same time

causing them to lose weight, reverse heart disease, and dramatically

improve their overall health.

 

*ACCORD = Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes

 

**ADVANCE = Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease: Preterax and

Diamicron Modified Release Controlled Evaluation

 

1) Duckworth W, Abraira C, Moritz T, Reda D, Emanuele N, Reaven PD,

Zieve FJ, Marks J, Davis SN, Hayward R, Warren SR, Goldman S, McCarren

M, Vitek ME, Henderson WG, Huang GD; the VADT Investigators. Glucose

Control and Vascular Complications in Veterans with Type 2 Diabetes. N

Engl J Med. 2008 Dec 17. [Epub ahead of print]

 

2) Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes Study Group,

Gerstein HC, Miller ME, Byington RP, Goff DC Jr, Bigger JT, Buse JB,

Cushman WC, Genuth S, Ismail-Beigi F, Grimm RH Jr, Probstfield JL,

Simons-Morton DG, Friedewald WT. Effects of intensive glucose lowering

in type 2 diabetes. N Engl J Med. 2008 Jun 12;358(24):2545-59.

 

3) ADVANCE Collaborative Group, Patel A, MacMahon S, Chalmers J, Neal

B, Billot L, Woodward M, Marre M, Cooper M, Glasziou P, Grobbee D,

Hamet P, Harrap S, Heller S, Liu L, Mancia G, Mogensen CE, Pan C,

Poulter N, Rodgers A, Williams B, Bompoint S, de Galan BE, Joshi R,

Travert F. Intensive blood glucose control and vascular outcomes in

patients with type 2 diabetes. N Engl J Med. 2008 Jun

12;358(24):2560-72.

 

4) (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/585593)

 

Brain Impairment from the Atkins Diet

 

Low-carbohydrate weight-loss diets. Effects on cognition and mood by

Kristen D'Anci in the February 2009 issue of the journal Appetite

concluded that, "The present data show memory impairments during

low-carbohydrate diets at a point when available glycogen stores would

be at their lowest." Women followed a low-carbohydrate diet, similar

to the Atkins diet, or a reduced-calorie balanced diet, similar to

that recommended by the American Dietetic Association (ADA).

"Results showed that during complete withdrawal of dietary

carbohydrate, low-carbohydrate dieters performed worse on memory-based

tasks than ADA dieters. These impairments were ameliorated after

reintroduction of carbohydrates." After about one week of

severe carbohydrate deprivation subjects demonstrated impairment of

memory.

 

Comments: Have you noticed any of your dieting friends slipping

with their physical or mental health? There are scientific

reasons to believe this is a real change caused by a deficiency of

"brain fuel," which is carbohydrate. Sugar (glucose) is the primary,

preferred fuel for the brain and it is not stored in the brain

tissues. Thus, the brain is dependent upon circulating glucose

in the blood stream. This glucose comes almost exclusively from

eating carbohydrates. Except for milk and honey, only

plant-derived foods contain carbohydrate. The body's stores of

carbohydrate last about 24 to 72 hours after starting on a

low-carbohydrate, Atkins-type diet. Upon depletion of

carbohydrates the body metabolizes body fat into ketones, which can be

used, but less efficiently, by the brain tissues and other body

tissues for fuel.

 

The popularity of low-carbohydrate diets is waning, but I doubt they

will vanish because they promise quick weight loss while consuming

familiar foods like beef, butter and Brie. These diets work by

simulating sickness. Without carbohydrate the body turns to fat

for energy. Ketones are produced from fat metabolism and with their

accumulation a condition of ketosis develops. Ketosis suppresses the

appetite. Weight loss follows as long as ketosis-induced,

appetite-suppression, is maintained. Most dieters cannot tolerate the

unpleasantness of sickness for long and they give up, regaining all

their lost body fat.

 

The foods consumed for a low-carbohydrate diet (meat, poultry, fish,

cheese, eggs) are known to cause many serious illnesses, including

heart disease, strokes, cancer, osteoporosis, and constipation.

This is not the right way to lose weight.

 

D'Anci KE, Watts KL, Kanarek RB, Taylor HA. Low-carbohydrate

weight-loss diets. Effects on cognition and mood. Appetite. 2009

Feb;52(1):96-103.

 

Breast Cancers Spontaneously Disappear

 

The natural history of invasive breast cancers detected by screening

mammography by Per-Henrik Zahl published in the November 24, 2008

issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine found, "¾that the

natural course of some screen-detected invasive breast cancers is to

spontaneously regress."1 The investigators found invasive breast

cancer 22% more often in women who had a mammography every other year

for 6 years than those who did not (1909 vs. 1564 per 100 000 women).

If all cancer were to naturally progress and none disappear then the

same number of cancers would be expected to be found in the women who

received regular screening every other year and those who only had one

exam after 6 years. Their conclusion was, "it appears that some

breast cancers detected by repeated mammographic screening would not

persist to be detectable by a single mammogram at the end of 6

years." The final remarks of the investigators were, "Our

findings are equally consistent with the possibility that mammography

either leads to a reduction in breast cancer mortality or has no

effect at all. Instead, our findings simply provide new insight on

what is arguably the major harm associated with mammographic

screening, namely, the detection and treatment of cancers that would

otherwise regress."

 

Comment: Spontaneous regression of advanced breast cancer has been

reported. One recent reported identified 32 such cases, but

there are certainly many more unreported cases.2 Advanced melanoma,

brain cancer (neuroblastoma), and kidney cancer are also known to

disappear without treatment. Precancerous changes in the female

uterine cervix and colon polyps also regress.

 

Most of my readers know that I am against doing "early detection"

screening tests for most cancers, including those of the breast,

prostate, and lung cancer. This study provides one more reason to

avoid mammography and even breast-self examination-benefits of which

have been seriously questioned.3,4 The harms from these detection

campaigns are, however, unquestioned.*

 

I often see women with breast cancer, men with prostate cancer, and

both genders with many other forms of cancer in late stages.

Their doctors have given them no hope-in fact, in most cases their

well-intentioned treatments add to their misery. Hopelessness

compounds the suffering. Patients need to be told that even with

advanced cancer, sometimes there is recovery, called spontaneous

remission. I believe this miracle is more likely to happen for

someone in good health, rather than in poor health. The only way I

know to consistently improve health is by replacing destructive habits

with good ones. The most powerful of these changes is switching

from the meat-, dairy-, and junk food-based Western diet to the

McDougall starch-based diet. I have seen what I believe to be

spontaneous remissions in my patients several times. Ruth Heidrich,

reported as a Star McDougaller, is one remarkable example of

metastatic breast cancer diagnosed over 26 years ago-and she lives

cancer free today.

 

*I believe there are minor benefits to be had from PAP smears every 3

to 5 years until age 50, one routine colon exam (polyps) at age 55 to

60, exams of the mouth (leukoplakia), and skin exams

(pre-melanoma).

 

1) Zahl PH, Maehlen J, Welch HG. The natural history of invasive

breast cancers detected by screening mammography. Arch Intern Med.

2008 Nov 24;168(21):2311-6.

 

2) Larsen SU, Rose C. Spontaneous remission of breast cancer. A

literature review. Ugeskr Laeger. 1999 Jun 28;161(26):4001-4.

 

3) Baxter N; Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. Preventive

health care, 2001 update: should women be routinely taught breast

self-examination to screen for breast cancer? CMAJ. 2001 Jun

26;164(13):1837-46.

 

4) Gøtzsche PC, Nielsen M. Screening for breast cancer with

mammography. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Oct 18;(4):CD001877.

 

The Ancient Human Diet Is Starch-based

 

Starch grains on human teeth reveal early broad crop diet in northern

Peru by Dolores Piperno reported in the December 16, 2008 issue of the

Proceeding of the National Academy of Science, found plant parts on

the teeth (dental plaque) of people who lived in Northern Peru as long

as 11,200 years ago and concluded, "Starch grain studies of dental

remains document plants and edible parts of them not normally

preserved in archaeological records and can assume primary roles as

direct indicators of ancient human diets and agriculture."1

 

Researchers examined 39 human teeth found in northern Peru's Nanchoc

Valley from six to eight individuals. Some of the grains had been

cooked. The diet of these people was considered stable for

possibly 5000 years (until 6000 years ago). These people

cultivated their crops close to their circular houses. Starch

granules from Lima beans, common beans, peanuts, nuts, squash, grains,

and fruits were identified.

 

Comment: Often the only findings reflecting the diet of ancient

people are the hard bones of animals that are found near their ruins.

Any plant material has decayed and disappeared. Because of this

many people have come to the wrong conclusion that early people were

primarily hunters and their diet was largely of meat. However,

this research adds support for my often-stated position, that all

large populations of trim, healthy people, throughout written human

history, have obtained the bulk of their calories from starch.

 

The early ancestors of modern humans, from at least 4 million years

ago, followed diets almost exclusively of plant-foods. Beginning at

least 250,000 years ago, people survived as hunter-gatherers with a

subsistence standard of living, eating foods that extended from one

extreme to the other in proportions of plant vs. animal foods-from

the raw flesh and fat of marine mammals; the Arctic Eskimos-to diets

composed largely of wild plants of the Western Desert; the Australian

Aborigines.2 Hunter-gatherers took advantage of any dependable sources

of food from their wild local environments. Because of the ease

and dependability (compared to obtaining animals), gathering fruits

and vegetables was a primary source of food for most hunter-gatherer

societies. The emphasis on hunting increased in higher latitudes

because of plant scarcity.3 Examination of the dental remains of this

ancient culture provides more clear evidence that the natural human

diet is starch based.

 

1) Piperno DR, Dillehay TD. Starch grains on human teeth reveal early

broad crop diet in northern Peru. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Dec

16;105(50):19622-7.

 

2) Milton K. Back to basics: why foods of wild primates have

relevance for modern human health. Nutrition. 2000

Jul-Aug;16(7-8):480-3.

 

3) Milton K. Hunter-gatherer diets-a different

perspective. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Mar;71(3):665-7.

 

Diet Benefits Prostate Cancer (Another Ornish Contribution)

 

Clinical events in prostate cancer lifestyle trial: results from two

years of follow-up by Joanne Frattaroli published in the December 2008

issue of the journal Urology found, "Patients with early-stage

prostate cancer choosing active surveillance might be able to avoid or

delay conventional treatment for at least 2 years by making changes in

their diet and lifestyle." By 2 years of follow-up, 13 of 49 (27%)

control patients and 2 of 43 (5%) experimental patients-those

encouraged to adopt a low-fat, plant-based diet, to exercise and

practice stress management, and to attend group support sessions-had

undergone conventional prostate cancer treatment (radical

prostatectomy, radiotherapy, or androgen deprivation).

 

Comment: This is the second report of the Prostate Cancer Lifestyle

Intervention Trial started by Dean Ornish, MD. Given the honest

facts about standard prostate cancer treatments, most patients would

elect diet, and delay or avoid surgery, radiation, hormone deprivation

(pills or cutting off their testicles), and chemotherapy. These

damaging treatments fail to produce consistent survival benefits-and

every doctor and patient should know the results of a century of

research. Doing nothing would be a better option for most

patients. Research also shows that the high-fat, meat- and

dairy- rich Western diet causes this disease. Common sense says

"Don't throw gasoline on a fire."

 

Frattaroli J, Weidner G, Dnistrian AM, Kemp C, Daubenmier JJ, Marlin

RO, Crutchfield L, Yglecias L, Carroll PR, Ornish D. Clinical events

in prostate cancer lifestyle trial: results from two years of

follow-up. Urology. 2008 Dec;72(6):1319-23. Epub 2008 Jul 7.