Disease Proof

I’ve never been a milk drinker. To this day, the expression “cow juice” still haunts my mind. Now, I know it sounds silly, but, the concept of bovine nectar isn’t that farfetched. Here’s what I mean. Check out this excerpt from Dr. Fuhrman’s book Disease-Proof Your Child:

Milk, which is designed by nature for the rapidly growing cow, has about half its calories supplied from fat. The fatty component is concentrated more to make cheese and butter. Milk and cheese are the foods Americans encourage their children to eat, believing them to be healthy foods. Fifty years of heavy advertising by an economically powerful industry has shaped the public's perception, illustrating the power of one-sided advertising, but the reality and true health effects on our children is a different story. Besides the link between high-saturated-fat foods (dairy fat) and cancer, there is a body of scientific literature linking the consumption of cow's milk to many other diseases. If we expect our children to resist many common illnesses, they simply must consume less milk, cheese, and butter. Dairy foods should be consumed in limited quantity or not at all.

Okay, granted there are some “big” people out there, but I doubt any of them match the physiology of a baby cow. So why do they drink milk? Or consume dairy? Who knows? Maybe they’re eager to bring about various diseases. Dr. Fuhrman explains in Eat to Live:

Dairy is best kept to a minimum. There are many good reasons not to consume dairy. For example, there is a strong association between diary lactose and ischemic heart disease.1 There is also a clear association between high-growth-promoting foods such as dairy products and cancer. There is a clear association between milk consumption and testicular cancer.2 Dairy fat is also loaded various toxins and is the primary source of our nation’s high exposure to dioxin.3 Dioxin is a highly toxic chemical compound that even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency admits is a prominent cause of many types of cancer in those consuming dairy fat, such as butter and cheese.4 Cheese is also a power inducer of acid load, which increases calcium loss further.5 Considering that cheese and butter are the foods with the highest saturated-fat content and the major source of our dioxin exposure, cheese is a particularly foolish choice for obtaining calcium.

Now, given all these health risks, why would anyone even entertain the notion that dairy can help you lose weight? Especially since the dairy-weight loss claim was recently pummeled by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The New York Times covered it:

The assertion that there is a link between weight loss and dairy consumption has long been contested by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine [PCRM], an advocacy and research group that promotes a diet free of animal products.

The group petitioned the F.T.C. in 2005 to argue that the advertisements were misleading. In a May 3 letter to the group, Lydia Parnes, director of the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said Agriculture Department representatives and milk producers and processors had agreed to change the advertisements and related marketing materials “until further research provides stronger, more conclusive evidence of an association between dairy consumption and weight loss.”

As of Thursday, the National Dairy Council still had a section of its Web site devoted to the weight-loss claim. But the site, along with some of the advertisements, will be changed, said Greg Miller, who is executive vice president of the council and has a doctorate in nutrition.

But, I guess sometimes word doesn’t travel fast enough, because Michael Hecht of The Philadelphia Inquirer still thinks dairy can help you drop those unwanted pounds. Take a look:

There are a few theories as to how calcium and dairy products might be "weight friendly." One theory is that calcium and Vitamin D help regulate fat metabolism by stimulating fatty acid caloric burn and suppressing the body's production of fat.

Calcium in supplement form or dairy might also help to decrease fat absorption in the digestive tract by forming calcium-fatty-acid complexes called "soaps" that accelerate the loss of fat in the stool. Another theory is that extra calcium prevents fat storage by sending a signal that the body no longer needs to store fat.

It appears that low-fat dairy products like yogurt, cottage cheese and low-fat milk do help facilitate weight loss as long as total caloric intake is observed.

Not to beat up on Mr. Hecht, but come on! Keep up with the times—no pun intended.

Adapted from Dr. Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live:

Most overweight individuals are addicted to food. This means almost all Americans are food addicts. Addicted means that you feel ill or uncomfortable should you not continue your usual habits. Unlike tobacco and drug addiction, however, food addiction is socially acceptable.

Most people thrust into an environment with an unlimited supply of calorie-rich, nutrient-poor food will become compulsive overeaters. That is, the craving for food and the preoccupation with eating, and the resultant loss of control over food intake, are the natural consequences of nutrient paucity. The resulting stress on our system can be toxic.

Obviously, there are complicated emotional and psychological factors that make it more difficult for some to achieve success at overcoming food addiction. Additionally, some physical changes may initially discourage you. Stopping caffeine, reducing sodium, and dropping saturated fat from your diet while increasing fiber and nutrients may result in increased gas, headaches, fatigue, and other withdrawal symptoms. These withdrawal symptoms are temporary and rarely last longer than one week. Eventually the high volume of food and high nutrient content will help prevent long-term food cravings.

The large quantity of food permitted and encouraged on this program makes you less stressed about overeating. Food cravings and addictive symptoms end for almost everyone because this diet satisfies a person’s desire to eat more food.

Halting stimulating behavior such as overeating unmasks the fatigue that was always there. The power reserve in a battery is proportional to its use. The less we use it, the more life it has and the stronger it remains. Likewise, when there is continual stress on your body from stimulating foods and caffeine, it gives the false sensation that we have energy, when actually we are using up our nerve energy faster. This ages us. The fatigue is hidden by the stimulating (aging-inducing) effects of sugar, caffeine, and toxic protein load. Now that you are eating in a health-supporting manner, you may be in better touch with the sleep your body needs, and sleep better as a result.

Some cravings and food behaviors have emotional overtones from childhood or compensate for stress and emotional dysfunction. Some food-addicted people eat compulsively in spite of their awareness of the consequences. These people need a more intensive program than a book can provide. Similar to a twelve-week drug-rehabilitation program, an intensive food recovery program should include counseling. Food re-education can work even for the most difficult cases. Please contact me if you require such a program to guarantee your success. You no longer have an excuse to fail; all you need is the commitment.

Eat to Live is not for everybody, because added to the desire to lose weight must be the willingness to make a commitment to achieve wellness. Once that commitment is made, however, there need not be any failures; with proper support and this program, everyone can succeed.

Go for it!

Watch as this world renowned chef masterfully prepares salad. Simply breathtaking:

Boom!

I know, harsh words, but when you’re pregnant you’ve really got live in the best interest of your child; mind you, this is a guy talking, but still. Just take a look at this report. New research claims overweight women are at risk of pregnancy complications. Reuters is on it:

Using data from more than 24,000 UK women who gave birth between 1976 and 2005, researchers found that the risk of problems, such as high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia and premature delivery climbed in tandem with a woman's pre-pregnancy weight.

The findings, published in the online journal BMC Public Health, add to evidence that obesity is a risk for mothers and newborns.

They also support the belief that all pregnancies in obese women should be considered "high risk," and managed accordingly, conclude the study authors, led by Dr. Sohinee Bhattacharya of Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.

Delicious Rainbow Potato Salad

2 pounds red potatoes, cut into large pieces
2 orange sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces
2 stalks organic celery, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/3 cup each green, red, yellow, & orange peppers, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, grated
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon VegiZest or other no salt seasoning
3/4 cup low salt mayonnaise or Vegenaise (a vegan alternative) or use Eggplant "Mayonnaise" (see recipe below)

Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool. Remove skin if potatoes are not organic. Cut potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. Place them in a large bowl and add celery, onions, peppers, and carrots, then toss gently. Mix mustard, VegiZest and Vegenaise together and spoon over potato mixture. Toss gently to coat. Cover and chill at least one hour. NOTE: To make Eggplant "Mayonnaise" peel 1/2 eggplant and dice. Steam until soft. Place the cooked eggplant in a blender along with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons tahini, and 1 1/2 teaspoons VegiZest or other no salt seasoning, and blend until smooth & creamy. Serves 8.

Sunshine Slaw

4 carrots, grated
1 1/2 apples, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup slivered or sliced almonds
1/3 cup low salt mayonnaise or Vegenaise

Toss carrots and apples with lemon juice. Add raisins and almonds. Mix in mayonnaise or Vegenaise. Serves 4.

Super Summer Vegetable Blend

3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon dill weed
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
4 zucchini, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
1/2 medium red pepper, sliced
1/2 medium yellow pepper, sliced
1/2 medium orange pepper, sliced
2 cups shiitake, cremini, or oyster mushrooms, stems removed and chopped
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon Dr. Fuhrman's VegiZest
1 tablespoon Dr. Fuhrman's Black Fig Vinegar
2 teaspoons water

In a large skillet add 3 tbsp water, thyme, dill, oregano, basil, zucchini, garlic, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and mushrooms. Cover and cook over medium/high heat for 8 minutes. Meanwhile mix arrowroot, VegiZest, vinegar, and 2 teaspoons water together in a small bowl. Add sauce to simmering vegetables and cook 4 more minutes or until sauce boils and thickens and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Serves 5.

Sounds pretty silly—right? Especially since the consumption of red meat is directly linked to the development of cancer. Now I don’t take my word for it. In Eat to Live Dr. Fuhrman points to this study (one of many studies referenced in the book) that illustrates the red meat-cancer connection. Here’s the abstract:

Meat intake has been positively associated with risk of digestive tract cancers in several epidemiological studies, while data on the relation of meat intake with cancer risk at most other sites are inconsistent. The overall data set, derived from an integrated series of case-control studies conducted in northern Italy between 1983 and 1996, included the following incident, histologically confirmed neoplasms: oral cavity, pharynx and esophagus (n = 497), stomach (n = 745), colon (n = 828), rectum (n = 498), liver (n = 428), gallbladder (n = 60), pancreas (n = 362), larynx (n = 242), breast (n = 3,412), endometrium (n = 750), ovary (n = 971), prostate (n = 127), bladder (n = 431), kidney (n = 190), thyroid (n = 208), Hodgkin's disease (n = 80), non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (n = 200) and multiple myelomas (n = 120). Controls were 7,990 patients admitted to hospital for acute, non-neoplastic conditions unrelated to long-term modifications in diet. The multivariate odds ratios (ORs) for the highest tertile of red meat intake (7 times/week) compared with the lowest (3 times/week) were 1.6 for stomach, 1.9 for colon, 1.7 for rectal, 1.6 for pancreatic, 1.6 for bladder, 1.2 for breast, 1.5 for endometrial and 1.3 for ovarian cancer. ORs showed no significant heterogeneity across strata of age at diagnosis and sex. No convincing relation with red meat intake emerged for cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx and esophagus, liver, gallbladder, larynx, kidney, thyroid, prostate, Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and multiple myeloma. For none of the neoplasms considered was there a significant inverse relationship with red meat intake. Thus, reducing red meat intake might lower the risk for several common neoplasms. Int. J. Cancer 86:425-428, 2000

Apparently the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation didn’t get the memo, because they seem to associate themselves with some very beefy fundraisers. Ray Kellosalmi of Globe and Mail Update reports:

In the past couple of years, a number of rodeos across Canada, most notably the Calgary Stampede, have taken part in a fundraising campaign for the CBCF called Tough Enough to Wear Pink. Supported by the Wrangler clothing company, the campaign raises money through the sale of pink Wrangler shirts and other pink-themed merchandise, a percentage of which goes to the CBCF.

Everyone seems to benefit. Wrangler's brand is promoted and the CBCF gets money for cancer research. And the rodeo can associate itself with a worthy cause — quite handy to blunt criticism over its controversial treatment of animals (although one anti-rodeo activist recently told a Calgary newspaper that it was like putting pink icing on a cow pat).

But, while the CBCF joins the cowboys, cattle producers and meat companies at rodeo barbecues across the country, shouldn't it consider the health implications of the product it is indirectly helping to promote? In 2007 alone, several pieces of research have made connections between meat consumption and breast cancer.

(via The Cancer Blog)

I don’t find this all that surprising because after all, can’t you just hear the low-carbers saying, “No! But, uh, beef taste good. Me chew beef. Duh!" Oh! Check this out. If you're a guy, beef is especially worrisome: Beef Bad for the Boys.

Even though I burn like an Irishman, I still try my best to get plenty of sun. Be it fishing or a long walk through Central Park, I get out there. And it’s a good thing, because according to Dr. Fuhrman getting adequate sun is potent cancer fighter. In Vitamin D and Cancer he explains why:

Laboratory, animal, and epidemiologic evidence suggests that vitamin D may be protective against cancer. Epidemiologic studies suggest that a higher dietary intake of calcium and vitamin D, and/or sunlight-induced vitamin D synthesis, correlates with lower incidence of cancer, including lymphoma, breast, prostate, and colon cancer.1 In fact, for over 60 years, researchers have observed an inverse association between sun exposure and cancer mortality,2 and those with more sun exposure had fewer cancers. The inverse relationship between higher vitamin D levels in blood and lower cancer risk in humans shows a significantly lower risk among those with the highest vitamin D intake.

Now, I grew up in the Super Mario era. So as a kid I spent plenty of time in doors, but, my parents did do a good job of getting my butt outside. And I’m glad they did, because a new study links childhood sunlight exposure to a decreased risk of multiple sclerosis. Alan Mozes of HealthDay News reports:

"Evidence is building up that something in relation to sunlight and/or vitamin D exposure during childhood may play a protective role," said study co-author Dr. Thomas M. Mack, of the department of preventive medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. "It's now been suggested by several different studies that this is the case, and if it's true, it would be important."

The study is published in the July 24 issue of Neurology.

The findings echo those of a recent Harvard School of Public Health study, released in December and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That study found that among 140 white men and women, those with the highest levels of sunlight-derived vitamin D were 62 percent less likely to have developed MS than those with the lowest levels. The finding was not replicated in a smaller patient pool of either blacks or Hispanics, however.

Makes me want to move to Key West stat!

Stick healthy eating right on your fridge, with Healthy Foods Magnets by Simple Memory Art:

(via Diet-Blog)

As someone who exercises an average of ten hours a week, I love reading reports like this. New research suggests young type-1 diabetics benefit from exercise. When is exercise ever a bad thing? Anyway, Madeline Vann of HealthDay News is on it:

The researchers analyzed the physical activity levels outside of school and cardiovascular health of more than 23,000 subjects between the ages of 3 and 18. They found that heart health increased as the amount of physical activity increased.

The more active the children were, the lower the percentage of patients with high cholesterol and triglycerides. Nearly 40 percent of those with no regular physical activity had high cholesterol and triglycerides. Of the children who were active once or twice a week, 36 percent had high cholesterol and triglycerides, and for those who were active three or more times a week, only 34.4 percent had high cholesterol and triglycerides.

Writing in the August issue of Diabetes Care the researchers reported that children who were active at least once or twice per week were also less likely to have high blood pressure than those who had no exercise.

Since we’re talking about type-1 diabetes, it’s important to remember there is Hope for Type 1 Childhood Onset Diabetics.

Okay folks. Let’s be frank for a moment. How many of you actually believe bottled water comes from the Alps, Maine, or some secluded fountain of youth? Hopefully none of you, because this Reuters report confirms my longstanding suspicious, bottled water is just tap water. Martinne Geller explains:

PepsiCo Inc. will spell out that its Aquafina bottled water is made with tap water, a concession to the growing environmental and political opposition to the bottled water industry.

According to Corporate Accountability International, a U.S. watchdog group, the world's No. 2 beverage company will include the words "Public Water Source" on Aquafina labels.

"If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it's a reasonable thing to do," said Michelle Naughton, a Pepsi-Cola North America spokeswoman.

Pepsi Chief Executive Indra Nooyi told Reuters earlier this week the company was considering such a move.

Pepsi's Aquafina and Coca-Cola Co's Dasani are both made from purified water sourced from public reservoirs, as opposed to Danone's Evian or Nestle's Poland Spring, so-called "spring waters," shipped from specific locations the companies say have notably clean water.

Coca-Cola Co. told Reuters it will start posting online information about the quality control testing it performs on Dasani by the end of summer or early fall.

Personally, I buy bottled water—about once every six months—so I can refill the bottles with my own filtered tap water.

If you’re a sports fan you know the name Michael Jordan—actually—if you’ve been alive for the past twenty years you know MJ. Michael Jordan is sports royalty, but, he’s also quite the restaurateur. In fact, the Jump Man’s got his own restaurant. That’s right! This week Eating to Live on the Outside goes one on one with Michael Jordon’s Steakhouse.

I know. The word STEAKHOUSE is daunting, but don’t forget, we survived our Outback adventure just fine, and, had no problem wrangling Lonestar. So let’s grab a menu and take it to the house—or outside the house for that matter.

Okay, the appetizers don’t do it for me. I can’t imagine eating Foie Gras—yuck—and the rest of the offerings are also pretty gross; Ahi Tuna Tartare and Prime Steak Tartare. Needless to say, I’ll pass. Let’s see if we can find something more Eat to Live friendly further down the menu.

I’ve said this before, but no surprise here. There’re a couple very doable salads. Sure, the Baby Spinach Salad needs a little work, but it’s totally manageable. The Baby Spinach Salad is made with baby spinach, smoked bacon, walnuts, and grain mustard. Clearly, my nemesis bacon has got to go, but other than that it’s all good. Another nice choice is the basic House Salad; baby lettuce and balsamic vinegar. I’d ask the wait staff, but I bet it comes with other veggies too. Now, if you go easy on the dressing—or ditch it altogether—you’re doing pretty well. To be honest, it takes a lot of effort to screw up a salad.

Alright, time for the main courses. Obviously I wouldn’t be foolish enough to order a steak, so that’s out. Now, all the main courses are meat-based. So if your vegetarian you’d probably just sick with the salad. As for me, I don’t eat meat, but I’m cool with fish. That’s why the Broiled Maine Lobster caught my eye; made with Maine lobster and sweet vermouth butter. Yup, you guessed it. I’d ask the wait staff to omit the butter, but other than that I’m cool with the lobster. After all Maine Lobster has a very low contamination risk. I like the Sea Scallops too; prepared with sea scallops, pink peppercorns, pancetta, and mustard aioli. Sea scallops are another safe seafood option, which is great. However the pancetta—Italian bacon—is not so great. I’m dropping that. With that being said the only concession I’d be looking at is the aioli (oil). I can live with it. Now of course, if I ordered either of these seafood dishes, I'd wait awhile before I ate fish again—Dr. Fuhrman's orders.

Now, you’re probably wondering. Where are all the side dishes? Wonder no further. They’re up next and here’s a bunch to choose from, but the only ones I’d order are the Roasted Assorted Mushrooms or the One-Pound Baked Potato. The roasted mushrooms are cooked in white truffle oil, so that’d be a concession—albeit a minor one—and as long as you don’t order the potato with sour cream, cheddar cheese, or butter, you’re sitting pretty. Oh, and of course. Instead of ordering any of the main entrees you could just pair these two side dishes together. But if you ask me, the Baby Spinach Salad or the House Salad is still your best bet.

That wasn’t so bad. I always thought going one on one with MJ would have been a lot harder. You know what? I find it ironic that a supreme athlete like Michael Jordan would have so many unhealthy foods on his restaurant’s menu. Well, actually I’m not that shocked. Just check out Why NFL Players Shouldn't be Nutritionists. But hey, do me a favor. Check out Michael Jordan’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or shoot—pun intended—me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

The other day I read a bumper sticker that said, “No farmers. No food.” Think about that for second. Better yet, think about where your food comes from—DON’T SAY THE SUPERMARKET! I’ll put it bluntly, without farmers we’d be in a pickle.

That’s why Dr. Fuhrman forwarded me this message from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. It’s about the farm bill, which directly effects farmers and ultimately impacts us, the consumer. Here’s some of the email:

We need to gather congressional support for the “Fairness in Farm and Food Policy” amendment, which will be offered by Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ). Earlier this month, we contacted you about HR 2720 (also known as FARM 21). Reps. Kind and Flake have taken many of the provisions from FARM 21 and put them in this new amendment. The amendment would limit government subsidies of unhealthy foods, cut subsidies to millionaire farmers, and provide more money for nutrition and food assistance programs for Americans and impoverished children overseas.

Hey, I’m for anything that gets people eating and living healthier. Now, just this Wednesday the bill was heard on the floor of the House of Representatives. Check out the transcript for commentary by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns:

The whole idea here is that we are going to reauthorize a Farm Bill. The Farm Bill covers a number of areas. As you know we cover commodities to conservation to energy to research, trade, food stamps, rural development. This is the year -- if we don't pass the Farm Bill this year, literally we revert back to the 1949 Farm Bill, which nobody wants to do. We want to get a Farm Bill to the finish line this year.

Just as a quick refresher, this is how our money is allocated here at the USDA. The vast majority of our funding goes into food assistance programs. About 26 percent goes into the commodity programs based upon '06 budget outlays, actual outlays. And then the rest is spread about in conservation, international, rural development, research, and other programs.

I said this many times -- I have a history with the 2002 Farm Bill. I was the Governor of Nebraska when it was written. The 2002 Farm Bill, I believe, was the right policy for the times. I supported it. I was lead governor for Western Governors on the reauthorization of the Farm Bill. I was co-lead with Tom Vilsack of Iowa for Midwest Governors. And as I said, I supported it in 2002.

Why was it the right policy for the times? Well, commodity prices were low. Exports had declined for five straight years. The debt-to-asset ratio was not good; it was at about 15 percent for farmers. So the 2002 Farm Bill came in and it provided support. It was the first-ever Farm Bill with an energy title.

For background on the Farm Bill, visit The United States Department of Agriculture.

Believe me. I’ve had some rotten friends. You know that guy, you’ve known him since high school and all he’s ever done for you is not pay back loans and ground potato chips into your couch. But in my twenty-six years of life I’ve never had a friend who made me fat. Amanda Gardner of HealthDay News reports, your family and friends may spread obesity:

This may be literally true, according to Harvard researchers who suggested in the July 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that obesity, or the trend to thinness, is socially contagious, "spreading" through social ties.

"This reinforces the idea that because people are interconnected, their health is interconnected," said study author Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, a professor at Harvard University. "It takes seriously the embedded-ness of people within social networks and gives new meaning to the concept of public health."

While this may cause people to look differently at their friends and acquaintances (both overweight and thin), the real value of the research is in pointing to new ways to combat the growing epidemic of overweight and obesity, experts said.

"Trying to address the problem on an individual level has been so hard, and it may be because we're not addressing the network, which could be family, neighborhood, community, school," said Dr. Julio Licinio, chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "This is a fascinating way to look at the problem, and it may be a very good reason why treatments have been so difficult, because we're only addressing one member of the network."

I don’t know about obesity, but my family members are experts at spreading aggravation. For more on this research, listen to this chat with New York Times reporter Gina Kolata. Or, check out this video via the New York Times:

According to the Los Angeles Times, Disney is barring smoking from all Disney-label films. Dawn C. Chmielewski reports:

In the most explicit announcement by a Hollywood studio, Chief Executive Robert A. Iger said Wednesday that the studio would snuff out depictions of smoking in Disney-label films.

It also would discourage lighting up in the more adult fare released by its Touchstone Pictures and its specialty label, Miramax.

"A villain can be bad without smoking," Iger said. "Heroes can be cool without smoking."

Other studios have been quietly wrestling with the same issue of how to deal with a serious health concern while giving directors creative freedom. Universal Pictures has had a policy in place since April aimed at reducing or altogether eliminating smoking depictions in films rated for youths.

The Cardio Blog likes pomegranates:

It's something you don't often eat but you probably should because it's chalk-full of antioxidants and other healthy good stuff: Pomegranates. The fruit benefits your cardiovascular system, and also has been shown to help with Alzheimer's, cancer and even erectile dysfunction. And it's a better source of flavonoids than red wine, green tea or blueberry juice.

Dr. Fuhrman thinks pomegranate juice is great. From Pomegranate Power:

Pomegranate juice is so rich in heart protective compounds and there are animal studies to support the beneficial findings in human studies, it makes the results of these recent investigations understandable and believable. Pomegranate is a powerful food for good health.1

Summary Features of Pomegranate
1. Most powerful anti-oxidant of all fruits
2. Potent anti-cancer and immune supporting effects
3. Inhibits abnormal platelet aggregation that could cause heart attacks, strokes and embolic disease
4. Lowers cholesterol and other cardiac risk factors
5. Lowers blood pressure
6. Shown to promote reversal of atherosclerotic plaque in human studies.
7. May have benefits to relieve or protect against depression and osteoporosis

Dr. Fuhrman will tell low-carb diets are dangerous and ill-advised. And yet, scientists and researchers actually waste their time extolling the virtues—or more appropriately, the falsifications—of low-carb-high-protein diets. Take this study for example. HealthDay News reports low-carb diets combat metabolic syndrome:

The study participants didn't follow the diets strictly, study leader Matthew R. Hayes, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania found. "Phase one intake was 25 percent [carbohydrates], on average," he said, rather than the 10 percent recommended. "Phase two carb intake was 35 percent," he said, although 27 percent was recommended. But it was a reduction from the participants' pre-study diet, which included 47 percent of calories from carbohydrates, he said.

To find out why the weight declined, Hayes' team did hormone assays, measuring fasting and post-meal blood levels of hormones associated with appetite and food intake, such as insulin, leptin and cholecystokinin (CCK).

"We found some changes in hormone levels," he said. "We saw a decrease in insulin, a decrease in leptin levels by the end of phase one. It was fast."

"By the end of phase 2, the insulin levels had crept up toward baseline; the leptin levels also rose, but it did not come back to the levels at baseline," Hayes said.

"These alternations in hormone levels acting together help reduce the amount of food consumed," he said. "There's a synergy. Based on the literature already out there, we are speculating that this synergy of hormones may be the mechanism explaining why people are satisfied with less food and [the low-carb diet] results in weight loss."

Pardon me for a second—shenanigans, shenanigans! That’s right. I’m calling shenanigans on this study. Why? Because it’s bound to trick people into believing that low-carb is a safe way of restoring healthy metabolic function. Confused? I’ll let Dr. Fuhrman explain. I asked him about this junk science and here’s what he had to say:

Smoking cigarettes has beneficial effects on body weight. It can improve diabetes control and even has beneficial effects on ulcerative colitis. However, smoking cigarettes harms the body in other ways, so those benefits aren’t worth much. Pursuing studies on high protein, carbohydrate restricted diets, which have already been shown to increase all-cause long term mortality is ignorant and immoral. A high nutrient, vegetable-based diet is a more effective and has long-term health advantages, instead of long-term dangers. This shows the ignorance in the medical and research community that treat diets like drugs. When you have no comprehensive understanding of nutritional science, your implementation and interpretation of scientific studies is almost irrelevant and results in no useful information.

In the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition May 2007 a 10-year dietary assessment of 22,944 subjects was published. It was entitled, Low-Carbohydrate-High-Protein and long-term survival in a general population cohort. The conclusion reads, "Prolonged consumption of diets low in carbohydrate and high in protein is associated with and increase in total mortality." The bottom line is you do not have to smoke cigarettes or eat a dangerous diet to control obesity, diabetes, or metabolic syndrome. My Eat to Live diet-style offers a safe, highly effective option with more dramatic results and protection against cancer, heart disease and all cause mortality.

Yeah, I guess you could drive nails with your head, but using a hammer is a safer choice. In my humble opinion, low-carb only exists because it caters to people’s emotional attachments to food. And we all know there’s lots of money in people’s weaknesses. That should explain why many low-carb peddlers are multi-million dollar corporations.

For more dismantling of low-carb diets, don’t forget about our friends over at AtkinsExposed.org.

Admittedly, I don’t know much about this. But apparently some scientists believe if cholesterol is too low, there’s an increased risk of cancer. Take this study for example. New research provides evidence for a link between low LDL levels and cancer risk. More from EurekAlert:

The authors of the study, published in the July 31, 2007, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), set out to understand how and why statins cause side effects, particularly damage to the liver and muscle cells. The study findings support taking multiple medications rather than high-dose statins to minimize those side effects. The researchers did not expect to find the increased cancer risk (one additional incident per 1,000 patients) from low LDL levels, and additional studies have already begun to investigate this potential risk further. A key component in future studies will be to confirm the risk and to identify whether the risk may be a side effect of statins or just low LDL.

“This analysis doesn’t implicate the statin in increasing the risk of cancer,” said lead author Richard H. Karas, M.D., F.A.C.C., professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. “The demonstrated benefits of statins in lowering the risk of heart disease remain clear; however, certain aspects of lowering LDL with statins remain controversial and merit further research.”

The researchers found one additional incident of cancer per 1,000 patients with low LDL levels when compared to patients with higher LDL levels. In their evaluation of randomized controlled statin trials published before November 2005, the researchers looked at 13 treatment arms consisting of 41,173 patients.

(via The Diabetes Blog)

Now, as an Eat to Liver I know my vegetable-based diet is working to reduce my cholesterol to disease-proofing range. So naturally, this research doesn’t make much sense to me. In order to clear this up—and basically shoot down this study—I dug up this post: Can Cholesterol Be Too Low? Here’s an excerpt:

There was some controversy years ago about striving for lower, protective cholesterol levels after some studies in the eighties noted that depression, suicide, hemorrhagic stroke, cancer, and death from other causes, were higher in some groups with very low cholesterol groups. Larger, recent investigations studying larger populations did not confirm these questionable findings.

When investigators looked more carefully at the individual characteristics of the studied populations they were able to explain the earlier findings. This issue is complicated because these studies evaluated individuals who were eating the modern American diet, rich in saturated fat and other components of animal products that raise cholesterol, and low in plant derived anti-oxidants, phytochemicals, and essential fatty acids that improve cholesterol ratios. Those who demonstrated very low (ideal) cholesterol levels, while following the traditional, modern, cholesterol-promoting diet, may actually have a compromised health status or undetected chronic disease.

For instance, we know cancer causes less cholesterol production in the liver. Low cholesterol may be associated with cancer, but does not cause it. Researchers showed that cholesterol starts to fall up to 8 years prior to a person dying of cancer, and that those with the greatest drop in cholesterol in a 4 year period without dietary improvements to lower cholesterol were those most likely to develop cancer.1 The low cholesterol did not cause the cancer; the cancer caused the low cholesterol. Those who work to lower cholesterol by avoiding saturated fats, eating a high nutrient diet with lots of raw vegetables, cooked green vegetables, and beans do not have a pathological condition causing their low cholesterol. They earned it.

This is why in rural China where the diets are nearly vegetarian, the average cholesterol levels are low and you see lower cancer rates, not higher. Those with the lowest cholesterol in the China study actually had the lowest cancer rates as well. Obviously, there is a difference between one who has a low cholesterol because his dietary style earns it, and one whose cholesterol seems unjustifiably low on a modern heart-disease-promoting diet that almost everyone in the west eats.

Now in my humble— and very layman—opinion, the above study is just the kind of junk science that misinforms people and leads them down the path of disease and premature death. Consider this: Increased Risk of Cancer Associated with The Atkins Diet.

The concept of “enriched” foods is an odd one. You take wholesome natural food, process and strip it of its nutrients, and then, artificially reintroduce vitamins and minerals. Why are we reinventing the wheel? Just eat food as it is—wholesome and natural. Dr. Fuhrman thinks enriched food is a big waste of time too. He talks about in Eat to Live:

White or "enriched" rice is just as bad as white bread and pasta. It is nutritionally bankrupt. You might as well just eat the Uncle Ben's cardboard box it comes in. Refining removes important factors: fiber, minerals, phytochemicals, and vitamin E. So, when you eat grains, eat whole grains.

Refining foods removes so much nutrition that our government requires that a few synthetic vitamins and minerals be added back. Such food is labeled as enriched or fortified. Whenever you see those words on a package, it means important nutrients are missing. Refining foods lowers the amount of hundreds of known nutrients, yet usually only five to ten are added back by fortification.

As we change food through processing and refining, we rob the food of certain health-supporting substances and often create unhealthy compounds, thus making it a more unfit food for human consumption. As a general rule of thumb: the closer we eat foods to their natural state, the healthier the food.

Hopefully these refined foods don’t reach your dinner table—especially when you read news like this. Research has revealed that increased consumption of enriched foods like bread, pasta, and rice have upped the number of reported cases of colon and rectal cancer. Lawrence Lindner of The Boston Globe is on it:

But the fortification of foods with folic acid, a B vitamin, may have also led to an unintended consequence: an estimated 15,000 more cases of colon and rectal cancer each year than there otherwise might have been.

It's well documented that more folic acid in young women's diets has prevented neural tube defects. This month, for example, Canadian researchers published a study in The New England Journal of Medicine showing that since 1998, the year that it became mandatory to add folic acid to certain foods, the prevalence of neural tube defects in seven Canadian provinces decreased from 1.58 per 1,000 births to 0.86 per 1,000 births -- a reduction of almost 50 percent.

The story is similar in the United States, which began requiring folic acid fortification the same year.

But the timetable of the downward trend in neural tube defects exactly corresponds to a significant, sustained upward tick in the rate of cases of colorectal cancer, according to new data from researchers at Tufts University.

The study, published in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, shows that before the late 1990s, the incidence of colon cancer was decreasing on a steady, predictable curve, presumably because of increased screening with colonoscopies, during which precancerous polyps and early cancers are removed. However, the curve has shifted.

This doesn’t surprise me. Dr. Fuhrman makes it clear, nutrients, vitamins, and minerals are incredibly important, but it’s the phytonutrients—found only in unprocessed plant foods—that are so instrumental to superior health. In the Fortified Food Farce Dr. Fuhrman makes a comment that really lays it on the line. Here it is:

When you attempt to meet you micronutrient requirements with supplements or fortified products you miss those thousands of phytonutrients that accompany produce that is naturally nutrient rich. So every fortified food you eat is increasing your risk of cancer by decreasing your dietary intake of a food that could have supplied those calories in a more nutrient complete package. Fortified foods = processed foods. Processed foods = obesity and cancer epidemic.

I don’t get the hang up here. Why are people so willing to consume processed food monstrosities for nutrients, instead of getting them from the source? I don’t know. Maybe they’re not sure which fruits and veggies to eat. Well, this’ll get them started: Ten Super Foods to Use in Your Recipes and Menus.

From Dr. Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live:

Did you notice that 100 calories of broccoli is about ten ounces of food, and 100 calories of ground sirloin is less than one ounce of food? With green vegetables you can get filled up, even stuffed, yet you will not be consuming excess calories. Animal products, on the other hand, are calorie-dense and relatively low in nutrients, especially the crucial anti-cancer nutrients.

What would happen if you attempted to eat like a mountain gorilla, which eats about 80 percent of its diet from green leaves and about 15 percent from fruit? Assuming you are a female, who needs about 1,500 calories a day, if you attempted to get 1,200 of those calories from greens, you would need to eat over fifteen pounds of greens. That is quite a big salad! Since your stomach can only hold about one liter of food (or a little over a quart), you would have a problem fitting it all in.

You would surely get lots of protein from this gorilla diet. In fact, with just five pounds of greens you would exceed the RDA for protein and would get loads of other important nutrients. The problem with this gorilla diet is that you would develop a calorie deficiency. You would become too thin. Believe it or not, I do not expect you to eat exactly like a gorilla. However, the message to take home is that the more of these healthy green vegetables (both raw and cooked) you eat, the healthier you will be and the thinner you will become.

Now let’s contrast this silly and extreme gorilla example to another silly and extreme way of eating, the American diet.

If you attempt to follow the perverted diet that most Americans eat, or even if you follow the precise recommendations of the USDA’s pyramid—six to eleven servings of bread, rice, and pasta (consumed as 98 percent refined grains by Americans) with four to six servings of dairy, meat, poultry, or fish—you would be eating a diet rich in calories but extremely low in nutrients, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and vitamins. You would be overfed and malnourished, the precise nutritional profile that causes heart disease and cancer.

I’m not sure why anyone would do this. But here is the world's first fully trained giant pumpkin attack dog. She goes by the codename Dixie. It’s gruesome. Watch at your own risk:

Last week we learned some canned meats are contaminated with botulism. And now, it seems the botulism outbreak has broadened. ParentDish is on it:

A few days ago, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning for consumers regarding 10 ounce cans of Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce, Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauce, and Kroger Hot Dog Chili Sauce with "best by" dates from April 30, 2009 through May 22, 2009 due to possible botulism contamination.

Today, that warning was expanded to include even more canned food products and dog food produced by Castleberry's Food Company of Augusta, Ga. "This is a very big recall," said David Elder of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's office of regulatory affairs, deeming it an "urgent public health matter."

The heck with it! Just avoid canned food altogether. Geez!

As someone who recently took up Yoga, I can tell you—KNEE STRENGTH IS IMPORTANT! And here’s a good way to help your knees stay strong. New research claims consuming plenty of antioxidants may protect against knee arthritis. Reuters reports:

Australian researchers found that middle-aged adults with higher dietary levels of vitamin C were less likely to develop certain bone abnormalities that contribute to knee arthritis.

The findings "highlight the potential of diet to modify the risk of osteoarthritis," they report in the online journal Arthritis Research & Therapy. Dr. Yuanyuan Wang of Monash University in Melbourne led the research.

The subjects were 293 men and women who were middle-aged, healthy and free of knee pain at the start of the study. At that time, they completed detailed questionnaires on their diets; 10 years later, their knee tissue was examined using MRI scans. All of the nutrients were obtained through food, rather than from supplements.

In general, Wang's team found, the higher a person's dietary levels of vitamin C at the start of the study, the lower the risk of certain bone changes 10 years on. The same was true when the researchers looked at overall consumption of fruit, a prime source of vitamin C.

Certain carotenoids, such as the lutein and zeaxanthin found in green vegetables, were also related to a lower risk of cartilage defects in the knee.

Antioxidants are no joke. Dr. Fuhrman talks about their power in Prevent Deficiencies with Plant-Based Nutrition:

The most dramatic finding in nutritional science in the last fifty years is the power of plant-derived phytochemicals to affect health. Phytochemicals, along with the rich assortment of powerful antioxidants found in unrefined plant foods, fuel a defensive system that removes toxic cellular metabolites that age us. Phytochemicals also are required for maintenance and repair of our DNA.

Cancer may be promoted by toxic compounds, but we have cellular machinery, fueled by phytochemicals, to detoxify and remove noxious agents and to repair any damage done. Our body is self-healing and self-repairing when given sufficient nutrient support to maximize efficiency of protective cellular machinery. But, only when we consume large amounts of green vegetables and a diversity of natural plant foods can we maximize phytochemical delivery to our tissues.

I figured this was common sense, but maybe it isn’t. Drinking alcohol when you’re pregnant is a bad idea—why? Here’s one reason. New research has determined that drinking while pregnant may alter a child's brain. Krisha McCoy of HealthDay News reports:

Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure does not always lead to fetal alcohol syndrome, noted a team reporting in the August issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. In some cases, it can cause cognitive and behavioral problems without the facial features characteristic of fetal alcohol syndrome.

In their study, researchers at San Diego State University (SDSU) examined 22 children and adolescents (ages 8 to 18 years) -- 13 with and 9 without histories of heavy prenatal alcohol exposure. The participants were part of a larger study at the Center for Behavioral Teratology, SDSU.

The participants who were exposed to heavy alcohol before birth had altered responses in the frontal-striatal areas of the brain.

"We found two regions within the prefrontal cortex where the youth with alcohol-exposure histories had increased brain activation and one area in the subcortex (called the caudate nucleus) where the alcohol-exposed youth had decreased brain activation," study co-author Susanna L. Fryer, a graduate student in the SDSU/University of California, San Diego, joint doctoral program in clinical psychology, said in a prepared statement.

Kind of falls in line with yesterday’s post: Pregnancy: Healthy Eating for Two.

If you go to the gym, you’re bound to have seen them. Those guys with the pumped up arms and tight-fitting shirts; these guys actually think they’re in shape. Well, they would be, if it weren’t for the big bellies. Don’t get it? This Reuters report should lift the fog. Ann Harding explains fitness means less belly fat at any weight. Read on:

The higher a man's cardiorespiratory fitness, the less fat he has in his abdominal cavity, Dr. Jean-Pierre Despres of Hopital Laval Research Centre in Quebec and colleagues found. The relationship held true regardless of body mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight to height typically used to gauge overweight and obesity.

"This is why it's so, so important for the doctor to measure waist circumference," said Despres, who told Reuters Health he is on a "crusade" to get family doctors to check their patients' waist size and triglyceride levels.

High waist circumference combined with high triglyceride levels signal a substantially increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, he explained.

There is mounting evidence that fit people are at reduced risk of heart disease, even though they may be overweight or even obese based on their BMI, Despres and his team note in the Archives of Internal Medicine. At the same time, the researcher added, people of normal weight with bulging bellies can be "time bombs" for heart disease.

He and his colleagues hypothesized that fit individuals, regardless of BMI, would have less belly fat. To investigate, they looked at 169 healthy men, comparing their cardiorespiratory fitness with their amount of belly fat as measured by computed tomography (CT) scanning.

Dr. Fuhrman runs into the belly fat issue all the time. Check out this excerpt from Eat to Live:

Most people lose weight and then stop losing when they have reached their ideal weight. You are not the judge of your ideal weight; your body is. As almost everyone is overweight, many people think they are too thin when they have reached their best weight. I have many patients who, after following my plan to reverse diabetes or heart disease, report, "Everyone tells me I look too thin now." I then measure their periumbilical fat and check their percentage of body fat, and usually show them they are still not thin enough.

This banana is under a lot of pressure. Can broccoli save him? Take a look:

Apparently scientists have developed a low-sugar variety of watermelon. The Diabetes Blog is on it:

The low-sugar watermelon is creating a big buzz in the news right now. The watermelon, developed by plant breeders at the US Department of Agriculture, contains less than half the sugar of regular melons. It may fit the bill perfectly for diabetics who crave a generous helping of that luscious summer treat. Brilliantly, beneficial concentrations of vitamin A, potassium and the antioxidant lycopene stay the same in the low-cal version. Don't rush to the local supermarket looking for it though: the seeds have only just become available to melon growers, so mature fruits has not yet hit the market.

Watermelon is one of favorite fruits, in fact, for breakfast this morning I had a bowl full. If you like watermelon as much as me, why not give this recipe a try? Succumb to the melon:

Watermelon Ices

5 cups seedless watermelon
1/2 cup raisins

Blend watermelon and raisins in a blender, food processor, or VitaMix until they form a creamy liquid. Pour into paper cups and freeze for one hour only. Remove partially frozen treat from the freezer. Blend again, spoon the mixture back into the cups, and place back in the freezer until served.

Healthy Eating is blogging about coffee, cancer, arteriosclerosis, and dehydration. Check it out:

A new study published in the June 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined whether high coffee consumption (>2 cups a day) contributed to arteriosclerosis - the thickening and stiffening of the blood vessels that transport oxygen and nutrients from your heart to the rest of your body. Following 228 healthy subjects over the course of a year, researchers found that those who drank the most coffee experienced greater hardening of the arteries - and particularly the aorta (the major artery that feeds blood to the rest of the arteries) - than their non-coffee drinking peers.

This is bad news for java junkies as arteriosclerosis can increase blood pressure as well as the risk of heart attack and stroke. Combine this with coffee's effect on homocysteine - raising levels of an amino acid associated with cardiovascular disease - and you've got a brewing health threat, particularly for those with a family history of heart disease.

Finally, as reported in a previous issue of the DNN, men who drink four or more cups of coffee a day dramatically increase their risk of bladder cancer. A Dutch oncologist who examined the link predicted that up to a third of bladder cancers could be prevented by the elimination of coffee consumption.

Eating to Live on the Outside is a lot of fun. It’s also great practice and helps me—and hopefully helps you—make more informed decisions when dining outside the home. Now, for the most part I don’t catch a lot of flack for my sometimes scathing evaluations, but, it does happen. Just check out the bickering about Fazoli's. Take a look:

Commenter Bridget
Have you ever been in a Fazoli's. I have worked at the Fazolis for 7 1/2 years and i can tell you that most of what you said just isnt accurate. It is very easy to eat healthy at Fazolis. There are many meals that are advertised as under 5 grams of fat. We don't use Olive oil on anything, not even the Grilled Chicken salad. Also, we are always willing to special order anything you want. If you want no dressing or mayo on your sandwich we can do that or if you want extra sauce or a different kind of sauce...we can do that too. The lite Italian dress is lite compared to our regular Italian dressing. If you ask you can get a nutrition guide.

Commenter Chante
Fazoli's doesnt even use "olive oil". The comment that you made about the chicken panani, and the whole wheat penne isnt accurate... no such thing. There is NO OLIVE OIL in a Fazoli's restaraunt..thats like looking for A1 sauce @ a Steak n Shake. I think their catchy little commercial says it all, "fresh, fast, italian" Fresh it is. They prep their menu items daily. Salads are made to order. The cooking process for the pasta, is just perhaps as if you made it @ home. Cooked in boiling water, with some salt for 8-12 minutes. Then covered w/ some vegetable oil, *not olive oil* the vegetable oil is actually cooked off, because they submerge the pasta in boiling water to heat it, when you order. all orders are made to order.Comment about the minestrone soup, all soups are loaded w/ sodium, read the back of the soup cans. Now, your comment about your meat allotment for the week, the chicken panani only has 2 1/2 oz of chicken on it, so if thats your meat allotment for the week... *shruggs* There are plenty of "meatless" menu items. They do serve Alf Sauce and a Marinara Sauce. Perhaps next week we'll read about how you have compared a McDonalds burger to that of a Ruby Tuesday's burger. Good Day.

As you can see, most people that object to my amateur reviews—and I’m not ashamed to say that—don’t know the slightest thing about truly healthy eating. Take this for example. Recently someone named Mike emailed me to share his “great deal of knowledge” on the human body and nutrition, and, to let me know he disapproved of my recent review of Huddle House. Here it is:

I read your "informative" comments about Huddle House on your website and felt compelled to send you an email. Obviously, grease is not the way to healthy nutrition...that much we agree upon. However, when you stated that you do not even eat eggs at all, you demonstrated to me your lack of education regarding healthy foods. To put it simple...eggs are some of the most nutrition rich food a person can eat...provided of course they are not cooked in grease. I am an extremely healthy person, a gym rat for 20+years, with around 10% bodyfat year round. I have competed in many bodybuilding contests in my life and have acquired what I consider a great deal of knowledge concerning the human body and what works and what doesn't work. Red Meat is not bad for you...as long as it is lean red meat. Eggs are an excellent source of nutrition. Vegetables are also very nutritious...much more so than fruits and dairy products...which raise the blood sugar level too high.

I won't carry on. It's just when I read where someone is writing about nutrition and foods as an "advisor" so to speak...and they talk like a typical vegetarian (foolish people that don't understand the body), I have to comment.

Have a good day. Go enjoy some eggs and steak.

By the way, I have eaten at Huddle House...and they will cook your meals like you want if you will only tell them how.

Wow! Mike has some serious emotional attachments to food, but, he’s entitled to his opinion and I’m happy to hear him out. Now, since I’m not the expert here, I’ll refrain from nitpicking his remarks, but, Dr. Fuhrman was more than happy to impart a little knowledge. If you’re reading Mike, hopefully this broadens your horizons a little. Have a look:

Sorry for the straight talk Mike, but just because you consider yourself knowledgeable about nutrition doesn't mean you have a broad and insightful knowledge. Most misinformed individuals consider themselves knowledgeable about nutrition and as a result we have over 80 percent of our country dieing of heart attacks, strokes and cancer. Lots of self-proclaimed knowledgeable nutrition "experts" die prematurely of heart disease.

If you want to disagree with the information here, it might be a good idea if you read my books or even some of the prior blog posts that discuss meat eating. My work is supported with extensive research from scientific sources and an understanding of the broad overview of relevant scientific studies, not just a few selected citations. This helps a person understand the issues with clarity.

I do considers eggs a relatively cleaner and safer animal product compared to cheese and red meat, however I’m still careful to advise limits on animal product intake because animal products at the level of consumption eaten in America is clearly disease-promoting and lifespan shortening. Lastly, Americans only consume four percent of calories from fresh fruits, vegetables beans, nuts and seeds, and yes fruit is essential for protection against certain cancers. I hope you decide to hang around and read more of my blog. Then if you disagree, at least you will know what you are disagreeing with and you will learn about the science that supports such viewpoints.

Now, as for me and Eating to Live on the Outside, keep looking for my “foolishness” every Friday. Oh, and here’s a few posts on meat consumption and disease:

• The Meat-Disease Connection
• Animal Fat and Cancer
• HealthDay News: Veggies Good, Cured Meats Bad

Athlete's Green Fuel

1 banana
8 ounces romaine lettuce
4 ounces organic baby spinach
1 ounce raw sunflower seeds
1 ounce pine nuts
1 ounce raw cashews
3 teaspoons Dr. Fuhrman's Black Fig Vinegar

Blend all ingredients together.

Garden of Eden

6 ounces baby romaine lettuce
6 ounces organic baby spinach
4 figs soaked overnight in 1/4 cups soy milk
2 tablespoons Dr. Fuhrman's Black Fig Vinegar

Blend all ingredients together.

Smooth & Creamy Greeny

6 ounces baby romaine lettuce
6 ounces organic baby spinach
1/4 cup soy milk
8 dates

Blend all ingredients together.

Anna's Drink & Stink

5 ounces raw organic spinach
2-3 medium tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 thin slice of red onion

Blend all ingredients together.

Perhaps there’s no better time for women to start eat healthfully than pregnancy—unless of course you’ve been eating healthy all along. The New York Times investigates how women should eat during this precious time. Jane E. Brody reports:

Foods to Avoid

Many popular foods are potentially dangerous during pregnancy. Pregnant women should refrain from the following:

Raw fish and shellfish, a possible source of the parasite Toxoplasma that can cause fetal blindness and brain damage.

Large predatory fish like swordfish, shark, king mackerel and albacore tuna (fresh or canned), which can contain risky levels of mercury. The Food and Drug Administration says to limit albacore tuna to 6 ounces a week, but it is acceptable to eat up to 12 ounces a week of chunk light tuna, shrimp, salmon, pollock and catfish.

Undercooked or raw meat, poultry and seafood. Use a meat thermometer and cook pork and ground beef to 160 degrees; beef, veal and lamb to 145 degrees; whole poultry to 180 degrees; and chicken breasts to 170 degrees.

Unpasteurized milk and soft cheeses — feta, Brie, Camembert, Roquefort, queso blanco, queso fresco and Panela, unless the label says “made with pasteurized milk.” They may contain the food-poisoning bacteria Listeria that can cause miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth or fatal newborn illness.

Hot dogs and deli meats, unless cooked until steaming hot. These can become contaminated with Listeria after processing.

I think knowing what foods to avoid is most important. It’s amazing to see pregnant women eating dangerous foods like under-cooked and deli meats—makes you wonder what they’re thinking. This list is very similar to Dr. Fuhrman’s foods to foods to avoid during pregnancy. From Disease-Proof Your Child:

The real concerns are not microwave ovens, cell phones, and hair dryers. The things we know to be really risky for you and your unborn children are:

• Caffeine
• Nicotine, including secondhand smoke
• Alcohol
• Medications, both over-the-counter and prescription drugs
• Herbs and high-dose supplements, vitamin A
• Fish, mollusks and shellfish, sushi (raw fish)
• Hot tubs and saunas
• Radiation
• Household clear, paint thinners
• Cat litter (because of an infectious disease called toxoplasmosis caused by a parasite found in cat feces)
• Raw milk and cheese
• Soft cheese and blue-veined cheeses such as feta, Roquefort, and Brie
• Artificial colors, nitrates, and MSG
• Deli meats, luncheon meats, hot dogs, and undercooked meats

When a pregnant women uses drugs, even aspirin, she and her unborn child can face serious health problems. Also, just because something is natural or purchased in a health food stores does not mean it is safe. Herbal remedies work because of their medicinal properties from naturally occurring toxins; they are not health food. I also advise against dying your hair during pregnancy.

I’d be interested to know. Any readers who’ve had children, which foods were you most adamant about avoiding—call it a little research experiment.

Okay, we can all agree. Soda is unredeemable junk food. There’s nothing nutritious about high fructose corn syrup and bubbles—and it’s about to get worse! According to The Los Angeles Times including soda in your diet can lead to a 48% increased risk of metabolic syndrome. Thomas H. Maugh II reports:

Researchers knew that drinking regular sodas contributed to the risk of metabolic syndrome, but this is the first finding implicating diet sodas, according to results published online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Assn.

The researchers were uncertain why diet soda seemed to have such a large effect.

The study's lead author, Dr. Ramachandran S. Vasan of the Boston University School of Medicine, said it was unlikely that an ingredient in soda caused the effect. More likely is that consuming sweet sodas changes dietary patterns or that soda was simply a marker for participants' poor eating habits, he said.

Dr. Meir Stampfer of the Harvard School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study, said the findings were not unexpected, although he added, "I'm surprised by the magnitude of the association."

Diet soda is no better; Diet Soda a Farce?

The Cardio Blog is all over research suggesting many doctors aren’t worried about patients' out of whack cholesterol. Take a look:

61% of doctors stated they don't feel frustrated when they are unable to lower cholesterol levels in their patients, despite understanding the severe health risks that go along with it. Are they not taking it seriously? Is it that they just don't expect their patients to take it seriously? Whatever the issue, make sure you have a doctor that takes a personal interest in you and your health.

Now I respect doctors—heck, I work for one—but sometimes what they don’t realize is truly amazing. Dr. Fuhrman provides an example in Eat to Live:

I see about twenty to thirty new patients per week, and I always ask them, “Which has more protein — one hundred calories of sirloin steak or one hundred calories of broccoli?” When I tell them it’s broccoli, the most frequent response I get is “I didn’t know broccoli had protein in it.” then ask them, “So where did you think the calories in broccoli come from? Did you think it was mostly fat, like an avocado, or mostly carbohydrate, like a potato?”

People know less about nutrition than any other subject. Even the physicians and dietitians who attend my lectures quickly volunteer the answer, “Steak!” They are surprised to learn that broccoli has about twice as much protein as steak.

For more on broccoli’s nutrient content, check out Nutrient Density of Green Vegetables.

Well, when McDonald’s isn’t busy peddling their junk to low-income families. They’re busy inventing new ways to fatten this country up. Introducing Hugo, a super-sized 42-ounce soda for only 89 cents; weighing in at a mere 410 calories. Andrew Martin of The New York Times reports:

Making matters worse, Hugo ads are available in several languages, making sure that minorities — who are disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic — are aware of the budget beverage.

McDonald’s officials said they were simply offering customers a variety of choices. And they emphasized that the Hugo was a summer promotion and available only in some markets.

“People, I believe, tend to drink more during the summer,” said Danya Proud, a McDonald’s spokeswoman. “People are out and about.”

She said the Hugo was being offered because of customer demand, and so far, it has sold quite well. Ms. Proud cautioned about comparing the Hugo to McDonald’s old Supersize menu.

“That’s not what this is about,” she said. “You have to put it in context with the rest of our menu.”

Exactly what “context” is this suit talking about? Picture this. Take a glass of water and place it next to a greasy McDonald’s hamburger and a side of fries. What do you have? A nightmare! Now, swap out the water for a Hugo. What do you have? A bigger nightmare! What is this exec talking about? Take it from me—a disgruntled marketing major—marketing people think in an almost alien language. I mean how else could they come up with something like this:

Apparently this is the first McDonald’s commercial ever made. Wow, marketing genius in action!

The flavonoids are coming. They’re all around us. Will you harness their power? According to Dr. Fuhrman, fruits and veggies are packed with flavonoids, so—go get some! From Popeye Was Right--Greens Pack a Powerful Punch:

Which has more vitamin E or vitamin C--broccoli or steak? I'm sure you are aware that steak has no vitamin C or vitamin E. It is also almost totally lacking in fiber, folate, vitamin A, beta-carotene, lutein, lycopene, vitamin K, flavonoids, and thousands of other protective phytochemicals. Meat does have certain vitamins and minerals, but even when we consider the nutrients that meat does contain, broccoli has lots more of them. For many important nutrients, broccoli has more than ten times as much as steak. The only exception is vitamin B12, which is not found in plant fare.

Now, even though Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t recommend going overboard with juice. The Diabetes Blog relays information claiming that the flavonoids in orange juice reduce inflammation:

A recent study by endocrinologists at the University of Buffalo reveals orange juice is packed with flavonoids. Not only that, flavonoids suppress destructive oxygen free radicals (aka reactive oxygen species or ROS). ROS can damage cells and contributes to chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Previous research has shown 300 calories of glucose induces ROS and other proinflammatory responses. Now the researchers wanted to see how orange juice, fructose and saccharin-sweetened water impacted ROS compared to glucose. For this study, 32 healthy people between ages 20 to 40 were divided equally into four groups and given 300 calories worth of either o.j., fructose, saccharin water or glucose. Significant increases in ROS were reported in samples from the glucose group, but not the o.j., fructose or water group.

Blueberries and other foods are also loaded with flavonoids; Ten Super Foods to Use in Your Recipes and Menus.

King County Washington flat out bans trans fat. The Associated Press reports:

A measure banning artificial trans fats and requiring nutritional labeling for menu items at chain restaurants has been approved by the King County Board of Health.

The measure, which applies to Seattle and most of its suburbs, was adopted after about six hours of discussion at a standing-room-only hearing Thursday over the objections of food industry and restaurant officials.

"This legislation is being driven by an obesity epidemic," board Chairwoman Julia L. Patterson said. "This is a very important element in helping to end that."

Opponents were most vehement about the labeling requirement, the second of its kind nationwide. A nutritional labeling requirement and ban on trans fats in restaurants took effect July 1 in New York.

Few if any customers don't know that a buttered 16-ounce steak is fattening, said Chris Clifford of Renton, who said he has owned several restaurants.

"I have a six-letter word to describe them: It's 'stupid,'" Clifford said. "You can't help stupid people."

Now, whether or not people are stupid is certainly a debatable point—just look at the low-carb craze—but I think consumers have a right to know exactly what’s in there food. No matter how obvious it may seem. Don’t you? Oh, and thanks for the article Elijah!

Last week we learned Red 2G—used to make processed meats look red—causes cancer. Well the Brits and Irish don’t muck around. They’ve banded it! The Cancer Blog passes on the news:

When consumed, the Red 2G breaks down to analine in the intestines and is thought to cause cancer. The dye has been banned in many other countries for some time. However, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently reached the conclusion that even a small amount of the coloring was toxic enough to cause concern, thus the ban of the Red 2g.

Yet another reason why the only meat I eat is fish.

Relax! I know you read the word brewery and freaked out a little. No, I didn’t order any beer. But yes, you just assumed correctly. I have eaten at the Harvest Moon Brewery. In fact, it’s only a quick highway-drive from where I live. So last Friday night my friends and I paid it a visit.

Sadly, my friends aren’t exactly into nutrient-dense living, so their orders were typical standard American fare; greasy meats, fried things, and ooey-gooey cheese. My salad stuck out like a sore thumb. Speaking of thumbs, let’s go ahead and thumb through Harvest Moon’s menus.

Alright, let’s start with what I actually ordered. Now, I admit. I didn’t think too deeply about it—I really wasn’t in the mood to nitpick. So I went with the Moon Salad; prepared with red leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes, julienne carrots, red onions, garlic croutons, Romano cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette. Yup, I nixed cheese and the croutons. I also ordered the dressing on the side. Truth be told, it was a really tasty. Very simple, very light, but most off all—packed with phytonutrienty goodness!

Now unlike last Friday, today I feel very nitpicky. So let’s cruise through the menu and see if there’s anything else worth orde