Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

Olive oil has been hailed as the healthy oil for far too long and it’s about time science triumphed over the almighty media on this relentless myth.  Most people have been taught at some point or read somewhere that olive oil is a healthy oil to be consumed with fervor.  It’s a key component to the Mediterranean diet, which itself has been touted as a heart healthy diet. However, the evidence for these claims just do not stack up and for many people striving to lose weight, it is sabotage city.  

This is the reality: just like all other oils, olive oil is 100 percent fat, lacks a significant nutrient load, contains a whopping 120 calories per tablespoon, that’s fattening.

Some have proposed that extra virgin olive oil is heart healthy because it is rich in polyphenols.  Polyphenols have antioxidant characteristics and studies show that they reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.   However, all plant foods are rich in polyphenols and most deliver much more polyphenols (and far fewer calories) than olive oil.   If you rely on olive oil for your polyphenols, good luck getting enough.  You’d need to consume 5 tablespoons of olive oil, the equivalent of 600 calories, just to get 150 mg of polyphenols, the same amount in 55 calories of lettuce, not to mention hundreds of other nutrients and documented benefit in greens.  Study after study links the consumption of leafy greens with healthier, longer, disease-free lives.  Probably because they are loaded with all sorts of nutritious compounds, among them vitamins, minerals, fiber, polyphenols, and various carotenoids.  In comparison, olive oil, has little or none of these.1 In fact, phytosterols and vitamin E are a few of the slim pickings of nutrients found in olive oil that I decided to do a bit more digging on.  Compared to the amount of phytosterols and vitamin E in other foods, olive oil really doesn’t contain that much, as represented in the following chart:

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It is truly amazing how sensitive I am to the Standard American Diet (SAD)- basically anything with sugar, salt, oil or processing will make me feel positively awful.  On a recent trip to Chicago, my ultimate weakness was spotted: a chocolate shop selling extra rich, dark hot chocolate.  It was cold outside with a wind chill that would make anyone want to hibernate and I was freezing from head to toe.  And I wanted that hot chocolate.  I wanted to hold it in my numb hands and I wanted to feel it’s rich warmth flowing down my throat. 

Within a few minutes that hot chocolate was mine- I ordered it with soymilk and topped it with a wonderful sprinkling of cinnamon- and I felt a rush of glee as I sipped the warm, sweet chocolaty bit of heaven.  I could taste the sugar as it rolled off my tongue.  I wanted more even though I knew it packed a heavy sugar punch. So I drank and I drank until I reached the solid chocolate bottom.    Add in a few pieces of white bread at a dinner outing and let’s just say my body did not thank me kindly in return.

Next day of trip- runny nose, check; icky congestion, check; I think I am getting sick, check.  Determination to seek out delicious, sugar-free, healthy food, check.

This is a confession of an extremely healthy eater.  I don’t feel well when I go off my nutritarian diet for even just a few meals.  I felt so much better when I found a Whole Foods Market and I was able to load my cart with a heaping pile of greens, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, beans and all of the other healthy foods that I adore.  I got some sweet potatoes and persimmons and I relished in a box of raspberries and blueberries.  And I bought a date sweetened, chocolate Lara bar, because I do love chocolate after all and healthy food will never equal denial for me. I felt alive and in the zone with my food purchases.  Goodbye sniffles and icky congestion! Hello tasty healthy food and feeling fresh and alive!

As anyone who has made the transition from the SAD diet to a plant-based, nutrient rich one will understand, our bodies simply feel better when we eat foods that nourish our cells with nutrients rather than foods that provide our cells with nothing but a nutrient devoid toxic load.  Not only does eating well help to prevent chronic diseases later on in life, but it helps us to live richly and feel most optimal in the here and now. 

The thing is, once you are eating healthfully for a big part of your life, your body is simply intolerant of junk foods.  You have to be unhealthy to build up tolerance to drugs, alcohol and junk food.  My father calls people intolerant of unhealthy choices, “black-belt nutritarians”  I must be a third degree black belt then, because I hate feeling icky if I eat SAD food.   I have learned the hard way, each time you feel physically bad, it makes you not want to eat the junk next time, so that these SAD events become more infrequent.  It may be a rare occasion for me, but then I get that wake-up call, which reminds me like a bolt-of-lightening that I can’t fool my body; it’s just too darn smart.  

Have you felt a difference in the way you feel when you eat a healthy, natural foods diet versus an unhealthy one? Do even small cheats make you feel icky?

Every time I don’t feel well after eating standard American fare I am reminded that feeling well truly is priceless and I am so fortunate to have the knowledge to make the right decisions about what to eat to feel my best now and into the future.  

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Thanksgiving is almost here and I am so pumped. I absolutely love this holiday.  I love seeing my family after being away from home for so long, I love the mouth-watering home cooked food, and contrary to many of my black Friday wary peers, I get a complete adrenaline rush from trying to find the best deals amid hordes of sale crazy shoppers.

Yet, there is something about this holiday that I don’t look forward to: stuffing my face with turkey. In fact, I refrain from eating the stuff all together.  While I am a prideful, animal loving vegan, health reasons alone are enough to eschew this Thanksgiving Day bird of choice. I know Thanksgiving is only one day each year and if you want to eat Turkey on Thanksgiving, it’s not the worst nutrition crime you could commit.  Yet at the same time, I just can’t sit back and let these facts go unshared.  Here’s an inside peek at the turkey knowledge circulating in my nutritional researched-stuffed brain when I glance at the bird on the table:

1)   46 million turkeys are raised every year just for this holiday alone. These turkeys are big mutant cousins of the turkeys that the pilgrims ate. The turkeys on our tables are fed incredibly high-calorie diets so that they grow much larger than any wild turkey would, and at an unnaturally fast rate.  Today’s farm raised birds become so top heavy that their legs can barely hold them. Their beaks and toes are cut so that they don’t scratch each other. Modern factory-farmed turkeys cannot even breed naturally due to all of their malformations. All turkeys we buy in the supermarket rely on artificial insemination to reproduce.

2)   Turkeys carry creepy pathogens. There’s this bug called campylobacter. It’s the leading cause of food-borne illness in the United States. Campylobacter is a dangerous little critter, estimated to infect more than 2.4 million Americans each year. Turns out a whopping 90 percent of turkeys produced in America are contaminated with our friend Mr. Campylobacter.  This is a consequence of birds being housed in super crowded cages with less than three square feet of space to move and being regularly dosed with antibiotics.  Speaking of antibiotics…

3)   Antibiotics: Turkeys produced on factory farms are fed a disturbingly large quantity of antibiotics as a routine preventive measure to ward off illnesses between them and to accelerate growth.  When you eat turkey, those antibiotics don’t suddenly disappear like Harry Houdini. They are transferred directly to you.  This is scary because when you ingest unnecessary antibiotics by eating Mr. Gobble-Gobble, your own healthy intestinal bacteria get wiped out, making you less able to fight off diseases. Oh, and the bacteria that the drugs are designed to kill eventually morph into stronger, more powerful versions of themselves.  Scarily, these bugs can transform into superbugs in which we, nor the turkeys, can form a natural resistance.

4)   Turkeys are full of synthetic hormones: the turkeys sold in supermarkets are routinely pumped full of artificial hormones to promote muscle growth, and those hormones are passed directly to you if you eat it.  That might sound good to all the bodybuilders I know are reading this article, but actually our bodies work hard to keep a natural balance of hormones in our circulation and eating animal products treated with hormones equals trouble for this healthy balance.  Excess hormones increase your risk of cancer.

5)   More toxins in turkey: eat turkey and you will be getting a nice helping of dioxin too.  What’s dioxin you say? Dioxin happens to be one of the most toxic chemicals known to science and is recognized as a cancer-causing demon among the scientific community.  It is estimated that 93 percent of our exposure to dioxin comes through eating animal products. 

It’s hard to believe that a seemingly “harmless” bird could contain all this junk, right? I find it hard to believe myself.  If you want to eat a bit of turkey on Thanksgiving I won’t shake my head (this is assuming I actually saw you eating turkey), but I will encourage you to load up on all of the other delicious Thanksgiving meal alternatives instead.  Savory sweet potato pie, roasted vegetables, a hearty vegetable stew, cranberry relish, and berry cobbler are dishes that I look forward to. I could go on with all of the amazing, healthy foods that will be at my Thanksgiving Day table….So even though eating turkey might not be the best idea considering the pathogens, dioxin and all that jazz, I’m still a big foodie and am looking forward to some good holiday eatin’ and my adrenaline rush inducer of choice (aka black Friday shopping).

Having a delightful and delicious time with my family and friends need not include a turkey.  Thanksgiving is a time to show thanks, after all, and avoiding turkey and other unhealthy foods every day allows me to be thankful for my good health now and for years to come.

References:

1)   Division of Foodborne, Bacterial, and Mycotic Diseases, “Campylobacter,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.ced.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/campylobacter?gi.html#2

2)   ActionPA, “Dioxin Homepage,” managed by ActionPA.org, http://www.ejnet.org/dioxin

3)   John Robbins, The Food Revolution (Berkeley, CA: Conari Press, 2001), 128.

4)   www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4037499

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Processed foods are generally not good for us, regardless of how they are advertised. I’ve lived with roommates who firmly believed that they were on wholesome, perfectly nutritious diets all the while subsisting on Power bars, frozen TV dinners from the health food section of our local grocery store and Gatorade. Just because a product is advertised as a health food does not make it one! A trip to the grocery store quickly confirms this simple, yet often forgotten principle. In fact, many of the foods advertised as “energy bars” or nutrient packed “protein powders” are some of the most dangerous foods you could possibly consume. Take for instance PowerBar’s Triple Threat Chocolate Peanut Butter Crisp. Putting aside the fact that the name of this bar doesn’t sound healthy to begin with (albeit it does sound decadently delicious), let us pretend that we fall for the claim that this bar provides “long lasting energy” as marketed on the packaging. Now, let us begin to become enlightened about why this PowerBar can do no such thing and doesn’t even taste decadently delicious for Pete’s sake.  

The first ingredient is corn syrup. Corn syrup, only slightly better than it’s cousin high fructose corn syrup, is the nutritional equivalent of sugar. The next ingredient is soy crisps, a combination of soy protein isolate and rice flour. Mmm, tasty. Soy protein isolate is a highly processed soy product that retains none of the original nutritional value of the natural soybean and raises levels of insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in the blood, subsequently hastening the growth of our cells and the aging process. The manner in which soy protein isolate is processed and manufactured is freaky too. It involving acid washing it in aluminum tanks. I’m not sure what the purpose of acid washing is, but I do know that a significant aluminum load manages to make its way into the final product. Nitrites and chemical flavoring are also used to add flavor. These chemicals have been linked to the development of certain cancers, allergies and even Alzheimer’s disease. So far we would be damaging our cells with a big helping of processed sugar and cancer causing processed junk. Let’s see what else this “energy” bar has to throw our way. Next we’ve got a chocolatey coating. Oh look, more sugar! Some oil and whey! Mmm. More wholesome goodness for us to chew on. Whey is the liquid remaining after cow’s boob milk has been curdled, so not only is it bad for us, but it’s gross too. Just like soy protein isolate, whey is a processed protein which raises IGF-1. Excess protein is simply not lifespan favorable.

After reading the ingredient list (see actual list below), it becomes obvious that the ingestion of this “energy” bar will provide no more energy than if we simply blended a bunch of sugar, processed proteins, salt and oil. Even though calling it a “drop dead prematurely” bar would probably not be the best marketing strategy, it would be much more accurate. There is a restaurant in Dallas, Texas called Heart Attack Grill, which I’m told is quite successful, so I don’t know. Perhaps a “drop dead prematurely” bar would do quite well in grocery stores. It might peak the interest of children around Halloween.   

Ingredients

CORN SYRUP, SOY CRISPS (SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, RICE FLOUR, ALKALIZED COCOA), CHOCOLATEY COATING (SUGAR, FRACTIONATED PALM KERNEL OIL, COCOA, WHEY, NONFAT MILK, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL VANILLA FLAVOR), WHOLE OATS, DRY ROASTED PEANUTS, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, INULIN (FROM CHICORY), NATURAL FLAVORS (CONTAINS PEANUT, MILK, SOY LECITHIN), RICE CRISPS (MILLED RICE, SUGAR, SALT, BARLEY MALT), SALTED PEANUT BUTTER, VEGETABLE GLYCERIN, AND LESS THAN 2% OF PEANUT FLOUR, ALMOND BUTTER, SALT, SOY LECITHIN, MINERALS: CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, FERROUS FUMARATE (IRON), VITAMINS: ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), VITAMIN B6 HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMINE MONONITRATE (VITAMIN B1). CONTAINS ALMOND, MILK, PEANUT AND SOY INGREDIENTS. MADE ON EQUIPMENT THAT ALSO PROCESSES WHEAT.

The moral of this short blog post is that processed foods advertised as health foods are not necessarily healthy. The less you use foods that come in packages, boxes or wrappers, the better. There are a few processed products that make the nutrient density, body lovin’ cut, but we need to do our homework and read the labels if we decide we are in the mood to open a can or unfreeze a TV dinner.   

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I got thinking the other day how different my life would’ve been if, as a toddler, beer would’ve been repeatedly put into my sippy cup. . . .and fake food & cigarettes would’ve been a negative stigma to even be around or touch.

And later on, as I got older, beer would’ve been served with my high-nutrient meals, including school lunches.   

Most likely I would’ve grown up not eating pizza, cheeseburgers, spaghetti, fried chicken, beef ‘n noodles, cheese, ice-cream cones, donuts, and chips. In fact, most likely, I would’ve probably thought they were disgusting. . . . just as disgusting to me as the lingering smoke and smell of cigarettes.

However, I’d probably be totally addicted to alcohol and not be able to function without it. Possibly even totally dependant upon the stuff to get me through each day. 

I’d seek friends who also liked to drink. 

I’d seek activities where drinking was encouraged. 

I’d even possibly seek religious and social affiliations where drinking was condoned.

I’d most definitely turn to alcohol to calm my nerves, celebrate victories, cheer sadness, cope with stress, overcome insecurities, escape pain and responsibilities, and soothe a bleeding heart.

However, if, on down the road, I realized the damaging affects of alcohol on my body; including my inability to think clearly, hold down a job, raise a family, and have healthy interpersonal relationships, I may decide to get rid of the stuff. Once and for all.

But it would cost.

It would cost abstinence for rest of my life.

It may possibly require developing new friends and activities. 

And it may even cost finding different religious and social affiliations that would support my decision to remain sober.  

Addiction is addiction. When one is addicted to any health damaging substance, whether it is the standard American diet, sugar, “healthy” sweets, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, heroine, or meth; to live in freedom from the addiction will require a radical commitment to abstinence. Including possibly finding new friends, activities, religious and social affiliations that support the decision to remain free . . . for life!

According to Dr. Fuhrman, “The facts are that fast food and junk foods cause a thousand times as many premature deaths compared to cocaine; and it’s condoned.”

Are you committed to abstinence?

Think about it.  

image:  Emily Boller circa 1964

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Every year since 2008, I've made it my mission, once a year, to re-read Drunkard, written by Neil Steinberg.

For those of you who know my story, reading that book was one of my ‘turning point’ moments, because it demolished my concrete wall of denial. It forced me to face the ugliness of food addiction head on . . . smack-in-the-face, kind of head on.

Every time that I've read it something new pops out.

This time, it was Steinberg's description of his moment to unwind after work, at the bar, just before drinking his favorite glass of Jack Daniels. He describes it so eloquently in the following excerpt from page nine:

" . . . .I always pause to gaze for a rapt moment at the filled glass, the ice, the Jack, the square napkin, the dark linoleum bar. The twirling universe stops dead, the Jack its motionless epicenter. I pick up the glass and take a long draw." ¹

When the kids were little and I was obese my "Jack Daniels" was the leftovers after the evening meal. I couldn't wait to be alone in the kitchen. All alone. Totally by myself, kind of alone (while the children were wrestling with Dad in another room) . . . to unwind and soothe my frazzled nerves by eating the slightly burnt & greasy roast and potatoes that were stuck to the sides of the crock pot; or to eat the crusty & gooey leftover lasagna sitting in the pan; or the kids' leftover soggy salads that were swimming in ranch dressing and bacon bits; or the leftover dinner rolls that mopped-up the ranch dressing; or the pieces of cake with melted ice-cream cascading down the sides. The twirling universe stopped at those moments for me.

Ahhh . . . . . the epicenter of calm had been visited.

Later in the evening, after baths for the children, brushing their teeth, bedtime stories, and tucking them into bed, I returned once again to the epicenter of calm . . . .the large, ceramic bowl of Frosted Mini Wheat cereal soaked in milk with a couple spoonfuls of crunchy peanut butter on top.  Ahhh . . . .

 

Then I *graduated* to more acceptable ways of escape:

• Alone time with a humongous bowl of mixed greens drizzled with balsamic vinegar, sunflower seeds, sliced strawberries, and chick peas; followed by a plate of California Creamed Kale. I'd eat beyond full, stuffed, and then some, and still lose weight!

• Scraping the remaining sorbet or banana ice-cream from the sides of the Vita Mix canister and eating it.  Whether I was hungry or not had absolutely nothing to do with the growing habit.

• Grabbing extra handfuls of walnuts and raisins while working in the kitchen.

If I'm not careful, Jack can still creep into my life ~ ever so slowly now, of course.  He's still there if I'm not cautiously aware of his presence.

He's hiding in the dark crevices, but as long as I continue to shine the flashlight on him, and continue to expose him, he can't and won't harm me!

 

Exposing Jack makes him powerless; he's a coward in the light.

Don't give him the pleasure of lulling you into believing that he will be your calm.

It's a lie.

The images above were taken three years apart.  The picture on the left was taken in the summer of 2008 when I was captive to Jack as my epicenter of calm.  The picture on the right was taken this past summer after three years of consistent abstinence AND freedom from food addiction's suffocating grip.   

So what’s your Jack Daniels?

Related posts: 

Are you a food addict?  by Dr. Fuhrman

Breaking up is hard to do  by Dr. Fuhrman

The powerful freedom of abstinence  by Emily Boller

Junk food - just as addictive as smoking?  by Dr. Ferreri

Reference:  

1. Steinberg, Neil. Drunkard. New York: Dutton, 2008, p.9

Photography credit:  Fake Food by Esther Boller 

Painting:   Absinthe (1876) by Edgar Degas; Muesee d’Orsay, Paris

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If we feed addiction, it grows.

If we abstain, it dies.

If we give in an inch, food addiction will capture and drag us for miles; literally strangling the very life out of us.

It's mean.

It's ruthless.

It clothes one in rags.

It destroys families and homes.

It robs romantic intimacy between husband and wife.

It eats up finances and drowns its victims in dire poverty.

It’s no respecter of persons; socioeconomic, educational, or professional.

It doesn't care who it maims and disables in its path of destruction, including those the addict loves and cares about.  It's never solitary; it affects everyone surrounding the captive.

Don't give food addiction the opportunity to suck the life out of you. Contend for your freedom if it costs you everything you’ve got. Some may call you neurotic. Others may avoid your company. Still others may ridicule your commitment and entice you to consider moderation, but don't give into the voice of the enemy.
 

If you give in, you are undone. If you “wait until tomorrow” . . . . the truth is tomorrow never comes, because food addiction grows stronger with each compromise.   

I'm a bit passionate, I know. But in order to give food addiction black ‘n blue eyes, and ruthlessly disable it from ever coming after me again, I've had to be.

One day I hit a wall. I saw the seriousness of what the addiction was doing to my marriage and family, my health, my sanity, and my talents; and knew that I had no other option but to radically commit to Eat to Live to stop its destruction. I was willing to pay any price to get free. 

Willingness to commit to carefully following the plan in Eat to Live (aka total abstinence) is the key to long-term success. Once one is willing, no obstacle will be in the way as obstacles are just the welcome excuse to continue in addiction.

I'll never give up the fight. I'll never quit contending for my own freedom and health, and the freedom and health of my fellow man, no matter what, for life.

The image at the top of this post is a picture of me the day before I committed to abstinence from the standard America diet.

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Yesterday I ended six weeks of continual passive motion (CPM) therapy for a knee repair that I had back on June 3^rd. Nothing has ever pushed my buttons of frustration more than this unexpected time of rehab, and I’ve experienced a lot of frustrating and stressful moments in my life up to this point. Perhaps it was because I felt well, and lying on my back with a leg strapped to a machine for that long during nice weather just felt so unnatural and claustrophobic. Perhaps I didn’t like being dependant upon others; or isolated from society; or unable to cook, clean, pull weeds, or do laundry the way I like. For whatever reason, the volcano of frustration increased with each passing day, and last week it erupted. Big time.

So I took off for the kitchen. 

I had no idea what I was going after, but I was determined to find something. 

After opening the cupboard doors and spotting a canister of cocoa powder I found my drug of choice. Now mind you, there’s absolutely nothing unhealthy about cocoa powder, but I wasn’t going after nutrients to nourish my body. I wasn’t hungry whatsoever. 

I was mad. 

I was frustrated AND desperately wanted a quick fix to soothe and pacify my frazzled nerves.

First I dumped a bunch of cocoa in with frozen bananas and made a scrumptious chocolate dessert. After that vanished I dumped a bunch more into some hot oatmeal.  Ahhhh.  I was soothed.

Or so I thought. 

That was, until the next morning when I woke up. I had created not only a toxic headache, but stirred up even more frustrations so I headed straight back to the kitchen. This time I dumped at least twice as much of the powdery stuff into a frozen banana dessert and bowl of oatmeal. As I was in the process of bingeing, I gasped slightly at the amount of cocoa that I was putting into my body, but it didn’t bother me enough to quit.

However afterwards, when I came to my senses, I couldn’t believe that I had this much “attack” still left in me after almost three years of overcoming many emotional eating hurdles. Then the light bulb turned on.  Have you ever misplaced an infant or toddler’s favorite pacifier or blanket? Watch out.

Immediately after that revelation I had absolutely no desire whatsoever to go after the cocoa powder. Why the change? 

We all know that most everyone turns to food (and/or drinks) to celebrate happy occasions.  Likewise, for years I’d viewed eating as a normal response to life’s stress, because it seemed like most everyone also turned to food as an acceptable drug of choice when frustrated too. Now I view it for what it truly is; silly and immature behavior, an out-of-control temper tantrum that only adds more stress. 

I never had a pacifier, but I clearly remember the day my favorite blanket named “Pinky” was put on the burn pile. (I grew up on a farm.) I was six or seven-years-old and the blanket was in shambles. The time had come for me to let go of it; it was time for me to grow up.

Perhaps pacifying emotions through unhealthy eating behaviors is something that many of us need to let go of. Perhaps it’s time to grow up.  

image credit:  flickr by ff137        

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Acne is the most common skin condition in the U.S.  About 85% of people in the Western world experience acne during their teenage years, but it can occur at any age.  Acne is more than just pimples - it can leave permanent scars, and in many people, acne (even if it is not severe) can seriously affect quality of life, causing low self-esteem, withdrawal from social situations, anxiety, and depression.¹

What causes acne? 

There are four major components of acne:  excessive production of oil by the skin, skin cells dividing excessively (hyperproliferation), bacteria, and inflammation.² A pimple or lesion forms when a pore in the skin begins to clog with old, dead skin cells.  Usually these cells are simply shed from the surface of the skin, but if too much oil is being produced, the dead cells can stick together and become trapped inside the pore.  Bacteria also play a role – they can grow and multiply inside the pore, resulting in an inflammatory response.¹ 

Does what we eat really affect acne?

For years doctors have proclaimed that diet has nothing to do with acne.  That reflects the nutritional ignorance of physicians and their inexperience in treating disease with superior diet.  Scientific studies have demonstrated that the diet is very important, because what we eat can affect the hormones that contribute to the oil production, hyperproliferation, and inflammation that cause acne. The acne-promoting dietary factors that have been most extensively studied are dairy products and high glycemic load foods – these factors influence hormonal (increase IGF-1 levels) and inflammatory factors increasing acne prevalence and severity.^3,4

IGF-1: an important hormone that influences acne

Hormonal influences that affect insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels are key.⁵  Elevated IGF-1 levels lead to changes in gene expression that cause inflammation, hormonal changes, increased oil production, and development of acne lesions.  Protein intake is the major factor that determines circulating IGF-1 levels, especially protein from dairy products. Read more in Dr. Fuhrman’s Healthy Times Newsletter on IGF-1.

Dairy products

A three-year prospective study of 9-15 year old girls found a 20% increase in acne prevalence in girls that had 2 or more servings of milk per day compared to less than 1 per week. This association held true for total, whole, low fat, and skim milk.⁶  The same researchers found a similar association in boys who drank skim milk (milk highest in protein).⁷  Furthermore, in the Nurses’ Health Study, dairy products eaten during high school were associated with acne during women’s teenage years.⁸

High glycemic load foods

Glycemic load (GL) is a measure of the effect of a certain food on blood glucose levels.  High-GL foods like refined carbohydrates produce dangerous spikes in blood glucose, leading to excessive insulin levels in the blood (hyperinsulinemia), which contribute to diabetes, heart disease, and several cancers.^9,10  Hyperinsulinemia not only promotes inflammation but also raises IGF-1 levels, further contributing to acne.  A low glycemic load diet has been shown to improve acne symptoms, and decrease IGF-1 and skin oil production in several studies.^11-13

Protective micronutrients

Blood levels of zinc, carotenoids, and Vitamin E are known to be lower in acne patients compared to those without acne, suggesting that maintaining micronutrient adequacy may help to prevent acne.^14,15 Carotenoids are abundant in green and orange vegetables, and vitamin E is abundant in nuts and seeds.  Although pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds are rich in zinc, zinc absorption efficiency may be low on a plant-based diet, so a multivitamin and mineral supplement is recommended to assure optimal levels of zinc, iodine, Vitamin D and B12.

References:

1. American Academy of Dermatology: Acne. http://www.aad.org/skin-conditions/dermatology-a-to-z/acne. Accessed June 29, 2011.

2. Costa A, Lage D, Moises TA: Acne and diet: truth or myth? An Bras Dermatol 2010;85:346-353.

3. Ferdowsian HR, Levin S: Does diet really affect acne? Skin Therapy Lett 2010;15:1-2, 5.

4. Melnik BC, Schmitz G: Role of insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1, hyperglycaemic food and milk consumption in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris. Exp Dermatol 2009;18:833-841.

5. Danby FW: Diet and acne. Clin Dermatol 2008;26:93-96.

6. Adebamowo CA, Spiegelman D, Berkey CS, et al: Milk consumption and acne in adolescent girls. Dermatol Online J 2006;12:1.

7. Adebamowo CA, Spiegelman D, Berkey CS, et al: Milk consumption and acne in teenaged boys. J Am Acad Dermatol 2008;58:787-793.

8. Adebamowo CA, Spiegelman D, Danby FW, et al: High school dietary dairy intake and teenage acne. J Am Acad Dermatol 2005;52:207-214.

9. Barclay AW, Petocz P, McMillan-Price J, et al: Glycemic index, glycemic load, and chronic disease risk--a meta-analysis of observational studies. Am J Clin Nutr 2008;87:627-637.

10. Gnagnarella P, Gandini S, La Vecchia C, et al: Glycemic index, glycemic load, and cancer risk: a meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr 2008;87:1793-1801.

11. Smith R, Mann N, Makelainen H, et al: A pilot study to determine the short-term effects of a low glycemic load diet on hormonal markers of acne: a nonrandomized, parallel, controlled feeding trial. Mol Nutr Food Res 2008;52:718-726.

12. Smith RN, Braue A, Varigos GA, et al: The effect of a low glycemic load diet on acne vulgaris and the fatty acid composition of skin surface triglycerides. J Dermatol Sci 2008;50:41-52.

13. Smith RN, Mann NJ, Braue A, et al: A low-glycemic-load diet improves symptoms in acne vulgaris patients: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2007;86:107-115.

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15. Amer M, Bahgat MR, Tosson Z, et al: Serum zinc in acne vulgaris. Int J Dermatol 1982;21:481-484.

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Deprivation dieting, binge eating, guilt, deprivation dieting, binge eating, guilt . . .

Know what I’m talking about? 

For those reading this post and have never struggled with an eating disorder, count your blessings and feel free to move onto reading something else of interest. 

However, for those who can relate, and know exactly what the cycle is like, let’s dialogue about the subject. 

Here’s how the typical scenario goes: 

Nutrients are unrealistically and severely restricted to cause the numbers on the scale to go down; aka deprivation dieting.  It's like trying to desperately breathe with no oxygen available.

 One survives a few days, and then . . bam, pent up emotions emerge out of nowhere. 

McDonalds ~ quickly! Big Mac, fries, chocolate shake, and apple pie. 

Next, Dairy Queen is in sight. Oreo blizzard and a caramel sundae.

Gas station is on the way home. Two chocolate bars and a bag of salted cashews. 

At home more food is ravenously eaten like a giant monster that has been let loose.

The belly expands. Fatigue overwhelms. Guilt engulfs. Remorse entangles. Vows are made.

 “I’ll diet again tomorrow,” is the infamous promise. 

Three days pass, and without warning, the monster returns with full vengeance.

How does one stop the cycle? 

The following are suggestions that have worked for me:

• Stop deprivation dieting. If one’s focus is on calorie restriction for the scales instead of eating necessary nutrients for optimal health, that mindset will eventually lead to binge eating, guilt, and more binge eating. Guaranteed every time.

• Take food addiction seriously. It’s right up there with destroying one’s life every bit as much as heroine and cocaine. Know that literally thousands have been set free from severe food addictions by following Dr. Fuhrman’s eating plan for optimal health. Thoroughly study his books and articles to understand the science behind his recommendations. Hold onto his life-saving instructions and don’t let them go, no matter what.
   
• Establish habits of creative expression to replace the habit of releasing emotions through eating. For example, I’m a painter, and when I began the journey to get my health back, I chose to document my feelings along the way through visual creativity. I cut up 4”x 4” pieces of illustration board and committed to make one artwork per day. Sometimes I painted on the illustration boards, other times I wrote or doodled on them with markers, and a few times I glued items that I had collected on a walk. Any form of creative expression, whether it is quilting, knitting, wood working, sculpting, dancing, journaling, writing poetry, singing, songwriting, playing an instrument, or whatever one enjoys, will keep the mind engaged and distracted from the habit of turning to food for emotional release. Plus, as an additional benefit, a creative project specifically dedicated to documenting the journey, will keep one continually focused on the goal of earning health back, even in the midst of life’s many, and sometimes stressful circumstances.
   
• Develop a healthy support system with likeminded friends, and seek professional counseling for the deep stuff. Isolation fuels pent up emotions like kerosene fuels a fire. I learned to process and communicate my thoughts and feelings on the member center instead of turning to food. The gift of understanding that others gave was priceless, and helped me establish a new path of emotional health. 
      
• Exercise. And I’m not necessarily talking about the regularly scheduled, daily workout; although that’s vitally important. Get out in the fresh air. Go for a walk with a friend. Hop on a bike and ride around the neighborhood. Play a game of ping-pong with the kids. Many times, just a brief diversion of exercise will release pent up emotions that are brewing within.
   
• Be still and visualize. Take a few moments to be quiet, close the eyes, and visualize life in one, five, and ten years from now living in optimal health. Make time for daily,
  quiet moments to recharge vision.  
   

Food addiction and emotional eating can be successfully overcome. The availability of toxic foods and the ebb and flow of emotional turmoil will always be a part of life; but food addiction and emotional eating doesn’t have to be!

What’s worked for you?   

image credits:  scales, dailymail.co.uk;  friends walking, sports-council-wales.org

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