Category Archives: Knowledge Is Power
Hello Weight Watchers – where’s the Whole-Foods, Plant-Based Diet Track?
In my pre-WFPBD days, I successfully used the Weight Watchers (dub-dub) program with considerably success. When the weight did not slide off after switching to a vegan diet (aka WFPBD), I again turned to Weight Watchers to trim those stubborn seven pounds. And I was so disappointed to see that this impressive organization had completely overlooked the revolution under its very nose. Yes, there are a significant number of vegan and vegetarian dishes on their website, but there is no support system (and the meetings really are key) for people choosing a vegan or WFPBD.
I contacted Weight Watchers about WFPBD- focused group meetings, and they said that there just wasn’t enough ground-swell for that yet but that it was quite possible to maintain a WFPBD while using the WW on-line program. I don’t think that that is really true – there’s no program just a collection of recipes that happen to be animal-free, and, of course, there aren’t any meetings. A friend is studying WW as part of her MBA program, and believes that they are really quite open to variations on their theme. So what will it take to get them to take notice?
Weight Watchers is, IMO, the best of the national weight-loss brands. So if it were possible to convince them that the ground-swell is happening as we speak, and that it would be advantageous for them to be supportive of a WFPBD, then that influence could begin to manifest across the country in dramatic ways. This is a very powerful group with a strong, committed and loyal fan base – and great reach. What a difference they could make!!
Reference List for Plant-Based (aka Vegan) Gurus
While I don’t agree completely with any of these sources, they are, IMO, all very good and each makes a solid case for his/her slightly different perspective.
T. Colin Campbell, PhD
The China Study (2004)
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure (2008)
Joel Fuhrman, MD
Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss, Revised Edition (2011)
Annemarie Colbin, PhD
The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach (2009)
Neal Barnard, MD
Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs (2008)
Andrew Weill, MD
Spontaneous Happiness (2011)
Mark Hyman, MD
The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now! (2012)
John McDougall, MD
The Starch Solution: Eat the Foods You Love, Regain Your Health, and Lose the Weight for Good! (2012)
Dean Ornish, MD
The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer, Lose Weight, and Gain Health (2008)
Joan Dye Gussow, PhD
Growing, Older – A Chronicle of Death, Life and Vegetables (2010)
For how we got into this mess and what we need to do to get out of it:
David Kessler’s The End of Overeating
Doug Lisle’s The Pleasure Principle
Stewart Brand’s The Whole Earth Discipline
And for the best overall, easy to understand take on WFPBD, I love Julieanna Hever’s Complete Idiots Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition
Reverse Type 2 Diabetes with a Plant-Based Diet?
One in 10 Americans suffer from Diabetes Meillitus Type Two — one in four over the age of 60. 285 billion people world-wide represent a 10-fold increase in 25 years, and one in two will have the disease or a precursor by 2020. Today the annual cost to the US Health care system alone is almost $180 billion – and it will continue to grow to $3.5 trillion in just a decade.
Billions of dollars are spent on hundreds of drugs designed to manage the disease – Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors,Biguanides, Meglitinides, Sulfonylureas, Thiazolidinediones plus injectibles like exenatide, mitiglinide, pramlintide, sitagliptin, saxagliptin….
But still serious complications persist – glaucoma, cataracts, kidney disease, heart attacks, hypertension, hearing loss, gum disease, gastroparesis, ketoacidosis, depression, neuropathy, peripheral arterial disease, stress, stroke, damaged nerves, skin disorders, Hyperosmolar Hyperglycemic Nonketotic Syndrome……
WHAT IF THERE WAS A CURE? A magic bullet that could make all of this go away? Change lives, save billions of dollars, and deep six one of the world’s most prevalent, damaging diseases.
There is! According to a ground-breaking study published in Diabetologia, Type 2 Diabetes can be reversed in one to eight weeks! The secret? A low glycemic load, high-fiber, whole-foods, plant-based diet!
REFERENCES:
Reversal of type 2 diabetes: normalization of beta cell function in association with decrease pancreas and liver triglycerides Diabetologia; DOI 10.1007/s00125-011-2204-7 E. L. Lim & K. G. Hollingsworth & B. S. Aribisala & M. J. Chen & J. C. Mathers & R. Taylor
Cow’s Milk given to infants may create Type 1 Diabetes
Ten statistically significant studies demonstrate a noteworthy increase in Juvenile Onset (Type 1) Diabetes in children who were not breast fed and, instead, were given cows’ milk during the first two years of life.
According to T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. “A very specific sequence of 17 amino acids found in cows’ milk generated production of a specific antibody and that antibody … discovered exactly the same 17 amino acid sequence on the cells of the pancreas that was producing the insulin.” Once it attacked those cells, that child’s pancreas could no longer produce insulin – ever.
It is also now known, for example, that certain children have a much greater genetic susceptibility to the cow’s milk amino acid sequence with the additional presumption that, perhaps, these children were also exposed to a particular kind of virus as well. So, according to Dr. Campbell, Type 1 Diabetes could result from an unhappy combination of genetically susceptible children being exposed to cows’ milk and perhaps also to a certain kind of virus.”
Remarkably, the association between Type 1 Diabetes and cows’ milk coupled with high-risk genes, is even greater than the relationship between smoking and lung cancer. A 12-country study demonstrated that the higher the consumption of cows milk, the higher the incidence of type 1 Diabetes. Since 1992, The Academy of Pediatrics has warned against giving cows’ milk to children younger than one for a variety of reasons so one must wonder why this information is not more widely publicized.
According to Sayer Ji, on WakeUp-World.com, “in genetically susceptible individuals the consumption of cow’s milk may trigger an autoimmune destruction of the beta cells in the pancreas which produce insulin. A new study published in the journal Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, has shed light on a possible new mechanism behind this connection.
“Finnish researchers looked at 1113 infants with a genetic susceptibility to type 1 diabetes and who were randomly assigned to receive one of three infant formulas during the first 6 months of life whenever breast milk was not available:
- Cow’s milk formula (CMF)
- Whey-based hydrolyzed formula (WHF)
- Whey-based formula free of bovine insulin (insulin-free CMF)
“Beta cell autoimmunity was monitored at ages 3,6, and 12 months and then annually until 3 years of age. The results were reported as follows: Since 1992, The Academy of Pediatrics has warned against giving cows’ milk to children younger than one for a variety of reasons so one must wonder why this information is not more widely publicized.
“In comparison with ordinary CMF, weaning to an insulin-free CMF reduced the cumulative incidence of autoantibodies by age 3 years in children at genetic risk of type 1 diabetes mellitus. The likelihood of finding autoantibodies associated with beta cell autoimmunity was 25% lower in the whey-based hydrolyzed formula group, and 61% lower in the insulin-free whey-based formula when compared with the cow’s milk formula group”.
REFERENCES:
“Insulin-free whey-based cow’s milk formula is associated with lower incidence of beta cell autoimmunity in infants and young children.” Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2012 Mar 5. Epub 2012 Mar 5. PMID: 22393174
Committee on Nutrition. “The Use of Whole Cow’s Milk in Infancy” Pediatrics Vol. 89 No. 6 June 1, 1992; pp. 1105 -1109
Hammond-McKibben D, and Dosch H-M. “Cow’s milk, bovine serum albumin, and IDDM: can we settle the controversies?” Diabetes Care 20 (1997): 897-901
Karjalainen J, Martin JM, Knip M, et al. “A bovine albumin peptide as a possible trigger of insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus.” New Engl. Journ. Med 327 (1992): 302-307
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