Breaking Away

Breaking Away from Diabetes and Conventional wisdom

     I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 12 years ago. Since that time I have been evaluated by six or seven different doctors. Never, in all my conversations with all those doctors, was I told, "Brian, you can get off your medication and reverse the symptoms of diabetes by changing your diet." Not one time.

     If nutrition ever came up it was to say that a better diet would help the medication "control" my diabetes. Keep it from raging out of control. Other than that the sum total of my interaction with doctors has been an exercise in increasing dosages and adding new medications. This is a pretty typical scenario for diabetics in America.

     To be fair to everyone of those doctors - good, competent and decent people all - I was not a compliant patient. My diabetes was uncontrolled. I can well imagine the futility with which they regarded someone like me. Perhaps they did talk themselves blue in the face to several patients before I darkened their door. By the time I came around I was just one more hopeless case.

     But it's hard for me not to be a little angry at their lack of evangelizing. Did they just not believe I could do it? Did they want to avoid an uncomfortable conversation? Or did they, the doctors, those near demigods to most of us, just not know that eating a whole food plant based diet could reverse diabetic symptoms and eliminate the need for most it not all of my medicine.

     Perhaps its all of these things. But it's certainly the latter. I broached the subject with a couple of them. One told me he did not believe eliminating animal products had anything to do with lowering blood sugar. The other was incredulous. She asked what in the world I was reading and tried to set me straight. Medication was the answer, she said.

     There are reasons for these doctors' reactions which I won't get into in detail for now. Suffice it to say a) doctors get reimbursed for prescribing pills and procedures, not consultations. b) most docs are limited to 15-20 minutes with each patient.  c) Most medical schools in America teach nothing or at least very little about nutrition. And finally, d) many of those same medical schools are funded by pharmaceutical companies. (for more info on this read the books suggested below)

     But for those struggling with type 2 diabetes (or heart disease, or any life threatening disease), do yourself a favor. Go watch Forks Over Knives.

     Here's a powerful testimonial from a physician who was as unhealthy as his patients. All the major diseases ran in his family. He moved to a whole food plant based diet and changed his life.

     That's a good place to get started. Then you can read Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes. Put The China Study on your list and you'll see this is rigorous science not the latest health rage.

     Right now I'm reading "How Not to Die" by Dr. Michael Greger. Get on his email list. You'll get his video series from nutritionfacts.org. He'll explain how a plant based diet can prevent and even reverse all the major diseases.

     This particular video is about the effect of a plant based diet on a group of diabetics who had elevated A1c numbers.


     Heres a little teaser.

 

These colors represent (from bottom to top) non-diabetic, pre-diabetic, and uncontrolled diabetes. The vertical numbers are the 13 patients A1c numbers. The horizontal numbers are the number of months each patient participated.

Here you can see where each patient was on the diabetic scale. A few are pre diabetic. Most are struggling with uncontrolled diabetes. A couple of guys and gals are way up there in the rarified air I once occupied. 

With an average of 7 months of eating a plant based diet every single patient left the realm of uncontrolled diabetes. Many actually got into the non-diabetic zone, including the two who were the worst off. (Dr. Greger is careful to mention that this graph only shows those who stayed on the diet. Some, evidently, found it to difficult. That's a topic for another time.)

But most of all, I'm here to tell you from my personal experience that it works. Everytime I undertake it in earnest, it drives my blood sugar down and I begin to shed pounds and medication.
And here's the biggest surprise of all. The food tastes great!  The food I use to eat was like a bad movie, loaded with over the top elements. Sure it was thrilling for the moment, but in the end it left me uninspired. Today my food is more like one of my all time favorites. Breaking Away. Everything about it inspires me. And if you're in the grip of uncontrolled diabetes or heart disease, the title is appropriate for what eating a whole food plant based diet will do for you.

Be a Cutter. Cut your medication in half. Cut it out of your life altogether. 

Dad: What is this?

Mom: It's sautéed zucchini.

Dad: It's I-tey food. I don't want no I-tey food.

Mom: It's not. I got it at the A&P. It's like...squash.

Dad: I know I-tey food when I hear it. It's all them "eenie" foods. Zucchini. Linguine. And fettuccini. I want some American food, dammit! I want french fries!

Cooking Date Night: Thai Portobello Wraps

     When people explain their propensity to "eat big" you'll often hear something like this:

     "Well, my mother is Italian, so..." OR -
     "We're a typical Jewish family, so, you know..." OR -
     "I grew up in a traditional Mexican home, so..."

     Seems like everyone thinks their culture has the corner on glutony. The other day I read about a woman who was trying to reverse the effects of all that "traditional Scandinavian cooking". Really? I married into a traditional Swedish family. No one gets fat on crisp bread, herring and beets.

Most Swedes look like this because...

...they eat sandwiches that look like this.

   



     Here are some explanations for "eating big" that you NEVER, EVER hear:

     "Well, we're Japanese, so..." OR -
     "Well, you know how we Vietnamese are..." OR-
     "My mother is from Thailand, so, naturally..."
 

Sumo wrestlers eat 20,000 daily
calories of chankonabe (a meat soup)
to get fat. Kim Jong Un is on a peasant
diet. He eats 3 small farmers every day.

 Sumo wrestlers and North Korean despots aside, the incidences of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes are still amazingly rare in most Asian countries. In fact, The China Study revealed that "in certain pockets of China where plant based diets were most common, researchers could not find a single person out of 100,000 who had died from heart disease." The study also revealed that "American men were seventeen times more likely to die from heart disease than rural Chinese men." Unfortunatley, for the Chinese, all of this is changing. You can probably guess why.

Some people fear that China is plotting our takeover. Don't
worry, America. Invasion and occupation takes a lot of
energy. Let's see how ambitious they feel after a couple
of generations of fast food.

   





     For this and thousands of other reasons, it appears the verdict is in. To over-indulge in the so-called Western diet is to invite the Grim Reaper to your dinner table.

     But here's some good news: A) The right food can heal you. B) Eating a whole food, plant-based diet is surprisingly tasty! and C) Making the switch is NOT as hard as you think it is going to be.

     Not surprisingly, a lot of the best tasting recipes come from the Far East. Maria and I have long been fans of Thai food (a shout out to our friend PC at Thai Pepper in Newhall, CA) and this Forks Over Knives recipe for "Thai Portobello Mushroom Wraps" is at the top of the list. We made it for a recent stay-at-home date night and, well, you can watch the little movie below.

     So, how can you tell if your diet is having a detrimental affect on your health? For starters, it's a bad sign if the guy carving the meat is using a scythe.

THAI PORTOBELLO WRAPS

from

Forks Over Knives: The Cookbook

SERVES 4

• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• Zest and juice of 1 lime
• 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 large shallots, diced small
• 1 pound portobello mushrooms, stemmed and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped mint
• 4 green onions (white and green parts), thinly sliced
• 4 large romaine lettuce leaves or 8 small ones

1. Combine the ginger, garlic, lime zest and juice, soy sauce, and crushed red pepper flakes in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the shallots and mushrooms and stir-fry for 3 to 4 minutes. Add water 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time to keep the vegetables from sticking to the pan. Add the ginger mixtures and cook for another minute. Add the cilantro, mint, and green onion, and remove from the heat.
3. To serve, place some of the mushroom mixture on the bottom of one of the lettuce leaves and fold the lettuce over the filing. Repeat for the remaining lettuce leaves.

Galileo, 2013 A.D.

      I was in high school when I first learned about Galileo's treatment at the hands of the Roman Inquistion. Put in his same situation, I think I might have channeled Woody Allen.

     "The earth revolves around the sun?! I said that? I don't, I mean, how would I even know that? Because I, I, you know, I never even look up at the stars. I get vertigo. Not to mention an overwhelming feeling of insignificance."

     Then I would have gone home and broken my telescope.

     But Galileo stuck by his science and spent the rest of his life in prison. It's an inspiring story. I remember wanting to go back in time just to tell him, "Dude, don't worry! In the future, everyone will know your name! Well, okay, part of that's because of this song called Bohemian Rhapsody, but don't let The Man get you down! Because someday...you'll be known as the Father of Modern Science!"

     Sometimes I still wish I could do that. I'd be sure to bring my iPhone so I could play Queen for him. He'd probably be interested in lot of the apps, too.

     I bring up Galileo because a few nights ago I think Maria and I met a just such a man.

     His name is Dr. T. Colin Campbell. He's the co-author of The China Study and is also prominently featured in the documentary Forks Over Knives. His latest book is called Whole.

     He was speaking at a restaurant in Scottsdale called Nourish 123. After a wonderful meal (you can see more of Maria's pictures below) he laid out the science of how the so-called Western diet is killing us, but also, how we can save ourselves in three simple ways: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

     He asserts that a lifetime of rigorous scientific study has irrefutably proven that if we'll eat a whole food plant-based diet, our bodies can prevent and even reverse the damage inflicted by a lifetime of consuming enormous amounts of animal fat, its carcinogenic protein, casein, and processed food. You can read an excerpt here.

     Dr. Campbell will never be imprisoned for his views but he has suffered condemnation from the High Priests of the Medical, Pharmaceutical and Food industries. He's not recanting. Whole is the sound of Dr. Campbell doubling down. A plant strong lifestyle will remain at the center of his nutritional universe. Heretical? Someday it may seem as obvious as the order of the planets.

     What's clear is that America's current healthcare system is not working. Just take a look at where we rank among the nations of the world. 37th. Right between Costa Rica and Slovenia. As Freddy put it -

Thunderbolts and lightning
Very, very frightening me!

Vegan Me

     In May of 2011 I went to see a movie called Forks Over Knives. It's all about the benefits of eating a whole food plant-based diet which is code for "vegan". (In fact, the word "vegan" is only mentioned twice in the film and both times by a successful mixed martial arts fighter named Mac Danzig. The thinking here is, if you're capable of kicking your opponent in the ear before he even sees your foot leave the ground, you get to use the word vegan with no fear of ridicule.  And, unfortunately, vegans are the object of great ridicule. In fact, the only group of people who seem to be more universally disliked are mimes. If you're a vegan who also happens to be a mime, you're probably ostracized in a way that makes gypsies feel downright trendy. But I digress.)

I went to see this movie by myself because I knew if I took Maria, my steady date and wife for the last 26 years, I'd wake her inner hippie, and the next thing you know I'd be buying food products with names that were seemingly created to embarrass the shopper. "Excuse me, where would I find the, um...tofurkey?" I once asked a stocker. "THE TOFURKEY IS RIGHT NEXT TO THE FAKIN' BACON!" she screamed. "Gee, thanks," I thought. "And to think you can get that kind of volume without a megaphone." You see, I went to see Forks Over Knives by myself because part of me wanted to do something bold to improve my health but the other part of me really wanted more cheese for my nachos.

Long story short, I fell in love with "Forks Over Knives". I went home and told Maria all about it. We went back the next night, and just as I suspected she went full Woodstock for it. That night we bought a rice cooker and more fruit and vegetables than I had consumed in the previous decade.

That was May of 2011. I was a totally devoted vegan for six months. Almond milk, tempeh, black bean burgers, vegan-this, vegan-that. Loved it. I truly did. Not hard at all. I saw the benefits immediately and dropped 25 pounds by Thanksgiving. But then, of course, came Thanksgiving.

"I'm not going to be weird about this," I told Maria. "I'm going to have a little Turkey. A tiny slice of pie and maybe just a little butter on my roll. A drizzle of gravy, that's all...and a spoonful stuffing."

You can guess how things turned out. Not only did I keep my promise NOT to be weird on Thanksgiving, I was perfectly un-weird all the way through New Year's Day...and the entire year that followed.

But I'm ready to start again. The truth is, I must. I am a type II diabetic who is living in La La Land. I'm maxed out on medication, I have arthritic knees, I'm tired, and I feel older than my 51 years. I have a lot left to do in life, not the least of which is watch my five wonderful children continue to grow.

So bring on the whole-food plant-based diet. I won't call it vegan. Not until I can, with lightning speed, bring my arthritic knee into the ribs of a meat-eating bully.