Soon, the media was reporting that saturated fat, found in coconut oil, was the cause of our heart disease epidemic. There was one problem, however; the study wasn’t about coconut oil…

What Happens to Rats Who Are Deficient in Essential Fatty Acids?

When the researchers set out to study the rats, their intention was to study what happens to rats that become deficient in essential fatty acids such as, omega-6 and omega-3 fats. To do this, the researchers had to use a fat that was devoid of omega-6 and omega-3 fats. The problem was, most fats that are totally devoid of essential fatty acids are hard to incorporate into rat chow.  In fact, the researchers couldn’t find a fat in nature that was totally devoid of essential fatty acids…so they manufactured one.

It Looks Like Coconut Oil & Tastes Like Coconut Oil, But…

Of all of the fats that the researchers evaluated for the study, coconut oil was closest to the ideal oil. Unfortunately, natural coconut oil contains a small quantity of essential fats, which the researchers had to remove in order to make sure the rats became totally depleted of EFAs. To achieve this, the researchers developed hydrogenated coconut oil, a coconut oil that is flooded with hydrogen in order to remove all EFAs. There was one problem…

Hydrogenation Produces Trans-fats!

During the course of the study, the researchers were setting up the perfect storm for heart disease to develop…They were inducing an essential fatty acid deficiency and simultaneously flooding the rat’s body with trans-fats, which are known to promote high cholesterol and heart disease!

Right Observation…Wrong Finding

The researchers concluded that essential fatty acid deficiency leads to high cholesterol and heart disease. The media concluded that eating coconut oil causes high cholesterol and heart disease…

They Were Both Wrong!

Well, they were both only partially right. Essential fatty acid deficiency probably does cause heart disease, but this study only proves that EFA deficiency along with supplementation with trans-fats causes heart disease. The media was also partially right, eating coconut oil does cause high cholesterol and heart disease, but only if it is hydrogenated coconut oil, full of trans-fats, in combination with an EFA deficient diet.

They rightly observed that feeding rats coconut oil led to heart disease, but they wrongly deduced that the coconut oil was to blame. In fact, it was the hydrogenation of coconut oil and the EFA deficiency that ultimately led to catastrophic problems.

Natural Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil is Healthy!

In 1992, researchers performed a review of the published research on coconut oil. They concluded that unadulterated coconut oil did not cause elevated cholesterol nor did it cause an increased risk of heart disease (Philippine Journal of Internal Medicine 30:165-171;1992.)

In 1994, researchers added natural, unadulterated coconut oil to the diets of men with normal cholesterol. By the study’s end, their cholesterol increased from 166.7 to 170.0 mg/dl, however, the bad cholesterol came down a little while the good cholesterol went up a little. By the study’s end, the men enjoyed a healthier cholesterol balance. (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 59:841-846;1994.)

In 1991, researchers fed 83 men and women a diet that was comprised of 24% fat, of which 75% came from coconut oil. By the study’s end, the total cholesterol went up by 17%, however, the bad cholesterol came down while the good cholesterol increased by 21.4%!

This is a small sampling of the scientific evidence that proves coconut oil to be safe and healthy cooking oil.

Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil is the Healthiest of ALL Cooking Oil

In this video, I explain why coconut oil is the best cooking oil compared to canola oil, olive oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, and corn oil.

Where to Get Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil

There are many brands of extra-virgin coconut oil on the market. I personally use the Nutiva Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil in my cooking, which is available in our online store. Other brands include:

Garden of Life Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Jarrow Formulas Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil

How to Choose a Good Coconut Oil

As I mentioned, there are many good brands of extra-virgin coconut oil on the market:

1. Only choose extra-virgin coconut oil – Extra-virgin means that you are getting unadulterated and unrefined coconut oil.
2. Organic is Not Essential – Because coconuts are not typically sprayed with pesticides, it is not essential that it be organic.
3. It should be a white-solid at room temperature – Pure extra-virgin coconut oil is a white, soft, solid at room temperature. It will turn to a clear liquid at temperatures slightly above room temperature.
4. It should be lightly aromatic – In other words, it should smell like a coconut
5. It should have a mild and pleasant flavor – It is from coconut, so it does have a bit of a coconut flavor to it. If it is not right for your recipe, then use extra-virgin olive oil as an alternative.

Extra-virgin coconut oil is a safe and healthy oil to use in cooking and you should enjoy this oil without fear of heart disease or high cholesterol. Due to its mild, coconut flavor, it may not be appropriate for all recipes. If coconut oil doesn’t work for your recipe, then turn to organic butter as a second option followed by extra-virgin olive oil.

Back in the early nineteen sixties, a navy surgeon, by the name of Dr. Judah Folkman, happened upon a discovery that would revolutionize the way that we view cancer development in the human body. While testing the impact of preserved blood on fast growing tumor cells (a model used to mimic fast growing tissues of wounds) he noticed that cancer cells that would normally ravage the body of a living mouse, could only seem to grow to the size of the tip of a ball point pen in a Petri dish. He wondered why the same tumor cells didn’t replicate with the same level of aggression in a Petri dish as they did in a living creature. After all, he had taken great care to mimic the conditions of living tissue.

After dissecting the large tumors from the living creatures and comparing them to the tiny tumors from his Petri dish experiment, he noticed only one difference between the two tumors; the large tumors from the mice were filled with thousands of tiny networks of blood vessels while the tumor cells from the Petri dish experiment had no such blood supply. From this experiment, he hypothesized that the cancer cells could not develop into a large tumor mass unless and until it had developed a network of small blood vessels called capillaries to feed the cells.  This process of blood vessel development was named “angiogenesis”.  Said another way, if we could prevent cancer cells from developing a blood supply of their own, we could stop cancer growth in its tracks and even cause existing tumors to regress! Furthermore, if tumor cells could not develop a blood supply, they would not be able to metastasize.

Dr. Folkman’s hypothesis and experiment was met with ridicule and rejection from the medical community. In fact, after discussing with a colleague his worry that his research would get picked up and stolen by other researchers, his colleague replied, “You are totally protected against intellectual theft. Nobody will believe you!”

Dr. Folkman continued his experiments, and over the years, his hypothesis went on to be accepted.  His research led to the development of a new class of medication called anti-angiogenesis drugs. Since then, other anti-angiogenesis medications had come to market. Unfortunately, the clinical results were somewhat disappointing; some tumors responded quite well, while others responded partially or not at all.

William Li, founder of The Angiogenesis Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of anti-angiogenesis therapies and lifestyles, believes that the main reason that the medications are not living up to their potential is because we are getting to people too late in the game, after the cancer is fully developed and situated.  He believes that if we can use non-toxic tactics to prevent the small cluster of cancerous cells from forming a blood flow in the first place, we can prevent tumors from developing altogether. This would be what Dr. Folkman calls, “Cancer without disease”.

We All Have Cancer

It is a well-known fact that we all have these microscopic cancer cells throughout our bodies. In fact, research that looked at healthy men and women who had died in car accidents, discovered that 40% of women between the ages of 40-50 have these microscopic tumors within their breasts and 50% of men, between the ages of 50-60, have these micro-tumors in their prostates. It is even more disturbing that virtually 100% of men and women in their 70s have micro-tumors in their thyroid! The only thing preventing these people from developing the disease of cancer is the fact that the tumor cells had not developed a blood flow yet. The question is, “what can we do to prevent those harmless micro-tumors from ever developing a blood flow?” Dr. William Li believes that he has the answer…

Eat to Starve Cancer

The anti-angiogenesis medications, used to treat existing tumors, do not come without side effects. These side effects, although fewer than conventional chemotherapy, would make them inappropriate tools for preventing angiogenesis in micro-tumors. There is good news, however, researchers discovered that nature offers an abundance of natural compounds with potent anti-angiogenesis activity. Best of all, rather than blocking angiogenesis altogether, they normalize it. Disease begins when the growth of blood vessels occur unimpeded by the natural systems of checks and balances within the body. These natural anti-angiogenesis compounds appear to regulate and normalize the angiogenic balance within the body.

Angiogenesis is Essential to Health

Once we reach adulthood, it is generally accepted that blood vessels stop growing. There are three situations, however, that seem to defy this rule: menstruation, pregnancy and injury/wounds. During menstruation, pregnancy, and injury, the body produces protein chemicals that act as fertilizer for blood vessels; this stimulates the growth of new capillaries. When we injure ourselves, blood vessels grow beneath the scab to bring nutrients and oxygen to the damaged area in order to repair the damage. After the wound has healed, the body produces anti-angiogenesis compounds that stop the growth and prune back the blood vessels if needed. This process is tightly controlled; when angiogenesis is not well controlled, many diseases can arise.

Angiogenesis Gone Haywire

There are two ways that angiogenesis can become problematic; you can either have too few or too many blood vessels growing in a particular area of the body. In the case where there is too little angiogenesis, you see diseases such as:

• Wounds that won’t heal
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Neuropathy
• Hair loss
• Erectile Dysfunction

In cases where there is too much angiogenesis, you see diseases such as:

• Cancer
• Blindness
• Psoriasis
• Endometriosis
• Obesity
• Rosacea
• Alzheimers

Cancer – The Ultimate Disease of Excess Angiogenesis

Although there are many diseases that can be connected to angiogenesis, abnormal blood vessel growth is a hallmark of all solid tumors. It is an accepted theory that one key to controlling cancer growth, especially metastatic and aggressive cancer, is to shut down the process of angiogenesis within the diseased tissue without affecting the healthy tissue.

Cancer’s Weakness

Generally speaking, blood vessels are stable and resilient tissues. Blood vessels found in tumors, however, appear to be built in a hurry. Their structure and architecture is disorganized and fragile, which makes them more susceptible to anti-angiogenesis therapies than normal tissues. This weakness may prove to be one of the greatest advantages that we have over this deadly foe.

Nature’s Advantage

When the scientists discovered the presence of proteins that promote angiogenesis, they realized that nature, with all of its systems of checks and balances, must also make proteins that inhibit angiogenesis. They first discovered these compounds in the urine of mice, which were resistant to cancer; they named this compound angiostatin. They then began to find compounds with similar activity in the foods that we eat, such as fruits, vegetables and tealeaves. Researchers have made great strides in defining which foods appear to have the most potent anti-angiogenesis activity. A non-exaustive list is provide below:

1. Green Tea
2. Strawberries
3. Blackberries
4. Blueberries
5. Raspberries
6. Oranges
7. Grapefruits
8. Lemons
9. Apples
10. Pineapples
11. Cherries
12. Red grapes
13. Red wine
14. Bok Choy
15. Soybean
16. Ginseng
17. Maitake
18. Licorice
19. Turmeric
20. Nutmeg
21. Artichoke
22. Lavender
23. Pumpkin
24. Sea Cucumber
25. Tuna
26. Parsley
27. Garlic
28. Tomato
29. Olive Oil
30. Grape Seed
31. Dark Chocolate

Of these foods, the ones that appear to have the most potent anti-angiogenesis activity include (in order of potency):

1. Soy extract
2. Artichoke
3. Parsley
4. Berries
5. Soy
6. Garlic
7. Red grapes
8. Brassica
9. Citrus
10. Lavender
11. Green tea
12. Glucosamine
13. Turmeric
14. Tea

(Lists taken from a lecture by Dr. Li during a TED conference)

Power Resides in the Synergy

According to Dictionary.com, “Synergy” is defined as “The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.” In a study on the anti-angiogenesis activity of tea, researchers tested the ability of three different types of tea to inhibit blood vessel growth. In this study, they determined that they all had anti-angiogenesis activity, however, of the three, Earl Grey appeared to be the most potent. The researchers then decided to combine the two weaker teas and test the anti-angiogenesis activity of the mixture. They discovered that the combination of the two weaker teas resulted in more inhibition of blood vessel growth than the stronger Earl Grey tea. According to Dr. Li, this shows the presence of what is called “Nutritional Synergy” meaning, smaller quantities of many different nutrients and phytochemicals is likely superior to high quantities of fewer nutrients.

Future of Anti-Angiogenesis Studies

Currently, there is mounting laboratory and animal research that is confirming the anti-angiogenesis activity of foods. Using a special test tube model of blood vessel growth, Dr. Li and his organization is working to map the anti-angiogenic activity of common fruits, vegetables, herbs and teas. The ultimate goal is to form a menu of foods that are likely to inhibit this key step in the growth of abnormal cells into metastatic tumor masses.

One study, published by Harvard Medical School, tested the effect of dietary lycopene (a red pigment found in foods such as tomatoes, berries, etc) on the risk of prostate cancer. They determined that men, who consumed the most lycopene-containing foods, enjoyed the lowest incidence of prostate cancer. The researchers then tested the tumor biopsies for the presence of blood vessels. They discovered that of the men who went on to develop prostate cancer, the more lycopene they consumed, the lower the density of blood vessels in the tumor. This finding suggests that even when lycopene fails to completely inhibit angiogenesis, is appears to slow the growth and potentially decrease the virility of the existing tumor mass.

Obviously, more research needs to be performed to confirm the legitimacy of the laboratory and animal findings. I believe that there is sufficient data, in combination with epidemiological research showing an inverse relationship between fruit/vegetable intake and cancer risk, to start to incorporate larger quantities of the foods, which have anti-angiogenesis activity.

Using These Findings

The rules are simple:

1. Consume many servings of vegetables, fruits, and spices
2. Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables; choose them based on color and spectrum
3. Choose fruits that are lower on the glycemic index (lower sugar content)
4. Drink a variety of teas including: green tea, Earl Grey, jasmine and white tea.

Supplements for Prevention of Angiogenesis

Many people have been asking me about herbs and nutritional supplements that may give them a leg up on this issue. Although we do not have research on specific supplements, as they pertain to angiogenesis, I suspect that whole-food, freeze-dried extracts of fruits, vegetables and herbs will provide a spectrum of concentrated anti-angiogenesis compounds. I personally use a variety of whole food fruit, vegetable, mushroom and nutritional extracts for their broad benefits. This research has solidified these products as part of my long-term supplement plan. Below I list the supplements that I feel would provide the greatest anti-angiogenic activity; it should be noted that every one of these food-products offer multiple health benefits, in addition to being great means of protecting against angiogenesis:

1. Berry Greens by New Chapter – There are many whole food formulas on the market, I chose this formula because it is highly concentrated, has a good number of plants with certified anti-angiogenic activity, can be found in either capsules or powder and is readily available. I recommend 6 capsules per day or one tablespoon per day as a supplement to a healthy diet. If you get few fruits and vegetables in the diet, or you have a history or high risk of cancer, I would recommend doubling this dose.
2. PolyResveratrol-SR by Thorne Research – This formula combines resveratrol, pterostilbene, a highly absorbed curcumin, a highly absorbed green tea extract and quercetin. These compounds have anti-aging, anti-cancer and anti-angiogenic activity. The recommended dose is one capsule twice daily (although higher doses may be even more effective).
3. Vitamin D – Aside from vitamin Ds other anti-cancer qualities, it also appears to inhibit angiogenesis. Recommended doses are 2,000-4,000 iu per day.

Conclusion:

Normalizing angiogenesis within the body appears to be a critical step in the maintenance of healthy cells. After listening to a 20-minute lecture by Dr. William Li of the Angiogenesis Foundation, and researching the topic in depth, I am convinced that this may be one of the most important findings in medical history. I look forward to the results of Dr. Li’s research on the anti-angiogenesis activity of various foods and will continue to keep you updated as new research is published on the subject. 

We are the only animal that artificially extends daylight hours, through the use of electricity and light bulbs, which has a clear effect upon the way our bodies use sugar and store fat. To our body, it is always August (the time of the longest exposure to sunlight) and our bodies are programmed to crave carbohydrates and store fat to prepare for the coming “winter” with less food available and colder temperatures to endure. The spread of affordable electricity coincides with the spread of diabetes, heart disease and obesity in this country.

The topic for this column has to do with a different way that we alter nature’s plan… and the short-term and long-term negative effects of not respecting “the way things were meant to be.”

A ruminant is an animal that is designed to eat certain kinds of foods and digest those foods in a certain way. Ruminants, examples of which are cows and sheep, eat grass. Eat may not be the proper term… they actually eat it, then eat it again, and still again, in a very specific manner that allows for the proper digestion and the ability to create protein from a food source that has very little protein to begin with. Ruminants have stomachs that are vastly different from ours… in fact some people interpret a cow to have 4 stomachs (which technically is not the case, each chamber has a specific name and function).

A cow has a particular relationship with the grass that it eats and the environment that it lives in… a relationship that works perfectly for the animal, the grass, and the ecosystem around them. By grazing a pasture, the cow maintains the integrity of the field by weeding out saplings before they are able to grow into trees that would disrupt the grassland, by planting grass seeds through the digging of their hooves and by fertilizing the grasses as it goes along. The grass provides the perfect food for the cow to grow and reproduce.

If this is the way that nature intended for a particular animal and the environment to interact, in perfect harmony, then why has the cattle industry grown in a way that completely disrupts this process and relationship? That is the question of the day… and the answer is easy… it always comes down to money! But the less obvious concern is the negative ramifications to our health and the health of the world around us as a result of interference with the delicate balance of a complex system.

So… I ask you… what is the true cost of beef?

The fact is that a cow in nature, left to its own devices, would only eat grass. The only grains that it would consume would be very small amounts of grass seeds. But, the beef that we eat is known as “corn-fed” beef, unless you are buying pasture-fed beef, which is more expensive and less available (and don’t be fooled into thinking that “organic” beef is not corn-fed, because it very well might be… just organic corn).

One reason that the beef industry has resorted to using corn as the mainstay in the cattle’s diet is because it is the cheapest, most plentiful, most compact and most portable option available. It allows for the feeding of the highest number of animals on the smallest plot of land.

But maybe the bigger reason for corn feeding is the corns’ ability (along with protein supplements and hormones) to get the cattle to slaughter weight in the shortest amount of time. You see… time is of the essence when you are talking about delivering a commodity that is in big demand. In the early 1900s a typical steer would take 4 to 5 years to get to an acceptable size and weight for “harvesting.” In the 1950s, the time frame was more like 2 to 3 years.

Today, the high-tech business of cattle growing turns a calf into a 1250-pound steer, ready for the butcher, in only 14 to 16 months. Boy… talk about fast food!

This all came about because of the widespread use of petrochemical fertilizers and the surplus of corn that resulted after World War II. Believe it or not, because of corn surpluses and federal subsidies, the price of corn is actually 50 cents per bushel less than the cost of growing it! What a bargain! Did you know that it takes 1.2 gallons of oil to make the chemicals used as fertilizers to produce each bushel of corn?

The problem, though, is that the cow was not designed to eat and digest grains like corn. Corn-fed cattle certainly do grow fatter faster, but the negative consequences to the health of the cow are numerous and far-reaching… requiring all sorts of “remedies” that further negatively affect the health of those who end up eating the cow… namely… US!

Here is the way it works… the corn causes a marked change in the pH of the gut of the cow… it makes it much more acidic. This causes a significant change in the kind of bacteria that lives in the gut of the cow and in the function of the cow’s immune system. This, in turn, creates the need for the constant use of antibiotics in the cattle-feed. The antibiotics further degrade the proper bacterial balance inside the cow and work to create resistant bacteria that like to live in an acidic environment.

In normal circumstances, when eating grass, the gut pH of a cow is practically neutral… and the bacteria that live there and play a vital role with digestion thrive in that environment. Those bacteria would have a hard time living in an acidic environment… the stomach, say, of a different animal that may be more acidic… like that of a human. But these new bugs that are created and strengthened through the above-described process actually prefer the acidic environment of parts of the human gastro-intestinal tract and can wreck havoc on our health. An example would be the recently described E.Coli 0157 strain, which can be responsible for killing a human with a minimal exposure.

The “feedlot life” of the commercial cattle is much like the life of a major European city of the 1400s… tremendously crowded conditions, constant new arrivals from all over the country, extremely poor sanitation (cattle literally wade a foot deep in their waste)… and the predictable result of unbelievably poor health.

Cattle are also almost universally given estrogen implants to help increase weight and fat in quick fashion. The incentive for the producer is hard to ignore. The implants cost about $1.50 each and the hormones are responsible for a 40 to 50 pound increase at time of slaughter, which translates into at least $25 more dollars for the steer… sometimes that is the only margin that the producers actually make.

Of course, there are the trace amounts of the hormones that show up in the finished product (steaks, burgers, etc) to be concerned about… but what about those of us who avoid the beef? Increased synthetic growth hormones have shown up in feedlot waste, which get into the ground water. Scientists have started to discover fish showing abnormal sex characteristics in waters that are downstream from feedlots.

Is it just a coincidence that conditions like breast cancer, falling sperm counts and premature maturation in girls are more common since these cattle raising practices have been in use?

The entire story above aside, the most insidious result of modern cattle producing practices is that the quality of fats in the cow changes markedly, and that’s why eating beef is unhealthy. Madison Avenue has so successfully marketed us about beef that we actually think that “corn-fed” beef is preferred. And, I guess, from a certain viewpoint, it is… feeding cattle corn certainly does help develop “well-marbled” flesh, which the UDSA grading system actually rewards.

But, the fats are the saturated fats, Omega-6, that promote inflammation and ill-health… things like cancer and heart disease. In actuality, the negative health issues associated with eating beef may really be from eating corn-fed beef. Cattle that eat the way nature intended produce the proper ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fats that help to prevent ill health instead of promote it.

In essence, we have converted the cow from an efficient, solar-powered protein-producing machine into another machine that requires fossil fuels to run… just what we need in today’s world!

So… what is the true cost of beef? Let’s figure it out… 25 pounds of corn a day… that’s 284 gallons of oil per steer… add the cost of the antibiotics used… and the considerably higher cost of the results of the antibiotic use including food poisoning from rogue bacteria… the cost of cancer and heart disease treatments… sounds a little more expensive than the $1.29/pound special at the local super market!

In the six and a half years that I have been doing my radio show I have had the opportunity to interview, and study the works of, the leaders and innovators in the field of nutrition and health… people like Harvey Diamond (Fit For Life), Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw (Life Extension) and Eric Braverman (The Healing Nutrients Within). Over the years I have used myself as the guinea pig to “try out” almost everyone’s theories about health, nutrition and diet.

I tried on several occasions to eat a vegetarian diet. After about 3 days I would begin to feel washed out and low in energy, and invariably, would give up and go back to my carnivorous ways. I just figured that I’m a high protein kind of guy, and that the mix of fuel that my body needed had to include proteins from animals. However, there was one exception… when I was hiking out in the woods (usually on the Apalacian Trail) I could be out for a week, eat a completely vegetarian diet, and my energy would go up and up. I was never able to make any sense of this…

Until, in the summer of 1996 I spent a couple of weeks in the Andes Mountains in Ecuador with a Shaman named Don Alberto Taxzo and the people of his village. I went there to learn about his form of energy healing and way of life. He and his family, like many of the Indians of the Andes, eat a vegetarian diet. Someone in our party asked Don Alberto about being vegetarian and this was what he said:

“If you need to go to war you better eat meat because you will need to have the aggression that you will get from it. But, if you want to be a feeling, thinking, sensitive person, don’t eat meat, it gets in the way.”

At that moment it was like a hammer hitting me square on the head, I finally understood. For me, the life I was living, the life of trying to get ahead in the business world, having a big house and a 2 car garage, was my own little war. How many of us are waging war every single day?

On that day, I made a very important decision for myself. I simply decided that I was not going to be part of that “war” any more. I would not play that game any more. And I have been vegetarian ever since! And my energy just keeps going up and up!

Don Alberto gave me a totally new perspective about diet… energy! His concern was not about proteins and carbohydrates and fats… it was about the energy that we get from certain kinds of food. Long has been the tradition to pray over food. I think that prayer over food and appreciation shown for food helps instill a positive energy into that food so that our bodies actually get more energy, positive energy, from the food.

Now I am not saying that we should ignore what we know about proteins, carbohydrates and fats. In fact, just the opposite is true… and being a vegetarian who requires a lot of protein in my diet, I have to work darn hard to make sure I get all the protein that I need. I know many very unhealthy vegetarians who just substitute pasta for meat in their diets.

There are 8 to 10 “essential” amino acids. Any time you see “essential” before a nutrient it means you must get it from your diet, your body can not make it from other parts. Any animal product (eggs, dairy, red meat, fish, chicken, etc.) is a complete protein, meaning that you get all of the essential amino acids. There are only two non-animal protein sources that give you all of the essential amino acids by themselves. They are soy and a grain called quinoa (which, coincidentally, is native to the Andes). You can also get all of the essential amino acids by properly combining certain foods, like beans and rice.

Being the high protein, high fat kind of guy that I am, I make sure that I get plenty of soy, quinoa, and nuts and seeds in my diet. And what about my sensitive, feeling, thinking side? There is no question that I am 10 times more in touch with my intuition than I was before I gave up eating meat. Just ask my patients that marvel at my ability to tell them things about themselves before they tell me.

For decades now, as medical consumers and medical professionals, we have been trained to look at certain parameters to measure our health status. We all know about getting our blood pressure or cholesterol checked. We’ve been told time and again to keep our weight under control and to get some exercise, some of us even keeping track of our percent body fat. We’ve been coerced into getting a mammogram, PSA test and/or a colonoscopy on a regular basis.

We also get our fasting blood glucose checked when we have a physical exam (which may not be often enough for some of us), the results of which we rely on to tell us whether or not we have diabetes. Unfortunately, it may be that the standards we use as “acceptable” for blood sugar are actually too high… and it seems that there is another blood test that should be much more frequently used called hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c).

Currently, the HbA1c test is only routinely done for diabetics as a long-term measure of their blood glucose. Sugar absorbed through the digestive system circulates in the bloodstream. When there is too much circulating sugar, some of it attaches to the hemoglobin in the red blood cells, forming hemoglobin A1c. Red blood cells live for 90 to 120 days, meaning that once the sugar combines with the hemoglobin, the HbA1c stays in the blood for 3 to 4 months. So measuring HbA1c tells us about high blood sugar levels over the past 3 months. It is not affected by the immediate diet, so no fasting is required.

Unfortunately, the only people who get their HbA1c tested are those already identified with a sugar problem. The sad fact is that it can take up to 10 years of having “sugar issues” before someone actually makes the diagnosis of diabetes. Furthermore, during those 10 years all sorts of other biochemical changes are happening as a result of the high sugar levels (and the consequent increased insulin levels that it causes) in our blood. This leads to other diseases that we have not yet adequately attributed to high blood sugar levels… heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol and cancer, whose treatments are the source of countless prescriptions, tests and other costly interventions.

Here are some sobering facts concerning disease and death rates in the United States:

· A total of 63% of men and 55% of women over the age of 25 are either overweight or obese, and more than 280,000 deaths are ascribed to this.
· More than 60 million people have one or more types of cardiovascular disease, which represents the leading cause of death, more than 40% of all deaths.
· 50 million people are hypertensive.
· 10 million people have type 2 diabetes.
· 72 million adults maintain total cholesterol/HDL ratios of 4.5 or greater.

So what is the common link between all of these chronic diseases or conditions? You guessed it… our body’s inability to properly handle sugar. This particular set of circumstances is known as Syndrome X or Metabolic Syndrome.

Here is what happens in the body… we eat food that contains sugar and complex carbohydrates (chains of sugars connected together). These sugars are converted into glucose by enzymes in the G I tract. In the following two hours the glucose is rapidly absorbed and elevates plasma glucose concentrations. The resulting “hyperglycemia,” along with other chemicals secreted in the gut, causes the pancreas to secrete insulin, resulting in an immediate rise in plasma insulin concentrations, hyperinsulinemia.

Insulin’s job is to tell muscle, liver, fat and endothelial cells (cells that line the blood vessels) to take up the glucose molecules and use them for energy. When these cells resist this process (insulin resistance) then the sugar stays in the bloodstream and causes the pancreas to release more insulin, thus making the hyperinsulinemia worse.

The degree to which hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia occur depends upon the glycemic index and the glycemic load of the carbohydrate ingested. Glycemic Index is a measure of a food’s ability to increase blood glucose levels quickly and the glycemic load of a particular food is the glycemic index multiplied by the carbohydrate content per serving size.

This concept of glycemic load is important to understand. There may be a high glycemic index food, like a baked potato (glycemic index = 97) which has a glycemic load of only 18.4, because of the relatively low amount of carbohydrate within a serving of baked potato. Contrast this with a seemingly harmless rice cake, which has a glycemic index of 82 (lower than the potato) but a glycemic load of nearly 67. Think about all of those diet plans that have you eating rice cakes as snacks… you might as well go ahead and have the Snickers bar, at least that would be enjoyable!

The historical facts are indisputable… sugar and processed/refined carbohydrate consumption was nearly non-existent a mere 200 years ago. After the Industrial Revolution these foods became available to the masses in large quantities, and thus began the sad story of chronic disease as we know it today. High glycemic load foods comprise 36% or more of the daily energy in the Standard American Diet (SAD).

A high glycemic load diet combined with certain “susceptibility” genes allows for a hormonal cascade of events (starting with the insulin, which is a hormone) that leads to the unregulated or enhanced growth of many tissues in the body. This effect is particularly directed towards body tissues with a rapid turnover rate, like the epithelial cells. Ultimately, this process leads to all of the diseases mentioned above.

So, finally we have come to the actual likely cause of all of the heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol and certain cancers. It is interesting to note that other health conditions and trends have also been linked to or explained by this process, including: increased height, puberty occurring earlier in girls, earlier onset of near-sightedness, acne, ovarian cysts, skin tags, skin discolorations and male baldness. All of these diseases have genetic components, but what allows for the specific genes to express themselves in the worst possible manner is the biochemical changes that occur because of too much insulin circulating around in bloodstreams.

Now that we are armed with some accurate “cause and effect” information, how do we begin to make changes that will finally lead to better health? Well, the obvious answer is to get the sugars and refined/processed carbohydrates out of the diet. That is something that should start right away and you will reap the rewards for years to come. And please note that breads and cereals are included, not just the cakes and candies.

Along those lines, it would be very helpful to have your hemoglobin A1c done so that you can know what your average blood sugar has been over the past 3 months. I can not stress enough how important this is and also how much more useful this is than the fasting blood glucose test that is typically done… we want to know what has been happening with your blood sugar 24/7 for the past 3 months, not just a snapshot at one time on one day.

When you do get the results, please ignore what the labs, and apparently the medical community at large, deem as “good” results. An HbA1c of 7% is considered “good,” which coordinates to an average blood sugar of 140… and that is just ridiculous. We want to shoot for an average blood glucose level of 110 at the very highest, and would be that much healthier if it were even lower. An HbA1c of 6% equates to blood glucose of 110 and 5% to 80.

If you have any of the health conditions I’ve mentioned already, or a family history of such (and I want to meet the person who can answer no to that) then this is likely the most important information you have ever seen. Am I saying to stop taking your prescription medicines? No, of course not. But I am saying that the best possible way for you to eliminate the need for those medicines is to get your body’s response to sugar and your body’s overproduction of insulin under control.

And the really exciting news is that you no longer need the “permission” of your doctor to check your HbA1c. A home test is now available, and affordable, so that you can monitor this most important of parameters all by yourself. As far as I’m concerned, this is the opportunity for you to finally take the reins of responsibility for your own healthcare firmly into your own hands, and begin to get healthier and continue to prove what I’ve been saying all along…that illness truly is optional!

Which parts of the fresh fruits and vegetables are responsible for maintaining good health? Before I answer that, let me ask a different question… why should it matter? Well, it matters to the big drug companies. If someone can discover an ingredient within the food that we eat that may save us from cancer or heart disease, then there is money to be made. The company would have to “alter” the ingredient chemically, so that they would have a “chemical entity” that they can patent and own. Then they can spend the millions of dollars needed to “prove” that it does what they say it does (clinical testing), than they can charge lots of money for the “medicine” and make billions in the process. Does anyone remember the news out of Johns Hopkins a while ago about broccoli sprouts and their reported benefit for protection against cancer? Of course, a company cannot patent broccoli, they can’t own it or stop you from buying it from the supermarket, so the race is on to make the ingredient different so someone can “own” it and profit from it.

Which ingredients have the biological activity may also be important to know because there may be cooking or processing procedures that may render the ingredient inactive, or destroy it completely. An example of this would be the essential fatty acids that were discussed in last month’s column. If one were to cook with flax oil then the omega-3 fatty acids contained therein would be destroyed. The processing of food has been shown to destroy enzymes and different nutritional components.

So… back to the question… what are the important ingredients in fresh fruits and vegetables that are responsible for maintaining good health? Of course, there are the vitamins and minerals… vitamin C, beta-carotene, zinc, selenium, etc. There are the enzymes that help digest food and help give the liver and pancreas a break from the work of digestion. There are the essential fatty acids that come from seeds and nuts. There is the fiber that we get from food.

And there are the “plant fats”, also know as sterols and sterolins. The primary fat that is found in animals is cholesterol, and the plant equivalent of cholesterol is called sterol. Animals cannot make sterols, but they can get them from the plants that they eat.

Animal studies (including humans) have demonstrated that Beta-sitosterol (the major sterol in higher plants) and Beta-sitosterol glycoside (another plant product) exhibit anti-inflammatory, anti-neoplastic, anti-pyretic and immune-modulating activities. These activities may help protect against and reverse such diseases as chronic viral infections, tuberculosis, cancer, allergies, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and various other autoimmune diseases.

The immune system within our bodies is very complex. There are basically two ways that our immune system protects us from disease. The first way is by creating antibodies in response to a particular invader. This is basically how an inoculation works. We inject into the body a part of a virus or bacteria. The body recognizes the invader and creates a specific defense against it, very specific cells that are floating through the body as sentries, waiting for the arrival of the bad guy. They can only fight against that specific bad guy. When someone gets infected with the virus or bacteria then the body is already armed to get rid of it. This is also the primary way that we hand down immunity from generation to generation… antibodies are passed from mother to child through the placenta and through a nutrient called colostrum that comes from breast feeding in the first few days of life.

The second way is through a less specific corps of cells that find invaders and destroys them through various forms of chemical warfare. The natural killer cells that help protect against cancer are among these types of cells. Within these particular cells, the balance between the different components is very important to the body’s ability to effectively fight off disease.

An “auto-immune” disease occurs when, for some reason, the body’s immune system starts fighting against the body itself, or certain parts of the body. In the case of multiple sclerosis, parts of the immune system start attacking the lining of the nerve cells, called the myelin sheath, and cause nerve damage that results in muscle weakness, fatigue and vision problems. It may be that the actual problem has to do with the “balance” between certain parts of the immune system.

Some of the immune cells do the attacking and other cells tell the attacking cells when to stop the assault. Too much of one type and not enough of the other has been observed in people with certain chronic viral and bacteria diseases, and in other chronic conditions, such as allergies and auto-immune disorders. Fixing this imbalance may be the answer to helping people with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, persistent allergies, psoriasis… even cancer and HIV.

What does all of this have to do with sterols and sterolins… the fats that come from plants? Research has shown that beta-sitosterol and beta-sitosterol glycosides work to help maintain the proper balance within certain parts of the immune system. These plant fats help return the body to normal function, they help “normalize” immune function. Is it any wonder that vegetarians seem to suffer less from all sorts of diseases, including various cancers, heart disease, allergies and auto-immune diseases? Ongoing studies looking into the effect of these plant fats include rheumatoid arthritis, chronic rhinitis and sinusitis, hepatitis C, HIV, and cancer.

So the next question is… which plant foods will provide the most of these healthy plant fats? Almost all plant foods contain some amounts of sterols and sterolins. The following list shows the foods with the highest contents (mg of sterols/sterolins per 100 grams of edible portion).

Nuts and Seeds:
Sesame seeds 443
Sunflower seeds 349
Cashews 130
Almonds 122

Vegetables:
Peas 108
Barley 98
Squash, white 89
Potatoes, white 40
Soybeans 30

Vegetable Oils:
Olive oil 91
Wheat germ 67
Sunflower oil 60
Cocoa butter 59

Fruits:
Figs 27
Oranges, naval 17
Pomegranates 16
Apricots 16

Beans and Legumes:
Peanuts 142
Broad 95
Kidney 91

Spices, dry:
Clove 242
Oregano 177
Thyme 152

As you can see, seeds and nuts contain much larger amounts than do many other foods. However, how these foods are cooked and stored, frozen or processed can affect the amounts of the good fats. For example, freezing releases an enzyme within the food that destroys the phytosterol glycosides. Boiling vegetables causes the plant fats to precipitate into the cooking water, which gets thrown away. The vegetable oils mentioned above actually have the sterol removed, because the “cloudiness” that they cause gives the impression of impurities in the oil.

The sprouts of certain foods, if consumed at the proper time, contain much higher amounts of the plant fats. There are products available at the health food store that take the sprouts, dry them and put them in a capsule to insure a certain amount of sterols and sterolins per capsule.

In conclusion, it seems to make sense that nature has the ability to provide us with all of the nutrition that we need to live long, healthy lives. It is clear that our understanding of just how this works is still in its infancy and that as time goes on we will discover more and more. In the meantime, my recommendation is to eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Try to eat them in the packages that nature provides them, you never see a “can” of peas growing on a vine. Try to get them as close to the time when they were picked as possible and try to make sure that they were picked ripe, not ripened on a truck on the way to the store. Try to eat foods that are not treated with pesticides and other poisons.

And most importantly, think about what else your Grandma tried to tell you… if she was right about this, she was probably right about all the other things too!

Herbivore? Carnivore? Omnivore?

Nope… if we really want the healthiest way of eating… for you, and for the rest or us, how about LOCAVORE!!

Factoid: The New Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore as its word of the year for 2007.

A “locavore” is someone that eats food grown or produced locally or within a certain radius of where they live. The distance considered “local” may vary depending upon your sensibilities, but a generally accepted rule of thumb may be within 100 miles.

This would be taking the question to a whole different level – one that transcends whether you are eating meat or not. And one that eschews the organic vs. non-organic argument. Or, better said, decide to eat locally first – then you can argue about all the rest of it. Vegetarian or carnivore, organic or not – if you are getting your food locally, chances are it will be healthier for you than if it traveled in a truck, boat or plane to make it to your plate. And, just as importantly, it will be healthier for me if you did that too!

The average American meal has traveled at least 1,500 miles to make it to your plate (that is further than the average American family goes for vacation). So what is the true cost of a meal when you consider the fuel costs of transportation and refrigeration, packaging, labor, etc? The cost to the environment and the inflated cost of gasoline (because of supposed scarcity) makes that 99 cent hamburger one heck of a lot more expensive.

Get this – according to Barbara Kingsolver (author of many novels including Poisonwood Bible) and husband Steven Hopp in their book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – if every American citizen would eat just one local and organically grown meal a week, the savings in fuel would amount to 1.1 million barrels of oil every week! How many of us have considered trading in our SUVs for little Hondas? Want to make a real difference, and help yourself in the process… become a locavore… the impact can be tremendous, even if you only partially dedicate yourself to the idea.

Locally grown food makes up less than 1% of the $900-billion food industry. The reasons for this are numerous, including grocery chains & wholesalers and fast-food producers finding it easier and more profitable to buy from huge factory farms. Government subsidies also contribute to the appearance of economies with the large-scale food delivery system.

Imagine what would happen if there were no more local farms in our area. All it would take is one natural disaster between here and the Mid-West, or one ill-timed political decision, or one trucker’s strike to render us helpless.

Here are additional benefits (other than saving gas) that come from encouraging and supporting local farmers…

Eating foods harvested locally also means eating them almost immediately after harvest, which translates into better taste and increased nutritional value, because foods ripen on the vine, not through an artificial process while in a truck.
Keeping local farmers in business helps to control urban sprawl – a family farm going out of business is what leads to the land becoming available to developers.
Eating locally encourages multiple cropping; growing multiple species and a wide variety of crops at the same time and place… this is healthier for the land and also makes the farms less susceptible to the likelihood of an entire crop loss caused by one factor (meaning if all you grow is soy beans and a soy bean virus attacks your crops – you’re done).
Multiple cropping also allows for more efficient use of labor and materials because different plants come in at different times, as opposed to 80% of the work happening in a short period of time.
Local economies are strengthened by protecting local jobs and local suppliers.
You should realize that foods in packages marked as “local” may mean that they were grown locally, shipped abroad for packaging and processing, and then shipped right back to your neighborhood for sale. This would hardly result in the intended outcome or conserving resources, etc. And, it would also mean that too much of the cost of the food would be going to all of the middle-men in that process, not the local farmer. So, when you buy locally, you should be buying from the actual farmer (at a farmer’s market, perhaps) or from a food co-op or local grocer who can certify the source and processing of the goods.

When you go to a farmer’s market to make your purchases, take the time to actually talk to the farmer. First of all, it’s the neighborly thing to do (and he or she IS your neighbor). Also, you can find out about the farming methods used – organic or not – and you can get the opportunity to let your preferences be known. You are the consumer, the customer, after all, and farmers want to grow the things that you are interested in buying.

And don’t forget about restaurants that advertise local foods used in their establishments. Eating at these places has a tremendous trickle down effect in supporting local farmers and encouraging more of them to continue to do their thing.

There are a lot of resources around to help you find local farmers and farmers markets. You can go to www.localharvest.org and click on the map where you live. Bring up www.futureharvestcasa.org for more regional resources and information. Click on www.100milediet.org to read even more about this concept and to get on the road to becoming a locavore yourself.

I really encourage you to think this through very carefully. Think about how simple it would be to make a small change in your habits that could reap huge rewards down the road. One meal a week, that is less than 5% of your total eating activity, can make a huge difference in your health and mine. If you aren’t interested in helping yourself, you could at least do it for me!

Your stomach actually has two parts. The upper part, also known as the “Cardiac Stomach” is basically a warm, moist chamber where food sits for about 20 minutes after being eaten. While sitting there enzymes that are in the food begin to break the food down. All foods coming directly from nature come equipped with the proper enzymes to break itself down. Leave a piece of raw meat out on the counter and it will start to degrade… part of that process is caused by the enzymes going to work. This is the very reason “aged” beef is more tender, because it is already breaking itself down. Once the food has sat in the upper stomach for a period of time, then it drops to the lower part where the body then does the rest of the digestion work, mostly from the work of the liver and the pancreas.

Ideally, this process is a fifty-fifty proposition. Half of digestion is done by your body and half is done by the enzymes that are in the food. But what happens with most of us? Zero percent gets done by the enzymes and we expect our bodies to do all of the digestion work. This happens because the food that we eat no longer contains the enzymes. There are four things that we do to food that kill the enzymes; 1) cooking food over 118 degrees, 2) processing food, 3) microwaving food, & 4) drinking carbonated beverages.

When you ask your body to do all of the digestion work there are 2 important thing that may result. First of all, the food you eat does not get digested completely. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, your liver and pancreas become overworked, stressed, and they start to ignore all of their other functions. The liver is responsible for clearing toxins from the body and processing cholesterol. The pancreas is responsible for the body using sugar appropriately and efficiently. Adult Onset Diabetes was rarely seen in this country until we started eating a processed food diet. Now, doctors feel it is only a matter of time before everyone ends up with sugar problems.

So here are my tips for proper digestion: 1) Sit down while you eat (and this coming from a pharmacist!), 2) chew your food completely before you swallow, 3) do not “preload” your fork with your next bite of food until you are done with the current mouthful, 4) do not drink even moderate amounts of fluids while you are eating (this only dilutes your digestive juices), 5) concentrate on your food with appreciation while you are eating instead of the television or newspaper, and 6) consider taking a digestive enzyme with each meal.

It occurred to me at the time, that we (I include myself because I was a part of the process) were spending an awful lot of time, energy and money in trying to drag the bottom of the class up instead of helping the truly excellent students soar to new heights.

Guess what… we do the same thing in this country with our supposed Health Care System.

It isn’t a Health Care System at all; it’s a Sick Care System!! No where in the traditional medical model are there substantive efforts being made towards the ideas of illness prevention and health promotion. Oh sure, we read things in the papers about this study or that initiative. Our kids come home from school with information about this project or that new plan. All of this is nothing more than lip service.

The meat of what we do is to wait for people to get sick, and then spend one hell of a lot of time, money, effort and precious resources in trying to make them well… or really, just above being sick.

Case in point… the most conservative estimates are that diet effects health to the extent that 1/3 of all diseases are preventable. Remember, this is the most conservative estimate. There are many people, me included, that think the true number is more like 75%, but for arguments sake, lets say that its only 33%. If this is the case, then why is it that less than 2% of our research expenditures are looking at diet as a means of affecting health?

I want you to imagine that we have a person who has a desire to fly. I’m not talking about in an airplane… I mean flap his arms and fly. So, he goes up to the highest cliff he can find, gets a running start and jumps off. Now, he is in the air flapping his arms and thinks to himself… “this is great… I’m flying!!” He does notice that way off in the distance the ground is down there somewhere, but this is of no concern to him… he is airborne!

After a while he begins to observe that the ground is getting a little closer. This doesn’t really bother him though; because he is still on the wing… he just flaps his arms a little harder. A little later he looks down and sees that the ground is really coming up fast now, so he decides he better flap even faster.

You know how this story is going to end… with a splat. Our friend was never really flying in the first place, he was just falling. And so it is with our medical system now. We are not flying… we are free-falling towards an ugly end. And, in case you hadn’t noticed… the ground is coming towards us really fast now… we are dangerously close to the splat part.

And what are the people that are making decisions for the medical system doing?? You guessed it… they are flapping their arms harder and faster. How long have we had a “war on cancer” in this country?? It was Nixon who made this declaration back in the 70’s.

Are we winning that war? Absolutely not!! And don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

The spin doctors will try to tell you that we are winning that war because more people are surviving this cancer or that cancer. If that is the case, it is because of our efforts towards earlier detection… mammograms and colonoscopies… not because less people are getting cancer. In fact, there are more people getting cancer today then there were yesterday, or last week, or last month, or last year… all the way back to the 70’s when the “war” was first declared.

And yet, we keep spending billions of dollars researching new ways to treat these cancers. Flap those arms, baby, flap those arms. In fact, did you know that there are more people working for the cancer industry (research, manufacturing, treatment, organizations, etc.) than there are who have cancer??

The same is true with heart disease… we are not making any advances in helping people prevent cardiovascular disease… we just keep them alive longer because of advances in emergency medicine. Flap, flap, flap. Depression? Osteoporosis? Diabetes? All the same story.

Even though this “story” sounds bleak and an untimely end inevitable… we do have an out. Right now, if we would just turn around and look behind us we would see that we are wearing a parachute. And what do we have to do to pull the rip cord? Start using common sense. Realize that big money interests (drug companies), self-interested politicians and lazy bureaucrats don’t care about you and your health.

Realize that we have the ability to make substantial changes in our health, sometimes overnight, by merely making some adjustments in what we eat and how we eat it. Reject the notion that in our society it is okay to die while taking a prescription medicine but not okay to die when not taking a medicine. Discard the false thought that our medical professionals know what is best for us. Abandon the idea of better living through modern chemistry.

And while we are up to making observations about the world in which we live… let’s try this one on for size. Has anyone else noticed that natural selection no longer applies to the human species? Think about this… we are the only animal on this planet to which “Survival of the Fittest” is not important.

Do you understand the ramifications of this fact??

Natural selection is the means by which the resources of this planet remain abundant enough to allow for the continuation and proliferation of the various species that happen to live here. It is also the means by which a particular species becomes stronger, as a species, to allow for its own continued survival.

We have gone against this irrefutable law of nature on two fronts. First of all, we are the only species to actually obliterate other species from this planet. We have been responsible for the extinction of countless varieties of life here. As plant and animal life becomes less diverse on the Earth, our particular prospects for survival also decrease. This is known and accepted scientific fact.

Secondly, and maybe more importantly, we are no longer proliferating stronger and stronger members of our species. In fact, just the opposite is happening… now it has become survival of the fattest! For the first time our children are not expected to live as long as we do. Just to let you know, I didn’t just make this up… it actually comes from the New England Journal of Medicine.

I want to emphasize this again… Our children’s life expectancy is actually less than ours. This is a clear indication that we have begun to move in the wrong direction… as a health care industry and as a species. It is all the proof that we need that the last 150 years of allopathic medicine was a poorly designed, doomed to fail experiment in regards to human evolution and longevity. We have to get the message that waiting for ill health to happen and then try to “fix” things with drugs and surgery just does not work.

At first, it may have seemed like it was working… just like our man trying to fly. Here’s a news flash for all of our friends at the AMA, the FDA, the drug companies and the insurance industry… you can keep flapping your arms as hard and as fast as your want… you are about to crash!

And just to let you know… you are not taking me with you… or my family… or my listeners… and hopefully not those of you reading these words either.

Back in 1942 a researcher named Dr. Pottenger concluded the first study that evaluated the impact of our modern, processed-food diet on the health of an organism throughout multiple generations. This ten year study that was performed on cats came to be known as the Pottenger Cat Study and has enjoyed near celebrity status among practitioners of the holistic science while being completely ignored by conventional medicine.

In this study, Dr. Pottenger took 900 cats and divided them into two groups. The first group was fed a whole-food diet which was comprised of raw meat, raw milk and supplemented with cod liver oil. The control group was fed an identical diet with one exception, the food was cooked and/or pasteurized mimicing the processed, enzyme-poor diet of modern society. Throughout the course of the ten year study the health of the first, second, third and fourth generations of cats was monitored with a focus on potency, fertility and immune function. The results were nothing short of astounding:

1. The first generation who were fed the cooked diet were already beginning to show signs of degeneration including heart problems, poor thyroid function, arthritis, inflammation, infection and bladder problems.

2. These health problems continued through the second and third generation of cats and were magnified with each generation.

3. Second generation started to show signs of skin problems which worsened with each generation.

4. The second and third generation were showing signs of infertility. By the second generation, 70% of attempted births resulted in miscarriages.

5. 83% of the second generation male cats were nearly completely infertile. 53% of the female cats in the second generation had underdeveloped ovaries.

6. None of the cats in the third generation survived past 6 months.

7. “Deficient” cats that were then put on a raw diet showed signs of significant improvement.

This study shows just how important a raw food diet can be to our health. Ask yourself, when was the last time that you really ate a diet full of colorful and raw fruits and vegetables? This study should be an eye opener to just how vital diet is to health and vitality.

Not long ago, I wandered upon a book in the book store by Dr. Hiroma Shinya, the physician who discovered the colonoscopy technique that is so widely used as a screening tool today. Although colon cancer is mentioned numerous times throughout the book, Dr. Shinya dedicated the book to the impact of raw foods on overall health. In his career he has had the opportunity to look at the colons of thousands of people, some who enjoyed good health and others who were not so lucky, suffering with a multitude of diseases. Throughout his career he determined that he could determine the general health of the person by looking at the health of their digestive tract. People who have diseased digestive tracts have a tendency to have diseased bodies. He goes on to discuss a theory about how a raw, healthy diet can promote overall health. He speaks about vital and delicate enzymes found in food that play integral roles in the repair and regeneration of the body. He theorize that a yet undiscovered enzyme building block exists in food that the body uses to produce all enzymes in the body responsible for repair and regeneration and the processing of this food leads to a destruction of this universal enzyme building block. The result is a widespread deficiency in repair and regeneration enzymes responsible for keeping the body in tip top shape. This finding would confirm the research performed by Dr. Pottenger.

So, how do we use the results?

1. Purchase the book The Enzyme Factor by Dr. Hiromi Shinya and read it. He provides guidelines that help us to load our body with the health promoting universal enzyme building block.

2. Try to eat 80% of your diet as raw, uncooked foods!

3. Use digestive enzymes such as Tyler Similase whenever you eat cooked or processed food. By using digestive enzymes with your meals you will take some of the strain off of the pancreas and leave more building blocks for the metabolic enzymes responsible for repair and regeneration.

4. Promote this healthy diet to your children and grandchildren!