Tag Archives: nutrition

Clean fuel

Can Food Change Your Mood?

Can you eat yourself out of depression?

If you looked at my last posts, you will know that a diet high in processed food contributes to or causes heart attacks and strokes.

A diet high in meat  is associated with certain kinds of cancers as described in the China Study,  a longitudinal study looking at diet and cancer death rates.

Dirty fuel contributes to a host of other illness including diabetes, and  high blood pressure.

Moreover, dirty fuel contributes to depression.

The Evidence

Check out this Wall Street Journal article by Elizabeth Bernstein. She highlights multiple studies concluding that a healthy diet prevents and treats depression.   It is worth a read.  Some specifics need highlighting.

First, the writer describes the following “healthy diet” as “high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and unprocessed lean red meat”.   Then they mention that an adequate diet is a  “Mediterranean-style diet made up primarily of fruits and vegetables, extra-virgin olive oil, yogurt and cheese, legumes, nuts, seafood, whole grains, and small portions of red meat.”  Since this article was published in the Wall Street Journal, I would never expect them to ever say anything to challenge the major national food producers, so they must include some meat and dairy to satisfy industry.  Moreover, a Mediterranean style diet reduces the incidence of heart attacks, and strokes, but fails to resolve the issue.  A whole food plant-based diet eliminates the risk of cardiovascular disease altogether.  It appears that the cited study in the article received contributions from Glaxo SmithKline, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb and the Meat and Livestock Board of Australia.  Need I say more?

The second issue  is this whole new field called “nutritional psychiatry”.  It would be very interesting to see psychiatry pioneer a stronger focus on diet since the rest of the medical industry is woefully behind.  Again, nutrition was not a focus of my education.   Money drives medical and surgical care.  Perhaps it will change, but it will require a grassroots effort.  It will not come from the top.

 

Uncategorized

Clean Fuel and Dirty Fuel

I am writing this blog to address the health education gap that exists between physicians and patients.  The first thing I will introduce with this post is a synthesized concept I call  clean fuel dirty fuel.

Clean fuel consists of food that your body burns completely without any residue.  Examples of clean fuel include: oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat pasta or vegetable pasta, sweet or white potatoes, peas and beans, and corn.  These are foods your body largely burns and converts into pure energy.  There is no portion control with these foods; therefore, you can eat as much as you desire as long as the foods are prepared in a certain way.

Meanwhile, dirty fuel presents a bit more of a problem.  These are foods that your body largely turns into fat; they do not burn cleanly.  Fat is the remaining residue, and animal protein lead to a host of medical problems.  Examples of dirty fuel include:  processed food (bread, potato chips, french fries, juice, sweetened tea, soda, alcohol dessert that is not fruit, anything from a fast food restaurant including pizza, nuts (eat no more than 10-20 nuts in a day, oil of any type), eggs, dairy of any type, and meat including beef, chicken, pork, liver, veal, goat, lamb, or any internal organ, and seafood (any of it).  Consume dirty fuel in limited quantities.  Portion control is a must.