Day Six started off with a bang, literally. The vibration of my cell phone’s alarm had caused the device to hop from the bedside table onto the floor. I had already woken up before the commotion, though, and had simply been lying quietly in bed, thinking about the fact that this day would be my last full day at the retreat. It was 5:15 AM. I quickly got out of bed and headed to the shower. Michael was still asleep. The night before, he had asked me to wake him when I was done with my morning routine.
When I emerged from the bathroom, I saw Michael had gotten up on his own steam and was grabbing his shower items to wash up. I told him I wanted to get over to the gym soon. What with all the talk of other attendees joining us for our morning workout, I felt the gym might get crowed early.
By 5:45 AM, Michael and I were heading toward the elevator. We both wondered if other immersionists would really show up at the gym, especially since we had all enjoyed a late night the day before. When the elevator doors opened, Michael and I saw over twenty people wearing their green immersion T-shirts and holding their water bottles. One of my fellow program participants looked at me and asked, “So, what’s on the agenda this morning, Big Sexy?”
We were completely floored by the number of people who had shown up. After a quick head count, I realized there was no way all of us would fit in the hotel gym at the same time, considering there were already other hotel guests working out there. I turned to the group and asked, “Who’s up for a morning walk?” Everyone agreed that a walk would be awesome, so we made our exit through the front door of the building and got to it.
That morning was much like most others in Florida, warm and humid. At least the sun had not yet come up and there was a bit of a breeze. I can only imagine what our group must have looked like to people driving down the street at the time. We had people of different races, cultures, and ages, and a great mix of both men and women. It was inspiring to me. The walk soon turned into a moving party. We talked and laughed amongst ourselves over the course of the entire trek. The combined energy of the group was palpable. Here it was, barely 6 AM and our caffeine-free walkers were fully awake, clear-headed, and keeping a pretty good pace, too. Everyone was motivated in a way none of us had been just six days earlier. We reached one of the nearby piers and stopped to take a few photographs, making our way back to the hotel soon after.
When we arrived back at the resort, everyone made plans to meet up on the patio after the big beach party scheduled for that night. That’s right. Day Six would conclude with a beach party, complete with Tiki torches and a live band. This immersion was not only changing my life in ways I had never dreamed possible but also turning out to be a pretty amazing vacation. A quick check of my watch made me realize the walk had taken a little too long. We had already missed a significant portion of the morning exercise class. After chatting with the group for a few minutes, Michael told me he was going to head over to the class and take advantage of the remaining time. I decided to head up to my room and wash up before breakfast instead. In doing so, I could shower for longer than five minutes.
After a luxuriously long shower, I got dressed and then took a moment to call home. Iris picked up the phone and immediately said, “Good morning, sweetheart. I’ve missed you.” I couldn’t help but smile. I let her know I had been missing her as well. We talked about everything that had been going on with her. I then shared my morning walk experience with her. I was happy to have the time to talk to Iris for a long while. She said, “Milan, I am so very proud of you. I know that you are not the same person that left one week ago. I can hear the change in your voice when you speak. You have my full support.” Although I was hundreds of miles away, I could feel her love. I told her I loved her, said good-bye, grabbed my immersion work-book, and went to breakfast.
I swiftly worked my way through the buffet line and then over to my favorite table. I sat down and looked around, noticing how transformed everyone seemed. We were no longer the disconnected ragtag bunch that had arrived just six days prior. Things were different and everyone knew it. We sat there and talked about our most treasured moments of the week, laughing and sharing in the same way a family does. Immersion had created a bond between us. We were having so much fun that we lost track of time (again) and almost made ourselves late for the first lecture of the day. One of our group pointed out that the speech was due to start in less than five minutes, at which point we all hastily gathered our belongings and headed to the ballroom.
In his lecture, Dr. Stoll provided a detailed analysis of type 2 diabetes, honing in on its causes, its complications, and the ways in which a plant-based diet may reverse insulin resistance and prevent this rampant condition in the first place. He also talked about the study of epigenetics, explaining the fact that outside forces could actually turn genes on or off. It was refreshing to hear that we are not simply victims of our genetics. Dr. Stoll led us all to rethink the idea of disease as a foregone conclusion of the cards we’d be dealt before birth. This revelation made me feel as though the power over my life had been shifted back into my own hands, or rather, that it had always been there.
When the lecture ended, we were given a ten-minute break, which many of us spent out on the patio, posing for pictures with new friends. It was obvious everyone was thinking about the next day, when we would all be leaving the retreat and reentering the real world. Each of us wanted to relish every last minute of this extraordinary experience.
After the break, we were treated to a cooking class hosted by Dr. Stoll and his wife, along with their older children. That’s correct. Dr. Stoll and practically his entire family cooked onstage together. It was quite a cool sight to see. Witnessing this event helped me view meal preparation as something I could do with my own family. It suddenly occurred to me that if Iris and I were to include Nigel in the daily rituals of making breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he might just enjoy taking part. It would be nice to see him fully engaged in healthy habits that might follow him into adulthood.
The demonstration ended just before lunch. Everyone went to the banquet hall, where the atmosphere was starting to feel electric due to anticipation of the beach party scheduled for later that night. I thought it was utterly fitting that we would have a party. There was so much to celebrate. On a personal level, I was no longer addicted to caffeine and I had obviously lost some weight, but everyone in the banquet hall had something worthy of jubilant recognition.
After making my lunch plate, I met the rest of my immersion gang at our table. We spent the majority of our time laughing and talking rather than actually eating, it seemed. During all the shenanigans, someone mentioned the idea of taking a group photo during our final patio party later that night. Everyone agreed it had to happen.
I finished my lunch and decided to go for a barefoot walk on the beach by myself. With my sandals in hand, I started making my way down to the sand. I could smell the ocean saltwater in the air. The sand was hot, so I walked along the water’s edge, ankle-deep in the ocean. With the sun on my face, I strolled leisurely, taking time to give thanks for the amazing opportunity to attend Dr. Stoll’s Immersion program.
At 1:45 PM, I rejoined the immersionists in the ballroom, where a lecture by Dr. Michael Greger was starting. A world-renowned expert on clinical nutrition, New York Times best-selling author, and founding member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Dr. Greger had a very entertaining way of delivering the facts. His speech dealt with the top fifteen causes of death in humans, which I thought would make for a humorless and dire lecture. I was wrong. The whole room laughed riotously as Dr. Greger made his way through the list, injecting a sense of lighthearted playfulness to the proceedings. As Dr. Stoll had also explained to us, Dr. Greger described how we might all save our lives by changing our lifestyles. By the end of the lecture, it truly seemed as though living according to a healthy mindset could help anyone avoid most of the causes of death on the list.
After the speech, many of my fellow attendees met on the patio and discussed what the next steps on this journey might be. The real world felt as though it was inching closer and closer to us all. I listened as some people spoke of challenges they might face in getting their spouses or children to change their lifestyles as well. Others spoke about how excited they were to begin their new lives in earnest.
Late that afternoon, the entire retreat group met on the lawn for an official immersion group picture. Once the photo had been taken, all that was left on the schedule was dinner at 6:15 PM and the beach party at 7:45 PM. Having a little over an hour to kill before dinner, my patio family decided to meet at the hotel pool for a bit of fun in the sun and cooling off in the water. Michael and I returned to our room, put on our swimming trunks, and made our way poolside.
Our group played in the water like children. There were cannon-balls and back flips, games of chicken, and lots of splashing. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been comfortable taking my shirt off to swim. Here I was, a forty-something man running around like a twenty-year-old kid.
As dinnertime crept ever closer, I decided to leave the pool gathering with enough time to head back to my room and shower before sitting down to enjoy my evening meal. I also took a few minutes to call Iris and Nigel and check in. Nigel answered the phone and asked, “Dad, are you skinny yet?” I laughed and replied, “I will find out tomorrow how much weight I have lost since arriving here, but yes, my son, I am definitely skinnier than I was when you last saw me.” Nigel cheered in anticipation of seeing his “new” dad soon. I told him my transformation was just beginning. I still had a long way to go, but now I had a map to show me the way. Nigel promised to help me in any way he could. His sincerity almost brought tears to my eyes. I thanked my son.
Once Nigel had caught me up on all the latest regarding school and our family pets, I told him how much I loved him and asked to speak to his mom. Iris got on the line and proceeded to talk about her day. She told me that some of my coworkers had asked after me while she had been grocery shopping earlier. She also said she was ready to commit fully to the new lifestyle I would be bringing home with me. I couldn’t thank her enough for being my rock. I let her know I was ready to come home. I had been missing her and Nigel dearly. After a brief but lovely conversation, I told Iris I adored her and would call her in the morning. Clean and revitalized from the shower, I put on a crisp pair of shorts and a fresh T-shirt and went down to meet Michael and the rest of the gang in the banquet hall.
As I stepped into the room, I immediately felt an enormous amount of energy radiating from my fellow immersionists. Everyone was ready to get his or her party on. This particular night’s meal felt different from all the rest. It was as though I was meeting up with old friends for dinner and a great night on the town. Lots of people asked me whether there would be an unofficial after-party on the patio later. I quickly let them know there would be, and that all were welcome to come.
After eating another wonderful evening meal, Michael and I exited the hotel and stepped onto the beach to check out the setup. As with everything else at the retreat, the beach party had been remarkably arranged. There were tables with various types of fruit-infused water, chocolate-avocado pudding topped with strawberries, and other immersion-approved snacks. There were Tiki torches lining a huge area of the beach just twenty feet from the water’s edge. At the far end of the festivities was a band, complete with stage lights and a sound system.
Michael and I surveyed the party grounds as the band began to play. It didn’t take long before everyone was dancing and having a great time. Everyone seemed to be joining in, from Dr. Stoll and his entire family to the rest of the immersion staff and all the participants. I didn’t see a single person standing on the sidelines. After a few songs, the band segued into “Electric Boogie,” letting us all know it was time to do the “electric slide.” We instinctively fell in line and began to dance in unison.
About an hour or so into the party, the band broke into Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier.” Seeing the ball I was having and my obvious affection for the song, the singer invited me onstage to sing. I grabbed the microphone and let it rip. The entire crowd responded in applause. I hadn’t felt so alive in a very long time. I was struck by the feeling that the crowd was clapping not only for me but also for themselves. We were all one. By the time we began forming a conga line, we had people who were not even associated with the program joining in.
While taking a water break, I was approached by a hotel guest who had not come to attend immersion. She asked if I knew where the bar was, looking to me as though she’d already had a few drinks inside the hotel. I explained to her that the party she was now at was actually an end-of-week bash for a wellness retreat, and that, as such, there was no alcohol available. She stared at me as though I had two heads and then asked, “If there’s no alcohol, then why is everyone partying so hard?” I told her we were celebrating a new lease on life. She laughed and told me we were all crazy as she staggered off to find the oceanfront bar.
At around 8:45 PM, I was standing at one of the tables and talking to Michael and the gang when someone suggested we end the night by jumping into the ocean. Since we were standing only about twenty feet from the water and could hear the waves crashing onto the beach, we all smiled and contemplated the suggestion. After a few minutes of back-and-forth debate amongst the group, I looked at my new friends and said, “That’s it! I am doing it!”
I started walking toward the ocean when all of a sudden the rest of the group ran up to me from behind. I stopped in my tracks as we all locked arms with one another and then ran toward the water. Before I knew it, we were in. Everyone cheered and laughed as the waves washed over us in the darkness of night. In a way, our collective leap into the ocean had been the final step of the immersion program. To all the other people at the beach party, we probably looked nuts, but to me and my extended patio family, that quick dip had meant a lot.
By the time we got out of the water, the beach party was coming to a close. The gang agreed to meet back on the patio in twenty minutes for our after-party. Michael and I headed up to our room to change. Fifteen minutes later we were sitting on the patio with what appeared to be more than half the immersion attendees. Apparently, word had gotten out about our tradition and no one wanted to miss out on the final informal get-together. During the after-party, the members of my core group got together and posed for a group photo. That picture hangs in my house to this day.
At approximately 1 AM, we all called it a night. Back in our room, Michael and I chatted for a few minutes about the night’s events and all the amazing things we had experienced during our weeklong immersion program. We couldn’t believe it was almost over. Michael mentioned how he felt as though he had known me his entire life. I told him I felt exactly the same way. We talked about our little immersion family and voiced our optimism about the future. We shot the breeze for a little while longer as we got ready for bed, and then we said our goodnights, set our wake-up call and alarms, shut off the lights, and went to sleep. Tomorrow we would be going home.
Dr. Stoll’s Story
Before the first lecture of the day, I stopped by the kitchen to check in on the members of my family, who were preparing for the cooking demonstration we would be giving that afternoon. I opened the door to find my five-year-old son, Elijah, and my seven-year-old daughter, Joy, wearing prep gloves and rolling oat and raisin balls in their hands. They were also rotating their hips as though they were twirling hula hoops. I looked at my wife, who smiled at me in recognition of such a funny sight. She told me that the immersion chef had dropped by earlier and said that the best way to roll an oatmeal and raisin ball was all “in the hips.” We laughed at how seriously our children were applying this advice.
I left my wife and children to their work and headed to the ballroom to give my lecture, which would continue the previous day’s theme of lifestyle-related illness. I began by revisiting the subject of the digestive system, this time focusing on the pancreas.
This morning I would like to return to our tour of the human body and take a closer look at the pancreas, so that we might address in greater detail the scourge known as type 2 diabetes. The pancreas is a yellow tongue-shaped organ that sits just behind the stomach. One of the most important duties of the pancreas is to control blood sugar levels. When you eat complex carbohydrates, which may be found in natural foods like grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes, these nutrients are broken down into glucose—a simple form of sugar—which is then absorbed into the bloodstream. The pancreas responds to elevated blood glucose levels by secreting insulin, a hormone that acts as a key, opening the door to cells to allow glucose to enter. Once inside cells, glucose acts as biological fuel, providing cells with the energy they need to function.
Type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle-related disease that occurs when consistently elevated blood sugar levels and fat in muscle cells cause cells to become resistant to insulin. This resistance prevents the key from opening the door, forcing glucose to remain in the bloodstream. While type 2 diabetes is known as adult-onset diabetes due to the average age at which it appears, today this condition affects children as young as ten years old. In contrast, type 1 diabetes, or juvenile diabetes, occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and kills insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. As a result, type 1 diabetics require life-long insulin injections.
Elevated glucose levels can be determined in different ways. One common method is to measure fasting blood glucose, which refers to the amount of blood glucose after an eight-hour fast. Another method is to measure glycated hemoglobin, normally referred to as HbA1c, which indicates the average blood glucose level over a period of two to three months. Research has shown that risk of type 2 diabetes increases as these levels climb.1 Additionally, in people with or without diabetes, risk of heart disease also increases along with rises in these measurements.2 Needless to say, it is vitally important to identify the lifestyle-related causes of insulin resistance, as well as the steps we can take to reverse it.
Type 2 diabetes has been growing at near-epidemic rates across the globe. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, estimates that twenty-one million people live with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, while another eighty-six million are prediabetic, which means that their blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not yet classifiable as diabetic. It is also thought that nine out of every ten prediabetics do not actually know they are at risk of full-blown diabetes.3 If these trends continue, nearly one out of every three adults in the country will have type 2 diabetes by 2050. Globally, diabetes is projected to grow by 55 percent and affect 600 million people by 2035. Africa and the Middle East are forecasted to see increases in their diabetic populations of nearly 100 percent during that same time period.4 Diabetes is costly both to people and nations, and if these numbers are correct, this disease will eventually touch nearly everyone in some way. I know there is a solution to this problem, however, and that these predictions do not have to come true.
Over time, elevated blood sugar levels can lead to nerve damage known as diabetic neuropathy, vision problems that include glaucoma and blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, and even cancer. The good news is that type 2 diabetes is largely preventable and reversible with a whole food, plant-based diet. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look at why cells become resistant to insulin. In so doing, we may better comprehend the reasons why a plant-based diet is recommended in connection with this problem.
It may come as no surprise that eating refined sugar, processed food, and too many flour-based products is unhealthy, as doing so dumps excessive glucose into your system. But if insulin is available, why doesn’t it unlock cells and escort glucose inside once type 2 diabetes has taken hold? The answer is actually pretty interesting. Research suggests that the fat inside skeletal muscle cells acts like tape placed over the “keyholes” of cells, preventing insulin from acting as a key to open their doors and allow glucose entry. Basically, glucose is left standing outside cellular doors.
While this information may be news to you, it is not a new finding. Research on this subject dating back to the 1920s found that insulin resistance rose sharply after a few days of a high-fat diet, exceeding any changes associated with a high-sugar, high-carbohydrate diet.5 This finding has been confirmed by more recent studies, including imaging studies that traced fat into and out of muscles following dietary intakes of high-fat food.6 In healthy subjects, a high-fat meal produced insulin resistance in just four hours.7 Can you imagine how the body responds to the typical Western diet, which is comprised of more than 30 percent fat from meals such as a bacon and egg sandwich at breakfast, a ham and cheese sandwich with potato chips at lunch, and a cheese steak and fries at dinner?
It is not just dietary fat that contributes to fat-derived insulin resistance, though. Excess body fat pours free fatty acids back into the blood, escalating insulin resistance.8 An overweight person can display insulin resistance that mimics that of a slimmer person who just ate a high-fat meal, even if that overweight individual just ate healthfully. This fact is even more troubling when you consider the typical Western diet, which spikes blood sugar and contains large amounts of saturated fat. This problematic combination can severely damage the delicate insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas, resulting in even higher insulin resistance and lower insulin availability.9
Excess body fat works against your health in so many ways. Although fat is often given cute names such as “spare tire,” “love handles,” or “beer belly,” it is no joke. Over and over again, excess fat has been shown to increase disease risk. It is a factory that pumps out excess hormones and inflammatory molecules, activates pathways that lead to a pro-cancer environment, and causes excess wear on joints. Consider the fact that every ten pounds of excess body weight places thirty pounds of stress on the back and up to sixty pounds on the knees. Finally, the combination of excess weight and insulin resistance is not only the number one riskv factor for diabetes but has also been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.10,11,12
Fortunately, type 2 diabetes responds well to a plant-based diet. Studies that evaluated the prevalence of diabetes in different dietary groups, from omnivores to vegan, have found that vegans have a 78-percent lower overall risk of diabetes than omnivores.13 A plant-based diet tends to produce bodies with less intramuscular fat compared to those of omnivores of similar weight. It also leads to improved insulin sensitivity.14,15 In general, people who eat a plant-based diet for six months not only become healthier but also report higher levels of dietary satisfaction and control.16
Imagine for a moment the global media reaction to a pill that could reverse diabetes in the vast majority of people without any negative side effects. Such a treatment would dramatically change medicine, healthcare, business, and, most importantly, people and their families. Now understand that you don’t need a prescription or medical appointment to get the same result. You can purchase your type 2 diabetes remedy in your grocery store today without significantly changing your monthly budget. This idea is not fiction; it is fact. Over three decades’ worth of research prove it as such.
One study fed long-standing diabetics an all-you-can-eat diet of high-carbohydrate, high-fiber plant foods designed to keep body weight steady and eliminate weight loss as a factor in the outcome of the research. The study hoped to look at food choice alone as the primary intervention in type 2 diabetes. In just sixteen days, subjects experienced dramatic improvements and were able to reduce their insulin dosages significantly. Approximately 50 percent of participants were able to discontinue their insulin usage altogether.17
In a 1982 study, after twenty-six days of following the plant-based Pritikin diet and an exercise regimen, 87 percent of subjects were able to discontinue their oral medications and 77 percent discontinued insulin therapy.18 Excluding exercise from the equation, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health pitted a vegan diet against the nationally recognized American Diabetic Association, or ADA, diet, which includes meat and dairy products. In every category measured, the vegan diet had better results: glycated hemoglobin readings were 70 percent lower, LDL cholesterol levels were 57 percent lower, subjects experienced 54 percent more weight loss, and 40 percent more medications were reduced or discontinued.19
Another study comparing a plant-based diet to the ADA diet went beyond looking merely at measurements of blood sugar, weight, and medication usage, and also analyzed changes in markers of inflammation and insulin resistance. The plant-based diet again led to greater improvements in blood sugar control, weight, medication usage, and insulin sensitivity. Perhaps the real hidden treasure of this research, however, was the fact that the plant-based diet reduced inflammation while the ADA diet had no effect.
This finding is significant when you consider the complications related to diabetes in which inflammation may play a key role, including heart disease, neuropathy, blindness, and cancer. Finally, the study’s plant-based diet was associated with proper regulation of hormones such as leptin, which, as you know, stimulates hunger. This could be why reports filled out by both groups after the analysis suggested that the plant-based group has an easier time following its diet.
In terms of the possible consequences of type 2 diabetes, neuropathy, or nerve pain, and blindness can occur when damage to the small blood vessels reduces blood supply to fragile nerves in the legs, hands, or retina of the eye, resulting in local tissue harm and dysfunction. One study set out to determine if a vegan diet might provide any benefit beyond control of blood sugar for patients already suffering from neuropathy. Participants with painful neuropathy were placed on a plant-based diet and modest exercise regimen for twenty days. Remarkably, in four to sixteen days, 80 percent of subjects reported complete resolution of pain, improvement in numbness, reductions in insulin dosages, weight loss, and better cholesterol readings. Follow-up studies over the next four years revealed that 71 percent had remained on the diet and exercise regimen and reported continued relief from symptoms.20
In his profound research on diabetic retinopathy, Dr. Walter Kempner at Duke University placed diabetic patients with severe retinopathy on a plant-based diet of his creation, which included lots of rice and fruit. At the time of his study, no one had documented a reversal of retinopathy. Dr. Kempner used special photography to document any changes in his patients’ eyes and then asked the head of the department of ophthalmology to review the photographs. After following the diet for approximately twenty-two months, thirteen out of the study’s forty-four patients displayed improvements in both eyes, while seven subjects showed improvements in one eye—previously unheard of results in connection with diabetic retinopathy.21 Exact reasons for these positive changes were not identified, but we can speculate from what we now know that endothelial cell function likely recovered, resulting in increased nitric oxide levels, better blood quality, healthier blood vessels, and reduced inflammatory molecules.
What I have presented today is only a brief summary of a few of the numerous studies that document the suspension or reversal of type 2 diabetes and its associated illnesses through adherence to a plant-based diet. Entire books have been written on the topic, but hopefully you can now see that the benefits of a plant-based diet go far beyond better blood sugar readings.
I would now like to share with you some emerging research that peers deeper into the body to present more thoroughly the profound impact of diet on genes and blood vessels, ultimately confirming the amazing health benefits of plant-based nutrition.
When babies are born, they represent pure potential. A newborn baby is an amazing combination of genes acquired from two individuals. Typically, when people hear the word “genes,” they think of unalterable traits like hair color or eye color. This type of thinking has spilled over into ideas about common diseases such as heart disease, cancer, autoimmune disease, and type 2 diabetes. People often believe they are destined to get the same illnesses their parents had, but lifestyle diseases are not written in stone.
You are not cursed at the moment of your birth. These conditions are the result of external factors and everyday choices, which have the ability to turn genes on or off. The field of study that looks at the relationship between genes and the environment is called epigenetics, which means “above the genes.” The science of epigenetics refers to changes in gene expression, which may be influenced by a number of factors, including lifestyle. In other words, choices you make in your daily life can affect whether or not certain genes become active or remain inactive. Research in this area suggests that your future health is tied directly to decisions you make today—what to eat, what to do, how to feel, and what to think. Power over your overall health has shifted from the health conditions you once thought simply to be the hand you were dealt at birth to the decisions you make each and every day.
The field of epigenetics was first discovered when researchers evaluated the birth weights of babies born during the Dutch famine of 1944, also known as the Dutch Hunger Winter. During the winter of 1944–1945, Nazi troops invaded Holland and cut off supply chains of fuel and food to four and a half million people in the Netherlands. Years later, researchers noticed a strange correlation while reviewing data of children born to mothers who had been pregnant during that time. Mothers who had been in their second or third trimesters over that winter had given birth to babies with overall lower birth weights and lower risks of disease later in life than those babies whose mothers had experienced the famine during their first trimesters only.22 Depending on its duration, caloric restriction seemed to have resulted in long-lasting changes in offspring of this region at the time.
In relation to this research, a Swedish study discovered that the future health of children can be influenced by more than just their mothers. According to this study, boys who had experienced food shortages between the ages of nine and twelve were found to have grandchildren with increased life spans.23 A striking conclusion from the literature on epigenetics is that a parent’s life experiences and exposures are passed on to their children and grandchildren. Look at it as the power of choice multiplied. Your lifestyle will be an inheritance left to your lineage. This is truly an empowering thought for people starting families. You can help create healthy bodies for your children and grandchildren before they have even been conceived. This revelation will certainly create a more powerful “why” in the minds of many people.
Studies of twins have also documented the power of nutrition and lifestyle choices. Identical twins, who share the same DNA, can grow up to have different diseases and even height measurements. Differing environmental factors, including dietary habits, stress levels, and activity levels, turn areas of their genes on or off, either protecting against or encouraging illness. In regard to the majority of lifestyle-related diseases, the likelihood of both twins acquiring the same condition is less than 50 percent.
Further information in this area may be gleaned from research on Agouti mice. These genetically identical mice have a gene, the “agouti gene,” which is turned on or off by diet and particular environmental exposure. One study showed that when agouti mice were fed a diet high in methyl groups, which are organic compounds that play a role in turning genes on or off, they acquired brown coats and lowered their overall risk of disease, while agouti mice that were fed a diet without methyl groups produced yellow coats, were obese, and had higher rates of diabetes and cancer. Thankfully, by simply changing the diets of pregnant agouti mice, coat color, weight, and disease rates of their offspring were altered.24 When the fat, yellow mice were fed a diet high in methyl groups, they had small, brown, healthy babies that went on to live long lives.
Epigenetics is exciting because it means the diseases of today don’t have to be the diseases of tomorrow. It would seem that the key ingredient to disease prevention and reversal is adding methyl groups to the epigenome through a process called methylation. This biochemical reaction occurs billions of times per second and plays an important role in DNA repair, sleep, mood, inflammation resolution, and the health of blood vessels. If the body does not contain sufficient methyl groups, these biochemical reactions falter and the person becomes susceptible to disease. So, what are the most abundant food sources of methyl groups? Investigators have found that leafy greens such as kale and bok choy, berries, broccoli, oranges, green tea leaves, sweet potatoes, apples, and soybeans are but a few of the plant foods that can protect your epigenome.25 Simply put, a plant-based diet stabilizes and protects your genes.
Furthermore, epigenetic research recognizes that the most common diseases today—heart disease, type 2 diabetes, many cancers, osteoporosis, dementia, and lung disease—are related to lifestyle factors that subtract methyl groups from the body.26 These factors include tobacco use, stress, and consumption of sugar, alcohol, caffeine, saturated fat, or salt. Fortunately, by eating plants, getting more rest, and exercising more often, you can add methyl groups to your body and protect yourself against these health conditions.
I would like to conclude this lecture by talking about the connection between lifestyle and cancer in particular. Cancer is a complex illness involving numerous contributing factors, both genetic and environmental, which initiate and fuel the abnormal growth of cells. Essentially, cancer occurs when certain cells lose the ability to undergo the normal process of cell death and instead continue to reproduce, forming tumors.
Time and time again, research has shown that the combination of a healthy lifestyle and plant-based diet may significantly reduce overall cancer risk.27,28 The largest prospective study on cancer and nutrition tracked more than half a million people in ten different countries and found that four factors markedly reduced cancer risk: not smoking, maintaining a healthy body weight, exercising, and eating a predominantly plant-based diet.29 It is important to recognize that prevention is the key to lowering cancer rates worldwide, and that diet and lifestyle lie at the core of prevention.
Although we do not yet understand all the ways in which food choices and lifestyle inhibit the growth of cancer, their effects on a natural process called angiogenesis may be involved. Angiogenesis refers to the formation of new blood vessels, which typically occurs when tissue is injured. The body responds to injury by growing new blood vessels to support healing. Once healing is complete, the body sends out chemicals known as angiogenesis inhibitors to stop further formation of blood vessels. In an unhealthy body, however, this process is disrupted, resulting in a dangerous overgrowth of blood vessels, which may be seen in connection with obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancerous tumors; or an inadequate growth of blood vessels, which has been linked to heart disease, macular degeneration, ulcers, and poor wound healing.30
Many studies suggest that factors such as inactivity, obesity, stress, tobacco use, overconsumption of sugar or saturated fat, and exposure to certain environmental toxins can alter angiogenesis, causing too much or too little blood vessel growth.31,32,33,34 It would seem that if we were able to alter the angiogenesis process according to need, we might be able to stop a number of health conditions before they occur. For example, we might be able to prevent early tumors from quickly becoming life-threatening35 by cutting off their blood supply with foods that suppress angiogenesis.
In regard to fighting disease through dietary choices, certain foods may inhibit the formation of blood vessels, potentially stemming the growth of cancer. They include leafy greens such as kale, chard, and dandelion greens, as well as broccoli, cauliflower, soybeans, berries, grapes, garlic, onions, turmeric, cinnamon, parsley, and mushrooms.36,37,38 Sounds like a plant-based diet, doesn’t it? In addition, stress reduction and increased exercise, which have been associated with lowering risk of heart disease and cancer, may also normalize angiogenesis.39,40,41 While we still have much to learn about the link between diet, lifestyle, and illness, research on angiogenesis may simply provide one more piece of a very big puzzle.
By 2030, the developing world will account for approximately 70 percent of new cancer diagnoses.42 We have exported the unhealthy Western lifestyle to people who don’t have access to medical care. I must admit that this fact troubled me for months, and then I read a comment made by my friend and the founder of the Angiogenesis Foundation, Dr. William Li. He said, “For many people around the world, dietary cancer prevention may be the only practical solution, because not everyone can afford expensive end-stage cancer treatments, but everyone could benefit from a healthy diet based on local, sustainable, anti-angiogeneic crops.”
Plant-based living can provide freedom from a number of health conditions to countless people around the world. As I look out upon the faces in this crowd, I know each of you will attain this freedom.
After my lecture, the hotel staff quickly transformed the stage into a kitchen for my family’s cooking demonstration, which often ends up being one of the highlights of immersion for my family, as well as a favorite of many immersionists. I think it’s important for people to see children involved in the process of preparing, serving, and enjoying healthy food.
My wife welcomed everyone to the temporary Stoll kitchen and shared her wish that this cooking demonstration would inspire people to see the kitchen as treasured space in which the family could grow and learn together. My older children assisted my wife in the preparation of healthy smoothies and then served them to the immersionists and my younger children. The revelation of the day, however, came when my wife made her sugar-free chocolate pudding. As the attendees tucked into their desserts, I heard someone in the crowd say, “If this is plant-based eating, then I can do this!”
