Fast Food Genocide

When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?

—ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES

What we eat matters. I hope I have made this very clear, having covered the ways in which fast food has created a sickly nation and perpetuated medical dependence. I have discussed the ways in which high-fat processed foods are dangerously addictive and negatively affect our poorest communities the most radically. And I also have delved deep into how nutrient-lacking food affects the brain and results in life-altering behavioral changes.

But there is good news. We can end this genocide. We can take back our lives from the tyranny of fast foods permeating the globe. But first let’s take a moment to look at how nutrient-rich foods save lives.

The facts about nutrition have changed in recent years. Fortunately, we now have on hand hundreds of thousands of studies with clear evidence that nutritional excellence can effectively prevent disease and extend the human life span. Unfortunately, only a very small percentage of people take advantage of these life-giving findings.

Recent discoveries in nutritional science have revealed that it is not merely excess sugar, white flour, and oils that accelerate aging and premature death; too many animal products in the diet can also have detrimental effects. It has been well-established that as animal protein is consumed in higher amounts, particularly above 10 percent of total calories, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels rise. IGF-1 is a growth-promoting hormone that, at higher levels, can promote aging, cell replication, cancer, and the spread of cancer.¹ With levels of animal products approaching 30 percent of calories, IGF-1 levels can run dangerously high, accelerating the development of both cancer and heart disease.

Many books and nutritional gurus promote a high-protein diet with lots of animal products. However, an increasing number of scientific studies have accumulated evidence that demonstrates the folly of this viewpoint and the dangerous outcomes that occur from following such ill-conceived advice. Higher intake of animal products in the diet is associated with twelve different types of cancer, as determined by data from the GLOBOCAN project of the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Researchers investigated populations in eighty-seven U.S. counties that had high-quality data available and demonstrated an association with cancer in the overwhelming majority of counties in which pasture-raised or naturally raised animal products were used, as opposed to feedlot-fed commercial meats, which are likely even more detrimental.²

More protein from animal products encourages the growth and spread of cancer. But when people modify their diets to include more natural, higher protein plant foods, such as beans, greens, seeds, and nuts, and fewer high-protein animal products, they achieve dramatic health and life span benefits, especially fewer deaths caused by heart attack.³

People in the nutritional arena make all types of claims, and they always have some studies to back up their views. Eggs are good; eggs are bad; fat is good; fat is bad—in each case, someone finds and quotes a different study to support a predetermined position. People can claim almost anything and always find some study somewhere that supports their viewpoint. The public is left with no choice but to believe whomever they want and just pick the diet they prefer to eat.

So why am I giving extra credence to the three studies I am highlighting as examples below? Why not accept other studies that show animal products are not so dangerous, and could even be helpful for some people? The main reason is the large number of participants in these studies and the significant number of years the study subjects were followed. Short-term studies can be manipulated to show benefits when a person loses weight, even if the diet is not ideal for cancer protection or longevity in the long run.

Blood test markers may improve, but these are soft endpoints, meaning they are suggestive of benefits but may or may not translate into fewer heart attacks, fewer strokes, less cancer, and a longer life down the road. Hard endpoints, such as a cardiac event, a cancer diagnosis, or a death, are more powerful indicators and need to be granted more weight and legitimacy. The data from many long-term studies with hard endpoints have accumulated recently, making the science definitive.

STUDY NUMBER ONE

Scientists followed more than 85,000 women and 44,000 men for twenty years or more (twenty-six years in women and twenty years in men), none of whom had prior diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. More than 12,500 deaths were recorded. This study demonstrated a 43 percent increased rate of death from all causes in those participants eating a “low-carbohydrate diet” that was high in animal products, compared with those eating a high-vegetable diet.⁴

This huge and convincing study, with more than twenty-five years of follow-up in women, clearly showed that a high-protein diet was much more dangerous than even the SAD; and of course the opposite approach, with fewer animal products and more plant vegetation in the diet, demonstrated a significant enhancement of life span. The study essentially puts an end to all debate about a high-protein diet. It simply is irresponsible to advise such a diet, because it kills people.

This massive study was published in 2010, meaning that we have known for years—without question—that these popular high-protein diets are deadly. It makes you wonder how authors can write books glorifying the benefits of high-protein, meat-based diets when such studies are available for everyone to review. Clearly, some authors pander to the masses’ desire to eat meat despite the known dangers.

STUDY NUMBER TWO

A 2012 study looked at the relationship between a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet and the incidence of cardiovascular diseases in Swedish women. More than forty-three thousand 30- to 49-year-old women were followed for more than fifteen years.⁵ This study was notable both for the large number of participants and for the care taken to access the degree of dietary adherence to the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet protocol. Participants with the highest proportion of animal protein in their diets were also found to be consuming more animal fats, compared with those who consumed fewer animal products.

The researchers gave the subjects a diet score from 1 to 20 based on how closely they adhered to a low-carb, high-animal-protein dietary pattern. Those who were following the old Atkins-type or Dukan/Paleo diet most closely, with lots of animal products and severe restriction of carbohydrates, were given a score of 20. Those who followed a diet restricting animal products significantly and liberally eating plant foods rich in carbohydrates were given a score of 1. The researchers gave every participant a score to indicate how much that participant’s dietary pattern favored plants or animals.

Researchers tracked cardiovascular events (per ten thousand woman-years) and found a dose-dependent increase in risk: a 5 percent increase in risk of cardiovascular events (heart attack or cardiovascular-related death) per 2-point increase in the low-carb, high-protein diet score. Overall, a 60 percent increased risk of cardiovascular events and deaths occurred in those women adhering to a low-carb, high-protein diet with a diet score higher than 16.

The results showed a gradual and consistent increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and experiencing a cardiovascular-related death when the consumption of animal products increased and consumption of plant-food carbohydrates decreased. The study’s conclusion? Low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular-related death. The researchers also compared their results with four other studies that looked at the same issue. They found that their results were consistent with earlier, smaller, long-term studies and that all these studies collectively showed that diets low in protective plant foods and high in animal products are exceedingly dangerous.

STUDY NUMBER THREE

In the third study, more than six thousand people eating high-protein diets that were low in sugar were studied and compared with people eating fewer animal products and more carbohydrates. They were followed for eighteen years and were in the 50–65 age range. Following deaths over those eighteen years, the researchers found a fourfold increase of risk of cancer death and a 75 percent increase in overall death in the group eating more animal products.⁶

It is interesting to note that the people in the high-animal-protein group were consuming the average level that most Americans consume—that is, about 18 percent of calories from animal protein, or about 27 percent of calories from animal products when you add in the fat calories. This means that high-protein diet gurus, who advocate much higher levels of animal protein than investigated in this study, may be dispensing more dangerous cancer-promoting advice compared with even the shocking higher death rate seen in this study. The lowest-protein study group consumed 5 percent of calories from animal protein, or less than about 8 percent in animal products, which is considerably less than what Americans currently consume.

It is also interesting to note that there was a seventy-three-fold increased risk of developing diabetes in the higher-protein group, and a twenty-three-fold increased risk in the moderate-protein group, compared with the lower-protein group. This increased risk of diabetes with higher animal protein intake was consistent at all ages.

It’s important to note that the study included data on elderly people that showed that animal protein in the diet was beneficial with advancing age, likely because of decreased digestive capacity and increased frailty with aging. However, that aspect of the study did not examine participants eating high-protein seeds, nuts, beans, and greens, which can increase the protein concentration of the diet without the known drawbacks of increasing animal products. Regardless of the question surrounding the ideal diet for the elderly, we know that the goals to maintain body muscle and skeletal mass and to maintain immune function as we age can be best achieved with a diet mostly of natural, nutrient-rich plants. If animal products are needed, they should be used judiciously.

WE ALL MUST AGREE TO AGREE

Over the past decade, we have garnered an overwhelming amount of evidence regarding the dangers of the SAD and the protective effects of eating more natural plant foods. In fact, most nutritional scientists throughout the world agree on three basic tenets of healthy eating:

1. Foods that are highly refined and processed lose their natural structure, fiber, and micronutrients. They also are generally highly glycemic, resulting in increased insulin production. These foods promote disease and premature death.

2. Eating more colorful fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds protects against disease and reduces all-cause mortality, extending human life span.

3. Eating excess animal products can shorten life span and promote chronic disease and premature death. Some animal products are safer than others, but even safer ones should be consumed in only limited amounts.

Hundreds of studies have looked at the relationship between eating whole plant foods and chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. For virtually every disease, studies have shown that people who eat the most vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains always have the lowest risk, no matter what disease is being investigated.

Large-scale, population-based studies document these effects. The more vegetables people eat, the better their health. For example, researchers analyzed sixteen prospective studies from the United States, Europe, and Asia that reviewed the effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on death from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.⁷ The studies involved a combined total of 833,234 subjects, with a follow-up period ranging from 4.6 to 26 years. This large-scale study showed that the risk of all-cause mortality decreased by every serving of produce eaten per day. The authors concluded: “The results support current recommendations to increase consumption [of whole plant foods] to promote health and overall longevity. The benefits of eating right are unparalleled by any medication on the market.” Dr. Kim Williams, former president of the American College of Cardiology, has called heart disease “a 99 percent food-borne illness.”

With the accumulated evidence available today, it is clear that heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, is the result of nutritional folly. This fact makes almost every cardiac-related hospitalization, every death, and every stroke victim’s injuries the more tragic. We know this is all needless suffering and needless premature death, because these people could have learned to eat differently. We could revolutionize health care, add decades to life expectancy, and solve our health care problems—and much of the modern world’s economic difficulties—if people just ate better and followed the lead of the nutritional science community.

AMERICA: LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE OBESE

The facts regarding human nutrition have evolved so that we know how to save millions of lives. Yet people choose to ignore, twist, and vilify the science that has conclusively demonstrated that for excellent health, we need to eat a diet that consists predominantly of natural plants. Most people have not changed their behaviors, and dangerous eating and drinking are the norm. People are entrenched in their various dietary camps and do not want facts to interfere with their acquired food preferences.

We have a serious health care crisis, and things are not getting better—they are getting worse. Throughout the United States, we have a growing population of people suffering from obesity and diabetes, and others who have serious dietary-induced diseases. Though health varies widely depending on where one lives and what one eats, most people in this country are overweight and sickly by the time they reach middle age. For example, the average adult woman in the United States is 5-feet-4-inches tall and weighs 166 pounds; a dangerous and foreboding statistic. And that means half of all women weight more. This ubiquitous ill health has devastating effects on the productivity of our workforce and the health of our economy, as well as contributing to poor living conditions in our cities. The explosion in the number of people suffering from diabetes, as well as the deterioration of mental and physical health, leads to despondency.

More than 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 40 and 59 are now obese. The number of overweight and obese people has never been so high in all of human history, and this explosion of waistlines has occurred relatively recently, so the full damage is just beginning to unfold. The future looks bleak, with a predicted eruption of Alzheimer’s disease as our current obese population becomes older. Furthermore, Alzheimer’s is occurring at younger and younger ages.

“We have finaly determined, based on geographical correlation, that the cause of obesity is alligators.”

A study looking at this issue concluded that for an obese person in his or her 40s, the likelihood of that person developing Alzheimer’s disease is 74 percent higher than for someone of normal weight, and if that person is obese by his or her 30s, the risk is much higher.⁸ Americans are eating themselves into brain atrophy and dementia, which will place an increasing stress on the younger generations who have to care for these individuals.

A serious problem in our country—and in the modern world generally—is the lack of acceptance that chronic, dietary-induced diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, stroke, and dementia are almost totally preventable through superior nutrition. Our economy is being weighed down by an expensive and largely ineffective medical system—a system that relies on expensive tests, treatments, and last-minute heroics to combat the effects of a nation poisoning itself with a rich, disease-causing diet.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women, yet it can be almost entirely prevented. I say “almost,” because some people’s health conditions have deteriorated so much before they switch to a healthy diet that a heart disease–induced death cannot be prevented. Also, some people have rare congenital and valvular heart diseases caused by infections or other nonnutritional factors.

According to the World Health Association, “Americans have one of the worst life expectancy” scores of all modern countries.⁹ But what is even worse is our very poor “healthy life expectancy score,” which takes into account not merely how long we live but also that our quality of life is so poor if still alive, because people are sickly, with both physical and mental deterioration. If you eat like other Americans and live long enough, the result is often dementia and stroke, which cripple the elderly and force them into long-term-care facilities where their quality of life is limited.

YOUR HEALTH IS IN YOUR HANDS

A Nutritarian diet is the “gold standard” eating style to maximize health and longevity. It contains at least 90 percent natural plant foods, including fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, mushrooms, onions, sprouted grains, nuts, and seeds. If much of our nation ate this way, we would be able to invigorate our economy, improve emotional intelligence, and increase productivity. Chronic disease, such as heart disease, would rarely be found, and—after decades of change—we would halt the explosion in cancer rates that has occurred in the past century, and the number of new cancer diagnoses would fall precipitously. Such diseases would be as unusual as they were earlier in human history.

A Nutritarian diet is an eating style in which the vast majority of calories are obtained from eating natural, colorful, nutrient-rich plant foods. Refined, processed foods are avoided or reduced, and the use of animal products is kept to less than 10 percent of calories consumed. A Nutritarian diet style has a specific purpose: to maximize how long we live and to minimize the possibility of our suffering from heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer. It is not a fixed or rigid platform of rules, but a changing body of recommendations that moves with the preponderance of evidence to protect human lives from disease and to maximize health.

A Nutritarian diet is also effective, and sometimes modified specifically, for the treatment of diabetes, autoimmune disease, irritable bowel syndrome, gout, kidney stones, and migraines. It can be used therapeutically to enable recovery from most chronic diseases.¹⁰

The body is a miraculous, self-healing machine when fed properly. Through dietary excellence, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes melt away, and even advanced cases of atherosclerosis (coronary artery disease) resolve, removing the need for expensive, invasive, and usually futile medical care. Most diseases that plague modern America are the result of nutritional ignorance and are best remedied with superior nutrition, not drugs.

I was the principal investigator on a 2015 study on a Nutritarian diet documenting the benefits for reducing weight, lowering cholesterol, and reducing blood pressure.¹¹ The results were remarkable. Out of 443 individuals, the average drop in systolic blood pressure was 26 mmHg—much more than drugs accomplish and more than any other diet ever tested. Patients routinely reversed their heart disease, even when the cases were very advanced. This eliminated their need for coronary artery bypass surgery and angioplasty.

As we have increased our waistlines in the United States, we are facing an exploding epidemic of type 2 diabetes. What once was a relatively rare disease now affects almost 10 percent of all Americans, and that percentage continues to increase. Yet a Nutritarian diet also reverses type 2 diabetes in approximately 90 percent of compliant individuals.¹²

It would be very difficult for a person to become overweight eating mostly fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds. Being overweight is predominately the result of consuming disease-causing processed foods, especially flours, oils, cheeses, and sweeteners. Heart disease and diabetes simply do not exist in populations that eat mostly natural plant foods. The “Blue Zones” around the world—where people enjoy comparitively healthy and long lives—are a testament to this concept.¹³

There are also populations eating natural diets that have no recorded heart disease. For example, the Kitava study documents an island population with about 2500 inhabitants, with no recorded heart disease.¹⁴ The people have plenty of food to eat, and they are well nourished; they are very lean (despite food abundance), have low blood pressure, and no cardiovascular disease. It was particularly fascinating that many of them smoked cigarettes but still did not develop heart disease. Fast foods, processed foods, sweeteners, dairy, oils, sugar, cereals, and alcohol are absent from their diet, and their salt intake is very low—hence, strokes and heart disease are not found in this population. We have no reason not to cut the junk out of our diets. The benefits are literally life-giving.

HEALING AND PROTECTIVE FOODS: G-BOMBS

When we eat foods containing all the nutrients humans require, as well as an adequate amount of phytochemicals and antioxidants, the self-repair mechanisms in our cells function normally to prevent disease, and our immune systems can more effectively protect us against dangerous infections and immune system disorders.

Some natural foods have more disease-protective nutrients than others. Though one could accurately state that all fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains are “good for us,” it would be inaccurate to think they are all good for us to the same degree. By recognizing some “superstars” in this field of celebrities, we can have a more powerful impact on our health destiny. To win the war on cancer, we must design an anticancer diet that focuses on the foods with the most powerful anticancer effects and floods our bodies with the protective substances contained within them.

The acronym G-BOMBS is an effective tool to help people remember to eat these superstars regularly—even daily if possible. It stands for Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, and Seeds. Scientific evidence demonstrates that each one of these foods has significant cancer-protective effects, but the most powerful protection occurs when the portfolio of foods you regularly eat includes all of them.

G = GREENS

Green vegetables contain more micronutrients per calorie than any other food, and they also contain the most plant protein per calorie. About half of the calories in green vegetables, including leafy greens, comes from protein, and this plant protein is packed with thousands of beneficial phytochemicals, as well as folate, calcium, and small amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. The consumption of green vegetables is associated with protection against cancer and heart disease as well as life span enhancement. The green cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, kale, and cabbage, are also well-known for their isothiocyanates (ITCs), which have potent protective effects against cancer.¹⁵ This family includes green vegetables like collard greens and bok choy plus some nongreen vegetables like cauliflower.

EAT CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES FOR HEALTH:

• Arugula

• Bok choy

• Broccoli

• Broccoli rabe

• Broccolini

• Brussels sprouts

• Cabbage

• Cauliflower

• Collards

• Horseradish

• Kale

• Kohlrabi

• Mustard greens

• Radishes

• Red cabbage

• Rutabaga

• Turnips

• Turnip greens

• Watercress

Cruciferous vegetables contain glucosinolates, and in a different area of the cell, an enzyme called myrosinase. When we blend, chop, or chew these vegetables, we break up the plant cells, allowing myrosinase to come into contact with glucosinolates, initiating a chemical reaction that produces these beneficial ITCs. These compounds have been shown to detoxify and remove carcinogens, kill cancer cells, and prevent tumors from growing.¹⁶

Glucosinolates + Myrosinase Isothiocyanates (ITCs)

Cruciferous vegetables are especially helpful for preventing hormonal cancers like breast cancer because some ITCs, such as indole-3-carbinol (abundant in broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage), can even help the body excrete estrogen and other hormones. In fact, research has shown additional anti-estrogenic effects of hundreds of these green food compounds, which blunt the growth-promoting effects of estrogen on breast and cervical cancer cells.¹⁷

In a 2009 study, Chinese women who regularly ate one serving per day of cruciferous vegetables had a 50 percent reduced risk of breast cancer.¹⁸ A 17 percent decrease in breast cancer risk was found in a European study of participants consuming cruciferous vegetables at least once a week.¹⁹ Plus, breast cancer survivors who eat cruciferous vegetables regularly have a lower risk of cancer recurrence—the more cruciferous vegetables they eat, the lower their risk.²⁰ In men, twenty-eight servings of vegetables per week decreased prostate cancer risk by 35 percent, but just three servings of cruciferous vegetables per week decreased prostate cancer risk by 46 percent.²¹ One or more servings of cabbage per week reduced the risk of pancreatic cancer by 38 percent.²²

The active ingredient in broccoli, is broccoli.

—DAVID KATZ, M.D., PRESIDENT, AMERICAN COLLEGE OF LIFESTYLE MEDICINE

Cruciferous vegetables are not only the most powerful anticancer foods in existence; they are also the most micronutrient-dense of all vegetables. Although the National Cancer Institute recommends five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day for cancer prevention, it has not yet established specific recommendations for intake of cruciferous vegetables. I recommend three to six fresh fruits and eight total servings of vegetables per day, including two servings of cruciferous vegetables—one raw and one cooked. Consuming a variety of vegetables within an overall nutrient-dense diet can provide us with a profound level of protection against cancer. And don’t forget: Eat some raw and chew well. Chewing well, blending, or juicing cruciferous vegetables is necessary to produce the most anticancer ITCs.

B = BEANS

Beans and other legumes are the most nutrient-dense carbohydrate source. Like green vegetables, beans are also high in protein, but unlike animal protein, they do not promote unfavorable cancer-promoting hormones. In fact, beans are a powerful anticancer food, because of their high phytochemical content and also because they are a very low-glycemic food. The starch they contain is mostly a mixture of slowly digestible starch and resistant starch, which means that their calories enter the bloodstream slowly over several hours, preventing an insulin surge. This has a stabilizing effect on blood sugar, which promotes satiety and helps to prevent food cravings.²³ The high amount of resistant starch (which is not broken down by digestive enzymes) reduces the total number of calories absorbed from beans and is also fermented by intestinal bacteria into fatty acids that help to prevent colon cancer.²⁴ Combined with the high amount of soluble fiber, beans also lower cholesterol.²⁵

O = ONIONS

Onions, along with leeks, garlic, chives, shallots, and scallions, make up the Allium genus of vegetables, which play a powerful role in fighting cancer, are anti-diabetic, and have beneficial effects on the cardiovascular and immune systems. Allium vegetables are known for their characteristic organosulfur compounds, which are released when onions are chopped, crushed, or chewed. Studies have found that increased consumption of allium vegetables is associated with a lower risk of gastric and prostate cancers because they contain compounds that detoxify carcinogens, halt cancer cell growth, and block angiogenesis (the growth of new blood vessels).²⁶

M = MUSHROOMS

Mushrooms may not be the most dense in vitamins and minerals, but they have unique compounds that influence human health and immune function. They are rich in angiogenesis inhibitors.²⁷ Cancer cells secrete angiogenesis promoters to secure a robust blood supply to fuel their growth and metastatic process. This process is prevented by the angiogenesis-inhibiting compounds found in mushrooms, which hinder cancer cell growth and promote cancer cell death. Angiogenesis promoters are also secreted by fat cells to enable fat growth on the body. Mushrooms inhibit the growth of fat on the body through this same mechanism.

White, cremini, Portobello, oyster, shiitake, maitake, and reishi mushrooms all have anticancer properties. Some are anti-inflammatory; others stimulate the immune system, prevent DNA damage, slow cancer cell growth, and cause programmed cancer cell death.²⁸

Mushrooms also contain aromatase inhibitors, which can limit the production of estrogen and protect breast tissue from excess estrogen stimulation.²⁹ Other anticancer compounds in mushrooms collectively account for their powerful effects against breast cancer. One study found that Chinese women who regularly ate about 10 grams of mushrooms a day had a 64 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer.³⁰

Note that you should always cook mushrooms before you eat them because they contain small amounts of a mild toxin called agaritine, which is greatly reduced in the cooking process.³¹

B = BERRIES

Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are true superfoods. Berries are low in sugar and high in nutrients, and their vibrant colors mean that they are full of phytochemicals and antioxidants, including flavonoids. Flavonoids affect gene expression and detoxification, inhibit cancer cell growth and proliferation, and hinder inflammation and other processes related to cancer and heart disease.³² Notably, berries have the highest nutrient-to-calorie ratio of all fruits.

Antioxidants provide cardioprotective and anticancer effects and stimulate the body’s own antioxidant enzymes. Berry consumption has been linked to reduced risks of diabetes, cancers, and cognitive decline and has been shown to improve both motor coordination and memory.³³

Several studies have shown that high flavonoid intake lowers the risk of heart disease by up to 45 percent.³⁴ Flavonoids and polyphenols in berries, cherries, and pomegranates act in several ways to maintain heart health, including by reducing inflammation; by improving blood lipid, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels; and by preventing plaque formation.³⁵

The antioxidants in berries, cherries, and pomegranates help to protect against cancers. In the 1980s, ellagic acid, another type of antioxidant abundant in berries, was found to block the formation of tumors, providing the initial evidence that these fruits had strong anticancer benefits.³⁶ The anticancer effects of flavonoids include reducing inflammation, preventing damage to genetic material, preventing cancer cells from multiplying, slowing the growth of cancer cells, preventing tumors from acquiring a blood supply, and stimulating the body’s antioxidant enzymes.³⁷

Berries are excellent foods for the brain. Substances present in blueberries can both reduce oxidative stress and improve communication between brain cells. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries have all been shown to slow or reverse age-related cognitive decline in animal studies, and blueberries have now been tested for their effects on human memory.³⁸ Older adults with mildly impaired memory were given wild blueberry juice as a supplement, and after as few as twelve weeks, measures of learning and memory had improved.³⁹

In summary, berries, cherries, and pomegranates are important components of a natural, high-nutrient diet. I recommend eating them daily to provide the body with protection against free radicals, inflammation, heart disease, and cancers. Include them as part of your variety of fruits, in addition to a bounty of vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds, which together can provide an abundant and varied mix of antioxidants, further protecting your health.

S = SEEDS AND NUTS

Seeds and nuts are rich in a spectrum of micronutrients including phytosterols, minerals, and antioxidants. The healthy fats in seeds and nuts also aid in the absorption of micronutrients when eaten with vegetables.⁴⁰ Countless studies have demonstrated the cardiovascular benefits of nuts, and in addition they aid in weight maintenance and diabetes prevention.⁴¹ Seeds are similar to nuts when it comes to healthy fats, minerals, and antioxidants, but seeds are also abundant in trace minerals and are generally higher in protein than nuts. Sunflower seeds are about 20 percent protein. Flaxseeds and chia and hemp seeds are also good sources of omega-3 fats, and flaxseeds, chia seeds, and sesame seeds are rich in lignans, which have strong anticancer effects.⁴²

Flaxseeds are the richest source of plant lignans, having about three times the lignan content of chia seeds and eight times that of sesame seeds (note that flaxseed oil does not contain lignans because lignans bind to the fiber in the seed). Kale and broccoli also contain lignans, but only about one-tenth the amount in sesame seeds per serving.⁴³ Plant lignans are classified as phytoestrogens, and there has been much interest in the potential contribution of lignan-rich foods to reducing the risk of hormone-related cancers, especially breast and prostate cancers.⁴⁴

Lignans inhibit the production of aromatase (an enzyme that converts other hormones into estrogen) and estradiol, lowering serum estrogen levels.⁴⁵ Plant lignans also blunt the effects of estrogens.⁴⁶ These benefits were documented when forty-eight postmenopausal women consumed 7.5 grams per day of ground flaxseeds for six weeks, then 15 grams for six weeks, and significant decreases in estradiol, estrone, and testosterone were noted. When you are overweight, the fat cells produce more estrogen, increasing your risk of breast cancer, so the finding that the overweight women saw the greatest lowering of estrogen from the flaxseeds demonstrates how important these seeds are to limiting breast cancer in our population.⁴⁷

This protection against breast cancer was demonstrated in a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial of dietary flaxseed. Women daily ate either a control muffin with no flaxseeds in it or a muffin containing 25 grams of flaxseeds starting at the time of breast cancer diagnosis for just thirty-two to thirty-nine days until surgery. Tumor tissue analyzed at diagnosis and surgery demonstrated surprising benefits even in this short time. There was significant tumor cell death (apoptosis) and reduced cell proliferation in the flaxseed group in just the one month.⁴⁸ Longer trials confirm such benefits. Women with breast cancer, eating more dietary lignans (flaxseeds have the most of all foods) and followed for an average of six years, were found to have a 42 percent reduced risk of death from postmenopausal breast cancer and a dramatic (40 percent) reduction in all causes of death.⁴⁹

One study on flax that followed a group of women with breast cancer for ten years found a 71 percent reduced risk of breast cancer–related deaths in the group that consumed the most lignans.⁵⁰ Flaxseeds are clearly superfoods; even with a mediocre diet they offer powerful protection against breast cancer.

The bottom line: Don’t forget to eat your seeds, especially some ground flaxseeds (or chia seeds) every day. I sometimes forget to do this, too, but reviewing the science encourages me to remember. When seeds and nuts are eaten in conjunction with greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, and berries, dramatic reductions in the risk of breast and prostate cancers are possible.

MEDITERRANEAN DIET NOT SO MUCH, BUT TOMATO SAUCE IS A KEEPER

The “Mediterranean” diet typically includes tomatoes and tomato sauce and is generally higher in fruits and vegetables compared with the SAD. But it should not be considered an optimal diet because it was not carefully designed to comprehensively include the most protective anticancer foods. It also often contains white flour, oil, and too many animal products. It is a step in the right direction compared with the SAD, but too many people are touting its benefits without a complete understanding of its negative features—especially white flour products. However, its inclusion of tomatoes and tomato sauce is one of its most powerful benefits.

Tomatoes are packed with lycopene, which is one of six hundred carotenoids, and the carotenoid level in your body is an important indicator of your overall health. Your carotenoid level generally parallels the levels of other plant-derived phytochemicals circulating in your body. In a study of more than thirteen thousand American adults, low levels of total carotenoids and lycopene in the blood were linked to increased risk of death from all causes.⁵¹ And of all the carotenoids, lycopene at low levels in the blood was the strongest predictor of premature death.

Overall, people with very low levels of carotenoids are at risk of developing autoimmune disease, headache, fatigue, and cancer.⁵² Lycopene is the signature carotenoid of the tomato, and it helps protect against prostate cancer, skin cancer (in the skin, lycopene helps prevent damage from the sun’s ultraviolet rays), and heart disease.⁵³ Many observational studies have found a connection between higher blood lycopene levels and lower risk of heart attack. One study found that low serum lycopene was associated with increased plaque in the carotid artery and a triple risk of cardiovascular events compared with higher levels.⁵⁴

In another study, women were split into four groups according to their blood lycopene levels. Women in the top three quartiles were 50 percent less likely to have cardiovascular disease compared with the lowest quartile.⁵⁵ A 2004 analysis of the Physicians’ Health Study data found a 39 percent decrease in stroke risk in men with the highest blood levels of lycopene.⁵⁶

Lycopene is more absorbable when tomatoes are cooked—a cup of tomato sauce contains about ten times the lycopene of a cup of raw, chopped tomatoes—so enjoy a variety of both raw and cooked tomatoes in your daily diet. Of course, lycopene is not the only important nutrient in tomatoes. They are also rich in vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, and flavonol antioxidants, in addition to many others nutrients.⁵⁷ Antioxidants usually exert their protective effects in concert with each other; they work synergistically.⁵⁸

THE YOUNGER YOU EAT BETTER, THE BETTER

By 2030, the global cancer burden is expected to nearly double, with dramatic increases in countries having low rates in the past that have now adapted to fast foods and American eating habits.⁵⁹

For many years, evidence based on hundreds of studies has shown that the SAD promotes cancer; this is because it is high in both highly refined foods and animal products and low in colorful produce. Study after study show that eating lots of fruits and vegetables protects against cancer. It should be clear to everybody that if we want to avoid getting cancer, we should change our diets.

But wait—when looking at modern studies based on dietary patterns in adult American women, one sees that these patterns have not been so clear. The women in these studies made significant dietary improvements by cutting fat and increasing produce, yet their rates of developing cancer are only slightly reduced. What’s going on here?

The reason why scientists have failed to show a radical effect on reducing cancer from including more healthy plant foods in the diet is that some of the protective effect is blunted when you incorporate these dietary modifications too late in life. Cells are most sensitive to damage when they are young; so for dietary modification to offer the most powerful anticancer effects, to mimic the very low cancer rates we see in areas of the world where people eat more produce, these changes must be started earlier in life.

Today’s science is fascinating. It shows that the major effect of diet as a cancer promoter occurs much earlier in life than anyone has thought before. The first seven years are critical to create or prevent cancer—and we are talking about the most common cancers that generally occur after one is 50 or 60 years old.

Several cancers, especially colon cancer, are associated with obesity, but this association is still not strong. The association becomes powerful when we look at the age when a person becomes overweight. Excess body mass in early childhood is most ominous.⁶⁰

Recent studies have confirmed the idea that most adult cancers are strongly associated with overeating and increased calorie consumption in children, but especially consumption of empty calories. Although childhood growth and early maturity have been hailed as successes of the twentieth century, the scientific data question these common parental objectives. Childhood diets with lots of milk, cheese, and meat as well as bread, oil, and sweeteners may be effective in producing big adults, but they also are extremely effective in producing sick adults who are prone to cancer.

EARLY MATURATION AND BREAST CANCER

Experimental evidence suggests that the susceptibility of mammary tissue to cancer promoters is greatest in early teenage and early adult life. The time during breast growth and development is a particularly sensitive period in a young woman’s life, affecting the development of breast cancer later in adulthood.

Of particular concern is a pattern linking breast cancer to the early age of puberty we are witnessing in modern times. In the nineteenth century, the average age of puberty, as marked by the onset of menstruation, was 17 years, whereas in the past fifty years in Western industrialized countries, such as the United States, the average age of puberty is 12 years.⁶¹ Earlier age of puberty is considered a risk factor for developing breast cancer.⁶²

Endocrinologists are seeing more and more girls with precocious sexual development, even before today’s average age of 12, and medical studies confirm that the trend is real and getting worse. Estrogen unquestionably stimulates the development and growth of breast cancer cells; however, it is the timing of this exposure that is most crucial and highly complicated. But one thing we know for sure is that girls who experience puberty earlier have much higher estrogen levels and maintain these significantly higher levels for many years.⁶³

The heightened levels of estrogen and IGF-1 initiated by poor food choices early in life remain heightened throughout the critical years when the breast tissue is developing and most sensitive to damage. Most dangerous is the diet pattern that combines sweets and meats—in other words, a diet that results in high levels of insulin, IGF-1, and estrogen. The levels of these three hormones, which are affected by diet and body fat correlate well with the geographic distribution of breast cancer worldwide.

It is particularly important to note the most significant age range at which diet most critically affects the age of puberty. A study published in 2000 followed children since birth and reported that the girls who consumed more animal products and fewer vegetables between ages 1 and 8 were prone to early maturation and puberty, but the best predictor was an animal protein–rich diet before age 5.⁶⁴

Fat cells produce estrogen, so excess fat on the body during childhood results in more estrogen exposure. Higher intake of calories, milk, and total animal protein has been linked to earlier puberty.⁶⁵ In contrast, a high intake of fiber-rich fruits, beans, and vegetables lowers circulating estrogen levels. Diet can powerfully modulate estrogen levels in childhood. A 2003 study illustrated that 8- to 10-year-old girls closely followed with dietary intervention for seven years dramatically lowered their estrogen levels compared with a control group without dietary modification.⁶⁶ As we get older, the opportunity to lower this risk diminishes.

This pathological early maturation of today’s children is threatening. Cancer occurrence has been shown to arise many years after precancerous changes occur in the breast. Ominously, these changes are visible more and more in teenagers before their 18th birthdays.⁶⁷ The evidence is clear that breast cancer is a disease caused disproportionally by childhood and teenage eating practices.

“Let’s stop at “Cancer Queen” so the kids can have one of their ice cream sundaes.”

A 2013 study followed almost one hundred thousand women between the ages of 26 and 46 and found that the younger the women, the greater effect diet had on later breast cancer incidence. These researchers noted that the consumption of dairy foods and meat was best associated with the occurrence of breast cancer.⁶⁸ Prostate cancer shows the same causative relationship with early life events.⁶⁹

This does not mean that once we have passed the age of 30 our goose is cooked. But it does mean that moderate improvements in dietary practices incorporated later in life are insufficient to drive cancer rates to very low levels. Nothing less than nutritional excellence is needed to repair the early-life DNA damage and methylation defects that accumulate throughout life from eating the SAD, resulting in higher risks of developing cancer.

The Nutritarian diet, the gold standard of dietary excellence, is specifically designed to dramatically lower cancer risk and extend life span, even in people who have not eaten very healthfully earlier in life. When consumed consistently for many years in adequate quantity and variety, phytochemicals work together to detoxify cancer-causing elements, deactivate free radicals, and enable DNA repair mechanisms.⁷⁰ Nevertheless, full protection against cancer and the full potential for human longevity can be realized only from a lifetime of healthy eating.

Dietary Influence on Breast and Prostrate Cancer Risk According to Age

Today, new cancer diagnostic techniques are emerging, including blood tests that are able to diagnose breast cancer 10 years or more before mammograms can. Breast cells become abnormal many years—even decades—before mammograms can detect a collection of cells that are large enough to be seen by the human eye. Even at the very early stage with comparatively few abnormal cells, protein markers are shed into the blood. What these new tests are discovering is that about 40 percent of adults in the United States over the age of 40 already have cancer cells in their body.⁷¹

This is an important reason why the Nutritarian diet style has become so popular among Americans who are looking to repair such damage and prevent cancer. Now is the time to eat very healthfully—not after a cancer diagnosis. Nevertheless, the younger you begin eating well, and the earlier in the process of cancer development that you initiate an anticancer nutritional protocol, the greater the probability that a disease process or cancer can be reversed.

My philosophy of health and health care involves the underlying principle that genetics play a smaller role in the etiology of most chronic diseases than do environment and nutrition. A properly nourished body is highly resistant to infection, has natural defenses against cancer, and is naturally slim and muscular. It cannot be denied that heart disease, strokes, obesity, and even most common cancers can be avoided and prevented. However, it would most likely take embracing a healthful diet throughout life, not just after age 50, to really reduce cancer to a very rare occurrence.

I claim that nutritional excellence can:

• Prevent high blood pressure and even reverse it in the vast majority of cases

• Prevent type 2 diabetes and even reverse it in the vast majority of cases

• Prevent heart attacks and even reverse advanced heart disease in the vast majority of cases

• Prevent breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer, if adopted early enough in life, and even reverse these cancers in many cases of early cancer

• Prevent childhood cancer and autism if dietary excellence is adopted early enough before conception

• Improve the overall health, intelligence, and emotional stability and happiness of our population

The fact that these claims seem so radical speaks to how uninformed and misled our nation’s people are—because these claims are not radical, nor are they outrageous. As far as the idea that these claims are too extreme—well, that just speaks to the extreme (unhealthy) nature of the SAD and the extent of people’s ignorance about the critical importance of proper nutrition. When a person develops brain cancer or multiple sclerosis in his or her 30s, or a parent dies in his or her 40s of a heart attack, leaving children with only one parent or no parent at all, eating healthy to prevent such tragedies doesn’t seem so extreme. It only seems extreme because the medical community thrives in a drug culture in which we are taught that drugs are our tickets to health and that the SAD is not the cause of our diseases.

The incidence of obesity and diabetes is still climbing, and it is worse among those of lower economic means and education. The number of kids diagnosed with autism is exploding. More people are developing diabetes at younger ages, and we are seeing more heart attacks and strokes in young people. This represents unacceptable human tragedy and foreshadows higher rates of cancer and dementia, as well as an even greater strain on our costly, ineffective, and inefficient health care system—including our overburdened nursing homes and hospitals. This is the genocide I am talking about. What are we waiting for?—things to get even worse?

CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Sources: Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Lawman HG, et al. Trends in obesity prevalence among children and adolescents in the United States, 1988–1994 through 2013–2014. JAMA. 2016;315:2292–99; Childhood Obesity in the United States, 1976–2008: Trends and Current Racial/Ethnic, Socioeconomic, and Geographic Disparities. Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010.

TRUE HEALTH CARE IS SELF-CARE

Social norms, economic incentives, and the development of our pharmaceutical-centered approach to chronic disease have encouraged the masses to transfer responsibility for their health to doctors, and to equate health care with medical care. When we absolve ourselves of personal responsibility for our health, and accept the myth that diet doesn’t matter and genes dictate our health future, we lay the groundwork for health tragedies.

The historical rise of a pharmaceutical-based system of health care, instead of one that is based on lifestyle medicine, has been a foundational deficit in our health care system that can never be improved by politicians or governmental regulations. Our present drug-centered health care system has contributed to the large segments of our population who are committing slow suicide with fast foods.

Things might begin to change if hospitals become protective enclaves where not merely smoking is prohibited, but also eating junk food and all foods that include white flour, salt, and oil. This would be a huge change from the current climate, in which hospitals install fast food restaurants on their premises, have fast food kiosks in their lobbies, and serve the likes of pancakes with syrup and white bread to their patients. If all physicians, health care workers, and health authorities in the United States were lean, were very healthy eaters, and advocated healthy living and eating, a trickle-down effect would reinforce the message of the dangers of commercially baked goods, fast foods, fried foods, processed meats, and commercially raised animal products.

There is movement in this direction. The American College of Lifestyle Medicine is a physician-specialty organization, with a rapidly growing membership, that puts lifestyle and nutritional medicine first. Its members generally talk the talk, and walk the walk. Defined: “Lifestyle Medicine involves the therapeutic use of lifestyle, such as a predominately whole food, plant-based diet, exercise, stress management, tobacco and alcohol cessation, and other non-drug modalities, to prevent, treat, and, more importantly, reverse the lifestyle-related, chronic disease that’s all too prevalent.”⁷²

“We have a special today on the big whopping burger with bacon-macaroni and cheese. It comes with a free ride to the hospital!”

This sensible approach, with doctor as teacher and motivator for healthier habits rather than merely prescriber of medication and doer of procedures, is not “alternative medicine” or “holistic medicine”; rather, it is progressive medicine. It is where medicine should have gone—and would have gone—if the financial incentives and political and economic power of the pharmaceutical industry were not so massive and influential. All physicians should receive extensive training in lifestyle medicine and nutritional science, and nutritional healing should be heavily embraced in medical schools and residency programs. This is a critical skill set that is missing in the training of health care professionals. The medical profession should have incorporated it years ago, and should embrace it today.

Doctors should not smoke. They should not drink alcohol; they should not drink soda; they should not eat fast food or junk food. They should be pillars of health in our communities, and they should fight for healthy habits among their patients and in their communities.

You do not have to follow my nutritional advice—that is up to you. My mission is not dependent on what you do, but I am committed to making sure that you, and others, know that you don’t have to be sick: You can live a better, happier life without the fear of heart attacks, strokes, dementia, and even cancer. I hope that becomes your future.