What your doctor doesn't know about high blood pressure could kill you!

High blood pressure, also known as "hypertension," is the number one reason people visit their doctor in the United States. Each year, more than 100 million doctor visits are made for the medical management of this condition. High blood pressure is both a sign, as well as a causal factor, in heart attacks, strokes, and congestive heart failure, which makes it the leading associated cause of death and disability in westernized societies.

Medical doctors overwhelmingly recommend drug therapy for this condition, making blood pressure drugs the number one prescriptive medication in this country. But is drug therapy the best approach? And, is it safe?

There are many popular medical myths about high blood pressure. For example, many physicians believe that high blood pressure is an "inevitable consequence of aging;" that the "only viable treatment option for high blood pressure patients is medication"; that high blood pressure patients must take their medications "for the rest of their lives"; and, worst of all, that high blood pressure medications are "safe and effective." This article will show that drug treatment is not the only viable treatment option, and that drug treatment is disturbingly dangerous. In fact, studies strongly suggest that for the majority of patients with high blood pressure, medications may be more dangerous than doing nothing at all.

Fortunately, there exist powerful diet and lifestyle treatment options that safely and effectively reduce high blood pressure. But don't assume that your doctor will tell you about them, because many doctors are simply unaware of the facts. Before exploring how to safely treat this condition, let's look at what high blood pressure is, and seek to understand why it is our nation's number one public health concern. In doing so, it will become clear why medical management is generally so ineffective, and why a safer, more effective approach, one which takes advantage of the human body's built-in healing mechanisms, is often the best choice.

What is blood pressure?

Although high blood pressure does not cause any pain, and cannot be detected without a special device, it is clearly a serious health problem worthy of your rapt attention. But what is "blood pressure," and what can cause it to become "high"?

If you have ever been in a hot tub with the "jets" on, you have observed a circulating system. When the pump is "on," the water circulates from the hot tub, through pipes, into a pump, and then back to the hot tub. In this way, the water can be put through a filter to remove impurities, and be re-utilized, again and again. A hot tub with its pump "on" is a simple circulatory system. When the pump is "off," the water stops circulating and stays wherever it is in the system.

Your circulatory system is very much like the hot tub's. Your blood is like the water. Your heart is like the pump, and your blood vessels are like the pipes. Your heart pumps your blood through the circulatory system in order to feed oxygen and nutrients to cells throughout your body, and to remove waste products. By circulating through the system, your blood is filtered, and re-utilized, again and again.

In a hot tub, as the water comes through the pipes it has a degree of force. This force is caused by the action of the pump, which puts energy into the circulating system and  forces the water through the pipes. When the pump is off, there still may be water in the pipes, but there is no force. The degree of force in the system when the pump is on can be gauged in a number of ways, such as by putting your hand in front of a "jet." Another way would be to have a device to measure the amount of force that the water exerts against the walls of the pipes as it circulates. Such a device might yield a numerical measurement of the force, or pressure, of the water within the pipes.

Similarly, your blood exerts a force against the walls of your blood vessels as it circulates through your body. The degree of this force is called your "blood pressure," and it can be measured with a blood pressure monitoring device. Unlike the water pressure in the hot tub, however, human blood pressure is highly variable. In the hot tub, the water ejected by the jets comes in a steady, pressurized stream. But in the human circulatory system, blood pressure varies dramatically from one moment to the next.

Unlike the smooth action of the hot tub pump, the human heart expands and contracts mightily each second or so, causing your blood pressure to be comparatively high one moment, and comparatively low in the next. That is why we need two measurements when checking your blood pressure: one at the moment when the pressure is highest (your systolic blood pressure), and one a moment later, when the pressure is lowest (your diastolic blood pressure).

Your systolic blood pressure is always higher than your diastolic blood pressure, and is always the "top" number when your pressure is reported. If your doctor tells you that your blood pressure is "120 over 80," this means that your systolic blood pressure was measured at "120," and your diastolic was at "80." Both your systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements are important because they indicate how well your circulatory system is working. If either of these measurements is unusually high, this warrants your serious attention. Because, as previously mentioned, elevated blood pressure may be not only a sign of cardiovascular disease, it is a cause of disease, as well.

How high is "high"?

There are really no cut-and-dried definitions for high blood pressure. Researchers have used several different criteria to determine at what level a person's blood pressure should be considered "high." One very useful criterion is the concept that blood pressure is "high" when it reaches a level that corresponds to significantly elevated risk for heart attack, stroke, or congestive heart failure. One misguided criterion is the idea that blood pressure is "high" only when it reaches a level that can be effectively assisted by drug therapy.

Over the years, these and other criteria have been bandied about, with the final result being a set of definitions that are not based upon any specific criteria, but are still useful for communication purposes. Your blood pressure is said to be "high" when either your systolic blood pressure is 140 or above, or your diastolic blood pressure is 90 or above, or both. So if your blood pressure is found to be 142/88 (systolic = 142, diastolic = 88), you are diagnosed as having high blood pressure, according to current definitions. The same would be true if your blood pressure was found to be 135/92, or 152/95. In each case, either the systolic is high, or the diastolic is high, or both. Any of these findings results in a diagnosis of high blood pressure.

Most people who are diagnosed with high blood pressure have what is referred to as "mild" high blood pressure. This means that their systolic blood pressure is between 140-159, and/or their diastolic blood pressure is between 90-99. Only when blood pressures are above 160/100 is a patient considered to have "moderate" blood pressure, and, at even higher levels, "severe." These definitions can be quite misleading, and are undoubtedly leading to many entirely preventable tragedies.
 
Deadly definitions

What is considered “normal” is often pathological. For example, if a person has blood pressure of 136/88 it is considered “normal,” or perhaps “high normal,” based on the fact that it is below the arbitrary 140/90 numbers. But such an individual has five times the risk of stroke of a person with blood pressure at 110/70! In fact, one-third of the people who die of heart attacks, strokes, and congestive heart failure have blood pressures that are below 140/90. The current definitions of “normal” or “high normal” may give patients a false sense of security that may very well cost them their lives. According to current classification, even a person whose blood pressure has risen to 156/98 is considered to have only “mild” high blood pressure. Yet, this level is much more dangerous than even 136/88. Sadly, the majority of people who die of heart attacks, strokes, and congestive heart failure have blood pressure described as either “normal” or “mildly high.”

Problems with drugs

The current convention of diagnosing blood pressure as “high” beginning at 140/90 has created another set of problems. Most doctors have been taught that once a diagnosis of “high blood pressure” has been made, blood pressure medication is the treatment of choice. As a result, many physicians believe that the current definition of “high” blood pressure is also the same level of blood pressure at which drug treatments are worthwhile. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

In multiple studies conducted by world leaders in high blood pressure research, drug treatments have been found to be surprisingly ineffective. In fact, there is no clear evidence that drug therapy reduces the risk of death in patients with “mild” high blood pressure, which is the majority of diagnosed patients! In summarizing the results of one of the largest clinical trials ever conducted, performed by the prestigious British Medical Research Council, it was reported that for mildly hypertensive patients, “...Active (drug) treatment had no evident effect on the overall cause of mortality....” In a subsequent review of the entire scientific literature, the British Medical Journal concluded that there is “no appreciable benefit to an individual patient from treating (with drugs) a diastolic pressure of less than 100....” What these scientists found was that while drug treatments for mild hypertension may be effective at lowering blood pressure, they were not effective in reducing overall mortality. Put more bluntly, hypertension patients in these studies died at about the same rate whether they took medication or not. These findings reaffirm an important health principle, treating the symptoms of disease is not the same thing as causing health.

It also would appear that the dangerous “side effects” of high blood pressure drugs are sufficiently substantial to obliterate any positive effects of reducing mild high blood pressure in this artificial manner. In fact, the side effects of medications are sufficiently toxic that leading medical authorities suggest that medications only become worth the risks when blood pressure becomes “moderately to severely elevated” (160/100 or above). Typical side effects of high blood pressure medications range from mildly unpleasant to lethal. These include fatigue, gastric irritation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, impotence, depression, and congestive heart failure.

Don’t assume that your doctor is aware of these facts. If you are diagnosed with mild high blood pressure, you likely will be prescribed medication, instructed that it is helpful, and told that you must take it for the rest of your life. But before accepting this potentially dangerous treatment, it may be to your advantage to seek answers to the following questions: “What caused my high blood pressure?” and “Can I remove those causes and reverse this condition?”

Causes of high blood pressure

Think back for a moment to the circulatory system in a hot tub. When the system is working as designed, there is a certain level of water pressure in the system. However, we could arrange things that would increase this level of pressure. One way would be to partially clog the pipes. In this way, the pressure in the whole system would rise, just as the water pressure in your garden hose rises when you put your finger over the spout and impede the flow.

In the human circulatory system, it also is possible to “clog the pipes.” By consuming a diet that is excessive in fats, cholesterol, and animal proteins, it is possible to develop atherosclerosis, a condition of fatty deposits in the cardiovascular system. Over time, people can build up such significant deposits that their “pipes” are clogged up, to some degree. This is one of the main causes of high blood pressure, and is one reason why high blood pressure tends to become more prevalent as people age. But this condition is not inevitable. More encouraging still is the finding, by Dr. Dean Ornish and others, that this condition is reversible with dietary and lifestyle modifications, the first step of which is to adopt a plant-based diet derived from whole, natural foods.

While “clogging the pipes” is a major cause of high blood pressure, there are other causes, as well. A second major factor is that excessive dietary salt causes there to be too much fluid in the circulatory system. Consider once again the analogy of the garden hose. If you turn on the water “harder,” there is more pressure in the hose. Excessive salt in the diet can result in excessive fluid volume in the blood, which results in elevating blood pressure. This cause, too, is reversible, as a plant-based diet of whole, natural foods, devoid of added salt, is naturally low in sodium chloride.

We can see that two major causes of high blood pressure: atherosclerosis and excessive fluid in the circulatory system, are reversible, given dietary modifications. Such modifications directly address the causes of high blood pressure, and thus might be expected to be quite effective. The curious reader might wish to know just how effective such dietary modifications are, as compared to the drug treatments offered by most doctors. A summary of results from a variety of studies on diet and lifestyle modifications, as compared with drug treatment, appears in Figure 1.

Some impressive results

As you can see in Figure 1, dietary and lifestyle modifications are very impressive as compared with drug treatment. In a study conducted by Dr. John McDougall and his colleagues, a program utilizing a moderately low-sodium, vegetarian diet with moderate exercise resulted in an average blood pressure reduction of 17/13 in just eleven days! This is particularly striking when we compare these results with medications, which have been found to reduce blood pressure only about 12/6 points, on average. This should be encouraging for those who have been told that they must take blood pressure medication for the rest of their lives.

It is notable that relaxation and meditation, though useful for many purposes, have not been found to impact high blood pressure. Many people find this surprising, possibly since high blood pressure also is known as “hypertension.” Because of this potentially misleading term, many people have assumed that high levels of stress or “tension” is a major cause of “hypertension,” or high blood pressure. This is not the case. High blood pressure is an essentially mechanical, and not psychological, problem. The causes are most often some combination of clogged “pipes” and excessive salt in the diet. Lifestyle changes, such as appropriate diet and exercise, are among the most effective treatment strategies. Relaxation, meditation, and otherwise “taking it easy” are not effective solutions, as valuable as such strategies may be for your psychological well-being.

As you examine Figure 1, you may observe that the real key to the treatment of high blood pressure is to practice a diversity of health-promoting behaviors. By avoiding alcohol use, stopping smoking, switching to a high-fiber, low-sodium, vegan-vegetarian diet, and engaging in moderate, regular exercise, the problem of high blood pressure usually will eliminate itself. However, as alluded to in the beginning of this article, high blood pressure is not only a sign of distress in your cardiovascular system, but also a cause.

If your blood pressure is elevated above what is normal and healthy for our species, the pressure itself causes damage to arterial walls of your circulatory system, which can facilitate the build-up of atherosclerosis and, thus, exacerbate the high blood pressure condition itself. For this reason, it can be useful to reduce high blood pressure as quickly as possible, rather than to patiently wait for the often moderate healing pace of healthful lifestyle changes.

Fast way back to health

Is there a safe and effective way to rapidly normalize blood pressure? Indeed there is, and the results of this method represent nothing less than a breakthrough in the treatment of this condition. The power of this method is hinted at in Figure 1, the method referred to as Treatment F.

As you can see from Figure 1, there is one treatment option that significantly outperforms all others, labeled Treatment F. Treatment F is not a new drug treatment. Neither is it a new, expensive, and patented dietary supplement. It is supervised water-only fasting, a technique that allows for the induction of a potent, natural, adaptive, healing process in a professionally monitored environment. This technique is known to surprisingly few health professionals, though it has proved valuable in the treatment of a wide variety of health problems. Recently, this powerful technique has been shown to be an extremely effective method for allowing the body to rapidly normalize high blood pressure more effectively than any other treatment reported in the scientific literature.

It may seem incredible to many that supervised water-only fasting can obtain such impressive results. In fact, most people, including most doctors, simply will not believe that such a simple procedure can be so powerful. Few suspect that the body is so capable of healing itself in this way. For this reason, Dr. Alan Goldhamer and his colleagues at the Center for Conservative Therapy set out to carefully document the effectiveness of supervised water-only fasting, and to report the results to the scientific community in a way that other doctors might find convincing. In order to assist him in this task, Dr. Goldhamer and his research staff at the Center sought the help of one of the world’s leading nutritional biochemists, Professor T. Colin Campbell of Cornell University.

Fortunately, Dr. Campbell and his statistical expert, Dr. Banoo Parpia, were enthusiastic about joining the research effort. This collaboration has resulted in one of the most remarkable studies in the treatment of hypertension ever conducted. The results will appear in the article, “Medically Supervised Water-Only Fasting in the Treatment of Hypertension,” scheduled for publication in early 2001 in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics.

Powerful findings

In the study, funded in part by a grant from the National Health Association, it was discovered that by having patients consume nothing but pure water in a supervised environment of complete rest, blood pressures rapidly normalized. In fact, many patients who began their fasts while on high blood pressure drugs were required to quickly discontinue their medications, so that their blood pressures would not drop artificially low!

Over a twelve-year period, 174 patients diagnosed with mild to severe high blood pressure were seen at the Center for Conservative Therapy, and were placed on a medically-supervised, water-only fasting regime. The treatment procedure included an average water-only fasting period of 10.6 days, followed by a supervised refeeding period of about one week with a whole, natural foods diet. The results of the study are summarized in Figure 2.

In the final analysis, this safe and simple procedure demonstrated extraordinary effectiveness. By the end of their stay, all patients were able to discontinue their medications, no matter how severe their initial condition. In fact, a review of Figure 2 indicates that the most impressive results were observed with the most serious cases. In cases of “moderate” to “severe” hypertension (blood pressures of 174/93 or greater), the average reduction at the conclusion of treatment was a remarkable 46/15! For these cases, which medical practitioners generally would insist need lifetime medical intervention, the average exit blood pressure was 128/78, using no medication whatsoever!

The reasons for this astonishing success are not yet entirely understood. Certainly, two of the major causes of high blood pressure are being addressed: excessive dietary salt is completely eliminated, and it is likely that some patients experience some reversal of the atherosclerosis process. However, Dr. Campbell has suggested that additional mechanisms may be partly responsible for fasting’s remarkable effects, such as the rapid reduction of a phenomenon known as “insulin resistance.”

Though the details are incompletely understood, the clinical results are clear and convincing. Water-only fasting represents an astonishing breakthrough in the treatment of high blood pressure, with the only “side effects” being that people lose weight and feel great.

For the rest of your life

Contrary to what many people have been led to believe, high blood pressure is not a condition that requires patients to take drugs for the rest of their lives. If you suffer from this silent but serious condition, start taking effective actions today. As described above, there are many things that you can do to assist your body in regaining a healthy level of blood pressure. In particular, the first thing to do is to adopt a diet consisting of whole, natural foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes, and the variable addition of nuts and seeds. Remember, the optimal diet excludes any added salt, since it is a particularly troubling component of the high blood pressure problem. In addition, this diet has been shown to aid in the reversal of atherosclerosis, and in weight reduction. Other important factors that will help to normalize blood pressure include regular exercise and the elimination of alcohol and tobacco. When followed diligently, such a combined strategy is likely to be very effective.

For those who wish to address their high blood pressure problem quickly, powerfully, and safely, supervised water-only fasting has been shown to be a safe and effective tool for the rapid normalization of blood pressure. Follow-up data from the Center for Conservative Therapy study has shown that after several months, patients who adhere to a healthful dietary regimen are able to sustain their improvements. In addition, water-only fasting is a useful method for helping people to re-educate their palates. This can make it easier for you to fully enjoy a simpler, more health-promoting diet and the benefits of vibrant, unmedicated, health for the rest of your life.

Addendum: More about the study

The fasting and high blood pressure study described in this article was funded in part by a grant from the National Health Association. It was conducted at the Center for Conservative Therapy in Penngrove, Calif. The results will appear in the article, “Medically Supervised Water-Only Fasting in the Treatment of Hypertension,” which is scheduled for publication in early 2001 in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics.

Why making good food choices is sometimes difficult! There is a huge industry telling you that what you eat has no effect on your health!

Eating is one of our most basic and powerful drives. And while eating has been woven into many cultural and religious practices, essentially we eat to survive. There are many basic requirements of life that we can get only through our diet. We need a source of fuel or calories; we need protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and water.

There is a huge industry in this country that is trying to convince us that it doesn't matter what we eat. We are told that any combination of heated, treated, processed, chemicalized "foods" will meet our nutritional needs so long as we take plenty of vitamin pills, heartburn medicine, and headache remedies. There is another huge industry that is trying to convince us that what we eat has no effect on our health.

If these same forces were selling fuel for your car, they would try to convince you that your car would run just fine on any fluid so long as you could get it into the gas tank. Then, when you took your car back to the guy who said that it would run fine on coffee ice cream and you complained of pinging and a fouled up carburetion system, he would keep you waiting for two hours and then tell you that it was "probably all in your head," that you should "learn to live with it," ask "What do you expect at your car's age," then announce "there's nothing that can be done."

Food choices matter

At the turn of the century people died before they reached their genetic potential because of acute diseases. Tuberculosis, pneumonia, and gastrointestinal diseases were leading causes of death. Due to changes in public health measures, improved nutrition and medical treatment, acute illness is no longer a leading cause of death. Today, people die from chronic degenerative disease.

Atherosclerotic vascular disease is a buildup of fat in the blood vessels, and the associated heart attacks and strokes kill half of all the people who die each year. Cancer of the breast, colon, prostate, lung and other organs is associated with 25 percent of all the people who die each year. Diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, and emphysema also kill many people prematurely.

What do all of these conditions have in common? They are caused or massively influenced by the food choices we make-what we put or don't put into our mouths.

What to avoid and why

Of all the things human beings put in their mouths, tobacco, alcohol, caffeine, recreational and prescription drugs are perhaps the most harmful. The seemingly endless and varied attempts by people to modify their internal chemistry through powerful chemical agents is an ever widening tragedy. In my practice I treat more people who are suffering and dying from the consequences of using and abusing chemicals than I care to think about. We all need to remember that headaches are not caused by an aspirin deficiency and that there are more productive ways of modifying our moods than with pills, potions and elixirs.

Perhaps the second most destructive habit I see is the use of animal products. Meat, fish, fowl, eggs and dairy products all have much in common. In addition to the well-documented health reasons, there are economic, environmental, humanitarian-and, for many, spiritual reasons that support the adoption of a vegetarian diet.

Not designed for meat

Of all the animals that include meat in their diet, man is the only one that is unable to break down uric acid to allantoin. This is due to the fact that man does not possess the necessary enzyme, uricase. This inability to break down uric acid leads to an increased possibility of it accumulating in the body when animal products are eaten. Uric acid is an intermediary product of metabolism that is associated with various pathological conditions, including gout.

The human liver, unlike the livers of carnivores, can only process a limited amount of cholesterol. If significant amounts of animal products are consumed, cholesterol levels rise, along with an increased risk of developing atherosclerosis. Clearly, either we were not designed to eat animal products or we somehow have the wrong kind of liver.

Animal products, such as uncooked or improperly cooked meat, fish, fowl and dairy products, are a source of parasites and contamination. Trichinae, found in pork and pork-contaminated beef, can cause trichinosis. Salmonellae, found in chicken, eggs and other contaminated animal products, can cause salmonellosis.

In addition to the above "naturally occurring" problems with animal products, a multitude of chemical agents-such as carcinogenic nitrates, etc., are added to animal products to slow down their decay, improve their color, and alter their taste.

Chemicals in meat

In addition to parasites, bacterial infestation, toxic poisons, carcinogenic agents, and free radicals, animal products all suffer from the problem of biological concentration. Animals consume large quantities of grain, grass, etc., that are, to a greater or lesser extent, contaminated with herbicides, pesticides, and other agents. In addition, animals often are fed antibiotics and treated with other drugs and toxic agents. These poisons concentrate in the fat of the animal and are present in an animal's milk and flesh. This biological concentration of poisons poses significant threats to the health of humans who consume animal products.

As if this weren't enough, animal products are completely devoid of fiber and are extremely high in protein-and in spite of what millions of dollars of meat and dairy industry advertising would have you believe, it is excess, not inadequate protein, that is the threat to health. Excess protein, especially the high sulphur containing amino acids found in animal products, has been strongly implicated as a causal agent in many disease processes, including kidney disease, various forms of cancer, a host of autoimmune and hypersensitivity disease processes and osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis is a condition common to postmenopausal women. Bones become weak and fracture easily. Osteoporosis is not caused by a calcium deficiency, and calcium supplementation does not prevent it. In osteoporosis there is a loss of the bone matrix that holds calcium.

A diet high in animal protein can help cause osteoporosis by creating toxic nitrogenous wastes that must be neutralized by calcium drawn from the body's reserves, creating a negative calcium balance where more calcium is lost in the urine than is taken in. No matter how much calcium is given, if the individual is on a high animal protein diet, the calcium balance remains negative. To prevent osteoporosis, a low animal protein diet and regular weight-bearing exercise are essential.

It is ironic that the chief argument used to promote the use of animal products-the purported need for large quantities of protein-is one of the greatest reasons for avoiding them. If animal products are included in the diet in significant quantities, it is virtually impossible to design a healthful diet that is consistent with the overwhelming bulk of evidence in the scientific literature dealing with nutrition.

Fish, fowl and fat

Because animal products are so high in fat, segments of the "food" industry are advertising their products as "lower" in fat. Because of this advertising, some people want to believe that if they change the color of their meat from red to white or if they remove the skin of the animal before eating it, they can avoid the toxic fat.

There is very little difference in the amount of fat per calorie in fish versus fowl versus beef. If you want to see big changes in your health, you must make big changes in your life. Token changes don't work. Only dramatic reduction or elimination of all animal products merits your consideration.

Thinking straight about food

A women recently was referred to me for nutritional counseling by her gynecologist. I reviewed her history, performed a physical examination and was explaining the dietary recommendations I had prepared for her. She interrupted me and said, "Look, doctor, I knew I was coming here for nutritional advice, but I didn't know I would have to eat differently."

Many times patients ask me, "If I have to avoid drugs including alcohol, coffee, cola and chocolate; animal products including meat, fish, fowl, eggs and dairy products; and oil and refined carbohydrates-what's left?"

The answer is: a diet derived exclusively from whole natural foods-fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and the variable addition of nuts, seeds and legumes.

Old habits die hard

Why do we find it so difficult to eat what we should eat and avoid what we shouldn't?

Part of it is genetics-we are programmed to eat concentrated foods when they are available. That is an important survival trait. In a natural setting, there are no chocolate chip cookie trees, candy vines or burger bushes. But today, surrounded by unlimited access to concentrated foods, we must overcome our instincts with our intellect.

To eat well, we have to understand the factors that drive us to keep eating wrong. Very often we eat for the wrong reasons. We might eat because we are emotionally distraught. We might feel fatigued and eat for stimulation. But when we are tired, we should sleep.

Fear of being different is another factor that drives us to make poor food choices. "Friends" can create a lot of cognitive dissonance. "You're no fun anymore!" "It's not healthy to be a fanatic!" "You're so thin!" "Don't you think you're carrying this a little too far!" "I made it just for you!" and "A little won't hurt!"

Once at a lecture I gave, a woman in her 80s stood up and told the group that when she was in her 40s she was very ill. Because conventional treatments failed her, as a last resort she tried fasting and changing her diet. It worked! But some of her friends were so critical of her new lifestyle that she eventually stopped seeing them. I asked if she felt that it was a great loss, but she said, "Oh, no, dear. They all died years ago."

Enjoy your food. But remember, food is fuel. There is more to life than food. Don't live to eat. Eat to live.          

Important new information that will help you understand the roadblocks to health and develop a plan for optimal health and happiness!

If you are not already on it, we would like to introduce you to an exciting new diet program called "Fat for Life"!  Would you like to eat whatever you want whenever you want it? Would you like your exercise program to be as easy as pressing the remote control button on your channel-changer? The Fat for Life program allows you to do whatever comes easiest for you. No thought or effort is required! Millions of Americans swear by the Fat for Life program, and now you can too! In fact, it was recently announced that for the first time in history the majority of adults in the United States are obese. This just shows how quickly the Fat for Life program is catching on. "But, aren't there risks associated with being fat?" you ask. Well, while it is true that at least 75-80% of all deaths in the United States are attributable to unhealthful diet and lifestyle choices, government officials, doctors, and even health associations often insist that the standard American diet is "healthy"! So, think positive! You may be among the lucky one-in-five Americans who won't suffer unnecessary illness and premature death. And besides, what is so bad about cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, arthritis, and osteoporosis? Isn't that why you have health insurance?

Admittedly, not everyone is comfortable being fat and sick. But that is no reason to forsake the Fat for Life program. If you don't like carrying the extra weight, you can get your doctor to give you appetite-suppressing drugs, or to staple your stomach.

"But, you ask," doesn't research indicate that it may be more likely that my doctor can cure cancer than cure obesity?" Well, ask yourself this question: Why do you have to be so negative? Just think positive thoughts. Everything is exactly the way it is supposed to be. Go with the flow.

Diet no laughing matter

By now, you can tell that we have been writing tongue-in-cheek. But doesn't what we have written sound all too familiar? Most people, even most physicians, are really in the dark when it comes to diet and nutrition. Fortunately, there is an easy-to-understand approach to weight loss, and it doesn't involve any pills, powders, potions, or other gimmicks. It does involve learning how to eat and to exercise in ways that are consistent with our natural history. That means eating a diet consisting of whole natural foods. It also means engaging in frequent, moderate exercise.

Does our program work? At the TrueNorth Health Center, we have helped many people lose unneeded and unwanted fat, and keep it off, by following a few sensible guidelines. But before we describe our approach, let's look at why conventional diets don't work. One reason that diets don't work is that they contain foods that were never present in the natural environment! As a result, these foods - such as bread, cheese, crackers, "low-fat" chocolate shakes, margarine, and "light" beer - have the ability to fool the brain's natural appetite mechanisms.  When this happens, people tend to over-consume, and that over-consumption is stored as fat. It is just about as simple as that.

Fooling our nature

Our brains are built to sense the caloric value of foods we eat. When we've eaten enough, our hunger drive is designed to shut down naturally. Notice that you have never "accidentally" eaten 50 apples. Your body "keeps count" and shuts your hunger down at the appropriate time. The brain mechanism that organizes this feat is called the satiety mechanism. It was built into our psychology over countless generations, as part of our natural biological heritage. All creatures need to know both when they are "hungry" and when they are "full," so that they can live most effectively.

The satiety mechanism appears to depend upon two types of receptors in our mouths and stomachs. These are stretch receptors, which give our brain information about how "stretched out" our stomach is, and nutrient receptors, which tell us the caloric density of the food we have eaten. Notice that if you eat four pounds of raw salad, you may feel "full" in terms of being "stretched out," but the nutrient receptors in your stomach also will be saying, "Hey, that was 'OK,' but it wasn't nearly enough! Get me some calories, or I'm going to continue to complain!" You might feel "stretched out" but still hungry. To be satiated, or hunger-satisfied, we have to have our stomach both stretched out and filled with some "real" calories. In the environment of our ancestors, the foods had moderate caloric density; that is, those foods both stretched the stomach and also caused significant nutrient signaling to the brain. People couldn't easily overeat on foods of moderate density because the stretching of their stomachs would hurt. Our ancestors ate everything they could, until they felt full, and then stopped eating! They never worried about overeating and getting fat (which might have been dangerous in a natural setting). They didn't need to be concerned about this because on a natural diet, people rarely get fat.

Processed foods

Modern, processed foods tend to be more calorically dense than natural foods. They can fool our satiety mechanism! When people eat substantial quantities of processed foods, it is quite natural for them to overeat, because the stretch receptors in their stomachs are not getting much chance to signal "enough" - until too much has been eaten.

Let's look at the caloric density of some popular foods. Raw vegetables, such as salads, contain about 100 calories per pound. Cooked vegetables, such as carrots, contain about 200 calories per pound. Fresh fruits contain about 300 calories per pound, and starchy vegetables and grains contain about 500 calories per pound. (See chart on p.12.) But breads, pizza, ice cream, and other processed products are usually between 1000 and 1500 calories per pound!

Easy to overeat

A pound of bread, for example, has about 1200 calories! Because of processing, bread is a more concentrated product than grains or starchy vegetables. Therefore, when eating bread, there will be less stretch receptor activity in the stomach signaling for satiety than when eating grains, given the same caloric intake! Some examples might make this easier to understand. Which is easier to eat: a pint of ice cream, or five pounds of cooked carrots? Which is more likely to make you feel full: a pound of pizza, or eight pounds of cooked broccoli? Four ounces of chocolate, or three large baked potatoes? You can see that overeating is easy to do if concentrated, processed foods are prominent in the diet. Meats are also very concentrated - one of the few naturally concentrated sources of calories. Meat consumption was probably relatively unusual in the natural environment, and it packed a big punch at about 1200 calories per pound.

In today's world, the Fat for Life crowd is eating a diet that predominately consists of processed foods and meat, fish, fowl, eggs, and dairy products. This guarantees that the caloric density of the average American's diet is much, much greater than their appetite machinery is built to handle! Any creature given a diet that is more concentrated than is appropriate for its design will tend to overeat - and get fat. Birds eating processed foods, for example, may fatten to the point that they can no longer fly. Given this perspective, it is hardly a surprise that over 50% of U.S. adults are obese; and another significant percentage are well above their optimum weight.

Remarkable new approach to weight loss

A key strategy in any successful weight loss program is to treat your body in the way it was meant to be utilized. A top priority of this strategy is to eat a diet consisting of whole natural foods - fresh fruits and vegetables, and the variable addition of whole grains, raw nuts and seeds, and legumes. In addition to the many other health benefits, this dietary strategy will provide sufficient stretch receptor activity, resulting in satiety. With this dietary strategy, significant overeating is much less likely to occur. At the Center, for lunch and dinner, we recommend that meals be eaten in a particular order. First, eat a large, raw vegetable salad. Steamed vegetables should be eaten next.

Finally, eat starchy vegetables and whole grains. There is a reason for this recommendation. We have observed that once a person gets a taste of higher-calorie foods (such as cooked grains), lower-calorie foods (such as raw salad) are suddenly less appealing. This can result in less salad and vegetable consumption, which, in turn, can cause an overall increase of the meal's caloric density. By starting with the least caloric foods - when we are the most hungry - more low-density food is consumed. This results in more stretching of the stomach, which helps us to feel full and thus less likely to overeat.

Using this strategy, there is little need to be concerned about portion size. There is truly no need to "go hungry." By consuming the majority of calories from moderately concentrated, unprocessed, whole, natural foods, most of the "fat battle" is easily won. Combined with a moderate exercise program, this strategy really works - just as nature intended. We have found that our overweight patients tend to lose about two pounds per week using this strategy. Most medical researchers would consider our patients' successes to be "miraculous." We don't, but we are very pleased to see our patients consistently rewarded for following this "uncommon sense" approach to weight loss.

We should add a few comments about exercise because some people place so much emphasis on it. We have seen people who exercise almost constantly, but still fail to lose weight. Exercise is a useful and important adjunct to healthful living and to weight control, but exercise alone is not enough. We recommend that our patients engage in moderate exercise 4-5 times per week. Actually, we think it is a good idea to exercise moderately almost every day, if you have the time. By "moderate" exercise, we mean an activity that causes you to have to work at it a bit. If you are an Olympic marathoner, it might mean a five-mile run. For most of our overweight patients, however, it probably means a brisk 20-30 minute walk. If our program seems "too good to be true," we're not surprised. While our diet and exercise strategies are very simple and easy to understand, they are sometimes difficult to implement.

Many factors can get in the way, but the most potent obstacle that you face in conquering the Fat for Life challenge is your built-in "energy conservation programming. "Programmed for convenience foods, all animals, including humans, have energy conservation programming built into their nervous systems. The nature of this programming differs from species to species, but it is always there, nonetheless. Migratory birds, for example, will fly in a characteristic "V" pattern, so that they can use each other's bodies to break the wind - and save calories.  Many fish swim in schools, saving calories riding in each other's wake. And predators, all over the world, are found to pick on the "weak," so that they get the greatest number of calories for the least amount of effort expended.

Humans, too, have this type of programming as part of human nature. We are programmed to want to get as many calories as we can, with the least possible effort! This is great programming for humans living in an environment of scarcity, which is where almost all humans lived until just the last few decades. Now, however, most of us in the modern Western world are no longer living in an environment of scarcity. But our natural programming is still with us - encouraging us to eat as much as we can with as little effort as possible! Is it any wonder that obesity is an epidemic within industrialized societies?  Your "natural" tendencies may be to eat the most concentrated foods available - and to exercise as little as possible. But you needn't be a slave to these tendencies. People are often able to over-ride them with some moderate effort. You can "use your head" to think ahead when it comes to your health and fitness. Plan ahead to have plenty of whole natural foods available at all times so that it is convenient, and schedule time to engage in regular, moderate exercise. No need for miracles you do not need a "miracle" to have a healthy, trim body. But you need to understand and respect how you were naturally designed to live.

You were designed to consume a diet of whole natural foods - and engage in moderate, regular exercise. Your energy conservation programming may make it seem "unnatural" to live this way, but that is only because of the modern environment. Progress has made unhealthful living all too easy. You do not need to follow the herd, which is headed toward fatness and failure. By implementing these simple strategies, you can join the fortunate few who are fit - not fat - for life.     

Our genetically-programmed behavior does not always serve us well in our modern environment.

When I began my practice more than 20 years ago, I still had a lot to learn. I had the skills and information to help sick people get well and healthy people stay well.  But I thought that all I had to do was take a careful medical history, perform a thorough physical examination, and prepare detailed diet and lifestyle recommendations. Then, I thought, my patients would follow my advice diligently and get outstanding results.

But it did not always work that way. I found that people did not want to make drastic lifestyle changes, or give up their bad habits. They did not quickly or easily give up cigarettes, coffee, alcohol, and other drugs. The same was true for meat, fish, fowl, eggs, or dairy products, as well as oil, salt, and sugar.

My patients believed in magic. They believed that despite their bad habits, indiscretions, and lack of personal fortitude, the magic of modern medicine somehow would enable them to make a few small changes that required minimal effort and would instantly overcome years of abuse to their health.

Many of these patients had been given poor advice by their doctors. They had been told that changing the color of their meat from red to white, or that being "moderate" in continuing their unhealthful habits was all that was required. Some patients thought that their problems were "all in the head"; some thought that their conditions were the "inevitable result of aging." Many thought that they just might have to "learn to live with it." It was frustrating to see people who were sick and dying, suffering needlessly, hanging on to the very habits that caused their problems.

Over time, I began to observe that the patients who did the best in the long run were those who developed a reality-based philosophy of life. It was not enough to tell these individuals what to do, they wanted to understand how and why it worked. At that point, I realized that my role as a physician would involve more re-education than I originally thought.

During these past 20 years, I have had the pleasure and privilege of helping several thousand individuals learn to get healthy and stay healthy. I would like to share some of the information that can help you do the same. Let's take a look at some of the things that influence our behavior tendencies. To a large extent, our behavior - the choices we make - determines the quantity and the quality of our lives.

Beyond survival

On one level, humans are like other animals: genetically-programmed, biologically-driven organisms whose fundamental purpose in life is survival. (By survival I mean getting enough to eat and not getting eaten.) But humans also operate on an entirely different level. We have developed the most powerful tool that the world has ever seen-language. Language has allowed us to dominate the planet. Unlike other animals, who acquire knowledge only through direct, individual experience, language allows humans to accumulate knowledge and pass it on. Language is the power behind the success of our species.

Knowledge which might take an individual a lifetime to accumulate can be passed on in a matter of moments by listening to someone speak or by reading their words. This enables us to benefit from the cumulative life experiences of those who came before us.

One outgrowth of our unique gift of language has been the development of a mathematically-based system to help us determine what is real-which we call science. The scientific method is not perfect, but it is a tremendously powerful tool that helps us separate fact from fantasy. One of the direct benefits of this system is our ability to monitor and evaluate factors that either enhance or impair health.

Pleasure vs. happiness

Most animals spend virtually all of their time trying to get enough to eat and  not get eaten. But we humans have been able to gain control over our environment to such an extent-at least in the powerful, developed countries-that we have been able to get enough to eat, not get eaten, and still have some time left over. Now that we can look beyond mere survival, we can explore what gives life meaning, or put another way, what makes us happy.

Many people confuse pleasure with happiness. This can be a big problem and can lead to some very unhappy results. It is imperative that we recognize the difference between pleasure and happiness.

Pleasure is a stereotypical response of your nervous system to specific stimulation. Food, sexual activity, even drugs can stimulate your nervous system in such a way that you can experience pleasure. Happiness is an emotional state that occurs spontaneously when you perceive the overall balance of your life experience as highly positive.

Many people, when unhappy, mistakenly assume that they are lacking pleasure in their lives. They assume that they have a pleasure deficiency and go about trying to stimulate the pleasure-sensing mechanisms of their nervous system. Drug addiction is an extreme example of pleasure-seeking behavior. Drug addicts often will destroy their lives just to induce a temporarily-pleasurable response. Crack cocaine addicts reportedly have sold their infant children for a few rocks of cocaine. But no matter how much cocaine or other drugs an addict uses, no matter how much the drug stimulates the pleasure-sensing mechanisms in the brain, he or she never will achieve happiness through drug use.

The need for planning

To achieve happiness, we need to develop a happiness strategy. That strategy is to learn to delay gratification and not to be driven solely by short-term, pleasure-seeking behavior.

Imagine a person who has lumber and nails, and decides he wants to build a house. Suppose he begins to randomly nail boards together, hoping a wonderful house will result. Without a plan, what are the chances that these random actions will result in a nice house? But with careful planning, a good set of blueprints, and lots of hard work and patience, the likelihood of success increases dramatically. We need to approach our health and happiness this way. Without a plan, we are unlikely to create happiness for ourselves.

Craving concentrated foods

There is a reason why we find some things pleasurable and others painful. There was a time when our very survival depended upon knowing the distinction between what benefited us and what harmed us. Many of the behaviors that served us well in a natural environment-when our focus was getting enough to eat and not getting eaten-may not serve us well today.

Consider our desire to eat concentrated foods-foods high in calories. The earliest humans lived in a natural setting where food was scarce. They needed to eat as much concentrated food as they could get, just to survive. Those who were successful at getting enough food to survive passed that trait on to succeeding generations. We all still have this basic instinct in our genetic makeup to eat concentrated food when it is available. But now we live in an entirely different world.

Most readers of Health Science magazine live in an environment characterized by food excess, not by food scarcity. In a natural setting there are no chocolate chip cookie trees, no hamburger bushes, and no refined or processed foods. But in our increasingly artificial world, there are fast "foods" available on virtually every corner. These processed foods are designed to appeal to our genetically-driven instincts, and they fool our natural senses. Our natural desire to eat concentrated food whenever it is available no longer serves our needs, since we are living at a time when concentrated foods are everywhere.

Unhealthy illusions

It is not easy to be healthy and happy in an environment that seems designed to make us sick and miserable.

How many people do you know who drive two hours each day, in heavy traffic, to jobs they hate, to work with people they dislike, to make a product they detest, for a company they despise, to make money to buy products they do not need, under the illusion that if they just could cram a little more short-term, pleasure-seeking, self-indulgent behavior into their lives, they might be happy.

Why is it that so many of us continue to participate in behavior that is known to cause pain, disease, and premature death? Why do we continue to use harmful drugs like tobacco, alcohol, and coffee? Why do we continue to eat animal products and junk food, despite the known dangers?

We do these things because we like them. They give us pleasure. While it is true that there is nothing inherently wrong with pleasure-seeking behavior, it can be destructive, especially if it becomes the primary focus of life.

Sadly, the primary motivation of many people is pleasure-seeking behavior. They believe that if they are not happy, they must have a pleasure deficiency. They live under the illusion that if they can just squeeze more pleasure into their lives, they will be happy.

This life of illusion begins when we are young. We teach our children to be drug addicts. We teach them that the way you deal with problems is through drugs. When we have a headache, we take a pill. When we have a fever, we take another pill. When we have a cough, we drink a syrup. When dad has a hard day and needs to relax, he drinks alcohol. When we are so sleep-deprived that we can hardly get out of bed in the morning, we drink a highly destructive nervous-system stimulant called caffeine, hidden in our tea or coffee. We give this same addictive drug to children in the form of chocolate and cola drinks.

Social roadblocks to health

There are many barriers to making diet and lifestyle changes that I call the social roadblocks to health. The human nervous system is wired to recognize social conformity. When an individual challenges the social norm by being "different," it can create psychological pain in people around them. This pain is called cognitive dissonance. People do not like how cognitive dissonance makes them feel, so they work very hard to eliminate it and, if necessary, you.

People evaluate by comparison. In order to feel better about themselves, people either try to improve their lot in life, or try to bring you down, so that they feel better by comparison. Since most people do not get enough sleep, they are too tired to improve themselves. They may put what little energy they do have into trying to bring you down.

When they see you trying to eat well, they may try to tempt you with a very stimulating, high-fat dessert, or something else that you no longer choose to eat. If you decline, they may comment along the line of, "What's the point in being healthy if there is no joy in life?" or "You are no fun anymore!" or "Don't you think you're carrying this health thing a little too far?"

They also may become instant nutrition experts. When you were eating hot dogs, fried chicken, cupcakes, or candy, no one said a thing. But just start bringing healthy meals to work, and you may start hearing comments like, "You can't live on that!" And, "Where are you going to get your protein?" What they really feel, but are unable to express, is that by improving yourself, you are making them feel uncomfortable about themselves.

Make a plan for success

Successful individuals begin new projects with their goal in mind. They focus on the important things and do not get distracted by the lesser things, no matter how urgent they might seem at the moment. If happiness is your goal, remember that health is an important foundation for happiness, and that health results from healthful living.

Healthful living means taking responsibility for four main areas of your life: diet-eating the right foods, for the right reasons; environment-maintaining a healthy home and workplace; activity-getting enough exercise, rest and sleep; and psychology-engaging in productive activity and developing effective interpersonal skills.

We are all different, but the equalizing factor in all of our lives is time. We all get 168 hours per week. At most, we have about 30,000 days left to live. The challenge for each of us is how to use our time to promote the greatest health and happiness for ourselves and our loved ones.

Important strategies for dealing with modern problems that can trick our natural psychology!

Our moods and emotions are signals to tell us about how our lives are going. When things are going well, we tend to feel good. When something goes poorly, our moods or emotions tend to shift towards an unpleasant internal state. In this way, moods and emotions act as feedback systems to help us act in productive ways to keep going in the same direction if things are going well, and to change direction if things are going poorly.

When much in our lives is going poorly, it is not uncommon to experience depression. Depression acts as a signal, and as a motivating force, to help us look carefully at what is not going well, and to consider alternative courses of action. In order to deal with depression most effectively, it can be useful to understand how we sometimes come to be depressed, and what actions we can take to restore better mood functioning.

Feelings and feedback

Moods and emotions, our psychological feelings, are feedback systems that can indicate the effectiveness of our actions. They work in a similar fashion to physical pains and pleasures. If we sprain an ankle, for example, we feel physical pain because our behavioral error has resulted in physical damage and has potentially compromised our survival. The pain of walking on the injured ankle helps discourage us from doing anything that could cause further injury, and thus aids the healing process.

On the more pleasant side, we often feel physical pleasure when we eat calorie-rich foods when we are hungry, or while we stand in front of a warm fire when we are chilled. These and other physical pain/pleasure mechanisms assist us in our survival by encouraging some behaviors, while discouraging others.

Our psychological feelings include moods and emotions. These two experiences have subtle, but important, differences. Moods are the gentle, long-term states that can last for hours at a time. We can say, often with accuracy, that we were "in a good mood all morning" or even "all day long." In such instances, our internal states are quite positive, though with fluctuations, possibly throughout the whole day.

Emotions, on the other hand, are very intense experiences, usually lasting only a few minutes. Emotions, like moods, are signals of a positive or negative relationship between person and environment, but they reflect the person's perception of something as immediately important. We cannot be intensively emotional for very long, because our neurochemical machinery cannot sustain intense emotional reactions for hours on end, as is possible with mood states. Like an "emergency" signal, for good or for bad, emotions tend to be intense and short-lived. When a football team wins a big game, for example, the players and fans may celebrate intensively for several minutes, but then the celebration tends to run out of steam. The cheering quiets, and the stadium empties. A good mood may come after the celebration, and linger for hours or even days, but the intense positive emotions following victory quickly will fade.

It has long been recognized that physical pains and pleasures are fairly reliable guides with respect to physical dangers (injury and illness) and positive survival values (food, water, and appropriate temperature). Less recognition has been given to the connection between our psychological feeling, our moods and emotions, and their utility at signaling dangers and positive survival values.

Important signals

Throughout much of history, moods and emotions often have been considered independent of reason. of being unpredictable and sometimes nonsensical. Psychologists now understand that this is not the case. Just as physical pains and pleasures are important signals, so, too, are moods and emotions. For example, we may feel anxiety when we are not certain that we can perform a given task.

Anxiety is generally a useful guide, signaling us that our proposed endeavor may require our very best effort to succeed, and, in fact, may require talent beyond our current abilities. Anxiety signals us to consider carefully whether the action is a worthwhile risk. It is unusual to feel anxiety over "nothing." While people sometimes experience anxiety attacks "out of the blue," this is not the most common pattern.

The survival value of anxiety is obvious if you are contemplating a trek across dangerous terrain, you had better be anxious. You had better consider carefully whether this is an intelligent undertaking. And if it is, your anxiety will help to facilitate careful planning, checking and rechecking of supplies, the rehearsing of potentially needed skills, worrying about things that could go wrong, and so forth.

Depression

In this short article, it is not possible to address psychological functioning per se (that would require an entire book). So let's focus on one particularly problematic experience: that of depressed moods. The approach I take begins with recognizing that depressed moods may best be thought of as "psychological pain" and be taken seriously as signals that some life issues may be out of balance.

A sensible approach to pain is to attempt to identify the cause of the pain, remove it if possible, and try to create the conditions most likely to lead to recovery. For example, if a person has pain from a sprained ankle, the prescription of painkillers should not be the first option considered.

While in some circumstances painkillers might be useful, their use carries substantial risks. When pain is masked by painkillers, damaging behavior is more likely to continue. Similarly, while medications for depressed moods may be useful and sometimes necessary, they should not be considered ideal treatment, and they are not risk-free.

Many medical professionals consider depression to be a "disease," an aberration of normal neurochemical functioning that is best treated with powerful antidepressant drugs. The success of these drugs is sometimes remarkable, and it would be both foolish and irresponsible for a mental health professional to ignore their utility. However, the view that depression is always, or even often, simply a function of aberrant brain chemistry is probably incorrect. In my opinion, aberrant brain chemistry should not be considered the "first hypothesis" by mental health professionals, or by their patients.

Instead, depression should be first considered as a signal, a symptom that a person's life is out of balance and may need examination, reorganization, and personal growth. Very often, there are legitimate reasons for a person being depressed, and those reasons cannot and should not be ignored or hidden behind the power of antidepressant drugs.

Many mental health professionals disagree with this view. Their argument goes something like this: "It doesn't matter what causes depression, what matters is that it is unpleasant. Therefore, it doesn't matter how we get rid of it, what counts is that if we can get rid of it, we should get rid of it!"

They also often downplay the "side effects" (the unwanted effects) of medications (antidepressant drugs). Their argument might continue as, "The pain and suffering of a depressed person is awful, and if there is a quick, effective, and low-risk method for eliminating the suffering, that should be the treatment of choice."

Pills not always best
   
While there is understandable logic in the above view, recent scientific evidence gives us reason to dampen the enthusiasm regarding the use of antidepressant drugs. In addition to the substantial issue of potentially dangerous side effects, there is the issue of long-term effectiveness. When the long-term effects of antidepressant medications are compared with cognitive-behavioral therapy, a treatment style that attempts to address underlying psychological issues, the medications perform relatively poorly.

Both antidepressant medications and cognitive-behavior psychotherapy for depression work effectively in 60-70% of cases, within a few weeks. Medications tend to work a bit more quickly. But after the discontinuation of their medication, about 50% of patients can be expected to relapse into a depressive episode within the following year. This is in stark contrast to patients who receive cognitive-behavior psychotherapy, with periodic maintenance therapy, for depression. Their risk of relapse is perhaps 10-15%.

This remarkable distinction in relapse rates suggests the possibility that patients who receive effective psychotherapy may be getting "to the root" of the causes of their depression, putting them in more control of their psychological lives. The suggestion is that cognitive-behavior therapy results in the self-examination, reorganization, and personal growth needed to meet challenges that previously were overwhelming.

Dealing with depression

Many people experience periods of time during which they have recurrent depressed moods. When depressed moods begin to dominate a person's day-to-day life for several consecutive weeks or longer, professional assistance may be indicated. Persistent depression can be a sign that 1) the person needs assistance in developing more effective happiness strategies, or 2) a serious biochemical disturbance exists that may benefit from antidepressant medication. It is a myth that mental health professionals can easily tell the difference between these two alternatives. Future research efforts may help us learn to better clarify what the most appropriate treatment alternative should be for a given patient.
 

Mental health professionals, such as psychiatrists and psychologists, often have very different views about the most appropriate initial intervention strategy for a given situation. My own bias is to focus on the possibility that persistent depressed moods are at least partly, if not largely, due to the person needing assistance in developing more effective happiness strategies. If these strategies appear to be ineffective, medical management may then be indicated.

Good basic strategies

Many people have found the following three mood-supporting strategies to be helpful. They are not complicated and require no professional assistance.

1. Make a list of pleasant activities and then schedule them into your calendar. Too often, we get caught in the routine of familiar patterns and habits that do not challenge or motivate us. Our negative moods may be a signal that our actions are not being sufficiently directed towards activities that we most value.

2. Take on new challenges that lead to personal growth. Sometimes depression comes about because we are stymied in personal growth. Taking on new challenges can rekindle the excitement of youth, when everything was new, much was exciting, and things were often worth doing to the best of our abilities.

Take steps to eliminate your unhealthful lifestyle habits. Unhealthful lifestyle habits sometimes can contribute to depression. If you are having recurrent depressed moods, one place to start taking control is by addressing the following three basic issues, eating properly, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep. In some cases, therapeutic fasting may help, since a properly conducted fast provides the opportunity for a period of profound physiological and psychological rest.

When you need help

There are times when these basic strategies are not enough. Sometimes our depressed moods may be signaling the need to examine major life issues carefully, make difficult choices, and find creative ways to expand our self-confidence. Sometimes such processes are done better with the assistance of a skilled professional. The psychotherapy medium that I recommend (and practice) is called cognitive-behavior therapy (or sometimes just "cognitive therapy"). This style of therapy is recommended because it represents the best-researched, most apparently effective style of psychotherapy currently available. While other styles may have merit, none at present can claim the solid foundation of scientifically-demonstrated success of this approach. This is the approach we use at the TrueNorth Health Center.

Clearly, there are times when antidepressant medications are indicated, and the assistance of a psychiatrist can be important (psychiatrists are medical doctors who work with mind-altering medications). I don't want to give the impression that such interventions should be viewed only as a "last resort." Rather, I am uncomfortable with the view that medications should be "first resort," which too often is the case. If depression persists in the face of cognitive and behavioral therapeutic strategies, it can be comforting to know that medications exist that may make a difference.

Reasons for good cheer

There are many reasons why we no longer need to feel overwhelmed or intimidated by a period of depressed moods. Earlier this century, a depressed patient seen by a Freudian analyst was thought to be, in effect, psychologically healthy! Freud considered misery to be reflective of rationality; that life was inherently miserable and that only those who were somewhat oblivious to the facts of their lives could be reasonably happy. Little wonder that treatment approaches of those times were notoriously unsuccessful!

Today, we no longer view depression as a sign of psychological health or clarity of insight. Depression is perhaps best viewed as a symptom, a signal that there are life challenges that may need to be examined and addressed. Sometimes our thinking can be so unclear as to require the services of a skilled professional, and the results are often very positive. There are excellent books that can help people treat themselves, such as Feeling Good: The New Mood Theory, by the cognitive therapist/psychiatrist Dr. David Burns. And should medical intervention be indicated, we now have access to antidepressant medications that are safer and more effective than ever before.

Depressed moods are no fun. And if they persist, your life can sink into a depressive episode that can last for months, and sometimes longer. The good news is that depressive processes are understood better than ever. If you cannot solve it yourself, get help! Take action. This is one problem that you can definitely learn to live without.

Understanding the extraordinary power of your immune system! The more you know about how your body works, the better able you are to make the choices necessary to enhance both the quantity and quality of your life!

Hygiene is defined in the dictionary as the science of health and its preservation. But what does that really mean?

Science, the dictionary tells us, is "the systematic observation of natural phenomena for the purpose of discovering laws governing those phenomena." Put more simply, science is the process we use to figure out how things work. Health is defined as "a state of optimal physical, mental, and social well-being."

With these definitions in mind, it is easy to see that Hygiene is neither a dietary system, a therapeutic system, nor a religious or belief system. Hygiene is the science of health. It encompasses a broad body of knowledge about the natural laws that determine health and numerous techniques that enable you to use this information to maximize your health potential.

Knowledge is power

The more you learn about how your body works, the better prepared you will be to make the choices necessary to enhance both the quantity (longevity) and quality of your life.

The optimum state of function that we call health is spontaneously generated by the human organism when it is provided with the requirements of health. The requirements of health can be conveniently classified into four general categories:

Diet - a plant-based diet of whole natural foods that meets your individual nutritional needs;

Environment - getting fresh air, pure water, and appropriate sunshine, and avoiding environmental stressors such as air and water pollution, and excess exposure to dust, pollen, chemicals, and noise;

Activity - engaging in regular aerobic exercise and getting adequate rest and sleep; and

Psychology - engaging in productive activity and developing the interpersonal social skills necessary for a successful life.

When the requirements of health are appropriately provided, the self-healing mechanisms of the body attempt to restore and/or optimize health. Your body's ability to do this is only limited by your inherent constitution (genetics) and the amount of use and abuse that has taken place.

Hygienic physicians have always emphasized the concept that health and disease are not antagonists. Disease processes such as diarrhea, fever, and inflammation are not only natural, but are necessary attempts by the body to regain optimum health. Attempts to suppress these adaptive and eliminative processes with drugs and other invasive treatment may create problems by interfering with the body's self-healing mechanisms.

Natural immunity

It is important that you know how extraordinarily capable and complex your immune system is.

Your body is constantly exposed to chemicals, toxins, pollutants, and other stressors. In addition, simple organisms such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites are capable (under certain circumstances) of invading the human body and using it as a source of nourishment. Fortunately, the healthy human body has defenses against invasion by these organisms. These defenses comprise the immune system.

The immune system can be thought of as having two divisions-the general or non-specific immune system and the adaptive or specific immune system.

Your non-specific immune system

First let's take a look at the non-specific division of the immune system. The largest organ in the human body is not the heart or liver; it is the skin. The skin and its components form a very important part of the non-specific immune system.

Most potentially pathogenic organisms and agents are prevented from interfering with normal function because of the barrier that the skin creates. The openings into the body, such as the mouth and nose, however, are not covered with skin, but with mucus membrane. This membrane can secrete various substances and is usually moist. In these moist secretions are other defense mechanisms, including chemicals such as lysozyme and C reactive protein, which can kill invading bacteria.

Mucus itself can trap invading organisms, and cilia (little hairlike projections in the lungs, bronchi, and throat) can push those invaders back out of the body as long as they are working properly. It has been shown that in tobacco and marijuana smokers the cilia become paralyzed and destroyed. This is one of the reasons that smokers have such an increased incidence of respiratory and other infections.

The acid in the stomach, vagina, and other organs also can act as part of the non-specific immune system by creating an environment in which potentially invasive organisms cannot survive.

Look who's coming for dinner

The next components of the non-specific division of the immune system are the phagocytic or "cell-eating" cells. These phagocytes can engulf and destroy most invading organisms. Phagocytes are a type of white blood cell found in the bloodstream as well as in various organs such as the lungs, liver, and intestinal tract.

People with malfunctioning phagocytes are subject to recurrent infections. In rare cases, this malfunctioning is a genetic defect. More commonly, it arises from poor health practices which overwhelm the ability of the phagocyte to act. Smoking, for example, in addition to paralyzing cilia, can kill macrophages, the phagocytes that live in the lungs.

Natural born killers

Another type of white blood cell, called the "natural killer" cell, can recognize cells that have been invaded by viruses. The killer cells can bind to these infected cells and destroy them. Cells that are infected by viruses help the killer cells by producing chemicals called interferons, which activate the killer cells.

The body also is capable of producing special proteins during an infection. These proteins coat the invading organisms, especially certain bacteria, and make it easier for the phagocytes to destroy them. But this only works if the invading organisms have some general chemical markers that the non-specific division of the immune system can identify.

Some like it hot

When an infection or injury takes place, the body produces a reaction called inflammation. Inflammation serves to direct the elements of the immune system to the site of infection or injury.

Inflammation consists of three parts-increased blood supply to the infected area; increased permeability of the small blood vessels permitting large molecules to leave the bloodstream and reach the infection; and increased migration of phagocytes toward the site of infection. Inflammation causes the infected area to look red, become swollen, and feel hot and painful.

The non-specific division of the immune system, including skin, mucus, cilia and phagocyte can take care of many infections and potential infections. Problems arise when phagocytes lack the ability to identify things that bypass the non-specific division of the immune system's defenses.

Your specific immune system

Fortunately, the immune system has another division called the adaptive, or specific, division. Unlike the non-specific division, the specific division of the immune system is capable of producing particles called antibodies.

These tiny antibodies have two ends. One is a receptor that can recognize a specific organism or substance. The other end is a marker that fits in the general receptors of the phagocytes. When an antibody attaches its specific end to an invading organism or foreign substance, it tags the invader in such a way that the phagocytes of the non-specific division of the immune system can recognize and destroy it.

These antibodies made by the specific division of the immune system are produced by white blood cells called B lymphocytes. B lymphocytes come in thousands of varieties, each capable of recognizing one specific marker or antigen.

The number of lymphocytes that can recognize any particular marker or antigen is very small. When the right B lymphocyte finds the antigen of the invader, it binds to it. This stimulates the lymphocyte to quickly reproduce many more B lymphocytes of exactly the same type.

With the help of a complicated chemical signaling system, the new B cells are ordered to start pouring out antibodies. The antibodies bind to the invaders, and the phagocytes destroy them. Some of the new B cells, instead of producing antibodies, become memory cells. After the invasion is resolved, these memory cells persist in the body. If that particular invader should ever happen to show up again, the body will be able to destroy it quickly.


Mother's little helpers


In addition to the B lymphocytes that produce antibodies, there is another important kind of lymphocyte cell-T lymphocytes or T cells. T cells come in several varieties-helper, killer, suppressor, memory and others.

Helper T cells, like B cells are very specific, having specific receptors for specific invaders. It is the helper T cells that are in charge of the complicated chemical signaling system that tells the B cells what to do and initiates the production of killer T cells.

Love the one you're with

We are fortunate that we possess such a complex and efficient immune system that functions at its highest level when we conscientiously secure the requirements of health.

Your health is very precious. Take the steps necessary to protect and preserve it. Remember, you are the only you you've got.   

The Bay Area's ABC 7 news had a feature on the Graston Technique last night. TrueNorth Health Center offers Graston Technique treatments with Dr. Erwin Linzner. Give us a call at 707-586-5555 to schedule an appointment today.

In the late 1800s, a young Scottish physician was experiencing difficulty in establishing his medical practice. With extra time on his hands, the young man turned his remarkable mind to the telling of mysteries and their solutions. In contrast to his struggling practice, his writing would be an immediate and astounding success. The young doctor's name was Arthur Conan Doyle and his literary creation, Sherlock Holmes, would become synonymous with deductive genius for generations to come.

Though a fine storyteller with a flair for both humor and drama, perhaps Doyle's greatest talent was his penetrating vision into the nature of human problem solving. In particular, Doyle had an uncanny sense for spotting human problem-solving blind spots and mental biases to which he made sure that the great Holmes was immune. Indeed, a crucial component of Holmes's timeless appeal is his ability to make sense out of what less gifted observers might view as insufficient or contradictory evidence.

Holmes's special talent is his ability to appreciate the importance of clues that others fail to notice, although their importance is obvious once seen from the proper perspective. Often, this perspective requires Holmes to look at the evidence from a viewpoint that is precisely opposite from one that seems naturally right. In one classic Holmes mystery, a murder had apparently taken place at a remote country estate, with the evidence indicating that the culprit was an intruder. Holmes determined otherwise, with his characteristic flair.

The case of Silver Blaze

In the Sherlock Holmes mystery entitled Silver Blaze, the victim, a resident of the estate, was found one morning on the grounds, having been felled by a blow to the head on the previous evening. The evidence strongly suggested that the culprit was a peculiar stranger who had been observed on the estate's grounds earlier that day. The police had already apprehended the suspect, and they were intending to charge him with the crime. Holmes intervened, insisting to the police that they had made a mistake.

The estate housed many people, horses, and an alert stable dog. The case turned on an obscure, but key point: After questioning witnesses, Holmes recognized a critical fact that others had missed. Ultimately this discovery exonerated the chief suspect. The great Holmes explained to his astounded listeners that the key to the case was the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime.  Before he could continue, a listener objected, insisting that the dog did nothing in the nighttime.

That was the curious incident, replied Holmes. He later explained that the absence of barking suggested to him that the culprit was well known to the manor's hound. This indicated a need to re-examine the evidence from a fresh perspective. With this new viewpoint, Holmes solved the mystery, because of his brilliant awareness that the absence of something is often just as important as its presence. Though clearly true, this point is often difficult for most of us to grasp.

This difficulty is the result of a natural human problem-solving blind spot, an innate limitation of our psychology. It is precisely this type of human limitation that Holmes was so adept at noticing. And it is this type of limitation that results in the majority of our society remaining blind to the key facts regarding their health, although the facts are overwhelming once seen from the proper perspective.

Health mysteries

Millions of people in our country are suffering and dying from a handful of devastating conditions, including heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and cancer. These conditions alone account for more than 75 percent of our nation's premature deaths and the majority of our collective chronic disability. Yet, the culprits in these tragedies have been difficult for most people to accurately identify.

The evidence, to many, appears to be contradictory and confusing. Like a Sherlock Holmes mystery, people are puzzled about finding the causes of their health problems and what to do about them. They look to experts in books, television, and the Internet, and to their doctors. More than 10 million people search the Internet each week seeking health-related information, making health information-seeking one of our population's primary intellectual pursuits. This is quite appropriate, as our health problems are of epidemic proportions.

Unfortunately, most of the "expert" information dispensed is erroneous and misleading. For example, patients often are led to believe that the real culprits in their health problems are their genes. This misconception can lead them to assume that any solution to their problems will require medical intervention, because their particular body simply doesn't work properly, that it is "defective" by nature. If they have high cholesterol, they are told to ingest cholesterol-lowering drugs. If they have high blood pressure, they are encouraged to ingest blood pressure-lowering medications. And, if they have Type II diabetes (about 95 percent of all diabetes cases), they are told that their health requires that they ingest or inject insulin.

In the alternative health arena, the "expert" suggestions are somewhat different. Herbal remedies, concentrated foodstuffs in the form of pills, vitamin supplements, and other treatments are the standard fare. Similar to conventional thought, such alternative approaches seem to confirm the same unspoken conclusion: The body of a person with a health problem cannot be expected to achieve and sustain a healthy state without adding something! Either by virtue of genetic flaw or because of dietary deficiency, the notion once again is that something is missing. The recommendation to "take something for it" makes intuitive sense to the majority of people, often encouraging them to continue down a path of self-destruction. Meanwhile, the real culprits are ignored and continue to do their damage, unchecked.

The real culprits

The real culprits in most modern-day health problems are excesses, not deficiencies. It is the subtraction (i.e., reduction or elimination) of these excesses that will solve most health problems, not the addition of medications or supplements. Although it may come as a surprise to most people, the subtraction of excess is nearly always far more effective at causing the restoration of health than is the addition of anything.

In atherosclerosis, for example, excess dietary cholesterol, fat, and protein (mostly in the form of animal products) leads to deposits of fatty substances within the cardiovascular system. These deposits clog up the system and often result in heart attack, stroke, or congestive heart failure, events that are responsible for about 50 percent of the deaths in our country each day. Exquisite research has shown that the subtraction of these dietary excesses is the most effective way to manage the problem. In the ground breaking Lifestyle Health Trial, Dean Ornish and his colleagues at the University of California have conclusively demonstrated that by dramatically reducing the amount of animal products in the diet, and by reducing fat intake from about 40 percent to about 10 percent of calories consumed, the body will soon begin to reverse the atherosclerosis. Neither medication nor nutritional supplement additive has shown equivalent success.

Not elementary

Sherlock Holmes was fond of explaining to his sidekick, Dr. Watson, that the connections he made were "elementary." Of course, nothing could have been further from the truth. Although obvious once viewed from the proper perspective, the achievement of mental clarity in a Sherlock Holmes mystery is an exciting moment for the reader, as Holmes brilliantly maneuvers those present into seeing the facts in a clear and accurate new light. Not uncommonly, this mental reorganization begins with a startling conceptual leap.

Grasping that the major key to health is mostly about subtraction, and not addition, is itself a major conceptual leap. Although seemingly simple, this connection is perhaps the most profound and most difficult principle in modern health science. Once seen from the proper perspective, it is simple. But achieving this perspective is a remarkably challenging mental task. After many years of experience at patient education, we have come to believe that there is a powerful and fundamental force that is responsible for this difficulty.

There must be a compelling reason why humans continue to be so gullible about believing that adding things, such as vitamin pills, medication, aspirin, and even wine, is useful for the pursuit of health. There must be a reason why such solutions seem much more plausible than the truth. The truth is that we need to subtract meat, fish, fowl, eggs, dairy products, and tobacco. Although we might speculate that the human pleasure-seeking drive might be motivating patient resistance to the truth, we don't think that this is the core of the problem. And, although massive misinformation campaigns by commercial interests do help to lead the unwary down a false trail, our experience suggests that a more fundamental factor is at work.

We strongly suspect that the human brain is literally biased against grasping the concept that dietary excesses are the roots of most health problems, in spite of the enormous magnitude of the supportive scientific evidence. Conversely, the idea that some sort of deficiency may be responsible continues to be popular. This is probably because such a concept has tremendous natural intuitive appeal.

Brains and biases

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unwittingly anticipated one of the great discoveries of modern psychology. As he clearly suspected, human brains are not impartial judges of the facts. Brains come into being with hard-wired biases, with tendencies to see some connections much more readily than others. Brains of humans (and other animals) are much more likely to see connections that they expect to see. The connections they expect to see are often those that were important to notice throughout the development of the species.

In the natural world, human beings rarely, if ever, faced problems resulting from dietary excesses, because the natural landscape was simply not replete with excessive animal proteins and fats in the form of cheese, ice cream, and butter. The natural world contained no processed oils, refined sugar and flours, or excessive sodium. And, since problems of dietary excess were not a factor in our evolutionary history, modern-day humans are not well equipped to discern that health problems might be the result of these excesses.

Dietary deficiencies, on the other hand, were often a very serious problem for our ancestors. Getting enough to eat has always been one of the major problems of human life. People walking the Earth today, then, must all be the descendants of those who maintained heightened vigilance about the problem of getting enough, and not descendants of those who spent much time worrying about getting too much. As such, the neurological circuits that make up the current human mind are much more likely to be naturally concerned with deficiency than with excess! This bias makes it difficult to grasp the concept that dietary excesses are the roots of our modern health problems. Difficulty in grasping this principle persists despite the overwhelming scientific evidence supporting this interpretation of the facts.

Pecking the right key

Neurological biases now are being discovered throughout the animal kingdom, but until the concept of biased brains was itself recognized, many important facts were ignored. For example, psychologists such as B.F. Skinner, who were attempting to uncover the laws of learning, performed a great many experiments attempting to train pigeons. In attempting to teach pigeons to do new things, these psychologists would routinely reward the birds by lighting a key for them to peck, which when pecked would then result in a food reward. This method was used for decades without question. One day, a psychologist wondered if the pigeons could be trained equally effectively by having a continuously lighted key go dark in order to signal the pigeons to peck. He decided to put this question to the test.

To the surprise of animal psychologists worldwide, his results showed that pigeons couldn't be trained to seek reward by pecking a lighted key that suddenly goes dark! In principle such an event is precisely as informative as having a darkened key suddenly become lighted, but it is a connection that a pigeon simply cannot make. And while we might think that the pigeon is just "stupid," such a judgment would miss the key point: That, similarly, people will not normally grasp the importance of a dog not barking in the night.

Subtraction for health

In the last two decades, a great deal of psychological research has shown that people have many biases, problem-solving "blind spots." People appear to have a natural bias against seeing dietary excess as a problem. But when viewed from an enlightened perspective, the problems resulting from dietary excess can become obvious. Once we grasp what the scientific evidence is telling us, no matter how counterintuitive these findings may seem, we can begin to see the evidence everywhere. Wherever we look, we cannot help but see people struggling with obesity, the ultimate evidence of dietary excess. Once we begin to carefully observe what people in our society actually eat, the connection between dietary excess and health compromise begins to achieve clarity.

If we then follow the evidence and the logic, it begins to become reasonable to assume that the solution is to subtract foods of excess from our daily fare. And as we subtract the majority of meat, fish, fowl, eggs, dairy products, oil, salt, sugar, and refined carbohydrates from our diet, what remains are foods that are health-promoting. Fresh fruits and vegetables, tubers, whole grains, legumes, and nuts and seeds fill the void after the necessary subtraction has taken place. In response, the previously overburdened body begins to experience a restoration of health.

Doyle would approve

We have argued that one of the most potent methods for the restoration of health involves doing precisely the opposite of what most people, and most health "experts," would ever suspect. If most health problems are indeed caused by dietary excesses (and research strongly suggests they are), then it makes sense that the subtraction of such excesses is likely to be a very effective treatment strategy. Landmark investigations by Drs. Ornish, McDougall, Esselstyn, and others have confirmed that this is the case. But if we follow our new perspective toward its natural conclusion, we can see that the ultimate act of dietary subtraction might be more than just dietary improvement. The most powerful treatment strategy, in some cases, might be to eat absolutely nothing for a period of time—a voluntary period of supervised water-only fasting.

Although such an experience might be seen as dangerous or bizarre, from the proper perspective it makes good sense. The results of a recent scientific investigation conducted at our facility indicate that a period of supervised water-only fasting is the most effective known treatment for high blood pressure, the leading associated cause of death and disability within industrialized societies. [See "Telling the Truth About High Blood Pressure," Health Science, July/August 2000.] Our results have, not surprisingly, astonished many of our colleagues, most of whom have not yet discovered an enlightened perspective.

The health-promoting results achieved by our patients after the removal of dietary excesses through dietary modification and fasting are often spectacular, by conventional standards. The power of the body's ability to recover its health is remarkable, once the true culprits have been identified and effectively eliminated. And although most modern "experts" of both conventional and alternative persuasions are resistant to considering this perspective, we are confident that the evidence will eventually make the truth appear obvious.

In the meantime, we also are confident that at least one 19th-century Scottish physician would have had no trouble grasping this critical, and highly counterintuitive, principle of health. As Sherlock Holmes would have elegantly revealed, once seen from the proper perspective, the crucial importance of eliminating dietary excesses is, in fact, "Elementary, my dear Watson...."
 

Individuals seeking to support their health by following a vegan (total vegetarian) diet often face a multitude of advice-laden comments from friends, family, and even their physicians. Typically, these communications suggest that vital nutrients are commonly deficient in the vegan diet. The old standby, "But you can't get enough complete protein without meat," recently has been joined by, "But you need fish oil for essential fatty acids." Such advice is, of course, incorrect, being little more than the "deficiency paranoia" of the ill-informed. Knowledgeable people have few serious health concerns about the adoption of a vegan diet. Vitamin B12, however, is the rare exception.
 
Reason for concern

The concern over whether a vegan diet can ensure adequate vitamin B12 is a question that vegans must face squarely. For those who have been philosophically committed to the notion that a strict vegan diet can and will give you everything you need, we have a warning: Vitamin B12 is a material essential for your optimal health, and a strict vegan diet may not be providing this vitamin at adequate levels for you. There are legitimate scientific questions about how best to assure adequate B12 intake. In this article, we will examine carefully the "B12 Question," and offer suggestions that we believe may prove to be helpful.
 
Overview of vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 was first isolated in 1948. It is derived exclusively from bacteria. Since that time, research has established that vitamin B12 is required for a number of important functions, including the synthesis of thymidylate, a substance necessary for DNA synthesis. In addition, vitamin B12 is necessary for chemical interactions that make possible the recycling of methyl folate. If a person is deficient in vitamin B12, this recycling process can be disrupted. The deficiency then can result in problems identical to those caused by a folate deficiency, such as the death of hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow. Vitamin B12 deficiency also can result in inadequate myelin synthesis. Myelin is the fatty substance that insulates some nerves, allowing for normal neurological communication. If myelin synthesis is impaired, neurological problems can result. Difficulties can include numbness in the hands and feet, unsteadiness, poor muscular coordination, and even cognitive deficits such as confusion, mental slowness, and memory problems.

Most people obtain the majority of their vitamin B12 intake from animal products. Although most people associate vitamin B12 deficiency with vegan diets, the majority of cases occur among people who regularly consume animal products. So, it should come as no surprise that vitamin B12 deficiency can occur in vegans.
 
Finding a good source

There is no dispute that we must be concerned about obtaining adequate vitamin B12. The question is, "Do vegans need to resort to eating animal products, and expose themselves to the well-documented health risks of these foods, in order to maintain adequate vitamin B12 reserves?"

Before attempting to answer the above question, we need to consider whether animal products are naturally necessary for humans to maintain vitamin B12 reserves. This raises two important questions: "Have animal products always been the sole purveyor of vitamin B12 in the human diet?" and, "Are they the best source of this nutrient?"

We believe that the answers to both of these questions are likely to be "no." Upon reflection, we should note that in a more primitive setting, human beings almost certainly would have obtained an abundance of vitamin B12 from the bacterial "contamination" of unwashed fresh fruits and vegetables, regardless of their intake of animal products. Human vitamin B12 deficiency is very unlikely to occur in such a setting. Only very small amounts of dietary vitamin B12 are needed because our bodies do a fabulous job of recycling this essential nutrient. A person living in the ancestral environment regularly would have consumed fresh fruits and vegetables that were not consistently, fastidiously cleaned, as we routinely do today. Our current unusual degree of hygiene is useful for combating many health threats, but may leave long-term, strict vegans vulnerable to the potential problem of vitamin B12 deficiency.
 
A little goes a long way

Even in the modern environment, with our fastidious food cleanliness, a person consuming a vegan diet may never experience the need for vitamin B12 supplementation. Even the small amounts of B12 commonly found in the nodules of organically-grown root vegetables, and the small amounts produced by the bacteria in our own mouths, may be enough to sustain many of us. A very little of this substance can go a long way. For those who switch to a vegan diet, for example, there are usually stores of B12 in the liver that can last for several years, or even decades. However, the doctors at the TrueNorth Health Center work with a large number of vegan patients every year, and we have documented dozens of cases of vitamin B12 deficiency, all of which corrected with supplementation. Although many of our patients are understandably resistant to the idea that they might need supplementation, we urge them to test periodically for this possible deficiency, and to take appropriate action when indicated. We also recommend that all pregnant and lactating women include a reliable source of vitamin B12 to ensure the nutritional adequacy of their milk supply.
 
Keeping it simple

Our advice is straightforward: If you adhere to a vegan diet, we recommend that you either (1) have yourself tested for vitamin B12 deficiency every two years, or (2) ensure a reliable source of vitamin B12. The most appropriate test for evaluating B12 status is the blood or urine test for methylmalonic acid (MMA). Elevated MMA is currently our best tool for detecting vitamin B12 deficiency, and is considered to be superior to testing for serum B12 directly. We recommend that if you choose to avoid all animal products, fortified foods, and supplements, periodic testing for elevated MMA is indicated. The laboratory utilized by the TrueNorth Health Center charges less than $100 for this test.  An alternative and less costly screening blood test is Homocysteine.

If you would like to avoid MMA testing, we then would recommend that you include a reliable source of vitamin B12 in your diet. For people without a deficiency, 1000 mcg. per day (vegan capsule or liquid) should be sufficient to maintain most individual's serum B12 levels and body reserves. For those with a known deficiency, a consultation with a Hygienic physician is indicated. However, in most cases, this problem can be readily addressed with oral supplements without resorting to the injection of vitamin B12.

 We believe that a diet that includes animal products, although adequate in vitamin B12, poses many health risks that are best avoided.

Playing it safe

Unlike many unfounded "deficiency problems" associated with the vegan diet, the issue of potential vitamin B12 deficiency is real. However, B12 deficiencies, when they occur at all, take years to develop, so don't take our cautioning like the blaring of a five-alarm fire. If you choose to consume a diet consisting exclusively of whole natural foods, as we recommend, it is possible that, partly as a result of our modern cleanliness, you may become B12 deficient.

We recommend that you test periodically to assure that this does not become a problem. If it does, consult with a doctor who can advise you on how to take a responsible course of action.

With a bit of prudence, you can have the best of both worlds: all of the benefits of a vegan diet and none of the problems with animal products.

When you climb into a hot tub, it pays to edge in slowly. The water can be so hot as to be unpleasant, until you get used to it. Then it will feel pleasant. When you step into a swimming pool, the water sometimes feels cold. But after a few minutes, you get used to it. The scent of pine trees or fragrant flowers is wonderful, at first. But then you get used to it, and soon you may hardly even notice it.

How is it that our internal experience can change so dramatically, even when our environment is staying the same? How is it that we so easily "get used to" things? It turns out that scientists have carefully studied this striking phenomenon, which they refer to as neuro-adaptation. This process is called "neuro-adaptation" because it involves nerves and adaptation.

Our sensory processes are dependent upon the activation of sensory nerves. It is through the activation of various sensory nerves that we are able to see, hear, smell, sense touch, and to taste. The activity of these various sensory nerves tells our brains what is going on, and to what degree of intensity. For example, when you are sitting in a dimly lit room, and you turn on more light, your visual nerves become more active. They help your brain to notice an increase in brightness. Similarly, if you increase the volume on your stereo, your auditory nerves become more active. They help your brain to notice the increase in sound intensity. This same principle works for all of the five senses.

Relative perception

We tend to think that our nerves provide us with a very accurate depiction of real-world stimulation, but surprisingly, this is not the case. Let's go back to the example of sitting in a dimly lit room. If you turn on all of the lights, it will seem very bright. However, if you later go outside into full sunshine, that will seem brighter still. When you go back inside, it will seem dim, even though all of the lights are still on. Clearly, your nerves are not providing you with an "accurate" depiction of reality in these instances. They are providing a relative depiction. Your senses are highly responsive to change. They tell you when a new stimulus is brighter or dimmer, louder or softer, hotter or colder, and so forth, but not precisely how bright, or loud, or hot. Perception is largely a gauge of relative change.

The reason our nerves provide us with relative, rather than absolute, information is partly because our nerves are designed to adapt to a steady level of stimulation. When there is a sudden increase in stimulation, your nerves increase their rate of "firing" (the basic mechanism that communicates sensory information to the brain). Any change in the intensity of a stimulus results in a change in the firing rate of the appropriate sensory nerves. For example, when you brighten the lights, your visual nerves will increase their firing rate. When you later dim the lights, the firing rate will be reduced.

Dangerous adaptations

In this article, we shall focus on an aspect of "getting used to" things that can lead to enormous, often deadly, problems.

After we brighten the lights in a room, our visual nerves increase their firing rate, but only for a little while! After a few minutes, the firing rate will slow down, or "adapt," to the new, higher rate of stimulation. Sometimes, the nerves may even slow down their response to the level that they were previously firing at the lower level of illumination. This is why even a brightly lit room will seem merely "normal" after your sensory nerves adjust to it.

All of our sensory nerves work in this manner. When we first enter an office, we might be distracted by a noisy air conditioner. But after a while we will likely cease to notice it. When a person first starts smoking cigarettes, he is acutely aware of the smell of the smoke. He smells it on his fingers, in his clothes, and in his car. But before long, he won't notice it at all. He will have "gotten used to it." He may never notice it again unless he quits smoking. Only then will his sense of smell re-calibrate to a more smoke-sensitive state. Then he will be able to smell the smoke, just like everyone else does.

Taste troubles

Like our other sensory nerves, our  taste buds also will "get used to" a given level of stimulation, and this can have horrific consequences. The taste buds of the vast majority of people in industrialized societies are currently neuro-adapted to artificially high-fat, high-sugar, and high-salt animal and processed foods. These foods are ultimately no more enjoyable than more healthful fare, but few people will ever see that this is true, because they consistently consume highly stimulating foods, and have "gotten used to" them. If they were to eat a less stimulating, health-promoting diet, they soon would enjoy such fare every bit as much. Unfortunately, very few people will ever realize this critically important fact!
A gruesome tale

If a frog is placed in a pan of water, it often just sits there. If the pan is heated, ever so slowly, the frog may never notice that the water temperature is rising. He will "get used to" the increasing heat, and may be unaware that anything is amiss. Even with no barrier to his escape, he is as likely as not to sit in the pan, and boil to death. His sensory capabilities may fail to adequately warn him that action is required for his survival, and he may only survive if the heat is turned down.

For the past several decades, the modern American diet has been increasing in animal protein, animal and vegetable fats, refined carbohydrates, and added oil, salt, and sugar. In just the past two decades, our caloric intake has slowly escalated by 650 calories per person, per day. Not surprisingly, obesity and other diseases of dietary excess are at all-time highs. But just a few decades ago, our nation's dietary habits were remarkably different. Meat was an expensive commodity, for some, a "treat." The same was true for refined flour products, refined sugar, and oils. But times have changed. Today, almost everyone in America can have all they desire of these rich foods, and they do, virtually every day.

From the perspective of our natural history, a daily life with such dietary choices is extraordinary. For hundreds of thousands of years, our ancient ancestors scratched and scraped, struggling against the harsh forces of nature in order to get enough food to survive. Even today, in undeveloped countries, significant food shortages are still a great concern, with millions dying each year from starvation. Yet, in a mere blink of history's eye, in just a few decades, industrialized societies have arisen from environments of scarcity and have transformed themselves into societies of unprecedented abundance. The most striking feature of that abundance is a virtually unlimited supply of food.

Artificial appeal

An abundance of food, by itself, is not a cause of health problems. But modern technology has done more than to simply make food perpetually abundant. Food also has been made artificially tastier. Food is often more stimulating than ever before, as the particular chemicals in foods that cause pleasure reactions have been isolated, and artificially concentrated. These chemicals include fats (including oils), refined carbohydrates (such as refined sugar and flour), and salt. Meats were once consumed mostly in the form of wild game, typically about 15% fat. Today's meat is a much different product. Chemically and hormonally engineered, it can be as high as 50% fat or more. Ice cream is an extraordinary invention for intensifying taste pleasure, an artificial concoction of pure fat and refined sugar. Once an expensive delicacy, it is now a daily ritual for many people. French fries and potato chips, laden with artificially-concentrated fats, are currently the most commonly consumed "vegetable" in our society. These artificial products, and others like them, form the core of the American diet. Our teenage population, for example, consumes 25% of their calories in the form of soda pop!

Most of our citizenry can't imagine how it could be any other way. To remove (or dramatically reduce) such products from America's daily diet seems intolerable, even absurd. Most people believe that if they were to do so, they would enjoy their food, and their lives, much less. Indeed, most people believe that they literally would suffer if they consumed a health-promoting diet devoid of such indulgences. But, it is here that their perception is greatly in error. The reality is that humans are well designed to fully enjoy the subtler tastes of whole natural foods, but are poorly equipped to realize this fact. And like a frog sitting in dangerously hot water, most people are being slowly destroyed by the limitations of their awareness.
A pleasure trap

Figure 1 (above left) depicts a devastating dietary trap. People consuming a whole natural foods diet will experience a normal range of pleasure from eating low-fat, high-fiber, unprocessed foods, shown as Phase I. However, if concentrated, adulterated, processed foods are consistently allowed in the diet, they quickly will become preferred.

In Phase II, we see that these products are typically experienced as better, that is, more pleasurable, than natural foods. This is the result of the heightened pleasure-inducing characteristics of artificially-produced foods. However, within a short period of time (a few weeks), the taste nerves adapt to this higher level of stimulation, and reduce their firing rate. This reduces the pleasure experience of artificially-stimulating foods back down to normal levels (Phase III).

Phase III is the culmination of a process of extraordinary importance. It is within Phase III that most people live out their lives. And it is from within Phase III that most people will engineer their own health crises. Phase III occurs when we have become used to the extreme levels of stimulation present in artificial foods, yet ultimately experience no more pleasure than had we remained on a simpler, more healthful diet! Yet, we will rarely notice this process, just as we rarely notice the process of getting used to a brightly-lit room.

A challenging escape

Once in awhile, a person may actually become aware of important dietary knowledge. Despite the tremendous commercially motivated misinformation campaigns waged by the dairy, cattle, and processed food industries, sometimes a person actually comes to understand the truth about diet. At such times, determined individuals might attempt to change their diet toward whole natural foods, in spite of dire and unfounded warnings from their families, friends, and doctors.

But along the way, they are likely to be met with a formidable obstacles: their own taste neuro-adaptation to artificially intense foods. This challenge is depicted as Phases IV and V, wherein a change to less stimulating foods typically will result in a reduced pleasure experience. In the early stages, this process is dramatic because natural foods often are not nearly as stimulating.

Scientific evidence suggests that the re-sensitization of taste nerves takes between 30 and 90 days of consistent exposure to less stimulating foods. This means that for several weeks, most people attempting this change will experience a reduction in eating pleasure. This is why modern foods present such a devastating trap, as most of our citizens are, in effect, "addicted" to artificially high levels of food stimulation! The 30-to-90-day process of taste re-calibration requires more motivation, and more self-discipline, than most people are ever willing to muster.

Tragically, most people are totally unaware that they are only a few weeks of discipline away from being able to comfortably maintain healthful dietary habits, and to keep away from the products that can result in the destruction of their health. Instead, most people think that if they were to eat more healthfully, they would be condemned to a life of greatly reduced gustatory pleasure, thinking that the process of Phase IV will last forever. This is an extraordinarily deceptive and problematic situation that I describe as a "pleasure trap."
A fast way out

For many people, knowing how this trap works is a great ally to their self-discipline. But for others, this trap can seem just too difficult to manage. For them, the road may seem too long, and even minor indulgences often keep them in the trap. Fortunately, there is a second method for escape, one that greatly speeds up the process of taste re-calibration.

A properly-supervised period of water-only fasting is a safe and effective way to quickly re-sensitize taste nerves so that whole natural foods can be fully enjoyed. At the Center for Conservative Therapy, we have noted that for most people, one week of consuming nothing but water in an environment of complete rest is enough to substantially re-calibrate their taste buds. Patients find that after a fast, healthful fare tastes as good as the artificially-intense foods that they may have been eating previously. Sometimes natural foods taste even better.

Avoiding the trap

The modern American diet contains concentrations of chemicals that we were never meant to consume. As food manufacturers have sought to compete with each other, foods have become increasingly artificial, loaded with ever-higher concentrations of pleasure-inducing chemicals, such as sugar, salt, and fat. But curiously, though the concentrations of these chemicals have escalated, the actual pleasure from eating has always stayed about the same. We now understand why.

As our modern foods have become increasingly stimulating, our taste nerves are becoming desensitized, neuro-adapting to the modern diet's excessive stimulation. This sets the stage for a devastating trap, wherein a health-promoting diet is relatively unappealing.

Fortunately, you now understand what it takes to escape this deceptive dietary trap. With consistent discipline, or perhaps an occasional period of supervised, water-only fasting, you can always get yourself back on track. In doing so, you will discover, or perhaps re-discover, that the diet of our natural design can be very enjoyable.