Dean Ornish is a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and a practicing physician. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas, Austin, then attended Baylor College of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. He received further medical training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is the founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute located in Sausalito, California.

While Dr. Ornish was a medical student he became interested in heart disease. In 1978 he began doing research on patients with coronary artery disease (a common form of heart disease). He created a diet that was very low in fat and completely vegetarian and studied its effects on the symptoms experienced by these patients. The patients also learned a variety of stress reduction techniques. He discovered that for many patients this diet caused a significant lessening of their symptoms. This was the beginning of Dr. Ornish’s research on the effects of low fat, low or no-meat diets on weight loss, health, and heart disease. This original diet is the basis for his Eat More, Weigh Less diet, as well as his other related diets.

Over the years, Dr. Ornish has published many different books and articles, and has recommended diets with many different names. All his diets revolve around the same basic principles, with additions or changes in emphasis, based on the goal that the diet is intended to achieve. For example, Dr. Ornish’s heart disease prevention diet allows small amounts of lean meat or fish, while his heart disease reversal diet is completely vegetarian.

Dr. Ornish presents his Eat More, Weigh Less diet as more of a spectrum of choices than a set of hard and fast rules. He believes that because people have many different goals, from moderate weight loss to actual heart disease reversal, no one set of dietary rules will fit everyone. He also emphasizes overall lifestyle change, not just through what a person eats but also through stress reduction, moderate exercise, and if applicable, quitting smoking.

The main component of the Dr. Ornish diet is eating more vegetable products and many fewer meat products. For people trying to lose moderate amounts of weight this may mean eating small amounts of lean chicken or fish as well as some skim milk or egg whites. For those with more ambitious goals, the diet may be almost completely vegan (containing no meat or animal products at all).

The diet is also extremely low in fat, with fewer than 10% of calories coming from fat. The strictest forms of the diet do not allow any nuts, seeds, or avocados. The only oil Dr. Ornish allows is a small amount of fish oil.

each day because some research has shown it to be beneficial and may help prevent heart attack.

Foods that are encouraged include nearly all fruit and vegetable products. Especially recommended are leafy greens, soy products, and whole grains. Whole grains contain many vitamins and minerals that are removed when these grains are processed. Whole grains include things such as brown rice, oat bran, and wheat bran. They are broken down by the body more slowly than processed grains, meaning that energy is released more slowly and is available for a longer period of time.

A portion of food made up of processed foods and animal products usually contains many more calories and fat than a similarly sized portion consisting mainly of vegetables, whole grains, fruits, and soy. This means that a person can eat a larger quantity of food while still consuming fewer calories and fat if the foods are chosen correctly. This is the key to the idea that on Dr. Ornish’s diet a person may be able to actually eat more and still lose weight. Eating more foods low in caloric density (calories per quantity) means the stomach is fuller and helps prevent feelings of hunger.

Dr. Ornish’s diet does not just focus on food. It also makes recommendations for other lifestyle changes. He recommends moderate exercise of 20 to 30 minutes daily of at least a moderate walking pace. Dr. Ornish also suggests making small changes throughout the day to get more exercise, such as parking a few spaces further from the door, or even just walking up or down the stairs instead of taking the elevator. This kind of daily exercise adds up and is recommended over working out strenuously only occasionally.

Stress-reduction techniques are an important part of the total lifestyle plan. Dr. Ornish contends that doing even a few minutes of yoga, deep breathing, or meditation each day can have many positive effects on both the body and mind. Dr. Ornish also highly recommends that individuals quit smoking.

I’ve seen dogs dig up months-old bones… and start chewing on them. And… I’ve unfortunately witnessed dogs attempt to eat their own… well… Iet’s not get into that.

If you want your dog to eat better than you - check out this frozen organic yogurt.

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This is a guest post from Dr Joel Fuhrman MD.

Most people never experience the healthy sensation of feeling hungry. Most of us keep eating to avoid hunger! But actually, feeling hungry is healthy. It directs your body to consume the amount of calories it requires for optimal health and ideal bodyweight.

Hunger, in the true sense of the word, indicates to us that it is time to eat again.

Instead of TRUE hunger, people experience TOXIC hunger–detoxification or withdrawal symptoms that they mistakenly consider hunger.

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It’s easy to think of fat as just inert tissue - useless blubber just sitting there on our hips taking up space…way too much space. On the contrary fat is smart. It is considered by many scientists to be an organ in and of itself - a hotbed of chemical communicators and the proprietor of a prominent metabolic thermostat known as leptin.

New research out of Temple University is showing that fat in obese patients is “sick” when compared to fat in lean patients. Here are the specifics:

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A shy, plump boy of thirteen sets off alongside several others at the start of the four-hundred meters track. Arms and legs pumping furiously, he’s fallen behind within seconds. After a hundred meters, he gives up and stumbles along, breathing hard. Someone shouts, “Who ate all the pies?” and the rest of the class snigger.

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New research in the Medical Journal of Australia suggests that reality TV shows focused on appearance may be bad for your self-esteem.

[...] the portrayal of cosmetic and weight loss procedures on television typically distorted the speed and difficulty of these physical changes - creating unrealistic expectations for viewers - and had been shown to lower viewers’ self esteem. (src)

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The 1894 recommendations came from W.O. Atwater, first director of the USDA’s Office of Experiment Stations. He proposed a diet for American men based on protein, carbohydrate, fat, and mineral matter. In a 1902 Farmer’s Bulletin, he warned about the danger of a dieting consisting of too much protein or fuel ingredients (carbohydrates and fat). “The evils of overeating may not be felt at once, but sooner or later they are sure to appear—perhaps in an excessive amount of fatty tissue, perhaps in general debility, perhaps in actual disease,” Atwater cautioned.

More was known about nutrients in 1941 when the USDA first issued the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs). The allowance allowances covered areas like calorie intake and nine essential nutrients: protein, iron, calcium, vitamins A and D, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). The USDA also released national food guides during the 1940s. The guides provided a foundation diet with recommendations for foods that contained the majority of nutrients. The guide was modified in 1956 with recommended minimum portions from food groups that the USDA called the “Big Four”: milk, meats, fruits and vegetables, and grain products.

The guides remained in effect until the 1970s when an increasing amount of research showed a relationship between the over-consumption of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium and the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and stroke. In 1979, the USDA guide included the Big Four and a fifth category that included fats, sweets, and alcoholic beverages.

The following year, the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the first edition of Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The recommendations for healthy Americans age 2 and older included consuming a variety of foods, avoiding too much fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Those guidelines were recommended for people older than age 2 because younger children need more calories and fat in their diet to aid in their growth and development.

The USDA and HHS update the federal guidelines every five years. The 1990 edition recommended a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. Salt and sugars were to be consumed in moderation. In Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, the federal departments featured more specific recommendations.

The recommendations for healthy Americans came from two departments that are part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Within NIH is the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which was formed by Congress in 1948. In the 21st Century, the institute’s focus on heart disease included the creation of a Heart Healthy Diet to keep cholesterol low and the Therapeutic Lifestyles Changes (TLC) Diet to help people lower their blood cholesterol.

Furthermore, the American Heart Association (AHA)has long been concerned with educating the public about the relationship between diet and heart health. The association started in 1924 as an outgrowth of local organizations including the Association for the Prevention and Relief of Heart Disease in New York City. That group was founded in 1915 and consisted of physicians and social workers.

The national organization’s public education activities include issuing nutritional guidelines that are periodically revised. The title of the association’s “2006 Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations” reflected the importance of diet and physical activity on health, a combination endorsed by the medical community and public health organizations.

What part of your body sends messages at 240 mph?

Which part of your body is made up of 15 billion cells?

The answer to all of these questions is your brain.

Your brain is your body’s power tool.

Many people believe in the power of computers but the brain is more complicated than any computer we can imagine:

The world’s most sophisticated computer is currently only as complicated as a rat’s brain.

The brain controls everything in the body: it processes a vast quantity of information about what is happening around us and inside us.

It’s the decision-maker that issues instructions to the rest of the body.

Crucial messages pass in and out of the brain through a network of millions of nerve cells that pass on information to other nerve cells, rather like a very complex electrical circuit.

The brain is responsible for regulating our emotions and our bodily sensations such as pain, thirst and hunger. And as if it didn’t have enough to do, it also takes care of memory and learning.

Scientists believed until recently that, unlike the other organs in the body, the brain was not capable of renewal or growth once we had attained adulthood. Evidence to suggest that new brain cells can be produced throughout the whole of our lives.

In 1998, researchers working under the direction of Professor Fred H. Gage at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies in California and at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Göteborg, Sweden, discovered that large numbers of new brain cells develop in an area of the brain involved with leaning and memory.

This reinforces the ‘use it or lose it’ theory of brain ageing.

It suggests that we do not have to remain victims of the way we are made and we can develop new positive ways of thinking and acting.

 
What do you think? Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

I am sure the real sandwiches in this shop were great but it got me thinking that so many people don’t realise that if they eat lots of packaged and processed foods that they’re probably not getting the necessary nutrients to be healthy.

You may have heard that apparently there are about as many obese people in the world as there are those who are starving. The difference between these groups is that one is overeating and one is under-eating: the similarity is that both are malnourished. Whilst those of us in the developed world have more than enough to eat, the food we’re eating is less nutritious than it used to be. In addition, we lead more stressful lives than we used to and our bodies need vitamins and minerals to help us recover from stress: so we are suffering both from how we live and what we eat, or rather what we don’t eat. Every process that takes place in our body (such as digestion, fat burning, thinking, breathing, walking and talking) requires vitamins and minerals. If we fill up on junk foods, processed foods, sugary foods, deep fried foods and takeaways all we deplete our body’s stores of nutrients. If we don’t replenish our stores, over time, we suffer from poor immunity and, ultimately, ill health; we’ll find it harder to concentrate and process information; we’ll have less energy; and we’ll find it more difficult to metabolise food and burn fat. The good news is that we can reverse this process. When we eat fresh, natural foods, we top up our stock of vitamins and minerals.

Let’s imagine for a minute or two that it’s mid-afternoon and you are hungry. You fancy a snack and you have two choices: an apple and a chocolate bar. What does each option give you? The apple will give you a steady release of energy; vitamin C, which is good for your skin, bones, blood and building immunity; potassium, which helps to regulate your water balance, blood pressure and your heartbeat; and fibre, which keeps your digestive system healthy and helps reduce the risk of colon cancer. The chocolate bar, on the other hand, will give you a sugar hit, which will cause your energy levels to crash; saturated fat, which increases your risk of heart disease – and nothing of any value. When you look at foods like this, don’t you think there’s little competition between them?

Food manufacturers refine foods to make them last longer and so they’re more profitable; but you deserve better than that. No matter what you might think about your body or how long you’ve been abusing it with poor quality food, your body deserves to have fresh, nutritious, natural food.