Fast Food Genocide by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. - Book Report #225

This was a fascinating exploration of the modern diet, it's effects on our bodies and on our society.

Dr. Fuhrman explains that the phenomenon of fast food and highly processed foods are really a product from the end of World War II.  It was the military that encouraged and funded the push to create shelf-stable, packaged foods so they could feed the troops.

With that newly created technology the food we ate was forever changed and our way of life along with it.  Convenience foods, by their very nature, has kept us from thinking about what we are eating.

The medical community has been focused on drugs to treat the symptoms instead of superior diet to prevent the conditions.

The good news is that all the healthy alternatives are pretty easy to come by.

In my experience, to eat healthy, you really have to work at it.  It's not just about reading labels, which is a good first step, but you have to cook your own food.  That's the bottom line - you are going to spend a lot of time in front of a cutting board.  Get yourself some good knives because they are essential for making the journey from opening a package to preparing food from scratch.

All that work is worth it though.  I have lost 25 pounds, my cholesterol is now normal and my blood pressure has also come down.  I feel better and have more energy at the end of the day.

In the book Dr. Fuhrman explains how and why our cities are built the way they are and the political influence the large food manufacturers, cattle associations, dairy boards and fertilizer companies have.  This all plays against us in facilitating a change in diet.  Nobody is evil in this, but the evidence is growing that proves the "frankenfoods" described are killing us slowly.

Instead of finding this all depressing, which it is, it has served to light a fire in my wish to improve my health by making the effort to improve what I put in my shopping cart.  When I put my weekly shopping on the belt, at the checkout, I am impressed by how much of it is alive and green.  I look back to how I used to shop, even five years ago, and the experience is completely different.

Books like this one can change lives.

Highly recommended.

Dr. Fuhrman's website is:  https://www.drfuhrman.com/

Joel Fuhrman, MD

Super Immunity by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. - Book Review #224

I am a big fan of Dr. Fuhrman's message.

It all boils down to this:  Eat Your Vegetables, Eat Lots of Them and Eat Them All the Time.

From his other books, Eat for Health and Eat to Live he explains the multitude of benefits that a plant-based diet can provide.

In Super Immunity he zeros in on just the benefits of how his "nutritarian" diet enhances, benefits and strengthens the immune system.

If you you take a closer look at the paleo diet, or more to the point, how cavemen really ate, you'll discover they were not eating as much meat as was believed.  There is growing evidence that the whole notion of roasting meat on a stick was not how they ate at all.  Between kills they had to rely on what the could find in the environment; namely roots, nuts, seeds and other plants.

This is what our DNA is tuned for.

By providing the body with foods that are rich in nutrients we give it the resources it needs to fight off infections, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

He has never said not to eat animal-based foods but to eat them very sparingly because of the detrimental effects animal proteins have on the body.

Dr. Fuhrman's books have always struck a chord with me because there is something in his arguments that make perfect sense.  You just have to look at our teeth and jaws to see that we have much more in common with a cow than we do with a wolf.  Or look at the diets of primates, our closest relatives, to see what they eat.

Through his many books Dr. Fuhrman is proving that plant-based eating is what we need to fight many diseases and to live long, productive lives.

Highly recommended.

Dr. Fuhrman's website is:  https://www.drfuhrman.com/

Joel Fuhrman, MD

The End of Dieting by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. - Book Report #209

To be honest there is not much new here that wasn't covered in Eat for Health.

What I did like about this version is how the book was laid out and presented in simpler way to understand.

Dr. Fuhrman also expanded the nutritional information that had to be taken on faith in Eat for Health.  In this book he goes into greater depth to explain what each nutrient does for the body. He also explains why it is better to cook some foods while raw is best for others.

One of the most convincing parts of the book is how he breaks down some of the most popular diets and explains the limitations and dangers of each one.

Dr. Fuhrman promotes eating a balanced diet, one rich in plant-based nutrients.  He never comes out against eating animal products but you can certainly see how a vegetarian, near-vegan or vegan diet fits snugly into his research.

If you haven't quite bought into his eating plan this book may help to convince you.

I do like that Dr. Fuhrman never comes out to say that you should follow his plan to the letter.  He asks only that you try to incorporate the parts that interest you the most.  By dipping in your toe you can still benefit simply by introducing more nutrients into your body.

Good nutrition comes by replacing the processed foods with fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables, beans and legumes.

I have already benefited from the plan.  I know this because, when I indulge in processed foods, I can feel the difference.  Sometimes I even get a low-grade hangover the next day.  It is surprising.

Recommended.

Joel Fuhrman, M.D. website - https://www.drfuhrman.com/

Dr. Joel Fuhrman

Eat for Health by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. - Book Report #207

I went back to my old way of eating and gained the weight back that I had lost in 2016.

I had my yearly physical looming in September so I decided to get back to healthy eating.  This was back in the spring of this year.  I dusted off my old copy of Eat for Health and decided to re-read it.  This time I was ruthless with the book; I dog-eared and highlighted everything that was important to know and I dug into the recipes at the back of the book.

In the same way that I discovered Dr. Fuhrman's book I pursued my interest in health using this book as my launch pad.  I took what I learned the first time I read the book and applied it with more determination than the previous time.  In '16 I was really just trying to lose some weight and not really trying to change my life permanently.

Now that I was back where I started and feeling ill, I decided the change would be permanent.  This is when I realised that Eat for Health is really just the first step.  Through the spring and summer I began to lose the weight again and started to feel better.

By researching the Standard North American diet I discovered just how much stress eating meat can put on the body and how many conditions, that are associated with being middle-aged, are actually caused by the food we eat.  It was surprising.

From there I found my way into the world of industrial farming, which was hinted at by the book Real Food, Fake Food.  When I discovered how farming has changed in the past 50 years and how it has affected the quality of the meat and the lives of the cattle, well, I was repulsed.

By the end of the summer I was at a weight that I was confident to see my doctor in.  But I wanted to do more to change my diet and I decided that, while I was on vacation I would switch to a vegetarian diet.

When I returned to work I had actually lost a little bit of weight.  The doctor's appointment came and I had improved on all the metrics; blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and of course weight.

I owe all this to Eat for Health and the doors it has opened for me.

Not only highly recommended but it has become a reference book in my home.  I go to many of the recipes regularly.  It is always in sight.

Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

Eat for Health by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. - Book Review #160

12/15/2016

A while back I watched a movie called, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead by Joe Cross.  In the movie Cross regains his health by going on a fresh juice fast for 60 days.  It was so inspiring that I went out and bought a juicer of my own.

I made maybe a dozen juices but kept thinking to myself that I would rather eat all that good food than drink it.  I went back to the movie and found an interview that caught my attention, it was with Dr. Joel Fuhrman who is the author of a best-selling book called Eat To Live.  Through exploring his bibliography I found the book that has changed my life: Eat for Health.

Instead of being a diet book, it is more a eating lifestyle manual.

I have tried many diets before and always kept thinking that there simply must be a better way to eat.  But with all the conflicting information out there it is easy to run onto the wrong track and simply gain weight year after year.

Like Joe Cross of the film, I was getting sick; overweight, a high-normal blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, sleep apnea and sore joints, I was well on my way to a life of pharmaceutical solutions.  I didn't want to have a bunch of pill bottles in my life.

It was in Fuhrman's book that he laid out a simple mind-set to food choice; what delivers the most nutrients per calorie?  If you look at the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients the body needs you need to choose the ones that provide the most for the least calories.  Natural foods tend to be low in calories as a matter of course so the calorie side of the decision making really does not enter into it.

I did not jump right into his eating plan but gradually introduced more and more nutrient rich foods while scaling back, and eventually eliminating, the nutrient poor ones.  He even has a three step plan on how to slowly move away from the traditional North American diet to one rich with plant-based foods.

It is in no way a vegetarian diet but you'd be surprised at just how much vegetarian foods go into this healthy way of eating.  To be honest it feels like I get to eat way more food than before.  However, it is a lot more work.  I have never spent so much time in front of my cutting board preparing fruits and veggies and making meals from scratch.

I've been working on this eating plan for six or seven weeks now and have dropped 25 pounds; from 243 lbs to 218 as of this writing.  ( Saturday, August 20, 2016 )  I don't feel deprived and I can indulge in a pizza and beer night once in a while without feeling guilty about it.  And that is the key to this kind of thing; don't beat yourself up if you fall off the wagon once in a while, just get back on the next day.

I borrowed the book from the public library and will soon by purchasing a copy of my own.  My wife is impressed with my progress and is thinking about following the plan too.

Highly recommended.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman