Reality:  Some carbs do, but good carbs don’ t.
Most trendy diets claim that all carbohydrates are bad guys, yet of the
three macronutrients that provide calories in our diet (carbs, protein, and
fat), carbohydrates are the body’ s primary fuel source. They’re responsible
for managing your heart rate, digestion, breathing, exercising, walking, and
thinking. Roughly 70 percent of your daily calories should come from good
(complex) carbohydrates. The ones to avoid are called simple carbs. Both types of carbs are sugars. Both are digested and converted into
glucose, which is used by the body for ener gy: in the blood as glucose, or
stored in either the muscles or the liver as glycogen. When consumed in
excess, carbohydrates can be converted to fat. Simple carbohydrates include table sugar , molasses, honey , alcohol,
white bread, white pasta, white rice, fried chips, sugary cereals, fruit juices,
candy , and milk. Most simple carbs are nutritionally empty because they
have been tinkered with by humans, stripped of their fiber , minerals, and
vitamins. They are digested quickly by the body and cause a sharp spike in
your blood sugar levels. In response to this spike, your pancreas pumps out insulin to transport
and deliver the ener gy-bearing glucose to cells throughout your body . This
process causes your blood sugar and insulin levels to swing like a
pendulum, leaving you feeling fatigued, hungry , and craving still more
simple carbohydrates. And because simple carbohydrates are digested so quickly , any excess
sugar is converted to fat. For these reasons, most simple carbohydrates are a
poor food choice. In contrast, complex carbohydrates are nutritious, and include
vegetables, whole grain breads and pastas, beans, peas, brown rice, sweet
potatoes, oats, fruits, and whole grain cereals. They are loaded with fiber ,
vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients. Unlike simple carbohydrates,
complex carbohydrates cause a balanced and controlled release of sugar
into your system. This slow release gives the body more time to use the
carbohydrates as fuel; as a result, fewer turn to fat and insulin remains
stable.So if you consume, whole, good, natural carbs, you will enjoy more
consistent ener gy throughout the day without gaining extra pounds. As you can see, the two types of carbs dif fer immensely from a
nutritional standpoint. Simple carbohydrates are calorie laden, providing
little nutrition and causing weight gain. Complex carbohydrates are lower in
calories and, because they are loaded with fiber , provide bulk that fills you
up sooner , alleviates hunger pangs, and keeps you feeling satisfied longer . So go eat your carbs—as long as they’re complex. Myth 4
You can’ t get enough calcium eating a plant-based diet. Reality:  A diverse, plant-based diet is one of the best available sources
of calcium—and lets you avoid the deleterious ef fects associated with dairy
products. Great sources of calcium include green leafy vegetables, nuts, oranges,
kidney beans, lima beans, whole grains, Swiss chard, lentils, raisins,
broccoli, kale, celery , tofu, and romaine lettuce. One reason why Americans have such a high incidence of osteoporosis
(or weakening of the bones) isn’ t a lack of dietary calcium but an excess of
animal protein, which leaches calcium from the bones. In fact, did you know that the countries with the highest rate of dairy
consumption, including the United States, New Zealand, Britain, and
Sweden, also have the highest rates of osteoporosis? Although their citizens
consume massive amounts of dietary calcium, the excessive protein in that
milk, cheese, steak, fish, and eggs always trumps this important mineral,
leaving them with a net deficit. Meanwhile, people in rural China, who consume one-third the amount of
dairy we do, have almost zero cases of osteoporosis. Dr . John McDougall,
author of The McDougall Program for a Healthy Heart, has scoured the
medical literature on the topic and has yet to find one case of dietary
calcium deficiency in humans—so long as they consumed an adequate
number of calories. So no milk mustache for you! Myth 5
You can’ t get enough fat eating a plant-based diet.Reality:  Trace amounts of fat are present in all fruits, vegetables, and
other plant foods. Strawberries are 5 percent fat; bell peppers, 6 percent; broccoli, 8
percent; spinach, 1 1 percent; and soybeans, 41 percent. Several high-fat
plant foods contain in excess of 80 percent fat, including certain nuts and
seeds, as well as avocados, olives, and coconuts. By eating a delicious, plant-happy diet, you will consume roughly 9 to
15 percent of your total calories from fat, which is ideal. Getting your fat from plant-based foods means you will be consuming
healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats as opposed to dangerous
saturated fats. You will be able to eat more food than you ever dreamed of
without gaining weight, and feel wonderful. Myth 6
You can’ t be a competitive athlete and eat plants. Reality:  Tell that to Tony Gonzalez, the 247-pound tight end for the
Kansas City Chiefs football team. For health reasons, Tony changed his diet
after signing a five-year contract extension, making him the league’ s
highest paid tight end, and went on to break the NFL  record for receptions
by a tight end in 2008. His teammates have nicknamed him China Study
after T. Colin Campbell’ s book of the same name, which Gonzalez studied
before changing his diet—and which you will soon be reading about. James Gar ee, 25
Firefighter
Before becoming a firefighter , I was co-captain of the University of
Colorado football team, where I weighed 300 pounds. To keep up my
weight, I used to eat 8,000 calories a day—I’d go to Arby’ s and ask
for five Arby meals, an order of curly fries, and a lar ge Coke. But
ever since Rip flipped me, I’ve lost over sixty pounds. But it can be
difficult. Food is personal. If you don’ t understand what someone is
eating, you go into a kind of defense meltdown. For example, if you
tell people that the way they eat at home isn’ t good for them, they’ll
say, “Are you telling me that my granny’ s trying to poison me?”Or tell that to Ruth Heidrich, who in 1982 was diagnosed with metastatic
breast cancer and cured herself by eating a low-fat, plant-strong diet. She
has since won more than one thousand triathlons. Or tell Salim Stoudamire,
the plant-eating point guard for the NBA  Atlanta Hawks, who says that by
the fourth quarter , when most players are starting to fade, he’ s picking it up
a notch. Or tell Martina Navratilova, the world’ s winningest tennis player ,
who serves up plant-based foods exclusively . Or tell plant-devourer Dave
Scott, my hero and six-time winner of the famed Hawaii Ironman triathlon. Or better yet, try going plant-based yourself and see how much your own
athletic performance improves. Myth 7
By eating only plant-based foods, you’ll miss key nutrients. Reality:  You’ll be stockpiling away the nutrients like never before,
improving your health, and reversing disease. If you were to hold a triathlon
based on the quantity of nutrients in each food, plants would cross the finish
line and get a massage before meat, dairy , and eggs even had a chance to
get of f the bicycle. Calorie for calorie, the most nutrient-dense foods are plants, not animals. After all, plants are the mother source of all calories and all nutrients for all
creatures, whereas animal-based foods are essentially plant foods recycled
into an unhealthy package. The only nutrient that plant-based foods lack is vitamin B12. But you
can get a daily supply of B12 by downing two tablespoons of nutritional
yeast, a glass of fortified soy milk, a bowl of fortified cereal, or , if you
wish, a daily 500-microgram pill that should be chewed or dissolved in the
mouth to increase absorption. Myth 8
If eating only plant-based food, your ener gy will be low . Reality:  Your ener gy levels will be more constant and consistent than at
any other point in your life. Think of high-fiber and nutrient-heavy plant foods as the big logs in the
fireplace that burn for hours. Think of low-fiber and nutrient-light foods
such as simple carbohydrates as wads of newspaper that go up in a flash. When you’re eating plant-strong, you won’ t have the ener gy peaks andvalleys of the past, and if you so choose, you won’ t even need cof fee to get
your butt and mind in gear in the mornings. You’ll awake feeling refreshed,
even-keeled, and excited about char ging forward into your day . Myth 9
A plant-based diet is bad for childr en and pr egnant mothers. Reality:  By the age of two (once of f mother ’s milk), every child is ready
for a plant-strong diet. Even renowned expert Dr . Benjamin Spock
recommends the practice in the latest edition of his classic bestselling book,
Baby and Child Care. If you start them young, your kids will develop a
palate that appreciates the subtleties of plant foods and will gain the healthy
rewards that accompany this diet as they grow . Pregnant women, meanwhile, can get all the vitamins, nutrients, and
minerals that both they and their babies need to be healthy and well. My
wife, Jill, ate an all-plant-based diet throughout her pregnancy with no
morning sickness and no complications. She later gave birth to our very
healthy eight-pound, seven-ounce baby , Kole, the little love of our lives. Myth 10
Everyone needs to take fish oil supplements to ensur e they’r e getting
essential omega-3 fatty acids. Reality:  There are numerous ways to get essential omega-3 fatty acids
without subjecting yourself to the potential risks of fish oils—which,
according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, are
highly unstable molecules that can break down and release dangerous,
disease-causing free radicals. People are under the false assumption that taking a fish oil supplement
will negate the ef fects of all the cheese, meat, and processed foods they
throw down their throats. But fish oil is no panacea. It can actually raise
total and LDL  cholesterol levels, increases your chance of a hemorrhagic
stroke, and suppresses the immune system. Instead of taking fish oil, rely on ground flaxseed meal, walnuts,
soybeans, and green leafy vegetables, all of which contain plenty of
essential omega-3 fatty acids. If you are unwilling to transition to a totally plant-strong diet, then go to
a health food store and buy some plant-based omega-3 supplements thatcome straight from the mother source: plankton from the oceans, seas, and
lakes—which, by the way , is where fish get their omega-3s. Myth 1 1
Real men don’ t eat plants. Reality:  The fat and cholesterol in animal products clogs up the arteries
traveling not only to the heart and head but also to the extremities,
including the penis, where they can cause P AD (peripheral arterial disease)
and impotence, which research shows may be an early sign of heart disease. So, men: There is a better way , and it doesn’ t involve taking Viagra,
Cialis, or Levitra. It involves eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and
beans. In my father ’s research study , several of the men who had been impotent
for years regained their performance after changing to a plant-based diet,
making their wives quite happy . Many of the Engine 2 Study participants
also reported improved potency , including one who said that his erections
“are now like blue steel.”
Myth 12
Eating plant-based foods is joyless. Reality:  Plant-based foods are delicious and satisfying. The longer you’re on the E2 Diet, the more your palate will change. Think about milk, for instance. Since it’ s well known that whole milk is not
good for you, you’ve probably cut back to 2 percent or skim. At first, I bet
that skim milk tasted like water . Then you became accustomed to it so when
you tried whole milk again, it tasted like liquid paint. Your palate had
changed. It’s the same with adding oil to your foods. Anthony Salerno, one of the
E2 Pilot Study participants, is a fourth-generation Italian-American who
thought he couldn’ t live without his olive oil. But after six weeks on the E2
Diet, he found he enjoyed meals more without it—the oil, he realized,
disguised their true flavors. When he returned to using olive oil, he found it
tasted as though he’d poured synthetic goo on his food. Brandon and Amy Marsh, 32, 29
TriathletesEven though we’re triathletes, we never paid much attention to our
diets. But when Rip was looking for volunteers for the Engine 2 Pilot
Study , we signed up—and it worked. After all, we pay attention to
everything else we do for our bodies, why shouldn’ t we also be
paying attention to everything we eat? The fact is, sometimes your
performance can start with your fork. Diet counts as much as training. Foods taste better without being dunked in butter , drenched in
margarine, or saturated with sour cream. Plant-based foods are absolutely
glorious in their sublimeness. Without all the extra fat and processed flavors
drowning them out, you’ll finally get to taste nuances you might never have
noticed: the tang of a ripe red bell pepper , the zest of a cara cara orange, or
the zing of a plate of lacinato kale with roasted garlic—foods bursting with
flavors all their own. OceanofPDF .com5
THE MEDICAL  PROOF BEHIND THE ENGINE 2 DIET
As a firefighter , I see the adverse ef fects of poor diet every day on the
job—because all firefighters in Austin are also EMT s (emer gency medical
technicians). Firefighters are EMT s because more than 70 percent of our calls aren’ t
fires but medical emer gencies. Approximately another 15 to 20 percent are
car accidents, spills, and alarm activations. These statistics mean that if the
city of Austin has 100,000 calls a year , around 70,000 of them are medical
related. To become an EMT , we have to attend a two-month mini–medical
school during our fire academy training. We learn how to handle myriad
accidents as well as to treat various acute illnesses such as cardiac and
respiratory arrest, heart attacks, strokes, seizures, diabetic emer gencies,
respiratory problems, and traumatic injuries including falls, fractures,
lacerations, stabbings, burns, and sprains. We’re also taught how to perform
a complete patient assessment and to obtain a medical history . On a regular basis we conduct procedures such as cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR) and artificial ventilation; administering oxygen and
performing basic airway management (to make sure victims are breathing
properly); bandaging and splinting; and dispensing medicines, such as
aspirin and nitroglycerin (in two forms, one as a pill placed under the
tongue, the other as a chest paste). We administer glucose for diabetic
emer gencies, epinephrine for aller gic reactions, and albuterol in case of a
severe asthma attack. The reason we go on so many medical calls is that, nine times out of ten,
we can arrive on the scene several minutes before Emer gency MedicalServices (EMS) shows up: Austin has forty-four fire stations compared with
twenty-eight EMS stations, and sometimes the dif ference between saving
and losing a life can be a matter of mere seconds. Of course, when I first joined the department, I imagined we’d go racing
out to a big fire at least once a shift. I saw myself as a character in the
movie The Towering Inferno—climbing up fifty flights of stairs and then
coming down carrying little old ladies on my back, or scurrying
commando-style on my hands and knees under the smoke, finding a child
under a bed, handing him out the window to my partner at the top of a
twenty-four -foot extension ladder , then flying out a window onto a
trampoline. The reality is that we can go a month without seeing a single fire, then
see two fires in one shift. They cycle in and out with no rhyme or reason. Yet while fighting fires is a very inconsistent part of our job, making
medical calls has become very predictable. Why? Because Americans are in dire need of emer gency medical
assistance. So instead of fighting fires, we fight the battle for America’ s
health. And there appears to be no end in sight to this battle. Take a long hard look around you. Do you see what I see? Americans are
downing empty calories with reckless abandon, gor ging on vats of animal-
based products teeming with unhealthy fat, cholesterol, and acid-producing
protein; gobbling up refined and processed foods; drizzling, swathing, and
dumping concentrated vegetable oils into, over , and through everything and
anything without thinking twice. We’ve become addicted to the taste, texture, and comfort these foods
give us. But unfortunately , what they also give us is a breeding ground for
the ailments and diseases that are tearing at the seams of our nation’ s health. High blood pressure is the norm. Constipation and irritable bowel syndrome
are commonplace. Migraine headaches—and headaches in general—bring
tears to our eyes. Osteoporosis is breaking us down. PMS, aller gies,
infections, and eczema have increased in frequency and intensity . Kidney
stones and gallstones are more than a pain in the side. All these conditions are influenced by a poor diet, and they add up to a
big mess. However , the crowning blow to American health is the lineup of
killer diseases taking us down like rows of dominoes: heart disease, cancer ,
stroke, diabetes, obesity , and Alzheimer ’s disease.Yet there is hope—in the form of a great deal of scientific evidence
showing that a plant-healthy diet can prevent, and even reverse, most of
these diseases. You now know how to respond to those who can’ t tell a myth from
reality . Read on if you really want to show people that you know the hard
science behind why you’re eating so healthily and happily . HEAR T DISEASE
Four years ago, at 10:06 p.m., a call came in from the White Swan
Lounge and Bar on Austin’ s east side. LD Davis, the owner and proprietor ,
had suf fered a heart attack. When we arrived, LD wasn’ t breathing and had no pulse. One of the
patrons had already started doing chest compressions; we thanked her , dove
in, and started doing them ourselves. Next, we took out a BVM (or bag valve mask, which allows firefighters
to breathe for patients without putting our mouths over theirs), and placed it
over LD’ s mouth and nose. The task can be tricky , because the patient’ s
tongue frequently falls back into his or her throat, blocking the airway . To
prevent that, we often have to use an oropharyngeal airway , a curved, straw-
like device that keeps the tongue in place. We worked on LD as a team. One of us performed chest compressions
and another held down the mouthpiece to ensure that no air could escape,
and I squeezed the bag part of the BVM with both hands at a slow and
steady rate of roughly ten squeezes per minute. A fourth firefighter made
sure oxygen was hooked up to the BVM, took out the AED (a machine
called an automatic external defibrillator), checked for vital signs (heart rate
and breathing), and alternated doing chest compressions with us. While all this was going on, the bar ’s patrons formed a semicircle
around us, chanting, “Come on, LD, you can make it!” I got goose bumps
all over my body , and was chanting as well: “Come on, LD!”
We placed the pads from the AED on LD’ s chest, powered it up, and
waited a few seconds while it analyzed his heart, looking for a shockable
rhythm. The machine works when the heart is in a state of what’ s called
ventricular fibrillation. At that point, we can shock the patient in the hope of
rebooting the heart’ s proper rhythm.We did find a shockable rhythm, so we shocked LD—with no results. So
we continued CPR. By this time, EMS had arrived and set up an IV  (intravenous line). They
also gave LD some drugs to assist in restarting his heart. Again we tried
shocking him, again with no luck. However , on the third attempt we were
successful. The crowd cheered and celebrated. Two of us then rode in the
back of the ambulance and continued breathing for LD until we arrived at
the hospital and handed him of f to the emer gency room doctors. I later heard from the EMS crew that LD was up and about again; he
managed to live for another year and a half before dying—from another
heart attack. Whenever we firefighters are able to bring people back to life from what
looks like certain death, the department presents us with a Phoenix Award,
named for the mythological bird that rose from the ashes after dying in
flames. Over the course of my career I’ve received three Phoenixes, all for
helping patients who had suf fered heart attacks. I’m proud of them, but
wish my skills hadn’ t been needed. LD ’S ST ORY IS FAR FROM UNIQUE. Heart disease kills more Americans than
the next four fatal diseases combined. Close to one million of us die of
cardiac complications annually , and one in every two Americans will die
from heart disease or stroke. This illness has gained traction over the last century—in 1900,
cardiovascular disease wasn’ t even in the top ten causes of death. By 2007,
though, more than three thousand people were dying from heart disease
every day , which translates into one death every twenty-six seconds. Dr. Lewis Kuller of the University of Pittsbur gh recently reported the
ten-year findings of the Cardiovascular Health Study , a project of the
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Its conclusion: All males older
than sixty-five and females older than seventy who have been exposed to
the traditional Western diet are already suf fering from cardiovascular
disease and should be treated as such. Even more frightening: In more than half of all heart disease cases, the
first symptom is instant death. What is at the core of this terrible disease? Plaque. Plaque is a waxy ,
fatty deposit that can build up in various places in the body , including theinside of the arteries. There are two types of plaque formations: lar ge, hardened, stable ones;
and small, soft, unstable ones. Extensive buildup of the lar ger plaques within the arteries limits the
amount of oxygen-rich blood the heart receives. This process can cause
angina, or severe discomfort and pain in the chest region. Patients with
angina are often prescribed nitroglycerin pills, which dilate (open up and
relax) the arteries, allowing the heart to receive more blood. At other times
the narrowing of the arteries due to plaque can completely shut of f the
blood supply and cause a heart attack. Most people believe that the lar ger blockages are the primary cause of
heart attacks; actually , they represent only 10 percent of all cases. Why? Because over the course of many years, the miraculous human body
compensates for plaque blockages by creating new channels that reroute
blood around them, similar to the way a river might redirect itself around a
large boulder . Eventually , the plaques form scar tissue and calcify , making
them stable. The other 90 percent of heart attacks are caused by the small,
soft plaques, which are less than 50 percent of the width of the artery . These
obnoxious rascals appear when your blood and the endothelium, or the silky
smooth lining of your arteries, become sticky . This tackiness permits lethal
LDL  cholesterol to attach and burrow into the artery wall. To heal this injury , the body forms the equivalent of a pimple, inside of
which certain enzymes act to weaken its cover , making it delicate as a
cobweb. The blood flowing past eventually causes the pimple to burst. Next, the natural blood-clotting platelets in your blood rush to heal the
injury , a clot rapidly develops and enlar ges, preventing any blood from
flowing downstream to the heart. Bam! You have a heart attack. SO HOW  DO YOU PREVENT  the formation of these terrible plaques? Stop eating
animal-based products! Animal-based products contain all the building blocks for heart disease:
artery-clogging saturated fat, plaque-promoting dietary cholesterol,
cholesterol-raising and inflammation-causing animal protein, and free-
radical-promoting oxidants. All these components encourage the buildup of
plaque and damage the silky lining of the sixty-thousand-plus miles of
arteries, veins, and capillaries through which your blood flows.Plant-based products discourage plaque buildup and promote the health
of your artery lining because they contain healthy unsaturated fats, zero
cholesterol, friendly protein, and free radical–zapping antioxidants. And
unlike animal-based products, plants are nutritional powerhouses, with the
ability to prevent and even reverse existing heart disease. Plants are loaded
with vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and bioflavonoids. Why am I so confident of the connection between diet and heart disease? Because so many studies have proven that heart disease need never exist,
and that existing heart disease can be halted in its tracks, or even reversed. As mentioned, my father , Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, conducted the most
profound evidence-based research on the arrest and reversal of heart disease
on the planet; his patients demonstrated striking reversal of the plaque in
their diseased arteries. Remember his prescription? Eat a completely low-fat, plant-based diet. My father was not the only person to show a reversal of heart disease. For example, just as my father was embarking on his arrest and reversal
study , Dr. Dean Ornish was also conducting his second Lifestyle Heart Trial
Study at the University of California at San Francisco, whose results were
published in the medical journal The Lancet. Ornish worked with two groups of patients stricken with heart disease. For one year , a group of twenty-eight individuals ate a pure plant-based diet
supplemented with minimal exercise and a stress-management program. At
the same time, a control group of twenty patients consumed the typical
American diet. The outcome: The patients on the low-fat, plant-based diet saw a reverse
in, or an end to, their preexisting coronary blockages, as well as a reduction
in or elimination of their angina. However , the members of the standard
American diet control group saw an increase in their coronary blockages, as
well as in the frequency and intensity of their angina. What caused these results? First, by avoiding all animal-based products,
the plant-eating patients eliminated all the major building blocks that
contribute to plaque formation: fat, cholesterol, and animal protein. They
were able to lower their total cholesterol to a level that helped their body
metabolize away the plaque buildup in their arteries. Second, by consuming only fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and
legumes, the patients allowed the arteries themselves to heal at a cellular
and metabolic level. A plant-based diet permits the silky lining of thearteries to produce nitric oxide, an element crucial to their health that cleans
the blood, heals the endothelium (making it slippery instead of sticky), and
allows the capillaries, arteries, and veins to relax, letting more blood flow to
the heart. Corroborating this research, in 2004 Cornell professor Dr . T. Colin
Campbell, the project director of the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health
Project, published The China Study , a book chronicling the results of a
thirty-year investigation of nutrition and health that examined more than
6,500 people in sixty-five dif ferent Chinese villages. The New York Times
referred to this study as the “Grand Prix” of all epidemiological research. Among the study’ s findings: American men are seventeen times more
likely to die from heart disease than rural Chinese men. During one three-
year period in the study , Campbell even found certain areas in China with
populations over 100,000 where not a single person under the age of sixty-
five had died from heart disease. All of the Chinese subjects ate a predominantly whole food, plant-based
diet, containing few to no packaged products (or meals at restaurants). As a
result, their average total cholesterol ranged between 81 and 135. Conversely , the typical American eats an animal-based diet with close to
40 percent of his or her calories coming from animal products, 50 percent
from refined and processed sources, and only 10 percent from plant foods. Not surprisingly , Americans, who also rely heavily on packaged food
products, have an average total cholesterol of 215. The Framingham Study , the lar gest equivalent review of diet and heart
disease among Americans, had results similar to those of The China Study . The study was initiated because heart disease had become so prevalent in
this country during the last century that, in 1948, researchers from the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) began what has become the longest
ongoing investigation into the causes of heart disease ever conducted. After compiling data on almost everyone in the entire town of
Framingham, Massachusetts, the NIH researchers were able to determine
that the leading risk factors for heart disease were (1) high cholesterol
levels, (2) high blood pressure, and (3) cigarette smoking. Further research over the last half century has confirmed these findings. Today , a high cholesterol level is still the number one risk factor for heart
disease, greater than smoking, high blood pressure, family history , stress, or
obesity .Interestingly , nobody in the Framingham Study whose total cholesterol
level was under 150 without using cholesterol-lowering drugs ever had a
heart attack. Once again, as Dr . William Castelli, the former director of the
Framingham Study , puts it: Keep your total cholesterol under 150 and you
protect yourself from ever having a heart attack. And get this! Some 35 percent of all heart attacks documented in the
Framingham Study occurred in people whose total cholesterol level was
between 151 and 200, numbers the American Heart Association and most
physicians will tell you are rock solid. This research indicates that the only way to become truly rock solid is to
get your total cholesterol below 150 and your LDL  cholesterol below 80. You can best do this by eating a delicious plant-based diet. The sooner you can start, the better of f you’ll be. For example, autopsies
of young American soldiers from the Korean and Vietnam Wars confirmed
that 80 percent already had plaque deposits greater than 50 percent of the
width of their coronary arteries, while the Korean and Vietnamese soldiers
examined, who had eaten a plant-based diet, had little to no plaque. We also know from the landmark PDA Y (Pathobiological Determinants
of Atherosclerosis in Youth) Study , begun in 1985 and supported by the
NIH’ s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, that adolescents who died
from accidents, homicides, and suicides already had the makings of fatty
plaque lesions in their coronary arteries. In other words, dangerous levels
can build up long before you hit the age most people associate with heart
attacks. STROKE
Stroke is a silent killer that hits like a well-camouflaged assassin perched
in a tree. Stroke attacks with no warning signs, and results in death 25
percent of the time. Of every five people who die of stroke, three are
women and two are men. Nearly 700,000 Americans suf fer strokes
annually , and 150,000 of these victims die. A stroke is similar to a heart attack, but af fects the brain. It can occur in
one of two ways. The first type, called ischemic stroke, is the result of a
blood clot, or a narrowing of the arteries to the brain. The second type, hemorrhagic stroke, occurs when one of the arteries
leading to the brain ruptures. In both cases, there isn’ t enough oxygen-richblood feeding and nourishing the brain. Nerve cells in the brain then die,
affecting the part of the body those cells controlled. Strokes range from ministrokes called TIAs (transient ischemic attacks)
lasting from one to twenty-four hours, to full-blown strokes causing
complete paralysis or death. Stroke and heart disease are both diseases of the cardiovascular system. As with heart disease, in a stroke your vessels (another term for capillaries,
arteries, and veins) can’ t keep pace with the massive quantities of fat,
grease, and cholesterol you consistently ask them to process. Plaque
deposits start to accumulate until you develop either lar ge, stable plaques,
which cause narrowing of the arteries, or the small, delicate ones that
rupture and cause a clot. Keeping your blood pressure in check can minimize stroke risk—but
eating meat, dairy , eggs, and added oils raises blood pressure in several
ways. First, narrowed and clogged vessels require an increase in pressure to
circulate blood throughout the body . Second, the saturated fat in meat and
dairy makes the blood thicker , which again requires an increase in pressure
to move it through the body . Third, animal products are notoriously high in
sodium, causing the body and blood to retain fluid, which again causes an
increase in blood pressure. Americans consume far too much sodium, not only from animal-based
products but also from canned and packaged goods and restaurant meals. Instead, we should be increasing our intake of potassium, a mineral that
removes sodium from the blood and, in turn, reduces blood pressure. This is
why stroke expert Dr . Mitchell Elkind of Columbia University’ s
Department of Neurology suggests that to reduce stroke, people should “eat
a diet rich in fruits and vegetables high in potassium, along with a low-fat,
low-sodium diet.”
According to the Framingham Study , for every three additional servings
of fruits and vegetables you eat a day , the risk of stroke is reduced by 22
percent. And according to a ten-year study presented at the 1993 meeting of
the American Heart Association, female survivors of strokes or heart attacks
could cut their future stroke risk by eating spinach, carrots, and other fruits
and vegetables containing vitamins C, E, and B2 and beta-carotene. (Vitamin C is present in many foods, including citrus fruits, bell peppers,
and kale. Vitamin B2, or riboflavin, and vitamin E can be found in leafygreen vegetables and nuts, as well as in many other plant-based foods. Beta-
carotene is a form of vitamin A present in fruits and vegetables.) So be proactive. Eat a whole food, nutrient rich, plant-based diet. Never
allow the building blocks of stroke and heart disease—artery-clogging
saturated fat, dietary cholesterol, and acidic animal protein—into your
body . Stroke can hit anyone at any time. For example, I can remember when
my grandfather , the great doctor Barney Crile, suf fered a stroke in his late
seventies. He was standing in his kitchen when he suddenly fell over
backward and landed on one of his two cats, Sunday Morning in the
Twilight Gleaming (a crazy-pills long name for a cat the size of a dog). The
cat came out of it fine, but Barney wasn’ t as lucky . He had partial paralysis
to the left side of his body and his quick wit and brilliant mind were dulled. I am confident Barney could have avoided his stroke if he hadn’ t been
such a lover of dining on all things animal. He was a madman when it came
to eating anything and everything. He would jump out of the car when he
saw fresh road kill, scoop it up, take it home, skin it, and incorporate it into
the family dinner . A menu of ten dif ferent meals that hung on the kitchen
wall epitomized the Crile eating style. First on the list: bear balls roasted in
bacon fat. Don’ t eat bear balls. Eat healthy , delectable, plant-based foods so that
you will never fall over on your cat. CANCER
Cancer . The C word. It fans fear in the hearts of Americans. And
rightfully so. Cancer is the second-leading cause of death each year and,
according to the American Hospital Association, will surpass the number
one cause, heart disease, within five years. One in every three people will
contract cancer in their lifetime, and one in four will die from it. Cancer can be ruthless and take you down in a matter of months. Cancer
can be relentless and drag on for decades. Cancer often requires sur gery,
which can be disfiguring and painful. Cancer causes depression, with its
energy-zapping chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Cancer is horrific. Cancer is everywhere. Take a look around you and you will see how it
has blemished almost every family in America—including the families of
our firefighters at the station: Steve Martinez’ s father died at fifty-two ofcolorectal cancer , James Garee’ s father died at fifty-seven of lung cancer ,
and Scottie Walter’s seventy-one-year -old father just endured chemotherapy
for throat cancer . How does this menace start? At the cellular level. Each of us has billions
of cells in our body . For the most part, these cells are programmed to grow ,
divide, and then die. Cancer begins when normal cells mutate and become abnormal due to
various environmental, nutritional, or chemical stresses. They then start to
grow and divide wildly , refusing to die, doubling every one hundred days—
and yet it can take ten to fifteen years before such cancers reach the size of
a match tip. Eventually these renegade cells clump together to form a tumor , killing
off healthy tissue as it competes for space and blood vessels to acquire
nutrients. Parts of the tumor can even break away , spread throughout the
body , and start other tumors. This process, called metastasis, is usually a
death sentence. But you can lower your cancer risk. Like heart disease, cancer loses its
power if you don’ t feed it the things it craves to flourish—dairy , meat, eggs,
oils, processed sugar , tobacco, and alcohol. Even if you already have cancer , you can reduce its growth by lessening
your reliance on animal foods and reaching for plant foods. Let’s explore why , starting with dairy products. Multiple studies show
that dairy products contain cancer -promoting saturated fat; animal protein;
and insulin-like growth factor -1 (IGF-1), a powerful growth-promoting
hormone and known cancer culprit. Saturated fat suppresses the immune system and contains excessive
calories, which spur growth of all cells—even cancer cells. According to
The China Study’ s T. Colin Campbell, the animal protein in dairy foods
(even fat-free products) contributes to an acidic environment in which
cancer cells and tumors thrive. As for IGF-1, this substance actually changes our hormonal balance,
according to Dr . John McDougall. In women, IGF-1 can increase estrogen
levels, known to promote breast and ovarian cancer , and in men, it can
increase testosterone levels, known to promote testicular and prostate
cancers. In fact, a June 1999 article in the journal Alternative Medicine Reviews
reported that prostate cancer was more strongly correlated with theconsumption of nonfat dairy products than with any other food product. Let’s remember where all dairy comes from—the cow . Cow’ s milk is 20
percent protein if it’ s whole (40 percent if it’ s skim), most of which comes
from casein—a dairy protein shown to be a tumor promoter . Furthermore,
the amount of fat in milk averages around 50 percent, a lar ge percentage of
which is saturated. The remaining 35 percent of milk’ s calories come from
the carbohydrate milk lactose, to which 70 percent of the world is
intolerant. Cow’ s milk is fine for a calf who wants to gain one thousand pounds in
less than a year . Whenever possible, humans should stick to breast milk
until the age of two, and then make the switch to a milk substitute. Meat is another problem. Meat protein creates an acidic environment
that is also a breeding ground for cancer cells and growth hormones. And
meat fat is a magnet for chemical carcinogens that are stored in fat tissue—
fiends such as mercury , dioxin, PCBs, and DDT . Meat is also high in oxidants, such as iron, which not only oxidize
cholesterol—a process that makes it more easily deposited in your arteries
—but also promotes free radicals that mutate your cells’  DNA  and turn
them into renegade cancer cells. To top it all of f, meat, with its lack of fiber , stalls fecal matter in the
colon for extended periods of time, which in turn can contribute to colon
cancer . An eight-year study conducted in conjunction with the American
Association of Retired Persons that followed more than 500,000 people
between the ages of fifty and seventy-one showed that people who
frequently eat meat have a higher risk of several types of cancer—including
lung, colorectal, esophageal, liver , and pancreatic—than people who don’ t.
As for eggs, these devils are not as incredible and edible as the egg
industry wants you to believe. As mentioned, the yolk contains more than
200 milligrams of cholesterol, while the white is one of the most
concentrated sources of animal protein around. And you now know the
dangers of animal protein. A twenty-year study of diet and ovarian cancer published in The Journal
of the American Medical Association showed that women who ate eggs
three or more days each week “had a three times greater risk of fatal
ovarian cancer than did women who ate eggs less than one day per week.”Oils, even so-called heart-healthy olive oil, are another debacle. Oil is
fat. As noted earlier , all vegetable oils are 100 percent fat and are the most
concentrated source of calories on the planet: 120 per tablespoon. Fat,
whatever its form—monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, or saturated—is
loaded with almost 10 calories per gram. Study after study has shown that
when the percentage of fat calories in the diet exceeds 15 percent of caloric
intake, cancer starts to rear its ugly head. Sugar is yet another mess. Cancer cells swarm to sugar like bees to
honey , because it is an important source of food for them. So the farther you
stay away from packaged candies, sugary cereals, sodas, juice drinks,
refined grains, and alcohol, the better . Instead, swarm to the good sugars
found in fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains. Kin Gill, 41
Lawyer
On Rip’ s diet, I’ve lost about eleven pounds, my cholesterol dropped
30 points, and my body fat fell 10 percent. One of the other great
things about the diet is that it’ s a socially responsible way to eat. You’re being more sensitive to animals, to the environment. You’re
not putting a lot of methane out to keep the feedlots going, you can
focus on locally grown produce. Enough about cancer promotion. Now let’ s look at cancer prevention. More than twenty-five years ago, Dr . John McDougall published the first
study showing that women can treat breast cancer successfully without
surgery, chemotherapy , or drugs by making the switch from an animal-
based diet to a nutrient-dense plant-based diet. Along the same lines, Dr . Dean Ornish completed a study in 1994
showing that nutritional intervention could halt, and even reverse, the
progress of early-stage prostate cancer . Ornish’ s study involved ninety-three men with prostate cancer; for one
year, he put half of them on a low-fat, plant-based diet, and half on the
standard American diet. He also took blood tests to measure before and
after levels of their PSA. PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, is a protein
produced by the cells of the prostate gland; levels can be used to detect
tumors. Anything over 4.0 ng/ml (nanograms of PSA  per milliliter) is
considered elevated.At the start of the study , all of the men had PSA  levels between 4.0 and
10.0 ng/ml. The men eating the low-fat, plant-based diet saw a 4 percent
decrease in their PSA, while those in the control group (eating the American
diet) had a 6 percent increase. Powerful results! In another study involving men with prostate cancer (this one from
2008), Dr . Ornish was able to show how disease-promoting genes can be
turned of f and disease-preventing ones turned on. After following a plant-
healthy diet for just three months, the study participants were able to change
the activity in close to 500 genes—with more than 453 turned of f and 48
turned on. The take away message: It’ s not all in the genes, it’ s in the food! T. Colin Campbell has also shown that while cancers and tumors in
laboratory mice thrive on animal protein, plant protein almost repels cancer . Why? As discussed, animal proteins are acidic, creating an ideal
environment in which cancer cells can thrive; plant proteins are alkaline,
making it almost impossible for cancer cells to take root and prosper . Campbell’ s recommendation: “The more you substitute plant foods for
animal foods the healthier you are likely to be. I now consider an all plant
based diet the ideal diet for optimal health and to reduce disease risk.”
DESPITE ALL  THE EVIDENCE —and what I’ve described is just the proverbial
tip of the iceber g—America has yet to hear and fully digest the plant-based
message. As a result, the overall incidence of cancer has increased
dramatically . In fact, a plant-based diet possesses an arsenal of ingredients that help
the body ward of f cancer at a cellular and biochemical level: namely fiber ,
phytochemicals, and antioxidants. A plant-based diet contains many
different types of fiber that drag toxins and carcinogens through the
intestines and out of the body while keeping your bowel movements
regular . A plant-based diet contains more than twelve thousand
phytochemicals, which ward of f disease, increase the body’ s immune
defenses, and slow down the aging process. A plant-based diet contains
antioxidants, which neutralize damaging free radicals and prevent normal
cells from aging prematurely or mutating. All these benefits have evolved in plants over thousands of years to
protect them from disease, the sun, and the elements. Now they can protectyou. Eat abundantly from plant foods and you will build up a shield of
internal body armor few cancer cells can pierce. DIABETES
Diabetes is ravaging the world at an astonishing rate. One in twelve
Americans suf fers from the disease; three thousand new cases hit the streets
every day , and researchers suspect that as many as one in three people born
after 2000 will develop it sometime in their lives. To put it bluntly , diabetes
will soon transition from being an epidemic to a pandemic. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, amputation, and kidney
failure. Diabetes doubles your chance of having a heart attack or stroke. Diabetes wreaks havoc on your vascular system, turning once-healthy blood
vessels sickly . The economic toll of this epidemic is severe. In 2002, for example, the
annual cost of diabetes in America was 132 billion dollars—that’ s roughly
equivalent to one out of every ten health care dollars spent in this country . There are two dif ferent types of diabetes—T ype 1, which accounts for 5
to 10 percent of all cases and usually appears at an early age, and Type 2,
which accounts for the remaining cases. They are very dif ferent animals. In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas can no longer produce insulin, the
hormone necessary for getting sugar , or glucose, into your cells to provide
your body with the ener gy they need to work. Imagine that every cell has a
door with a lock. Insulin is the key that fits into the lock, turns, and swings
open the door to deliver the glucose. Researchers now believe one way pancreatic insulin cells get wiped out
in Type 1 diabetes is through friendly fire—i.e., an immune system
reaction. That fire can come from something as seemingly innocent as cow’ s milk. For example, an infant’ s immature digestive tract can’ t always completely
digest milk protein. This undigested protein, which slips through the
semipermeable membrane of the small intestine into the bloodstream,
appears to the immune system to be a foreign invader . The baby’ s body
responds by attacking the undigested protein like a pack of great white
sharks. While on the attack, the immune system seeks out other invaders that
might be lurking, and mistakenly attacks the infant’ s pancreatic insulin-producing cells, which resemble the protein in cow’ s milk. The great white
sharks of the immune system then tear to shreds and gobble up the baby’ s
pancreatic insulin-producing cells. The victim is now a Type 1 diabetic for
life. IN TYPE 2 DIABETES,  the pancreas still produces insulin, but it is no longer
effective in getting glucose into the cells. When you consume a high-fat, animal-based diet, your body’ s cells start
to gunk up and cake over with fat. It’ s okay for them to contain some fat as
a backup ener gy source, but beyond a certain level, your insulin “key” can
no longer open the cell doors because it, too, is all gummed up with fat and
debris. The glucose you need now ends up circulating in your bloodstream. You are now what’ s called insulin-resistant, and well on your way to
becoming a Type 2 diabetic. (This type of diabetes used to be called adult-onset diabetes, as it
affected only adults. However , with Americans becoming unhealthy and
obese at an increasingly younger age, so many kids have been coming down
with diabetes that the medical profession had to rename the disease.) HERE AT THE ST ATION,  we are making more and more diabetic-related calls. Here’ s a recent one:
After piling into the fire engine and driving to the scene of the alarm, we
arrived to find a car in a ditch, smashed into a telephone pole. The driver of
the car , a man in his early fifties, wore a glazed expression and, based on
looking at him through the car windows, seemed completely out of it. All
the car doors were locked, and the man kept shifting back and forth, not
knowing what to do. We repeatedly asked him to open the door so we could help him. He
didn’ t respond. Then we noticed he was wearing a diabetic emer gency bracelet, and we
put two and two together . His blood sugar must have sunk too low and
caused him to lose control of his car and drive into the pole. We again asked
him to talk to us. However , he kept looking at us with a blank stare as if we were speaking
ancient Greek.After realizing that we weren’ t going to be able to communicate with the
man, we took out Mr . Pinky (a thick, pink coat hanger–type contraption that
allows us to access locked cars), opened the driver ’s door , and began patient
care. The man’ s blood sugar turned out to be 32 mg/dl, which is far too low
for anyone to function. So we fed him two 15-gram tubes of glucose, and
within five minutes he came out of his zombie-like state and was back on
planet Earth. He apologized profusely , saying he must not have eaten
enough at lunch. We backed him out of the ditch and told him that he
needed to get some solid food into his system as soon as possible. THE TRUTH IS THA T TREA TING TYPE 2 DIABETES  is an easy fix. Eat plant-strong! Neal Barnard, MD, is president of the Physicians Committee for
Responsible Medicine, and author of Dr . Neal Barnard’ s Program for
Reversing Diabetes. The results of his diabetes studies, funded by the
National Institutes of Health, were published in the August 2006 issue of
Diabetes Care. In his report, Dr . Barnard describes a simple dietary regime he found that
could prevent, control, and even reverse diabetes. Of the ninety-nine
patients in his study , fifty were put on the American Diabetes Association
(ADA) diet (currently considered the nutritional gold standard for people
with diabetes). The other forty-nine subjects ate a low-fat, high-fiber , plant-
based diet. In choosing which foods to eat in which quantities, the ADA  diet patients
followed the standard USDA  food pyramid, but also had to count calories
and watch portion sizes. No food group was eliminated, however . The
plant-based diet patients followed the Physicians Committee food pyramid,
which features more servings of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and
legumes than the standard pyramid. These patients could eat as much as
they wanted as long as they ate only from these four food groups and
watched their intake of nuts and high-fat vegetables such as olives and
avocados. The group of diabetics on the low-fat, plant-based diet was able to
reduce the doses of almost all their medications, and in some cases go of f
them, in as few as twelve weeks. This diet also turned out to be three timesmore ef fective than the ADA  diet in reducing A1C, a marker that best
identifies the amount of sugar in the blood over a three-month period. Why was Dr . Barnard’ s study so successful? The answer is so simple, it’ s
criminal: Because eating low-fat, plant-scrumptious foods causes the body
to burn and metabolize excess fat from all the cells of the body . So in as
little as a week, insulin can knock on the cell door , stick its golden key in
the now-clean lock, and turn it. The door is now open and insulin can
deliver its glucose. Once that happens, a person is no longer insulin-
resistant, but insulin-sensitive. Several E2ers have been able to reverse their Type 2 diabetes. For
example, Craig Walker , a twenty-four -year veteran of the fire department,
had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at age forty-one. Six years later he
came to me after hearing about the success I’d had in improving the health
of some of the other firefighters. “I’m finally ready to try this,” he said. “I
am sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
Coming out of the fire academy , fire cadet Craig weighed 185 pounds
and was healthy as a moose (yes, a moose, as my childhood pediatrician
used to tell me at the end of a checkup). More than two decades later ,
Captain Craig Walker weighed 215 pounds, had a high A1C of 12, a fasting
blood sugar level of over 200, gave himself an insulin shot daily , took two
oral diabetic medications, and had just quit Lipitor for high cholesterol
because he didn’ t like the way it made him feel. By going on the E2 diet, in just three months Craig lost 27 pounds,
brought his A1C number down from 12 to 6.5, brought his fasting glucose
level below 100, no longer needed his insulin injections, was able to stop
taking one oral medication and cut the other dose in half, reduced his total
cholesterol from 269 to 196, and cut his LDL  cholesterol from 189 to 1 11. Craig is no longer sick and tired. Craig is healthy and happy—as a
moose! Carol Jocelyn, 66
Director of a House of Prayer
I live in rural Iowa, one of the beef- and pork-eating capitals of
America, so some people think I’m nuts. But the nice thing is that
even people who live in remote places like me can make it work if
they want. I travel to health food stores whenever I’m away . And I’mhelping to integrate more healthy foods into our regular grocery store. Today my ener gy is at a wonderful peak, my body feels clean, I feel
alive, and I’ve lost eighteen pounds. I’ve gone from a size twelve to a
size eight. OBESITY
Our country is in terrible shape—physically , that is. We are fat. Dr . Richard Carmona, the former United States sur geon general, refers to the
nation’ s current obesity epidemic as “the terror within.”
If you are obese (like more than 30 percent of all Americans), you’re
essentially stepping onto an escalator taking you directly into a roomful of
killer diseases: heart disease, stroke, cancer , hypertension, and diabetes. Once inside this room, you’ll realize the absolute horror that lies within, but
the door will close and won’ t let you leave until you pick one or more
diseases as a departing prize. On every shift at the station we see the results of the obesity epidemic in
full swing. Sometimes we get a call for what’ s known as lifting assistance;
this type of help is for people so morbidly obese that they have lost their
mobility . Lifting and moving people who weigh between 400 and 600
pounds requires a team ef fort, as well as a great deal of resourcefulness. First, we gather the required man/woman power (usually six to eight
people) and two bed sheets. Next, we help the person roll onto his or her
side, and slide the two sheets up against the body . Then we have the person
roll back onto his or her back and then to the other side so we can pull the
sheet past and under , giving us a makeshift gurney . Now comes the exciting part: Positioned all around the sheet, each
person rolls up his or her section to get a solid grip. On the count of three,
we then slide the patient over to one side of the bed and prepare to lift him
or her onto the stretcher or straight into an ambulance. Considering that we
often have to navigate our way around furniture, through doorways, and
down multiple staircases, this task can be pretty dif ficult. AMERICANS SEEM TO FEEL  it is their birthright to eat rich, fatty , meaty , and
obesity-promoting foods. This mind-set begs for a paradigm shift. Obesity
is not caused by a fat gene passed down the family line; its roots lie in badeating habits and poor nutrition. These habits are the colossal tragedy being
passed from one generation to the next. There is a solution, and it doesn’ t involve portion control, exercise, or
lifting weights. It requires one thing and one thing only: You need to
become plant-strong! Indulge in the luxuriance of eating plants and
discover the wide variety of foods that await you. Here are some basic truths about gaining (far too much) weight. First, you will gain weight only if you consume more calories than you
burn. Stop eating high-calorie second- and third-class foods such as meat,
cheese, milk, eggs, oils, and refined sugars and replace them with first-
class, opulent, plant-based foods, then watch the pounds disappear . Second, people around the world whose diets are plant-based tend to be
thinner than those whose aren’ t. Their cuisine is rich in complex
carbohydrates such as whole grains, potatoes, millet, rice, and corn, and
they supplement these healthful starches with fruits, vegetables, and beans. It works for them, and it will work for you. TO UNDERST AND WHY  THIS IS THE CASE,  here’ s a quick lesson on how calories
work, and the basics of how the body processes the three types of
macronutrients found in all foods: protein, carbohydrates, and fats. A gram of each contains a dif ferent number of calories:
1 gram of carbohydrate equals 4 calories. 1 gram of protein equals 4 calories. 1 gram of fat equals 9 calories. Carbohydrates, the body’ s main source of fuel, are stored in the form of
glucose in the blood and glycogen in the muscles and liver . Just in the
process of converting and storing these carbs, the body burns of f 25 percent
of the calories you consume. The body cannot store protein, however . Excess protein is either
eliminated in the feces or urine, or stored as fat. If protein were stored as
muscle, 90 percent of Americans would be walking around resembling
body-building champions. Look around, and you will quickly see that this is
far from the case.Meanwhile, the human body requires only a minuscule percentage of its
daily calories from fat—roughly 3 to 5 percent. Yet most Americans are
choking down upwards of 40 percent of their daily calories in the form of
fat, a lar ge portion of which is unhealthy saturated fat. The body has evolved to store extra fat in a very ef ficient manner . Only a
measly 2 percent of fat calories are burned up when fat is stored. This is
why the fat you eat is the fat you wear , as Dr . John McDougall has said. Most animal-based foods contain between 20 to 60 percent fat, whereas
most plant-based foods contain less than 10 percent fat. And animal
products contain no fiber , while the naturally occurring fiber in plant-based
foods allows you to become full without having to pile in so many calories. There is nothing in an animal-product-based diet that you cannot find in
a healthier , safer , and better form in a plant-based diet. Why? Because plant foods contain all of the essential amino acids found
in protein, both of the essential fatty acids (linoleic and alpha-linolenic), all
of the thirteen vitamins, and all of the seven major and nine minor minerals. And they can supply these nourishing macro- and micronutrients without
subjecting you to any of the toxic side ef fects of animal products—namely ,
premature disease and death. As previously discussed, the only vitamin plants don’ t provide is vitamin
B12. The microor ganisms in the soil that once supplied our diets with B12
naturally have been stripped away by current farming methods, so plant
eaters must add this vitamin to their diet. The current recommendation is for 500 micrograms per day , but if you
consume milk substitutes and cereals, you are already eating products
fortified with B12 and are more than likely getting enough. If not, consider
taking a supplement. LET ME REPEA T: THE ANSWER to putting out a fire is water . The answer to
stamping out obesity is a plant-based diet. We all need to grab buckets of
plant-based foods and work as a team to douse the obesity crisis. Losing weight is not rocket science and it’ s not magic. It’ s just the
simple law of eating only constructive foods and omitting destructive ones. With the Engine 2 Diet, you’ll need only four weeks to lay a foundation that
can last a lifetime.ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE/DEMENTIA
Alzheimer ’s disease and dementia currently af fect twenty million people
worldwide, and are predicted to increase fivefold by 2050. They af fect 6 to
8 percent of people older than sixty-five, and close to 50 percent of people
older than eighty . The two diseases present themselves in similar ways, but the
mechanisms that create them dif fer. Dementia (cognitive impairment) is the result of many tiny strokes
called TIAs, which we talked about earlier . They’re also called silent
strokes because victims rarely realize anything has happened to them. After
a TIA, you typically suf fer a mild level of mental impairment lasting an
hour or two, and then return to normal. TIAs often occur while you are
sleeping, eating, or going about normal activities. The human brain rebounds quickly because it has such an amazing
reserve capacity . It isn’ t until we’ve had multiple TIA attacks that our brain
starts losing the battle, and a swift downward slide to mental oblivion
follows. Alzheimer ’s disease, on the other hand, seems to result from plaque
formation. However , instead of sticking to the artery walls leading to your
heart, brain, pelvis, or legs, these plaques develop in the pockets between
your brain cells. Such plaques are composed of a rogue protein called beta-amyloid. Numerous studies have shown a direct correlation between the amount of
cholesterol and fat in the diet and the amount of beta-amyloid protein
buildup in the body . I recently traveled to Austin’ s Station 9 to fill in for another firefighter
who was out sick. Over the course of my twenty-four -hour shift, I had a
heartfelt conversation with a firefighter friend and fellow triathlete named
Patrick. Patrick’ s father had suf fered a heart attack and respiratory arrest at
age sixty-two and had started losing his mind to dementia at age seventy;
two years later , Patrick and his mother moved him into a nursing home. The
man’ s perceptions of reality changed like a kaleidoscope; one minute he’d
think he was in the Vietnam War, the next he’d be in his hometown of
Coppers Cove, Texas. Patrick told me that the saddest moment in his life was when he looked
into his father ’s eyes and realized his dad had no idea who Patrick was.Patrick then told me not only that his father had been a smoker all his life,
but that he had eaten anything and everything that came his way . Patrick feared that he might be prone to the same fate as his father . I told
him that that was not the case; plenty of research exists showing that you
can lower your risk of Alzheimer ’s. In fact, a recent report in the Annual
Review of Public Health stressed that lifestyle and diet play a major role in
the development of this disease, and that it’ s never too late to take action—
especially if you have a family history that puts you at increased risk in the
first place. Other studies also point in this direction. For example, researchers at the
Ninth International Conference on Alzheimer ’s Disease and Related
Disorders reported in 2004 that obesity , high cholesterol, and high blood
pressure significantly heighten the risk of Alzheimer ’s. The researchers
followed a group of 1,500 older subjects for twenty-one years and found a
combination of all three factors increased that risk sixfold. The same study , released in the 2005 issue of The Lancet Neurology ,
reported that older people who exercised at least twice a week had a
roughly 60 percent lower risk of suf fering from Alzheimer ’s and dementia
than their couch potato peers. The theory is that exercise helps ward of f
Alzheimer ’s by boosting blood flow to the brain and protecting its blood
vessels. Meanwhile, a four -year study of 815 Chicago seniors (reported in the
February 2003 issue of the Archives of Neurology ) found that a diet high in
saturated fat doubles the risk of developing Alzheimer ’s. Myriad other studies have linked Alzheimer ’s with high levels of a
substance called homocysteine. Homocysteine is an amino acid, one of the
building blocks of proteins. It is created by the liver when we consume
another essential amino acid called methionine. The quantity of methionine
found in animal protein is two to three times greater than in plant protein, so
it follows that eating meat and dairy can easily raise your homocysteine
levels to a dangerous degree. Another study from the July 2000 World Alzheimer ’s Congress had
more promising news. Researchers examined 5,395 individuals aged fifty-
five and older who were free from dementia in 1993, and again in 1999.
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Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Reality:  Some carbs do, but good carbs don’ t. Most trendy diets claim that all carbohydrates are bad guys, yet of the
three macronutrients that provide calories in our diet (carbs, protein, and
fat), carbohydrates are the body’ s primary fuel source. They’re responsible
for managing your heart rate, digestion, breathing, exercising, walking, and
thinking. Roughly 70 percent of your daily calories should come from good
(complex) carbohydrates. The ones to avoid are called simple carbs. Both types of carbs are sugars. Both are digested and converted into
glucose, which is used by the body for ener gy: in the blood as glucose, or
stored in either the muscles or the liver as glycogen. When consumed in
excess, carbohydrates can be converted to fat. Simple carbohydrates include table sugar, molasses, honey, alcohol,
white bread, white pasta, white rice, fried chips, sugary cereals, fruit juices,
candy, and milk. Most simple carbs are nutritionally empty because they
have been tinkered with by humans, stripped of their fiber, minerals, and
vitamins. They are digested quickly by the body and cause a sharp spike in
your blood sugar levels. In response to this spike, your pancreas pumps out insulin to transport
and deliver the ener gy-bearing glucose to cells throughout your body. This
process causes your blood sugar and insulin levels to swing like a
pendulum, leaving you feeling fatigued, hungry, and craving still more
simple carbohydrates. And because simple carbohydrates are digested so quickly, any excess
sugar is converted to fat. For these reasons, most simple carbohydrates are a
poor food choice. In contrast, complex carbohydrates are nutritious, and include
vegetables, whole grain breads and pastas, beans, peas, brown rice, sweet
potatoes, oats, fruits, and whole grain cereals. They are loaded with fiber,
vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients. Unlike simple carbohydrates,
complex carbohydrates cause a balanced and controlled release of sugar
into your system. This slow release gives the body more time to use the
carbohydrates as fuel; as a result, fewer turn to fat and insulin remains
stable. So if you consume, whole, good, natural carbs, you will enjoy more
consistent ener gy throughout the day without gaining extra pounds. As you can see, the two types of carbs dif fer immensely from a
nutritional standpoint. Simple carbohydrates are calorie laden, providing
little nutrition and causing weight gain. Complex carbohydrates are lower in
calories and, because they are loaded with fiber, provide bulk that fills you
up sooner, alleviates hunger pangs, and keeps you feeling satisfied longer. So go eat your carbs—as long as they’re complex. Myth 4
You can’ t get enough calcium eating a plant-based diet. Reality:  A diverse, plant-based diet is one of the best available sources
of calcium—and lets you avoid the deleterious ef fects associated with dairy
products. Great sources of calcium include green leafy vegetables, nuts, oranges,
kidney beans, lima beans, whole grains, Swiss chard, lentils, raisins,
broccoli, kale, celery, tofu, and romaine lettuce. One reason why Americans have such a high incidence of osteoporosis
(or weakening of the bones) isn’ t a lack of dietary calcium but an excess of
animal protein, which leaches calcium from the bones. In fact, did you know that the countries with the highest rate of dairy
consumption, including the United States, New Zealand, Britain, and
Sweden, also have the highest rates of osteoporosis. Although their citizens
consume massive amounts of dietary calcium, the excessive protein in that
milk, cheese, steak, fish, and eggs always trumps this important mineral,
leaving them with a net deficit. Meanwhile, people in rural China, who consume one-third the amount of
dairy we do, have almost zero cases of osteoporosis. Dr. John McDougall,
author of The McDougall Program for a Healthy Heart, has scoured the
medical literature on the topic and has yet to find one case of dietary
calcium deficiency in humans—so long as they consumed an adequate
number of calories. So no milk mustache for you. Myth 5
You can’ t get enough fat eating a plant-based diet. Reality:  Trace amounts of fat are present in all fruits, vegetables, and
other plant foods. Strawberries are 5 percent fat; bell peppers, 6 percent; broccoli, 8
percent; spinach, 1 1 percent; and soybeans, 41 percent. Several high-fat
plant foods contain in excess of 80 percent fat, including certain nuts and
seeds, as well as avocados, olives, and coconuts. By eating a delicious, plant-happy diet, you will consume roughly 9 to
15 percent of your total calories from fat, which is ideal. Getting your fat from plant-based foods means you will be consuming
healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats as opposed to dangerous
saturated fats. You will be able to eat more food than you ever dreamed of
without gaining weight, and feel wonderful. Myth 6
You can’ t be a competitive athlete and eat plants. Reality:  Tell that to Tony Gonzalez, the 247-pound tight end for the
Kansas City Chiefs football team. For health reasons, Tony changed his diet
after signing a five-year contract extension, making him the league’ s
highest paid tight end, and went on to break the NFL  record for receptions
by a tight end in 2008. His teammates have nicknamed him China Study
after T. Colin Campbell’ s book of the same name, which Gonzalez studied
before changing his diet—and which you will soon be reading about. James Gar ee, 25
Firefighter
Before becoming a firefighter, I was co-captain of the University of
Colorado football team, where I weighed 300 pounds. To keep up my
weight, I used to eat 8,000 calories a day—I’d go to Arby’ s and ask
for five Arby meals, an order of curly fries, and a lar ge Coke. But
ever since Rip flipped me, I’ve lost over sixty pounds. But it can be
difficult. Food is personal. If you don’ t understand what someone is
eating, you go into a kind of defense meltdown. For example, if you
tell people that the way they eat at home isn’ t good for them, they’ll
say, “Are you telling me that my granny’ s trying to poison me. ”Or tell that to Ruth Heidrich, who in 1982 was diagnosed with metastatic
breast cancer and cured herself by eating a low-fat, plant-strong diet. She
has since won more than one thousand triathlons. Or tell Salim Stoudamire,
the plant-eating point guard for the NBA  Atlanta Hawks, who says that by
the fourth quarter, when most players are starting to fade, he’ s picking it up
a notch. Or tell Martina Navratilova, the world’ s winningest tennis player,
who serves up plant-based foods exclusively. Or tell plant-devourer Dave
Scott, my hero and six-time winner of the famed Hawaii Ironman triathlon. Or better yet, try going plant-based yourself and see how much your own
athletic performance improves. Myth 7
By eating only plant-based foods, you’ll miss key nutrients. Reality:  You’ll be stockpiling away the nutrients like never before,
improving your health, and reversing disease. If you were to hold a triathlon
based on the quantity of nutrients in each food, plants would cross the finish
line and get a massage before meat, dairy, and eggs even had a chance to
get of f the bicycle. Calorie for calorie, the most nutrient-dense foods are plants, not animals. After all, plants are the mother source of all calories and all nutrients for all
creatures, whereas animal-based foods are essentially plant foods recycled
into an unhealthy package. The only nutrient that plant-based foods lack is vitamin B12. But you
can get a daily supply of B12 by downing two tablespoons of nutritional
yeast, a glass of fortified soy milk, a bowl of fortified cereal, or, if you
wish, a daily 500-microgram pill that should be chewed or dissolved in the
mouth to increase absorption. Myth 8
If eating only plant-based food, your ener gy will be low. Reality:  Your ener gy levels will be more constant and consistent than at
any other point in your life. Think of high-fiber and nutrient-heavy plant foods as the big logs in the
fireplace that burn for hours. Think of low-fiber and nutrient-light foods
such as simple carbohydrates as wads of newspaper that go up in a flash. When you’re eating plant-strong, you won’ t have the ener gy peaks andvalleys of the past, and if you so choose, you won’ t even need cof fee to get
your butt and mind in gear in the mornings. You’ll awake feeling refreshed,
even-keeled, and excited about char ging forward into your day. Myth 9
A plant-based diet is bad for childr en and pr egnant mothers. Reality:  By the age of two (once of f mother ’s milk), every child is ready
for a plant-strong diet. Even renowned expert Dr. Benjamin Spock
recommends the practice in the latest edition of his classic bestselling book,
Baby and Child Care. If you start them young, your kids will develop a
palate that appreciates the subtleties of plant foods and will gain the healthy
rewards that accompany this diet as they grow. Pregnant women, meanwhile, can get all the vitamins, nutrients, and
minerals that both they and their babies need to be healthy and well. My
wife, Jill, ate an all-plant-based diet throughout her pregnancy with no
morning sickness and no complications. She later gave birth to our very
healthy eight-pound, seven-ounce baby, Kole, the little love of our lives. Myth 10
Everyone needs to take fish oil supplements to ensur e they’r e getting
essential omega-3 fatty acids. Reality:  There are numerous ways to get essential omega-3 fatty acids
without subjecting yourself to the potential risks of fish oils—which,
according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, are
highly unstable molecules that can break down and release dangerous,
disease-causing free radicals. People are under the false assumption that taking a fish oil supplement
will negate the ef fects of all the cheese, meat, and processed foods they
throw down their throats. But fish oil is no panacea. It can actually raise
total and LDL  cholesterol levels, increases your chance of a hemorrhagic
stroke, and suppresses the immune system. Instead of taking fish oil, rely on ground flaxseed meal, walnuts,
soybeans, and green leafy vegetables, all of which contain plenty of
essential omega-3 fatty acids. If you are unwilling to transition to a totally plant-strong diet, then go to
a health food store and buy some plant-based omega-3 supplements thatcome straight from the mother source: plankton from the oceans, seas, and
lakes—which, by the way, is where fish get their omega-3s. Myth 1 1
Real men don’ t eat plants. Reality:  The fat and cholesterol in animal products clogs up the arteries
traveling not only to the heart and head but also to the extremities,
including the penis, where they can cause P AD (peripheral arterial disease)
and impotence, which research shows may be an early sign of heart disease. So, men: There is a better way, and it doesn’ t involve taking Viagra,
Cialis, or Levitra. It involves eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and
beans. In my father ’s research study, several of the men who had been impotent
for years regained their performance after changing to a plant-based diet,
making their wives quite happy. Many of the Engine 2 Study participants
also reported improved potency, including one who said that his erections
“are now like blue steel. ”
Myth 12
Eating plant-based foods is joyless. Reality:  Plant-based foods are delicious and satisfying. The longer you’re on the E2 Diet, the more your palate will change. Think about milk, for instance. Since it’ s well known that whole milk is not
good for you, you’ve probably cut back to 2 percent or skim. At first, I bet
that skim milk tasted like water. Then you became accustomed to it so when
you tried whole milk again, it tasted like liquid paint. Your palate had
changed. It’s the same with adding oil to your foods. Anthony Salerno, one of the
E2 Pilot Study participants, is a fourth-generation Italian-American who
thought he couldn’ t live without his olive oil. But after six weeks on the E2
Diet, he found he enjoyed meals more without it—the oil, he realized,
disguised their true flavors. When he returned to using olive oil, he found it
tasted as though he’d poured synthetic goo on his food. Brandon and Amy Marsh, 32, 29
TriathletesEven though we’re triathletes, we never paid much attention to our
diets. But when Rip was looking for volunteers for the Engine 2 Pilot
Study, we signed up—and it worked. After all, we pay attention to
everything else we do for our bodies, why shouldn’ t we also be
paying attention to everything we eat. The fact is, sometimes your
performance can start with your fork. Diet counts as much as training. Foods taste better without being dunked in butter, drenched in
margarine, or saturated with sour cream. Plant-based foods are absolutely
glorious in their sublimeness. Without all the extra fat and processed flavors
drowning them out, you’ll finally get to taste nuances you might never have
noticed: the tang of a ripe red bell pepper, the zest of a cara cara orange, or
the zing of a plate of lacinato kale with roasted garlic—foods bursting with
flavors all their own. OceanofPDF. com5
THE MEDICAL  PROOF BEHIND THE ENGINE 2 DIET
As a firefighter, I see the adverse ef fects of poor diet every day on the
job—because all firefighters in Austin are also EMT s (emer gency medical
technicians). Firefighters are EMT s because more than 70 percent of our calls aren’ t
fires but medical emer gencies. Approximately another 15 to 20 percent are
car accidents, spills, and alarm activations. These statistics mean that if the
city of Austin has 100,000 calls a year, around 70,000 of them are medical
related. To become an EMT, we have to attend a two-month mini–medical
school during our fire academy training. We learn how to handle myriad
accidents as well as to treat various acute illnesses such as cardiac and
respiratory arrest, heart attacks, strokes, seizures, diabetic emer gencies,
respiratory problems, and traumatic injuries including falls, fractures,
lacerations, stabbings, burns, and sprains. We’re also taught how to perform
a complete patient assessment and to obtain a medical history. On a regular basis we conduct procedures such as cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR) and artificial ventilation; administering oxygen and
performing basic airway management (to make sure victims are breathing
properly); bandaging and splinting; and dispensing medicines, such as
aspirin and nitroglycerin (in two forms, one as a pill placed under the
tongue, the other as a chest paste). We administer glucose for diabetic
emer gencies, epinephrine for aller gic reactions, and albuterol in case of a
severe asthma attack. The reason we go on so many medical calls is that, nine times out of ten,
we can arrive on the scene several minutes before Emer gency MedicalServices (EMS) shows up: Austin has forty-four fire stations compared with
twenty-eight EMS stations, and sometimes the dif ference between saving
and losing a life can be a matter of mere seconds. Of course, when I first joined the department, I imagined we’d go racing
out to a big fire at least once a shift. I saw myself as a character in the
movie The Towering Inferno—climbing up fifty flights of stairs and then
coming down carrying little old ladies on my back, or scurrying
commando-style on my hands and knees under the smoke, finding a child
under a bed, handing him out the window to my partner at the top of a
twenty-four -foot extension ladder, then flying out a window onto a
trampoline. The reality is that we can go a month without seeing a single fire, then
see two fires in one shift. They cycle in and out with no rhyme or reason. Yet while fighting fires is a very inconsistent part of our job, making
medical calls has become very predictable. Why. Because Americans are in dire need of emer gency medical
assistance. So instead of fighting fires, we fight the battle for America’ s
health. And there appears to be no end in sight to this battle. Take a long hard look around you. Do you see what I see. Americans are
downing empty calories with reckless abandon, gor ging on vats of animal-
based products teeming with unhealthy fat, cholesterol, and acid-producing
protein; gobbling up refined and processed foods; drizzling, swathing, and
dumping concentrated vegetable oils into, over, and through everything and
anything without thinking twice. We’ve become addicted to the taste, texture, and comfort these foods
give us. But unfortunately, what they also give us is a breeding ground for
the ailments and diseases that are tearing at the seams of our nation’ s health. High blood pressure is the norm. Constipation and irritable bowel syndrome
are commonplace. Migraine headaches—and headaches in general—bring
tears to our eyes. Osteoporosis is breaking us down. PMS, aller gies,
infections, and eczema have increased in frequency and intensity. Kidney
stones and gallstones are more than a pain in the side. All these conditions are influenced by a poor diet, and they add up to a
big mess. However, the crowning blow to American health is the lineup of
killer diseases taking us down like rows of dominoes: heart disease, cancer,
stroke, diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer ’s disease. Yet there is hope—in the form of a great deal of scientific evidence
showing that a plant-healthy diet can prevent, and even reverse, most of
these diseases. You now know how to respond to those who can’ t tell a myth from
reality. Read on if you really want to show people that you know the hard
science behind why you’re eating so healthily and happily. HEAR T DISEASE
Four years ago, at 10:06 p. m. , a call came in from the White Swan
Lounge and Bar on Austin’ s east side. LD Davis, the owner and proprietor,
had suf fered a heart attack. When we arrived, LD wasn’ t breathing and had no pulse. One of the
patrons had already started doing chest compressions; we thanked her, dove
in, and started doing them ourselves. Next, we took out a BVM (or bag valve mask, which allows firefighters
to breathe for patients without putting our mouths over theirs), and placed it
over LD’ s mouth and nose. The task can be tricky, because the patient’ s
tongue frequently falls back into his or her throat, blocking the airway. To
prevent that, we often have to use an oropharyngeal airway, a curved, straw-
like device that keeps the tongue in place. We worked on LD as a team. One of us performed chest compressions
and another held down the mouthpiece to ensure that no air could escape,
and I squeezed the bag part of the BVM with both hands at a slow and
steady rate of roughly ten squeezes per minute. A fourth firefighter made
sure oxygen was hooked up to the BVM, took out the AED (a machine
called an automatic external defibrillator), checked for vital signs (heart rate
and breathing), and alternated doing chest compressions with us. While all this was going on, the bar ’s patrons formed a semicircle
around us, chanting, “Come on, LD, you can make it. ” I got goose bumps
all over my body, and was chanting as well: “Come on, LD. ”
We placed the pads from the AED on LD’ s chest, powered it up, and
waited a few seconds while it analyzed his heart, looking for a shockable
rhythm. The machine works when the heart is in a state of what’ s called
ventricular fibrillation. At that point, we can shock the patient in the hope of
rebooting the heart’ s proper rhythm. We did find a shockable rhythm, so we shocked LD—with no results. So
we continued CPR. By this time, EMS had arrived and set up an IV  (intravenous line). They
also gave LD some drugs to assist in restarting his heart. Again we tried
shocking him, again with no luck. However, on the third attempt we were
successful. The crowd cheered and celebrated. Two of us then rode in the
back of the ambulance and continued breathing for LD until we arrived at
the hospital and handed him of f to the emer gency room doctors. I later heard from the EMS crew that LD was up and about again; he
managed to live for another year and a half before dying—from another
heart attack. Whenever we firefighters are able to bring people back to life from what
looks like certain death, the department presents us with a Phoenix Award,
named for the mythological bird that rose from the ashes after dying in
flames. Over the course of my career I’ve received three Phoenixes, all for
helping patients who had suf fered heart attacks. I’m proud of them, but
wish my skills hadn’ t been needed. LD ’S ST ORY IS FAR FROM UNIQUE. Heart disease kills more Americans than
the next four fatal diseases combined. Close to one million of us die of
cardiac complications annually, and one in every two Americans will die
from heart disease or stroke. This illness has gained traction over the last century—in 1900,
cardiovascular disease wasn’ t even in the top ten causes of death. By 2007,
though, more than three thousand people were dying from heart disease
every day, which translates into one death every twenty-six seconds.
70 percent
What percentage of daily calories should come from good (complex) carbohydrates?
Table sugar, molasses, honey, white bread, white pasta, white rice, fried chips, sugary cereals, and fruit juices
What are some examples of simple carbohydrates that should be avoided?
Carbohydrates
What is the main source of fuel for the body?
The consumption of animal-based foods, including saturated fat, dietary cholesterol, and acidic animal protein
According to the text, what is the main cause of plaque buildup in the arteries?
By eating plant-based foods, which contain healthy unsaturated fats, or by taking plant-based omega-3 supplements, such as flaxseed meal, walnuts, soybeans, and green leafy vegetables.
What is the primary way to get essential omega-3 fatty acids?