Back to Green – The Journey towards Optimal Health
Most of us are born in the Green Zone of Optimal Health. If we were to be fortunate enough to be born in an area and culture that follows the path of eating and living in a way which was consistent with optimal health we would most likely be free of many of the very conditions and illnesses that threaten most Americans. Unfortunately an increasing number of countries that are adopting the Standard American Diet (SAD) and an increasing number of countries are experiencing the negative effects of this phenomenon. The good news is that the body constantly works to protect and heal itself from injuries and illness, including these self inflicted diet related injuries, it is truly a miracle of life. For the first twenty years of life we typically experience a life free of symptoms, high energy, and generally good health despite the fact that unperceived injuries from our diets are already occurring. It is during this period that the body’s natural ability to deal with these injuries have not been overwhelmed by the lifestyle. You might recognize this in your own life and that of your children where this period many adolescents believe that they are exempted from the effects of a bad diet. They think that they do not have to do anything to protect their health and are exempt from the ramifications of living an unhealthy life. In fact they are already being impacted by the toxic diet that our culture has thrust upon them and unknowingly have been on their journey to bad health almost since birth. In autopsy today of children who die in by accidents there is clear evidence of arteriosclerosis in young children. Clearly we as a culture are on the wrong path.
Our model above represents five levels of health which are defined as Optimal (Green), Acceptable (Yellow), Pre-Disease (Red), Chronic Disease (Brown) and Disease with End Stage with Chronic Disease & Disability (Black) the descent through which is the result of following the lifestyle and Standard American Diet (SAD) without intervention. Given the serious impact of these conditions … how is it possible that people wouldn’t be aware of our increasingly unhealthy condition? The answer is that our decline is so gradual that the granularity of the change from the optimal health (Green Zone) and lower levels of health is so subtle that we cannot tell that a change is occurring. Unlike the clear bar chart above, there is no clear dividing line which tells us when we are crossing over into a more dangerous zone and unhealthy state. It is much like the illustrative story of the frog who is placed in a pot of water which slowly brought to a boil so that the frog never realizes it is in danger and is cooked rather than escaping danger. Also the level of misinformation and wrong assumptions by our society reinforce a belief that we are eating a “balanced” and “healthy” diet. Compounding this our agribusiness and dairy industries promote their products as not only healthy but also necessary to assure that we live a long and healthy life…nothing could be further from the truth. But our doctors, until very recently have been almost as uninformed as anyone else on the importance of diet on the health of not only their patients but also for their own families. Our culture is seemingly so indoctrinated into the SAD that the inability to “break set” in their beliefs and unlearn the misinformation promulgated by industry interests threatens not only their health but also is leading the healthcare spending into levels which will prove to be unsustainable for the country. For the sake of everyone and for all of us…something has to be done.
There is a lot of confusion out there…denial…and fear. It boils down to following the science and investigating each claim and so-called fact until you find true north on your own journey to better health. (Here’s an example of the misinformation out there: Smoke and Mirrors behind Wheat Belly and Grain Brain). I am not saying that this is easy, nothing worthwhile is without effort and focus. Breaking free from the standard beliefs.
The good news is that the body can call on its natural ability to heal itself if we only will give it a chance. While it cannot heal the damage of catastrophic events in which tissue is dead, notwithstanding that, it is quite possible that, given the right diet and lifestyle changes, much recovery can be achieved reversing conditions which up to recently were considered permanent. Until recently a type 2 diabetic patient might have been told by their physician that once they were on insulin that they would be on it for the rest of their lives. Just a few years ago I was told by my primary care physician that once you began taking insulin you were destined to be using that medication for the rest of your life. We know now that this is totally not true. Thanks to the work of many health researchers and pioneers the revelations have given new hope for millions on how they can escape some of the biggest killers and reduce their risks for others. However, none of this will make any difference unless we understand what the findings are, what we must do and how to do it. That is the essence of this website, to be a conduit of knowledge to empower you to take control of your destiny and to find your way on your journey BACK TO GREEN.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/05/15/take-off-that-fitbit-exercise-alone-wont-make-you-lose-weight/
World Renowned Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease: http://t.co/NZnYac60A8
January 21, 2015 – We physicians with all our training, knowledge and authority often acquire a rather large ego that tends to make it difficult to admit we are wrong. So, here it is. I freely admit to being wrong.. As a heart surgeon with 25 years experience, having performed over 5,000 open-heart surgeries,today is my day to right the wrong with medical and scientific fact.
I trained for many years with other prominent physicians labelled “opinion makers.” Bombarded with scientific literature, continually attending education seminars, we opinion makers insisted heart disease resulted from the simple fact of elevated blood cholesterol.
The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease. Deviations from these recommendations were considered heresy and could quite possibly result in malpractice.
It Is Not Working!
These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated.
The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences.
Despite the fact that 25% of the population takes expensive statin medications and despite the fact we have reduced the fat content of our diets, more Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before.
Statistics from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and younger people in greater numbers every year.
Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.
Inflammation is not complicated — it is quite simply your body’s natural defence to a foreign invader such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. The cycle of inflammation is perfect in how it protects your body from these bacterial and viral invaders. However, if we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the human body was never designed to process,a condition occurs called chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is just as harmful as acute inflammation is beneficial.
What thoughtful person would willfully expose himself repeatedly to foods or other substances that are known to cause injury to the body? Well,smokers perhaps, but at least they made that choice willfully.
The rest of us have simply followed the recommended mainstream dietthat is low in fat and high in polyunsaturated fats and carbohydrates, not knowing we were causing repeated injury to our blood vessels. Thisrepeated injury creates chronic inflammation leading to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity.
Let me repeat that: The injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine.
What are the biggest culprits of chronic inflammation? Quite simply, they are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flourand all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods.
Take a moment to visualize rubbing a stiff brush repeatedly over soft skin until it becomes quite red and nearly bleeding. you kept this up several times a day, every day for five years. If you could tolerate this painful brushing, you would have a bleeding, swollen infected area that became worse with each repeated injury. This is a good way to visualize the inflammatory process that could be going on in your body right now.
Regardless of where the inflammatory process occurs, externally or internally, it is the same. I have peered inside thousands upon thousands of arteries. A diseased artery looks as if someone took a brush and scrubbed repeatedly against its wall. Several times a day, every day, the foods we eat create small injuries compounding into more injuries, causing the body to respond continuously and appropriately with inflammation.
While we savor the tantalizing taste of a sweet roll, our bodies respond alarmingly as if a foreign invader arrived declaring war. Foods loaded with sugars and simple carbohydrates, or processed withomega-6 oils for long shelf life have been the mainstay of the American diet for six decades. These foods have been slowly poisoning everyone.
How does eating a simple sweet roll create a cascade of inflammation to make you sick?
Imagine spilling syrup on your keyboard and you have a visual of what occurs inside the cell. When we consume simple carbohydrates such as sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly. In response, your pancreas secretes insulin whose primary purpose is to drive sugar into each cell where it is stored for energy. If the cell is full and does not need glucose, it is rejected to avoid extra sugar gumming up the works.
When your full cells reject the extra glucose, blood sugar rises producing more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat.
What does all this have to do with inflammation? Blood sugar is controlled in a very narrow range. Extra sugar molecules attach to a variety of proteins that in turn injure the blood vessel wall. This repeated injury to the blood vessel wall sets off inflammation. When you spike your blood sugar level several times a day, every day, it is exactly like taking sandpaper to the inside of your delicate blood vessels.
While you may not be able to see it, rest assured it is there. I saw it in over 5,000 surgical patients spanning 25 years who all shared one common denominator — inflammation in their arteries.
Let’s get back to the sweet roll. That innocent looking goody not only contains sugars, it is baked in one of many omega-6 oils such as soybean. Chips and fries are soaked in soybean oil; processed foods are manufactured with omega-6 oils for longer shelf life. While omega-6’s are essential -they are part of every cell membrane controlling what goes in and out of the cell — they must be in the correct balance with omega-3’s.
If the balance shifts by consuming excessive omega-6, the cell membrane produces chemicals called cytokines that directly cause inflammation.
Today’s mainstream American diet has produced an extreme imbalance of these two fats. The ratio of imbalance ranges from 15:1 to as high as 30:1 in favor of omega-6. That’s a tremendous amount of cytokines causing inflammation. In today’s food environment, a 3:1 ratio would be optimal and healthy.
To make matters worse, the excess weight you are carrying from eating these foods creates overloaded fat cells that pour out large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to the injury caused by having high blood sugar. The process that began with a sweet roll turns into a vicious cycle over time that creates heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetesand finally, Alzheimer’s disease, as the inflammatory process continues unabated.
There is no escaping the fact that the more we consume prepared and processed foods, the more we trip the inflammation switch little by little each day. The human body cannot process, nor was it designed to consume, foods packed with sugars and soaked in omega-6 oils.
There is but one answer to quieting inflammation, and that is returning to foods closer to their natural state. To build muscle, eat more protein. Choose carbohydrates that are very complex such as colorful fruits and vegetables. Cut down on or eliminate inflammation- causing omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil and the processed foods that are made from them.
One tablespoon of corn oil contains 7,280 mg of omega-6; soybean contains 6,940 mg. Instead, use olive oil or butter from grass-fed beef.
Animal fats contain less than 20% omega-6 and are much less likely to cause inflammation than the supposedly healthy oils labelled polyunsaturated. Forget the “science” that has been drummed into your head for decades. The science that saturated fat alone causes heart disease is non-existent. The science that saturated fat raises blood cholesterol is also very weak. Since we now know that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, the concern about saturated fat is even more absurd today.
The cholesterol theory led to the no-fat, low-fat recommendations that in turn created the very foods now causing an epidemic of inflammation. Mainstream medicine made a terrible mistake when it advised people to avoid saturated fat in favor of foods high in omega-6 fats. We now have an epidemic of arterial inflammation leading to heart disease and other silent killers.
What you can do is choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients from fresh unprocessed food, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical American diet.
Dr. Dwight Lundell is the past Chief of Staff and Chief of Surgery at Banner Heart Hospital , Mesa , AZ. His private practice, Cardiac Care Center was in Mesa, AZ. Recently Dr. Lundell left surgery to focus on the nutritional treatment of heart disease. He is the founder of Healthy Humans Foundation that promotes human health with a focus on helping large corporations promote wellness. He is also the author of The Cure for Heart Disease and The Great Cholesterol Lie.
Read more: http://www.disclose.tv/news/World_Renowned_Heart_Surgeon_Speaks_Out_On_What_Really_Causes_Heart_Disease/113103#ixzz3c2JyXdXr
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