“Make the
most of yourself, for that is all there is for you.”
Ralph Waldo
Emerson
How do we
live up to the promise of our highest potential?
It is common
for people to believe that as we age, we become sick, have less energy and less
mental clarity. This is not true. When we provide our bodies with what they
need to stay resilient and strong, we are more likely to stay healthy.
One of
the essential pillars of a healthy mind and body is excellent nutrition. Sleep and exercise are also basic components of the foundation of health, but today
my post focuses on nutrition. Dr. Joel Fuhrman is a Board Certified Family Medicine
physician and nutritional researcher, who has helped to improve his patients’
medical conditions by modifying their diets. He has written several books about
nutrition. This is one of them.
Eat for Life: the breakthrough nutrient-rich
program for longevity, disease reversal, and sustained weight loss guides and
encourages people to become the best version of themselves by educating them to
make choices that supply the body with the adequate amount and balance of
macronutrients and micronutrients. When the proper choices become a habit, you
will find yourself craving healthful foods.
Dr. Fuhrman details
the molecular mechanisms that explain how foods have an effect on the cells and
tissues of the body.
I did not know the term “Nutritarian” until I
read Dr. Fuhrman’s book, even though I follow a nutritarian lifestyle myself.
Dr. Fuhrman coined the term. The experiences and photographs of people who
addressed their medical issues by following Dr. Fuhrman’s advice are also shared
in this book, where you will find over a hundred recipes and various meal plans that
you can adjust based on your needs, possibilities and motivations.
I was in awe to learn about the case of Dr.Chris Miller. She is an emergency medicine physician who suffered from an
autoimmune condition called Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. The disease wrecked
her body and she had to stop working. She was tired, had skin rashes and pain
in her joints; her kidneys were affected. She was prescribed a total of six
immunosuppressive medications, but every time a new medication was added, her
condition got worse.
Despite her aggressive treatment, her disease
continued to progress. The inflammation was present in multiple tissues. She
explains her experience clearly: “I was on six medications. It seemed the more
medications my doctors gave me, the more complications I had, and the more I
needed to take. It was a terrifying cycle, and I felt depressed and hopeless.”
When her doctor offered experimental
medications, she decided to look into other options herself, and came across
Dr. Fuhrman’s approach. As she learned about the pro-inflammatory nature of
various foods she consumed, she understood the need to create a strict plan of
nutrient dense food that would help her body heal.
Dr. Miller followed special protocols that
involved the use of vegetable juices as part of the nutritarian diet to address
her specific condition. Over time, she was able to taper off her medications.
Her kidney function normalized. She began to feel well and was able to return
to work.
She even ran a marathon after not doing so for
eight years.
I found the
following words in Dr. Chris Miller’s website: “I’m not saying it’s going to be
easy. I’m saying it’s going to be worth it.”
When he
designed the nutritarian lifestyle, Dr. Fuhrman took into consideration the Blue Zones' dietary habits of the world, but he went beyond this approach by exploring the
research and honing these diets.
The nutritarian style does not care about calories because it focuses on nutrition. He explains that “the higher the nutritional quality of your diet, the less you will desire to overconsume calories.”
The following situation illustrates the
ongoing challenges demanding attention to the science of nutrition:
“In 2009, a group of ophthalmologists
led by Joshua Dunaif and eight other physicians specializing in macular degeneration
at the Scheie Eye Institute of the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine (now the Perelman School of Medicine, or Penn Med), noted that several
of my patients had reversed their macular degeneration using the Nutritarian
diet. They contacted me because they were interested in researching these
remarkable results further. They devised a research project and submitted it to
the National Institutes of Health for funding. Unfortunately, the grant was
turned down partly because of limits to funding nutritional research and
because these physician researchers who had done much research in ophthalmology,
had done none related to nutrition.”
The
foundation of the nutritarian plan can be remembered through the use of the
following letters: G-BOMBS. The letters include the groups of foods you must
include every day to optimize your health, support your immune system and help
to prevent cancer.
G stands for
greens.
B stands for
beans ( legumes are in these category).
O stands for
onions (include garlic, and others that belong to the Allium family).
M stands for
mushrooms (always cook them).
B stands for
berries (if you don’t have berries available, then remember to include other fruits
in your plan).
S stands for for
seeds (and remember the nuts).
Dr. Fuhrman also dares to say something that many doctors prefer to avoid telling you: even small amounts of alcohol increase the risk of cancer.
I am sharing
a conversation with Dr. Fuhrman to understand how to improve your diet and feel
better. If you don’t have time to read the book, you can take the time to enjoy
this presentation. It summarizes his recommendations and provides relevant
information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaudzJd89Js
I don’t have
a rigid approach to his nutritarian diet, but I can say that I feel great in my
body, as I incorporated many of his ideas on diet to optimize my wellbeing.
Dr. Fuhrman highlights the link between a
healthy soil and human health. Growing food in a way that helps to regenerate
the soil, protect the quality of the water and the air and support biodiversity
is essential to our future and health.
Some of Dr. Fuhrman’s patients or followers portrayed
in his book express a new appreciation for the food they eat and for the work
of the farmers who grow food in sustainable, organic ways. These reasonable methods help
to make the soil resilient to weather extremes and also contribute to carbon
sequestration, which is part of the solution to address climate change.
I collected a
list of articles that are relevant to this post:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220727163045.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/05/diverse-farming-climate-wildfarmed-groove-arma
https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj-2022-070688
I am horrified by the attack to Salman Rushdie. As a writer he endured persecution for a long time.
I hope he will recover
soon, and I admire his courage and strength. The
Satanic Verses is now in my reading list. This book has been banned in several
countries.
My Writing
Life stands up against hate and supports freedom of speech.
I invite you
to read this brilliant article by Hadley Freeman, which was published by The
Guardian today:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/14/salman-rushdie-threat-life-courage-fatwa
