GABA Brown Rice update

The healthiest rice you can eat is GABA brown rice, aka sprouted brown rice, or also GBR (GABA Brown Rice, or Germinated Brown Rice).

KOSHIHIKARI Sprouted Brown Rice

GABA Brown Rice was traditionally developed in Japan for its easier digestion, but modern research has shown it to have superior nutritional value. One of the specific parameters that improves with germination is the presence of an amino acid, gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, which increases tenfold during germination. It is regular brown rice which is soaked long enough to start the germination process.  Other nutrients that are high in GABA brown rice are ferulic acid, Lysine, magnesium, potassium, zinc, Vitamin E, and many B (especially niacin, and thiamin) vitamins. The sprouting process also provides increased dietary fiber. (Sources: https://www.kitchenstewardship.com/germinated-brown-rice-has-the-u-n-finally-heard-nourishing-traditions-wisdom/, and https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/cereal/brown-rice.html)

Until now, GBR has not been available in our neighborhood, and I recently bought some of this Koshihikari GBR to familiarize myself with store bought GABA brown rice. I previously reported on making GABA brown rice at home, with a sophisticated rice cooker. Obviously, that is a good method, for it is completely automated, but there are some advantages to store-bought GABA Brown Rice.

Packaged GABA brown rice has increased shelf life compared to regular brown rice. Regular brown rice has about a three month shelf life, and longer if you keep it in the freezer. I cannot find good information on exactly what the shelf life of sprouted rice might be, as compared to basic brown rice, other than  "longer," but no doubt that information will show up one of these days.

New Medical Math - Risk Assessment for Low Risk Patients

For one thing, the #WFPB diet is a low risk life style in respect of various cancers, and in particular the risk of colorectal cancer is much reduced because o f the high fiber content of the diet, not to mention copious antioxidants, so much so that the calculation of risks for your next colonoscopy changes.

Note what Dr. John McDougall has to say on the topic:

I do recommend conservative screening for colorectal cancer, because almost all of my patients have been following the Western diet for their entire life (until we met). I have recommended checking the stool for blood, beginning around age 60 years (testing every other year, at most, until age 75) and/or one sigmoid examination at around age 60 years. I have strongly recommended against colonoscopy for screening. Note that the recommendations I have been making for decades are almost the exact ones announced this year (2016) by The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care.

John McDougall, MD, July 2016 Newsletter

 There is really nothing to add to that, clearly, if you are following a #WFPB diet and are past age 60 or so, the standard recommendation of a colonoscopy every five years, is an $3,000 waste of money and an unnecessary incremental medical risk. Note that WebMD calls it a fairly safe exam, noting that On average just 2 serious complications occur for every 1,000 procedures. In short, you have a 1 in 500 chance of serious complications now, but if you are on a #WFPB diet, your risk of colon cancer is much reduced, so that is why McDougall recommends the low risk light screenings. An analysis for blood in the stool is about an $40 issue, and a sigmoidoscopy about an $200 procedure.

Dr. McDougall's video, Cancer Screening is a Scam, is a classic.

Another Vegan supper at Packsun

On 7/25 we had yet another vegan supper at Packsun, small and pleasant.

Owner Khokon is an inspiring kitchen artist. I love how quickly he assimilated the no-oil vegan cooking style. It is becoming an integral part of his repertoire. He nicely asked us how hot we wanted it on a scale from 1-10 and we chose 7.

This time we had a salad with cucumber, blackeyed peas, garlic, spices including some kardamom, salt, pepper and chili, and lemon juice. Simple, brilliant and refreshing.

Our main dish was some fresh okra, cooked with onions, garlic, chili.

Next to the okra there was a vegetable stew based on onions, garlic, chili, with potatoes, cauliflower, water squash, with cumin, turmeric, and kardamom.

All of that, combined with basmati rice managed to be simultaneously light tasting, but filling.

The conversation was lovely. One of the people who stopped in was a diabetic following the typical ADA diet, but who was getting interested in the idea of a #WFPB diet. Undoubtedly, a growing number of diabetics are able to get off meds, and at least substantially reduce insulin needs with a #WFPB diet. Food for thought. Here is some inspiration on the topic from Dr. John McDougall:

• The Latest Scams from the Diabetes Industry
• The January 17 newslettter on diabetes.

It is only to be hoped that the Bronx #not62 campaign will start to promote the whole foods plant-based lifestyle more, for it could make a huge difference in health outcomes in our borough.

Vegan at Little Caesar's? Forget it!

There is a website, called Eat This! No That! that rates restaurants for its vegan options. They claim to rate vegan options. It reports that Crazy Bread and Crazy Sauce at Little Caesar's would be a vegan meal, but I beg to differ. It would not even be technically vegan, for there is parmegian cheese on the bread.

There are of course two ways of looking at "vegan." One is in the negative, which is, in Dr. Esselstyn's words: Don't eat anything that had a father and a mother, or has a face, or, more prosaically, don't eat meat, poultry, fish, or dairy. However, that does not cover it. The real issue is what you do eat, more than what you don't eat. What drives the vegan revolution is the no-oil WFPB diet: Whole Foods Plant-Based nutrition, i.e. nutritionally complete and balanced nutrition. Generally speaking it means whole grains, legumes, fruit, mushrooms etc., and no heavily processed foods, as well as no added oil or sugar.

Little Caesar's Crazy Combo (Crazy Bread plus Crazyu Sauce) scores a zero on a #WFPB scale from 1 - 10. Don't even bother. I got my sample from the Little Caesar's at Parkchesterstation. The $4.43 would have been better spent at the fruit vendors who are around in Hugh Grant circle.

Cardiac Wellness Program at Montefiore

Patients come in and cry over the progress they are making with a Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet; nobody ever cries tears of joy over a Lipitor prescription.
                                                   Robert J. Ostfeld, MD. MSc.

I just spent my Saturday morning with Dr. Robert Ostfeld, Director of the Cardiac Wellness Program at Montefiore and Lauren Graf, nutritionist to the program. This was a half-day workshop intended for cardiology patients and their significant others, which they teach numerous times during the year. The purpose evidently is to help people adopt their new no-oil Whole Foods Plant-Based (WFPB) lifestyle, and helping the process by involving their household. The general tenet of the program is that, the whole foods plant- based diet of Dr. Esselstyn and T. Coin Campbell, Ph.D. is the way to go and except for in severe cases, a small amount of oil in the form of oil-rich fruit, e.g. nuts, avocado, etc., is healthy, but that it is mostly the added oils that cause harm, so you want to avoid added oils in all forms.


There were perhaps 30-40 people in attendance, and the workshop was both practical, and deeply informative, showing the scientific foundations of the dietary approach/ life style that is being taught in this program, as much as hands-on dietary recommendations. There was a nice lunch catered by Tastee Vegan. Check out their site. They have catered among others for Mike Tyson, who is vegan now too! The meal was an absolutely delicious sampling of vegan dishes, with lots of inspiration for stuff you could try at home.

Good for what ails you

Being that Dr. Ostfeld is a cardiologist, that is his primary focus, but the WFPB lifestyle is about more than that - it is about the whole new nutritional paradigm of eating Whole Foods, and stopping the fallacy that you can make it up with supplements: Whole foods are in, expensive urine is out. Even supplements of vitamin B12 and vitamin D are needed only sporadically and in small amonts, not necessarily every day.
Good for what ails you is the motto here, and besides the massive improvements in heart health that Dr. Ostfeld routinely sees with the WFPB diet, he produced a chart with a list of other health outcomes that are positively impacted by the adoption of a WFPB diet, which - with a little tongue in cheek - he calls the kale scan.

The Kale Scan

Just in case you have trouble reading the slide, here is the list:

• ALS
• Dementia
• Stroke
• Depression
• Skin Appearance (acne is a nutritional deficiency)
• Ear infections
• Periodontal Disease
• Acid Reflux
• Laryngeal Cancer
• Lung Disease
• Breast Cancer
• Heart Disease
• Obesity
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Inflammation
• Colon Cancer and Constipation
• Lower Back Pain
• Sexual Function (ED is the canary in the coal mine for CVD - Cardio Vascular Disease)
• Osteoporosis
• Athletic Performance
• Arthritis

 The bottom line is that all or most degenerative diseases that make up 75% of our healthcare spending are preventable and often reversible with a Whole Foods Plant-Based diet.

• This is obviously an area where half-measures are not much help, although Dr. Ostfeld is willing to work with people in steps.
• Added oils of any kind will collapse your veins for upto six hours after the intake, which in practice means you should avoid them at all cost, and all oils and fats are equally bad for heart health.
• At the supermarket, read the label, not the claims on the front of the box. 
• Avoid most sweeteners, including sugar, with the possible exception of Stevia, or some blackstrap molasses.
• Juice is not generally a good idea - getting the sugar without the pulp is a bad idea, while on the other hand eating whole fruits is not a risk factor with Type 2 Diabetes, but instead can be a help.

 Last, not least, there were many useful discussions about foods to buy and not to buy, and mention of a cookware line that is very suitable for the WFPB lifestyle, called 360 Cookware.

What's next: 

 On Friday October 27th, 2017, there will be an all-day conference, the Montefiore Preventative Cardiology Conference (you can register at the link), that is open to the public. Speakers will include:

• Robert J. Ostfeld, MD, MSc, Host
• Paul M. Ridker MD, MPH - Beyond LDL Cholesterol: Does Inflammation Matter?
• Neal D. Barnard, MD - Nutrition in the prevention and Treatment of Diabetes
• Kim A. Williams, MD - Personal evolution towards lifestyle changes for prevention and treatment of CVD (CardioVascular Disease)
• Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. MD - Nutritional Reversal of Coronary Artery Disease: Fact or Fiction?
• Robert j. Ostfeld, MD: The Impact of Lifestyle Change in Cardiovascular Risk Factors and the Bronx

This is a training for Cardiologists and other doctors, but it is open to members of the public. If you're not a patient of Dr. Robert Ostfeld, send your doctor! It is high time they find out.
The Bronx's #not62 program to improve health outcomes in the Bronx has not (as yet) been very successful, yet this program at Montefiore deserves to be a center piece in the strategy.