The #WFPB Nutritional Paradigm

#WFPB, the Whole Foods, Plant-Based diet as developed on the basis of The China Study, and the clinical work of cardiologist Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr is a completely new paradigm of nutrition and health. The best known introduction these days is the documentary Forks over Knives.

Veganism is usually defined in the negative, as in: no animal protein, and some vegans do not even eat honey, because it is animal based. Motivations for veganism are sometimes environmental, or based on concerns over animal welfare, and sometimes vaguely based on health concerns. Yet, if you look around in restaurants and on food labels, "vegan" is a meaningless term, because it lacks any positive assertive nutritional concept behind it.
Perhaps the most famous proponent of veganism is Israeli activist Gary Yourovsky:

Gary Yourofsky at City College of NY

The #WFPB Paradigm

#WFPB (the Whole Foods Plant-Based diet) on the other hand is a completely new paradigm for nutrition and health. The fundamental tenets could be defined as follows:

• Focus on the quality, not the quantity of protein intake.
• Healthy protein sources are plant-based, unhealthy protein sources are animal based, be it meat, fish, fowl or dairy.
• By substituting plant-based proteins for animal proteins, you also lower your overall calories from protein to a healthy 5-15% and increase your fiber intake, which is often unhealthy under an omnivore diet.
• Use whole foods, and do not use added oils or sugar.
• "Dieting" does not exist in #WFPB, because whole foods, plant-based nutrition speeds up the metabolism and people automatically achieve a homeostatic, healthy weight.
• Nutritional supplements are meaningless for #WFPB is Nutritionally complete: the only possible exceptions are some moderate supplementation of B12 and maybe vitamin D.

The fundamental research for the #WFPB lifestyle is The China Study, which was just published in a new, updated 2017 edition, by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and his son Tom Campbell, MD. The clinical work that matches up to the China Study came primarily from Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., M.D., a cardiologist from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which was first published in his book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. many other doctors work in the same vein. Here in the Bronx, we have Robert Ostfeld, M.D. a cardiologist at Montefiore Hospital, who runs the Montefiore Cardiac Wellness program.

T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. on #WFPB

Nutritionally complete: the Omega-3, B12,D-vitamin

The key concept is that for all practical purposes #WFPB is nutritionally complete, if you eat a reasonably balanced range of plant-based foods.

Omega-3

A lot is often made of the difficulty to get a favorable Omega-3 to Omega-6 balance in vegan nutriton, this is a fallacy. Here are some of the sources of Omega-3 for vegans:
flaxseed, chia seed, hemp seed, mustard seed, seaweed, beans, winter squash to broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts, leafy greens, cabbage, berries, wild rice, various herbs and spices, mangoes, honeydew melon.

B12 vitamin

The only vitamin vegans generally need to supplement is B12. and that's all.

D vitamin

Supplementation of D vitamin is another issue, but that is more generic to the whole population, not just vegans. Here is a great article on vegan sources of vitamin D (note that vitamin D3 is the easiest to absorb form), and if you do not get enough sun, you may need a little vitamin D supplementation.

Beware of vegan marketing hype

Nutritional advice for vegans is usually useless if you follow #WFPB, for if your intake is reasonably varied. There are great vegan sources of iron, from raisins, to prunes, olives, avocado and dried apricots, to asparagus, endives, peas, acorn squash, dandelion greens, Kale, turnip greens, to lentils, chick peas, quinoa, wheat germ, brown rice, and sprouted beans or seeds, and lastly morel mushrooms, brewer's yeast, spirulina, and blackstrap molasses.

But by and large the whole notion that supplements are useful are part of the SAD legacy. In the context of the SAD paradigm, supplements may seem helpful, but this type of research is really silly and misleading, because it focuses on how single nutrients (or medications) improve health outcomes, without questioning the overall train wreck that is the Standard American Diet. Under #WFPB the notion of dietary supplements is silly. The body can generally not absorb them very well, so other than expensive urine, the benefits are limited. It is absurd to ask for small improvements amidst a perfectly preventable disaster. 

The health care angle

As a nation, we are spending 75% of our healthcare dollars on treating degenerative illnesses that can generally be reversed with better nutrition, specifically #WFPB. We spend more on healthcare than any other nation, but without results, for our health statistics remain bad. Here is a brilliant presentation by T. Colin Campbell that sums it all up.

These days the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) practically has become the standard bearer for the role of nutrition in medicine. And things are picking up speed at a remarkable rate. Here is some of the latest:

• They just finished up hosting the Fifth-Annual International Conference on Nutrition in Medicine, and one of the fruits of it was an impressive YouTube video about 700 doctors advocating for Prevention over Pills - a ringing endorsement of the #WFPB lifestyle.
• They reported on a recent article by Russel Simmons on refocusing the SNAP program on healthy foods, because the poor have such bad health outcomes already. It is truly criminal to use a government program to provide people more junk food that makes them ill.
• Dr. Neal Barnard's latest book, The Cheese Trap, makes the brilliant case of the correlation of our obesity crisis with the growing cheese consumption, and why cheese is literally addictive (there is a weak opioid in milk that becomes concentrated in cheese). The book also sheds light on government complicity with the dairy industry.
• PCRM came out petitioning the USDA to modify the MyPlate nutritional recommendation and to ditch dairy, and swap animal protein for legumes.
• The American College of Cardiology urges hospitals to add plant-based meals and eliminate processed meats.
• The AMA passed a resolution: Hospitals should provide plant-based meals and remove cancer-causing processed meats.
• The AMA calls for healthier foods in the SNAP program.

This list is evidence of the impressive progress PCRM is making, and they are only just getting started. They truly stand on the shoulders of giants, for it is the work of T. Colin Campbell and his associates in The China Study which is the foundation of all the further research in this area. There is also an excellent documentary on the health issue, What the Health.

Eat your heart out, dieters

The upshot is that the #WFPB lifestyle is actually easier and cheaper than the alternative - meat is surprisingly expensive. Going to a #WFPB will cost you some money in the change over. You may want some different kitchen appliances, and your pantry needs restocking, but you can do that gradually over time, though some folks need to do it all at once, lest they fool themselves and hang on to old, bad habits, such as added oils or sugar.
But since plant-based nutrition speeds up your metabolism, there is no dieting under this concept. Eat to your heart's content, as long as it is reasonably varied, and your body will automatically return to a homeostatic, optimal weight, without even having to think about it.
In short, indulge, you are eating your way to health, as long as you stay within the #WFPB paradigm.

Online Resouces for a Whole Foods Plant-Based Lifestyle

There is a plethora of viable online information available today to make it easy for anyone to successfully ease into a Whole Foods Plant-Based lifestyle. I call it a lifestyle and not a diet, for as long as you shift to the new paradigm of eating only whole foods and everything plant-based, you can pretty much eat what you like and any sense of "dieting" is gone. One reason I never tried any diet seriously was because I don't like dieting, but my cooking/eating style has evolved over the years and with the arrival of the plant-based diet, cooking has become more enjoyable than ever. For whatever it is worth, all my life cooking was essentially my favorite hobby, so for me to say that has to mean something.
I went from vegetarian as a kid to omnivore in my twenties, including a macrobiotic period, an Italian period, a Japanese period, various garbage periods, and eventually drifting back towards mostly vegetarian, and vegan since May of 2015, and realistically that was primarily based on the Esselstyn information, so I like to call it "no-oil WFPB," or "oil-free WFPB."

The salient facts

• 75% of our healthcare spending is on treating degenerative diseases, such as CardioVascularDisease (CVD) - including Erectile Dysfunction (ED),  Type 2 Diabetes, High Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, Prostate cancer, Colon cancer, macular degeneration, cataracts, arthritis, osteoporosis. See a.o. this blog on Vegan.io.
• A diet based on animal proteins is 10-20 times more resource intensive than a diet based on plant-based proteins. See this infographic on the True Environmental Cost of Eating Meat. On the whole, the environmental impact of animal husbandry is greater (18% of greenhouse gas emissions) than that of the entire transportation industry (13% of greenhouse gas emissions).
• In short, by switching to a WFPB diet, you are becoming healthier yourself, you are making a huge contribution to the environment, and you are helping to feed the world: four billion people could be fed from what is now "feed grain," for cattle.

Online support for the WFPB diet

Here are some of the online resources that can help you.

• Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine - tons of information, including the invaluable (and free) 21-day kickstarter program.
• Engine2 7-day Rescue Challenge. This free program offers an easy way to get started on a #WFPB (Plant Strong) diet, or a refresher, if you feel stuck in your cooking. Brilliant stuff from Rip Esselstyn and Engine2.
• Food Revolution Network - unbelievable amounts of information, almost too much. Pricey, but offers great handholding.
• Plant-based on a budget - my kind of site, free or cheap.
• T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies - A wealth of information from one of the leading sources.
• Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr.'s Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease program - Again, one of the leading sources.
• Engine2 Plant Strong - Rip Esselstyn, Dr. Esselstyn's son, offers his own variation, based on his experiences with his fire fighter colleagues.
• Plant-based medical providers. and more here - it helps if your physician understands your diet, for the whole paradigm is different if you seriously try to follow the WFPB. Whole Foods Plant-Based diet.
• Cardiac Wellness Program - Montefiore Hospital, Bronx, NY - every patient of Dr. Robert Ostfeld, cardiologist at Montefiore is invited to his half-day nutritional seminar with their significant other, to learn the practice of the vegan (WFPB) lifestyle on a budget.
• American College of Lifestyle Medicine - A professional association for Lifestyle Medicine. You can also find medical providers in your area who subscribe to the Lifestyle Medicine concept.

We want to be very conscious of the fact that WFPB is gaining traction in the medical community and presently both the AMA and the American College of Cardiology are urging hospitals to offer vegan meal options at all times. The AMA is urging to take cured meats off the menu as they are carcinogenic, and additionally, it is also urging the government to focus SNAP benefits on healthy food choices.

Vegan Videos

There are videos, there are many powerful documentaries that have helped lots of people, some are found on Youtube, some have their own sites:

1.  The Mad Cowboy. Howard Lyman, former cattle rancher turned vegan, is at the center of this absolutely classic documentary which followed on from Lyman's appearance on Oprah, and the lawsuit by the Texas Cattlemen that tried to stop Lyman's message that beef was not as healthy as they say it is. Howard's book and the documentary "Mad Cowboy"followed.
2. Forks over Knives. The most important documentary on the work of T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn about the new nutritional paradigm of the Whole Foods Plant-Based diet, based on the results of the China Study, and Esselstyn's clinical work. The message is: 75% of our healthcare dollars go to the treatment of degenerative diseases that can usually be prevented and often reversed by switching to a Whole Foods Plant-Based diet.
3. Cowspriracy puts it all together from an environmental angle as well. Very powerful.
4. What the Health. The follow-on project from the makers of Cowspiracy, which explores the connection to how medicine and bad diet go hand in hand.
5. Talk by Howard Lyman, has the whole story of the lawsuit, and lots of useful information.
6. Meat the Truth, another useful documentary that puts together the environmental angle.
7. Dairy is Dangerous, by Dr. Neal Barnard. Powerful story by Dr. Neal Barnard, president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, (PCRM). His latest book, The Cheese Trap is also highly recommended.
8. The Perils of Dairy, Another excellent production on the perils of dairy by Dr. John McDougall.
9. Best Speech You Will Ever Hear by Gary Yourovsky. An incredibly powerful presentation on the benefits of the Whole Foods Plant-Based diet from Israeli activist Gary Yourovsky. He is now retired from 'activism,' but his contributions stand the test of time.
10. Animal Protein Causes Cancer. This is a very powerful recap of the main findings of T. Colin Campbell on how animal protein causes cancer, and plant protein turns it off. No more needs to be said.

Some stats, public and personal to tell the story of the whole foods plant-based diet

Here are some data points to put the nutrition revolution in perspective.

 Which one is the crisis?

• According to CDC in 2015 33,000 people died from opioid overdoses. That's 90 per day. We're having a national crisis over this.

• According to the same CDC, 610,000 die annually from all Heart Disease, or about 1,671 per day. Apparently, that's business as usual, and the fact that it is preventable is not being discussed. 

 My facts.

• in ca 1985 a doctor wanted to prescribe a medicine (for allergies) that I was supposed to take for the rest of my life, After finding out what it did, I refused to take it, and solved the problem instead with nutrition and supplements instead.
• in ca 2010 another doctor did the same thing with blood pressure medication, and initially I took it, thinking I was going to improve my diet enough, but that did not work for me until I decided in May 2015 to go totally on whole foods plant-based nutrition, and get rid of ALL animal protein. Nine months later I had a physical, and my weight came down 25 lbs (to what I was at age 22), and my cholesterol came down 20 points (to 150). My BP was in normal range once again, so the doctor did not prescribe any further meds. I celebrated my 65th birthday being free of any medications, and/or their side-effects.

Meanwhile here is what happened in the big picture:

• In 1996 Howard "Mad Cowboy" Lyman was on Oprah, and she swore off beef, and they prevailed in a lawsuit brought by the National Cattleman's Beef Association.
• In 2005 the China Study was originally published delivering extensive scientific backup for whole foods plant-based nutrition. It proved that high protein diets turn cancer on, and low protein diets turn it off. More specifically, animal protein increased cholesterol, plant-based protein lowers cholesterol.
• In 2007 Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn published the book "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease," also recommending whole foods plant-based nutrition, with a special emphasis on oil-free plant-based food.
• On February 28, 2017 Dr. Neal Barnard published "The Cheese Trap," which documents the role of cheese in the obesity crisis, and again recommends a no-oil, whole foods, plant-based diet.
• As of February 22, the German government banned meat from all official functions.
• Recently PCRM won a lawsuit against the dairy industry, which limits the deceptive claims they can make about how healthy milk is for you, specifically that they cannot claim it will help you lose weight. PCRM has established that milk is definitely not part of a healthy diet.
• On April 12th PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) along with parents and teachers filed suit against LA County to take cured meats out of school lunches, because they are carcinogenic.