The evaluation of milk has changed completely due to these findings. For a long time, it was thought that the calcium it contains protects the bones. Today we know that it’s the other way around: Due to the acidity that milk produces in the body, the discharge of calcium far exceeds the calcium we ingest. Dairy products actually produce a negative calcium balance and are not a treatment method for osteoporosis.53
It is not possible to describe how much acid certain foods produce with complete accuracy. But there are the so-called PRAL values (Potential Renal Acid Load)—a formula influenced by acid-promoting factors like the sulfurous amino acid and phosphoric acid as well as protective factors (minerals, potassium, or calcium). They have been developed by the nutritionists Thomas Remer and Friedrich Manz and provide good points of reference.54 They show that meat, cheese, some nuts, every type of grain, and even fish (especially if it’s tinned, with tuna at the head of the pack) are acidic. My personal surprise was that black espresso, which I love, isn’t acidic, but slightly alkaline.
All of this demonstrates, once again, the advantages of having a plant-based diet, avoiding meat and fish, and consuming only small amounts of cheese. If you do actually want to “cheat” every once in a while, it helps to drink a glass of orange or vegetable juice along with your meal. That buffers the acidity and ensures a healthy balance. Mineral waters rich in bicarbonate (also called hydrogencarbonate) are also useful, especially if you suffer from a chronic disease. You can also take Bullrich salt or alkaline powder—these are often administered in detox clinics. The studies invoked as evidence for this, however, have no actual quality. I stick to my belief that it makes no sense to have a bad diet and then take pills to counteract it.
There are commercial alkaline fasts which involve eating potatoes and root vegetables, i.e., a vegan diet rich in vegetables. In theory, this is certainly healthy, but it does not need the garnish sometimes added to it, things like tissue salts. Furthermore, alkaline fasting should not be confused with therapeutic fasting, which achieves a much stronger effect.
If you wish to do more about overacidification in your body, you should try “pranayama,” yogic breathing exercises in which more acid is exhaled. Sweating in a sauna also relieves the body.
LA GRANDE BOUFFE: THE BIG FEAST
“Having lost sight of our objectives, we redoubled our efforts.” This quote by Mark Twain pops into my mind whenever I read studies on nutrition, nutritional deficiency, and obesity, such as the study on the effects on the metabolism of a “big feast” conducted by the research team headed by Guenther Boden.55 The researchers gave volunteers 6,000 kcal of an unhealthy “Western” diet every day for a week. This is almost three times more than is recommended for daily consumption. But if you have ever traveled on a cruise ship and seen the buffets and all-you-can-eat specials, you know that such an extensive intake of food can happen in everyday life.
In the study carried out by Boden and his team—which insiders call the AIDA study—the excessive eating had lasting effects on the participants’ health. On average, they gained about 7.7 pounds in weight, and the first stage of a diabetes mellitus was already looming. This was attributed to the oxidative stress (harmful free radicals) that was triggered by the excessive intake of calories. So far, it all makes sense. However, the researchers arrived at a strange conclusion. From the realization that excessive food has devastating consequences for healthy men even after just a few days, the following conclusion was drawn: “. . . our results (demonstrate) the urgent necessity to develop medications that reduce the oxidative stress.” The scientists did not draw the obvious deduction that the results show how important it is to have a healthy diet that is low in calories.
After all, the opposite is possible, too: In two studies, a research team headed by Sarah Steven showed that diabetes mellitus is even curable by an eight-week fasting period.56 This possibility had been completely ruled out by internists and diabetologists up until a few years ago. It was presumed that the pancreas was exhausted forever and would never again be able to produce insulin.
PATIENT HISTORY
Diabetes
Taming Hunger
The architectural draftsman was 5’4” and weighed 220 lbs.—obesity is not rare in our patients. Often, this obesity stems from a medical therapy which, unfortunately, has become the norm: insulin. Almost ten percent of the population suffers from pancreatic exhaustion, i.e., type 2 diabetes. Since the body is unable to produce sufficient amounts of insulin, this growth-inducing hormone is replaced by medication.
In practice, this leads to a negative spiral: The patients gain weight, move less and less, and the changed metabolism causes cells to become resistant against insulin. This, in turn, heightens blood sugar levels and as a consequence the patients receive even more insulin. This creates the vicious cycle that led this patient, who had been suffering from diabetes for twenty years, to weighing 220 lbs.—thus increasing her risk for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. The fact that she had also been diagnosed with rheumatism, and cortisone therapy had become necessary in the interim, put an additional strain on her insulin balance—it fluctuated so heavily that she had to eat a snack at three in the morning so as not to become hypoglycemic.
The patient, by now in her mid-sixties, learned to practice fasting, which significantly reduced her need for insulin. When she came to our clinic, she needed 102 units of insulin daily. When she left it was down to fifteen. Thanks to fasting and treatments in a cold chamber, her rheumatic pains also improved. The swelling in her wrists and ankles went down, the patient has lost 22 lbs., and she is now much more agile.
What stopped this negative spiral? Fasting. It is like a reset button: The sugar-insulin system is interrupted. When the body is in a constant state of hunger for a week, the cells activate new receptors through which they can channel in sugar—after all, they aim to utilize everything they can get in times of need. When the patient starts eating again after a fasting cure, the sugar can get to the cells more easily thanks to the new receptors—and the body needs less insulin.57 Coldness is an additional stimulus that increases sensitivity to insulin. In type 1 diabetes, the stage in which the pancreas is no longer able to produce insulin, the hormone has to be substituted. Type 2 diabetes, however, the much more common disease, can be effectively treated with lifestyle therapies.
The architectural draftsman kept up a 1,400-calorie diet for two weeks after fasting to maintain a low insulin level. It wasn’t hard, because her body was no longer urging her to eat constantly.
THE VEGETARIAN LIFESTYLE
Ten more healthy years—that’s the promise made by a diet and lifestyle that has been studied by Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California, for years. This religious community treats their bodies like temples.58 They reject alcohol and nicotine and are completely devoted to a healthy life. They go for frequent walks and cultivate close social networks. For these reasons, Loma Linda is one of the “Blue Zones,” in which the most healthy, old-age people live. For some of the Seventh-day Adventists, the vegetarian diet is an essential part of this recipe for success. The vegetarians among the Seventh-day Adventists suffer fewer heart attacks and strokes, and show fewer cases of intestinal cancer and diabetes compared to non-vegetarians within the community.59
Time and again, it has become clear that Asian and Mediterranean diets are healthier than Western diets. The reason for this is that they contain far fewer animal proteins or even avoid them completely. This raises the question: Why do we eat meat if it is killing us? Wouldn’t it make sense for us all to become vegetarian?
In discussions on the issue of vegetarianism, I am frequently faced with this argument: Over the course of evolution humans have long been omnivores, which is why a purely plant-based diet must be nonsense. Fair enough, I answer then, but the situation has changed by now. We no longer wander for forty to fifty miles a day like the hunters of the Masai. Following a Ston
e Age diet (the Paleo diet) with large quantities of meat while living with central heating and driving around in our cars doesn’t go well together.
Michael Greger, an American physician and best-selling author, is an active spokesperson for the vegetarian diet. He is critical of the fact that the negative effects of animal proteins have been made light of by nutritionists for decades while proteins of vegetable origin were denigrated. Greger calls this the “Great Protein Fiasco.” It led to the vegetarian diet being judged negatively because it was believed that plants didn’t contain enough proteins. At the same time, recommendations for protein intake were constantly revised upward even though there was no scientific evidence to substantiate these alterations.
It might have helped to take a look at breast milk. We can safely assume that evolution “designed” breast milk in such a way that it offers the biggest possible benefit for the child. It’s striking here that breast milk shows a low protein content.60 That is also one of the reasons why it can actually be risky to give infants cow’s milk. And ultimately, it is an indication that we need far less protein than we assumed thus far.
Over the past few years more and more studies have proved how unambiguously animal protein heightens the risk of cardiovascular diseases, strokes, and diabetes.61 So far, it has not been possible to fully explain why this is so. Supposedly, there is a connection there to the already-mentioned sulfurous amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins. They cause inflammatory processes in the body. In animal proteins their share is larger than in vegetable proteins.62
In a Harvard study, the effect of animal and vegetable proteins was compared in 130,000 test subjects. On average, their diet contained 14 percent animal proteins and 4 percent plant-based proteins. When the subjects were divided according to the frequency of their consumption of animal proteins versus vegetable proteins, strikingly clear health differences became apparent over the years. The consumption of predominantly vegetable proteins, the researchers found, was connected to significantly lower mortality from cardiovascular diseases. As a result, the researchers worked out the following formula: If a mere 3 to 14 percent of animal proteins is replaced by vegetable proteins, the risk of an early death is lowered considerably. This effect is particularly noticeable when sausage and otherwise highly-processed red meat is substituted by plant-based proteins—minus 34 percent. In second place follows the benefit of avoiding eggs—minus 19 percent. The exchange of non-processed red meat for plant-based proteins still adds up to a 12 percent lesser risk. Animal protein has a particularly severe effect on the risk of developing diabetes.63
Some nutritionists and physicians object to a diet low in meat and milk, arguing it would lead to muscle loss and osteoporosis. But that is wrong. A large-scale Swedish study demonstrated that the risk of developing osteoporosis actually increases if multiple glasses of milk are drunk every day.64 Scientists at Harvard University, who were also researching the consumption of milk in children and adolescents, found no benefit but, instead, disadvantageous tendencies. In this long-term study, they assessed, among other issues, the frequency of femoral neck fractures decades later, during adulthood. The calcium in the milk offered absolutely no protective effect. On the contrary, in men who were drinking a lot of milk, the rate of fractures was even a little higher than in the average of the male population. On average, they were also taller, which heightened their risk. The fact that milk also contains growth hormones is well known.65
The consumption of meat also causes stress hormone levels to rise. A single meal containing meat is enough for this to happen. If consumers undergo a stress test after eating meat, they have been shown to be less stress-resistant than people who ate a purely plant-based meal. Since stress is linked to cancer risk, all of this likely contributes to the fact that animal protein promotes cancer.66
So what conclusions can we draw? Should we all become vegetarians? If you take everything we’ve discussed into consideration along with the myriad issues tied to industrial livestock production—the ethical problems, the environmental damage, and the energy requirements—it seems difficult to disagree with the merits of following a vegetarian lifestyle.
VEGETARIAN OR VEGAN?
Even so, many people find it difficult to imagine life as a vegetarian. Presently, German men eat an average of 41.6 oz (2.6 lbs) of meat a week and women eat 21 to 24.7 oz. In the United States, the numbers are even worse: The average American now eats roughly 193 pounds of beef, pork, and/or chicken a year (or more than 3.7 pounds a week), up from roughly 184 pounds in 2012.67, 68 The German Association for Nutrition still considers—strangely enough—10.6 to 21 oz to be reasonable, even though meat has almost no nutritional value, as you are about to see, but contains many risk factors: saturated fats, animal proteins, antibiotic residue, hormones, viruses, and persistent organic pollutants (suspected to be the causal agents of weight gain). Beyond that, unhealthy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are produced during grilling, frying, and smoking.
By choosing to eat less meat you enter a simple exchange: The less meat you eat, the more you eat of other things. If these other things are healthy vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts, you greatly lower your risk for chronic diseases. All the vitamins and phytochemicals these foods contain prevent cancer, arteriosclerosis, hypertension, bacteria, viruses, free radicals, and inflammations.
But naturopathy isn’t ever prone to formulating universal rules—its focus is always on individual tolerability. The nutritionist Franz Xaver Mayr was the first to observe that a diet of raw food, healthy as it may be, doesn’t agree with everybody.69 As the German proverb goes: “What agrees with the blacksmith, makes the tailor sick”—it may be an old saying, but it still holds true. Someone who is very physically active will be able to eat more raw foods, more “cold” meals. Less physically active people should steam their meals lightly according to the Asian/Ayurvedic tradition or season their food accordingly (cabbage salad with plenty of caraway seeds, for example).
But that said, I no longer ascribe as much importance to individual tolerability as I did ten years ago. Research on the microbiome has shown that the body is able to adapt to a change in dietary habits rather quickly, within days or weeks. Still, attentiveness doesn’t go amiss: In winter, the body has a demand for root vegetables, cabbage, or legumes rather than zucchini, strawberries, or watermelon. In summer, cinnamon, a warming spice, has no place in our food. And it’s important to take the time to chew slowly. You also shouldn’t drink anything while you eat so as not to dilute the digestive juices with additional liquid.
In the past, my favorite dish was roast pork with spaetzle. But I realized that one’s tastes change after a few weeks of following a vegetarian diet. Suddenly you enjoy vegetables, legumes, fruit, berries, and nuts because of the multitude of their flavors. You’ll also notice that your general well-being increases quite quickly. Initial studies have shown that the transition to a vegetarian diet is accompanied by an improvement of the general mood.70 The comparatively bad mood of meat eaters is possibly caused by the metabolic products developed by animals kept in factory farms up until their transport and slaughter.
There was an exciting experiment organized by ZDF, a German television network: Volunteers were provided with vegan meals for several weeks. A second group received dishes that contained meat. In both cases, the meals were excellent: The first group was catered for by the renowned vegan chef Attila Hildmann, the second was cooked for by the no-less-famous chef Alfons Schuhbeck. I was tasked with supervising both groups medically. Of course, no scientific conclusions can be drawn within the framework of such an experiment. But I noticed that the participants who were eating vegan food seemed to be in a much better mental state.
Lacto-vegetarian with small amounts of organic dairy products is an excellent, healthy diet. Vegan isn’t necessarily healthier, but for some it’s the preferred choice, mainly for ethical reasons. However, the transition to a vega
n diet poses a challenge. I advise my patients to try a lacto-vegetarian diet, since cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products do indeed widen the spectrum of available foodstuffs considerably. When eating milk and cheese, try and eat wholesome organic products if possible. If a vegan diet is a viable option for you, pay attention to a diverse choice of vegetables, nuts, and whole-grain products as well as a sufficient supply of vegetable protein. Legumes and whole wheat products contain a lot of plant-based protein, which should be eaten in sufficient amounts particularly by people over the age of sixty, when the demand for protein increases. For vegans it’s important to substitute vitamin B12, because a lack of B12 can lead to serious neurological diseases or dyscrasia. A very good way, apart from taking vitamin B12 drops, is using toothpaste containing B12.
EGGS ARE NOT HEALTHY
I’m often asked how healthy eggs are. Study results have indicated that diabetics who eat eggs show a heightened risk for heart disease and strokes.71 A study that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2013 also showed that lecithin, found in high concentration in egg yolk, is transformed into a risk product for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes via the metabolism of the gut bacteria.72
In addition, there is the fact that eggs are often polluted by germs and toxins, by salmonella and other pathogens. This has led me to advise my patients to avoid eating eggs. A weekly “cheat day” can help you in the early stages of the transition to cutting eggs out of your diet. On that cheat day, you can “sin.” This helps prevent the desire you normally experience when forced to give up something.
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