Caloric science is flawed for several reasons. Don't believe the hype and don't worry about calories.
For one thing, it assumes 100% absorption, but we all absorb and excrete different amounts.
#2. It assumes that all calories are burned the same; but refined carbs are absorbed quickly, giving us a sharp spike in blood sugar and then a hunger-inducing crash.
#3 It assumes the same exercise done by different people will cost the same amount of calories, but it'll be a lot more effort for a heavy person to climb up a hill than someone who is in shape.
#4 It assumes the amount of energy released by combustion (burning) in the lab is the same amount as would be released when broken down enzymatically in the gut; but these are very different environments and processes.
#5 People in Asia eat 25-40% more calories than their American counterparts, but have less obesity. This is because of the types of calories they ingest.
If we eat like the Asians, we will look like the Asians (thin). When they eat like us, they look like us (not thin)
Learn more in The Asian Diet: Simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well
Showing posts with label jason bussell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jason bussell. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Sugar Substitutes (excerpt from The Asian Diet)
The following excerpt is from The Asian Diet: Simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well
Sugar substitutes
Sweetening is a multi-billion dollar industry. Money and politics have played shady roles in bringing these products to the market, and now they are everywhere. There are a few ways to sweeten things naturally. They are: pure cane sugar, raw sugar, beet sugar, honey, stevia, agave nectar, maple syrup, molassas, rapadura, brown rice syrup, barley malt syrup, sucanat, turbinado sugar, date sugar, and fruit juice. All of these are fine and should be taken in moderation.
Most of the foods we eat have at least some sweetness to them. We have become desensitized to this because we have so much concentrated sugar and sweets all the time. Eating ever-sweeter and sweeter foods just takes us further away from being able to enjoy the natural sweetness of natural foods. This is like looking directly into a spotlight for 20 minutes and then trying to appreciate candlelight. If we take a break from the artificially-super-sweet products, we can regain the appreciation of the flavors of natural foods.
Too much sweet flavor engenders dampness and phlegm in the body and taxes the digestion- regardless of its source. But the artificial sweeteners are much worse. We have evolved eating sugar. Our DNA has seen glucose for thousands of years. We have never seen high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, splenda, etc. They are unnatural and I believe they are contributing to the rise of diabetes in this country. Our pancreas knows how to handle glucose, but it doesn't know what to do with these new substances. I believe that this disturbs our insulin production. But there is big money in selling us sweeteners and they keep getting through to us.
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
This is the cheapest way to get sweetness into your food products; and it has become ubiquitous. It is found in everything from candy and soda, to bread, yogurt, pizza, crackers, ketchup, and much more. Remember, too much of any one thing is not a good thing. Having HFCS in so many foods means that we are being overdosed on corn and fructose. It comes from corn that is genetically modified to increase its sweetness, and prepared with genetically modified enzymes. Plus, glucose is metabolized by every individual cell, fructose is only processed in the liver. This puts additional strain on our livers.
Aspartame (aka Nutrasweet, Equal)
This is what goes into Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, and just about every other thing that is sweet and diet. It is 180 times as sweet as sugar. Many people believe they are helping their bodies by using this instead of sugar. They are dead wrong. Recent studies have shown that people using this sugar substitute experience an increased appetite! The use of diet sodas is associated with weight gain, not weight loss. Why then would you use it if you are trying to lose weight?
The fact that is has no calories just means that we cannot break it down. It passes through the body, but that does not mean it has no impact. It interacts with many other types of cells and structures as this chemical makes it way through our bodies. The FDA has received more complaints about aspartame than any other substance.
There were many objections from the scientific community when Aspartame was seeking approval from the FDA. It breaks down into formaldehyde in the body (a known carcinogen) and is associated with headaches/migraines, brain tumors, brain lesions, memory loss, arthritis, hypertension, abdominal pain, and lymphomas. But there was enough profit to be made that Donald Rumsfeld (the then-Chairman of Searle, the company that held the patent on aspartame) was able to get it approved. The panel voted to ban the substance, but this vote was overturned through some very shady politics. There was too much money to be made. And now aspartame is in over 5000 food products in the US. I know some people who have 3-4 diet sodas a day and think they are being healthy. Microdose by microdose, they are poisoning themselves. Stay away from this one.
Equal has another ingredient that distinguishes it from Nutrasweet. It is phenylalanine, which can cause seizures at high doses.
Sucralose (Splenda)
This is found in over 3,500 food products in the US. The makers, Johnson and Johnson, claimed that it is made of sugar, but they are now being sued because that is not true. It has chlorine in it. Some other foods have naturally-occurring chlorine and that's OK because it also has other compounds to neutralize its effects; but man-made chlorine is extremely toxic and can kill. Unlike aspartame, this does not all travel through the body. As much as 15-27% of ingested sucralose is absorbed. How it behaves once absorbed is not yet understood. Anecdotal reports associate sucralose with headaches, urinary problems, fatigue, digestive disorders, and other ailments.
Saccharine (sweet 'n' low)
The first of the artificial sweeteners to bypass public safety. There has been opposition to this product for over 100 years. It is made from anthranilic acid, nitrous acid, sulfur dioxide, chlorine, and ammonia. You would never eat any of these things if you had a choice. It is suspected of causing cancer, but it is still on the market.
A general rule is: If it is made by god, it's probably ok. If it is made by man, it is suspect. (this does not apply to toadstools, arsenic, mercury, and other known, natural poisons). The natural sweeteners are always better than the artificial ones.
Diabetics often feel they have no choice but to ingest these sugar substitutes. But if you correct your diet, you can stabilize your blood sugar and be better able to tolerate the occasional encounter with sugar. Natural sugars are not so bad. Adopting a more plant-based, whole foods diet can reduce or eliminate the need for diabetic medication. But DO NOT alter your medication based on information in this book. Monitor your sugars and, when and if appropriate, discuss tapering your medication with your physician.
Sugar substitutes
Sweetening is a multi-billion dollar industry. Money and politics have played shady roles in bringing these products to the market, and now they are everywhere. There are a few ways to sweeten things naturally. They are: pure cane sugar, raw sugar, beet sugar, honey, stevia, agave nectar, maple syrup, molassas, rapadura, brown rice syrup, barley malt syrup, sucanat, turbinado sugar, date sugar, and fruit juice. All of these are fine and should be taken in moderation.
Most of the foods we eat have at least some sweetness to them. We have become desensitized to this because we have so much concentrated sugar and sweets all the time. Eating ever-sweeter and sweeter foods just takes us further away from being able to enjoy the natural sweetness of natural foods. This is like looking directly into a spotlight for 20 minutes and then trying to appreciate candlelight. If we take a break from the artificially-super-sweet products, we can regain the appreciation of the flavors of natural foods.
Too much sweet flavor engenders dampness and phlegm in the body and taxes the digestion- regardless of its source. But the artificial sweeteners are much worse. We have evolved eating sugar. Our DNA has seen glucose for thousands of years. We have never seen high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, splenda, etc. They are unnatural and I believe they are contributing to the rise of diabetes in this country. Our pancreas knows how to handle glucose, but it doesn't know what to do with these new substances. I believe that this disturbs our insulin production. But there is big money in selling us sweeteners and they keep getting through to us.
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
This is the cheapest way to get sweetness into your food products; and it has become ubiquitous. It is found in everything from candy and soda, to bread, yogurt, pizza, crackers, ketchup, and much more. Remember, too much of any one thing is not a good thing. Having HFCS in so many foods means that we are being overdosed on corn and fructose. It comes from corn that is genetically modified to increase its sweetness, and prepared with genetically modified enzymes. Plus, glucose is metabolized by every individual cell, fructose is only processed in the liver. This puts additional strain on our livers.
Aspartame (aka Nutrasweet, Equal)
This is what goes into Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, and just about every other thing that is sweet and diet. It is 180 times as sweet as sugar. Many people believe they are helping their bodies by using this instead of sugar. They are dead wrong. Recent studies have shown that people using this sugar substitute experience an increased appetite! The use of diet sodas is associated with weight gain, not weight loss. Why then would you use it if you are trying to lose weight?
The fact that is has no calories just means that we cannot break it down. It passes through the body, but that does not mean it has no impact. It interacts with many other types of cells and structures as this chemical makes it way through our bodies. The FDA has received more complaints about aspartame than any other substance.
There were many objections from the scientific community when Aspartame was seeking approval from the FDA. It breaks down into formaldehyde in the body (a known carcinogen) and is associated with headaches/migraines, brain tumors, brain lesions, memory loss, arthritis, hypertension, abdominal pain, and lymphomas. But there was enough profit to be made that Donald Rumsfeld (the then-Chairman of Searle, the company that held the patent on aspartame) was able to get it approved. The panel voted to ban the substance, but this vote was overturned through some very shady politics. There was too much money to be made. And now aspartame is in over 5000 food products in the US. I know some people who have 3-4 diet sodas a day and think they are being healthy. Microdose by microdose, they are poisoning themselves. Stay away from this one.
Equal has another ingredient that distinguishes it from Nutrasweet. It is phenylalanine, which can cause seizures at high doses.
Sucralose (Splenda)
This is found in over 3,500 food products in the US. The makers, Johnson and Johnson, claimed that it is made of sugar, but they are now being sued because that is not true. It has chlorine in it. Some other foods have naturally-occurring chlorine and that's OK because it also has other compounds to neutralize its effects; but man-made chlorine is extremely toxic and can kill. Unlike aspartame, this does not all travel through the body. As much as 15-27% of ingested sucralose is absorbed. How it behaves once absorbed is not yet understood. Anecdotal reports associate sucralose with headaches, urinary problems, fatigue, digestive disorders, and other ailments.
Saccharine (sweet 'n' low)
The first of the artificial sweeteners to bypass public safety. There has been opposition to this product for over 100 years. It is made from anthranilic acid, nitrous acid, sulfur dioxide, chlorine, and ammonia. You would never eat any of these things if you had a choice. It is suspected of causing cancer, but it is still on the market.
A general rule is: If it is made by god, it's probably ok. If it is made by man, it is suspect. (this does not apply to toadstools, arsenic, mercury, and other known, natural poisons). The natural sweeteners are always better than the artificial ones.
Diabetics often feel they have no choice but to ingest these sugar substitutes. But if you correct your diet, you can stabilize your blood sugar and be better able to tolerate the occasional encounter with sugar. Natural sugars are not so bad. Adopting a more plant-based, whole foods diet can reduce or eliminate the need for diabetic medication. But DO NOT alter your medication based on information in this book. Monitor your sugars and, when and if appropriate, discuss tapering your medication with your physician.
Monday, June 8, 2009
first radio interview done
I just got off the phone with Stan Milam, a radio host from WCLO in Janesville Wisconsin. He interviewed me for 18 minutes on the air about "The Asian Diet". It was fun and I am very grateful to have the opportunity to spread the word about how adopting some of the principles of the diet can prevent disease and promote wellness. I will soon post a link to the podcast.
Today is Monday and I am at the Tiffani Kim Institute, performing acupuncture. I work half-days on Mondays. This afternoon my wife and I will take our daughter to the pediatrician. We are considering going to China this summer and want to discuss the health risks to a 6-month old. We don't want her to need too many vaccinations while she's still so young. The powers that be state that vaccines are effecive and safe, but I'm not so convinced. I worked in mental health for many years, and am very afraid of autism.
The CDC says they are safe and effective. The way they define "safe for vaccines is different that how they define "safe" for drugs. Drugs have to be compared to placebo, or no drug. Vaccines are compared to existing vaccines. So if we have an approved vaccine that is causing adverse effects in 16 out of 1000 people, and then the new one causes advers effects in 18 out of 1000, that difference is not statisically significant and then 18/1000 becomes the bar. As far as effective goes, there are a lot of people who still get the diseases for which they have been vaccinated. Now, I don't want to get all anti-vaccine here. It is a choice for the parents. Vaccines have saved lives. But I don't like the administration of multiple diseases at the same time, and I don't like vaccines being administered before they could be necessary. At birth, they want to give every child a hepatitis vaccine. My little girl would only be exposed to the Hep if my wife had it (which she does not), or through sexual contact or IV drug use. My newborn was not going to be engaging in these behaviours, so I think we can wait a few years for that. A generation before us, most people got the measles and did not die. It's not like the plague where no one can survive it.
There are some things that can kill babies, like menenigitis. So we are vaccinating for that. Not that you all need to know what we are choosing for our daughters medical care. This is a tangent- back on track. . .
I may be going to china to study some more this summer. Check out the newest reviews of my book on amazon. or go to theasiandiet.com and read more about the asian diet.
Today is Monday and I am at the Tiffani Kim Institute, performing acupuncture. I work half-days on Mondays. This afternoon my wife and I will take our daughter to the pediatrician. We are considering going to China this summer and want to discuss the health risks to a 6-month old. We don't want her to need too many vaccinations while she's still so young. The powers that be state that vaccines are effecive and safe, but I'm not so convinced. I worked in mental health for many years, and am very afraid of autism.
The CDC says they are safe and effective. The way they define "safe for vaccines is different that how they define "safe" for drugs. Drugs have to be compared to placebo, or no drug. Vaccines are compared to existing vaccines. So if we have an approved vaccine that is causing adverse effects in 16 out of 1000 people, and then the new one causes advers effects in 18 out of 1000, that difference is not statisically significant and then 18/1000 becomes the bar. As far as effective goes, there are a lot of people who still get the diseases for which they have been vaccinated. Now, I don't want to get all anti-vaccine here. It is a choice for the parents. Vaccines have saved lives. But I don't like the administration of multiple diseases at the same time, and I don't like vaccines being administered before they could be necessary. At birth, they want to give every child a hepatitis vaccine. My little girl would only be exposed to the Hep if my wife had it (which she does not), or through sexual contact or IV drug use. My newborn was not going to be engaging in these behaviours, so I think we can wait a few years for that. A generation before us, most people got the measles and did not die. It's not like the plague where no one can survive it.
There are some things that can kill babies, like menenigitis. So we are vaccinating for that. Not that you all need to know what we are choosing for our daughters medical care. This is a tangent- back on track. . .
I may be going to china to study some more this summer. Check out the newest reviews of my book on amazon. or go to theasiandiet.com and read more about the asian diet.
Friday, May 15, 2009
The Asian Diet featured on AOL
An interview with me was just posted to AOL.com's "That's Fit" site. Check it out at http://www.thatsfit.com/2009/05/14/asian-diet-for-weight-loss
I am grateful to be very busy lately and have not had as much time to post. Everyone go to www.theasiandiet.com and www.acfom.com for more information about my book and practice.
I have my first book signing on Monday the 18th at The Book Stall in Winnetka, IL at 7pm. This will be after eight hours of teaching, so my voice may be a little fried. A bunch of people have RSVP'd that they are going to attend though, so I am happy.
Then in June I have a signing at the Border's books and music in Wilmette, and July has me at the Barnes and Noble in Old Orchard shopping center in Skokie, IL And then in August I am giving a lecture and book signing at the Evanston library in Evanston IL. I am looking for more groups to present to, so if you know of any, please let me know at jason@theasiandiet.com.
I am grateful to be very busy lately and have not had as much time to post. Everyone go to www.theasiandiet.com and www.acfom.com for more information about my book and practice.
I have my first book signing on Monday the 18th at The Book Stall in Winnetka, IL at 7pm. This will be after eight hours of teaching, so my voice may be a little fried. A bunch of people have RSVP'd that they are going to attend though, so I am happy.
Then in June I have a signing at the Border's books and music in Wilmette, and July has me at the Barnes and Noble in Old Orchard shopping center in Skokie, IL And then in August I am giving a lecture and book signing at the Evanston library in Evanston IL. I am looking for more groups to present to, so if you know of any, please let me know at jason@theasiandiet.com.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
More exciting developments. I have been mentioned in several more publications (e-zines and print). Tomorrow I have an interview with a TV personality to determine whether or not they would like to interview me on the air. I have set up two book signings and two library lectures, and was interviewed by AOL (let's hope they publish it). All this from my book, which I have to mention the name of or it won't be picked up by search engines "The Asian Diet: simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well (www.theasiandiet.com)
I am also now teaching a class in Intro to Oriental Medicine. It's 24 hours, eight hours a day for three Mondays in a row. I have taught and lectured many times in the past, but never for more than two hours. It'll be a great learning experience, I'm sure.
I have been thinking about skeptics to acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. I read message boards that say that acupuncture research is not valid because it does not adhere to the double-blind, randomized, controlled, experimental model. Some say that the only valid type of study follows this type of design; one where everyone receives the exact same treatment, or not, and the person administering the treatment does not know whether or not he/she is actually administering the treatment. Double-blind means that both the patient and the practitioner do not know who actually is receiving the real treatment. This design is best for pills. But the critics say that any benefit realized by patients, even if it's a 100% cure rate for hundreds of subjects, may be attributed to placebo if the study did not utilize the double-blind.
For one thing, this method does not evaluate Chinese Medicine. The forte of Chinese medicine is in treating everyone individually. If I have to treat everyone the same, I am not practicing Chinese medicine. I am evaluating one set of points for one common symptom. Any acupuncturist will tell you that using the same set of points for everyone doesn't work nearly as well as customized treatment. It's like giving a mechanic 10 cars to fix, but telling him he can only change the brake pads. Some of the cars may need brake pads, some might not. If the mechanic was able to use his diagnostic skills and full repertoire, he could fix all the cars; but if you limit his ability, you will limit his effectiveness.
For another thing, the double-blind study is very difficult. It's hard for a patient to not know whether or not they have had a needle inserted into them. It is also hard for me, as a practitioner, to not know whether or not I have inserted a needle. They can make machines that may or may not insert a needle when I pull a trigger, but that's not how needles are inserted. It is not just the insertion of the needle that has the effect, it is the connection with the healer through that acupoint and needle. Remove the practitioner from the equation and you are no longer evaluating acupuncture.
I would like someone to show me the double-blind study that showed the effectiveness of hip-replacements. Could someone go through surgery and not know whether or not they had a joint replaced? Could a surgeon do the surgery and not know whether or not he/she actually replaced a joint? Well, then that means that all the patients who benefit from jip-replacements are merely benefiting from placebo.
Another problem with ascribing placebo: if the benefits are all in your head, doesn't that mean that the ailment was all in your head as well?
Another problem; patients usually seek out acupuncture after several other things have failed. If belief and expectation are enough to make a bogus therapy effective, why didn't that work with the other modalities? Do patients expect drugs, PT, and surgery to fail when they undergo them? So either the only thing the patients' believe in is acupuncture, or the only thing that placebo works for is acupuncture.
That's all for now.
Jason
I am also now teaching a class in Intro to Oriental Medicine. It's 24 hours, eight hours a day for three Mondays in a row. I have taught and lectured many times in the past, but never for more than two hours. It'll be a great learning experience, I'm sure.
I have been thinking about skeptics to acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. I read message boards that say that acupuncture research is not valid because it does not adhere to the double-blind, randomized, controlled, experimental model. Some say that the only valid type of study follows this type of design; one where everyone receives the exact same treatment, or not, and the person administering the treatment does not know whether or not he/she is actually administering the treatment. Double-blind means that both the patient and the practitioner do not know who actually is receiving the real treatment. This design is best for pills. But the critics say that any benefit realized by patients, even if it's a 100% cure rate for hundreds of subjects, may be attributed to placebo if the study did not utilize the double-blind.
For one thing, this method does not evaluate Chinese Medicine. The forte of Chinese medicine is in treating everyone individually. If I have to treat everyone the same, I am not practicing Chinese medicine. I am evaluating one set of points for one common symptom. Any acupuncturist will tell you that using the same set of points for everyone doesn't work nearly as well as customized treatment. It's like giving a mechanic 10 cars to fix, but telling him he can only change the brake pads. Some of the cars may need brake pads, some might not. If the mechanic was able to use his diagnostic skills and full repertoire, he could fix all the cars; but if you limit his ability, you will limit his effectiveness.
For another thing, the double-blind study is very difficult. It's hard for a patient to not know whether or not they have had a needle inserted into them. It is also hard for me, as a practitioner, to not know whether or not I have inserted a needle. They can make machines that may or may not insert a needle when I pull a trigger, but that's not how needles are inserted. It is not just the insertion of the needle that has the effect, it is the connection with the healer through that acupoint and needle. Remove the practitioner from the equation and you are no longer evaluating acupuncture.
I would like someone to show me the double-blind study that showed the effectiveness of hip-replacements. Could someone go through surgery and not know whether or not they had a joint replaced? Could a surgeon do the surgery and not know whether or not he/she actually replaced a joint? Well, then that means that all the patients who benefit from jip-replacements are merely benefiting from placebo.
Another problem with ascribing placebo: if the benefits are all in your head, doesn't that mean that the ailment was all in your head as well?
Another problem; patients usually seek out acupuncture after several other things have failed. If belief and expectation are enough to make a bogus therapy effective, why didn't that work with the other modalities? Do patients expect drugs, PT, and surgery to fail when they undergo them? So either the only thing the patients' believe in is acupuncture, or the only thing that placebo works for is acupuncture.
That's all for now.
Jason
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The Asian Diet, preface
This is the preface to my book, The Asian Diet: Simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well. After you read it, please visit the website, www.theasiandiet.com Then you can visit my office website www.acfom.com which does not talk about diet, but is rather about acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.
Chapter one: Preface
Welcome to the book. I hope you enjoy it; and I hope you learn things that will help you for the rest of your life.
Have you ever noticed the shape of the average American compared to that of the average Asian? America is the most obese nation and the problem is growing rapidly. This trend is the result of poor diet and lifestyles. We are finally waking up to what the Asian cultures can teach us in terms of health care (acupuncture, herbology, tai chi); now it is time to learn what they have discovered about eating and living in balance.
The pieces of material that comprise this book are the combined lessons I try to impart to all of my patients. At the onset of treatment, I give them all a talk about adjusting their diet, lifestyle, and attitudes to improve their health, mood, and longevity. Many of my patients asked where they could get this information in a written form and I was not able to find it. So I wrote it this book.
About Me
I am an acupuncturist and herbalist. I trained in the states and completed advanced training and an internship in China. I am the President of the Illinois Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and have a private practice with my wife in Wilmette, Illinois. Many astute people have noticed that I am not Asian. What is a white guy doing in Oriental Medicine?
I earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and worked in psychiatric hospitals for several years before returning to school to study pre-med. As I was applying to med schools, I was dismayed at how unhappy the doctors with whom I worked were. I kept hearing "Don't go into medicine. Do anything else. The money is not there, the autonomy's not there, the respect's not there, and even the patient contact isn't there anymore. There's no good reason to be a doctor." The first 20 times I heard it, I shrugged it off. But I kept hearing it and it got to me. Then a nurse with whom I worked told me about the acupuncture program in town. I had been interested in Eastern philosophy since taking a course in high school, but never had considered Oriental Medicine as a career.
I read some books about OM and found the whole paradigm pretty suspect. I come from a family of physicians and was pre-med myself. I understand things like bacteria and viruses; the Chinese talk about things like "wind-cold invading the lung". It was all so foreign and different that I didn't know if I would ever believe in the system. I figured I could make a living at it because enough other people would believe. My skepticism was very short-lived, though, once I saw how effective this medicine is and how much sense the philosophy makes. Now I love what I do. I get to spend a lot of time with my patients, and I get to help them. In psychiatry, I worked pretty much with a chronic population where very few people ever improved. With Oriental Medicine, I am able to help almost all of my patients safely. Oriental Medicine is the acquired wisdom of thousands of years of experimentation, observation and documentation. They have learned a lot about what works and what doesn't. I am a grateful recipient of these lessons. Now I want to share this knowledge with everyone to help them take better care of themselves and live longer and happier lives.
I have presented this information to enough groups and patients to know that this system will be difficult for many people to work with at first. This book presents guidelines and suggestions; but it does not tell you what to do. You have to decide how to implement the suggestions and create your diet. The South Beach Diet was so successful partly because it told people exactly what to do. Many of us like being given a strict structure to follow . . .for a while. But after about 60 days we get tired of having no freedom and break from the prescribed regimen. So I am just planting seeds. How they germinate is up to you. And it is not an all-or-nothing proposition. If you have a bad day, don't give up; start again. We just want to be good on more days.
The opinions expressed in this book are just that – opinions. This book makes no claims of being definitive or authoritative. The principles are written as I understand them from my years of study of Oriental Medicine and Asian culture. The ideas come from many different authors, speakers, researchers, and teachers, folk teachings, and my own ideas of what makes sense. Other authors and disciplines may disagree with some or many of the tenets I will present in these pages. It is up to you, the reader, to decide whether or not this makes sense to you. As far as I know, the Chinese have been studying nutritional therapy longer than anyone else, so I tend to believe that they have figured some things out in the past 4,000 years. The principles are simple:
• Balance and Moderation
• Cooked foods are better than raw
• Vegetables are better than fruit
• White rice is better than brown, but a variety is best
• Diet should be mostly plant-based, with grains and a little of everything else
• Simple foods are better than processed food
• Dairy is not necessary and can be harmful
• Do not over-fill your stomach
• Don't stress too much
• Exercise every day, but not too much
• Keep a Wide perspective and don't sweat the small stuff
All of these will be explained in the book.
What this book is and what it is not.
This is not a weight loss book. This is about getting into balance by eating appropriately. Some of my patients do not need to lose weight but are still very much out of balance. If you have too much weight on you, that is itself an imbalance. By getting into balance, you will naturally shed the excess pounds and become more fit. But even those who do not need to lose weight still need this information. Eating right will prevent or correct all types of disease and disorders. Our daily diet choices are the most important and influential thing we can do to affect our daily, and long term, functioning.
Chinese Dietary Therapy is a highly developed science. There are people who spend their whole lives studying and practicing this. There are food cures for all types of ailments, but that is not what this book is about. If you want to learn how to address a certain ailment with diet therapy, please consult Chinese Nutrition Therapy by Joerg Kastner or Chinese System of Food Cures by Henry Lu (out of print). There is also a lot of information about the foods that we commonly eat and how terrible they are for us. There are many studies that could be cited, but that is not what this book is about either. This book presents the basic guidelines for eating right. Most of us could greatly benefit from these simple changes. If you want to learn what foods to eat to treat a particular disease, or if you want to know everything there is to know about a particular food, read "Healing with Whole Foods" by Paul Pitchford. To learn how we have been misinformed about diet and read all the studies on how harmful our standard food choices are, read "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell. To learn the basics of eating right and being well, however, read the book in your hands right now.
Chapter one: Preface
Welcome to the book. I hope you enjoy it; and I hope you learn things that will help you for the rest of your life.
Have you ever noticed the shape of the average American compared to that of the average Asian? America is the most obese nation and the problem is growing rapidly. This trend is the result of poor diet and lifestyles. We are finally waking up to what the Asian cultures can teach us in terms of health care (acupuncture, herbology, tai chi); now it is time to learn what they have discovered about eating and living in balance.
The pieces of material that comprise this book are the combined lessons I try to impart to all of my patients. At the onset of treatment, I give them all a talk about adjusting their diet, lifestyle, and attitudes to improve their health, mood, and longevity. Many of my patients asked where they could get this information in a written form and I was not able to find it. So I wrote it this book.
About Me
I am an acupuncturist and herbalist. I trained in the states and completed advanced training and an internship in China. I am the President of the Illinois Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and have a private practice with my wife in Wilmette, Illinois. Many astute people have noticed that I am not Asian. What is a white guy doing in Oriental Medicine?
I earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and worked in psychiatric hospitals for several years before returning to school to study pre-med. As I was applying to med schools, I was dismayed at how unhappy the doctors with whom I worked were. I kept hearing "Don't go into medicine. Do anything else. The money is not there, the autonomy's not there, the respect's not there, and even the patient contact isn't there anymore. There's no good reason to be a doctor." The first 20 times I heard it, I shrugged it off. But I kept hearing it and it got to me. Then a nurse with whom I worked told me about the acupuncture program in town. I had been interested in Eastern philosophy since taking a course in high school, but never had considered Oriental Medicine as a career.
I read some books about OM and found the whole paradigm pretty suspect. I come from a family of physicians and was pre-med myself. I understand things like bacteria and viruses; the Chinese talk about things like "wind-cold invading the lung". It was all so foreign and different that I didn't know if I would ever believe in the system. I figured I could make a living at it because enough other people would believe. My skepticism was very short-lived, though, once I saw how effective this medicine is and how much sense the philosophy makes. Now I love what I do. I get to spend a lot of time with my patients, and I get to help them. In psychiatry, I worked pretty much with a chronic population where very few people ever improved. With Oriental Medicine, I am able to help almost all of my patients safely. Oriental Medicine is the acquired wisdom of thousands of years of experimentation, observation and documentation. They have learned a lot about what works and what doesn't. I am a grateful recipient of these lessons. Now I want to share this knowledge with everyone to help them take better care of themselves and live longer and happier lives.
I have presented this information to enough groups and patients to know that this system will be difficult for many people to work with at first. This book presents guidelines and suggestions; but it does not tell you what to do. You have to decide how to implement the suggestions and create your diet. The South Beach Diet was so successful partly because it told people exactly what to do. Many of us like being given a strict structure to follow . . .for a while. But after about 60 days we get tired of having no freedom and break from the prescribed regimen. So I am just planting seeds. How they germinate is up to you. And it is not an all-or-nothing proposition. If you have a bad day, don't give up; start again. We just want to be good on more days.
The opinions expressed in this book are just that – opinions. This book makes no claims of being definitive or authoritative. The principles are written as I understand them from my years of study of Oriental Medicine and Asian culture. The ideas come from many different authors, speakers, researchers, and teachers, folk teachings, and my own ideas of what makes sense. Other authors and disciplines may disagree with some or many of the tenets I will present in these pages. It is up to you, the reader, to decide whether or not this makes sense to you. As far as I know, the Chinese have been studying nutritional therapy longer than anyone else, so I tend to believe that they have figured some things out in the past 4,000 years. The principles are simple:
• Balance and Moderation
• Cooked foods are better than raw
• Vegetables are better than fruit
• White rice is better than brown, but a variety is best
• Diet should be mostly plant-based, with grains and a little of everything else
• Simple foods are better than processed food
• Dairy is not necessary and can be harmful
• Do not over-fill your stomach
• Don't stress too much
• Exercise every day, but not too much
• Keep a Wide perspective and don't sweat the small stuff
All of these will be explained in the book.
What this book is and what it is not.
This is not a weight loss book. This is about getting into balance by eating appropriately. Some of my patients do not need to lose weight but are still very much out of balance. If you have too much weight on you, that is itself an imbalance. By getting into balance, you will naturally shed the excess pounds and become more fit. But even those who do not need to lose weight still need this information. Eating right will prevent or correct all types of disease and disorders. Our daily diet choices are the most important and influential thing we can do to affect our daily, and long term, functioning.
Chinese Dietary Therapy is a highly developed science. There are people who spend their whole lives studying and practicing this. There are food cures for all types of ailments, but that is not what this book is about. If you want to learn how to address a certain ailment with diet therapy, please consult Chinese Nutrition Therapy by Joerg Kastner or Chinese System of Food Cures by Henry Lu (out of print). There is also a lot of information about the foods that we commonly eat and how terrible they are for us. There are many studies that could be cited, but that is not what this book is about either. This book presents the basic guidelines for eating right. Most of us could greatly benefit from these simple changes. If you want to learn what foods to eat to treat a particular disease, or if you want to know everything there is to know about a particular food, read "Healing with Whole Foods" by Paul Pitchford. To learn how we have been misinformed about diet and read all the studies on how harmful our standard food choices are, read "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell. To learn the basics of eating right and being well, however, read the book in your hands right now.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
I am having an interesting experience with the Amazon discussion boards. I posted some of the ideas about eating healthy according to the principles of The Asian Diet and received a lot of criticism and skepticism. "Unless it was ascertained in a lab, it is invalid" (forget about the billions of people benefiting from the Asian diet, and the millions more who are getting obese following the recommendations of "science"). Another woman posts about eating fat-free chocolate every day to lose weight and the responses are all glowing. No one asks for the science behind that suggestion. I see what people want- to eat what they want to eat and not have to think.
There is no shortcut to health. It just entails doing the right things on a consistent basis.
In other news, I have started a facebook cause to get the word out about the Asian diet. Health care costs are going to bury this country if we don't pull up from this nose dive of health. The health of a nation can be a great asset, but our ailing health is a huge liability. Too many people have been manipulated to put money in the hands of the food manufacturers and the health care system. We cannot continue getting less healthy. And the Asian Diet is a great way to start. If you have a facebook account, please search for the cause "get healthy with the asian diet", join it, and tell your friends.
There is no shortcut to health. It just entails doing the right things on a consistent basis.
In other news, I have started a facebook cause to get the word out about the Asian diet. Health care costs are going to bury this country if we don't pull up from this nose dive of health. The health of a nation can be a great asset, but our ailing health is a huge liability. Too many people have been manipulated to put money in the hands of the food manufacturers and the health care system. We cannot continue getting less healthy. And the Asian Diet is a great way to start. If you have a facebook account, please search for the cause "get healthy with the asian diet", join it, and tell your friends.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Asian Diet is now available and in stock at Amazon.com . Still waiting for Borders to post it, but everyone can now order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble
This book is taking off, get your copy before they run out. It will change the way you understand food and empower you to take charge of your health. It's an easy read, but full of important information.
This book is taking off, get your copy before they run out. It will change the way you understand food and empower you to take charge of your health. It's an easy read, but full of important information.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
So there was a little bit of controversy with this first printing of the book. theasiandiet.com The book is, and should be, titled "The Asian Diet: Simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well." A long time ago, the publisher and I were coming together on the subtitle and someone suggested "how the ancient principles of moderation and balance will help you eat right, lose weight, and live longer". Well, that's the cover that made it to the printer for the first run. They only printed 2000 at first, so it was not too bad, but if you get one of them, they will be the collectors' edition and I promise that I will autograph it for you.
Another thing I have been working on is creating a radio show on blogtalkradio. I have not yet decided on the time, length, or frequency, but I may start hosting a call-in show for questions about health, acupuncture, and the Asian Diet. I will keep people posted.
Today was a great example of how people are misinformed about food. I have a friend who has been slowly putting on weight. We got to talking and she revealed that she eats very healthy. She has yogurt, cereal, microwave diet meals, fat-free and sugar-free baked goods, and cottage cheese. The Asian Diet will tell you that none of these things are healthy. For one thing, diary is designed to make things grow. Overweight people do not want to grow. Secondly, they are cold. Cold food steals your energy in order to heat it. This slows your metabolism. Diet microwave meals have a lot of preservatives and chemical additives. Keep it simple and eat simple foods. Just because it says "lean" or "fat-free" or "sugar-free" does not mean it's good. I've got some great Arsenic that is low-calorie, no saturated fat, caffeine free, lactose-free, etc. That doesn't mean it's good for you.
Somehow we have been convinced that foods are nothing more than the sum of their parts. This is how medicine used to see the body, but now they recognize the interactions between the different systems. The same is true for foods. They are immensely complex, and so are our bodies. To simplify an orange to equaling vitamin c is like saying that people have value because of their livers and for all that their livers can do. There is a lot more to us than our livers, and there's a lot more to an orange than vitamin C. We did not evolve by seeking out and eating sources of vitamin C. We evolved by eating food. Plain and simple. As Michael Pollan wrote in his book "In defense of food: an eater's manifesto" we should "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants". It's a good book and I suggest everyone read it. And if you would like to read more about chinese medicine check out acfom.com
They tell me that I should keep these posts short, so
Another thing I have been working on is creating a radio show on blogtalkradio. I have not yet decided on the time, length, or frequency, but I may start hosting a call-in show for questions about health, acupuncture, and the Asian Diet. I will keep people posted.
Today was a great example of how people are misinformed about food. I have a friend who has been slowly putting on weight. We got to talking and she revealed that she eats very healthy. She has yogurt, cereal, microwave diet meals, fat-free and sugar-free baked goods, and cottage cheese. The Asian Diet will tell you that none of these things are healthy. For one thing, diary is designed to make things grow. Overweight people do not want to grow. Secondly, they are cold. Cold food steals your energy in order to heat it. This slows your metabolism. Diet microwave meals have a lot of preservatives and chemical additives. Keep it simple and eat simple foods. Just because it says "lean" or "fat-free" or "sugar-free" does not mean it's good. I've got some great Arsenic that is low-calorie, no saturated fat, caffeine free, lactose-free, etc. That doesn't mean it's good for you.
Somehow we have been convinced that foods are nothing more than the sum of their parts. This is how medicine used to see the body, but now they recognize the interactions between the different systems. The same is true for foods. They are immensely complex, and so are our bodies. To simplify an orange to equaling vitamin c is like saying that people have value because of their livers and for all that their livers can do. There is a lot more to us than our livers, and there's a lot more to an orange than vitamin C. We did not evolve by seeking out and eating sources of vitamin C. We evolved by eating food. Plain and simple. As Michael Pollan wrote in his book "In defense of food: an eater's manifesto" we should "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants". It's a good book and I suggest everyone read it. And if you would like to read more about chinese medicine check out acfom.com
They tell me that I should keep these posts short, so
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Probiotics
I have received questions about this topic, so I will summarize what I discuss in The Asian Diet: Simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well about probiotics.
Bacteria has gotten a bad name and is regarded by many as an enemy of good health. This is not always true. There are certain bacteria that we need for proper functioning and protection. For example, women's vaginas need a certain amount of bacteria to prevent the growth of yeast which leads to yeast infections. Our intestines harbor bacteria that help digest our food. When we take antibiotics, these intestinal bacteria get wiped out and can often cause intestinal problems such as diarrhea.
Probiotics are supplements that restore the good bacteria in our gut. Some people think that we should always be on this supplement. I disagree. I think that probiotics make sense when you are taking antibiotics. When your troops are under attack and being killed off, you need to supplement the troops. When there is no war, you don't have to keep sending in more brigades. Too much or too little of anything is not a good thing. I also worry that artificially regulating your bacteria levels too much can impair the body's ability to self-regulate.
So you might think "I am not taking antibiotics so I don't need probiotics". I hope that this is true, but antibiotics have infiltrated much of our food supply. Dairy, beef, pork, and poultry are often tainted with antibiotics because commercial over-production keeps the animals in disgustingly crowded pens which encourage the spread of disease. It is just like when people have been confined in Ghetto's in the past. Overcrowding breeds disease. So what do the industrial farms do? Do they recognize that overcrowding is damaging and provide the livestock with more space? No, the keep them in this unhygenic environment and shoot them up with antibiotics.
This is why is it so important to buy free-range, antiobiotic-free, dairy and meat products. Most of us have been ingesting probiotics unknowingly on a daily basis, so most of us could benefit from a course of probiotic supplementation. But I don't want people to be on these supplements too long. Fix the problem, then avoid the problem in the future. Though beware, that butter you put on your bread in the restaurant is probably not antibiotic-free. Nor are much of the dairy and animal products that you will be served in a restaurant. So periodic courses of probiotics may be necessary.
Eat well, be well. That is the lesson of The Asian Diet. To learn more about Asian wisdom and medicine, check out the website for my office, A Center for Oriental Medicine
Bacteria has gotten a bad name and is regarded by many as an enemy of good health. This is not always true. There are certain bacteria that we need for proper functioning and protection. For example, women's vaginas need a certain amount of bacteria to prevent the growth of yeast which leads to yeast infections. Our intestines harbor bacteria that help digest our food. When we take antibiotics, these intestinal bacteria get wiped out and can often cause intestinal problems such as diarrhea.
Probiotics are supplements that restore the good bacteria in our gut. Some people think that we should always be on this supplement. I disagree. I think that probiotics make sense when you are taking antibiotics. When your troops are under attack and being killed off, you need to supplement the troops. When there is no war, you don't have to keep sending in more brigades. Too much or too little of anything is not a good thing. I also worry that artificially regulating your bacteria levels too much can impair the body's ability to self-regulate.
So you might think "I am not taking antibiotics so I don't need probiotics". I hope that this is true, but antibiotics have infiltrated much of our food supply. Dairy, beef, pork, and poultry are often tainted with antibiotics because commercial over-production keeps the animals in disgustingly crowded pens which encourage the spread of disease. It is just like when people have been confined in Ghetto's in the past. Overcrowding breeds disease. So what do the industrial farms do? Do they recognize that overcrowding is damaging and provide the livestock with more space? No, the keep them in this unhygenic environment and shoot them up with antibiotics.
This is why is it so important to buy free-range, antiobiotic-free, dairy and meat products. Most of us have been ingesting probiotics unknowingly on a daily basis, so most of us could benefit from a course of probiotic supplementation. But I don't want people to be on these supplements too long. Fix the problem, then avoid the problem in the future. Though beware, that butter you put on your bread in the restaurant is probably not antibiotic-free. Nor are much of the dairy and animal products that you will be served in a restaurant. So periodic courses of probiotics may be necessary.
Eat well, be well. That is the lesson of The Asian Diet. To learn more about Asian wisdom and medicine, check out the website for my office, A Center for Oriental Medicine
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
How to be happy, part one
My book, The Asian Diet, is not about losing weigh but rather about living well and in balance. One area in which many of us are out of balance is in regard to stress. Excessive stress keeps the body in fight-or-flight mode and can cause us to retain weight, but it also makes us unhappy and robs us of the enjoyment of life. The following passage is from the Tao Te Ching. I give it to a lot of my patients who hold on to too much stress. Please forgive the gender-specificity.
Man is born gentle and supple.
At his death he is hard and stiff.
Green plants are tender and filled with sap.
At their death they are withered and dry.
Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death.
The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.
An army without flexibility never wins a battle.
A tree that is unbending is easily broken.
The hard and strong will fall.
The soft and yielding will overcome.
[Tao Te Ching, 76]
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Caloric science is inherently flawed
This is a topic I cover in my book, The Asian Diet: Simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well (theasiandiet.com).
Caloric science in inherently flawed, and I can't believe no one else has pointed this out yet. The way that they measure calories is: they set it on fire in a device called a Calorimeter. They rationalize that the amount of energy liberated by combustion in the lab is the same amount of energy that would be released when the food is broken down enzymatically in the stomach. Now, those are two very different processes and environment, so I'm not sure that this assumption is correct. But,even if it is true...let's assume a muffin has 200 calories of energy in it. When I eat that, I put 200 calories into my body, but I don't absorb all of it. Some of it passes through. Our true caloric gain or loss is determined by: how much we put in, minus how much we burn, minus how much we excrete. If you have dysentery, it doesn't matter how many calories you consume, you will not absorb much of them. Now I'm not suggesting that we all start burning our feces and measuring their caloric value, I am just saying that the number of calories ingested is not the whole story. The average person in China consumes between 25-40% more calories than the average American on a daily basis. Even the sedentary office workers eat more calories and have less obesity than do we.
It is not the number of calories that is important. It is the kinds of foods and how they are prepared and ingested that matter. What you want is efficient digestion of good quality, natural food.
Calorie-free just means that it is a substance that we cannot absorb. This does not mean that it is benign. There are things that we could eat that we would not absorb but that could still be harmful. Take for example a razor blade, or a marble made of plutonium. I am not saying that Aspartame, Splenda, Saccharine, etc will cut you or give you radiation poisoning. My point is that just because something is not absorbed as it passes through our bodies does not mean that it does not interact with and affect the other cells and molecules with which it comes into contact. I would rather have a snack with calories made with a natural sweetener rather than a calorie-free option made with unnatural ingredients.
Caloric science in inherently flawed, and I can't believe no one else has pointed this out yet. The way that they measure calories is: they set it on fire in a device called a Calorimeter. They rationalize that the amount of energy liberated by combustion in the lab is the same amount of energy that would be released when the food is broken down enzymatically in the stomach. Now, those are two very different processes and environment, so I'm not sure that this assumption is correct. But,even if it is true...let's assume a muffin has 200 calories of energy in it. When I eat that, I put 200 calories into my body, but I don't absorb all of it. Some of it passes through. Our true caloric gain or loss is determined by: how much we put in, minus how much we burn, minus how much we excrete. If you have dysentery, it doesn't matter how many calories you consume, you will not absorb much of them. Now I'm not suggesting that we all start burning our feces and measuring their caloric value, I am just saying that the number of calories ingested is not the whole story. The average person in China consumes between 25-40% more calories than the average American on a daily basis. Even the sedentary office workers eat more calories and have less obesity than do we.
It is not the number of calories that is important. It is the kinds of foods and how they are prepared and ingested that matter. What you want is efficient digestion of good quality, natural food.
Calorie-free just means that it is a substance that we cannot absorb. This does not mean that it is benign. There are things that we could eat that we would not absorb but that could still be harmful. Take for example a razor blade, or a marble made of plutonium. I am not saying that Aspartame, Splenda, Saccharine, etc will cut you or give you radiation poisoning. My point is that just because something is not absorbed as it passes through our bodies does not mean that it does not interact with and affect the other cells and molecules with which it comes into contact. I would rather have a snack with calories made with a natural sweetener rather than a calorie-free option made with unnatural ingredients.
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