What do overweight and obesity, heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, depression, and anxiety have in common? They are all common, chronic, physical and mental conditions—with which millions struggle—that can be prevented, even reversed, with diet and Lifestyle Medicine.
—By Deborah Kesten
Twenty-first century, scientific breakthroughs about food and health not only empower you to prevent and reverse many chronic conditions, but they also answer these two perennial questions about weight, health, and healing:
#1. What’s the best way to eat to attain and maintain weight loss?
#2. Is there a diet and lifestyle that can prevent and reverse not only overweight, but also diabetes, heart disease, and other ailments; chronic conditions that have become a common part of many Americans’ health landscape?
The answer to both questions is a resounding YES! Scores of studies—including research on my Whole Person Integrative Eating® model and program—are clear about the “best” way to eat to attain and maintain weight loss. And the medical specialty, Lifestyle Medicine, gives you the scientifically sound lifestyle—the way to eat and live—that empowers you to prevent and reverse the many chronic conditions with which millions of us struggle.
The Diet that Reverses Type 2 Diabetes
The health-and-healing success story of NYC Mayor Eric Adams is a perfect example of the healing power of diet and Lifestyle Medicine.
A former NYPD captain and New York State Senator, in 2016, Mayor Adams woke up with stomach pain, dizziness and weakness in his legs, and he wasn’t seeing well: his right eye was blood shot and he was blind in his left eye, Adams tells us in a piece for CNN about his health odyssey.
“I immediately went to my doctor’s office,” Adams writes in his book, Healthy at Last: A Plant-Based Approach to Preventing and Reversing Diabetes and Other Chronic Illnesses. The diagnosis: type 2 diabetes. The doctor also told him “the stomach pain turned out to be an ulcer, but my vision would probably be impaired for the rest of my life.”
Adams’s doctor also told him his vision loss was due to “high blood sugar [that] damaged the blood vessels behind [his] eyes.” And his doctor warned that if left unchecked, diabetes could leave him visually impaired and with permanent nerve damage to his hands and feet. Then, writes Adams, my doctor “whipped out his pad and prescribed insulin along with a battery of other medications.” Then he said, “You’re going to have to get used to the meds. You’ll be on them for the rest of your life.”
Adams went numb at the diagnosis and at the prognosis of taking regular insulin shots for life. His thinking: There must be another way. In You Are What You Eat, Adams says he chose not to take medication for type 2 diabetes and instead, met with doctors at the Cleveland Clinic, who recommended a fresh whole food, plant-based diet.
Six months after receiving a type 2 diabetes diagnosis in early spring 2016, Adams says he completely reversed the disease. Today, Adams, 63, is 30 pounds lighter; his blood glucose levels are normal; and he feels energized.
Adams attributes his dietary change from a high-meat, processed food diet—to a plant-based diet with lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts and seeds—to halting and reversing his type 2 diabetes.
He says: “At the heart of all of it was my diet. My plant-based diet is the No. 1 reason that my diabetes was put into remission,” he says.
Lifestyle Medicine: The Fountain of Youth
The idea that a mostly plant-based diet is linked with preventing and reversing health problems has been in the scientific literature for decades. For instance, in this century, in 2004, Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Fellow and bestselling author, identified what he calls Blue Zones, places in the world with the healthiest, longest-living populations, such as Okinawa, Japan and Sardinia, Italy. What the Blue Zones that Buettner identified have in common is a lifetime of consuming a plant-based diet, with perhaps a little bit of cheese, and a small amount of fish.
A brief aside…Here’s a powerful, pivotal, key concept for you to keep in mind: I’m sure most of you have heard a lot about the Mediterranean Diet, and its many health benefits. If you think about it, the Blue Zones diet—mostly plant-based foods with small amounts of dairy and fish—is pretty close to the Mediterranean Diet—chosen #1 healthiest diet, six years in a row, by U.S. News & World Report.
But the real Fountain of Youth—the way to eat and live for health and longevity—is not only consuming a mostly plant-based diet, but also following a lifestyle that includes a plant-based diet, plus other key lifestyle components, especially stress management, physical activity, restorative sleep, and social support. This is Lifestyle Medicine.
Ornish Lifestyle Medicine and Health
Here’s the bottom line: The success of Lifestyle Medicine is due to more than a plant-based diet and other elements of Lifestyle Medicine that put NYC Mayor Eric Adams’s’ type 2 diabetes into remission. Its success is also due to top-of-the-line research on Lifestyle Medicine that Dr. Ornish has done—published in the top medical journals, such as the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet.
His pioneering studies on Lifestyle Medicine show that lifestyle alone—without drugs or surgery—can halt and reverse not only heart disease, but also prostate cancer, and most recently, Alzheimer’s disease (AD). As a matter of fact, for over 44 years, Dr. Ornish has directed randomized trials (the gold-standard of research) demonstrating, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes may begin to reverse even severe coronary heart disease.
The Lifestyle that Leads to Weight Loss, Health & Healing
Here’s a brief overview of the four components of Ornish Lifestyle Medicine; the four lifestyle changes that lead to weight loss, preventing and reversing chronic conditions, switching off health-harming genes, and perhaps living a longer—and healthier—life.
Diet. The original core of the heart-disease “reversal” diet is plant-based, fresh, whole-food meals. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks include lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains (such as brown rice, whole wheat, oatmeal, etc.), and legumes (beans and peas); limited, small amounts of nonfat yogurt were optional, but dairy products were excluded during the lifestyle intervention for prostate cancer because studies were beginning to suggest that conventionally processed dairy foods might contribute to the progress of prostate cancer. Alcoholic beverages, junk food, sodas, and simple sugars were eliminated.
Stress management. As part of the program, research participants were required to practice gentle yoga-based stress management techniques, which included stretching, breathing skills, meditation, visualization, and progressive relaxation. They were asked to do this for a minimum of one hour each day. Yoga was used because it had been an effective stress-management component of Ornish’s heart disease reversal studies (also called the San Francisco Lifestyle Heart Trial), wherein the minutes spent doing yoga poses (asanas), deep relaxation, meditation, and more, surfaced as the best predictor of reversal of coronary artery blockages.
Exercise. Six days each week, research participants participated in moderate aerobic exercise, which typically included walking an hour every day. Exercise was included in the intervention for many reasons. A sampling: it can lower blood pressure, ward off weight gain, boost immunity, and enhance mood.
Social support. The fourth leg of the Ornish Lifestyle Medicine program is Social Support. This means research participants met for a total of four hours each week to exercise/take walks together; do yoga, meditation, and stress management; share a plant-based meal; and participate in a group support session.
A brief recap for you. The Ornish “reversal” program includes four components: a plant-based diet, stress management, physical activity, and social support. Since Dr. Ornish’s work, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine has added two more “pillars” to its whole-person lifestyle intervention to prevent, treat, and reverse chronic conditions: restorative sleep and avoidance of risky substances.
Whole Person Integrative Eating®
The Dietary Lifestyle for Weight Loss & Lower Blood Sugar
I want to give you one more piece of the reversing-diabetes puzzle—not only with diet, but also by replacing what I call today’s “new normal” overeating behaviors Larry and I identified—with the elements of our Whole Person Integrative Eating® program.
You may recall that, in other blogs, I discussed how replacing the seven, new-normal overeating styles behavioral scientist Larry Scherwitz, PhD, and I identified (Food Fretting, Task Snacking, Emotional Eating, Fast Foodism, Unappetizing Atmosphere, Sensory Disregard, and Solo Dining) with the seven what-to-eat and how-to-eat behaviors of Whole Person Integrative Eating (fresh food, positive emotions, mindfulness eating, heartfelt gratitude, loving regard, savoring flavors, pleasant surroundings, and social connection)—leads to eating less and weighing less. Without dieting.
Intrigued by our findings, researchers Erica Oberg, ND, MPH and Ryan Bradley, ND, MPH wondered if the health of patients with type 2 diabetes would be enhanced if they overturned their overeating styles.
Their findings were unexpected and amazing! When they applied the overeating styles and the Whole Person Integrative Eating intervention to people with type 2 diabetes, Dr. Oberg found that reducing overeating behaviors was a stronger predictor of lowering A1C (blood-glucose) levels than what research participants ate.
Such findings prompted co-investigator Ryan Bradley to said that “How you eat appears to be as important, if not more important than what you eat.”
The Key Takeaway: Replacing all seven WPIE overeating styles with the 7 dietary lifestyle pillars of Whole Person Integrative Eating is what can lead to lower blood sugar levels; and to eating less and weighing less. Without dieting
The Bottom Line
Scores of studies—including research on my Whole Person Integrative Eating® model and program—point to a predominantly plant-based as the “best” way to eat to attain and maintain weight loss. At the same time, the medical specialty, Lifestyle Medicine, gives you the scientifically sound lifestyle—the way to eat and live—that empowers you to prevent and reverse the many chronic conditions with which millions of us struggle.
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Disclaimer: This transcript is for informational purposes only. This transcript is not intended to be a substitute for professional health or weight loss advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your health professional or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding your condition or well-being