Why I Eat Organic, Whole Food, Low Fat, and Almost Exclusively Plants
I eat whole food, plants and mostly organic with few exceptions. I eat the way I do for my health and will make adjustments if I believe it would result in more optimum health for me.
"Why do you eat the way you do?"
Eating organic foods
I eat organic because I believe that some of the chemicals on and in the food are harmful to me. I don't have to wait until researchers prove countless times that a particular chemical is harmful before I stop eating it. I don't have to wait until thousands of people suffer the ill effects or die of cancer. I just assume that our bodies were designed to eat certain things and not others and I defend myself proactively. I don't submit to being a lab rat.
I am very skeptical of synthetic vitamins as well as natural nutrients in quantities that would be impossible to get from eating food. Sometimes the synthetic nutrients are not as useful and actually block our bodies from using the natural nutrients they imitate.
I eat organic foods to avoid being poisoned.
Eating whole food
In 1971 I learned that people were taking nutritious parts out of food. An example of this is taking the wheat germ out of wheat. I tried some of the unfamiliar whole foods such as whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole peanut butter without hydrogenated oils and sugar, and honey instead of sugar. They tasted great. It was a very pleasurable adventure. I became aware of the damage being done to our bodies by the food providers as well as the consumers who insisted on these nutrient poor products.
I eat whole food to get more nourishment as well as more flavor.
Eating plants only
This may not be as straight forward and logical as the previous topics. A carnivore who eats only organic, whole food will be healthier than a vegan who eats a lot of processed food. You can't be healthy if your diet isn't nutritious.
There is some evidence that eating any dairy, eggs, meat, fish, and poultry is unhealthy. There is a lot of evidence that eating much of these is unhealthy.
One problem with eating from the animal kingdom is that some of the poisons they eat, such as insecticides, herbicides, and environmental contaminants, are concentrated in their bodies. When you eat their meat you can get a higher dose of a contaminate than you would by just eating the plants they were fed. Granted some chemicals are probably effectively filtered out by their kidneys and livers but others are not.
An example of this is that if you eat kelp you may get one level of mercury exposure. If you eat the vegetarian fish that ate the kelp you consume much more mercury. If you eat the fish that eats the fish that eats the kelp, you get a much, much higher dose of mercury, hundreds of times higher.
A low fat diet consisting of only plants is the only one that has been proven scientifically to reverse heart disease. Keeping my arteries cleaned out is the main reason I eat the way I do.
Some People Who Reinforced My Dietary Beliefs
Luigi Cornaro (1467 or 1484-1566)
At age 35 he was sick and near death, changed his diet and lived a long and healthy live. His diet consisted of 350g of food daily (including bread, egg yolk, meat, and soup) and 414 ml of wine. He decreased his intake of animal products as well as everything else. I include him because the knowledge that a good diet benefits health is not new.
Dr. Walter Kempner (1903-1997)
Founded the Rice Diet Program in 1939 in association with Duke University.
His organization remained with Duke until 2002. He cured many of malignant hypertension, kidney disease, and heart disease.
His diet consisted of white rice, fruit, juice, and white sugar. After an initial period of time and the cessation of the disease symptoms other foods were added such as vegetables, and low fat meats.
Dr. Denis Burkitt (1911-1993)
Illustrated the benefits of a diet high in fiber and low in animal products.
"Don't Forget Fibre in Your Diet" published in 1979
Nathan Pritikin (1915-1985)
- He is possibly the most important diet expert that has ever lived.
- He was an inventor with patents in engineering, photography, and aeronautics.
- Researched the effects of WWII on German occupied countries
Diagnosed with heart disease at about age 40, he developed a diet to cure himself.
Proved that his diet cured and prevented multiple diseases, including heart disease and adult onset diabetes.
His diet was a low fat high fiber diet. It consisted of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, legumes, lean protein, and fish. Things that were discouraged were red meat, oils, refined sugar, processed food, and salt.
Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn (1933-)
Proved with a small study, that a low-fat vegan diet can cure heart disease.
Dr. Roy Swank
Demonstrated the benefits of a low-fat diet for people with multiple sclerosis.
Dr. Colin Campbell PhD
Researched and illustrated, in "The China Study", that a diet low in animal products and high in plants resulted in better health for people.
Dr. Ornish
Proved in large clinical trials that a low-fat vegetarian diet along with other modest lifestyle changes can reverse heart disease.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman
Coined the term "nutritarian" and uses the ANDI scores to compare the nutrient density of foods.
Some of his books that I have read are:
"Eat for Health"
"Super Immunity"
Dr. McDougall https://www.drmcdougall.com
Working in Hawaii between 1973 and 1976 noticed the health of Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans who ate mostly rice and vegetables and the lack of health of their children and grandchildren who ate meat and dairy products.
His diet is a whole food plant based one with an emphasis on eating a lot of starches.
Dr. Michael Greger
http://nutritionfacts.org/
His videos are probably the best, up to date, information on nutrition available. He continually reads nutritional research papers. Then summarizes and presents this information in an easy to understand format. FOR FREE!
This list is not finished. Maybe later.