Friday, 24 October 2014
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
Is Meat Unhealthy? Part I
Introduction
At Dr. McDougall's Advanced Study Weekend, I had the opportunity to hear a number of researchers and advocates make the case for a "plant-based diet", which is a diet containing little or no animal foods. Many of them voiced the opinion that animal foods contribute substantially to the primary killers in the US, such as heart disease and cancer. Some of the evidence they presented was provocative and compelling, so it stimulated me to take a deeper look and come to my own conclusions.
No matter what the health implications of meat eating turn out to be, I respect vegetarians and vegans. Most of them are conscientious, responsible people who make daily personal sacrifices to try to make the world a better place for all of us.
My Experience with Vegetarian and Vegan Diets
Read more �
At Dr. McDougall's Advanced Study Weekend, I had the opportunity to hear a number of researchers and advocates make the case for a "plant-based diet", which is a diet containing little or no animal foods. Many of them voiced the opinion that animal foods contribute substantially to the primary killers in the US, such as heart disease and cancer. Some of the evidence they presented was provocative and compelling, so it stimulated me to take a deeper look and come to my own conclusions.
No matter what the health implications of meat eating turn out to be, I respect vegetarians and vegans. Most of them are conscientious, responsible people who make daily personal sacrifices to try to make the world a better place for all of us.
My Experience with Vegetarian and Vegan Diets
Read more �
Tuesday, 14 October 2014
Obesity ? Diabetes
A new study adds to the evidence that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is rapidly increasing in the US, and our national weight problem is largely to blame.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) currently estimates that a jaw-dropping 33 percent of US men, and 39 percent of US women, will develop diabetes at some point in their lives (1). Roughly one out of three people in this country will develop diabetes, and those who don't manage it effectively will suffer debilitating health consequences. Has the risk of developing diabetes always been so high, and if not, why is it increasing?
In the same issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine as the low-carb vs. low-fat study, appears another study that aims to partially address this question (2).
Read more �
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) currently estimates that a jaw-dropping 33 percent of US men, and 39 percent of US women, will develop diabetes at some point in their lives (1). Roughly one out of three people in this country will develop diabetes, and those who don't manage it effectively will suffer debilitating health consequences. Has the risk of developing diabetes always been so high, and if not, why is it increasing?
In the same issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine as the low-carb vs. low-fat study, appears another study that aims to partially address this question (2).
Read more �
Friday, 10 October 2014
Thursday, 9 October 2014
Defending Scholarship
In 1971, Robert Nisbet published The Degradation of the Academic Dogma. Although many parts of the book can be seen as being outdated and ethnocentric, the basic argument still is vital: Universities are about the production and analysis of knowledge, and everything else a university does should be considered secondary. Nisbet adds to this �dogma,� the notion that the university has always been about knowledge for knowledge�s sake, even though it can have profound social and personal effects.
If we look around at the University of California today, and other similar institutions, we can see how this foundation of the modern university has been lost in a sea of competing interests. Some believe that a university should focus on training students for future jobs, while others argue that the main function of the university is personal development. At the same time, many recent university initiatives are directed at developing new technologies or raising funds or contributing to the local and state economy. Many of these goals are worthy, but from Nisbet�s perspective, they should only be indirect results of the central focus on scholarship.
The problem then is not so much that the university is being taken over by corporate managers or political officials; the problem is that the production and analysis of knowledge has become just one competing interest among others. Basic research and instruction have thus lost their value because they are no longer the guiding priorities. From Nisbet�s perspective, university knowledge can only remain central if it is treated with respect and faith. While this displaced religiosity may be off-putting, the main point is that students and faculty have to believe in the incredible value of knowledge and the disciplinary methodologies that have been established to create and circulate scholarship.
Every time a school celebrates the building of a new stadium or corporate research park, a little part of the university dies. Our schools have lost their way, and so they don�t mind staffing their classes with inexperienced, part-time people or hiring administrators with no academic background. Of course, universities need funds to survive, but when every function is sold to the highest bidder and every learning experience is tested and quantified, there is nothing left to protect or cherish.
In our fight to force our campuses to spend more money on undergraduate instruction, we are trying to return to an emphasis on scholarship and education. No fancy technology or highly paid manager can substitute for the experience in the classroom or lab or library.
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
Metabolic Effects of a Traditional Asian High-carbohydrate Diet
A recent study supports the notion that an 'ancestral diet' focused around high-starch agricultural foods can cultivate leanness and metabolic health.
John McDougall gave Christopher Gardner a hard time at the McDougall Advanced Study Weekend. Dr. Gardner conducts high-profile randomized controlled trials (RCTs) at Stanford to compare the effectiveness of a variety of diets for weight loss, cardiovascular and metabolic health. The "A to Z Study", in which Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and LEARN diets were pitted against one another for one year, is one of his best-known trials (1).
Dr. McDougall asked a simple question: why haven't these trials evaluated the diet that has sustained the large majority of the world's population for the last several thousand years? This is an agriculturalist or horticulturalist diet based around starchy foods such as grains, tubers, legumes, and plantains, and containing little fat or animal foods. Researchers have studied a number of cultures eating this way, and have usually found them to be lean, with good cardiovascular and metabolic health. Why not devote resources to studying this time-tested ancestral diet? I think it's a fair question.
Read more �
John McDougall gave Christopher Gardner a hard time at the McDougall Advanced Study Weekend. Dr. Gardner conducts high-profile randomized controlled trials (RCTs) at Stanford to compare the effectiveness of a variety of diets for weight loss, cardiovascular and metabolic health. The "A to Z Study", in which Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and LEARN diets were pitted against one another for one year, is one of his best-known trials (1).
Dr. McDougall asked a simple question: why haven't these trials evaluated the diet that has sustained the large majority of the world's population for the last several thousand years? This is an agriculturalist or horticulturalist diet based around starchy foods such as grains, tubers, legumes, and plantains, and containing little fat or animal foods. Researchers have studied a number of cultures eating this way, and have usually found them to be lean, with good cardiovascular and metabolic health. Why not devote resources to studying this time-tested ancestral diet? I think it's a fair question.
Read more �
Friday, 26 September 2014
Help Advance Diabetes Research
A University of Virginia researcher named Hannah Menefee contacted me recently to ask for our help. She and her colleagues are conducting a study on how people with type 2 diabetes use Facebook to manage their health, and how that technology can be leveraged to support effective health communication.
If you have type 2 diabetes, and you'd like to participate in the study, please join their Diabetes Management Study Facebook group. There, you'll receive more information about the study, you'll receive a short survey, and you may be invited into one of the study phases.
If you have type 2 diabetes, and you'd like to participate in the study, please join their Diabetes Management Study Facebook group. There, you'll receive more information about the study, you'll receive a short survey, and you may be invited into one of the study phases.