NT November Thread - Page 5

[Bia]

Anyone read this book? It is FANTASTIC.

The Modern Nutritional Diseases: And How to Prevent Them : Heart Disease, Stroke, Type-2 Diabetes, Obesity, Cancer by Alice Ottoboni, Ph.D. and Fred Ottoboni, Ph.D.

link at amazon

A bit technical, but relatively reader friendly explanations of the biological need for real fat, protein, etc. in the diet. Backs up NT in a way that is based on pure science and, therefore, very hard to argue with. Would be great to hand someone who scoffs at NT.

[Bia]

also, what did you all do for stuffing/dressing for Thanksgiving? I tried sourdough, and it was fine, but not good enough to make again.

[cobluegirl]

stuffing....shhh...we did stovetop....

[Bia]

:d

[toraji]

Oooh, that looks like a great book!

On stuffing/dressing: We made dried bread cubes out of some old sourdough bread (they need to be rock hard dry), then mixed them with melted butter/olive oil (I think I used about 1/3 c to 1 lb bread), chopped onions, celery, carrots, added raisins and chopped apples and filberts. Seasoned with salt, pepper, and herbs (rosemary, thyme) and pressed raw garlic. Then stuffed the bird with it, which was excellent! We had a small bird so we had leftover stuffing, which I put into a foil pouch, added water to moisten, and then baked. I did not use enough water so it was not as tasty as the stuffing from inside the bird.

[gardenmommy]

Well, I'm really off the wagon right now! I'm eating so much junk, it's pathetic! When we get back home, I think we're going to have to have a major overhaul of our diet again.

On a more positive note, I read through a good part of the Eat to Live book by Dr. Fuhrman (can't remember his first name right now.) I found it to be very interesting, although not entirely compatible with NT. Many of his predications are good: eat more greens, veggies, and fruit, eat things as close to their natural state as possible, stay away from sugar and refined foods, don't eat hydrogenated oils, etc.

I'm wondering if anyone here has picked up that book, and what you thought of it. He doesn't seem to make any distinction between the quality of animal protein and plant protein, except that he views animal products as cancer-causing. Having been veg. for 7-8 yrs., and a good one at that, it's hard for me to buy that reasoning. Seems like if plant protein was completely adequate, I wouldn't have felt so much better after including meat in my diet again (and it was a really major difference)

I'd like to read the book a little more closely to compare it to NT. However, at this point, I think NT more closely fits my philosophy. Any other opinions?

[toraji]

cjr did ETL (lol!)...she would be the one to tell you about it as compared to NT. I agree with Dr. Fuhrman that commercial feedlot animal products are cancer-causing and evil. There are studies starting to come out on the differences between feedlot and grassfed animal products (http://www.eatwild.com/references.html ), but I think it will still be a while before the modern dietary people catch up.

But despite his vegetarian slant, even he does agree that a strict vegetarian diet is not as important as including fresh fruits and vegetables.

[...] you can achieve the benefits of a vegetarian diet, without being a vegetarian or a vegan, and the science available seems to support this.

Full article here: http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article5.aspx

[toraji]

Somewhat OT:

This has the potential to affect our local homegrown food supply. The USDA has drafted a plan to track all livestock animals from birth to death, even if you just have one chicken. Livestock owners will be forced to register/RFID tag all their animals, and have to register their name, telephone number, and address for GPS satellite monitoring. This will be mandatory by January 1, 2008.

More info on my thread here:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=377242

Maybe I should just bust this out into a separate thread...

[gardenmommy]

Toraji, I noticed that in the book, also. Still, I couldn't help but come away with very mixed feelings from what I read. On the one hand, I was really impressed with his strong push for more fresh veg. and fruits. I thought that if one takes nothing else from the book, that alone would make a hugely positive impact on the SAD. I liked that he didn't shy away from using avocados and such in his recommendations.

However, he was very negative about using butter, raw milk (well, all dairy, except fat free), and red meats. I think that is a big misconception that most people have. Our bodies need something in those foods; even though I can't precisely identify what it is, I can tell a major difference when I get lots of fats from them in my diet. I don't think it's just protein; as a veg., I ate lots of protein. So, I'm fairly sure it's something else I was missing. Plus, I'm not convinced that just taking a supplement for B12 (and other critical nutrients) is as good as getting it from your diet.

CJR, what were your impressions from this book? Did you incorporate anything from it into your own diet? How did it look? This is very interesting to me, especially since the author claims to have such a high rate of success in helping so many people with serious health issues.

[TopazBlueMama]

I think it's a great plan if you just would add a few cups of raw milk or yogurt with your meals and some eggs at least.
I tried it last summer. Did it perfectly for a week, but I could tell that my health was going down, I was feeling very depleted. I wouldn't do it unless I knew that I was digesting my foods VERY well and able to absorb the nutrients from the huge load of plant foods that you need to eat. (omg it was HARD eating all that food! lol)

[gardenmommy]

I can seee that it would be hard to eat all that he suggests. I also thought it might be difficult for my body to digest all the fiber in the diet. And regardless of what the book says, I do have trouble digesting loads and loads of legumes ( although that does improve when they are properly soaked).

Right now, I think I could definitely pick up some good pointers from the ETL book, but I don't think I would adopt the whole plan. Which is, I suppose, one reason I was interested in seeing what other folks who eat NT-style thought of it.

[cobluegirl]

NEW THREAD
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...29#post4249929