A. Before I answer these questions, I just want to remind your readers that I have over 20,000 pages of information on Mercola.com. For more detail on my answers, or for detail on almost any health topic at all, they can easily search the site.
Grains.
I advocate vastly reducing or eliminating the intake of grains for almost everyone. Far more than the fat in the foods we eat, it is the excess carbohydrates from our starch- and sugar-loaded diet that is making people fat and unhealthy, and leading to epidemic levels of a host of diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
It was only with the advent of agriculture a mere 10,000 years ago, or 500 generations ago, that humans began ingesting large amounts of sugar and starch in the form of grains (and potatoes) into their diets.
Indeed, 99.99% of our genes were formed before the advent of agriculture; in biological terms, our bodies are still those of hunter-gatherers. Societies where the transition from a primarily meat/vegetation diet to one high in cereals show a reduced lifespan and stature, increases in infant mortality and infectious disease, and higher nutritional deficiencies. We have not suddenly evolved mechanisms to incorporate the high carbohydrates from starch- and sugar-rich foods into our diet.
We all need a certain amount of carbohydrates, of course, but, through our addiction to grains (which includes corn), potatoes, sweets and other starchy and sugary foods, we are consuming far too many. The body's storage capacity for carbohydrates is quite limited, though, so here's what happens to all the excess: they are converted, via insulin, into fat and stored in the adipose, or fatty, tissue.
Any meal or snack high in carbohydrates generates a rapid rise in blood glucose. To adjust for this rise, the pancreas secretes the hormone insulin into the bloodstream, which lowers the glucose. Insulin is, though, essentially a storage hormone, evolved over those millions of years of humans prior to the agricultural age, to store the excess calories from carbohydrates in the form of fat in case of famine.
Insulin, stimulated by the excess carbohydrates in our overabundant consumption of grains, starches and sweets, is responsible for all those bulging stomachs and fat rolls in thighs and chins.
Even worse, high insulin levels suppress two other important hormones - glucagons and growth hormones - that are responsible for burning fat and sugar and promoting muscle development, respectively. So insulin from excess carbohydrates promotes fat, and then wards off the body's ability to lose that fat.
Excess weight and obesity lead to heart disease and a wide variety of other diseases. But the ill effect of grains and sugars does not end there. They suppress the immune system, contributing to allergies, and they are responsible for a host of digestive disorders. They contribute to depression, and their excess consumption is, in fact, associated with many of the chronic diseases in our nation, such as cancer and diabetes.
Water intake.
The rule of thumb is, for every 50 pounds of body weight you carry, drink one quart of bottled spring or filtered water per day. The average person weighs 150lbs, so they should drink three quarts per day. A 200lb person should drink a full gallon per day. Athletes should drink even more than that.
The spring (not "drinking") water should be bottled in clear polyethylene or glass containers, not the one-gallon plastic (PVC) containers that transfer far too many chemicals into the water. Filtered water can be obtained through low-cost filters, such as those provided by Culligan or PUR brands. Another recommendation of mine is the GE Smart Water, which was top rated in Consumer Reports December 2002.
Tap water should be avoided because it contains chlorine and may contain fluoride, both toxic substances that, with ongoing consumption, can have dire consequences for the body. Although somewhat controversial, I also strongly recommend avoiding distilled water because it has the wrong ionization, pH, polarization and oxidation potentials, and can drain your body of necessary minerals. It has been tied to hair loss, which is often associated with certain mineral deficiencies.
Finally, drink water at room temperature if possible, as ice-cold water can harm the delicate lining of your stomach and impair your body's ability to optimize nutrient absorption.
Meat.
Most adults require 50-120 grams of protein per day depending on gender, body weight, and activity level - bodybuilders can certainly require more. You should increase your intake of meat or eggs if you need to increase your protein intake, and I recommend protein with every meal.
Protein powders can also be used, but they are highly processed and will not provide you with all the advantages and benefits of real food. If you use protein powders it is important to avoid soy protein powders.
As for the ideal type of meat to eat, I highly advocate grass-fed beef - that is, not the common beef raised on the artificial diets of grain such as corn. I also recommend buffalo, venison, and lamb, as these are game animals less likely to be contaminated with pesticides. Chicken, duck and turkey are also fine sources of protein.
Eggs are probably one of the best values in protein and a body builder could easily eat a dozen a day as long as they did not heat the yolk. This may surprise many people as they will be concerned about the risk of salmonella, but the reality is that salmonella is a relatively uncommon infection in healthy cage-free organically fed chickens. Additionally, salmonella is a mild self-limiting infection in all but the seriously health-impaired and it is typically easily treated with doses of an effective probiotic like acidophilus.
The reason I advise not cooking the yolk is the incredible destruction of highly perishable nutrients that occurs once the yolk is heated. Just imagine that virtually all that is required to grow a mammalian life form is present in the egg in the perfect combinations. Once you heat the yolk above 105 degrees, just like your own body, you will rapidly damage the sensitive architecture of life, including most of the enzymes and fragile biochemicals that facilitate health.
Imagine a delicate crystal vase. Now imagine someone smashes it with a hammer and then tries to convince you that it is the exact same vase as before they destroyed it because, hey, all the pieces are still there. Well, obviously it's not the same. It not only looks different, but it can't perform the important function of holding fluids or displaying the beauty it had prior to being smashed with the hammer.
Well, an unheated egg yolk may seem similar to a cooked egg yolk, but it is far more complex and precise. We just don't appreciate that as we can't see it at the molecular level. If we could, the picture would be just as clear as with the vase. One of the major dangers of heating the yolk is that you can damage the cholesterol in the egg and oxidize it, especially if you mix it with egg whites as in scrambled eggs.
It may take some getting used to eating raw egg yolks, but if one starts slowly it is not much of a problem. I also advise adding them to the leftover pulp one creates when vegetable juicing. When one adds a little oil the mixture turns to a mayonnaise type substance that actually tastes quite good.
It is important not to eat your egg whites raw, however, as egg whites have a substance called avidin that will bind to biotin (a B vitamin) and can cause deficiencies over time. You can put the egg whites in a skillet with some water and put a lid on it and cook them over a very low heat so all the whites are solid white and not burnt.
I also advise avoiding pork. Pigs are scavenger animals and are frequently contaminated with parasites that are not removed with cooking. It would be best to avoid all ham and pork products. Pork can be heavily contaminated with mold spores in its fat. Pork is also used in labs to culture cancer cells as it increases their growth.
I also caution against processed, cured, smoked, or dried meats, as the nitrates that are typically added have been shown to cause problems for most people.
Milk.
Commercial dairy is loaded with hormones and pesticides that are not doing anything to further your health. However, even if you use organic milk, the central issue is the pasteurization and homogenization that is performed to the milk. Just as in the egg example above, this processing tends to damage the proteins in the milk and can cause autoimmune problems over time.
Pasteurization has clearly reduced the risk of TB and brucellosis from milk, but if you consume milk from healthy animals to begin with this infection risk is quite low.
Most people will benefit from at least reducing their intake of dairy. Avoid dairy for a few weeks to see how your health improves. If you are off all milk products, you should consider supplementing your diet with calcium. Milk is also an important source of vitamin D for many, so if you stop milk, make sure you are getting enough vitamin D from other sources.
Many people seem to tolerate raw milk and raw milk products quite well, though. The problem is that in nearly every state it is illegal to purchase, but if one finds a cooperative farmer, barter exchanges can be arranged.
Fruit.
Do not eat more than three servings of fruit per day (less if you have not cut back your sugar intake in other areas). Fruits like apples, plums and strawberries are good, but I recommend avoiding bananas because of their concentrated sugar levels. There is 300% more potassium in dark green vegetables such as kale than there is in bananas.
Also avoid dried fruits, especially raisins. Consuming fruit before bed is best, as it helps increase the amount of tryptophan crossing the blood brain barrier that will increase serotonin levels and improve any depressive tendencies.
Fruit juices should also be avoided. They contain a large amount of refined carbohydrates. Each glass of juice, even those with no sugar added, has more sugar than a glass of soda. Although it is natural sugar, fructose, it will still negatively affect your immune system.
Vegetables (juicing; "1 lb of vegetables per day per 50lbs of body weight") I recommend replacing the grains in your diet with vegetables. Most people also benefit far more from increasing their intake of vegetables than supplementing with vitamins. For every fifty pounds of body weight, you should eat a pound of vegetables per day. This will optimize your body's pH acid/alkaline balance.
Ideally, at least one-third of the all the foods in your diet should be consumed raw because there are valuable and sensitive micronutrients that are damaged when you heat foods. Regularly juicing your vegetables will easily help you reach this goal of 1/3 raw food in your diet.
All vegetables promote health, unless you are allergic to them or have intestinal problems. But some vegetables are superior to others. A general rule of thumb is, green is good. The greener the vegetable, the more healthy chlorophyll is present.
Most lettuces, such as romaine, red and green leaf, are healthy choices, but iceberg lettuce has almost no nutritional value. Some other good vegetables choices include spinach, celery, cucumbers, green and red cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, onions, and red peppers.
Carrots are high in sugar and generally should be limited.
Organic vegetables are, of course, recommended, because they not only decrease your exposure to dangerous pesticides, but they have two to five times more nutrients as compared to non-organic vegetables. Most people agree that they also taste much better.
Tuna and other fish
This is a no-brainer. Tuna, most all salmon and swordfish need to be avoided. Says who? Says the National Academy of Sciences. We have been using coal to generate electricity for over half of our country for many years. Most coal is loaded with mercury and when it is burned it pollutes the atmosphere and rains back into the waterways of the world and eventually even to both polar ice caps. So the reality is nearly all fish are polluted with not only mercury, but PCBs, dioxins and many other chemicals that will disrupt your immune system. I do find this sad, because without these poisons, fish would be a wonderfully healthy food, high in the Omega-3 that Americans are not getting enough of.
We are exploring some fish distributors, such as a salmon distributor in Alaska, who claim their fish are free of detectable levels of any contaminants due to being caught in pristine waters. We'll see. Meanwhile, one of the few supplements I absolutely recommend - if it can be considered a supplement - is fish oil, because it does provide the necessary Omega-3 with EPA and DHA fatty acids. More specifically, I recommend cod liver oil in the cold weather months, as it is high in vitamin D necessary in cold weather, and fish oil in warm months, when the sunshine is producing enough vitamin D on its own. There are vastly different quality fish oils out there, with different levels of purity, for instance, of which the buyer should be aware; I have researched these fish oils and we'll be offering what I've found to be a premium brand on Mercola.com in late October, 2002.
Eggs
Eggs are high in protein, which is good, but if people only eat one organic food, it should be eggs. Organic eggs contain a 1:1 omega 6 to 3 ratio, while commercial eggs contain a 19:1 omega 6 to 3 ratio. Commercial eggs are not unhealthy due to the cholesterol, that is, but due to their excessive omega 6 fats.
Most people can eat 1-2 dozen eggs per week if cooked properly, as they will not cause your cholesterol to increase with appropriate preparation. While the quantity of eggs people can eat is higher than they have probably heard from some other sources, it is important NOT to eat eggs daily or an allergy to them can be developed. If the eggs are prepared conventionally, eat them no more than five days per week.
The ideal way to prepare eggs is to not cook the egg yolk at all; that is, eat the yolks raw (if this is hard to handle "straight up," then mix the yolks into vegetable juice or other raw food). If yolks must be cooked, though, it is best to hard- or soft-boil them. There is iron in the egg white and when it is mixed with the yolk and heated, the cholesterol in the egg becomes oxidized. It is oxidized cholesterol that contributes to hardening of the arteries and increases your risk of heart disease. So scrambled eggs or omelets containing the yolks are one of the worst ways to prepare eggs.
Q: Now, you say simple sugars are bad, but is anything really "all bad"? For example, simple sugars after a workout can be very beneficial.
Nearly all simple sugars are devoid of the fiber and accessory nutrients that one needs to digest them. There is absolutely no question from a physiological perspective one would be better to avoid them. If you are using them for calories you can be certain that your body needs those accessory nutrients, vitamins and minerals just as badly as it needs the calories, and if you neglect their intake over time you will develop deficiency syndromes.
However, life is a matter of balance. If you are healthy it is perfectly reasonable to go off my program 5% of the time and still have extraordinary high levels of health and fitness.
If one were to consume sugar immediately before, during or immediately after workouts, that would probably be the absolute best time to consume them as they will be rapidly converted by the body and utilized as fuel, rather than triggering a deleterious insulin response.
Q: Let's talk about food allergies, what they do, and how they can develop. Can you give us an overview of that topic?
[Too complex a topic to adequately address for this format and my time schedule. It is important to understand that they do exist and if they are to a food that you are designed to eat based on your metabolic type there are many effective strategies we successfully use in our center to remove the allergy.]
Because that is what we are designed for. Of course, one would not go out in the spring for one hour, especially if they had a fair complexion. One needs to exercise common sense and avoid ever getting burnt. Simply listening to one's body and noticing the warmth that typically occurs when one has had excess UV exposure is normally more than adequate for most people to avoid being burned.
So why go in the sun? The obvious answer is to get your vitamin D, which, in fact, is not a vitamin. It is the only "vitamin" that a breast-feeding mom needs to give in the winter as the child does not get it from the mom. That should be a giant clue that tells everyone we need sun to receive our vitamin D.
There are literally only a handful of clinicians who routinely measure vitamin D levels. We do it on all patients in our office and find that well over 95% are deficient, and most horribly deficient in the late winter and early spring and many also during the summer. This is typically in people who consciously avoid, or whose work schedule has them avoid, the sun. This is particularly true for most African-Americans and darkly pigmented people.
Additionally, the National Institutes of Health have very clearly identified the need for regular full spectrum light exposure (sunlight being the best, of course) for optimizing mental health. SAD is common for many in the dark winter months and is largely related to lack of adequate sun exposure.
Q: What is EFT?
The Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT, is the psychological technique I routinely use in my practice and most highly recommend to optimize emotional health. While it was quite unknown a decade ago, it is gaining notoriety quickly. It is easy to learn, easy to use, and highly effective.
Although it is still often overlooked, emotional health is absolutely essential to physical health and healing - no matter how devoted you are to the proper diet or lifestyle, your body will not achieve its peak capabilities if emotional barriers stand in the way.
EFT is a form of "psychological acupressure," based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to treat physical and emotional ailments for over five thousand years, but without the invasiveness of needles. Instead, simple tapping with the fingertips is used to input kinetic energy onto specific meridians on the head and chest while you think about your specific problem - whether it is a traumatic event, an addiction, pain, etc. -- and voice positive affirmations.
This combination of tapping the energy meridians and voicing positive affirmation works to clear the "short-circuit" - the emotional block -- from your body's bioenergy system, thus restoring your mind and body's balance, which is essential for optimal health and the healing of physical disease.
Some people are initially wary of these principles that EFT is based on - the electromagnetic energy that flows through the body and regulates our health is only recently becoming recognized in the West. Others are initially taken aback by the EFT tapping and affirmation methodology - it may not seem "manly," and, in fact, can be downright amusing to witness for the first time. But, more than any other technique I have used or researched, it works.
On Mercola.com, I offer a free EFT Manual for anyone interested in reading more and learning this technique.
Q: Now, you're a marathon runner. T-mag readers are mostly bodybuilders, powerlifters and combat athletes. How do your dietary guidelines change when dealing with that population. Or do they? (You may have covered this in another question.)
I used to be a marathoner. I now only run enough to stay healthy which has been about 18 miles a week for the last ten years. I am actually at this time more of a weight trainer. Clearly, bodybuilders or anyone using their muscles regularly will increase their protein requirements. You can't build muscles without protein and amino acids. Depending on one's program, they can take very high levels of protein. However, one should strive for the ideal levels. It makes no sense to take too much protein, which will increase the risk for kidney damage. But virtually all of my other guidelines are identical for bodybuilders as the rest of the population.
Q: If someone is eating a lot of sugar and smoking, you suggest to cut the sugar first. Why is that?
First of all, eating a lot of sugar and smoking are both bad for you, and a person who does both should ultimately aim to eliminate both. But I recommend cutting the sugar first for several reasons.
First, sugar is of prime responsibility for the overweight and obesity epidemic in the U.S. and, in a study surveying 9,500 Americans, obesity was associated with higher rates of chronic medical problems and a poorer quality of life than was alcohol abuse, smoking or poverty. The difference is, the overweight and obesity problem has not received the same attention as the ill health effects of smoking or alcohol abuse, largely because the foods that contribute to it have become such a part of the fabric of our society. Challenging the tobacco giants will be a cake-walk, in other words, compared to challenging the fast food and processed food giants.
As published in the medical journal "Public Health" in June of 2001, researchers analyzed data from this vast survey and found that while the unhealthy effects of smoking are certainly true, they are still smaller than those of obesity on both a person's health and their quality of life.
Second, studies have found that cigarettes act as a physical anti-depressant, though it is still unclear whether it is particularly nicotine or some other chemical in cigarettes. When a smoker quits, they are therefore depressed, often for very long periods, and almost always increase their intake of junk food to compensate for the loss of cigarettes. Many people who quit smoking gain weight for this reason. If their intake of sugar was already high, they will not only gain more excess weight, but also gain it rapidly, both leading to high health risks.
By attempting to kick these bad habits in the reverse - first adopting a healthy diet, including low sugar, and then quitting smoking - success at both are more likely. Leaving excess sugar behind can certainly be tough, but it is breaking a craving, not breaking the chemical addiction acting as an anti-depressant that is cigarettes. Cutting the sugar, in other words, it is a lot less likely you will become physically depressed and increase your one-pack-a-day habit to two packs a day. But quitting smoking before you've cut the sugar, it is highly likely you will increase your two-packs of Hostess Ho-Ho's per day habit to three or four packs, with devastating results.
Q: All of your recommendations sound good, but I gotta tell you, I've never known a guy to actually get poisoned by eating too much tuna. Comments?
Never known anyone with a disease of the central nervous system, then, such as Alzheimer's?
Mercury poisoning is an insidious disease that gradually degenerates your central nervous system. If your ability to actively excrete it is high you might get away without obvious damage, but we do have a literal epidemic of Alzheimer's. The number of people with that devastating problem is expected to triple in the next generation. MS and ALS are other neurodegenerative illnesses that have been associated to mercury exposure.
I have seen many hundreds of people severely damaged with this neurotoxin. It is not pretty.
Tuna - and most other fish - are polluted with mercury, and a host of other toxins, which is why I recommend avoiding it.
Comments?
These are fine-tuning recommendations that can be ignored if one chooses when they are healthy. Please remember, I am managing many thousands of patients with chronic illnesses who have been to the best-of-the-best traditional medical doctors but got no positive change from them. Many times these seemingly crazy recommendations I make - recommendations based on facts provided through reputable sources, by the way, not "magic" or guesswork -- do indeed result in dramatically positive results for these patients.
Most, but not all, of the recommendations you just listed damage only in small ways on an individual basis, and a reasonably healthy person has enough reserve to compensate for that damage to some extent. But the damage of all these things is cumulative, and over time will lead to many different types of degenerative illness.
Just as in other areas of life, if you follow some of the advice, you will be better off than following none of it. It is most wise, of course, to focus on the basic advice, which includes eating an optimized diet and addressing your emotional wounds and barriers with an effective tool like EFT. Nearly all of us have some internal bioelectrical short-circuiting from previous negative life events that is limiting us from experiencing the fullness that life has to offer.
Q: You've been called paranoid and "health paranoia personified". Many have also called for studies that back up some of the "stranger" claims. How do you respond to your critics?
Actually, this is the first I have heard of that particular label. But people can say what they want to say. I am not offended in the least, and certainly not surprised. I am typically 10-20 years ahead of the pack in many areas. When I first stated running in 1968, people were literally throwing rocks and cans at me as they thought I was some sort of nut. You would never see anyone running in the street in the 60s. Now there are millions of people running.
I could go on and on with dozens of other examples, but the real question is this: what is my real motivation? And what is the real motivation of those criticizing me and other natural physicians?
Those who criticize natural physicians like me tend to come from the traditional medical establishment, meaning they are the medical practitioners, hospitals and research groups purchased by pharmaceutical companies and other giant healthcare corporations and therefore addicted to prescribing drugs, surgery and other band-aids to patch up versus end or avoid diseases. If they are consumers joining in on the criticizing, they tend to be heavily influenced by TV and other mass media, whose messages are, of course, largely purchased by the traditional medical establishment.
The existing medical establishment's primary trick is to get consumers to forget the most important question - their real motivation - by dazzling you with what appears to be magnificently trustworthy qualifications. But their "clinical studies" conducted by heavily biased "researchers," their advertisements and news stories carefully scripted to scare you into belief, their highly polished corporate offices and corporate websites, and their extreme focus on whatever has the most profit potential versus health potential, are not qualifications at all. They are not "factual." They are scams designed to feed greed.
Obviously, when a natural physician comes along with the aim of telling the truth to enable people to live longer and rely far less on patchwork healthcare such as pharmaceuticals and surgery - and especially when a lot of those truths directly or indirectly end up implicating the government and the mega-corporations profiting from those very drugs and surgeries - they will try to stick all sorts of negative labels on me. I am a threat to their profit, and so they call me "paranoid," or a "quack," or whatever they think will instantly appeal to the easily misled, the blind followers, in our society.
Meanwhile, it doesn't take a lot of deep thought to realize that my program, at its heart, is based entirely on common sense: an ideal diet and lifestyle -- the things you do and do not put into your body everyday, and the way you treat and maintain your body and mind - are far more important to your health and well-being than choosing between, say, pain relievers. How often, though, do you see commercials promoting romaine lettuce, or vegetables in general, versus those promoting Tylenol, Motrin and all the other pain relievers? Who, in other words, has really cornered the market on paranoia?
So, then, what is my motivation? My motivation - which is truly my passion -- is to find the absolute best strategies that address the foundational causes of disease so people's health is restored and optimized for a longer and more fulfilling life. In my experience with the nearly 20,000 patients I have seen, and secondarily, in my years of discussions with other medical practitioners and my ongoing research of traditional and alternative medical studies, I have learned an extensive amount about all the particulars I recommend and discuss on my website.
Of the nearly 20,000 patients I have seen, the vast majority of those who were consistently compliant with my recommendations improved their health. With the people I saw earlier on in my practice, the percentage was much lower, but now my success rate is well over 90%. The people who trust me with guiding them back to health - whether directly in my practice, or indirectly through my website, newsletter, and forthcoming book -- are the only ones I am responsible to. That is why I seek to provide them with the best of the best. As for those who simply parrot the tainted criticisms of the traditional medical establishment, well, it's their loss, not mine.