Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss (30 page)

In medical school my classmates and I learned from a researcher that animal protein places a detoxification stress on the liver and that the nitrogenous wastes generated are toxic. These metabolic toxins (about fourteen of them) rise in the bloodstream and accompany the rise in uric acid after a meal rich in animal protein. Withdrawal from these toxins can cause uncomfortable symptoms in susceptible individuals, symptoms that many call hypoglycemia.

The word
hypoglycemia
means “low glucose in the bloodstream.” It gives people the impression that the low glucose level itself is the cause of the problem.

Certain uncommon medical conditions (such as insulin-secreting tumors), excessive diabetic medication, and other rare illnesses can cause hypoglycemia and even hypoglycemic coma, but I am referring to those people with reactive hypoglycemia. They feel ill when they delay eating, but they do not have a serious medical condition, nor do their blood sugars drop dangerously low. Most people carrying this diagnosis do not have fasting glucoses below 50; when their blood is drawn when they delay eating and feel extremely ill, the blood sugar is usually not low enough to account for their feeling so ill. There seems to be no correlation between the severity of the symptoms and their low glucose levels, but they feel uncomfortable if they try to stop treating themselves with high-protein diets.

It is a massive oversimplification to think that a lower level of glucose in the blood is the sole cause of this problem. I find that the people with the most troublesome symptoms do not even have low glucose levels.

Many doctors learn during their training that if the liver is compromised, such as in cirrhosis, the patient cannot effectively remove these toxins and may consequently feel mentally affected, confused, and even psychotic unless they are fed a low-protein
diet, generating a lower level of nitrogenous wastes. For this reason, it is standard medical care to feed a patient with advanced liver disease a low-protein diet.

Most Americans are protein-toxic. Like the patient with cirrhosis (but less so), they are toxic because their body detoxification system struggles under the excessive nitrogen load in addition to all the salt, caffeine, sweets, trans fats, and other noxious chemicals we consume. So the stomach empties and we feel ill, not hungry. Most people are too toxic to feel hungry. Detoxification symptoms appear first. Most people are driven to eat because it is time to eat or because they feel detoxification discomfort.
Most Americans have never felt
true hunger
in their entire overfed existence
.

Many people come into my office with a diagnosis of hypoglycemia, meaning they feel ill when they delay eating. They are often told to eat a diet with frequent feedings of high-protein food. I insist that this diet is the precise cause of the condition, not the remedy; it is no more a remedy than putting them on a cup of coffee every hour. Sure, they will feel better temporarily, but if they want to make a complete and lasting recovery, they must unscramble their thinking. They must put up with about one week of not feeling so great, but then they can be set free from their discomfort and their addiction to bad habits and a toxic diet.

When I first begin treating patients with hypoglycemic symptoms, I continue them on snacks between meals and use some raw nuts and beans at each meal. They are forbidden to consume any refined carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, sweets, or fruit juice, to prevent swings in insulin. In some individuals, insulin levels swing up too high and then too low merely because they are eating refined sugars and refined grains, and not natural, unrefined food. These individuals are just sensitive to the junk food eaten by most Americans. The notoriously unreliable glucose tolerance test, in which patients consume about 100 grams of glucose, duplicates eating a huge quantity of junk food. Even normal people can feel ill from this experience.

Invariably, within two or three weeks their symptoms diminish and they gain the ability to delay eating without feeling ill. They can then follow the same diet I recommend for everyone without feeling any ill effects.

If you have this condition, you must also avoid alcohol, coffee, tea, artificial flavorings, and food additives. Fresh fruit does not need to be restricted.

Recurrent headaches are not much different. They are almost always the result of nutritional folly and, like other reasons that keep doctors’ offices busy, are completely avoidable.

The relationship between food triggers and migraines has been the subject of much debate, with varying results from medical researchers. Headache specialists such as Seymour Diamond, director of the Diamond Headache Clinic at Columbus Hospital in Chicago, report that about 30 percent of patients can identify food triggers.
⁴²

My experience in treating migraine and severe-headache patients with a more comprehensive nutritional approach has shown that 90 to 95 percent of patients are able to remain headache-free after the first three-month period. These patients avoid common migraine triggers, but also in the healing phase they adhere to a strict natural-food vegan diet of primarily fruits and vegetables rich in natural starches, such as squash and brown rice. These patients must avoid all packaged and processed foods, which are notorious for containing hidden food additives, even though they are not disclosed on the labels. They also avoid all added salt.

I believe I obtain such impressive results not merely because of avoiding triggers but because the patient becomes healthier and is able to process toxins more effectively. Additionally, when animal-product consumption is significantly lowered or removed
from the diet, the liver is not faced with breaking down this heavy toxic load and can perform its normal detoxification function more effectively.

Very often in the initial phase of my program, when patients are on a diet with a lower level of tissue irritants, a headache will be precipitated. In other words, it is possible that the patient will initially feel worse, not better. I encourage such patients not to take medication during this initial phase, if at all possible. Instead, I recommend that they drape a cold washcloth over their forehead and lie down in a dark room to rest. The prescribed diet, very low in sodium and animal protein, resolves the headaches in the large majority of patients. If it does not, not all is lost, because some fasting usually clears up the problem in most of the remaining headache sufferers.
⁴³

My patients begin by following a diet along the lines of the one described on the next page. They are instructed not to take any medication after the first week; after that time they are encouraged to control their pain with ice, hot showers, and pressure bands. They will never recover if they don’t first detoxify themselves of their addiction to pain medications. These medications may offer pain relief, but they perpetuate the headache at the same time. Drugs that are used for headaches, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), barbiturates, codeine, and ergotamines, all cause headaches to recur on a rebound basis as these toxins begin to wash out of the nervous system. Even a little aspirin can cause a chronic daily-headache syndrome.
⁴⁴

15 COMMON MIGRAINE TRIGGERS

The first phase of the anti-headache diet is followed strictly for two weeks. Then if the person is headache-free, I expand the diet to include a wider variety of fruits and begin to add beans in the second phase. I usually have the patient avoid nuts for the first few weeks because these bother some people. All dairy and yeast should be avoided as well.

If dangerous drugs were the only way for a person to gain relief from suffering, we would be forced to accept the drawbacks of conventional therapy for autoimmune illnesses. The reality is, however, that dietary and nutritional interventions work for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Caring for such patients has been a major portion of my work as a physician for the past twenty years. I have seen scores of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and connective tissue disease patients recover completely through these interventions. Many of my patients have also made complete recoveries from allergies and asthma. Not every patient obtains a complete remission, but the majority are able to avoid the use of medication.

The key to treating autoimmune illnesses is to obey the H = N/C formula. Only then can the immune system begin to normalize its haywire circuitry.

Research studies from around the world confirm that this approach is effective.
⁴⁵
While more research is needed in this area, all the studies that have been done are predictably positive and document improvement in blood inflammatory markers, as well as patient symptoms. I see this occur on a daily basis.

Here are the main ways to increase the possibility of obtaining remission or improvement in patients with autoimmune diseases:

1. A strict plant-based (vegan), dairy-free, wheat-free, and gluten-free diet is usually necessary; a lower-protein diet is helpful.
   

2. A high nutrient-per-calorie density with caloric restriction sufficient to obtain a normal weight is essential.
   

3. Arachidonic acid and DHA levels should be checked with an essential fatty acid profile. If the fatty acid balance is abnormal, supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids to achieve satisfactory balance may be necessary. Ground flaxseeds, pure plant-derived DHA, or in some cases high-potency fish oil can be used.
   

4. Therapeutic fasting can be an extremely effective adjunct to control the autoimmune response and reset the hyperactive immune system to a more normal (lower) level of activity. Do not fast if you are are dependent on multiple immunosuppressive drugs, such as methotrexate and Imuran, as it is not safe to fast while on such medication. It is
   essential that patients contemplating this therapy be properly supervised by a physician. Those interested in learning more about therapeutic fasting for autoimmune illness should read my book
   Fasting and Eating for Health
   . Physicians can request medical journal articles, including case studies that I wrote about this therapy along with comprehensive medical references, from me via my website (
   DrFuhrman.com
   ) or office.
   

5. Undertaking food elimination and challenge can uncover hidden food sensitivities. Most of the offending foods have already been eliminated—animal products, wheat, and dairy—but many patients find other foods that can worsen their condition as well. These foods are not routinely uncovered with allergy testing. It usually requires a short period of fasting and then the gradual introduction of only one new food each day, eliminating any food that causes an increase in pain over the fasted state. I would like to repeat this to make it clear—the elevated levels of IgG and IgE against various foods on allergy tests are indeed common in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases; however, there is not an adequate clinical correlation between those foods and the foods we find to be aggravating the symptoms. Other researchers have noted the same thing.
   ⁴⁶
   I usually instruct patients to save their money and forgo those tests.
   

Working with patients with autoimmune diseases such as connective tissue disease, myositis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus is very rewarding. These patients were convinced that they could never get well and are usually eternally grateful to be healthy again and not require medication. I regularly get notes and letters, such as these unsolicited comments: