More yet on the Israeli low-carb study
Dr. Dean Ornish never misses an opportunity to worm his way into print. You’ve got to give him credit: he is a self promoter par excellence. When John Tierney posted twice on his New York Times blog about the Israeli study that I posted on previously, Ornish couldn’t resist. He asked if he could post another take on the study. Full post here.
Here is a point he made that readers of this blog (mine) should find amusing. And unbelievable.
What I’d like to focus on here is an encouraging phenomenon that I’ve been predicting for some time: the convergence of dietary recommendations. While people who promote different diets like to accentuate the differences between them, there is actually an evolving consensus of what constitutes a healthy way of eating for most people. While some significant differences remain, a greater agreement is emerging among nutrition experts than most people realize.
Before Dr. Atkins died, he preached the health benefits of bacon, burgers and brie in his books and in my numerous debates with him, including those at the annual scientific meetings of the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and the American Dietetic Association. However, the “Atkins diet” used in the recent NEJM study was vegetarian. A vegetarian Atkins diet? Why? Perhaps it was because this approach would provide the best outcomes. And it did.
Ironically, the “Atkins Diet” used in this study was actually closer to the nutritional guidelines I recommend than the traditional American Heart Association “low-fat” diet, which is not very low in fat, encourages consumption of red meat and does not limit the intake of refined carbohydrates.
Jesus sat down and flat out bawled.
This version of the Atkins diet was closer to Ornish’s than the to the AHA low-fat guidelines?!?!?! Give me a break. Ornish is trying to weasel in on the success of the low-carb diet in this study by claiming that it is close to his own diet. And he’s doing so because the article stated that the subjects on the low-carb diet were encouraged to get their protein from vegetarian sources. Dr. Ornish obviously failed to read the response from the lead author of the study, who wrote that the actual diet the subjects followed was the typical Atkin Diet, not an Ornishified version of such.
This is kind of funny that some could think of a “vegetarian low-carb” diet. Is it a new suggested strategy? could be interesting idea but this wasn’t the case here. Our low-carb diet was based on Atkins, the participants read the book and the recipes were more or less comparable to what you know in the states. Beef is the main red meat. What could be different?
And that’s from the horses mouth, so to speak.
I find it interesting and a little sad that Ornish has retreated to the Rodney King (“Why can’t we all just get together?) take on the diet wars. I suppose that now that his untenable theories of the proper diet have been stomped to the dirt by a pile of research papers over the past few years, that it’s the best he can do under the circumstances.
Simon, to put it bluntly–it’s a matter of class–and power. Far be it from me to tell the Dalai Lama that being himself an atheist while the ordinary Tibetan deifies him is an incredible contradiction… That he wants to reinstate the old Tibetan power structure, which was dictatorial, while he decries Chinese dictatorial interference in Tibet, well… six of one, half dozen of the other.
The educated among the Buddhist world have always maintained it as atheistic. It’s the lower classes who never gave up the gods and demons of their local culture and incorporated them into their regional Buddhist traditions.
In fact, the Buddha was not an atheist – he came with a particular mission, a corrective to the overly credulous climate of his time, in which people sought material favors from God using mantras, ceremonies, etc. Buddha therefore emphasized the impersonal nature of the cosmic consciousness.
George, that’s a Martin Luther overlay upon the Buddhist tradition.
Dr Mike, what is it about dairy that halts weight loss for some people?
Like simon fellows, I find that when I’m scrupulous about eliminating dairy, then I lose weight, but the minute I eat cheese, it’s over. I’m talking about a slice that you put over a tuna melt, without the bread! In other words, very little, sometimes less than an ounce. Also, it’s real cheese, not the cheese food you find being used in restaurants nowadays.
I don’t know what it is that halts weight loss for some when they consume dairy products. Most of the medical studies I’ve read seem to show the opposite – people who consume dairy as part of their weight-loss regimen lose more. I suppose some folks could have allergies to one or more of the proteins found in dairy, and that could somehow halt weight loss.
Hi Dr. Eades,
A quick update on my last post – my doctor did ask me to start taking iron tablets to get my low ferritin up. I’m also hypothyroid and starting taking levothyroxine (T4) to see if I can get my free T4 and free T3 levels up (both are low) and my slightly high TSH of 4.1 down. Both the ferritin and the thyroid issues are likely contributing to my constant tiredness.
Totally off-topic, but don’t know where else to post this:
Came across your blog last week when I did a Yahoo! search for “Leptin & hunger”, which led to your 2006 post on leptin. Which led me to devour your blog. Which led me, at my very next meal, to eat LC. And have been LC for about a week, which has led to a 2-lb. weight loss and a total reduction in carb cravings (said the self-proclaimed Queen of the Carboholics).
Drove straight to Borders and purchased PPLP; have devoured it as well.
Questions, though, about site links:
–Have attempted to view archived posts, but when I click on a random month from the drop-down in archives, it brings me back to the home page.
–Have attempted to view posts through “Site Map”, but when I click past the 1st page, brings me to the post on “2010 Nutritional Guidelines”.
Any chance of getting these fixed, so I can get my fix? Of blog posts, that is?
Thank you for your non-conformist, ever-vigilant questioning of the very medical establishment that you’re a part of. For being a free thinker and not a sheeple (can’t remember who wrote that in their comments, but it was brilliant!). And for your constant attempts at dissecting what is truth from what is hysteria. Your credentials plus your scrutiny puts you worlds above your peers. About time.
First, welcome aboard. I’m glad to have you as a reader.
Second, thanks for the very kind words. I appreciate them.
Third, I checked, and you are right. The blog archives are messed up. I just upgraded to the newer blog software, which is probably the cause of the problem. I’ll get in touch with my web guy and have him get to work on it. Thanks for the heads up.