I would like too respond – in a friendly way -

My main points were – smoking is an irritant – but all the problems you mention are the result of other things -

Removing the irritant is perhaps a suitable course for some – but untenable for me

I prefer to get to the basis of problems and diet is the basis

People climb everest and smoke – yes they do

Only one in a 1000 gets lung cancer -

I think diet is of extreme importance but smoking only a choice of self-medication

I may be from another planet but I hoped I could at least state my case without creating what appears to be outright anger -

As I have stated my case and yes in an unscientific manner I suppose -

All I have left to do is wish you well – have a nice day – may you prosper in insight and well being – and may the gods protect you -

What I am trying to do here is manipulate you from being angry at me – it’s probably not good for you and I really don’t much enjoy it either -

But I do enjoy trying to be nice to people – gentle – kind

But – I stand by what I wrote but am more than willing to change my mind if I see a reason – an honest scientific reason free of propaganda and deceit -

Hello Jeff–

I still disagree.  Diet will not overcome the effects of smoking.  Doubtless a good diet is better for smokers than a lousy diet, but the best diet in the world doesn’t negate the effects of smoking.

There is a huge amount of medical literature showing that smoking is harmful.  Unlike the medical papers supporting various drugs that are underwritten by the pharmaceutical companies, where is the money that underwrites the studies showing tobacco is harmful.  If all the studies showed that tobacco was good for us, and if those studies were underwritten by the tobacco companies, it would make sense that it was all propaganda.  But who profits from anti-tobacco studies?  No one, as far as I can tell.  Consequently, I tend to believe studies showing that tobacco is harmful.  Plus, in almost 30 years of medical practice I’ve seen the effects up close and personal. 

I wish you well in your quest to find medical justification for smoking, but I doubt that you’re going to have a lot of success.

Cheers–

MRE 

I thought it would be interesting instead of explaining how too avoid plaque buildup – to explain what I would consider the best way too -

create it in a human -

*inflame the arteries as highly as possible
*confuse the white blood cells – too make them behave abnormally
*flood the body with oxidized vegetable oils from low fat sources
*create an abnormal bacterial environment by ingesting large amounts of man raised yeast and feeding that yeast with large amounts of refined sugar
*raise serum lipids as high as possible by including large what would be reasonable levels of grain fed – fried beef and chicken – but fried in vegetable oils
*create powerful oxidized cholesterols by frying the above and eggs in low fat source vegetable oils
*eat no antioxidants from raw green food sources
*eat no raw eggs
*eat no fish
*eat no dairy
*include refined sugar in everything eaten
*eat no coconut
*eat no olives
*eat no natural peanut butter

*create a low good protein-very high total fat and oxidized cholesterol-and zero anti-oxidant diet

*load the body with high calorie carbs in excess

*protein 60 grams or below to maximize poor tissue repair – including the repair of the arterial muscles – when 100+ to 200 grams are really what’s needed
*total fat well above 40 percent on a systematic and continuous basis
*total carbs well above 40 percent of mostly high calorie refined cooked carbs
*include very little raw plant proteins in the
diet
*no natural fruits or juices

This is my recipe to create plaque -

Even this diet would create life threatening plaque in only a percentage of people -

It is interesting that a diet high in beef and chicken or eggs and dairy(including yogurt) – but very low in refined low fat source vegetable oils and refined sugars -

could be somewhat or very less damaging – even with the high amount of oxidized cholesterol and fat -

such a diet would probably lead too a slow buildup of plaque but be not life threatening – dependent to at least some degree on the fat/protein ratio

*But as the beginning source of arterial damage is the inflammation and then the white blood foam cells

*the initiation of arterial inflammation would be best accomplished with large amounts of vegetable oils from low fat sources and by getting the white blood cells behaving abnormally by confusing them with unnatural yeasts and no good bacteria -

*Of the course the relative size of the fat fractions are also important

This is a far from a scientific explanation – of plaque buildup

The removal of arterial plaque is also necessary -

A long relatively slow correct diet to reduce excess body fat – combined with large amounts of raw greens -raw green legumes and plain low fat yogurt and enough raw eggs-fish-dairy-honey to provide at least a 100 grams protein may reduce or remove the plaque -

As for testing this diet or providing practical examples -

How many people eat two heads of lettuce a day plus spinach and other greens – ?

How many people eat a can of green peas daily ?

How many people include a small amount of raw peanuts or natural peanut butter – plain coconut and olives daily in there diet ?

How many eat people eat a can of tuna or more- and raw eggs – and four or more cups of plain yogurt daily ?

To remove plaque I think a 12 percent total fat diet is best – and for ordinary living 25 percent and for just good clean fun eating large amounts of good fat like cheese occasionally -

But to remove fat – I think the body needs to burn it’s fat stores while depositing any within the arteries -

Hence the 12 percent fat diet

Hello Jeff–

I didn’t realize that there was a continuation of your first post when I responded.

First, there is no doubt that nicotine is an ‘irritant’ to the arterial lining.  Where we differ is a) in the idea that a good diet can overcome the effects of smoking; and b) that a 12% fat diet will do anything but make the situation worse.

A high-fat diet is the diet of choice for people who have lung disease because a high-fat diet produces less carbon dioxide than does a high-carbohydrate diet.  The less carbon dioxide produced, the less difficulty the damaged lungs have getting rid of it.

Cheers–

MRE 

One person in a 10,000 who don’t smoke – get it
One person in a 1,000 who do smoke – get it

A ten fold increase for smokers

So what – ten times almost nothing is still almost nothing

—— .1 percent doesn’t seem all that high to me

The current phraseology on studies involving smoke on rabbit’s – goes something like this -

‘It appears that smoking favors plaque buildup -

and although we refuse to give you a percentage on how much it does so – trust us – to us – it just looks as though it does favor it.’

‘It also seems to be non-linear – or gee-wizz and josh-darn we certainly hope so’

Because then they can use the study to outlaw second hand smoke.

It might appear here that I am pro-smoking – but only if you consider that I have no intention of ever stopping smoking – for any reason or anybody.

However I am in favor – oh that word favor again – of accurate information on the real effects of smoking – instead of this insanity that ‘smoking is bad – therefore the science must exist to support the statement’.

I have just about concluded that people who are anti-smoking are some how insane – or mentally perverted and quite possibly incurable.

So – keep raising my taxes and when the day comes I can no longer afford to smoke – then it will become necessary for me to leave this insane planet.

Of course there’s always the .1 percent chance I will get lung cancer first – so at least there’s some hope there.

I agree smoking is an irritant – a very enjoyable irritant – but other than that I doubt it causes anything on it’s own.

Except maybe some real pissed off rabbit’s.

My own opionion on plaque buildup is this -

a general lack of anti-oxidants in the diet -
*green tea – peppers – real fruit juices

combined with -

a general lack of green raw foods -
*lettuce and all the others -

combined with -

excess sugars minus small amounts of the honey family and ‘excess’ high calorie carbs -

combined with -

oxidized vegetable oils – minus whole olives-coconut- and peanut butter
and oxidized meat oils – beef and chicken

combined with -

the lack of green legumes – peas – green beans – or lima beans

combined with -

excessive total fat intake – although coconut and perhaps cheese and some degree of raw eggs to a lesser extent are exempt from this in whole or in part

a systematic lack of good protein – and other from
*raw eggs-tuna fish-dairy-honey products

The bodies immune system seems too be problematic in both plaque buildup and cancer -

Which I attribute too the lack of large amounts of yogurt in the diet and the daily lack of green legumes.

Honestly – the bodies immunne system seems to go haywire in both plaque buildup and cancer – or it goes too far -

Hi Jeff–

If your comment were a little more articulate, I would suspect it was written by a hack from one of the tobacco companies.

As to your statistics about the rates of lung cancer due to smoking, I think you’re a little off.  But even if you’re not, what about the increased rates of heart disease and vascular disease?  And how about the chronic bronchitis and emphysema?  And what about the bad teeth and periodontal disease?  And the Berger’s disease?  And esophageal cancer?  And laryngeal cancer?  And the misery and aggravation (not to mention increased risk of disease) that smokers cause to those non-smokers who have to be around them.

Have you ever seen these middle-aged and older people who have to carry oxygen around with them just to be able to lead semi-normal lives?  Next time you see one of these folks, Jeff, ask them if they ever smoked.  I’ll give you 20 to 1 for any amount of money you want to bet that the answer will be yes.

If you believe that the effects of heavy smoking can be overcome with the diet you recommend, you don’t have to wait until the taxes ‘drive you from this insane planet.”  It sounds to me like you’re already on another planet far, far away.

Cheers–

MRE 

Hi gallier2–

Yeah, it’s a sad situation.  Too bad some of the books on the subject aren’t translated into French.

Best–

MRE 

My guess is that it’s because they want to be seen to be doing something. My father has had bypass surgery twice (about 15 years ago, he’s now in his early 70s). He’s never smoked, never been overweight, nor had high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. Now he takes statins to reduce his normal cholesterol levels, and something to reduce his normal blood pressure. And warfarin and aspirin just in case. He knows that his muscles are slightly weaker because of the statins, and that they slightly impair his kidney function – both are tested regularly by his cardiologist, but he just accepts that as the price that has to be paid for reducing the risk of future heart problems. The cardiologist gets no financial benefit from any of the drugs, because they are issued from the GP’s surgery. The GP doesn’t like having to pay for the drugs that someone else prescribes, so there’s no obvious financial incentive, it seems that the cardiologist genuinely wants to do the best he can, but doesn’t really know what that should be, so he prescribes a bit of everything.

I keep quiet about my views on all of this because he’d end up still taking the same drugs, but worrying about it more.

My father’s the only one in the family who really has a sweet tooth. The rest of us would generally skip sweets in favour of more main course, whereas he feels a meal isn’t complete if it doesn’t finish with something sweet. And he had a lot of stress in his work over the decade before the heart problems. Or maybe it was just a random thing – I don’t know of any other heart disease in the family.

Hi Janet–

Sorry to hear about your father.  He is one of the unusual ones in that he has never smoked.

I’m sure you’re right about the cardiologist wanting to appear to be doing something.  And I’m sure the cardiologist truly believes that the statin drugs are God’s gift to people with heart disease.  It takes going beyond the information that the drug companies provide or the ‘research’ they underwrite to understand what’s really going on, and most busy physicians have neither the time nor the inclination to ferret the information out.  Consequently, they go with the flow.  If everyone is giving statins, and at every conference they attend the speakers all recommend statins, and if everything they read in their journals (sponsored by the drug companies) indicates that statins are the way to go, they prescribe statins, too.  And think they’re doing a fine job.

And, although your father is probably at a little excess risk for all-cause mortality thanks to the statins, you’re probably right in not badgering him about it.  I would imagine he would continue the course laid out by his own physician and would simply add a layer of worry on top of everything else. 

Best–

MRE 

Yet another reason to follow your doctor’s orders: Researchers from the Netherlands recently examined the records of nearly 60,000 patients who had been prescribed cholesterol-lowering statins, and found that more than half had taken themselves off the drug within two years. The sad result: hundreds of avoidable heart attacks each year.

Scare tactics? I’d be interested in your comments.

Hi Laurie–

Uh, where is the data on these “hundreds of avoidable heart attacks each year”?  Interestingly, if we take one of the major studies I mentioned in the post on statins, the LIPID study, and extrapolate the numbers in that study out to the 60,000 people in the Netherlands, we find something pretty interesting.  (Remember, the LIPID study was with subjects who already had heart disease, not just subjects with no known heart disease whose doctors put them on statins to prevent heart disease.)  In the 30,000 who quit taking statins compared to the 30,000 who continued to take them, we would expect to find 141 more heart attacks in a year, making the ‘hundreds” figure in the article somewhat close to the mark.  But, we would find 150 more deaths each year in the group taking statins than we would find in the group that quit taking them.  So, by going off statins on their own, the 30,000 people who did so reduced their risk of death overall as compared to those who stayed on the drugs.

Best–

MRE 

I enjoyed the traditional Scottish food so much I bought a cookbook at one of the castle giftshops, The Scots Kitchen; Its Traditions and Lore with Olde-time recipes by F. Marion McNeill, first published in 1929. It seems Ms. McNeill was a journalist & writer in the 20s who wanted to preserve the traditional Scottish food cultures and recipes, which were rapidly changing and disappearing (sound familiar?).

What I found disturbing was how “American” the grocery stores have become, with low fat yogurts and milk, etc. And more vegetarian stuff, such as “vegetarian haggis”, which seems oxymoronic to me.

On a different topic, earlier someone made a coment about the Eades “doing well” as evidenced by a recent golfing trip to an exotic locale. I found that amusing because I get the same comments about our overseas travels. But like a book, it may be not as the cover implies. In our case, we are fortunate to have many good travel opportunities due to my husband’s many science meeting invitations. Between frequent flyer miles for my son & me, some hotel nights provided at the meeting, lots of hospitable friends & family in far-flung places, and not traveling in “high-style” when we are on our own, we don’t spend nearly as much on our travel as some people assume. What we do spend is affordable because we drive older, practical cars and live below our means at home. And I will say, it is well worth it!

So thanks for the “full disclosure” Dr. Eades, it was interesting to learn more about your life, but not all of us gave your tax bracket or R & R choice much thought (I did notice the hangover comments & tsk-tsk’ed ). It was interesting to learn that you have stopped your medical practice, though; explains the time & late/early hours for your blog. And I had wondered how such a long-distance move would be possible with an active practice. Mystery solved.

And lastly, I’m hoping you will write another book that is more about implementing the Protein Power lifeplan for the entire family. I have appreciated that you mention children quite a bit more than any other low carb books, but those of us with young kids could use some support because low carb has not trickled down to kids yet. As the schools teach more about lower fat but not carb-induced problems, and more processed foods are available to kids than ever before, etc. it is very hard to get the message across without a lecture. We do ok at home, but nonetheless I find it difficult explain why I don’t buy cold cereal anymore, serve him many sugar-sweetened things, etc. I remember this when I was a kid and I rebelled against it when I was on my own, eating every forbidden thing I could. I was skinny then and could do that without weight problems, but that is probably the cause of my insulin resistance now (plus adhering to low fat-high carb when I did finally stop the junk food binge). And I don’t want to create a food neurotic, either. But I know my kid loves sugar and junk food and eats the other kids’ stuff at school or at their homes when it is offered (I make his lunch). And before long, he will eat as much away from home as at home. More about what you did/said with your kids would be very welcome, indeed.

Ciao,
Anna

Hi Anna–

Thanks for the travelogue on Scotland.  It makes me hungry to read it.

You’re right about travel on the cheap.  Exotic sounding locations don’t have to be all that expensive, especially if you can get there on airline miles as we almost always do.  And, if you use good sense in lodging and dining choices.

A part of my full disclosure that I neglected to mention is our automobile situation.  We, too, drive, older, practical, paid for (the best kind) cars.  At least one is practical.  We have a 1998 Audi A6 and, my baby, a 1992 Porsche 968, a model most people have never heard of.  The Audi is practical; the Porsche isn’t.  But, even with the occasional outrageous mechanics bills I have to pay for the Porsche, it’s expense is far, far less than the monthly payments on a new moderately priced car.  (Lower insurance, too.)  And the new, moderately priced car would not be nearly so fun to drive.

Don’t tsk tsk too much about my talk of hangovers.  I don’t drink nearly so much as I write about.

I’ve floated the idea of a book on low-carb for kids to my agent, who immediately shot it down saying that there is absolutely no market for such a book.  Several have been published, all sank beneath the waves.  Which means publishers won’t buy another, probably even if it’s written by Stephen King.

At some point I’ll post (or MD will) on how we dealt with our own kids when we made the abrupt (and I mean abrupt) change to the low-carb lifestyle many years ago.  The kids weren’t crazy about the switch over, but they endured it.  In fact, the youngest had a real ‘aha’ moment thanks to one of his friends.  Our kid’s friends used to pack their own junk food when they came to our house because we had none.  One of the worst of these was our youngest son’s best friend, who was a sugar junkie.  This kid went to the dentist for his regular checkup and was found to have a mouthful of cavities; our own son had been for his own dental checkup a few weeks previous and was found cavity-free.  He immediately reckoned the difference was from all the sugar his friend ate. So, after this revelation, our son became a little low-carber pretty much on his own.  Or, at the very least, he became less vocal in his complaints.

Cheers–

MRE 

Ever read ‘Golf In The Kingdom” by Michael Murphy??

A mystical humorous book on why golf is more than a game.It may change your view of golf forever. The ‘Kingdom’ by the way is The Kingdom Of Fife, in Scotland. St Andrews golf course is in Fife. But as a golfer, you knew that already! I’m sure

Hi Neil–

I’ve tried to make it through Golf in the Kingdom two or three times without success.  I guess it simply isn’t my cup of tea.  Probably says a lot about me, although I don’t know what exactly.

The book I’m now reading, In Search of Burningbush, is about two friends who travel Scotland playing golf.  One is a real disciple of Golf in the Kingdom; the other is much like me, he can’t really understand all the hooray over it.  It makes for an interesting interplay of philosophies, but I can’t say as it has inspired me to make another run at GITK yet.

Cheers–

MRE 

Hi Sally–

Sorry to hear about your father-in-law.  His situation demonstrates that a low-fat diet and statins don’t prevent the progression of heart disease.  The medical literature shows no clear relationship between cholesterol and the progression of heart disease.  So why does everyone insist on treating heart disease by trying to reduce cholesterol?

In all the patients MD and I have had on low-carb diets, we have never had a single one who had a heart attack while following the diet.  That is anecdotal data, but I think it’s pretty strong.  Most of our patients were middle aged, some were diabetic, most were a little glucose intolerant, and all were overweight.  These patients had all the conditions that made them ripe for a heart attack, but none had one while under our care.  We can’t even remember one who had a heart attack at any time.

We worked with these patients to lower their insulin levels, which I believe does more to reduce the risk of heart disease than lowering cholesterol (which does pretty much nothing).

Too bad your FIL’s doctors panicked when his cholesterol went up a little on the low-carb diet.

Best–

MRE 

Hey Paul–

I’ll be rooting for you.

Good luck.

MRE