Re: Evolutionary arguments - jw

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Hi. Below,

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From: jwwright

Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 8:52 AM

Subject: Re: [ ] Evolutionary arguments

Comments below,

I think 10% is even not attainable if all fatty acid sources are added in. Ornish touts <10% sat fat but that's a therapeutic diet to remove fat deposits. On TV he offered a diff diet to those that don't have CAD. I analyze my intake and <20% fat is hard to do even excluding refined fats/oil intake. Also I think there's confusion in the words "sat fat" being used to describe animal fat. Olive oil has some sat fat.

Regards.

Using dwidp and including fat from veggies, legumes, animal products, etc, I can still...and did...stay below 10% of calories.

I think this a mistake with cr. I prefer to stay around 15 - 23% of the restricted diet. That is not too far above 10% of total calories on an Ornish diet. He recommended counting grams of fat if you had to count something. Just following his directions would take you pretty close to 10%, or less. His absolute suggestion for an optimum (his guess) weight for someone of my height

is 23 to 25 grams total fat, and up to 8 grams of saturated fat, including fat in canola, flaxseed, etc. I do better when I follow this pattern....for total fat, not as a percentage of my calorie restricted diet which is about a third less than he assumes a person of my height would eat. I pay more attention to saturated fat than total fat. Usually it's less than 5 grams. The reductions achieved by his subjects, as well as Pritikins, are astounding. Pritikin has a huge base of people adhering to the program. Some perfectly, most not. Markers of health are greatly improved. BP often normalized, Type 2 diabetes goes away, as do syndrome X symptoms. Yes, many people have a temporary rise in triglycerides, but this usually normalises within 6 months.

I started out with triglycerides over 1000. The low fat diet brought it down to 300 more or less. Omega 3's brought it down below 100. I guess that everybody knows that Ornish subjects showed regression of atherosclerotic placque. They also lost some weight. Ornish program included meditation and yoga intended to calm participants down and to, perhaps, lower cortisol, etc.

Recommended exercise was aerobic (in addition to the isometric exercise that is a part of yoga) for not less than 3 hours a week. The most successful subjects walked for 5 to 7 hours a week. Regression of atheroclerosis increased with adherence to the total program, but showed no direct relationship with reduction of blood cholesterol. I have all of Ornish's books, and have read them several times. I also have a couple of videotapes. The only problem that developed for me was low energy, triglycerides remained a little high until I added Omega 3's, and fingernails became ridged and brittle. My fingernails are no longer brittle, but some ridging remains. My present diet is closer to Pritikin than Ornish. I am eating more fat than Pritikin recommends. I do better when I stay at about an ounce a day....pretty close to Ornish's recommendations for my size.

These programs work for a high percentage of the people who follow them. They are not calorie restriction programs, and I believe that if you restrict calories then (a) Pritikin is better because (for me) protein as a share of calories needs to be increased somewhat and ( the amount of fat needed is an absolute figure, not a percentage...so, again, a larger share.

You could also say that I follow the Okinawan program. The macronutrients are similar, I eat a very wide variety of vegetables and more fruit than the Okinawans. And, I'll be very happy to live in good health to 100 years or more. I am very greatful to these three people who brought me the information I needed soon enough that I could be pig headed for a few years before I got going, and still greatly improve my life.

Oh. JW. Atorvastatin screwed up my liver enzymes after a couple of years. muscles hurt. Now I'm using simvastatin with no problems. At the moment, for me, the advantages to the statins greatly outweigh the possibility of disadvantage. I know you know more about this than I do.

Ed S. Had gai lon for dinner last night. Thanks for the "suggestion."

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