The Science behind the Beauty Detox Solution
What's been shared with you thus far has been mainly observational, but Kimberly shares some scientific research and studies that report "a relationship between the consumption of meats, poultry, eggs and dairy products and the incidence of numerous health issues, including but not restricted to heart disease, cancer, kidney failure, constipation, gout, gallstones, diverticulosis, hemorrhoids, and osteoporosis."
Those of us who are meat lovers are then reminded not to panic, as we don't have to give up our delightful meat. Throughout this book, Kimberly shows us which meats are best to consume and the best way to eat those meats to support our Beauty Detox. :)
Cancer Risk
Kimberly shares how it has been estimated that genetics determines only about 2-3 percent of the total cancer risk. With that in mind, findings from the "China Project", which is one of the most comprehensive studies on the connecction between diet and disease in medical history, are most important to note. Dr. Campbell's research, in the China Project, "found more then eight thousand statistically significant associations between various dietary factors and disease
"Most notably, the China Project revealed a strong correlation between cancer and animal protein and dairy consumption." It's revealed that a plant-based diet supplies us with more than adequate protein and calcium, along with other important minerals and nutrients needed for our health. Dr. Campbell summarized: "Plant-based foods are linked to lower blood cholesteral; animal-based foods are linked to higher blood cholesterol. Animal-based foods are linked to higher breast cancer rates; plant-based foods are linked to lower rates. Fiber and antioxidants from plants are linked to a lower risk of cancers of the digestive tract. Plant-based diets and active lifestyles result in a healthy weight, yet permit people to become big and strong."
Heart Disease
"Heart disease is currently the number one cause of death for both men and women in America. According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease affects over eighty-one million Americans for a stunning total of 37 percent of the Americal population." Wow! I'm sure the fast-food industry plays a major roll in these numbers.
I must just quote from this section because there is no other way to put it. This is quite amazing.
Dr. Dean Ornish is a Harvard Medical School graduate, who headed up some interesting research in the Lifestyle Heart Trial. He "treated twenty-eight heart disease patients with lifestyle changes alone, without any medications or surgery. For a year the twenty-eight patients in the experimental group were asked to eat a plant-based, low-fat diet (about 10 percent of their daily calories coming from fat). They could eat as much food as they wanted from the allowable food list, which contained primarily greens and other vegetables, whole grains and fruit. No animal food products were allowed at all, except some egg white and a maximum of one cup of nonfat milk or yogurt per day. The patients exercised three hours a week and practiced various froms of stress management. During this year Dr. Ornish also tracked a control group of twenty patients that were put on a standard treatment plan for heart disease."
"The results were nothing short of fantastic. Eighty-two percent of the patients in the experimental group that were eating the plant-based diet had a regression in their heart disease over the course of the year. The blockages in their arteries diminished. This group had a 91 percent reduction in the frequency of chest pain, their total cholesterol dropped on average from 227 mg/dL to 172 mg/dL and, on average, their "bad" LDL cholesterol fell from 152 mg/dL to 95 mg/dL. In contrast, those in the control group, who received the standard care, saw a 165 percent rise in the frequency of chest pain. Their cholesterol levels were significantly worse than those of members of the experimental group, and the blockages in the arteries increased by up to 8 percent."
We can clearly see from this research "how a plant-based diet with little to no animal products has serious implications for the battle against heart disease and the restoration of health".
Diabetes
As of 2007 there was an estimated 23.6 million Americans with diabetes, which is roughtly 8 percent of the American population. "Type 2 diabetes...is on the rise." There was approximately $174 billion spent on diabetes treatments in 2007 in the U.S. Thankfully, there are studies that show that "the diet we choose to eat can not only prevent diabetes, but it can treat diabetes, as well."
Dr. James Anderson conducted a study examining the effects of a "mostly plant-food diet that was rich in fibre and carbohydrates and low in fat." This study "involved 25 type 1 diabetics and 25 type 2 diabetics in a controlled hospital setting. (Type 1 diabetics cannot produce insulin, and it would seem far less likely that these patients would garner any benefit from a dietary change alone.) All the participants were not overweight, and 100 percent of them were taking insulin shots to regulate their blood sugar levels.
For the first week all the patients were fed the standard diet recommended by the American Diabetes Association, which included meat and dairy products. For the next three weeks the patients switched over to a plant-based, mostly vegetarian diet. Dr. Anderson then studies the effectr of the new diet on the patients' blood sugar and cholesterol levels, as well as on their weight and medication requirements.
After just three weeks on the plant-based diet, the type 1 diabetic patients were able to lower their insulin medication by an average of 40 percent. Blood sugar profiles greatly improved, and their cholesterol levels dropped by 30 percent. Of the twenty-five patients with type 2 diabetes, twenty-four were able to discontinue their insulin medication! That means only one out of twenty-five type 2 diabetics in the study had to stay on insulin medication as a result of switching to a plant-based, high-fibre and low-fat diet for only three weeks!"
Another group of research scientist also did a similar study. "Of the fourty patients that were all on medication at the start of the program, thirty-four were able to discontinue all medication after only twenty-six days."
Again, this isn't to say you must become a vegetarian to be healthy. By increasing your intake of greens, fruits and vegetables, you will begin to see improvements in your health and body
On a side note:
"Studies show that eating more fiber - which is found in plant foods only - decreases your risk of colon cancer."
During World War I, Denmark was cut off from all imports, including food. The county implemented a program to avoid a crisis in food shortage. "They stopped feeding the country's grain to livestock and instead fed it directly to the people." It was basically a "national experiment in vegetarianism." "During the period when food restrictions were most severe, the death rate from disease was by far the lowest in recorded history."
"During World War II, Norway was occupied by Germany, and Norway had to sharply reduce and often emliminate the meat distribution to its people. Once again, amazing improvments in health occurred. The death rate from circulatory disease dropped dramatically.When the war ended and the Norwegian citizens went back to their normal diet, which included meat, the death rate rose again with almost perfect mathematical precision."
My own observation of a time where eating a plant-based diet trumped a normal diet is actually located in the Bible.
Daniel 1:10-16. Daniel requested not eat the royal food of Nebuchadnezzar, but instead to eat only vegetables and water. The official was concerned that Daniel and his 3 friends would look worse and then he would be in trouble from the King for not giving them their proper food and drink. Daniel then asked the guard, whom the official appointed over Daniel, to test them and give them only vegetables and water for 10 days and then compare their appearance with the other young men who ate the royal food. After the 10 days, Daniel and his 3 friends looked healtheir and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So, the guard took away all the choice food and the wine and gave them all vegetables and water instead.
I'm finding this so very interesting. I hope you are as well and learning as much as I am. But I still encourage you to read the book in its entirety for yourself.
Till next time...
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