[Tail Gunner]

As someone who began a food-as-medicine lifestyle at the beginning of this year, I found this chart highly interesting. The idea that your body completely rebuilds itself every two years means that if you develop a healthy lifestyle your body can eventually repair itself of almost any malady.

I avoid all breads, all dairy, all sugar (except in fruit and other natural foods), and I eat meat only once or twice a week. I eat as much as I want whenever I want -- and I still lost 15 pounds in 45 days.

Within two weeks, I lost the post-lunch lethargy that plagued me for years. I want to see what happens after six months. I hope to report back here.

[soup]

That's amazing. Is it true about the liver? Then why do people get cirrhosis ?

[Cyr]

Does this mean that if you take heroin (or some other damaging dug), and then quit for two years, your body will completely repair itself?

[The Lizard of Oz]

soup, no, it's not exactly true. While it's true that under normal conditions various organs regenerate themselves (basically, old cells are flushed out and replaced by new stem cell lineages), this process can break down in various ways. In particular, what happens with liver cirrhosis is that large parts of the liver develop extensive scar tissue -- these are cell types that proliferate when the body attempts to repair the damage done to an organ, in this case the liver. The scar tissue is different from normal tissue and if there is too much of it, it will interfere with the normal functioning of an organ.

It would be nice if it were true that all the damage done to any organ can be repaired by waiting for it to regenerate itself but unfortunately that's not the case. So while some damage can be repaired over time, it pays off to avoid doing the damage in the first place.

[Mr. Calicoat]

I'm pretty sure permanent major damage caused by external causes (for example drugs abuse or alcohol abuse) won't get repaired (at all).

I also know that your lungs take roughly 3 to 6 years to fully repair the damage caused by smoking, depending on how heavy a smoker you are/used to be.

[ryanf]

If this was true in the way that it presents itself, nobody would die from aging. DNA becomes damaged, cell stop rebuilding, or even worse, they multiply too fast or become mutated (cancer).

I would like to see this go into a little bit more detail. Especially on what causes things to stop rebuilding.

[Prophylaxis]

Important to understand this before you develop irreversible conditions e.g. emphysema and liver cirrhosis.

[Tail Gunner]

(02-15-2014 06:50 PM)Prophylaxis Wrote:  

Important to understand this before you develop irreversible conditions e.g. emphysema and liver cirrhosis.

That is exactly the point that some people are missing. While your body does indeed rebuild itself, you must obviously stop irresponsible behavior for the repair process to do any good. You should also allow the body to rebuild itself before it develops a serious disease that makes it far harder, and perhaps impossible, for the body to repair itself.

The reason people continue to suffer from the same problems of aging, debilitating disease, and sickness is because people continue to recreate the same body, instead of a healthy body, by putting the same unhealthy food into it -- which goes back to my original point of food-as-medicine.

[JJ Roberts]

(02-15-2014 06:12 PM)Tail Gunner Wrote:  

I avoid all breads, all dairy, all sugar (except in fruit and other natural foods), and I eat meat only once or twice a week. I eat as much as I want whenever I want -- and I still lost 15 pounds in 45 days.

Questions.

1) I am cutting bread out of my diet and pretty much all sugar except in fruit and the occasion spoon of it in tea but how else did you lose the weight. Were you going to the gym? What about booze?

2) Why are you only eating meat once or twice a week? What does you diet consist of instead?

[void]

how money gallons of milk would I have to drink, to regenerate my whole skeleton in 3 months?

[Cyr]

(02-15-2014 07:00 PM)Tail Gunner Wrote:  

(02-15-2014 06:50 PM)Prophylaxis Wrote:  

Important to understand this before you develop irreversible conditions e.g. emphysema and liver cirrhosis.

That is exactly the point that some people are missing. While your body does indeed rebuild itself, you must obviously stop irresponsible behavior for the repair process to do any good. You should also allow the body to rebuild itself before it develops a serious disease that makes it far harder, and perhaps impossible, for the body to repair itself.

Yes, but when they say doing cocaine just once affects you permanently, by permanently do they mean 2 years? Or is that not repairable.

(Realised this sounds like trolling, am genuinely interested).

[jariel]

(02-15-2014 06:12 PM)Tail Gunner Wrote:  

As someone who began a food-as-medicine lifestyle at the beginning of this year

I started three years ago, couldn't go back even if I wanted to.

[K Galt]

The biggest variable is the health of the liver and the health of your gut/immune system and systemic inflammation. Of course, the older you get, the slower your body regenarates...but eating a bad diet and exposure to toxic substances will certainly play a role in your bodies regenerative capabilities as well.

It's true that alcohol abuse can cause cirrhosis, but a person has to drink a large amount on a continual, daily basis AND eat a bad diet of shitty fats and a lot of sugars.

Your liver is the primary organ for producing the cholesterol and hormones that are the building blocks for cell regeneration, and the fats you eat plays a huge role in not only how well the liver does this, but how well your liver is protected from damage.

Here's a pubmed article comparing the effects of alcohol on livers between a group of rats fed corn oil and the other group fed coconut oil. Opposite effects of dietary saturated and unsaturated fatty acids on ethanol-pharmacokinetics, triglycerides and carnitines.

"Conclusion: Dietary SFA protects liver from alcohol injury by retarding ethanol metabolism, and carnitine may be involved."

Not only can saturated fats protect your liver from damage (not just from alcohol, but other liver-toxic substances like tylenol) ....liver damage can actually be reversed by eating the right kinds of saturated fats and avoiding the bad fats and sweeteners like High Fructose Corn Syrup and a lot of other processed food crap.

Check out this pubmed article: Dietary saturated fatty acids: a novel treatment for alcoholic liver disease.

"Conclusion: A diet enriched in saturated but not unsaturated fatty acids reversed alcoholic liver injury. This effect may be explained by down-regulation of lipid peroxidation."

Coconut oil, Palm Oil, Grass Fed Butter and Dairy are all foods protective of the liver and can even play a role in reversing liver damage.

[The Lizard of Oz]

Cyr, when they say that doing cocaine just once affects you permanently, what is meant is that one time is enough to get you addicted. It's not that one-time consumption of cocaine does any kind of irreversible damage to any tissues -- that would be an absurd idea.

The idea that you can get addicted after doing it just once is also false, by the way. I'm as anti-drug as anyone around here but it's just not true that doing coke or any other drug once causes addiction.

[K Galt]

Also, if you have a damaged gut from anti-biotics, pharma meds like accutane etc., and/or a diet heavy in grain foods and bad oils found in most processed foods, your body will be unable to absorb the proper nutrients from your food, and you could literally be eating healthy, nutrient dense food that your body simply shits and pisses out because your gut is damaged and cannot metabolize it.

And if you don't have the proper absorption of vitamins and minerals, needless to say, your body won't be able to regenerate cells effectively either.

[Tail Gunner]

(02-15-2014 07:00 PM)JJ Roberts Wrote:  

(02-15-2014 06:12 PM)Tail Gunner Wrote:  

I avoid all breads, all dairy, all sugar (except in fruit and other natural foods), and I eat meat only once or twice a week. I eat as much as I want whenever I want -- and I still lost 15 pounds in 45 days.

Questions.

1) I am cutting bread out of my diet and pretty much all sugar except in fruit and the occasion spoon of it in tea but how else did you lose the weight. Were you going to the gym? What about booze?

2) Why are you only eating meat once or twice a week? What does you diet consist of instead?

No alcohol (falls into the sugar category). Just walking a few miles two or three times a week. I eat unrefined whole grains (barley, quinoa, etc.) but nothing processed, vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, etc.

For lunch today, I had four small baked yellow squash with salt, pepper, garlic, and olive oil. Last night, I made quinoa with cashews, raisins, and cinnamon.

Friday is my meat day, so I bought Thai food for lunch, but the chicken still represented less than twenty percent of the meal. I am making a huge pot of red lentil soup with turmeric tomorrow. It is delicious. My new favorite. Another favorite: West African Peanut Stew.

Many times, I just buy something that I never had before and then surf the web for a recipe. It is an adventure! I snack quite a bit in the evening, eating raw nuts, raisins, figs, dates, dried cranberries, natural raw trail mix, fresh fruit, etc.

Have you ever eaten a cherimoya? It looks like a dinosaur egg. I never ate one until last month. You can freeze it -- and it tastes a great deal like ice cream.

With regard to meat, I suggest that you buy the video "Forks Over Knives."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7ijukNzlUg

You can also read this book: "The China Study"

cherimoya:

[Cyr]

(02-15-2014 07:11 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  

Cyr, when they say that doing cocaine just once affects you permanently, what is meant is that one time is enough to get you addicted. It's not that one-time consumption of cocaine does any kind of irreversible damage to any tissues -- that would be an absurd idea.

The idea that you can get addicted after doing it just once is also false, by the way. I'm as anti-drug as anyone around here but it's just not true that doing coke or any other drug once causes addiction.

Lizard of Oz, thanks. I thought Id read somewhere that doing it (and a few other drugs) once can permanently damage your tissues, but looked back and saw that it was wrong. Think a few of my science teachers may have said that to scare people haha.

[K Galt]

Both the vegan propaganda of Forks Over Knives and The China Study have been thoroughly debunked.

http://rawfoodsos.com/2011/09/22/forks-o...-critique/

http://rawfoodsos.com/2011/07/31/one-yea...re-bashed/

Think of it this way - "regeneration" is a good description for body building. You hit the gym and you literally "micro-tear" your muscle tissues with your weight lifting, than your body repairs and rebuilds it, making your muscle tissue bigger, denser and stronger.

Most body builders understand that they need protein and healthy fats to achieve the results they are working for.

Avoiding meat and "high cholesterol foods" because of the China Study is about the worst thing you could do if your concerned with your bodies healing and regenerative capabilities.

[Tail Gunner]

(02-15-2014 07:27 PM)K Galt Wrote:  

Both the vegan propaganda of Forks Over Knives and The China Study have been thoroughly debunked.

http://rawfoodsos.com/2011/09/22/forks-o...-critique/

http://rawfoodsos.com/2011/07/31/one-yea...re-bashed/

Actually, the author that you cite agrees with the main premise behind "Forks Over Knives" and "The China Study". As far as I can tell, he simply disagrees (as do I) that you must become a vegan to reap the benefits cited in the study. I eat meat once or twice a week and I also take fish oil capsules every day.

Here is a quotation from the author that you cited. To say that he debunked anything, when he is mostly in agreement, is quite a stretch.

Quote:

1. Eat real food. I wholly believe the plant-based-diet doctors like Caldwell Esselstyn, John McDougall, and Joel Fuhrman are on the right track when they recommend eating things that actually still resemble food—leafy greens, fruit, tubers, squash, legumes, root vegetables, seaweeds, some nuts and seeds if they sit well with you, and so forth. Although I think many folks would do well with a higher fat intake than some of those doctors recommend (with some caveats we’ll talk about next), the concept of eating real food is a winner. This means ditching the fake soy meats, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, convenience snacks, TV dinners, and pretty much every single thing on this page. It may have been an exciting moment when you learned that Kellogg’s Unfrosted Pop-Tarts are vegan… but pop-tarts they remain. Occasionally indulging in something junkier won’t kill you, but don’t expect to stay healthy if everything on your plate was made by Morningstar Farms or Tofutti.

http://rawfoodsos.com/for-vegans/

[Vitriol]

(02-15-2014 06:37 PM)soup Wrote:  

That's amazing. Is it true about the liver? Then why do people get cirrhosis ?

From what I understand you need to be putting such large amounts of toxins into your body on a regular basis that the liver has no chance to recover. This often takes years and the earliest I hear of people getting alcohol related cirrhosis is in their 40s. Those people are usually epic drinkers that never take a day off for years or even decades.

[K Galt]

I eat meat once or twice a week and I also take fish oil capsules every day. Duly noted, good for you.

"He" is a "she," and she debunked the China Study on so many different fronts, it's ridiculous. Dr. Campbell, the author of The China Study wrote a biased, subjective book that cherry picked data and mixed up correlation and causation to blame meat and saturated fat as the culprits of mortality in Industrialized nations.

She also went Raw Food Vegan a few years ago, and experienced dramatic health improvements...at first.

Long term raw food veganism will lead to health problems, and when she started having health problems, it caused her to research deeper into the topics.

She originially named her blog "Raw Food SOS" because she was originally trying to help other vegans deal with the health issues that come from long term vegan deficiencies. Eventually she did her research and went "paleo."

[K Galt]

Oh, and Tailgunner, to be clear, I absolutely agree with you...food IS medicine. We just have a slight disagreement on what foods those might be.

Red Meat, organ meat (especially liver and heart), dairy and bone broths from pastured ruminant animals (aka grass fed) is some of the healthiest foods and natural medicines out there.

[Tail Gunner]

(02-15-2014 07:45 PM)K Galt Wrote:  

Long term raw food veganism will lead to health problems, and when she started having health problems, it caused her to research deeper into the topics.

We definitely agree on that.

On the other hand, I think that most people eat the exact opposite of the proper ratio of plants to meat. Most people would do far better on a diet of 80/20 plants versus meat, rather than the opposite.

[CJ_W]

(02-15-2014 06:50 PM)ryanf Wrote:  

If this was true in the way that it presents itself, nobody would die from aging. DNA becomes damaged, cell stop rebuilding, or even worse, they multiply too fast or become mutated (cancer).

I would like to see this go into a little bit more detail. Especially on what causes things to stop rebuilding.

. . . Telomere length runs out. Google it -.-

[K Galt]

If you read those two links to Denise Minger's blog that I provided, you'll see what I mean when I say 80/20 meat vs. plants is a false dichotomy.

You can be healthy eating either ratio...the difference is the amount and quality of the fats your eating of both types, as well as whether you're eating grains like wheat and legumes or not.

The important thing to remember is that human physiology clearly indicates we are an omnivorous species. Whether you eat 80/20 meat to plant or 80/20 plant to meat, we do need to eat both plant and animal based foods to realize optimum health.