Chapter Two LEVELS OF A PLANT-BASED DIET If you consider yourself a global citizen of our modern world, by now it would be nearly impossible for you to be completely oblivious to the idea of a plant-based diet. That is, unless you've been hiding under a rock! You may have heard the different terms by now like: vegetarian, raw foodist, vegan, or have a friend, acquaintance, or family member who has jumped in full force. From celebrities like Alicia Silverstone and Samuel L. Jackson to politicians like Al Sharpton and Bill Clinton, the plant-based lifestyle has caught on and is all the rage in popular culture, for good reasons. We live in a world where we have advanced in a many ways, yet find that more than ever people are getting sick with terminal diseases and illnesses due to lifestyle and diet choices. The plant-based revolution is one way that consumers are "grabbing the bull by the horns," and taking health back into their own hands. The American Diabetes Association's updated statistics show that diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in 2010. In 2012, 29.1 million Americans had diabetes, and in that same year the total cost of diagnosed diabetes came to a grand total of 24.5 billion dollars. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) 67 million Americans or 31% have high blood pressure, which costs the nation a staggering 47.5 billion dollars each year. The CDC stats also show that another 71 million Americans have high cholesterol. These depressing statics on a range of conditions go on and on and the total cost of these illnesses including medical expenses, medications, time off from work, and pain and suffering surely amount to more than hundreds of billions of dollars. Dr. Gabriel Cousens, a raw food advocate who cured a group of diabetics in the documentary Simply Raw asserts: "In terms of health, meat eaters have four times more breast cancer, 3.6 times more prostate cancer, four times more diabetes, and much more in general chronic disease. If you're just having milk, that's three times more leukemia. In diabetes of course the main cause is sugar, but we know that a meat, fish, and chicken diet creates four times more diabetes because it creates insulin-resistance, which is called pre-diabetes." A plant-based diet has been proven through research to reverse and/or drastically improve all of the aforementioned conditions and many more not listed. The Journal of the American Medical Association stated in 1961 that heart disease would be reduced by ninety seven percent if people chose to switch to vegetarianism. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a surgeon, researcher, and clinician formerly of the Cleveland Clinic, conducted a study over a 20-year period that proves that changes in diet and nutrition can cure heart disease. All patients in Dr. Esselstyn's initial study had advanced coronary artery disease, and five of the patients in the original group were told by their cardiologists they had less than a year to live. "Within months on Dr. Esselstyn's program, their cholesterol levels, angina symptoms, and blood flow improved dramatically. Twelve years later seventeen compliant patients had no further cardiac events. Adherent patients survived beyond twenty years free of symptoms. After five years on Dr. Esselstyn's plant-based diet, the average total cholesterol levels of his research group dropped from 246 milligrams per deciliter to 137 mg/dL (Above 240 mg/dL is considered 'high risk,' below 150 mg/dL is the total cholesterol level seen in cultures where heart disease is essentially nonexistent.) This is the most profound drop in cholesterol ever documented in medical literature in a study of this type." Diabetes can also be cured on a plant-based, specifically raw diet. Max Gerson who cured Albert Schweitzer in the 1920s, was the first to go on record as curing diabetes with live food. Dr. Gabriel Cousens, who has worked to turn the process into a repeatable system, says: "In medical school this is taught as incurable because in their way (of treating it) it is; if you're having meat, sugar and all that. But from our approach it is curable: in three weeks, 53% of type 2 diabetes are off all medication and cured. In type 1 diabetes, 30% of people are off all medication and cured. It works because it stimulates the anti-aging genes, and diabetes is accelerated aging. Why is it important now? Because today diabetes is an epidemic: there are 246 million people in the world with diabetes, and one person dies from this disease every ten seconds." Another highly common debate regarding plant-eating lifestyles is that humans were designed by nature to be carnivores or omnivores, and therefore diets that consist of animal products are superior to plant-based. There has been a great deal of evidence to the contrary that refutes this claim; especially when you look at the comparison between humans and other carnivores. The human digestive tract is four times as long as the typical carnivorous animal. In addition, the gastric juices used by human bodies to break down food have less active antiseptic and germicidal properties. Carnivores by nature's design have short and smooth digestive tracts to ensure quick passage and removal of waste, while humans have a digestive tract that is more sac-like and holds food in the system for long period for the purpose of extracting the maximum amount of nutrients. Comparative anatomy also shows that human teeth are not similar to that of carnivores, and it's highly debated that human teeth are similar to animals that are omnivores. Carnivorous animals also have stomachs that are small sacs, while vegetable feeding animals have stomachs that are oblong like humans. Regardless of whether or not you believe humans were designed to eat meat or just a plant-based diet alone, the fact remains that plant-based diets have been proven to ward of disease and improve health. Why then are more people not flocking to a plant-based lifestyle? Especially considering that adopting a plant diet is one of the fastest ways we can do good by our environment, limit waste, and have a surplus of food to feed the hungry? There is a slew of excuses, complaints, or misinformation that still keeps people from taking their health in their own hands. Perhaps you believe it will take too much time to prepare food, it's not convenient, you are afraid of not getting enough protein, you're worried about enjoying the taste of plant-based cuisine, don't know what to eat, what nutrients to pay attention to, or maybe you just don't know where to begin your transition. The purpose of this book is to provide enough information to serve as a jumping off point for anyone who desires to achieve optimal health on some variation of a plant-based diet. Whether you are ready to jump in full force, or just experience a greater level of vitality by reducing meat intake and increasing the amount of whole plant foods in your diet, this book has educational tips for you. When you begin your journey, it helps to have a clear goal in mind, modify as you go along, and listen to what your body needs. To start, you have to have a clear understanding of the various levels of a plant-based diet. Rather than getting caught up in which one is superior based on popular opinion, focus on what works for you as a starting point and what makes you feel your best. VEGETARIAN A vegetarian diet is a plant-based diet that includes eggs and dairy in the form of cheese and milk. Because vegetarians still include some animal products, they can still generally eat popular traditionally made desserts that include eggs, dairy, or milk. A vegetarian diet is a great way to transition slowly into in the world of plant-based living and give up meat. However, the inclusion of dairy does leave room for health-related challenges that can only be overcome when you take the full leap and go dairy-free. Pasteurized dairy products are consumed most by the U.S. and Finland, and in both countries the incidences of heart disease are higher than anywhere else. This is due to the fact that consumption of pasteurized dairy products can promote the buildup of plaque in the arteries, which contributes to allergies and other common health challenges that arise from eating mucus-forming foods. VEGAN A vegan diet is a plant-based diet that excludes all meat products, eggs, and dairy. People choose to become vegan for a range of reasons. Perhaps they are passionate about animal cruelty, or want to improve their health. Some vegans exclude honey and some do not. There is an ongoing debate about it, because some argue that honey is a byproduct of bees and consuming honey does not in any way harm them. In the other camp, others believe that taking the honey is a violation of natural order or that beekeeping is exploitation of bees. The argument is that because the bees are manipulated by humans to create honey in a controlled environment that the bees suffering should not be considered any less than the suffering of an animal that is slaughtered for meat. At the end of the day, consumption of honey if you adopt a vegan lifestyle is a personal choice. If you are open to eating it, consume wild honey, or try unfiltered agave nectar, yacon syrup, and coconut sugar, which are good refined sugar substitutes. HIGH RAW A high raw food diet is a plant-based diet that excludes meat products and consists of eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, and...
