The Campbell Plan by Thomas Campbell, M.D.
The author mentions people's commitment to their dietary habits with a story referencing his study of rats in junior high. He states that there's overwhelming support for an unrefined plant food diet with decreased meat and dairy, but people's dietary desires will make them overlook the science.
He mentions reversing diabetes can be done with a high-carb diet as long as it's unrefined, carbohydrate, and basically high fiber. He mentions a study in which people eat meat with the same number of calories, but someone who eats 250 grams of meat will gain 4.4 more pounds than the same calories every five years of someone who's not eating meat.
He mentions fiber rich causing a healthy gut barrier and gut barrier that turns L-carnitine to coronary artery disease promoting TMAO is absent in vegetarians, but present in meat eaters.
He does not recommend paleo diets even though he does agree with eating real food over processed food. He states that paleo does succeed in eliminating the top 20 American foods by the percentage of calories. Still, he has been shown to and does decrease blood sugar and whole grains which are associated with many of the negative health issues.
The Paleo diet recommends 35% protein, but 10% of calories is better from health-related studies. The author mentions a low-carb diet is good for short-term weight loss, but my studies show that low-carb diets will increase coronary artery disease. The mechanism is that low carb diet in mice has demonstrated that endothelium cells are less, so there's less restoration of blood vessels for the mice that have low carb diet. And he compares three groups of mice in studies.
Overall, he states low carb, high-protein diet causes an increased risk of death. Again, the carbohydrates that he recommends are not processed carbohydrates. They are unrefined carbs. Such as in raw plant and vegetable, fruit and vegetable, and unrefined grains.
The author recommends changing our mindset from four food groups to three food groups. Three food groups he refers to as animal products, processed plant fragments, and whole plants. So, he gives examples such as mozzarella cheese, which comes from the milk of the cow, so it would be an animal product. A donut is not an animal, and it doesn't resemble any plant you'd find in the dirt, so that would be a processed plant fragment. And asparagus found in the produce section might as well have been harvested straight out of the soil, so that would be considered a whole plant. This is similar to my thought of two food groups being farm or factory.
The author focuses on the benefits of fiber as what differentiates a healthy high-carb diet from an unhealthy high-carb diet. Healthy high-carb diets also have high fiber.
This is similar to the prior book review in which fiber content to carbohydrate content was analyzed. And if fiber grams were five times or more than the total carbohydrate on a label, then the food was considered acceptable. But if the fiber times five was less than the total carbohydrate, then this was considered processed carb-based food. The author recognizes that those eating a purely whole-plant diet should take B12 supplements.
The author critiques the American view of a balanced diet, stating that most people view a balanced diet as the standard American diet of fiber deficient minimal vitamin and antioxidant intake, and excessive cholesterol. But these are the basis of chronic disease, whereas vegetarians and vegans who consume mostly plants are generally critiqued as being at risk for nutritional deficiencies. The author suggests that the former group should be the one that is critiqued much more.
The author suggests a whole plant food, plant-based diet, but does admit that there is no science to compare a low meat consumption diet to a no meat consumption diet. He further admits that a vegan that's having coconut milk, curry, fake meats, fake cheeses, and vegan cookies with sugary cereal is going to be in poor health as compared to someone who eats a small amount of meat. The author points to two doctors that have published much research on whole-plant food, and plant-based diets. That is Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn. The research of these doctors suggests a reversal of heart disease with whole food plant-based diet when compared with even a modest to moderate reduction of meat-based intake.
The author mentions the theory of why we like sweet or fatty foods. The theory is from an evolutionary standpoint, eating the right plants would be the sweetest ones, and giving us the most energy for the cost of acquiring it would be the fattiest ones. And the way our bodies reward that is stimulation of dopamine and opioid receptors in our brain.
In the rat studies, the rats will increase sugar intake over time through the opioid mechanism. When withdrawing, rats that have increased sugar intake will have withdrawal findings of teeth chattering, forepaw tremoring, and head shakes. He mentions one rat study in which 94% of the rats preferred sweetened water over cocaine injected in their bloodstreams.
This author is much more against fat as a potentially healthy food and compares it unfavorably even to sugar. All his recommendations for eating out involve avoiding extra oils and maximizing vegetables. He also suggests eliminating cheese such as getting cheeseless pizza. The author points to an increase in intake of added sugars now to the 10 to 20% range of most Americans.
The author reiterates the studies that show that artificial sweeteners are actually correlated with more weight gain as the theory is artificial sweeteners increase appetite and drive for sweet foods.
He mentions tofu as processed soy is not a healthy alternative. He clarifies that phytoestrogens in soy are not an important dietary nutrient and that the studies related to reducing cancer were flawed. The author favors corn and soybeans in their raw form, but as soon as soybean oil or corn oil is made, he states that everything is.
The author educates on the types of unsaturated fat and monounsaturated is similar to saturated in that it's found abundantly in animal fats and plant fats, whereas polyunsaturated fatty acids are found mostly in plants and marine animals. These give omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which have health benefits. In other words, polyunsaturated is good, and monounsaturated is bad. He points out that edible plant oils are thought by some to be healthy, but the basis of this is evidence that diets containing unsaturated fat may be healthier than high saturated fat and evidence that the Mediterranean diet is healthier than a typical Western diet, but these two facts do not equate to edible plant oils being healthy. He mentions the Mediterranean diet is far more whole plant-based than the typical Western diet and that the unsaturated fats being healthier than high saturated fat doesn't mean that they are healthy, just that they are comparatively healthier. He makes the point that in both Greece and Italy, higher unsaturated fat intake is associated with higher body weight. He suggests that the Mediterranean diet may be healthier despite the added olive oil rather than because of it. Polyunsaturated fat was clearly linked to heart disease in 1990s research.
Fish is recommended with reservations due to potential environmental toxins as many other authors suggest as well. The author recommends 100% whole wheat as part of the plant-based diet without dairy but notes that some have non-celiac gluten sensitivity that can cause abdominal discomfort, bloating, joint pains, and a foggy brain in response to gluten without it being a true allergy.
Regarding organic, the author points to organic foods may have a marginally better nutrition profile than non-organic and that residues from pesticides are more common in non-organic food, there is no convincing body of evidence proving poor health outcomes from chemical pesticides, but there is indirect evidence of possible harm. In regards to GMO foods, he states there's a stunning lack of research into their effects on human health, and at this point, there are no proven ill effects of GMO foods. He mentions the only way to avoid GMOs is to buy organic, and he does encourage that.
Regarding supplements, the author mentions that fish oil is shown to be ineffective for prevention unless you have a very high triglyceride level. Other supplements are largely unnecessary, including calcium supplements as they've shown inconsistent evidence of improving bone health whereas lots of whole plant foods and regular exercise has been proven to help bone health. Vitamin D should be taken as a supplement if you're at risk for a deficiency, and if you are fully plant-based, taking a daily vitamin B12 is recommended by this author.
The remainder of the book is a two-week diet plan the author provides, including recipes.
The foods to eliminate during this time include all oils, butter, margarine, mayonnaise, salad dressings with any oil in the ingredient list, all refined grains, including all-purpose unbleached flours, all refined grain pasta, all refined grain bread, croutons, packaged sugary foods such as cakes, cookies, candy, and frozen desserts, all energy bars, breakfast cereals as they are refined, white rice, artificial sweeteners, any cake mixes, hot chocolate, coffee creamer, any cow's milk, cheeses, yogurt, sour cream, meats, and he does not differentiate processed meat from unprocessed meat, and tomato sauces with more than 10% of calories from fat or other sauces with more than 10% of calories from fat. Overall, this author is much more anti-fat than other nutrition authors have been found to be. But other ideas such as eliminating processed foods and increasing whole plant foods in the diet are very similar. He does recommend avoiding fruit juices equally to sodas and artificial soda. He has a recommended exchange list, exchanging old foods for new ones. Cow's milk would be exchanged for almond milk. Scrambled eggs would be exchanged for scrambled tofu. Baking eggs would be exchanged for flaxseed and water or mashed bananas. Oils would be given up, and you would use a non-stick ceramic or other non-stick pan instead of oil. Cheese would be given up. Ground beef, he suggests, gives me lean replacements or TVP proteins. For salad dressings, he recommends switching to aged balsamic. For breakfast cereal, he recommends exchanging it for oatmeal. And you can add fruit, raisins, ground flaxseed, or a few walnuts. For bread, he recommends going to 100% whole grain like many other authors, and for ice cream, he recommends going to frozen banana cream or fruit sorbet.
In regards to grains, he's very specific on what is refined versus not, what is whole grain. Whole grains would include whole wheat, whole rye, rye berries, the full oat, brown rice, and most other colored rice as well as wild rice, whole corn flour, and cornmeal or whole barley. All types of quinoa, millet, spelt, and buckwheat. The refined to avoid would include everything else with the word flour, white rice, or pearled barley.
The author's recommended breakfast other than oatmeal is his muesli, which is 42 ounces of rolled oats, a quarter cup of almonds, a quarter cup of dates, and one cup of raisins. Stored in a Tupperware container for up to two months. He suggests slow cooker oatmeal that you start the night before using half a cup steel cut oats, two cups water, or non-dairy milk, and optionally a half cup of raisin, half cup of frozen berries or other chopped fruit, ground flaxseed, and half teaspoon of cinnamon. This makes two servings.