Thread: Forks over Knives

Good on you Seb!

I just had a quick look at the video. It looks like the Pritegan, hope I spelt it right, diet ( don't eat the cows eat what the cows eat.) is raising its head again. I'm not a medical person and I had a friend with severe heart problems who went on it for a number of years with great success. It extended his life by another 10 years and he was able to do what he wanted. He liked it because he could still have a beer or 2 without breaking the rules. But I have also read that any extreme diet can cause problems in the long term. It may work short term to correct years of poor diets but in the long run I feel we do need a balanced diet of good fresh food.

John

[. But I have also read that any extreme diet can cause problems in the long term. It may work short term to correct years of poor diets but in the long run I feel we do need a balanced diet of good fresh food.

John[/QUOTE]

We went on the Pritikin (that might be the spelling) diet when SWMBO had intestinal troubles. After three months we both felt fantastic and her surgery was permanently postponed. The point is that this is not an extreme diet. It IS a balanced diet of fresh food the trouble is that our modern diet is full of stale, preserved, salty, sugary processed food. Anybody who is interested there are a couple of great books which I can't find to give the details but I think "The Pritikin Promise" and a biography "Nathan Pritikin".
The irony was that Pritikin pretty much nailed heart disease in the 1950s complete with extensive double blind testing that showed dairy fat and other factors in the diet and lack of exercise caused heart disease but the medical profession ignored him because he wasn't a doctor. The doctors continued to prescribe bed rest and milk and eggs to heart patients for another decade. Meanwhile Pritikin was saving thousands of lives and starting what we now call the health revolution. The current Heart Foundation diet is almost exactly the Pritikin diet.
Personally I found it difficult to get by without butter, beer and bacon, so I fell off the wagon. Mind you I am very sparing of cheese, cream, beef, animal fats in general, too much salt, too much sugar. I try to keep the bulk of our diet to fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, salad from the garden, complex carbs... I still enjoy my food, just not so much of it.