Xavier University of Louisiana is a small(2300 undergrads), traditionally black school in New Orleans started in 1925 by Katharine Drexel. Drexel, now honored as a saint by the Catholic church, was a Philadelphia heiress who became a nun and devoted her life and fortune to helping native and black Americans.

We discovered Xavier through an article in the New York Times which described it as the school that had sent the most African Americans to medical school. Since then I’ve seen several other college evaluations rating Xavier as exceptional value for education received (tuition is $23,000 a year, less than half of most private schools.) Xavier is 70% African American students and over 70% women. Most students receive full or partial scholarships. A quarter of the students are pre-med and 90+% of those completing the pre-med program are admitted to medical school. Rochester University Medical School has a strong affiliation with 2-6 students a year offered early acceptance, summer school in Rochester and scholarships. A recent affiliation with UCSD sends Xavier students to San Diego to work in the biology department. Alumni are strong contributors, recognizing the valuable education they have received.

We decided to support Xavier because of the urgent need for black physicians. African American communities are poorly served medically and rates of chronic diseases are very high. Urban African Americans have four times the rate of severe kidney disease; twice the diabetes; an 80% greater risk of fatal stroke; and much more cancer. (Fuhrman, Fast Food Genocide, Harper One, 2017.) The major cause of this chronic disease is diet; fast and processed foods filled with sugar, fat, salt and chemicals are the dietary staples of this population.

Deb and I visited Xavier last week where I made a presentation on diet and nutrition to a group of public health and pre-med students. Students, faculty and staff are remarkable, many dedicated, intelligent, hard working people. The campus is filled with small study spaces each with a schedule of tutorial times from early morning until late in the evening. Faculty and upperclassmen help students as needed in every class. Xavier has fostered a strong spirit of cooperation rather than competition among the students. This is an institution where learning is taken seriously; even the dormitories are quiet to allow studying.

Kampo medicine is the Japanese version of Chinese medicine imported to Japan in the 7th century. Medicinal plants and herbs, including mushrooms, have been used to create several hundred standardized formulations approved and paid for by the Japanese national health care system. Manufacturing and purity are monitored as carefully as for standard drugs. Most Japanese and 86% of Japanese physicians use Kampo drugs as part of their practice. In the United States these drugs are used mainly by alternative medicine practitioners, but there are research projects in the United States (and Japan) assessing the value of different drugs. Palliation of cancer treatment side effects is a popular subject of research with promising results for diarrhea, constipation, nausea and other common drug side effects.

We visited a Kampo medicine store in Kyoto. As with most Japanese stores it was pristine and beautifully designed: a pleasure to make you very comfortable while buying expensive items. We spent almost an hour with one of the clerks, a well spoken, intelligent young woman who had a college degree in an unrelated field that she did not enjoy. But she loved this work. The Kampo drug company that owned the store trained her for several months about the different products which she understood and explained well. Most of her customers come to her because they are unsatisfied with their medical care. She tells them that lifestyle will determine their health; a diet of mainly or exclusively whole plant foods is critical together with exercise and some form of meditation. Her business of selling Kampo drugs is the secondary treatment. She’s making some money for her store but providing wonderful medical advice. Wish we could replace some of our pharmacies with this business!

The formulations themselves are logical since we know that most herbs and mushrooms are very nutritious with a wide variety of vitamins, minerals and micronutrients. Recent NutritionFacts videos (link on right side of this page) have analyzed the powerful effects of amla (Indian gooseberry) which has been a mainstay of Ayurvedic medicine for millennia.

Deb and I recently spent 18 days in Japan, visiting different parts of the country. Japan has the greatest longevity of any large country, five years more than the United States. The well accepted reason for this longevity is diet; processed foods and animal products are eaten much less than rice, vegetables and soy products like tofu. The mortality, heart disease and cancer rates of Japanese people who have westernized their diets in Japan, the USA or Europe are similar to those of European heritage who eat standard western diets. Stroke due to high blood pressure is common because of the high salt content of many popular dishes.

The Japanese spend 26% of their income on food compared to 6% in the United States. Cities and towns are filled with specialty shops and restaurants for different foods; some sell only tofu products, others a specific noodle. When we watched the local people eating they usually chose meals including few animal products with fish popular. Shops had a beautiful choice of seasonal produce with many items we had not seen before. The mushroom varieties were particularly interesting and tasty with some popular ones very expensive, more than meat or fish. Unesco has named Japanese cuisine a world cultural heritage, important to be preserved for future generations.

As we traveled through the countryside we were amazed at the number of homes which had well tended vegetable gardens on their small lots. The cities had fast food options but much fewer than in the states. Smaller towns had none; people there eat at home consuming their own produce, other local garden products and lots of rice. Several people we talked to prefer brown rice, but all we ever saw was white, several times bragged about as “new,” from the harvest in the last few months. Although white rice has few nutrients it seems to allow a healthy diet when a variety of fruits and vegetables are plentiful with little meat, dairy and moderate fish. City dwellers typically work long hours, have small apartments and eat many meals out, usually choosing a noodle house (ramen (thin, wheat), udon (thick, wheat), soba (buckwheat) or sushi. Noodle dishes usually have a meat broth, but the bulk of calories are from the noodles with the meat (or fish) as flavoring. Most are also filled with a variety of mushrooms and vegetables. Delicious vegan options were offered in every noodle house we tried.

In 2004 Dan Buettner wrote a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC cover story about the “Secrets of Long Life” which led to that issue becoming one of their top selling of all time. In 2008 Buettner expanded this theme in a best selling book The Blue Zones which examined lifestyles in four areas of the world (parts of Sardinia, Okinawa, Costa Rica and California) with populations who had many long lived people and high average life expectancy. In each area scholars had confirmed the accuracy of age records and looked at possible factors for the longevity which was not genetic since genetically similar groups of people in other areas did not have such long lives.

Buettner identified commonalities in all these areas:
A whole food plant based diet which included little dairy, meat or seafood
An active lifestyle with daily physical activity
Strong family and community support
Minimizining stress
Having a life purpose and spirituality

Buettner was so impressed with what he discovered writing the article and book that he organized The Blue Zones Project, an attempt to create areas of healthiness and longevity. Individuals, community leaders, churches, businesses, schools, restaurants and grocery stores are recruited to improve the lifestyle of all in the community. Nine areas in the United States with millions of people now participate including Fort Worth, Texas; Southwest Florida; and Hawaii. Areas with the longest history in the program are seeing success in weight loss and other health markers as well as student attendance and academics.

Man is a social animal who responds to family, friends and community. Enlisting community support to improve lifestyle and thereby health, quality of life and longevity is an exciting goal which Buettner and his colleagues seem to accomplishing.

Hans Diehl was a student in public health and epidemiology in the 1970’s when he heard claims of miraculous health results in people with serious chronic illnesses at the nearby Pritikin Clinic in Santa Monica. He visited this clinic and asked to see a summary of their results but was told no such evaluation existed. Diehl took leave from school to review patient records at the clinic. After several months he realized he had found his life’s work because the documented health benefits of a Pritikin diet were so much better than anything he had ever encountered from other medical interventions. He worked for the Pritikin Clinic for a short time but soon realized that it served only the affluent since average income people could not afford it. Pritikin himself spent many hours counseling at no cost for anyone who contacted him after reading his books, but the clinic was too expensive. Diehl resolved to start programs allowing everyone to learn and benefit from Pritikin’s work. He joined the faculty at Loma Linda Medical School where he is now president of the Lifestyle Medical Institute. In 1988 he started CHIP (Community Health Improvement Project.) His book Health Power has sold more that 2 million copies in 21 languages; a recent list included Dr. Diehl as one of the 20 “super heroes of the modern health movement.”

The Surgeon General has determined that over 75% of disease in the United States is lifestyle related. CHIP successfully reduces weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar through lifestyle change, principally diet, with stress management also emphasized to enhance quality of life. CHIP trains volunteers to start and assist local community programs around the world. These local programs work with groups and individuals to facilitate lifestyle change, empowering individuals to take charge of their own health. Informational literature, video presentations, cooking classes and networking support this training. CHIP’s three month, 40 hour intensive lifestyle intervention course has been taken by over 70,000 people with more than 350 cities in North America, Asia, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand hosting CHIP units. Faith based groups, businesses, schools and community organizations have used CHIP successfully.

Since 2000 Rockford, Illinois, a city of 150,000, has been the site of an ongoing CHIP project with 3000 participants and 25 local restaurants committed to support the project by offering at least five healthy CHIP compliant meals. Grocery stores, workplaces and medical centers have joined CHIP in this effort. Alumni meetings allow participants to continue to learn and support each others’ efforts.

The state of Wisconsin Teachers’ union sponsored a CHIP program for some of its members with serious chronic diseases. Each participant saved the teachers’ health plan $3500 over the next two years. As a result some insurance plans now pay for CHIP training.

                                           https://www.chiphealth.com

In the 1960’s Barbara Reed Stitt discovered how she could change her own life through diet. At the time, the then Ms. Reed had a miserable life: she was overweight with newly developed epilepsy and black outs. Multiple visits to different physicians were of no help. She then came across material by Gayelord Hauser suggesting that a whole food plant based diet might help her. She tried it and all her physical and psychological issues disappeared. (She eventually advocated a diet very similar to what Pritikin was using around this time.) Ms. Reed devoted the rest of her life to spreading the message of what effect diet can have on all aspects of day to day activities, health and behavior.

At the time Ms. Reed was an Ohio parole officer. When she suggested dietary change to her clients most of them did remarkably well. A local judge heard about her success and started directing his convicted criminals to her supervision with the strong suggestion that they should to follow her dietary guidelines. The results were convincing- over 88% of her over 5000 parolees from 1970 to 1982 did not re-enter the courts for parole violations or new crimes. The next best parole officer in the state had a 35% success rate. Ms. Reed tells many satisfying stories of criminals thanking her, commenting that they could now hold a job and manage their behavior while in the past they could not control what they did. With a whole food plant based diet they could function as productive members of the community, enjoy relationships and have good health. Food & Behavior: A Natural Connection, Natural Press, Third Edition 2004.

When Ms. Reed became Mrs. Stitt she moved to Wisconsin where her new husband had a successful business making healthy whole grain breads. There she approached the local public schools and convinced them to try food change in the high school with the most problem students. Quick, large improvement in behavior, attendance and performance led the local superintendent to make similar changes in the menus of all the district’s schools. https://youtu.be/1KdPbntzX10 Again, there were remarkable results in all the schools, just from dietary change in the meals and snacks during school hours. Imagine what can happen if it’s all meals and snacks. http://www.doctoryourself.com/stitt.html

Several years later Mrs. Stitt worked with drug addicts in California supervising change in diet. Again, this group saw the highest success rates of drug avoidance and ability to lead a normal life. She had now demonstrated the parolees, problem students and drug addicts can usually change behavior if they eat correctly. Emotions and brain function are controlled by the fuel we take in.

Mrs. Stitt has written about her experiences, appeared on many TV and radio shows and has started a foundation to spread this information. https://www.foodandbehavior.com/barbara-s-bio In spite of these well documented successes I have yet to met anyone in education, addiction treatment, prisons or parole work who know of her programs until I tell them. Big food businesses have control of government policy and information. Change to Mrs. Stitt’s diet would cost these businesses a lot of money and they will do whatever they can to block it. Schools are given very unhealthy foods by the federal government with the mandate to use them or else loose support for free school lunches and other meals. Sadly, when I checked the food served in the Wisconsin schools Mrs. Stitt worked with in the 1990’s they have reverted to the same cheese pizzas, junk meats and other unhealthy choices offered throughout our public school systems nationwide.

Fitness studios for cross fit, body building and other intense workouts often recommend a Paleo Diet or some other form of high animal protein consumption. As I’ve discussed in prior blogs this is the most unhealthy diet. The following is an interview with a successful, famous trainer who’s got it right:

Maybe you’ve considered a vegan diet, but can’t imagine a life without burgers, steaks, or hot dogs. Exercise physiologist Marco Borges — the trainer and lifestyle coach responsible for Jay Z and Beyoncé’s healthier eating habits — gets it. And he’s here to help. We recently spoke with Borges in Miami at Seed Food and Wine, the largest plant-based, conscious-living fest in the U.S., where he emphasized meeting people where they’re at in their diet. “This lifestyle affords people the health to be happy,” says Borges, and he stresses that it doesn’t mean you have to go all in, or not at all. Here, Borges shares doable tips to help you adopt a more plant-based lifestyle, no matter what you typically eat.

1. Start small.
   If you want to deadlift 400 pounds, you don’t start with a fully loaded bar. The same philosophy applies to going vegan. “People say they want to go 100 percent,” says Borges, “but the moment you set up a platform of perfection, you set yourself up for failure.” Just as you’d slowly add weight week by week to hit that lift, Borges recommends starting small with a vegan diet. Incorporate one entirely plant-based meal to your diet once a day, and gradually grow to eat entirely plant-based one day a week — then two days, then three.
   MORE: Why UFC’s Toughest Fighters Are Going Vegan
2. Think of your gut.
   Plant-based diets are easier on the digestive system, Borges points out. And many studies have found they offer long-term rewards: Eating a vegan or predominantly plant-based diet is tied to less inflammation, a lower risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cholesterol, and lower blood pressure. On the flip side, eating a meat-based diet is connected with many serious illnesses, Borges says. “Studies have already shown a strong connection between animal-protein intake and increased colorectal cancer and heart disease.” What’s more, he adds that research also suggests “an increase in inflammation just one hour after a meal of meat, dairy, and eggs, which eventually causes a chronic inflammatory response that can impede the healing process.”
3. Boost fitness gains.
   A common misconception to eating plant-based is that you won’t be fueled up for a hard workout. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Borges says that plants are easily digestible, and loaded with nutrients to provide instant, lasting energy to fuel exercise and beyond. This actually allows you to train harder and lift more. Borges recommends looking to beans, legumes, seeds, nuts, greens, and other plant-based sources for protein post-workout.
4. Know you’re burning more fat.
   Eating a diet high in fiber boosts the metabolism, Borges says. That’s because dietary fiber, or roughage, is indigestible. (There are two types of fiber: soluble, which dissolves in water and can help lower blood sugar and cholesterol, and insoluble, which helps move things through the digestive tract.) Because the body can’t easily break down fiber, it works harder to process through the stomach, small and large intestines, and colon, thus helping you burn more overall calories.
5. Don’t sweat slip-ups.
   “The moment we think we’ve failed or that our best wasn’t good enough, we give up,” says Borges. If you find that you ordered a turkey sandwich or burger at lunch with your buddies even though it was supposed to be a meat-free day, don’t beat yourself up about it. “Success comes in many different shapes and forms. It’s a feeling. When you believe that, that’s when you succeed,” he says. And that feeling may come from eating a more plant-based diet a few days a week, versus every one.

Some people are successful changing diet all at once, especially if they are in a supervised setting for a week or longer. Everyone will slip on occasion but that’s no reason to give up. Rich foods are addicting but not as strongly as narcotics, tobacco or alcohol. It’s easy to recover from a slip.

Late in 2012 I hit a rock bottom both personally and professionally. I had just turned 38, the same age my paternal grandfather had his first heart attack and only seven years away from the age my father suffered his first heart attack. I was so worried that I would suffer their same fate myself. I knew that one third of heart attack victims didn’t survive, and I was deathly afraid that I might not be as lucky as my father and grandfather. I was obese with a BMI of 33 and already had pre-diabetes, fatty liver, acid reflux, and symptoms of sleep apnea. Our first child was only three years old at that time, and I could not imagine leaving her without her daddy.
On top of this overwhelming concern and weighing on my mind like an extra ton of bricks was the memory of two years prior when I had witnessed one of the most tragic and horrible events that have ever happened to my family. My father, fortunate to have survived his first heart attack and coronary artery bypass surgery a few years later, underwent bilateral leg amputations (below the knee) as a result of his type II diabetes. He went from being a fully functional, working, and joyful new grandpa enjoying his first infant grandchild (our daughter), to being a disabled, unemployed, and depressed man confined to a wheelchair.
On top of all this, professionally I was burning out. I was so dejected and so frustrated not knowing what to do as I witnessed more and more of my patients gaining weight, getting sicker and sicker, taking more and more medications, all the while becoming more and more miserable and depressed. They would ask me for help and I felt I had nothing to offer them other than more pills.
One particular patient of mine, that in hindsight epitomized what was wrong with modern medicine, was a local popular clergyman in his mid 50s. I always enjoyed seeing him — I’ll never forget we had such meaningful conversations with plenty of laughter as he had such a great sense of humor. He was obese with type II diabetes, yet was a model patient — he took his long list of medications diligently and his hemoglobin A1c, LDL, and blood pressure were always at target.
Yet one day I received the most dreaded call of my career: The local ER called to inform me that this most pleasant and delightful patient of mine collapsed suddenly at home of a suspected heart attack and was taken by ambulance to the ER in full cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, the staff in the ER were unable to resuscitate him. Like that, he was gone. In spite of all his medications and his diligence in doing precisely what I asked him to do, with all his numbers at target, he died far too soon. He left behind a young family, a loving wife, and a community that cherished him. I knew at that time that something was seriously wrong with modern medicine, but I didn’t know what the answer was. Now I do.
Fortunately, four years ago, at this age of 38, worried deeply about my personal and professional future, I had discovered the incredible power of food as medicine. I was blown away by what I was learning: I was amazed to learn that there existed a way of eating, namely a whole food, plant-based diet, where one can eat until they are full, without counting calories or measuring or restricting portion size — all while losing significant amounts of weight, regardless of the amount of exercise. This same way of eating, I learned, also REVERSES our most common chronic diseases, including our number one killer, heart disease, and our most costly and complicated disease, diabetes. I was very skeptical learning all of this, especially as it was not part of my years of training. Yet soon I began to realize how much solid scientific evidence existed that more than substantiated these incredible benefits.
Before long I challenged myself to eat and live this way. Within eight months, I lost 75 pounds, and my BMI went from an obese 33 down to a normal 23. My prediabetes, fatty liver, acid reflux, and symptoms of sleep apnea went away. My blood pressure dropped twenty points. I felt amazing. Most importantly, I felt as if the huge monkey on my back was gone. I was no longer depressed or worried about my health and my future. It was obvious my next step was to implement this into my clinical practice. Doing so has brought me from burnout to now feeling a true sense of joy and deep satisfaction in my career. Before I felt as if I wasn’t really helping people.
I rarely if ever saw a patient’s health turn around completely from a prescription I wrote. Yet now I often see patients have such dramatic and meaningful improvements in their lives and health. I have seen many patients lose significant amounts of weight, in some cases as much as what we see with bariatric surgery. So many patients have reversed their chronic diseases such as diabetes; even diabetic neuropathy and erectile dysfunction, which we are taught are non-reversible. One patient in particular was able to discontinue a total of 160 units of daily insulin in just two weeks after starting a whole food, plant-based diet. Another patient was facing a below the knee amputation like my father and was able to heal his diabetic foot ulcer and avoid amputation by changing to a plant-based diet. I have seen numerous patients discontinue the majority, and in some cases all, of their medications within a matter of just days to weeks.
I have become so passionate about plant-based nutrition that I discuss it with nearly every patient at almost every visit. I realize that not all patients are ready for change, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of planting the seed sooner rather than later. I have also found that my patients are more receptive and encouraged by the fact that their doctor is practicing what he preaches. I now supplement my practice by teaching healthful eating classes, and I help run group-based lifestyle medicine programs. This change in my practice has given me such pleasure and joy; there is nothing more satisfying for me than to see what this can do for my patients and for the practice of medicine.

Deb and I just returned from St. Louis where we attended Big Bang, the annual meeting of The Big Picture Company, a Providence, RI based non-profit which develops and supports schools around the world. Most of their schools serve underprivileged students, often in the inner city. http://www.bigpicture.org

Our school systems are failing most students, especially those from poor families. Many students learn little or drop out; few are enabled to reach potential. Big Picture’s philosophy is to identify and support each student’s interest and talents while helping to correct health and social issues preventing optimal school participation. Each small group of students has an advisor who stays with them throughout their time at the school where cooperation, empathy and mutual support are an integral part of the education. A major feature of Big Picture schools is internships. Mentors in diverse fields are identified and recruited. Students typically spend two full days a week in an internship, developing relationships and learning a subject in depth. After each nine week internship the student prepares a written and Power Point summary of her work. Testing and grades are eliminated in favor of experience and personal evaluations. When students move on to traditional systems in college they do well because they have come to love learning, having accumulated excellent skills to solve problems and acquire new knowledge. Almost all Big Picture students end up pursuing careers (ranging from beautician to carpenter to artist to scientist with advanced academic degrees) in which they have had internships. We have visited three of these schools and loved seeing children who delight in being part of a stimulating, pleasant place of true education. Our grandson attends and enjoys a Big Picture school in San Diego.

At the meeting I presented information about the science of diet and nutrition to a group of sixty teachers and administrators. What you eat controls behavior and performance, the critical elements of schooling. Barbara Reed Stitt demonstrated this in the Appleton, Wisconsin schools. She changed foods served at school to mainly whole food plant based. Attendance improved greatly; disruptive behavior almost disappeared; classroom performance went up. This approach is inexpensive, scientifically grounded, and very effective but is ignored in almost all schools. https://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=josUVt8-UD2AyfNQ&u=/watch%3Fv%3DLgabV3Ktgww%26feature%3Dem-share_video_user

An effective approach to improved student eating habits is exposure to different foods. One of the best ways to accomplish this is school gardens and food preparation classes. Big Picture has a new “Seed to Table” program run by Paul Hudak, an inspiring teacher who has created these programs in Oregon and California schools. Students love this work, learning to grow, prepare and try different vegetables and fruits. An appreciation of practical science in botany and health flows naturally from this activity. https://greenschoolsnationalnetwork.org/seed-table-cultivating-sustainability-natives/

A recent movie, What the Health (available on Netflix), looks at the relationships between fast and processed food, meat, dairy, egg and pharmaceutical businesses and medical societies: American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, Susan B. Komens. These organizations, medical schools and research institutes are heavily funded by business groups. Their policies and training are strongly influenced to the detriment of patients and the public welfare. Like financial, energy and other large industry groups they also control legislation and government policy. Medical care, education and government organizations designed to help all of us are contributing to poor health policies in support of these businesses.

The movie’s interview with Dr. Robert Ratner, chief medical and scientific officer of the American Diabetes Association(ADA), is particularly revealing, amusing and sad. Dr. Ratner aborts the interview when told they would be discussing the relationship of diet and diabetes, questioning why the ADA takes money from food industry groups and offers menus including unhealthy foods on their website.