A naturopathic self-study in diet & nutrition

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Jan, 2006  by David Zeoli

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The author has experimented with several types of diets over a period of six years. These include a grain-based, high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet of the caliber recommended by the USDA food pyramid and other authorities. And after this, a meat-based, low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet of the manner that some institutions would deem dangerous. Each diet is presented here along with a nutritional breakdown, resulting health benefits and health losses, as well as a detailed discussion and conclusions.

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Introduction

As a student at naturopathic medical school during the mid-90s, I was taught the "cholesterol hypothesis" of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). (1,2) It made sense to me at that time to believe that a diet high in cholesterol, saturated fats, and animal products was a causative factor in many illnesses including high serum cholesterol, CAD, cancer, and diabetes. (3,4) Many of my naturopath role models at school eschewed the benefits of a low-fat, vegetarian diet. My A-positive blood type seemed to link me to agrarian ancestors who ate mainly grains, (5) and also my yoga teacher was a staunch supporter of vegetarianism. As a result, I decided to embark on an experiment in diet and nutrition based on these beliefs.

Initial Diet

In order to increase my health and decrease my risk of illness, I chose to eat a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet which had most of its protein from plants. (6,7) The guidelines for my initial "healthy diet" were as follows: eating only whole foods; only organic foods; increasing quantities of vegetables, grains, legumes, and beans; increasing soy products, nuts, and seeds; decreasing and eliminating all animal products including meats, eggs, dairy, fish, etc.; substituting vegetable oils such as canola, safflower, and soybean for butter and other saturated fat sources. (8,9) This seemed like a textbook perfect diet to me.

I was confident that I was receiving all necessary macro and micronutrients from my food. Protein seemed to be coming from soy, grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. Calcium and other minerals from vegetables, grains, and seeds. Vitamin A from the beta-carotene in the vegetables. Vitamin B12 from fermented soy products, sea vegetables, and the microbes in the dirt on my organic carrots. Vitamin D from the action of the sun on my skin. And if my body needed cholesterol, it could make it for itself. All my bases were covered by this very clean vegetarian/vegan diet. Absent were all the artery clogging animal products which one professor told me were "the most concentrated source of pesticides and toxins" one could ingest.

An example of my typical daily meals is shown in Table 1 along with a complete listing of all of the foods. At first, this diet seemed to eliminate many symptoms I was having. My eczema and acne cleared up, my knee pain decreased, I had an improved mood, and improved digestion and elimination. Over a period of months, however, new kinds of symptoms were beginning to show up as well. First, there was the constant coldness and low body temperature. I always felt cold and could never warm myself, even sleeping under five blankets at night did not help. It seemed that I was always hungry no matter how much I ate. Then there was the increase in alopecia, I was losing my hair like never before! Eventually, I also started having heart palpitations and night sweats.

Most of these symptoms did not resolve but rather, increased in frequency and severity as the years passed, while even more new symptoms appeared. (See Table 2 for a complete list.) At 96[degrees]F, my body was almost incapable of warming a thermometer. My skin was becoming progressively more unhealthy with difficult wound healing, rashes, and a particularly nasty Candida "saddle rash" in the groin region. There was pitting edema of the lower extremities, and a fatigue that was becoming more severe over time. The fatigue gradually made many of my favorite physical activities impossible. One by one, running, racquetball, bicycle riding, skiing, all disappeared from my life. Joint pain returned and increased with knee pain, weak ankles, and bouts of podagra (on a near vegan diet no less). My teeth were becoming fragile, and one day I broke a tooth while chewing on millet. There was a certain empty feeling in my chest and I was feeling "overly sensitive" to the world around me. I was susceptible to any illness going around. Occasionally, I felt strange electrical sensations down the back of my legs. One night in bed I had a seizure.

There were emotional and psychological symptoms as well. My depression came back and was increased. I felt angry with people all the time, and for no apparent reason. Unable to tolerate the presence of other people, I was left to wallow in my own homicidal and sometimes suicidal fantasies. All of the practitioners I was seeing at the time, acupuncturists, homeopaths, naturopaths were trying to help me, but somehow nothing worked very well or for very long. The thought that my diet had something to do with these symptoms had occurred to me, but I had mistakenly believed that I was not being strict enough and removed even more foods from my menu. Pursuing the perfect vegan/macrobiotic diet became an obsession in itself and I pursued it with religious fervor and a ferocious persistence.