Things I learned at the Getaway

A reader asked me to post things I learned at the Getaway that might benefit a newbie. So I'll just run through things I wrote down in my notebook. It will probably be kind of random, but actually that's part of the learning process--there were tips to be learned all the time, at the food line, from other people, from Dr. Fuhrman's answers to questions, and of course, from the lectures.

The first lecture was an overview of "Eat for Health." I didn't take careful notes. Right now I'm interested myself in why refined grains and sugar are harmful---are they harmful in themselves or do they just cause a person to eat less of the healthy food? It seems they are harmful in themselves. I'm rereading "Eat to Live" with a mind to this question. Also my notes at the Getaway were probably more focused on this question too. So that explains why I wrote "refined foods (bagels, pasta) are cancer causing." So they are harmful. Dr. Fuhrman said, "To create cancer, eat a diet high in meat and cheese, high in refined carbs, and low in veggies, fruit, beans, nuts, and seeds." And of course, do the opposite to prevent it. He also reminded me that fruit protects against cancer. I love fruit. You'd think something so delicious wouldn't be so good for you, but it is! What good fortune!

Another concept I learned was the definition of addiction: when you have trouble stopping something because you experience discomfort.

And the Mindset of Champions:

Determination, Initiative, Perserverance, Repitition, Correct Attitude...

And then the slide went away. I really liked this and I am not sure I wrote everything down. It's so important to have a positive attitude. This would be good to write down and put on your fridge.

The next lecture was "Healthy Pantry" by Lisa Fuhrman. This would really benefit a newbie and my notes only reflect things I found new or interesting, even though there was tons of information. The best grains (roughly from top to bottom) are steel cut oats, quinoa, bulghur, wild rice, brown rice, coarse whole wheat. (Keep in mind that vegetables and beans are more nutritious than grains). Most "whole wheat" bread is white bread with coloring added and some whole wheat added. Look for the ingredients list to verify, should say "whole wheat" as the first (and only grain) ingredient. Some good whole wheat breads are ezekial, alvarado, essene and manna (frozen).

Next, "Reversing and Preventing Heart Disease and Strokes." New studies are showing more and more the benefits of nuts and seeds! If you are trying to lose weight, 1 oz a day is sufficient but don't eat less. Rebecca, who lost 300 lbs, said her weight loss stalled for a while, and then she was reminded to eat nuts and seeds, and then it started coming off again. They actually help with weight loss! Also, low-fat diets with no nuts and seeds may dramatically increase your risk of ventricular fibrillation or other life-threatening arrythmias. I speak from experience because I tried a low-fat diet for a couple of weeks and my irregular heart beats (which I used to get before eating healthy) returned with a vengeance. I asked Dr. Fuhrman for advice on the forums and he said eat nuts and seeds! And it worked. Anyway, this lecture made me realize I shouldn't skimp on these. I am thin and probably need even more than the average. So my minimum should be 2 oz a day. Given how much I exercise, 3-4 oz is probably fine.

Next was a lecture on Diabetes. First were the amazing statistics: 7/10 adults deaths are caused by chronic diseases, all preventable by diet. Medical costs for chronic disease are 75% of US healthcare expenditures. Diabetes is really an awful disease, and type II diabetes is caused by being overweight. The more fat you are, the more insulin you need to push the glucose into the cells (which are covered in fat), so the pancreas produces more insulin, and the insulin makes you more fat (I'm not real clear on why but it seems to more efficiently convert calories to fat, see Eat to Live, p. 38-39 and 158-164). So it's a negative feedback situation that spirals you into weight gain and higher insulin production. In addition, all that insulin in your bloodstream is an athleroschlerotic agent, i.e., makes your heart disease worse. But too much glucose contributes to blindness and kidney disease. The good news is, if you start losing weight, you set up a positive feedback situation where you need less insulin and that makes you less fat, which makes you need less insulin, and so on. Dr. Fuhrman is writing a book on diabetes. Anyway, the other main point of this lecture was new results on how great beans are. They have resistant starch which is not digested and causes lots of beneficial short-chain fatty acids in your large intestines. Because of the resistant starch and lots of fiber, they effectively have fewer calories than advertised. I'm going to try to eat 1/2 cup of beans at lunch and 1/2 cup at dinner. Spreading them out over 2 meals works better for me, as I discovered at the Getaway. Some random useful facts at the end of the lecture were: green apples are lower in sugar than others. Some low-sugar fruits are blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, papayas, and green apples. I love all of those except I don't get good papayas in Wisconsin.

There was a session on the Nutritional Excellence Institute and becoming a certified Nutritional Excellence Trainer (NET). I plan to do this. There will be a variety of programs, from individual counseling, group counseling, food prep services, meetings, resellers of products, and corporate training. The website describing this more will be up soon.

Next was a Nutritional Research Update. I was happy to learn that grapefruits may not be bad for you if you are at a healthy weight and eat a healthy diet. There is a link between grapefruit and breast and prostate cancer but this may be because most Americans are overweight and have excess estrogen. Then there were words like ITC which I already forgot what it means, but I did learn that if you cut up your cruciferous veggies and onions and let them sit in the air for a few minutes, a chemical reaction occurs and produces ITCs, which are anti-cancer compounds. They survive the cooking process. So when you make Dr. Fuhrman's anti-cancer soup, change the instructions so you precut or pre-blend the cruciferous veggies first and let them sit for a couple of minutes, then add. Tomatoes and carrots have more anti-cancer compounds after cooking. I love raw carrots, so I guess I am missing out on the ITCs in carrots but I'll make up for it in tomatoes and collard greens and kale. Mammograms detect cancers earlier but don't increase lifespan. Chemo causes as much harm as good. Caffeine has much worse effects on diabetics. AGEs: Advanced Glycation End products (I think) are an important cause of the horrible side effects of diabetes. AGEs are increased when starchy foods are cooked at higher temperatures, like baked or roasted potatoes, (or french fries, of course!). Cooking with water insures things won't overheat. Raw cocoa has theobromide, not caffeine? Is this true? This was new to me.

Then we had a fantastic cooking demo with Lisa Fuhrman and Chef Charlotte. Here's something I learned: you can freeze bananas with the skin on it! Just throw them in the freezer when ripe. When you want to put them in a smoothie or ice cream, let them thaw for a few minutes so the skin gets soft enough and it will peel right off. All these years I wasted time peeling and breaking into pieces and putting into plastic bags. Some handy kitchen tools include a T-peeler for peeling mangos and other large fruits; a microplane for citrus zest, a good french knife, a French mandolin. Charlotte rattled off some fun recipes she made and I didn't get them all written down. She made a stir fry with cashew butter, coconut milk, ginger, lime zest, and I lost the rest, but probably you can go with veggies for the rest. We taste-tested the banana-flag cake--it was really good! Here's a nice sounding easy dessert: heat up apples, raisins and cinnamon in water, top with banana freeze (frozen bananas and soy or other milk blended up---or frozen banana, nuts and water will work just as well).

Next, a lecture on Hormones, supplements and Vitamin D. Vitamin D is amazing amazing amazing. You must take vitamin D. One study showed that it lowered the risk of breast cancer by 50% over 4 years. This suggests that is reverses growth because when breast cancer is detected, it's been growing for 20-30 years. The risk of vitamin D deficiency is at least as severe as smoking cigarettes. Don't hope that sun will give you all you need. A study on surfers in Hawaii showed some to be very deficient. Fuhrman has a newsletter on vitamin D. It also helps with depression, with calcium absorption, so many things. And you need DHA too. I didn't write down some interesting stuff because I take Dr. Fuhrman's supplements and don't worry about it. Vitamin A in supplements is very bad for you. Same with folic acid--cancer causing!

Finally, a Q&A session where you could ask whatever you want of the doctor. Some odds and ends I wrote down: for mushrooms, the white, crimini and portabella are the least nutritious! Shitake, elephant (others?) are the ones you want. Juicing vegetables removes protein! And there are lots of calories in juice, since you removed the no-calorie fiber. Pomegranate juice is the best fruit juice.

That's all...