THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 1, 1994 TAG: 9411300027
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Morsels
SOURCE: Ruth Fantasia
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
THE UNITED STATES government spent years developing the Food Pyramid. Now, Neal Barnard wants to lop off the top.
Barnard, president of the Washington-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and author of ``Food for Life'' (Crown, 1993), believes food guidelines place too much emphasis on animal products.
Any consumption of animal products is too much, says Barnard.
``For instance, the April 29, 1993, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine says if you religiously follow the National Cholesterol Education Program Step II diet, and eat small portions of meat and remove the skin from your chicken, your cholesterol level will drop an average of 5 percent.
``For a person with a cholesterol level of 250, that's only 12 1/2 points, nowhere near the goal of 200,'' he says. ``. . . But if you follow a vegetarian diet - sans all milk, eggs and cheese - you can reduce your cholesterol level by 25 percent or more.''
In addition, Barnard says a diet of nothing more than grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables can reverse the progress of coronary disease; reduce the risk of cancer and improve cancer survival; relieve arthritis; improve sexual function; reverse adult onset diabetes; ease menstrual cramps; reduce weight; and trim the grocery bill.
Barnard, who will speak in Virginia Beach Friday night, says a vegetarian diet is not a cure-all. ``But this kind of nutritional program is the most powerful anyone can be on,'' he adds.
``It could reduce the number of people who need to be on medication to a fraction of what it is now. And, as a result, reduce the cost of health care by millions of dollars.
Then why don't more doctors prescribe a vegetarian diets?
Doctors aren't taught much about nutrition in medical school, Barnard says. ``They are still pushing these incredibly weak diets because they just come from a time when the research was not what it is today. They simply aren't aware of the latest studies.''
He says insurance companies don't reimburse doctors for giving nutritional advice; they reimburse doctors for writing prescriptions and conducting tests.
Additionally, ``a doctor is not going to suggest a vegetarian diet if the doctor has never tried it,'' he says. ``They don't know if it works.''
But that doesn't mean you should quit going to your doctor, Barnard says.
``I don't encourage people to abandon their doctors. I want them to work with them.''
``Take them a book like mine and tell them you want to try it for a few weeks.''
Barnard would like to see ``milkshake'' diets and similar eating plans abandoned.
``Those things are tantamount to torture and they are dangerous,'' he says.
The cycle of dieting and gaining leads to problems such as bulimia and anorexia, Barnard says.
``Vegan - or strict vegetarian - diets are simple compared to most weight control diets. You can eat as much as you want and the weight will come off naturally. It's not a diet. It's a lifestyle change.''
And it's a lifestyle change Barnard says people will enjoy.
``What I see is people getting into a body that is right for them. They don't have to resolve themselves to a life of pain, or an extra 30 or 40 pounds.'' MEMO: Neal Barnard, M.D., will speak at 7 p.m. Friday at Haygood United
Methodist Church, 7313 Haygood Road, Virginia Beach. The lecture is
free. For more information, call (202) 686-2210.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Dr. Neal Barnard, author of ``Food for Life,'' will speak Friday in
Virginia Beach.
by CNB