Do you love your pets?

I must admit, I love pets. We currently have 3 dogs and a cat. They cause unlimited amounts of trouble, and I try to convince them that I am mad at them by telling them that I don't like them and that I am upset by what they did.

Fact of the matter is: I like having them around when I am alone. They lay next to me when I sleep, and they are very happy to see me when I get home. Next to my wife and my kids, they are the beings I love most in the world.

I know what you are thinking. How do pets have a place in a health and wellness blog. We'll get there, and you'll likely be horrified, as I was. My job is not to keep you happy, but to expose you to issues that you might not experience in the mainstream media, when it is pertinent to your health and well being. Since I have been a vegan for 4 years, with a year hiatus, and have extensively studied animal execution, factory farming, and animal welfare, I was surprised I had never learned about this. I'm glad I have now. Big Meat might be mad at me for sharing this, but I wouldn't feel right unless I talked about this with you, my followers who have chosen the path of health and wellness.

First, we have to start with the food chains of Asia. In many cultures in Asia, the dog is considered a valid part of the food chain. They kill, butcher, and eat dogs, as we do to cows, pigs, and chicken. Most Americans consider dog eating to be abhorrent, mainly because we choose to keep those animals as pets, name them, and care for them, rather than choosing them as food.

I have two points here. First, why are dogs not considered food in the west? They are just as nutritious as pigs, cows, and chicken. They are no smarter than pigs, in fact, they may be much less intelligent. They are no better as guard animals. A pig will give its life to defend its master against a physical threat, even to the point of death. I love dogs, but how can we justify the way we treat pigs, when they are more intelligent and just as loyal as dogs? If you are unfamiliar with how we currently treat pigs in America, they are contained in crates barely bigger than their bodies. They have their tails cut off without pain control because they go insane under such conditions. After about 6 weeks of force feeding, they are brought to the processing plant, where nearly 1/3 of them are still awake while they are skinned, put through a boiling water bath, and dissected alive, before being bled out and finally dying. I don't know about you, but that isn't how I'd like my dog to be treated. BTW, that is how almost all animals destined for your dinner plate are treated. If you don't believe me, google "slaughterhouse practices." You will see more than you ever want to.

Point two has to do with dogs and cats that are unwanted. Many sources estimate that 6-8 million dogs and cats are euthanized every year. Most of these animals are born because of irresponsible spaying and neutering practices. I feel sad about the number of unwanted pets, but even worse about what I found out considering what happens to them. Let's say a clinic euthanizes a large number of dogs and cats. What do they do with the bodies? They cremate some that their owners want. The rest are sold to rendering plants. The bodies are ground into meat, brain tissue, and bone meal. This meal makes very cheap feed, which is given to chicken, cows, and pigs. Those of you who were happy that you didn't live in Asia because you didn't eat dog or cat, surprise! You eat the flesh of virtually every dog and cat who is killed in this country, only second hand through what you call chicken, pork, and beef.

Why do the meat farmers feed the ground up bodies of cats and dogs to the animals we eat? Simple answer: Money. Rendered dog and cat corpses are rather cheap. That lowers their cost of operation, which lowers the cost of the meat. If they then sell at the same price, they get to pocket the difference as profit. They also grind up the bodies of lame cows, cattle, and chicken, and feed them to the live animals for the same reason. Although the practice has been banned in Europe for decades, it is considered "standard industry practice" and is exempted by federal law. These laws are largely written by Congressmen and Senators who are given scads of money by lobbyists for factory farmers.

There are a couple of reasons I give you this information: first, I want you to know what exactly goes into the food that you eat. The big meat companies could come down on me hard for what I am telling you, but I think you deserve to know the truth. Second, I want you to be healthy. Do you think that chickens, pigs, and cows, whose normal diet is based on grazing should be fed the ground up tissue of their own species (also known as cannibalism) and those of other animals? Is eating the byproducts of those sick animals good for your health? As a doctor, I can tell you the answer is no. Salmonella, E Coli: 0157:H7, Shigella, and prion diseases, such as Mad Cow Disease (known in humans as Crutchfeld-Jacob Disease) are the result of feeding animals to animals.

Fortunately, if you want to avoid adding to this system and contributing to both disease and the cruelty that these animals suffer, all you have to do is adopt a plant based diet. Plants harbor no such diseases, and do not suffer merely because we like to eat a steak now and again. Eating plants, fruits, legumes, and nuts is not only nutritionally sound, and conducive to weight loss, but is also free of killing poor cats and dogs, and eating animals which likely contain deadly disease.

If you want to opt out of factory farming, and the lies told by the meat industry, feel free to comment, email me at drott@devolvehealth.com, or visit my website at www.devolvehealth.com

M Jacob Ott, MD

So You Want to be a Vegan?

I've been looking back on the history of DevolveHealth lately. I started this company in 2010. The reason that I started DevolveHealth was because I saw the results that a plant based diet and good exercise habits had in my life. I went from 350 lbs to 200 lbs, and discovered levels of energy that I never knew were possible.

In 2012, I had a little hiccough in my life. If you define hiccough as your wife has an affair and leaves you, and you go through over a year of depression. Needless to say, this whole episode left me rather devastated. I didn't really care about anything, and that included my own health. I forgot all the hard work I had put into reforming my mind and body, and went back to my old habits of overeating and being sedentary. Not surprisingly, I gained a significant portion of my weight back, topping out near 300 lbs again.

Even despite this, I never forgot the way I was from 2010 to 2012. I longed to get back to the way I looked and felt at that time. I tried multiple diets- I won't mention their names, but they all have very popular books that make a lot of money. For some reason, I didn't consider going back to the vegan diet which had gotten me to my goal in the first place.

Not surprisingly, none of those diets really work. In fact, one of the guiding principles of DevolveHealth is that diets don't work. It is rather amusing, but I didn't take my own advice at all. Finally a few weeks ago, I came back to my senses, and got back to my roots, so to speak.

Returning to veganism made me think about going through the process of eliminating animal products from my diet in the first place. Hopefully, some of you have read some of my other blog posts, and see the wisdom and health value of avoiding animal products. If not, please go back and read some of them. This post is dedicated to those of you who would like to go vegan, but feel like it might be too hard, or just plain don't know how.

For those of you who think it will be hard, I won't lie to you. Avoiding animal products is not easy. Both times I went vegan, I suffered meat cravings for about a week to two weeks. That being said, finding foods to eat is not that hard. Even in your local grocery store, there is a tremendous variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts. You just have to be willing to experiment, and have an open mind. When I was just a fledgling vegan, the thing I had the most trouble with was figuring out what to cook. There are loads of vegan cookbooks out there (my personal favorite is the Veganomicon, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero), and plenty of websites which offer free vegan recipes. My favorites:

www.vegweb.com: offers over 10,000 vegan recipes of all kinds.
www.allrecipes.com: not specifically vegan, but has a large vegan section

I promise you, it isn't nearly as hard as you think it may be. I was a staunch omnivore. In high school, if anyone would have been voted "most likely to die while eating a steak" it was me. The term "meat and potatoes man" found its literal meaning in me. If I can do it, so can you. No excuses.

If you fall into the "I want to go vegan, but I don't know how" group, then here is some advice I learned the hard way, through trial and error:

1. Eat a variety of foods. Vegan diets are nutritionally sound, and superior to diets with meat in virtually every way, with one proviso. You have to eat a variety of foods. Rice, beans, green leafy veggies, nuts, legumes, and soy, tempeh, seitan. Use the websites above for ideas and be adventurous. 
2. Avoid processed foods. Oreo's are technically vegan. They aren't good for you. With all the processed vegan products out there today, it is easy to become a "junk food vegan." Make sure the foods you eat are in the form they grew in nature. Avoid processed sugars and refined oils as much as possible. It is fine to indulge once in a while, but refined sugars are just as bad for vegans as they are for meat eaters.
3. Get ready to poop a lot. One byproduct of eating lots of vegetables and beans is that you will probably get 50-80 grams of fiber daily. While this is good for preventing colon cancer, It also means several trips to the restroom per day. On the upside, you'll never be constipated...
4. Get a B12 and a Vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D intake is too low in vegans and meat eaters alike. B12, which vegans would normally get from the bacteria in the dirt on the plants they ate, is gone in our toxic soil, and needs to be supplemented. I recommend 5000 IU of D per day, and 1000 mcg of B12 once weekly. The best B12 is the type of tablet that dissolves under the tongue.
5. If you feel craving for meat, get a meat replacement product. Although these aren't the best for you, as they are heavily processed, they are OK in a pinch, and vastly better than going back to meat. There is a wide array of soy burgers, hot dogs, sausages, and other meat like products at your local grocery store.
6. PLAN AHEAD. This is really important. Although restaurants and cafeterias are getting better about offering vegan options, not every place has them. Some places say they have vegan entrees, but they are cooked in butter or the like. Family gatherings, weddings, and parties can be especially bad, as they usually lack vegan food choices. Be sure to bring a snack with you (some nuts or carrots, an apple, banana, or peach) so that you have something to eat in a real pinch. If I am going to a party or wedding, I like to eat a vegan meal ahead of time, just in case. The same is true of air travel. Airplanes never feed you anymore, and airports have very limited choices. Pack some good vegan snacks in your carry-on.
7. Be prepared for people to think you are odd. Meat eating is very ingrained into our culture. People think all vegans are tree hugging hippies. If you tell someone you are vegan, they will pepper you with questions. Read my post entitled "What are you Eating?" for more info on the questions. Even if they think you are odd, most people are intrigued, and those questions can be a good jumping off point to discuss a better lifestyle with them (as long as you don't sound pompous and preachy)
8. Get ready to feel good. Now that your body no longer wastes half of its energy trying to digest meat, you will feel younger, with tons of energy. Funnel that into exercise, family, and fun!

I'm not kidding about any of this. Try going vegan for a month, and if you don't feel a world of difference, I will refund the $0 you paid to read this blog. (Seriously, you will notice a large difference)

If you need more info on how to make the change and opt out of the Standard American Diet, feel free to comment, visit my website www.devolvehealth.com, or email me at drott@devolvehealth.com 

(Not so) Evil Fat

Weight: 272
Running: 3 miles today. Felt AWESOME!!

Fat. It is a word we have all been trained to fear over the last generation or so. It has almost become dogma among doctors and nutritionists that fat makes you fat. If you ask virtually any doctor what you should eat to be healthy, especially if you have a history of heart disease, you will be told to eat a "low sodium, low fat, heart healthy diet."

Why has fat been so stigmatized? To answer that question, we are going to take a step back in time. The beginning of the anti-fat movement has its roots in the 50's. It began not scientifically, but with common sense. If the problem is that you are carrying too much fat, then eating fat will only make things worse. To back this up, they began to design (rather poorly) studies in the 60's which confirmed that increased intake of fat, especially saturated fat, increased risk of heart disease and death. The birth of the low fat diet had happened. From there, citing these poor studies, the American College of Cardiology recommended a low fat diet in the prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD). What the doctors of the time (and even today) failed to realize is that human metabolism is far more complex than fat being turned into fat.

I apologize, but I have to go into a little chemistry here. There are many types of fats:

Saturated fat: a fat in which all of the carbon molecules (the c's) are occupied by hydrogens. Saturated fats occur in most animal products, and some plant products like avocado, nuts, and coconut. They are solid at room temperature.

Monounsaturated fat: Notice that one of the carbons in this molecule has a double bond to the one next to it. Thus, it is not "saturated" with Hydrogen. These fats occur in mostly plant oils, like olive oil.

Polyunsaturated fat: More than one of the carbon atoms has a double bond. There are 3 main varieties:

• Omega 3- The first double bond is in the 3rd carbon atom
• Omega 6- The first double bond is in the 6th
• Omega 9- The first double bond is in the 9th

Trans fat: A type of monounsaturated fat where the Hydrogens in the double bond are on opposite sides of the molecule. These have the advantage of being super stable and having a long shelf life, making them ideal for selling. They have the disadvantage of causing horrible amounts of blood vessel inflammation in humans. These do not occur in nature and only are made by food companies for use in fried foods. Many types of chips and microwave popcorn have vast amounts of trans fat. This is the big baddie.

Cholesterol: A complex molecule used in the cell membrane of virtually every cell in your body, as well as in steroid molecules, testosterone, estrogen, and many other hormones. The USDA has a daily recommended intake of cholesterol, but the human body is perfectly capable of making cholesterol without any help. You don't have to take in any, and a high cholesterol level is well linked to heart disease.

So on to the myth about fats. They are not all bad. In fact, there are essential fats. Our bodies can't make two fatty acids we really need: alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) and linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid). They should be consumed in the ratio of about 2:1 with the 2 being omega 3. Flax, walnuts, and some other nuts are great sources of omega 3. 

The truth is even broader than that, however. Fats from plant products are quite beneficial for you. Whereas animal fats (particularly from factory farmed animals who are fattened on corn) cause CAD, systemic inflammation, and create the small LDL's (the bad ones that cause artery disease), plant fats actually decrease information, slow artery plaque formation, and contribute to satiation, causing you to eat less.

You'll notice if you read my DevolveHealth eating rules at www.devolvehealth.com, they say nothing about fat intake. If you eat a varied diet including nuts, seeds, healthy oils such as flax and olive, chia seeds, avocado, and coconut oil in mild to moderate amounts, you will get plenty of the essential fats that you need, and avoid the evil trans fats and animal saturated fats. The foods to avoid are animal products and processed (especially fried) foods.

I know what you are thinking: "what about salmon? They say salmon has lots of omega 3's." While this is true, you can easily get the same omega 3's from plant sources, and avoid the antibiotics fed to farmed fish. Also, you can avoid the Mercury load that you get from predator fish such as salmon. 

Bottom line: if you want to be healthy, ignore the guidelines about fat, stop counting calories, and follow the DevolveHealth eating rule #1:

Eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and legumes, and very little if any meat, dairy, or eggs.

If you do this, you will not only notice weight loss (if that's what you're looking for), but also increased energy, and lower risk of chronic disease.

Happy eating! Feel free to comment and let me know your results!

Vegan Children

Weight: 273
Running: 2 miles today.

I recently had a conversation with my daughter. She is a wonderful girl, almost nine years old, and she wants to be a vet. She loves animals almost more than people, and has a huge heart.

Totally unprompted, she came up to me and ask why people hurt animals. She had overheard a conversation about someone hurting their dog. I told her that some people are just mean, and that they feel strong when they hurt the helpless.

Never one to take a simple explanation at face value, my girl then wanted to talk about hunting and killing animals for food. She said that she understood that we need to eat animals for food, and that people hunt and raise animals for that purpose. She wanted to know why we had to kill animals for food.

I'm not one to hide things from my daughter. She is way too smart for that. I explained to her that in the distant past, humans had to eat whatever they could find, since they didn't have the variety of food readily available that we do today, and this would include whatever animals they could catch or kill. I also explained to her how things had changed. How factory farms now saw these animals immobilized. How beaks and pigs' tails were cut off for the convenience of the farmers. How more than 10 billion chickens were killed annually to feed only 300 million people. And finally, how the animals often get ill or go crazy from the confinement and unnatural conditions.

The funny thing is that none of this needs to happen. All of these animals die for a personal preference. People like to eat meat. It tastes good (not something that I disagree with). People don't HAVE to eat meat. Even the American Dietetic Association, who promoted the absolute necessity of meat for optimal health has acknowledged:

"Many people make the switch to a vegetarian diet because of the potential health benefits. According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, vegetarian eating patterns have been associated with improved health outcomes including lower levels of obesity, a reduced risk of heart disease and lower blood pressure. Also, vegetarians tend to consume a lower proportion of calories from fat and fewer overall calories, and more fiber, potassium and vitamin C than non-vegetarians. These characteristics, plus lifestyle factors, may contribute to the health benefits among vegetarians."

Completely true. No one needs to eat meat at all. Not even children. Not only are plant based diets better for health, but they are 100% complete in terms of the nutrients that human beings need. Even B12, which meat farmers (read: animal torturers) tout as only coming from meat, can easily be obtained from nutritional yeast. The ADA has this to say on the subject of vegetarian children:

"Balanced vegetarian diets are healthy for children and 
may help them maintain a healthy body weight."

This brings up an interesting question: how does something as unimportant as taste justify the slaughter of billions of animals yearly? Taste is just a sensation. Would we feel the same about killing animals if we enjoyed it visually? Of course not. Why does our taste get a pass?

My 8 year old daughter reached the same conclusion. In her innocent child like ways, she asked "but daddy, if we don't have to eat animals for food any more, why do we still hurt them?" I don't really have a good answer for that question, but it is a valid one. Why do we continue to kill cows, so that we can have fast food hamburgers? Why do we kill pigs so that we can have ham for New Year's or Christmas? Why do we kill turkeys or chickens so that we can have Thanksgiving dinner, or eat fried chickens and potatoes?

I gave her the best answer I could. I told her that lots of companies made an awful lot of money off of the system, and that the system wouldn't change easily. When she asked me what she could do to fix it, I told her she could opt out. Opting out is a powerful thing. Each of us who refuses to consume animal products takes money out of the hands of the animal farmers. If enough of us do so, we will force them to choose a different income stream.

The main reason I adopted a vegan diet was for health concerns. That being said, I don't like cruelty, and I'm sure most of you feel the same. If you don't like the tortured death of billions of animals for something that we don't even need, choose to opt out too. I'm proud of my eight year old for wanting to do the right thing. She is young and healthy. What she cares about is the animals. If you do decide to opt out for whatever reason, please comment and let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Gluten Hell

Wheat. It seems pretty innocuous. A tall grass, indigenous to most of North and South America. Humans have been consuming wheat and wheat related products for centuries if not millennia. Records from the earliest settled societies, such as the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Aztecs, show evidence of the consumption of wheat and other grains. In fact, they are possibly the first plants which were grown by mankind in order to eat, a clear fork in the road from the hunting and gathering that our ancestors used to do.

The main difference between grains like wheat and other plants that our ancestors might have been able to find is the need of processing. Most of the wheat grass is indigestible. The seeds of the plant are all that we can eat, but that requires a great deal of processing. Since processing requires technology, most processed foods are not what we are designed to eat.

This seems to go for wheat as well. The main problem with wheat is a protein called gluten. It is from a class of proteins called leptins. They are present in all grains including rice and corn, but the gluten from wheat is by far the worst.

When I was in medical school, they taught us about celiac disease. It was characterized as a very rare disease. I became much more interested in gluten in the past year or so. My new wife, and most likely my son, are gluten intolerant. Just a bit of wheat in bread, cookies, or many other products, gives them abdominal cramping, and in the case of my son, diarrhea.

Given my close connection to gluten intolerance, I did a bit of research. The gluten in wheat is rather toxic to the human body. It causes damage to the intestinal cells, allowing bacteria and other nasties to enter the system. It also interferes with the absorption of other nutrients, leading to the ironic phenomenon of being malnourished while still having plenty to eat. Gluten intolerance is a spectrum, and the degree of symptoms is determined by just how sensitive you are. Symptoms of gluten intolerance include: vomiting, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, weight loss, headaches, and weakness. Additionally, gluten intolerance has been linked to such auto-immune diseases such as Crohn's disease, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and certain forms of cancer, such as leukemia and lymphoma.

When I became aware of these findings, I decided to use myself as a guinea pig (I kind of like to do that). I cut gluten out of my own diet. I have occasionally had bouts of cramping abdominal pain, diarrhea, and fatigue, for which I didn't know the cause. Within a month of switching to a gluten free diet, those symptoms went completely away. I had more energy than ever. It even helped with my workouts, since I had more energy.

The interesting thing is how little I learned about this very dangerous nutrient in medical school. As such, if you have been to your doctor with chronic versions of the symptoms mentioned above, it is highly likely that your doctor will not recognize the diagnosis since they are not aware of all of this current research.

If you do suffer from any of these chronic ailments, I would encourage you to cut gluten from your diet (in addition to eating mostly fruits, vegetables, and seeds and nuts) for at least a month. I know it is hard, since wheat is in so many products. If you give it a try, I think you will feel much better and many of your symptoms will disappear, as mine did.

If this works (or even if it doesn't) please comment and share your experience with me. As always, if you want or need nutrition or exercise advice, feel free to contact me: drott@devolvehealth.com. Also, if you respond to this post, look at www.devolvehealth.com, or my facebook page, www.facebook.com/devolvehealth, I will be happy to offer any help I can.

M. Jacob Ott, MD