Food is confusing: Plant vs. Paleo

FOOD IS CONFUSING Alive in Berlin 2015 Chris Castiglione

Chris Castiglione

GOT MILK?

WHY ARE YOU VEGETARIAN?

Fast Food Nation Omnivore’s Dilemma In Defense of Food The China Study Whole Death by Food Pyramid Forks Over Knives Fed Up Food Inc. Cowspiracy Fat Sick and Nearly Dead King Corn Vegucated A JOURNEY OF LEARNING Food Rules   Eating Animals Grain Brain The Fat Surprise Skinny Bitch The Ethics of What We Eat Paleo Manifesto

There’s a lot that they agree on 20% 80% 80%

1. NUTRITION SCIENCE 2. PLANT VS. MEAT 3. WHAT WE ALL AGREE ON

MAKING SENSE OF NUTRITION SCIENCE

VITAMIN C

2. PEPPERS: 183.5MG 1. GUAVA: 228.3MG 3. KALE: 120MG 7. ORANGES - 53.2MG per 100 grams (about the size of 1 orange)

HOW I FEEL ABOUT NUTRITION

1. Bad politics 2. Biased experts 3. Reductionism WHY IS NUTRITION SO CONFUSING?

1. BAD POLITICS

THE BASIC FOUR 1956 - 1992

THE FOOD PYRAMID 1992

MYPYRAMID 2005

MYPLATE 2007

2. BIAS EXPERTS

TRUST

HARVARD MEDICAL DEGREE - COURSE REQUIREMENTS

NO NUTRITION CLASSES ARE REQUIRED TO GET A HARVARD MEDICAL DEGREE

STATUS OF NUTRITION EDUCATION IN MEDICAL SCHOOLS (2004)

Anyone who is certain they are right about everything, is most certainly wrong

3. REDUCTIONISM

If you are a REDUCTIONIST you believe that everything in the world can be understood if you understand all its component parts.

Reductionism: The mistake of characterizing foods by the health effects of certain nutrients

Lycopene In 1995, a report came out that people who ate more whole tomatoes had lower risk for prostate

Lycopene Marketers rose to the challenge. “It’s lycopene time!”

Lycopene And the results…

Lycopene 1,361 studies later, and there are still no significant findings on isolating lycopene. There are hundreds of thousands of chemicals in tomatoes!

PLANT VS. MEAT NUTRITION CRASH COURSE

PLANT-BASED VS. PALEO

WHOLE FOOD PLANT-BASED

PLANT-BASED Water Plants Fruit Grains Legumes Excluded Dairy Industrial vegetable oils Refined grains Refined sugar

1. THE CHINA STUDY EXPERIMENT

The counties with the highest rates of some cancers were more than 100 times greater than counties with the lowest rates of cancers.

THE BODY HAS A OPTIMUM % OF PROTEIN IT NEEDS

3 ounces of meat (21 grams) What 10% Animal Protein Looks Like: Roughly 46 grams for women, 56 for men 1 Yogurt (11 grams) 2 Glasses of Milk (5oz each)

The body has a sweet spot for how much protein it needs

10% 12% 15% The body has a sweet spot for how much protein it needs

2. DR. ESSELSTYN 3. DR. ORNISH

Dr. Esselstyn (Yale) • 18 patients near-death • He put them on a plant-based diet for 5 years • They had had 49 coronary events prior to a whole-foods plant based diet • 0 events after going on the diet Dr. Ornish (Harvard) • “Lifestyle Heart Trial” • He took 28 heart disease patients and   put them on a low-fat, plant-based diet • 82% of the patients in the experiment group had a regression in their heart disease within the year. The control group had a 165% rise in the frequency of chest pain

Coronary artery before and after consuming a plant-base diet

PALEO

PALEO Animals Eggs Vegetables Fruit Nuts and seeds Excluded Too much Dairy Industrial vegetable oils Refined grains Refined sugar

PALEO: EAT HOW HUMANS ATE OVER 10,000 YEARS AGO

“It’s tricky to rely on food science because the information is always changing, updating, and being debated. Instead, we need a universal paradigm to guide us. “ - Loren Cordain

PALEO (CORDAIN) PLANT (CAMPBELL) VS

PALEO Looks to evolution for understanding PLANT Looks to science for understanding

PALEO Cordain believes a “high protein diet” of 20-40% protein should be the norm. He cites research showing that a lean animal protein diet reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and obesity. PLANT Campbell believes we should maintain 10% protein from calories, “mostly all from whole food plants”. He cites research showing that a whole food plant based diet reduces risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, and diabetes.

PALEO More protein from animals PLANT Less protein from animals

PALEO Cow’s milk is bad for you PLANT Cow’s milk is bad for you

PALEO Nutrition science is confusing “The study of human nutrition remains an immature science.” PLANT Nutrition science is confusing “Although we think we’re well informed on nutrition, we’re not. We tend to follow one faddish diet after another.”

CHINASTUDYDIET.COM

DENISE MINGER

WHAT WE ALL AGREE ON

There’s a lot that they agree on 20% 80% 80%

Forks over knives: vegetables are good of you, meat causes heart disease and cancer Fed up: sugar causes obesity and diabetes The Paleo Manifesto: we should eat meat, plants, and avoid sugar because our ancestors did The Big Fat Surprise: natural saturated fats in butter and meat are more healthy than vegetable oil and “diet” foods

Paleo Plant-based Red Meat Animal fats Whole grains, Legumes, Potatoes Excluded Too much Dairy Industrial vegetable oils refined grains refined sugar Whole foods Plants Fruits

VEGETARIANS LIVE 8 YEARS LONGER

There is “something” about the vegetarian lifestyle that causes you to live longer. What is it?

You don’t need to be a vegetarian, but you can act like a vegetarian

WHOLE

WORKSHOP

EXERCISE #1 - YOUR FOOD PYRAMID

Write down everything you ate today. 1. How did it make you feel afterwards? 2. Why did you eat it?

EXERCISE #2 - RISK

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom” - Isaac Asimov

What if we found out that milk does cause cancer. 80% you will get cancer before you are 60. (hypothetically). Would you stop drinking it?

RESOURCES

Forks over knives Plant-based Fed up Sugar Food Inc Industrialized farming 4 DOCUMENTARIES Cowspiracy Environmental effects of factory farming

NutritionalFacts.org

Chris Castiglione Find me: Twitter @castig chris [at] onemonth.com www.castig.org