here are some prominent Doctors that are pro vegan and have data to back their decisions. Note: they are prominent not necessarily popular.
T. Colin Campbell
Caldwell Esselstyn - Dr. Esselstyn goes on record to state that with the right diet he can pretty much stop all heart disease.
http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-statins-dont-save-lives-in-people-without-heart-diseasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_StudyHere is are some links for an email exchange between mudworm and a friend of ours.
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was Michael Pollan. He has written a lot about food. Some books that I liked were:
"In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" (
http://www.citylightsnc.com/ebook/9781101147382)
"The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" (
http://www.citylightsnc.com/ebook/9781101147177)
"The Botany of Desire: A plan's eye view of the world" (
http://www.citylightsnc.com/ebook/9781588360083)
He also has a number of other titles that I've not read yet that sound interesting:
"Food Rules: An eater's manual" (
http://www.citylightsnc.com/book/9780143124108)
"Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation" (
http://www.citylightsnc.com/ebook/9781101605462)
http://www.citylightsnc.com/search/apachesolr_search/Michael%20Pollan--------------------------------
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Thanks for the links. We've listened to his book The Omnivore's Dilemma on a road trip and I've heard him on radio and seen him in some food related documentaries. Will check out other books when I get a chance.
I'm quite convinced that we should go vegan (and I've been sticking to it fairly well recently), but I'm still exploring the technicalities. The challenges I found include: 1) make food still interesting and not monotonic ; 2) can sustain our endurance riding ; 3) can generate power required for better OLH PRs. Since we have been back on our bikes for quite a few months (since March), I was expecting to be back in shape like it was before, but so far, I have observed flat-ish performance on bike compared to my peak time (last year). I wonder how much my diet is contributing to it. For example, you brought up anemia a while back. May not be that bad, but felt that way sometimes.
Anyway, lots to learn about this new (to me) diet. Been watching a lot of videos on YouTube, mainly because it's easy to get educated while I'm cooking or doing other chores.
I'd say, the most convincing is Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. , an American surgeon and former Olympic rowing champion. Here is a 2 hour video from last year (when he was 79):
. He has a book on the top Amazon Vegetarian Book list. His wife calls it the Plant Perfect book.
However, he is strictly from a heart healthy angle, thus promoting no fat (i.e. excluding nuts and avocado and such). I find it a bit challenging. But his son, Rip Esselstyn, an All-American swimmer and a former pro-triathlete, is now a health activist and food writer. If I have to pick one video of his, I recommend this one:
(43 minutes long). I plan on getting his The Engine 2 Diet book on my Kindle. His mom (Fr. Esselstyn's wife) calls it the Plant Strong book.
Currently, I'm reading The Gerson Therapy: The Proven Nutritional Program for Cancer and Other Illnesses. There is some myth to it (curing cancer by juicing and coffee enema?), but I have to say, her video made when she was 89 on YouTube is very impressive:
Earlier, I also sought out Dr. McDougall's teaching (his wikipedia link) where he promotes starch based vegan diet. I liked it because I like potatoes and corns and he says meals do not have to vary much and once can eat the same thing day in and day out, which sounds convenient to me. But now, my main takeaway from him is that eating starch from rice and potatoes is not a bad thing.
At last, I plan to watch the documentary Forks Over Knives on Netflix soon...
