Chuck: As we head into the new
year, there are so many reasons to take stock of our health. Every time we set our new year's
resolution, that's all about improving our quality of life. And a lot of times we do that
by changing the way that we eat. Right. What is everybody's number
one New Year's resolution. Well, it's to go on a diet. And so many people this
year are looking at adopting a plant-based diet
to improve their health. And they're probably looking
at it for vanity reasons in cleaning up their health. And that starts with weight
loss, but that's just one of the reasons why
people should be adopting a plant-based diet today. We're going to be covering
so many of the benefits that come with it. And with that, we will welcome
the man who will be explaining so many of them to us today. Dr. Neal Barnard. Thanks for being here on
the Exam Room my friend. Neal: Hi there Chuck. Chuck: Happy new
year first of all. Neal: Happy new year
right back at you. Chuck: You know, it is the time
of year everybody's got these New Year's resolutions, Dr. Barnard, and they're looking
to improve their health. And they're looking for that
one diet that is the magical solution for everything that
life is throwing their way. And I'm not sure that there
is a diet for everything life throws at you, but a
plant-based diet is certainly among the healthier options. So today I think it would
be great if we could go over some of the bigger reasons why
somebody might be adopting a plant-based diet, you ready
to give us some of those. Neal: Let's jump in. Chuck: All right. Number one is one,
of course that's near and dear to my heart. And top of mind for so many
people already mentioned it. Talking about weight loss,
what makes a plant-based diet one of the superior diets
in terms of slimming down? Neal: Well, a couple of
things, the first thing is that the amount of weight
that people lose is equal to, or better than just about
any other diet out there. In other words, if a person
really wants to get the weight off a plant-based
is the way to do it. Secondly, you do it in a
really easy way instead of starving yourself. You know what I'm talking about? The person says, all right,
I've just got to go hungry. I got to cut out
30% of what I eat. You know, that gets
old by about Wednesday. Um, instead a plant-based diet
uses high fiber foods that allow you to be full without
counting calories, without limiting carbohydrate at all
eating a variety of foods. So it's a fun, really
easy way to do it. But I have to say, I think
one of the best things is that, unlike every other diet
where you lose the weight and then what have bins, the
weight starts coming back and you know that yo, yo, yo are
kind of rollercoaster where people are going up and down
and up and down, and it stops that it ends that the weight
becomes a one-way street. It's off, it's gone. And that allows you
to really feel like I have succeeded at this. I can think about some
other things right now. Chuck: Nope, no kidding. But what, what is it
about a plant-based diet? Do you think that really
can cut that string on the yo-yo and finally keep
that weight off for good. Neal: Well, part of it
is you're not making a quantitative change. You're making a
qualitative change. In other words, you're not just
focusing on how tiny the portion is that you're going to eat. You're focusing on the
healthiest possible foods. What do they do? It ends up helping your body
to actually naturally eat a few, a bit fewer calories
without thinking about it. It increases your metabolism
so that after every meal you're actually burning
calories a little bit faster. It's not a huge amount,
but it's you get, you get that metabolic edge. So you're burning calories more
like you did when you're 16. You put that combination
together then the permanent weight loss is
finally in your hands. Chuck: All right. So wait a minute, wait a minute. I think somewhere in there
you said that you don't necessarily have to worry about
counting calories anymore. And I would be remiss if I
didn't point out that there are other diets out there that
said the exact same thing, but then by the time June
rolls around, you've put all of those pounds back on— not
going to be the case here. Neal: No, not at all. In fact, we did a research
study with women who were after the age of menopause. They had done every
diet known to humanity. They felt frustrated and
stuck because just what you said, Chuck, they had
lost weight on other diets. It all came back and
they thought this wasn't going to work. So we used a low-fat
plant-based diet. We didn't tell them
how much to eat. They ate as much as they wanted
to, even without exercise, they lost weight and we tracked
them for two and a half years. The weight never came back. Chuck: Oh, that's so good to
hear two and a half years. That's that's pretty good. And I, I know for a fact that,
and other studies that we've done, we've kept in contact
with a lot of the people who have come through the doors
at the Physicians Committee. And it's lasted a lot longer
than two and a half years. I mean, I'm, you know, I
I'm, I'm proof of that. Didn't do the study,
but, uh, certainly it helps it, uh, keeping
that weight off for good. But you know what? Dr. Barnard, after you lose
the weight, a funny thing happens, right? You get a little bit more
of a spring in your step, pep in your step as my dad
would say, uh, more energy comes with this diet. Is that just because
you're pumped up because you've been losing weight
or is there more to it? Neal: Well, that does happen. I mean, when you've lost
that weight, it's like setting down luggage. So there is, you do feel better. You do have more energy, but
there is actually more to it. Um, if you look at blood
tests, the blood sugar is on a more even keel
and that drives energy. And if your blood sugar
is all over the map, it's going up, it's going down. That will sap your energy. The other thing not to get
too technical, but your blood viscosity, the thickness
of the, of your blood. If your blood is more like
sludge more like grease— it doesn't flow very well. It doesn't oxygenate the
brain and you're going to feel sleepy and tired. On a plant-based diet the
blood viscosity gets better. It, your blood
flows much better. It oxygenates, oxygenates
your brains, your brain and your muscles. And so that's why athletes
very often get a real boost when they do this too. Now, if your athletic endeavor
might just mean getting to your car, getting to work, doing
your shopping or whatever. You're going to notice
that feeling there. If on the other hand,
you're running marathons and triathlons, you'll
definitely notice it. So that energy boost, great
reason to go plant-based. All right. Chuck: This is one of my
favorite points that you and I have talked about through
the years on the show. You're talking about blood
viscosity, and yet that's an interesting term, not a whole
lot of people think about that, but just really quickly, if you
could explain to us why, what you eat really kind of controls
how thick your blood is. And if you put that in
terms of the motor oil in your car, it all starts to
make sense, but that's a really interesting point. Neal: Yeah, sure, absolutely. Um, let's say it's Thanksgiving
and a person eats, um, uh, a lot of buttery foods. Uh, the, the, the, the pumpkin
pie was just filled with butter. I have gravy, um, that fat
gets into your blood and your blood was, was a watery
solution before now with all the fat coming in, it's more
like grease it's, it's getting to be more and more like tar. And so your blood
flow is not as. It causes your blood
pressure to rise. And it means that the blood's
job, which is to bring oxygen to your muscles, to your
brain, to all the parts of your body, not working so
well anymore, you feel tired. So the reason that people fall
asleep at two o'clock in the afternoon after Thanksgiving
is all about they're there—the problem with blood flow. Chuck: All right. So now you've got all of
this energy, you've got extra energy and what's the place
that a lot of people like to burn off that energy? That would be in the
bedroom, my friend. And there are studies that I
know of that can really point to the fact that adopting a
plant-based diet, getting a lot of that junk food out of
your diet that can improve what happens in there. Neal: It's something we see
all the time, um, in our research studies we bring in
people because they want to get their diabetes better. They want to lose weight. They want to get their
cholesterol down there. They're here for
some other reason. And one of the most common
side effects, if I can put it that way, uh, for men is—
erectile dysfunction is gone for a great many of them. And they're surprised by
that, and I'm sure their partners are surprised too. Um, and there are a
lot of reasons for it. One of course is
you're less tired. Another reason is that
you're not on so many meds. Medications can
contribute to this. When you're on a healthy
diet, you got more energy, less need for medications,
but there's another reason. And that is, if you look at
the blood vessels of the body on a typical American diet,
they are getting narrower that's atherosclerosis and
on a plant-based diet, as Dr. Dean Ornish showed,
those narrowed arteries actually open up. Well, a coronary
artery is rather small. Um, the arteries to a man's
private parts are even smaller. And what that means is
that's one of the first places where the arteries
tend to get blocked off. And if you don't have good
blood flow to their private parts, nothing happens. You know what I mean? But the male sexual event,
it was obviously devised on a Monday, cause things are going
wrong with it all the time, but it's sort of a hydraulic
system that you need good blood flow for it to do its thing. And if you've got narrowed
arteries, the blood flow is just not there. Okay. Person goes on a
plant-based diet. There's no cholesterol
in the diet. There's no animal fat. The arteries start to open. And within about a month
or six weeks, they are open up enough that the
blood flow is substantially higher than before. And the man notices it. And it's a reversal of
erectile dysfunction. Chuck: You know,
it's really funny. I think that the majority
of people, it wouldn't surprise me when they think
about clogged arteries, they always think about the
ones that are immediately surrounding the heart. They don't think about
the fact that the arteries throughout the body and all
places can get blocked up. And so I'm glad that
you raised that point. and also I wanted to talk
about an interview I did this past year with Dr. Robert Ostfeld up in New
York city, a really just phenomenal cardiologist. And he and I went
down the list, Dr. Barnard of the most
popular foods in America. And he basically called them the
erectile dysfunction all-stars because every single one of
them on that top 10 contribute to erectile dysfunction. We're talking about hamburgers. We're talking
about greasy pizza. We're talking about
big heaping servs of— servings of French fries. Of fried chicken, all of
that really contributes to a potential lack of
performance in the bedroom. I'm sure that that doesn't
really surprise you. Neal: No, it doesn't. And you know, so many guys
who go to the clinic to get, and they get some Viagra will,
the Viagra will work, you know, for, um, a few hours. Um, your sexual potency will
typically return in many cases however the erectile
dysfunction is a sign that you've got narrowed arteries,
not just your private parts, but in your heart, in the
arteries of the brain. And so Viagara isn't going
to do anything for that. If a plant-based diet can tackle
erectile dysfunction, that was the Canary in the coal mine. It means that the, uh,
the artery narrowings that you got all over your body
can get better too, and that can save your life. Chuck: Let's talk about
another big reason here that is top of mind, I'm sure,
for so many people right now, and that is how can
I boost my immune system? Top of mind because
of the pandemic. Science has shown that a
plant-based diet can really give your, your immune
system, an old pat on the back, a little boost there. Why is that? Neal: A couple of reasons. Partly it's what is in the diet. Um, a plant-based diet
has lots of vegetables and fruits and so forth. And these have natural compounds
in them that boost immunity. But the other part is what they
don't have a plant-based diet does not have a lot of grease. It doesn't have
animal fat in it. The reason that matters is
researchers have looked at the white blood cell, coursing
along in your, in your arteries and in your veins, you've
got red blood cells, carrying oxygen, your white blood
cells are kind of the army. They are there
looking for viruses. They're looking for bacteria. And when they find them,
they create antibodies to knock them out. And those white blood
cells, they don't work very well in an oil Slick. And researchers have
taken blood samples. They have separated out the
white blood cells and they have looked at their ability to knock
out viruses, knock out bacteria, knock out cancer cells. And the more grease there is,
in their environment and the environment of the white blood
cell, the poorer they work. So in the environment of your
bloodstream, if there's a lot of greasy stuff coming
in, your white blood cells aren't working so well. Now this is true. It has been shown for
lots of conditions. When COVID arrived it was
clear that people who are on healthy plant-based diets were
at less risk of severe disease. In other words, their immune
systems were better able to tackle the Coronavirus. And we saw this with a couple
of very large studies, one with more than a half a million
participants, people on a more plant-based diet were much
less likely, dramatically, less likely to have severe COVID. And I put that down to a
stronger immune system. So apart from COVID seasonal,
cold influenza, and even other reasons why you need
an immune system, you need an immune system to recognize
cancer cells that may arise. You want a strong immune system. Plant-based diet is a really
important part of that. Chuck: All right. You just mentioned,
uh, the immune system. You mentioned cancer. That's a big one, but also with
that, it's not just cancer. That a plant-based diet can
be beneficial in preventing we're seeing lower rates of
diseases virtually across the board with all of these
chronic conditions, right? Neal: The number one killer. In the United States
and frankly, most of the countries is heart disease. A plant-based diet is
the best prescription for a healthy heart. Why would that be? Because there's no cholesterol
in plant foods, the cholesterol is in animal products. Um, the animal fat obviously is
an animal products and avoiding animal fat means that your
body has less natural tendency to make more cholesterol. So you're avoiding the
cholesterol itself. You're avoiding the animal fat
that would make cholesterol. That's phenomenal. It doesn't end there. Um, your, your diet
is now high in fiber. That's the natural roughage
in beans and vegetables and fruits and so forth. And that helps your body even
eliminate the cholesterol that's in your body now. So all of these things can
help to a degree, but heart disease is number one. Cancer is number two. They're not too many things
that are more frightening than a cancer diagnosis. But when we look at breast
cancer, when we look at prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and
other forms of the disease, plant-based diets reduce the
risk that the cancer will occur. And when people have these
forms of cancer, plant-based diets are often used to
improve survival and they do. And of course there's a whole
long list of other conditions. Diabetes. Our team has shown that
a plant-based diet helps prevent it, and can help
reverse it when it's occurred. And maybe I got to tell you the
top of my list of things I don't ever want to have happen to me. Alzheimer's disease. When you get Alzheimer's
you lose everything. And there have been researchers,
in particular, the Chicago health and aging project,
and other, other research studies that have shown
that the more you get away from the animal fat and the
unhealthy animal based foods. The more you bring in
the healthy plant-based foods, the lower your risk
of Alzheimer's disease. Put this all together. You've got a great
prescription for health. The body is still vulnerable. Things can still happen,
but this is our best shot at really living well. Chuck: I really don't want
to overstate this, but when we're talking about a lower
rate of disease here, lowering your chance here, we're not
talking about just dropping it by a percentage point or two. For a lot of these diseases
we're talking about, we're talking about really
significantly impacting your risk of getting these diseases. You mentioned breast
cancer specifically. I remember speaking with Dr. Kristi funk, renowned
breast cancer surgeon. I mean, she was so bullish
on eating a plant-based diet. She was like, look, you
know, in excess of 80% lower risk just by adopting that,
that was her estimate here. That's, that's a high number,
but I know that when you'd speak to other people who
specializes in diseases such as Alzheimer's, they're throwing
out similar statistics. Neal: Oh, yeah, absolutely. You put it, you put it together. Um, you get away from
the saturated fat. That's the fat that's in
dairy, and secondly in meat, you get away from that, that,
that step alone cuts your risk by about 50 to 70%. And then adding in the healthy
plant-based foods that the vitamin E that's nuts and
seeds, the anthocyanins, and this will not be on the test. That are in blueberries
and grapes and other brightly-colored fruits and also
frankly, lace up your sneakers. You put these things
together and an 80% figure is, is reasonable
for the, uh, Alzheimer's prevention that we can see. Take diabetes. Right now about 14% of
American adults have diabetes. If you look at the
vegans, it's maybe about 2.9% dramatically lower. And some of those are people
who weren't vegan before they went— they went that
way to tackle their diabetes. When a person starts out
on a completely plant-based diet, the likelihood
of developing diabetes? Very, very low. Chuck: Yeah. And again, just to hammer
home that point, if a person does have diabetes or perhaps
heart disease, those are two diagnosis that we've
seen in a lot of cases can be fully reversed as well. Neal: They can. Now don't cancel your
doctor's appointment. Talk to your doctor about,
uh, about your condition and have your doctor monitor you. But there is every reason
to follow a plant-based diet and never a reason not to. So whatever other treatment
you're, you're, um, engaging in, you want to follow a
completely plant-based diet. What does that mean? Vegetables, fruits, whole
grains, beans, and all the wonderful treasures that
those foods turn into. Chuck: And obviously medication
has a place, but in terms of effectiveness, how does a
dietary change compared to the more popular medicines that
are being prescribed right now? Neal: Well, vitamin L Lipitor
is a very popular drug because it, it lowers cholesterol and
it does, but 90% of people on the inventory don't need it. Or I should say they wouldn't
need it if they were eating an optimal diet there. They're using the Lipitor to
reduce the cholesterol that had been increased by the
cheeseburgers that and so forth that they were eating. Chuck: All right. And of course, now
you're talking about lower rates of disease. If you're not getting
heart disease, you're not being diagnosed with
cancer or Alzheimer's or any of those conditions we
were just talking about. There's a pretty good chance
you're also then going to be leading a longer life. Dr. Barnard, what does the data
show in terms of how eating a plant-based diet might
be able to get you a few more trips around the sun? Neal: Well, more than a few,
um, and in, in a couple of ways. One is we're going to greatly
reduce premature death. I'm talking about people who,
um, we all know folks who at age 50 or 55, they had a heart
attack and they think, wait, wait, I'm way too young to go. Um, and there are people
who die at that age, or even young, even younger,
same with colorectal cancer. We see these real
tragedies early in life. A plant-based diet is a
great way to reduce the risk that that will occur. But then when we see people
who are a little bit further up in years, let's say we are
preventing the heart disease, the cancers, the diabetes, and
the serious weight problems that make everything else worse. Dr. Gary Fraser and his team at Loma
Linda University calculated that a healthy diet and lifestyle
was good for about a decade of additional, uh, years of life. So no doubt about it. Chuck: And I think that it's
also a really important point. One of the more fun points
that I've learned along this particular journey doing the
Exam Room is that— it's a, it's an overused phrase, but I'm
going to use it anyway— genes do not have to be your destiny. You put all of these tools
that we've been talking about today into practice,
how much control do you then gain over your genetics? Is there a ratio? There is, I think I've
heard it of like 80, 20 or something like that. Neal: That's a reasonable,
um, they're there sort of two different categories
of genes, um, or at least the way I think of it are,
there are some genes that are dictators, the genes that
say blue eyes, or brown hair. If that's what they say,
that's, what's going to happen. You can't argue with them,
but most genes like the genes— there are genes associated
with diabetes genes associated with Alzheimer's genes
associated with heart disease, but they're not dictators. They're not giving orders. Those genes are more
like committees. They make suggestions. In other words, you
could get diabetes. If you eat a typical
American diet, but let's say you say, wait a minute. I don't want to eat that way. I'm going to change what I eat. I'm going to exercise. I'm going to live a
healthy lifestyle. Can you keep those genes
from expressing themselves? Absolutely. And when it came to Alzheimer's
disease, researchers looked at people who made diet
changes, who followed healthier diets and found that even
those who had the genes for Alzheimer's disease, they
cut their risk by about 80%. Uh, 80% for the memory problems
that hit people in older age. So again, we want to put
everything, uh, to use, to see if we can keep ourselves healthy
and it works phenomonaly. Chuck: All right. So now let's say somebody
is watching this. They're hearing this today
and they're saying, well, hey, I want to lose weight. I want more energy. I definitely want to perform
better in the bedroom. I would love to get
sick less often. I would love to lower my chance
of getting all kinds of diseases and I want to live longer. So they want to put all of
this into practice, but then they think to themselves, will. I'm already in my sixties,
or maybe I'm already 70 it's it's too late for me. What would your message
be to that person? Neal: Okay. It is never too late. Um, and I learned this many
years ago when we were doing our diabetes studies and we
brought in people who had had diabetes, on average,
for maybe four or five years, they would get better. Um, in many cases they would
reduce their medications. Sometimes get off
them completely. Sometimes all, uh, signs
of the disease were gone. And then we looked at people
that had diabetes for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years. And we started examining
people who were having the complications of the disease. I'm talking about neuropathy
where there, where it's attacking their nerves and
they have terrible pain. Even in those cases,
we see improvements. When Dr. Dean Ornish 30 years ago showed
that a plant-based diet as part of a healthy lifestyle,
could reverse heart disease, reopening those arteries and
helping people to conquer their chest pain and feel great. Again, it turned out that
age was not an issue. Age was not a barrier. Age wasn't even a factor in
whether you got better or not. What mattered is whether
you follow the regimen, get the animal products out,
you know, manage stress. If you smoke, throw that
away, lace up your sneakers. Put those together
age is irrelevant. Chuck: And if you want to give
this a try for yourself, uh, Dr. Barnard, I know that you, you,
you say basically just give it three weeks, give it three
weeks and see how you do. Anybody can give just 21 days. Right? Neal: Okay. I really think so. And take, maybe take
a week to get ready. Um, think about the
foods that you would eat. Let's say you're going to follow
a completely plant-based diet, no animal products at all. Take seven days, make a list of. Okay for breakfast, I could
have a bowl of oatmeal with some cinnamon and raisins, or maybe
I could have a fruit smoothie or maybe I'll have say, um, veggie
sausage, but I never tasted it. So I'm going to go to
the store and find which brand I like the best. So try out the foods, see the
ones that really you like and including at the restaurants
you frequent, you go to your favorite Italian place and—
yup, they've got spaghetti with the marinara sauce
instead of the meat sauce. See how you like it. Okay. After a week, you'll have a
really good list of foods. Now give it three weeks. Do a three week test drive,
doing all vegan all the time. You'll discover physically
you are healthier you're losing weight. If you have diabetes your
blood sugars coming down, your energy's better, your
digestion's better, but you also notice that your attitude
about foods is changing. You don't really crave
those chicken wings. You kind of forgot about
that stuff because you're finding new foods, better
foods, tastier foods. You're finding that you're in a
body that you want to live in. And also to tell you the
truth, you're finding that your friends who have already
been vegan for awhile and kind of wondered where you were,
uh, you, you've got a huge team that you're now joining. So give it a try. Chuck: Yeah. And a final point to this
is like, okay, well maybe now you're ready to go. You're fired up. But now you're thinking, well,
look for the love of Pearl. I don't know the first
thing about how to cook for a plant-based diet. I don't know how to shop. If I'm going to eat this way. I don't know anything about it. I need some help. And that's where the
21 Day Vegan Kickstart can come into play. Absolutely free app
wonderfully developed here. Uh, Dr. Barnard, I know you
were involved with that. A lot of our colleagues,
our other doctors, our dieticians, so many, wonderful
nutritionist, all involved in putting this together. That three week program
you were just talking about that has a ton of recipes
that can get you going. And it's an absolutely free app
that you can get, whether you have iPhone, you have an Android
and you can even do it online. So we're going to drop a
link to that right now in the show description or
in the episode notes, it's a pretty robust program. And honestly, I'm not
overstating this when I say that it is one of the best
free programs of any kind that I've ever seen released. Neal: It was designed really
initially for doctors to give to patients, patients
wanted to get better. They wanted to get
to get better, fast. They needed some
support every day. So the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart
gives them exactly that— menus, recipes, cooking,
videos, everything they need in English and Spanish on
your iPhone, on your Android and people really do love it. Chuck: Yeah. And, and my favorite thing
in there is the fact that we actually take you into
the grocery store and show you what to look for
down the various aisles. I mean, we could not make
this any easier for you. We really do hold your hand
and it's completely free. So you have nothing to lose and
only your health to gain just by clicking that link right now. Uh, Dr. Barnard, you have given us so
much to think about as we head into this healthy New Year. So I cannot thank you enough
for your time today, my friend. Neal: Well, thank you Chuck. And one last tip. Grab a friend. Have them do it with you. And during any moment of doubt,
if you're looking at the bacon in the window, you're going
to say, okay, wait a minute. We're gonna, we're gonna steer
away back into a healthier path, grab, grab a friend,
have them do it with you. Maybe your whole
family will do this. It is a way to change your life. And theirs too. Chuck: There you go. All right, Dr. Barnard, you have a wonderful,
healthy 2022 My friend. Neal: You too. Chuck: If your health IQ is a
couple of points higher than it was a few minutes ago, go ahead
and like this video or subscribe to the YouTube channel and to
take it even higher, head over to Apple Podcast or wherever
you get your favorite shows. Look for the Exam Room by
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as well and help to make your world a healthier place.
