Fat On Trial. Part 4

The lowfat diet proved to be effective in reducing weight and promoting general good health. An equally important result of this research was this: We found that a substantial weight reduction of about 20 pounds was achieved by both men and women on the low-fat diet. This took place over a period of three years, and the weight loss was safe, gradual, healthful. Typical of this group of patients was Mr. B., a stocky, short man of 180 pounds, who had just recently recovered from his coronary thrombosis. But he now complained of great fatigue and shortness of breath on exertion. He just couldn't seem to be able to resume his work as a builder. For his height and bodily frame, he was easily 36 pounds overweight. On the low-fat diet he lost a pound each week. At the end of the year he weighed 145 pounds. In his own words, he "felt like a million dollars." He found himself vigorously back at work again, clambering about his construction jobs and housing projects with ease and enjoyment. The patients on the low-fat diet also gained some remarkable and unexpected health dividends. Many patients, for example, experienced a striking improvement in energy and vitality. The case of 47-year old Mrs. R. is an excellent one in point. She had made a fairly good immediate recovery from her coronary thrombosis. But even before her heart attack, her household activities were always a series of endless chores to her. To "get through the day," became a daily and finally a monumental challenge. First, it had been the race to get her three children off to school and husband off to work without even a chance to answer nature's call to the bathroom (the new American mother's form of colonic martyrdom!).

Next the hurry to get the house cleaned and straightened up and the noon meal cooked before the children were back from school for lunch. After this kind of fire-alarm rush, the quick run over to shop, buy and prepare dinner. As the zero-hour drew near, Mrs. R. often felt like giving up; she just felt too exhausted, too miserable, and too weak; the task appeared too formidable and depressing for her dwindling strength. The doctor who had examined Mrs. R. had not been able to find any actual disease present. She was advised to "relax" and "try to take it easy." The "change of life" is hard on some women. Mrs. R. should have watched her weight and her calories, as she was easily 25 pounds overweight. She was only 5 feet tall, a little woman. Then her heart attack had struck and stunned the patient and the family before Mrs. R. had a chance to do anything about it. But after a year on the low-fat diet and nutritional program, she made a complete recovery and had lost 25 pounds of weight. Mrs. R. was a changed person. Below the layers of fat emerged an attractive, vivacious woman whose vitality was apparent in her home. Relieved of the excess tonnage she had constantly carted around her house, Mrs. R. walked with a light quick step. The family could not believe the transformation that had taken place; the entire home had become cheerful and a pleasure to live in. Mr. R. privately confided to me that he had also been depressed by his wife's former miserable state. He now promptly responded to the new healthy, cheerful atmosphere. He himself came to enjoy his home and family. Previously his footsteps had dragged; he used to feel nothing but uneasiness and anxiety when he came home, when he found an exhausted and depressed wife. Now he really could barely wait to get home. It was almost like rediscovering his wife^-his wife as she had been in her youth. Others on the low-fat diet found that they gained strength and were able to work and take part in physical activities that would otherwise be denied them.

After the loss of 22 pounds, another patient in this group, Mr. L., found that after three years on the low-fat nutritional way of life, he now got more out of his job as a carpenter, with a loss of his old fatigue and a greater ease in actual working then ever before. Many patients found their whole philosophy of life changing. Those who had been depressed and discouraged came to know a surprising sense of well-being. Cheerfulness and optimism took the place of morose resignation and negative pessimism. Mrs. T. never tired of admiring herself in the mirror after a year on the diet and nutritional supplements. And no wonder, for in the place of the unsightly bulk that made her resolve to do something tomorrow, there was a slim, attractive figure, a clear, fresh skin, and a sparkle in the eyes that had never been there before. What pleased her most, however, was the smiling face and cheerful expression that habitually greeted her in the mirror and that radiated and was reflected in the rest of her family. Some of the patients had suffered for years from heart (angina) pain and other circulatory illnesses. Many of those who followed the low-fat diet faithfully found these symptoms gradually disappearing. Cases like Mr. C, Mr. 0. and Mrs. W. were typical. Following the diet and nutritional changes, weight losses of 20 to 40 pounds resulted. In the place of the old chest pain, discomfort or pressure due to angina or heart pain, there was now a feeling of lightness, ease, and freedom from the frightening distress that used to come on so quickly after exercise or excitement. These remarkable improvements in all the patients on the low-fat diet were accomplished by the healthy teamwork in body chemistry and tissues of vitamin and nutritional supplements, diet, and weight reduction. Identical findings were reported by investigators abroad, particularly in Europe. The benefits were especially strong in cases of atherosclerosis of the brain (stroke). These cases of cerebral atherosclerosis are so widespread they are virtually universal. Chapter 11 contains a detailed account of the recent and extraordinary discoveries that have resulted from treatment of this condition by the low-fat diet and nutritional supplements.

A recent scientific publication of mine in the medical journal Geriatrics (for elderly people) describes some remarkable changes in patients with cerebral atherosclerosis. Over 100 of these patients, some of them suffering from strokes, were treated very intensively by the low-fat diet and massive amounts of lecithin, vitamin-B complex supplements, liver extract, and soya oil (as described in detail in Chapter 6) showed remarkable changes, often within two to three months. Increased strength - as noted by mechanical measuring devices and increased muscular ability, coordination and ability to walk - were frequently found. Mental improvement was often seen by improved powers of concentration, greater clarity of thinking, expression, and perception. Emotional changes were often remarkable. Depression and lack of communicativeness gradually disappeared and in its stead there frequently developed a feeling of well-being, cheerfulness, and optimism. Patients were much easier to get along with and were keenly interested in their improved nutrition and progress, where as before they had often felt only apathy and a fatalistic resignation to their condition. These encouraging discoveries, although extremely important, do not mean that there are no other factors that play a part in causing atherosclerosis or help it to develop. As I have already mentioned, we must not forget such additional factors as heredity, sex, metabolic and glandular disturbances, local conditions within the arteries themselves, and possibly, still other undetermined causes. However, what is important for you to remember is this: diet and weight are two powerful forces for health that you can control. You can do something about diet, and you can follow the low-fat diet with no difficulty, without having to suffer a bland, unexciting series of daily menus.

And you can lose excess (unhealthy) weight easily, safely, and without having to starve yourself or restrict your diet to only a few foods such as lettuce and cottage cheese. You don't have anything to say about your heredity or your sex, but you can do something about what you eat and what you weigh. This book will show you how. In the following chapters you will discover exactly how to eat and what to eat in order to prolong your life and increase your health and vitality. The low-fat program given in this book can do wonders for your general health and well-being. It may even save you or your loved ones from heart attacks, strokes, and other illnesses in which the role of the "killer" fat is unmistakable. Now that we know that fat is guilty, let's see exactly what we can do to keep this silent menace from destroying your heart and your health.