Chapter 2

[Donna]

What causes aging and disease? Page 28: “Glycation is a natural process in which the sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins or fats, forming new, harmful, highly oxidant molecules called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Poetically, “AGE” makes you age. AGEs suppress sirtuin activity—in other words, they turn off the switches (sirtuins) that turn off the harmful genes that cause us to age. Since sirtuins are anti-aging, suppressing them makes you age faster and increases your risk of getting a wide range of chronic diseases. AGEs also occur in your diet, especially in meat.”

This is unbelievable to learn, so great to learn from only the beginning of reading “Undo It!”: How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseases by Dean Ornish, Anne Ornish; if you want to know more about what sirtuins and AGE’s you really need to join us in reading Chapter 2❣️

We have so much power to control our destiny when we take the time to understand what our bodies need to heal and prevent adverse consequences of aging, just by what we put into it.

[Eric]

It is eye opening to read the relative levels of AGEs in various foods. Kinda makes you think.

[Rachael]

It was also interesting to read that emotional stress is a risk factor for 75-90 percent of chronic diseases. I feel like stress is so prevalent in our lives the we don't even think of the effect it can have on not just our mental health, but our physical heath as well.

[Eric]

Yes! Driving 60+ mph down the road feels "normal"...

[Donna]

Dr. Ornish mentions on pg. 19 “Too much of a good thing…” meaning human biology has not kept pace w/“21st century” lifestyle factors!

He succinctly describes how”…mechanisms that evolved to heal us can actually become harmful or lethal when chronically overstimulated by harmful lifestyle factors…” take for instance “cultural celebrations” like the Super Bowl~famous for parties featuring food/alcoholic beverages.

I read today where; “One recent study found the average American will eat around 11,000 calories on Super Bowl Sunday. That's more than four and a half times the total recommended daily intake…” that is a crazy big number (like four days worth of KCals).

I’m still fact checking this number, but think about what that would do to one’s physiology even if the majority of it was in alcohol, which is a poison?!?! The inflammatory cascade and blood sugar swings / insulin requirements would be enormous…

[Donna]

So I couldn’t find the exact study that demonstrated people in U.S. actually eat 11K Calories on Super Bowl Sunday, but I came across this: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/...

I put link under here (although it has little to do w/Dr. Ornish’s book other than to show how “behaviors and social connection” influence Lifestyle factors such as eating habits) to remind us where to find the article later. There is A LOT to unpack here in this piece and in Chapter 2 in general!

I wonder how the vegan team depicted in the Game Changers (Tennessee) swayed fans (or not) and if plant-based athletes, if they had more sponsorship of WFPB product would sway “consumers”
and impact behavior?

[Eric]

YES! I saw this somewhere as well, marketers know this fact as well. Seems that the food producers capitalize on that knowledge to sell us food for the event that will be comforting.

Knowing the article you linked alluded to people "eating like their team", and also that Tom Brady was a long-time Vegan, we'll miss you Brady!

[Donna]

So let’s talk inflammation: “Arteries. Chronic inflammation injures the lining of your arteries. Your body’s attempt to heal these recurrent injuries is like putting a Band-Aid on the damage to the lining of an artery—and then, as the injuries continue, more and more Band-Aids get piled on top of each other, progressively obstructing the flow of blood.”

I just read a really scary thing in recent peer-reviewed reports (not in UnDo it) about damage to artery walls being caused by “wild COVID” (in other words natural infection vs vaccination) disease where the artery walls actually change for the negative and it seems to lead to cardiovascular events…another form of inflammatory process we should protect against.

[Eric]

“Brain. In your brain, chronic inflammation and oxidative stress can lead to emotional depression and also to buildup of plaque (amyloid) and neurofibrillary tangles (tau) in your brain.”

Depression and Dementia - caused by inflammation that we can either promote or prevent through our lifestyle choices.

Science bears out ancient wisdom and our own intuition. Our choice to Eat Well does make a difference.

Dean and Anne Ornish eloquently synthesize and summarize centuries of ancient wisdom and modern scientific research into the simple advice that we should:
Eat Well, Love More, Stress Less, and Move More

[Donna]

OK - if the rest of the book is as chock full of information. as the end to Chapter 2 we have A LOT of good news to look forward to, this book is so IMPACTFUL in so many ways!

Take for instance this quote: “Even a single meal high in animal protein and fat reduces blood flow. For example, Dr. Robert Vogel and his colleagues published a study comparing blood flow after a meal high in fat and animal protein (a McDonald’s Egg McMuffin, Sausage McMuffin, and two hash brown patties) with a plant-based low-fat meal containing the same number of calories. After only four hours, blood flow decreased by more than 50 percent in those having the McDonald’s meal but not in those consuming a plant-based low-fat meal. Many plant-based foods increase nitric oxide formation, which dilates your blood vessels and increases blood flow.”

I was just talking to my friend who owns a McDonald’s franchise and was seriously discussing the offering up to my Lifestyle patients the option of the “McPlant” in lieu of other junk food…having read further occurs to me maybe one of the factors above, in addition to the animal proteins of a McDonald’s meal, is actually the AGE’s?!?

Perhaps I had better understand the oils, additives and other factors that impact the healthfulness of the food? Fact that food may be prepared unhealthily (higher AGE’s) might cause Vegan fast food
options to be completely unacceptable?! I suppose I had better keep reading and do my homework…my goal is to maximize health and although I have often thought of “Vegan Fast Food” as a “Bridge” to give up other more harmful foods, the answer is undoubtedly to just Rx Whole Food Plant Based food and skip the Vegan junk food altogether.