Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

Eat to Live 243

How much alcohol is permissible?

Moderate drinking has been associated with a lower incidence of

coronary heart disease in more than forty prospective studies. This

only applies to moderate drinking — defined as one drink or less per

day for women, and two drinks or less for men. More than this is as-

sociated with increased fat around the waist and other potential

problems.2,1 Alcohol consumption also leads to mild withdrawal sen-

sations the next day that are commonly mistaken for hunger. One

glass of wine per day is likely insignificant, but I advise against higher

levels of alcohol consumption.

Alcohol's anti-clotting properties grant some protective effect

against heart attacks, but this protective effect is valuable only in a

person or population consuming a heart-disease-promoting diet. It is

much wiser to avoid the detrimental effects of alcohol completely

and protect yourself from heart disease with nutritional excellence.

For example, even moderate alcohol consumption is linked to higher

rates of breast cancer and to occurrence of atrial fibrillation.^25 Avoid

alcohol and eat healthfully if possible, but if that one drink a day will

make you stay with this plan much more successfully, then have it.

I feel best when I eat a high-protein diet, with plenty of animal

products. Does that mean these recommendations, to eat a plant-

based diet, are not for me?

I have thousands of patients eating vegetarian or near vegetarian di-

ets, and over the past fifteen years have noted a very small percent-

age of the total who initially report that they feel belter with

significant animal products in their diet and worse on a vegetarian

diet. Almost all these complaints resolve with time on the new diet.

I believe the main reasons for this are as follows:

A diet heavily burdened with animal products places a toxic

stress on the detoxification systems of the body. As with stopping caf-

feine, cigarettes, and heroin, many observe withdrawal symptoms

for a short period, usually including fatigue, weakness, headaches, or

loose stools. In 95 percent of these cases, these symptoms resolve

within two weeks.

It is more common that the temporary adjustment period lasts

less than a week, in which you might feel fatigue, have headaches or

gas, or experience other mild symptoms as your body withdraws

from your prior toxic habits. Don't buy the fallacy that you "need