A couple things...
- The program has gone through several changes over the years as has the recommended diet and the diet served at the center.
- Mass market books and online articles/photo's, even those at their website, do not always accurately reflect the diet being served at the center as they are often marketing pieces. Some of the historical content at the website now, may not be 100% accurate either.
- From the beginning of February 1998 till the end of November 2007, I was the Director of Nutrition there and oversaw both the education, programming, the food served and the dietary recommendations.
- The Pritikin family is no longer involved in the center. It was bought out by a business group around 2000-2001.
- In regard to meat, dairy and egg whites...
There is an interview with Nathan that was conducted by Dr McDougall and in it, he asked Nathan why he served animal protein. Nathan responded that he knew the only nutritional issue that could not be addressed through a completely plant based diet, was vitamin B12 and he did not want to recommend supplements. So, he calculated the minimum amount of animal protein needed to provide the required amount and allowed it at the program. This was 3 oz per week and most often this was salmon, partially due to his preference for it.
In the interview, Dr McDougall then asked him why he allowed the dairy and Nathan smiled and said to the effect that they had to keep the doors open. The program allowed for up to two servings of non fat dairy per day, which was usually skim milk or fat-free yogurt or a fat--free yogurt "cheese" made from the fat-free yogurt. It also allowed up to 7 egg whites per week.
Remember, Nathan was basing his diet on the diet of the long lived and healthy populations around the world, none of which were vegan. Most allowed no more than about 5-10% of their calories to come from animal products, which, is what the Pritikin Program was. If you do the math on the above allowances, figuring that was the maximum allowed, it comes to about 5-10%.
- In the early days, the menu was carefully calorie controlled and the food was strictly portioned and many thought it was very bland. Very small amounts of salt and sugar were allowed and carefully measured. A small serving of animal products, usually fish, was allowed once a week as was the option of <2 servings of non-fat dairy per day and a few egg whites per week. During the early days, there was no alternative to heart disease but bypass and a compromised existence so they were the only positive alternative. Plus they had huge exposure through several segments on 60 minutes.
- Dr McDougall and Mary had Nathan over for a potluck (early 1980's) gave him a stack of their recipes to use. Nathan then acknowledged that in the forward of his next book. Dr McDougall wrote about this in a recent newsletter.
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2013nl/feb/pritikin.htm"That evening we held a potluck dinner for Mr. Pritikin at the Kaneohe Yacht Club in Kaneohe, Hawaii. Over 225 people, many who were my patients, made McDougall-style meals for him to taste. He said he loved the food. After dinner we walked together to his car to say goodbye. Mary gave him approximately 100 of her recipes. At that time the food served at the Pritikin Center in Santa Monica, California had a reputation for being unimaginative and rather tasteless. He went on to use some of Mary’s recipes in his book, The Pritikin Promise (1983). An acknowledgement in this book was to Dr. and Mrs. John A. McDougall. To be honest it should have been to Mary only, for her recipe contribution. I believe that it was no coincidence that the food served at the Pritikin Center improved greatly afterwards."- This remained the therapeutic program to the mid 1980's when several things happened that influenced the program.
* There was the rapid rise in America's weight, which meant more and more people were coming to the center with weight issues.
* The national promotion of a low fat diet which resulted in the proliferation of low fat high carb processed junk foods. So now people can be on a low fat, high carb diet but not one based on healthy naturally occurring low fat foods (that were also low in calorie density) but one based on highly refined and processed junk foods (that were also high in calorie density). This proliferation of low fat, high carb, high calorie dense processed foods even infiltrated the center (as it also did the Ornish program at the time). So we were seeing many followers on the program with weight issues eating lots of low fat high carb, high calorie dense processed foods
* The popularity of statins and less people were willing to go to the center. Why change your diet when you can take a pill.
* Nathan passed away.
- As a result of the combination of these, the center expanded its central focus to include more of an emphasis on weight management and the focus of the diet to emphasize calorie density. By the early to mid 1990's this was in full swing, which is when I joined.
* From the mid 1990's to about 2008, the therapeutic program remained the same with an emphasis on calorie density. A maintenance program was also available which was basically the same as the therapeutic program but allowed 3 oz of animal protein up to 3x a week (preferably fish or white meat chicken) and more calorie dense foods for those without weight issues. This began to be served as an option at the centers too.
All the guidelines for salt, sugar, calorie density, etc were the exact same ones I teach here. The only difference was an allowance for oil at home on the maintenance program at <4% of calories, but was never used at the center. This is the equivalent of about 2 tsp per day, which was to be used as an occasional flavoring in a recipe and not to cook in. The guidelines for animal products remained the same with a switch of emphasis on soy/almond/rice milk instead of the non fat dairy.
I do understand that after I left, the menu changed and become much more liberal but I can not speak to that or the current details of the menu.
If they have changed the menu, it is important to realize that virtually all of their research is based on the original therapeutic program and the therapeutic program we ran up to 2008. I am not even sure they have published any new research since then.
http://www.pritikin.com/your-health/pri ... ation.htmlThey have worked together with Dr Ornish on several cancer studies and in those the diet is vegan.
If you have any more questions, or want more details on the program/diet, let me know.
In Health
Jeff
