Bad Farts?  Meat Stinks!

This article continues a series exploring the health of your intestinal tract. Consider the strongest contact with the world around you is through your food, processed and absorbed by your intestine.

By about the fourth day of each McDougall Live-in Program participants have become close friends. As they loosen up with each other they begin to discuss one noticeable side effect of my diet. They make jokes, like, "When we walk, we talk," or "Have you heard a good McBugle lately?" I must admit that one unavoidable change that comes with the diet I recommend is the production of more bowel gas – but that's not all bad as you will learn when you read this article.

Phytochemicals and Phytoestrogens

"Phyto" means plant, so obviously phytochemicals means chemicals derived from a plant(s). There are thousands of these chemicals and the real importance of only a few has been discovered. The most talked about class of phytochemicals is called phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens are a diverse group of plant compounds that behave as estrogens and occur naturally in fruits and vegetables. Their structural similarity to estrogens is probably the basis for their hormonal activity – they can bind at estrogen receptor sites inside the cells, causing estrogen-like effects. Phytoestrogens have both a weak estrogenic and paradoxically, an anti-estrogenic activity. This anti-estrogen activity results from competing for the positions at the estrogen receptor sites with the more powerful estrogens made by a woman's own body – with the phytoestrogen attached to the site the more powerful estrogens are kept away.

Take Blood Pressure at Home – Get Off Your Medications

According to the authors of an August 3, 2002 article in the British Medical Journal, "It is time to stop using high blood pressure readings documented by general practitioners to make treatment decisions."  Overzealous diagnosis and treatment of hypertension result when readings obtained at the doctor's office are used to make decisions, because of the "white coat effect."

Help Dr. McDougall Make History - Send a Letter. Change History & Save Lives: Write to the American Heart Association

The Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association (AHA) and the journal of the American Heart Association, Circulation, have so far failed to take action to correct an error in basic science.  Your letters to those responsible will make a difference.

Featured Recipes

• Black Beans and Tomatoes
• Middle Eastern Garbanzos
• Tacos
• Cilantro-Garlic Aioli
• Tofu Sour Cream