Running and Caloric Restriction Go Up Against A Plant-Based Diet for Obesity and Cancer Prevention: Three Enter, One Leaves

Some recent research is supporting the (to us obvious) conclusion that a plant-based diet is superior to other methods of obesity and cancer prevention. Why is this information important? By 2030, over 50% of the US population is expected to be obese, and obesity-attributable disease is projected to rise by 6-8 million cases of diabetes, 5-6.8 million cases of coronary heart disease and stroke, and 0.4-0.5 million cases of cancer (from Health and Economic Burden of the Projected Obesity Trends in the USA and UK, published in The Lancet, 2011).

The first paper, written about here by The Obesity Society, sums it up in the title: “Plant-Based Diets Show More Weight-Loss Without Emphasizing Caloric Restriction“. As it dawns on researchers to include a vegan component in their dietary studies, we see more and more conclusions such as this. Frankly, I would rather suffer through a brief change in dietary habits and then spend a lifetime eating an abundance of plant foods than miserably tote up every calorie to avoid some initial effort. In fact, that’s what I did.

I was obese throughout childhood until I became vegan at 19. Before that point, I had tried numerous weight-loss plans, calorie restriction, and grueling cardio sessions to virtually no effect. Actually, my mother even briefly implemented Dr. McDougall’s Maximum Weight Loss Plan when I was 12 but our household was too firmly entrenched in processed foods to make a lasting change, and the idea was too novel at the time to find much support. Finally, I was over 180 pounds at 5’2. I realize that everyone is comfortable at different body compositions, but the key issue is really one of control. It’s miserable to feel out of control of your body. After all that struggle just to SLOW my inexorable weight gain, I became vegan and it just sloughed right off. My motivation was ethical, so I didn’t even attempt to change the kinds of foods I was eating – I still ate bologna sandwiches, Oreos, ice cream and so on…it just happened to be vegan. Still, I quickly lost 40 pounds. The rest disappeared as I transitioned to whole foods. Today I am baffled when people mistakenly try to compliment me on the supposed grim determination I must have to adhere to such a “restricted” diet. Here’s my response:

1. I eat a wider variety of food in one day now than I did then in a month.
2. I am completely free from guilt, shame, or fear of consequence when I eat, which is worth any amount of Twinkies.
3. No willpower was required to avoid eating animal foods once I stared the grim facts about them in the face. Seriously, it has about as much appeal as stale dogshit.

A purely personal story, but my own experience in addition to the many similar experiences of friends and clients guides my intuition in accepting the study conclusion as legitimate!

Obesity is more than a body-image issue; according to Dr. Greger in the following video, excess body fat is an important cause of most cancers, accountable for over half of cases for some types. Why? Insulin-like growth factor, IGF-1, a cancer-promoting growth hormone. In the video Dr. Greger mentions that children who get cancer have about four times the normal amount of IGF-1 while adults who have abnormally low levels have zero reported cases in the studies cited – there is a “Sources Cited” link. Some of us already know that animal protein intake boosts IGF-1 production – apparently fat cells produce IGF-1 as well, creating a causal link between the obesity and cancer epidemics.

Who had the lowest IGF-1 levels among long-distance endurance runners, those practicing severe caloric restriction, or vegans? Watch!