Over the last 8 posts, I’ve been summarising each lecture at the 2015 International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference which was held in Anaheim, California from September 30-October 3. (Missed a post? Go to my Article Library and click on the ‘Conference and seminar reports’ button:)
When it came to Dr Craig McDougall’s presentation, ‘Applying Plant-Based Nutrition In Your Practice’, I faced a bit of a dilemma. Most of my readers aren’t health-care professionals, and would nod off pretty quickly if I summarised what Dr McDougall had to say about how doctors can incorporate dietary instruction into their practice (much as we all dream of the day when that happens on a broad scale…).
But Dr McDougall – yes, in case you were wondering, he is the son of the one-and-only Dr John McDougall, one of the pioneers of the plant-based nutrition movement – mentioned some great resources which he shares with patients, that I thought you’d be interested in. Several of them are so useful either for research purposes or for sharing with clients, they’re now saved as tabs on my browser!
# 1: www.thennt.com
This is a truly priceless resource, developed by a group of physicians in order to help clinicians make diagnostic and treatment decisions that are in their patients’ best interests. ‘NNT’ is an acronym used in medical research, which stands for ‘number needed to treat’ – in other words, the number of people who would need to be administered a particular drug, nutrient or procedure in order to benefit 1 person. That benefit may be measured in numerous ways, depending on the treatment in question: number of deaths prevented, number of strokes prevented, number of complications of infection prevented, and so forth.
thennt.com uses only the highest quality, evidence-based studies (frequently, but not always Cochrane Reviews), and accepts no outside funding or advertisements in order to avoid any perceived or actual conflicts of interest. Its purpose is to provide a framework and rating system to evaluate therapies based on the benefits and harms that matter to patients (Therapy Reviews), as well as a system to evaluate diagnostic tests based on how helpful each sign/symptom/test is at accurately diagnosis a particular disease process (Diagnosis Reviews).
Here are some findings from the Therapy Reviews that you may find quite startling:
Screening mammography: (i.e. performing a mammogram on a woman who has not yet found a lump in her breast, for the purpose of early diagnosis of breast cancer)
Benefits: None were helped i.e. no woman lived longer as a result of having a screening mammogram
Harms: 1 in 2 were harmed by a false positive, over 10 years of mammograms; 1 in 5 were harmed by an unnecessary surgical procedure over 10 years
Coronary Stenting for Non-Acute Coronary Disease Compared to Medical Therapy
Benefits: None were helped (life saved, heart attack prevented, symptoms reduced)
Harms: 1 in 50 were harmed (complications such as bleeding, stroke, kidney damage)
Statin Drugs Given for 5 Years for Heart Disease Prevention (Without Known Heart Disease)
Benefits: None were helped in terms of life saved; 1 in 104 were helped by prevention of a heart attack; 1 in 154 were helped by prevention of a stroke.
Harms: 1 in 100 were harmed by developing diabetes; 1 in 10 were harmed by suffering muscle damage.
Antibiotics for Acute Otitis Media (middle ear infection)
Benefits: None had fewer serious complications; none had less disease recurrence; none had less pain after 24 hours; 1 in 20 were helped in terms of pain reduction after 24 hours-7 days.
Harms: 1 in 9 were harmed by developing diarrhoea.
Action Step:
When your doctor next prescribes a drug or recommends a procedure, ask if s/he has looked it up on nnt.com, and if not, go ahead and do it yourself. The website provides a handy rating system for treatments (green, yellow, red and black) to help you quickly evaluate whether the benefits of treatment outweigh the risks. If the numbers don’t stack up, Just Say No!.
#2: www.calorificapp.com
I’m not a fan of calorie counting, and neither is Craig McDougall – his old man’s success in helping patients achieve rapid and sustainable weight loss using an ad libitum (‘all you can eat’) low-fat, starch-based diet has made him far too cluey to fall for such an ineffective and irrational weight loss strategy. But understanding caloric density – that is, whether a given portion of a particular food is high in calories or low in calories – can make the difference between success and failure in people who struggle to lose weight even when eating only healthy foods, perhaps because of their age, genetics, or a lowered metabolic rate due to previous dieting.
The Calorific app features photos of portions of foods that are exactly 200 calories. Here are some sample pics:
Get the picture? Understanding caloric density can help you structure meals for maximum weight loss success. If you want more, download the app, which now has a Festive Foods section – perfect to help you avoid weight gain over the Silly Season.
# 3: What 2000 Calories Looks Like
Depending on age, body size, gender and activity level, the ‘average’ person should eat 1600-2400 calories per day (an average of 2000). This New York Times piece features pics of various meals – that’s right, single meals designed to be consumed in one sitting – that total 2000 calories. There’s even a beverage, the Peanut Butter Caramel Pie Shake from Sonic, that contains 2090 calories in just one serving. Anyone still wondering why rates of obesity continue to rise?
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see what 2000 calories looks like if you eat simple, home-prepared food: it’s a whole day’s worth of generous portions. It’s a shame they didn’t photograph what 2000 calories of home-prepared vegan whole-foods looks like… but maybe they couldn’t find a wide enough camera lens!
Here’s my favourite from this article: a single Cowboy Ribeye steak and martini which total 1920 calories. Are you willing to skip breakfast and lunch so you have this for dinner without exceeding 2000 calories for the day?
I hope you find these websites as helpful and informative as I have. Please comment below, and feel free to share the most useful web-based resources you’ve encountered.
Do you need personalised help to implement a wholefood, plan-based diet? Are you uncertain about the medical treatment you’re on, and wish to discuss your current care plan with someone who doesn’t have a ‘horse in the race’? Apply for a consultation today!
Leave A Response