PACE
LOW-FAT MENUS (Cont.) :
Soups. Meats. Vegetables. Desserts.
Low-Fat Menu
1, 71
Low-Fat Menu
2, 73
Low-Fat Menu
3, 75
Low-Fat Menu
4, 77
Low-Fat Menu
5, 78
Low-Fat Menu
6, 79
Low-Fat Menu
7, 81
Low-Fat Menu
8, 82
Low-Fat Menu
9, 83
Low-Fat Menu 10, 84
Low-Fat Menu
85
11,
Low-Fat Menu 12, 86
Low-Fat Menu 13, 87
Low-Fat Menu 14, 88
1200—calorie menus, 89
1000—calorie menus, 93
800—calorie menus. 97
6. HOW TO COUNT THE CALORIES .......... 101
Overweight is a hidden disease, 101
Diet for health, as well as for beauty, 102
Is overweight due to "glandular trouble"? 103
What causes overweight? 103
Nervousness is a primary cause of overweight, 103
A feeling of failure can lead to overeating, 104
Bad food habits a second main cause of overweight,
105 Too much weight can strain your heart, rob
you of energy, 105
CONTENTS
xxi
CHAPTXB
PACE
6. HOW TO COUNT THE CALORIES (Cont.):
Most people today don't have heavy demands made
on their physical energy, 106
Just what is a calorie? 106
How to determine the number of calories you need,
107
Maintaining your proper weight by a regular calorie
count, 108
There is only one healthy way to reduce, 109
Seven rules for getting your weight down and keeping
it down, 109
Drugs are not the answer, 111
Calorie counts of foods listed alphabetically, 111
7. HOW MANY YEARS WILL LOW-FAT LIV-
ING ADD TO YOUR LIFE? ............. 123
Even if you've had a heart attack, the low-fat diet
can double your normal span of expected years,
124 The same low-fat diet may lengthen the life of
every-
one, 124
You can do something about it, 124 Ideal weight
can add more "bonus** years of life,
125
What about younger people? 125
Weight tables, 126
8. WHAT ABOUT CIGARETTES—SHOULD
YOU STOP SMOKING? ...................... 130
The Use and Abuse of Tobacco, 132
CONTENTS
8. WHAT ABOUT CIGARETTES—SHOULD
YOU STOP SMOKING? (Cont.) :
The agreeable effects of smoking, 132
The indifferent effects of smoking, 134
The effect of smoking on health, 135
The effect of smoking on the heart, 135
How smoking affects the blood vessels, 136
What smoking does to the digestive tract, 137
The relationship of tobacco smoking and cancer of the
lung, 139
Smoking is not necessarily the sole cause of lung can-
cer, 139
How can you stop smoking? 141
If you must smoke, at least cut down on the num -
ber of cigarettes, 142
Switch from cigarettes to pipe smoking, 142
Find a substitute— chewing gum, peppermints,
143
An effective approach to the tobacco habit, 144
9. HOW DOES ALCOHOL AFFECT YOUR
HEALTH? .............................................. 146
What about alcohol? How does it affect your
health? 146
The "good" effects of alcohol, 147
The influence of alcohol on the mind, 147
Alcohol not a stimulant but a depressant, 147
It can be useful as a "tonic," 147
Alcohol as a food, 148
The effect of alcohol on the circulation, 148
Alcohol can be used to improve circulation, 149
Moderation is the key, 150
Does alcohol in any way benefit the coronary arteries?
151
Alcohol can relax tension in heart cases, 152
The injurious effects of alcohol, 152
CONTENTS
9. HOW DOES ALCOHOL AFFECT YOUR
HEALTH? (Cont.):
Alcohol can be harmful to the emotions and the mind,
153
The effects of alcoholic excess, 154
Chronic alcoholism, 155
The brain. Wernicke's disease. Marchiafava-Big-
nanis disease. Delerium Tremens. Polyneuritis.
Korsakoffs Psychosis.
What does alcohol do to the liver? 158
What are the conclusions for you? 159
10. HOW TO CARE FOR YOURSELF AFTER A
HEART ATTACK .................................. 160
How and why the heart heals itself, 162
The low-salt, low-fat diet, 166
General instructions for following a low-fat diet, 166
Foods to avoid. Foods permitted. One week of
sample menus for a low-salt diet.
Rest, 170
Should you exercise? 171
What kind of exercise is permissible? 173
Should you smoke? 173
Should you avoid alcohol? 174
What about coffee and tea? 174
Care of the bowels, 174
Can you continue to have sex relations? 175
What is the best "coronary climate"? 176
When may you return to work? 177
Develop a constructive, optimistic attitude toward
life, 178
Your chances for long life are excellent,
180
CONTENTS
11. GROWING YOUNGER WITH THE YEARS 183
It's never too late, 183
The low-fat diet brought amazing improvements,
184
You need more than a "normal' or "average"
diet, 186
Begin now to feel young and really alive, 188
There is evidence that the aging process may be re-
versible, 188
Weight control also contributes to healthy old age,
192
Can youth be restored in the prematurely aged?
192
INDEX ....................................................... 201
WHEN A SPANISH-SPEAKING FRIEND
wants to wish you the very best that life can offer, he will often
lift his glass with the following toast:
"To health and wealth — and time to enjoy both."
Embodied in this simple salute are the three basic desires
common to people everywhere in all ages.
Why can't we live longer? Everyone wants to live longer.
It is one of the most deeply rooted instincts of mankind. Every-
one wants to live a life of usefulness and abundance, free of
disease and unhappiness. As we grow older, we look forward
even more anxiously to increasing our lifespan. We want time
to enjoy our achievements, time still to make plans. By the
time we reach 60 we realize with the great French painter
Gauguin that "life is a split second." We begin to think about
all the things we still want to do before we reach our seventieth
year. If we are fortunate enough to pass our seventieth birth-
day, we wonder whether we can't live even longer—perhaps to
be 80.
Well, why can't we? We are living much longer than did our
ancestors a century ago. We have added 20 years to the average
life expectancy in America since 1900.
1
2
CLOGGED PIPES TO THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
Advances in medical science have outlawed many dis-
eases* These golden years are ours because of advances made
by tireless research in medical science. They represent a deci -
sive victory over the contagious and infectious diseases which
sometimes wiped out whole sections of our population a genera-
tion ago.
Thanks to the new knowledge provided by recent research,
we no longer need fear the ravages of such diseases as diphtheria,
scarlet and typhoid fever, syphilis and—to a great extent—
tuberculosis. All these pestilences, however, were caused by
those invisible but ever-present enemies of health—germs.
Today the picture has changed. With the victory over deadly
microorganisms, a new threat has emerged in clearer and more
frightening perspective.
The 20th Century epidemic. A single, fundamental dis-
ease of the human body can now be held accountable for much
of the illness and more than half of all deaths occurring each
year in the United States It is a disorder known by the general
term of "arteriosclerosis," which means a hardening and thick-
ening of the arteries.
It is now so widespread that Dr. Paul Dudley White, the
noted heart specialist, recently described it as "a modern epi -
demic."
As the disease progresses—sometimes over a long period
of time—the vessels that carry the blood from the heart to the
body's tissues become stiff, and their inner surfaces roughened
and thick. These conditions lay the groundwork for the three
most common causes of death and disablement in America:
heart attack, heart failure, and stroke.
Is there anything that can be done to vanquish this number
one killer, whose favorite victims are men in their middle span
of life, and even the very young, sometimes those in their
twenties? The answer is "yes"—provided you will take the time
and the trouble now to learn a few simple rules.
Much of the exact nature of arteriosclerosis is still unknown.
CLOGGED PIPES TO THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
3
But during the past 10 years we have learned a great deal in the
fields of pathology, chemistry, biology, and nutrition that has
provided us with clues to the mystery, and a practical approach
to treatment for the first time.
Widespread popular interest in the heart and in the aging
process has helped immeasurably in the conquest of disease.
But at the same time, it has been responsible for a good deal of
fear and confusion among lay people. Some of these miscon-
ceptions are reflected in the questions my patients ask after
reading articles of the kind that now appear in many newspapers
and magazines.
Take diseases of the heart and blood vessels, for example.
Terms such as atherosclerosis, coronary thrombosis, and chole-
sterol are today fairly commonplace, even in publications for the
general reader. But few non-medical people know exactly what
these words mean.
What is the cause of this new epidemic? Before taking
up our discussion of ways to forestall a heart attack, it might
therefore be well to understand more clearly the basic physi -
ology involved.
Let us start with a closer look at the arteries, the vessels that
carry fresh blood from the heart to the billions of cells in our
bodies that are in constant need of nourishment. Upon careful
examination, we find that the arteries are not the simple tubes
we have pictured them to be. Viewing them in cross section, we
see that their structure is more like that of a garden hose, con -
taining three layers of tissue in the walls.
The inside layer or lining of the artery, which doctors call
the intima9 consists of a slippery membrane somewhat similar to
the mucous membrane on the inside of your mouth. The in-be-
tween layer, known as the media, is formed of muscle fiber.
This enables the blood vessel to expand and contract with the
heartbeat, to facilitate the flow of blood through it. The outer
layer, called the adventitia, is composed of coarse strong fiber&
which provide added strength to the artery.
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CLOGGED PIPES TO THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
In both the outer and the intermediate layers, there are tiny
intrinsic blood vessels which nourish the artery itself. T he
thickness and exact composition of the three layers vary, depend-
ing upon an artery's size and location.
Of the changes that may occur in the arteries as a result of
disease, there are two types which concern us here. Both kinds
have traditionally been known by the general term, "arterio-
sclerosis," which means hardening or thickening of the arteries.
Actually, however, there are two kinds of hardening of the
arteries. One occurs when calcium deposits in the middle layer
of the artery cause it to become brittle and hard. For this rea-
son, it is sometimes called a "pipestem" artery. Such calcifica -
tion does not necessarily obstruct the blood flow, and is usually
harmless from a clinical point of view.
The other type of change, on the other hand—and it is the
more frequent one—has serious consequences. It consists of a
thickening of the inner wall of the artery by deposits of fats:
cholesterol (a fatty alcohol), fatty acids, and the like, together
with calcium.
As these deposits grow, the passageways or canals of the
arteries become narrower, much in the same way as the drain
from your kitchen sink becomes clogged with grease deposits.
The result is that less and less blood can flow through the nar -
rowed opening to the tissues or organs that depend on it for
life. Your "pipes" have become clogged.
At the same time, the swelling of the lining cells and rough-
ening of the inner surface provide sites for formation of blood
clots inside the narrowed artery. If the blockage is complete in
vital arteries that feed the heart muscle, a heart attack—or as we
physicians call it, a coronary thrombosis—occurs. If this dis-
aster occurs in the cerebral arteries of the brain, a "stroke,"
sometimes called a heart attack in the head, results. When the
small arteries of the kidneys are affected, Bright's disease,
formerly called "dropsy," and other diseases ensue.
But whether the thickening and blocking process takes place
CLOGGED PIPES TO THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
5
in the heart, head, or kidneys, it is essentially the same disease.
Doctors refer to it as atherosclerosis.
About a century ago, during an autopsy, a German pathologist
named Rudolph Virchow laid open an artery to examine its
interior wall. Along the lining he observed deposits of mushy
fat that he called atheromata, a Greek work meaning "porridge."
It was from this word that we derived our term, atherosclerosis.
Embedded among the cells of the artery wall along with the
fat, Virchow observed some glistening crystals. These turned
out to be cholesterol. But how did these fats get into the artery
walls? This question has puzzled scientists for the past 100
years, and it is still being pursued in various fields of research.
The first theory advanced by researchers was that of "imbibi-
tion," which held that fat droplets were absorbed directly from
the blood stream through the lining of the artery walls. When
a weakening of the "ground" substance or actual structure of the
artery wall occurred, cholesterol—the main offender—and its
related fats were deposited in the artery wall. This theory has
been supported by the recent discovery that these fatty deposits,
especially cholesterol, exist in the same proportion in the artery
wall as in the bloodstream itself.
Another theory that seeks to explain the way in which the
fatty deposits get into the artery walls held that they did not
come from the blood stream primarily, but were manufactured
within the cells of the vessel wall.
It has also been claimed that fat molecules are normally
absorbed by the artery wall without leaving a harmful residue
of acid crystals. But some abnormal condition, such as high
blood pressure, may force an excessive amount of the fat mole-
cules into the wall. Then the artery cannot absorb the full
amount, and deposits gradually build up.
Other researchers have believed that the fat droplets find
their way into the artery wall through the tiny vessels that supply
blood to the artery itself. According to this theory, a hemorrhage
or series of small hemorrhages may occur in these tiny vessels.
6
CLOGGED PIPES TO THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
A clot is formed, which deposits fat particles in the artery wall
when the small vessels break down.
My own conclusion, based upon years of animal, laboratory,
and human research, plus experience with innumerable patients,
is this: Atherosclerosis results from an impairment of the body's
ability to utilize (or metabolize) normally not only the fats eaten
in the diet, but also those that are in the body itself. This im-
pairment is further aggravated by the body's inability to with -
stand stress or tension; and by deficiencies in the supply of
hormones from vital glands such as the thyroid, the adrenals,
and the sex glands.
In addition, there are other factors that influence the in -
dividual's susceptibility to atherosclerosis, or death from a heart
attack or stroke. These include such things as inherited or con -
stitutional factors, and the coagulability of the blood.
It is easy to see how complex the problem really is. The
danger of oversimplification is great. However, one causative
factor that stands out continuously above and beyond all others,
important as they are, is fat in the diet. And it is this factor
that we can control.
These fats from our foods enter our blood stream where, like
sharks cruising about, they seek out the weak or vulnerable spots
in the arteries. Here they attack, enter, and deposit or nest
themselves. These fatty deposits then acquire calcium, and the
hardening process begins in the arteries. Each particle becomes
a captain around which rally the silent "Men of Death," who
wage a relentless struggle. Soon they begin to throttle our life
flow.
Our blood vessels then engage in a vain effort to halt the
armada of killers we now harbor within our arteries. Special fat -
eating cells are rushed to these spots, where the fats and
cholesterol have breached the barrier or wall and entered the
artery. In the life-and-death struggle that ensues, the fat-eating
cells try to engulf the cholesterol and fat particles, and may
succeed temporarily in the "counter-attack."
Dr. Timothy Leary, the distinguished Boston pathologist, in
CLOGGED PIPES TO THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
7
1933 first devised ingenious methods of lighting up, refracting,
and photographing this deadly drama. It was seen that in -
evitably the special fat-fighting cells are themselves engulfed by
the repeated tidal waves of cholesterol and fats washed into the
blood and artery walls by fat-containing foods such as butter,
eggs, cream, milk, meat fats, and other animal fats in our diet.
Why is the epidemic particularly strong in the U.S.A.?
If you are a typical American, whether you know it or not you
consume an unbalanced, obesity-producing diet. Drs. Louis
Katz and J. Stamler, prominent researchers in this field, called
it "a pernicious combination of overnutrition and undernutrition
—excessive in calories, carbohyd