Fuhrman and McDougall are Both Heroes

The following is a post I made today to Dr. McDougall's website user forum. There has been some give and take between those that favor Dr. Fuhrman's nutrition advice and those that like Dr. McDougall's program. On this website most of the daggers have been tossed in Dr. Fuhrman's direction. So, here are my 2 cents on this debate.

I don't understand why it has to be either/or. I also don't understand why we have to idolize one and demonize the other. Both of these fine physicians have stepped out in front on a very controversial topic and provided us with great information to promote our health. They do not agree on every issue, but if Americans would pick one, or the other, or some combination of the two approaches we would have a MUCH healthier nation. And, our health costs would be dramatically lower. There are also a few other physicians who provide excellent information such as Ornish and Esselstyn. And, we can't forget Walter Kempner, M.D., another of the pioneers. I greatly admire both Dr. McDougall and Dr. Fuhrman and have followed both websites for a couple of years. In some meals, I concentrate on vegetables/fruits/beans, in some meals the center of the dish is starch. On some days I eat a few nuts/seeds and on other days I go over the 2 oz. level. I consume no animal products and am very active. Dr. Fuhrman recommends 2 oz. of nuts/seeds or less for most people, but feels that very active people can exceed this amount. He recommends no more than 1 oz. for people who have a weight problem. For the past 6 weeks or so I have analyzed my eating with CRON-O-METER. The results show that a diet that is varied with vegetables, fruit, starches, nuts/seeds(sometimes more than 2 oz./day), beans/legumes, and whole grains results in excellent "numbers." I have never felt better and owe a lot to both Dr. McDougall and Dr. Fuhrman. I use recipes from both websites. I love Mary McDougall's vegetarian chili and Dr. Fuhrman's green smoothies. My wife uses many recipes from Fuhrman and McDougall. It seems to me those of us that want to promote healthy eating should applaud all the professionals who have stepped forward to devote their careers to nutritional excellence. While we can debate the differences in approach, the real differences we should emphasize are the ones between the SAD, the bad diets (Zone, Atkins, South Beach) and those fine professionals who are trying to get us to eat much healthier plant based diets. _________________ Howard