CHIP shape: community-based dietary program attracts a healthy following.(lifestyle)(Coronary Health Improvement Project)

Publication: Vegetarian Times

Publication Date: 01-JUN-04

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2004 Vegetarian Times, Inc. All rights reserved.

Diagnosed with breast cancer at age 47, Ruth Heidrich was devastated. "I wanted to save my life so badly," she says. "I would have done anything to reverse [the disease]."

A founding member of the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii and co-host of her own nutritional radio program, Heidrich, who holds a PhD in health management, is an international speaker on fitness and nutrition. Yet in 1982, this seemingly healthy woman faced a mastectomy.

Heidrich later learned that breast cancer and other illnesses including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and osteoporosis can be caused by the standard American diet, which is high in saturated and hydrogenated fats, high in processed foods, ,and low in fiber, plant-based foods and complex carbohydrates. This unhealthful diet is turning Americans into what a growing field of nutritionists refer to as "victims of nutritional extravagance."

Following her surgery, Heidrich consulted pioneering vegetarian physician John McDougall, MD, and switched to a wholly plant-based diet. "I might not have changed had it not been...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.