DrCarney.com Blog

Contrary to popular beliefs, human protein requirements are actually quite low. Dr. John McDougall explains by saying, "Our greatest time of growth, which is the time of our greatest need for protein - is during our first 2 years of life - when we double in size. At this vigorous developmental stage, our ideal food is human...

Hectic schedules, working overtime, extracurricular activities - all the reasons why fast food restaurants are so appealing. We've become so accustomed to eating on the run, that preparing a sit-down, hot meal with our families almost seems peculiar. What we don't realize, however, is that these fast foods not only promote childhood obesity, diabetes, and the beginning stages of heart disease, they are now suspected of negatively affecting school performance and learning.

Many people believe they can't live without meat. And, they eat lots of it. Or at least they think they do. However, many people including children on the Standard American Diet (SAD) are actually eating a lot less meat than they think. Certainly that is the case for SAD eaters feasting extensively on fast foods. So, you might ask, if they are not eating meat what are they eating? Are you sure you really want to know?

PCRM (Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine) offers a "21-day Vegan Kick Start Program" that begins the first day of every month. However, you may register for it at anytime during the month.

The World Health Organization, (WHO) attributes over 3 million deaths per year to "inadequate fruit and vegetable intake - a risk factor almost as deadly as tobacco use or unsafe sex." Why haven't you heard this from most family physicians? You'll be surprised to find out that less than 25% of medical schools offer a single course dedicated for nutrition and some graduating physicians have had no formal nutritional training at all. Out of thousands of clinical instruction hours, some may receive as little as three hours.

The "Paleo" diet or "Caveman" diet has recently become a popular diet, especially among some fitness groups such as CrossFit.  The Paleo diet is a modern day diet based on the presumed ancient diet of early man during the Paleolithic Era.

There are many aspects of this diet which are health promoting, such as the addition of fruits, vegetables, and nuts and seeds.  Other beneficial attributes include the avoidance of dairy products, processed snack foods, and alcohol.  However, legumes, grains, and starchy vegetables have also been eliminated which are beneficial and are a significant part of a whole-food, Starch-Smart® diet.  The Paleo diet centers its meals around animal products, much like the typical American diet, and is high in saturated fat and low in carbohydrates.  Advocates state that the high percentage of animal products to whole plant food is a key feature of this diet with sausage, bacon, lard and tallow being acceptable. 

Dr. Jay Gordon, is a pediatrician that uses whole-food, plant-based nutrition as preventative medicine in his medical practice in California. He's a nationally recognized pediatrician, nutritionist, lecturer, teacher, magazine columnist, and the author of numerous books. 

We first learned of Dr. Gordon's passion regarding nutritional medicine from watching the Processed People documentary. Dr. Gordon is one of the many plant-based physicians that are featured in this documentary. The one minute video excerpt below highlights Dr. Gordon speaking about protein needs and how we don't need to consume animal products in order to be healthy. The above video clip was taken from the "Processed People" documentary.

Out of the thousands of hours that doctors receive in medical school training, you may be surprised to find out that most haven't had a single course in nutrition. Dr. Michael Greger says that, "Most medical schools in the United States fail to provide even a bare minimum of nutrition training." Due to their lack...

Dr. Joel Fuhrman has written an excellent article regarding our culture's obsession using rich, disease-promoting foods for celebrating special occasions, especially for Halloween. Dr. Fuhrman states in his article, "As parents we must protect our children from harm and give them the best opportunity in life to have a happy and healthy future. Science suggests...

One out of every six lambs raised for human consumption in the U.S. has been found to be infected with the Toxoplasma parasite. This parasite can affect the brains of humans. It is estimated that ten percent of Americans currently have these brain parasites and aren't even aware of it.  Illnesses such as Parkinson's, bi-polar disorder,...

Let's pretend it's lunch time. You're in a meeting and it won't end until 2:00, two hours past the time you're used to eating. How do you feel? Are you experiencing "stomach grumbling, headaches, light-headedness, irritability, fatigue, and inability to focus?"

At 1:00, are you now hoping no one will notice your nervousness, confusion, shaking, and anxiety? Most of us would assume that these uncomfortable symptoms are associated with hunger, since eating relieves the discomfort. Dr. Joel Fuhrman explains in his article that conventional wisdom would agree these are hunger symptoms, but Dr. Fuhrman disagrees. He says, "People are consistently led by these symptoms to consume more calories than they require and this widespread overeating behavior has led to an epidemic of obesity and a continual rise in preventable chronic diseases. Understanding the motivation behind overeating behaviors could be a key factor in reversing these trends."

If you have watched the impressive Forks Over Knives documentary, then you are familiar with Dr. Matthew Lederman, one of the many plant-based doctors featured in this film. In the live-stream Q&A video below, Doctors Matthew Lederman and Alona Pulde answer viewer's questions regarding plant-based nutrition. Topics in this one-hour presentation include: protein requirements, complete...