ASK DR. PAM - PART I

by Dr. Pamela A. Popper

Dear Dr. Pam: I visited with you to discuss my diet a couple of weeks ago and was kind of shocked. I really thought my diet was good; you told me several things I had to do better. Is it important to be perfect, because that's what I feel you're trying to get me to do.

Perfection with diet is sometimes required, particularly when an individual is very ill. The doctors who are consistently getting the best results with patients (stopping the progression of or reversing advanced coronary artery disease, etc.) are doing so with a very low-fat vegan diet. There is not much room for cheating for those who have life-threatening conditions and who want to stay alive while enjoying excellent quality of life.

On the other hand, those who are not sick or only mildly sick are able to eat a slightly more liberal diet and to enjoy occasional treats (cake at a birthday party, but not part of the daily fare, for example).

The difficulty many people have when they come to our office is that they have often made significant changes to their diet. They are doing better, and I try to acknowledge that, but sometimes the changes they've made are just not significant enough. And even though some of the things I suggest may seem quite small or like I am nitpicking, the power of those seemingly smaller additional changes is huge.

For example, I spoke with a woman who has been eating a vegan diet for several months today, but she is still consuming salad dressings with oil almost daily and her cholesterol levels are still high. And they will remain so until the oil is out of the diet. This might seem like a small thing when all animal foods have been eliminated, but cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dl are dangerous and they generally don't come down while people are consuming oils.

An analogy might help here. At 212 degrees, water will boil. At 111 degrees it does not. One degree in this instance makes a lot of difference, even though it is only one degree!

The good news is that if you show up in our office having already made significant changes, it is generally easy to make a few more smaller ones (drink more water, eliminate oil, start eating meals that are slightly better structured, etc.). If you are willing to make these additional changes, the effort you put into eating well will really pay off.

Dear Dr. Pam: I read your last two newsletters on mammography and am wondering what you think about thermography and why you did not mention it.

The FDA approved thermography for breast cancer detection and risk assessment in 1982. Thermography measures the difference in infrared heat emission from normal breast tissue, benign breast abnormalities such as cysts, infections and benign tumors, and from breast cancer. Tumor tissue does not have an intact sympathetic nervous system and therefore cannot regulate heat loss. When breast tissue is cooled in a 68 degree room, the blood vessels of normal tissue will constrict to conserve heat, while the tumor tissue remains hot. Thermography detects these variations in heat.

Over time, breast tumors will remain hot, while other conditions, such as infections and benign disorders, will cool down as they resolve.

Breast thermograms show specific patterns that are highly individual for each woman. Over the years, they remain constant unless there is a change in the underlying condition. They are highly accurate and actually detect a problem long before it would be detectable from a clinical exam or a mammogram.

For women who feel that they absolutely must have some form of diagnostic breast exam, thermography is a much better option - it does not subject the patient to radiation or compression.

However, it is important to shift people away from the thought that early detection is going to save them (there is no evidence that it does) to the idea that the only true protection is dietary excellence. For many years people have been eating less than optimal diets while getting tested regularly to see if they are still getting away with their bad habits; the incidence of and death rate from the major diseases in this country are growing not shrinking.

So to be clear; thermography is better than mammography. But if the goal is to reduce the risk of dying from breast cancer, the only strategy proven to work is dietary excellence (a Wellness Forum-style diet).

Article printed with permission from Dr. Pamela A. Popper and taken from Newsletters Vol 7 Issue 48 December 7, 2009. Dr. Popper is the founder and Executive Director of The Wellness Forum, a chain of health and wellness centers located throughout the United States and the Far East.