Approaching the Natural: Interview with Sid Garza-Hillman and GIVEAWAY

On the Rich Roll podcast, Rich recently had this really fascinating guest named Sid Garza-Hillman. He is the nutrition and wellness program director at the Mendocino Center for Living Well at the Stanford Inn Eco-Resort and has a pretty interesting way of approaching healthful living. After hearing the podcast, I contacted Sid and read his health manifesto Approaching the Natural. His book, is more of a pocket-pistol, a small guide and reminder about how humans should try to approach living. Perhaps what strikes me most about Sid is his complete sincerity when trying to teach people about his method as well as his desire to make living as simple as possible- while he promotes a plant-based diet, he argues we shouldn’t stress about nutrients or vitamins, there are no charts or tables about how much of X we should be consuming or how many tablespoons of Y we need everyday. Instead, he suggest we simple eat healthy plant foods until we are full and should fill our days with art, nature, and other things we see value in. In short, Sid promotes moving back towards the way we would live in nature, hence his title, Approaching the Natural. 

The result is a fun, and very easy but also engaging read that will help get you up and moving (literally) down the road to better health.

Sid was kind enough to allow me to giveaway a copy of his book and I consider myself fortunate to now count Sid as one of my friends. 

You’re book is written as if you’ve figured out a secret and are trying to clue everyone else in, do you feel that way?

I don’t think it’s a secret so much as information that’s not in the mainstream – i.e. the facts are out there, but not readily available. In the book I try and distil this info in as accessible way as possible.

I love that you consistently try to make nutrition and life as simple as possible, how did you come to this realization that nutrition and health are actually pretty simple concepts?

The concept of the book came to me when I began to look at humans truly as the animals that we are. When I look at humans this way, health and nutrition should be as simple for us as for the other species with whom we share this planet. And yet, we’re the only species that measures, counts, plans, prepares, processes our food, and buys into 21 day cleanses and ‘7 days to extreme health’ programs. And the fact is we are not getting any healthier or happier doing these things (completely the opposite actually) - in nature we’d be doing none of it. I argue that even if we get even a little closer to how we lived before we created this ‘modern’ world – a world of processed foods, tons of animal products, mechanized movement (cars etc.), and asphalt/concrete that literally separates us from nature—we’d see improvement in our lives. It used to be simple – we’d eat natural food (it was all that was available!), drink clean water, move around because we needed to or for fun, breathe fresh air, and get plenty of sunlight. I realize that as a species we’re not getting all the way back to that, but we can exist healthier and happier by moving (by degrees depending on how far you want to go) closer to how our species was designed to exist.

I think it is fair to say that your view of nutrition is much larger than just the food we put into our mouths. Care to share some of the other aspects of this larger picture of good health?

In the book I write both about physical nutrition, and what I call ‘mental nutrition.’ What we feed our bodies and what we feed our minds. I argue that we are naturally designed to consume a high quality of both in order to be happy and healthy.  Healthy body, healthy mind, but vice versa…I think conceptually people understand that, but in reality tend to feed one or the other (body or the mind) or neither in some cases! In our culture, fitness, or even worse, simply being thin, is associated with health and happiness, but I believe true health (and a healthy weight, incidentally) and happiness come with a healthy body and mind.

Bouncing off the larger picture question, let’s talk about mental nutrition. This was a new way of viewing mental health for me. Can you tell me more about that term as well as proper ways to feed the mind?

The human species is a naturally creative species. We use our minds to figure things out in ways more advanced than most other species. To foster this creativity is to live more fully as a human. Likewise, we crave information, learning, and education, and so feeding our minds good ‘food’ (art, music, books, film) is in line with our design and therefore doesn’t create conflict within us (just as eating healthy food is right in line with our design doesn’t create conflict in our physical bodies). I am the Programs Director at the Mendocino Center for Living Well at the Stanford Inn Eco-Resort, and part of what we offer, aside from nutrition, cooking, yoga etc. is Art Therapy and Gardening. Why? Because we think these types of classes are as integral to health and happiness as anything else we offer. Getting back to creating art without judgment, just for the fun of it, is extremely cathartic and beneficial, just as getting your hands in the dirt!

In your book you discuss the benefits of grounding. I had never heard about this before (and to be honest, I’m a bit skeptical) but what exactly is grounding and what are the benefits?

My editor tried to get me to reduce the amount of quotes/references I put in that chapter, but I kept them in because the concept of grounding sounds weird to most people and I wanted readers to read some research first hand. The concept seemed very strange to me too at first, but like most of my research into health and nutrition, the more I read the more obvious it became. For example, nobody questions the fact that when our skin is exposed to sunlight, our bodies produce vitamin D. The reason this occurs is because our bodies are designed to interact with the natural world in a way that sustains and continues our own lives and the ‘life’ of the earth as well. Similarly, we did not evolve with rubber mats on our feet (i.e. shoes), but instead were (until very recently) physically connected to the earth’s surface. In fact, every other wild animal is physically connected to the earth. In the book I simply explored the actual mechanism of what occurs when we are connected versus what occurs when we are not. Given that we are electrical in nature (electricity governs the functioning of our bodies—just think of the heart beating or impulses traveling in our nervous system), being electrically grounded to the earth has great benefit for our species, which I describe in great detail in chapter three.

I heard you talk about the link between food and violence elsewhere. Can you tell us more about your thoughts on this?

In my experience as a certified nutritionist, I have seen first hand that what we put in our bodies affects our mood. When someone feels good (and looks good, for that matter), they feel better, and that affects how they interact socially with the rest of the world. Think about how irritable you can be when you’re sick or haven’t gotten enough sleep, for example. Studies have been done in schools and prisons whereby increasing the quality of the food decreases the instances of violence. The thing is, studies aside, it comes down repeatedly to this: we can either work with the natural inclinations of our minds and bodies, or against them. When we work against them, there are serious repercussions. The violence in the human species is way out of control and on a completely unnatural level. One could argue that lions are violent, but they don’t kill with the recklessness that our species does, nor does any other species for that matter. I posed the question of why that is, and believe the answer to be because we’re becoming more and more unnatural in every way and paying for it as a species.

In the past few weeks a couple of "big" name vegan and plant-based people have gone back to eating meat and dairy. Since you are a nutritionist, do you have any thoughts about this?

Couple things: 1. There is a tremendous amount of fear associated with food (most of it economically driven). We may read that even though the US consumes more calcium than almost any other country in the world we still have the worst bone health, but we're bombarded with advertising about calcium and dairy, and MD's and many dieticians are still recommending yoghurt, milk, and cheese -- we come to feel that we'll literally break if we don't eat our Greek yoghurt. Same thing goes for protein--billions of dollars are made by convincing the public that we need protein above all else. Most people don't want to take the risk of not consuming animal products, and especially when it comes to their children.  Many try vegan, but if it's not immediately better, they'll recoil into the safety of how they were raised and told to eat. 2. Being vegan or plant-based doesn't necessarily mean you're eating healthy...chips, french fries, white flour, white rice, scotch, coca-cola are all vegan but super unhealthy. If you eat processed and refined plants, you're nutritionally better off eating meat and dairy. But if you're eating whole plants (unrefined fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans) you're better off than eating animal foods or refined foods.

I've been plant-based for 10 years, my wife and children are plant-based. My wife gave birth to three children (two of which are twins) on a whole plant-based diet. Rich Roll, Scott Jurek, Brendan Brazier, and tons of other extreme athletes are not just surviving, but thriving on a whole plant-based diet. The people you're referring to may think they need to consume more protein, and perhaps they do (I wouldn't know without working with them personally), but they're making an ill-informed choice as to where they're choosing to get it. There's an abundance of protein in the plant world that comes jam packed with micronutrients in a way that animal products simply don't...

Let’s talk about the Paleo diet and the Cross Fit movement which currently have been getting so much attention. What are your thoughts?

First, these plans/programs all have benefits. The question becomes whether people can stick with them or not and whether they will deliver health and happiness. Diets and plans don’t typically do the trick. The paleo craze is, a little nutty (scientifically speaking). On the plus side of paleo, it’s dairy free, but again, it’s too involved for most people to stick with for the rest of their lives, and way too meat-heavy. By most accounts, the meat consumption of the human species was pretty minimal (about 5% of our caloric intake). Paleo for most people is just an excuse to eat as much meat as possible, much in the same way as Atkins gave people a perceived license. If people want to truly adopt Paleo they should consume predominantly wild (and therefore whole) plants, and when plants are scarce, get out into the wild, chase down an animal, and eat it raw and fresh. Going to Safeway and buying corn or soy-fed beef wrapped in cellophane ain’t what our ancestors were doing.  I would eat flesh today if it were the best caloric source I could find. The fact is I have access to an absolutely huge variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, so animal foods are completely unnecessary. As for Crossfit, I’ve heard definite pluses and minuses (McKenzie and I were back-to-back guests on the Rich Roll Podcast), but the fact is, it’s a plan for people with heavy-duty fitness as their goal. In contrast, I’m trying to reach super busy people who want to improve their lives, but need to learn how to get themselves going right away, by taking however small steps as necessary to get them to begin living well.

How do you discuss nutrition with friends, family, and even strangers in a positive accessible manor? What are some of the most helpful tips for people looking to become healthier?

As much as possible I don’t discuss the topic unless it’s brought up by someone else. If someone asks me about something I’ll definitely weigh in. On a case by case basis if erroneous comments are made (i.e. milk it does a body good) I’ll speak up if I think the person will be receptive…I’ve helped family members and friends along the way, but again, only when they’ve approached me. Over the years I’ve realized that it’s useless to provide unsolicited advice to anyone. If they want to know they’ll ask (or buy a book!).

As for helpful tips (besides reading my book)…ease your way in. It’s much harder than it sounds, as we are bombarded with quick-fix solutions and hope so much they’ll do the trick. Unfortunately most often they just don’t. We’re all busy and taking small steps is simply the most effective way to make life-long changes.

Reach me:

sid@transitioningtohealth.net

twitter: @sidgarzahillman

facebook: facebook.com/TransitioningToHealth

www.transitioningtohealth.net

Great! Thanks so much! 

WIN A SIGNED COPY OF APPROACHING THE NATURAL!

Here are the rules. First, the winner needs to live in the United States (sorry international readers, no disrespect). The contest will end on April 5th at midnight. To enter, you must be a subscribed reader to BYOL. There are several ways to increase your chances of winning; either leave a comment on this post, follow BYOL on Twitter, Like BYOL on Facebook, Follow Sid on Twiter, Like Transitioning To Health on Facebook, or tweet about this giveaway. 
 

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Mean Green Split Pea and Hemp Soup

I rarely do anything special for St Patrick's Day but since it is absolutely frigid in NYC right now (screw you too Punxsutawny) creating a BYOL original green soup seemed the perfect way to celebrate as well as to help warm me up after a bone-chilling bike ride! This soup is high in protein as well as carbohydrates and antioxidants. It is also highly alkaline promoting, which helps reduce inflammation, so it is a perfect recovery meal, or anytime meal for that matter! A great way to boost your green veggie intake; to top it off it's pretty easy to make. Tossing in a few potatoes at the end is the perfect way to celebrate St. Patty's day. This nutrient dense soup is certain to make your inner-Irishman swoon! 

Here is this incredibly easy recipe.

Serves 3-4

2 cups green split peas (soaked in warm water and rinsed before cooking)
2 large potatoes baked - chopped
2 cups spinach - chopped
3 stalks of celery - chopped
2 large carrots - sliced
1 cup broccoli floretts
4 tablespoons hemp seeds
3-4 cloves of garlic
8 cups water or veggie broth
1 generous pinch of onion or pea sprouts (optional but recommend)
onion powder, ginger, and black pepper to taste


After the peas soaked for a few hours rinse them well under warm water until the water runs clean. Add them to a pot with a splash of lemon juice and enough water to cover all of the peas by about 1-2 inches. Boil the peas until they soften - about 40 minutes depending on how long they soaked. If any foam rises to the top, simply scrap it off with a spoon.

While the peas are cooking, prepare the two potatoes and bake them for 30 minutes on 375. Once they are done it is your choice to peel them or not. I left the skin this time.

Also try adding some chopped walnuts

Once the peas are done cooking, drain the pot and add the peas, broccoli, garlic and about 1 cup of water or veggie broth to a blender or food processor. Blend until mostly smooth but leave some texture to the mix. Transfer the content to a large soup pot and put on medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, chopped potato, spices, and the rest of the water/broth. Let the soup come to a low boil and then turn down to medium-low. Again if any foam rises to the top, simply remove it.

After about 15 minutes, the veggies should have softened. Now add the chopped spinach and hemp seeds and let simmer for and additional 2-3 more minutes or until the spinach is wilted. Serve hot. Yesterday at the farmers market I found onion sprouts which made a great addition to this soup, however pea shoots are much more commonly found in grocery stores. If you don't have either, garnish with green onion. You can also make this a bit more hearty by adding cooked wild or brown rice to it before serving.

This soup is sure to help take the edge off this incredibly long winter!



enjoy

More than Just Empty Calories: the Harmful Effects of Consuming Oil.

My master’s thesis advisor once told me the worst thing you can say about a scholar is, “they haven’t changed their mind in thirty years… they had everything figured out from the time their dissertation was submitted.” It meant the person stopped thinking, and as a result, refused to grow any further. Academically and personally, I’ve always been taught to challenge this stagnant way of thinking.

This approach informs my nutrition beliefs as well. As new studies come out, as I read more, as I learn more about specific topics, my ideas and opinions evolve as well. Only one year ago, readers will recall many of my recipes called for the use of high-quality (expensive) “healthy” oils such as cold-pressed Extra Virgin Olive oil, Flax seed oil, and Hemp seed oil. 

However, I now believe oil, as a general rule, should be avoided for optimal health and performance. 

Oil is the most caloric dense food available and all oils are highly processed, stripping away any nutrients that the whole food once contained. To top this off, all oils are acidic to our bodies and increase inflammation.

I’ve already given my comments on coconut oil, and so now I’m attempting to present the evidence that helped switch me off from all “healthy” oils.

Fish Oil

Philosophically I’m against fish oil. I do not believe that any animal should be harmed or exploited for our own benefit. That said, it is nearly impossible to avoid hearing about the benefits one can gain by including a daily dose of fish oil into one’s diet. 

However, similar to coconut oil, this is all marketing. Fish and fish oil do contain long-chain ALA and DHA, a type of fatty acid which is not found in the plant kingdom. The good news, however, is most people’s bodies are capable of converting Omega 3s into these other types of fatty acids. So a person following a healthy vegan diet doesn’t have to worry too much about this, assuming they are consuming Omega 3s. Some of the best sources of Omega 3s include ground flax seed, hemp seeds, and of course chia seeds (which for the record has 8 times the amount of Omega 3 as salmon and none of the cholesterol or mercury!). Fish oil also contains Omega 3s. However, fish get their source of Omega 3s the same way humans get theirs: by eating plants. As such fish is not as reliable of a source as just eating the plants. Furthermore, the heating process needed to kill bacteria found in fish also renders much of the fatty acids inaccessible to our bodies.

Still others claim the reason to supplement with fish oil is because it is good for the heart. Many physicians and patients believe that fish oil supplements will improve health, and more specifically, reduce the risk of dying of a heart attack. This is a claim we will see again shortly about olive oil. Basically, the pro-fish oil industry argues that because Omega 3s thin the blood, and since fish oil has Omega 3s in it, fish oil will thin the blood and help reduce one’s risk of cardiovascular disease. Although, hypothetically, these supplements should be beneficial, a recent “analysis of only the highest quality studies (blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trials) showed no effect on cardiovascular outcomes.” This means the speculative benefits from the blood-thinning effects of fish oils fail to help reduce the risk of a cardiovascular event from occurring. Essentially, fish oil is unable to reverse the harm that is caused by eating the Standard American Diet.

Besides failing to protect our circulatory system, there are several other dangers associated with the consumption of fish oil. Since it thins the blood, the risk of generalized bleeding increases. This makes common day accidents such as a car collision or a bike crash potentially deadly. Fish oil has also been demonstrated to suppress the immune system and has been linked to accelerated tumor growth. To top it off, fish oil can have adverse effects on one’s cholesterol by raising LDL “bad” cholesterol levels in patients with already elevated cholesterol and causes deterioration in glucose tolerance, or in other words, making people more susceptible to diabetes.  

 

 

As if this wasn't bad enough, nearly all fish oils on the market today have been found to contain polychlorinated biphenyl or PCBs as well as DDT. If you think back to your twentieth century American history class from college, DDT was the subject of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. The use of the chemical was banned shortly after the book’s publication. However, studies show it is still in the food supply - via fish - half a century later. These chemicals were found to be in moderate and even dangerous levels in distilled and “clean” fish oils.

Finally, the environmental impact of fish oil should also be considered. In a report published in 2009 by the Canadian Medical Association Journal researchers found that fish oils were unsustainable by today’s fisheries. The world’s fisheries are already struggling to meet the rising demand for fish, and the article suggests if people began meeting the recommended dose of long-chain Omega fatty acids with fish oils there could be “dire consequences” for the world's oceans. Fish farming is not a viable option either since each farmed fish consumes up to 5 pounds of wild caught fish per pound of farmed fish. This wasteful inefficiency is only further depleting our oceans.

Olive Oil

 

Since most of my readers are vegan, they are probably thinking, "glad I take heart healthy olive oil instead of disgusting fish oil!" We’ve all heard about how healthy the Mediterranean diet is. In fact the New York Times just posted an article claiming that, “30 percent of heart attacks, strokes, and deaths from heart disease can be prevented in people at high risk if they switch to a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil.”Unfortunately the truth is, olive oil is just as harmful to our health as any other oil.

Well, first let’s point out that the “Mediterranean” is not a specific place but rather a broad term covering a large geographic area that is inhabited by numerous different peoples who eat widely varying diets. As Jeff Novick, RD, pointed out, the earliest studies done on the “Mediterranean diet”  actually found that the people on the isle of Crete were the longest living out of the entire Mediterranean area. (Diets of three different regions of Italy were also studied and these regions were found to have twice the rate of cardiac disease.) However, Novick is also quick to point out that at the time the data for the study was collected, the people of Crete were living in poverty and were getting most of their calories from vegetables they grew in their own gardens and were still subsisting at near starvation levels. Since that time, nearly every Mediterranean nation’s- including Crete’s- consumption of meat and dairy has risen, and not surprisingly so has their rates of obesity, diabetes and cancer. Their rates of coronary heart disease have also sharply risen.

The more recent idea about the “healthfulness” of the Mediterranean way of eating is based off a few studies conducted towards the end of the 90s, which divided 605 subjects who had already survived their first heart attacks into two groups. One group was asked to consume a “Mediterranean diet” or lots of fruits and vegetables, olive oil, dairy and fish and only small amounts of red meat – this diet amounted to nearly 30 percent of daily calories from fat. The other group ate their standard diets. The results? The control group (those who ate the Standard American Diet- on average around 34-38% fat) was twice as likely to suffer a cardiac event as those following the Mediterranean guidelines.

As Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a renowned cardiovascular surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, points out, those eating the olive oil heavy diet did do significantly better than those eating the Standard American Diet, but at the end of four years, nearly 25 percent of the patients eating the “heart healthy” diet had died or experienced a new cardiovascular event. That means for ¼ of the people, the diet failed to work. This is a troublingly high statistic especially when compared to Dr. Esselstyn’s work on the benefits of a real low fat diet (approximately 10% of total consumed calories) during which not a single patient had a second major cardiac event after twenty years and many of them also actually began to reverse their cardiovascular disease! It should be emphasized that this low-fat, completely oil-free vegan diet is the only way to reverse heart disease- no other diet or medication has been shown to do this.

Still we cannot ignore the fact that some people who followed this style of eating had reduced rates of death from coronary heart disease as well as certain cancers. Although these health benefits are often attributed to olive oil alone (simply because American's assume the Mediterranean diet simply means pour olive oil on top of their normal foods), it is actually the overall dietary pattern that was health promoting – the Mediterranean diet focuses on unrefined plant foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, and grains and only small amounts of meat and fish. In a more recent study which reexamined the Mediterranean diet, the authors found that olive oil consumption had no significant reduction in overall rates of death after studying 22,000 adults over several years. The study concluded that adding olive oil to one’s diet will significantly increase the amount of calories being consumed without giving any nutrients or other health benefits.

Olive oil is not a heart healthy food – its high content of monounsaturated fats simply makes it less harmful than saturated or trans fats. However, it is still 14% saturated fat. Because even this relatively high amount is lower than what is found in animal products, which are much higher in saturated fats, olive oil can reduce LDL cholesterol if olive oil is consumed instead of higher animal fat foods. When olive oil is substituted for animal fats, including butter, cheese, and meats, benefits occur because you are simply consuming less dangerous fats. Olive oil in itself, though, is not health-promoting. 

Even this is not always the case. When scientists examined angiograms with one-year follow-up angiograms in persons with coronary artery disease, they found that the disease had progressed just as much in those eating monounsaturated fats from olive oil as those eating saturated fats from animals and processed foods.

The most recent study which the New York Times article mentioned above and caused a stir about, is misleading, to say the least. In a response by Dr. Esselstyn, he pointed out that all the dietary groups in the study had almost equal facility promoting the growth and clinical appearance of cardiovascular disease in those who at the study’s onset did not have this illness and noted that earlier this month the British Medical Journal updated the randomized Sydney Heart Study, which confirms that the addition of oils worsened the outlook for cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, as Dr. Dean Ornish, a well-regarded physician who worked with President Bill Clinton, pointed out the control group did not follow a low-fat diet as prescribed by the American Heart Association or the much lower fat diet prescribed by Ornish and Esselstyn. So while the new study claims the Mediterranean diet is healthier than a low-fat diet, the study actually found that the Mediterranean diet (again a diet that is based off fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans and includes some olive oil) is healthier than the Standard American Diet- and there is no real surprise there. The most troubling thing with this study is the fact that the emphasis of the study was placed on the consumption of olive oil rather than fruit and vegetables- the real reason some in the Mediterranean enjoy good health.

Finally, many vegan athletes argue that due to a high volume of training, oil is needed simply for calories. They claim that due to their intense training load, the density of calories found in oil is the only way they can consume enough to maintain their weight. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Not only are all the calories needed accessible from whole foods (just look at raw foodist and ultra runner Michael Arnstein), but the consumption of oil may actually be hindering athletic performance. Athletes depend on oxygen-rich blood easily flowing to their muscles, however in a study conducted at he University of Maryland School of Medicine, researchers found that eating bread dipped in olive oil reduced the dilation in the artery running down the forearm for as many as 6 hours after the oil was consumed. This suggests temporary injury to the endothelial cells, which are responsible for producing nitric oxide. Nitric Oxide helps dilate the arteries, allowing more blood to flow more easily. (The study was repeated multiple times and any high fat meal produced similar blood restrictions). As such, consuming oil before a workout will make the body have to work even harder to ensure the muscles get the blood they require. Consuming oils after a hard workout can delay the body’s ability to recover.

Similar to fish oil, olive oil also has a major impact on the environment. To meet current demand, according to a study conducted by the European Union, olives are grown on intense plantation-style farms. These farms cause soil erosion, run-off to water bodies, degradation of habitats and landscapes, and exploitation of scare water resources. Inappropriate weed-control and soil-management practices, combined with the inherently high risk of erosion in many olive farming areas, is leading to desertification on a wide scale in some of the main producing regions, as well as considerable run-off of soils and agro-chemicals into water bodies. And since it takes over 1,300 olives to produce one liter of olive oil, it is a highly inefficient system. When it is remembered that olive oil offers nothing other than trace amounts of minerals, it becomes apparent that it is a poor use of resources.

 

So before drenching your kale in olive oil, adding a tablespoon of coconut oil to your smoothie, or taking your nightly tablespoon of fish oil, keep in mind, as Dr. McDougall always says, “The fat you eat, is the fat you wear.” Rather than consuming these harmful fats, instead, focus on getting your daily needs of EFAs by taking 2 tablespoons daily of ground flax seed, chia seeds, or hemp seeds. Simply mixing them into your meals. They are practically tasteless and are packed full of nutrients which are not found in heavily-processed oils. To top it off these seeds have only a fraction of the calories found in oil! 

Stop back soon for a post on tips to help eliminate oils form your cooking. 
Happy March!

references:

D Jenkins J Sievernpiper and D Pauly, et al. “Are Dietary Recommendations for Fish Oils Sustainable?,” Canadian Medical Association Journal. March 2009.

DF Rawn. K. Breakell  V Verigin V, H Nicolidakis and M Feeley. Persistent organic pollutants in fish oil supplements on the Canadian market: polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine insecticides. J Food Sci. 2009 Jan-Feb;74(1):T14-9. 

The ORIGIN Trial Investigators n–3 Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Dysglycemia. New England Journal of Medicine July, 2012.

J. Belch and A Hill. “Evening Primrose Oil and Borage Oil in Rheumatologic Conditions,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition vol. 71 no. 1. 2000.

J. Furhman. “Is Olive Oil Healthy,” Joelfurhman.com

C. Esselstyn. Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure. New York: Penguin Group, 2008.

R. Vogel, “The Postprandial Effect of Components of the Mediterranean Diet on Endothelial Function,” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2000.

J. Novick. “Dispelling Myths about Oil,” Eat Right America, 2013.

G. Beaufoy. “The Environmental Impact of Olive Oil Production in the European Union: Practical Options for Improving the Envrionmental Impact,” 2002.

G. Kolata, “Mediterranean Diet Shown to Ward Off Heart Attack and Stroke,” New York Times February 25, 2013.

D. Ornish, “Does a Mediterranean Diet Really Beat Low-Fat for Heart Health?” HuffPost Healthy Living February 25, 2013.