Optimizing Your Vegan Diet for Better Health

A presentation by William Harris, M.D.

Founding VSH board member and resident skeptic William Harris, M.D. mentions a few free downloads he has put online including the latest USDA Nutrient Database in Excel format, and then reiterates his opinion that a vegan diet and regular exercise are the prime determinants of health, all therapeutic options being secondary. He has a few choice words for the recent food scares that blame plant foods for E. coli and Salmonellosis when those microbes can${q}t be grown in plant media, and argues that it${q}s contamination from nearby animal agriculture that brings on these news bites. Never a big fan of the high carb, low fat mantra, Bill suggests that the fat phobia goes againsta primal fat requirement in order forlife to even exist, although he does point out that all foods with fat but no fiber are threats to health. He backs up the dictum "If Man Made it Don${q}t Eat it," explaining how the U.S. food industry, with government financial backing and deceptive advertising and labeling, has destroyed American health in its pursuit of profit.

A vegan for more than 40 years, William Harris, M.D., is a founding and current director of the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii. Prior to his retirement he was an emergency physician and the director of the Kaiser Permanente Vegetarian Lifestyle Clinic. He received his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco and is the author of The Scientific Basis of Vegetarianism. Retirement has allowed Dr. Harris to maintain and even increase his physical activity. He swims and does other aerobic exercise daily and continues to hone his trampoline skills. He${q}s been an active pilot for many years and a skydiver with more than 800 jumps.

Filming and editing by Dr William Harris M.D. on July 8, 2008 at Ala Wai Golf Course Clubhouse, Honolulu, Hawaii
Sponsored by: Vegetarian Society of Hawaii http://www.vsh.org

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Vegan
• Nutrition
• Vegetatian
• diet

[ConcreteRiver]

I agree with Dr.Harris on most points, not on his demonising of grains however. I am an ardent consumer of tahini. I eat about 1L per week. Love it.

[vshvideo]

@ConcreteRiver Tahini is made from ground sesame seed. Sesame seed is not usually considered a grain. Sesame seeds come from a flowering plant. Grains are the fruits (grains) of a grass (wheat, rye, oats, millet, rice, etc). Don't forget to eat a varied diet. Eating mostly one food can be lead to nutritional problems since individual foods invariably have too much or too little of some nutrient.

[vshvideo]

Kauai Potlucks/Lectures are held on the first Sunday of each month at 12:30 p.m. at the Kapaa Neighborhood Center.

[DarkoPunisher991]

Useful video! by the way my aunt used this amazing diet routine known as: Impact 790 Diet and already lost 15 pounds within just a month. I don't remember the actual website just Google it.

[ConcreteRiver]

@vshvideo LOL Thanks for distinguishing the 2 but I'm well aware of what tahini made from as well as what a grain is. I was merely implying that I do consume plant fats in the form of sesame seed paste. I'm grateful for the videos that your org puts out it is good to see debate between vegan health professionals. Dr Klaper and Dr McDougall laud the benefits of grains however Dr.Harris and Dr Graham believe they are toxic. I tend to support the findings of the former 2.

[ConcreteRiver]

@networkedfreedom to a satfat troll, any hard scientific research disproving your ideas of course you will label as fraudulent. I bet you yourself personally debunked the China Study as well right?

[TheaDragonSpirit]

I tend to eat a lot of seeds. I see it like this, it's easy to get seeds, hard to get nuts so our body will work best with seeds. That's my common sense approach. Don't hold me too it, but that just makes sense to me.

[veggiieee]

Are there meetings on Kauai?

[Nyarxieful]

Omg that was loooooooong

[networkedfreedom]

Surprising he didn't point out Keys' fraudulent science in the lipid hypothesis.