A few of the diet claims are true, but not many. Actually you
probably cannot ever eat as much as you want...unless it is celery and
lettuce, but Dean Ornish points out correctly that when you eat a very
low fat diet...10 grams of fat or less per day, you get to eat a lot
more food (by weight), since fat has concentrated calories at 9
calories per gram whereas carbs and protein are 4 calories per gram.
Ornish recommends a vegetarian diet but says very small quantities of
meat are ok as is skim milk and egg whites. Here is some info from his
book showing what adding fat does to the calorie count:
" baked potato 3.5 oz. 0.1 gm. fat, 92 calories.
french fries 3.5 oz. 17 gm. fat, 322 calories.
oil-free Italian dressing 1 tbsp. 0 gm.fat, 6 calories
regular Italian dressing 1 tbsp. 8.6 gm fat, 67 calories
onions 1 oz. 0.1 gm. fat, 10 calories
onion rings 1 oz. 7.5 gms. fat, 115 calories"
Apparently, the research shows that it is protein, not fat or carbs
that tends you give you more of a full feeling longer, so there is no
need to eat anything high-fat in any case, except of course it tastes
good.
In order to avoid high-fat foods, Ornish also recommends avoiding
nuts, avocados, and olives.
This still leaves a lot of food choices, pretty much all vegetarian
though.
The question comes up about Omega 3. A balanced vegetarian diet with
10 grams of fat or less gives you all the fat and Omega -3 you need,
but not as much as some doctors recommend, so you would have to decide
for yourself how important it is to get extra omega-3. I have decided
for myself not to take omega-3 supplements. I also have no heart
problems and heart problems do not run in my family also entered into
the decision.
This diet is almost the complete opposite of Atkins since there is
very low fat, adequate protein and very high complex carbs with the
Ornish Diet, while the Atkins Diet is low carb, high protein and often
high fat. Since these diets are supposed to be for a lifetime, it is
probably important to decide which you can live with (if either). If
you love meat, you probably won't be happy with Ornish. If you don't
care for meat but love carbs, Adkins wouldn't work for you. If the
goal is weight loss, apparently both diets work. If the goal is also
health, the jury is still out, but I think Ornish has a decided edge
there from what I've read. dkw