Doctor, what Should I Eat?: Nutrition Prescriptions for Ailments in Which Diet Can Really Make a Difference

430 Pages·2000·4.04 MB·English

by  Isadore Rosenfeld

Copyright © 1995 by Isadore Rosenfeld, M.D.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in
the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random
House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Little, Brown and Company and Curtis Brown, Ltd., for
permission to reprint “Requiem” from Verses From 1929 On by Ogden Nash. Copyright © 1938 by
Ogden Nash. Copyright renewed. Rights throughout the world excluding the United States and
Canada are controlled by Curtis Brown, Ltd. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and
Company and Curtis Brown, Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rosenfeld, Isadore.
Doctor, what should I eat? / Isadore Rosenfeld.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-30780726-7
1. Diet therapy. 2. Nutrition. I. Title.
RM216.R833 1995
615.8’54–dc20 94-8942
v3.1
PREFACE:
WHY THIS IS NOT THE USUAL “DIET BOOK”
When is the last time your doctor said to you, “Here, let me give you a
list of the foods that will help you feel better,” or “C’mon, let’s go to the
supermarket. I’ll show you which foods to buy and how to read their
labels”? When did he or she last look in your grocery cart to see how
you’re feeding your family? Probably never, unless, of course, you’re
married to your doctor or are catering his or her next party. But does
your doctor give you prescriptions to bring to your pharmacist
specifying what drugs you need and how to take them? You bet! That’s
what doctors do best. They give you medication—and they should—
because many drugs are lifesaving. But that’s not enough. Proper
medical care should also include advice about the right foods to eat to
help you prevent illness as well as to help cure it. There should be no
contest or confrontation between diet and medication; it is not a matter
of either/or. Too many nutrition enthusiasts and holistic practitioners
decry the use of pharmacologic agents, while “traditional” doctors don’t
pay enough attention to the importance of your diet. Yet almost every
major medical condition you can think of is either caused or affected in
some way by what you eat. Ulcers, kidney or liver malfunction, anemia,
asthma, heart disease, hemorrhoids, diverticulitis, diabetes—you name it
—for these and other conditions the right diet can help, and the wrong
one can hurt.
Everybody pays lip service to the importance of food in the prevention
and management of disease. But in the real world, when you’re sick,
you’re on your own as far as nutrition is concerned. Chances are you
don’t ask the question “Doctor, what should I eat?” often enough, and
when you do, it’s rarely answered.
Why don’t more doctors pay enough attention to nutrition? Because
they’re not comfortable with it. They almost certainly never studied it in
medical school. Your own physician probably never took a single course
in nutrition! Even today, nutrition is a required course in only 25 percent
of medical schools. It is still an elective in the rest, and that’s not enough
to really get into the subject or to impress future doctors with its
importance. So over the years, the medical establishment has left the
matter of diet to health food enthusiasts, many of whom they view as
“nuts.”
Even doctors who are trained to give you nutritional guidance don’t
provide it nearly often enough because the “system” punishes them for
doing so. Insurance companies, for some reason, are more interested in
what a doctor does than what he or she says! Removing a cinder from
your eye or lancing a boil, both of which take only a few moments, are
generously reimbursed. But you won’t even find a place on your
insurance claim form to record the time spent by your doctor explaining
the importance of lifestyle, exercise, weight loss, alcohol and substance
abuse, birth control—and nutrition. These are only some of the reasons
why you are likely to receive either a vague answer or no answer at all
when you ask, “Doctor, what should I eat?”
Most patients don’t hound their doctors for nutritional guidance,
either. Most of us would just as soon not restrict our diet in any way. It’s
a relief to leave your doctor’s office without having been told to forgo a
favorite food. Who wouldn’t rather take a pill and eat whatever he or
she likes than follow any diet, whether it’s to lose weight or to lower
cholesterol? Unfortunately, no such pill exists, and, in any event, in
every medicine there’s a little poison. And, let’s face it. Nutrition can be
boring! It conjures up words and phrases like milligrams, deciliters,
percentage of total calories, as well as charts, exchange tables, food scales
—all of which are Greek to most people. Who wants to sit down to
dinner with a calculator?
When people can’t get simple, direct nutritional information from
their doctor, they turn elsewhere. Unfortunately, it’s not always to
trained dieticians or nutritionists (who tend to turn people off with the
mechanics of nutrition), but rather to self-styled “authorities” whose
credentials are wanting or nonexistent. Dispensing bad nutritional advice
can be as harmful as prescribing the wrong drug, but unlike medication,
which cannot be sold until the Food and Drug Administration checks it
out for safety and efficacy, food is not regulated.
I am an “establishment” physician, and I use every effective
medication at my disposal to treat the sick. That was the subject of my
last book, The Best Treatment. In this volume, I focus on nutrition—to
help you work with your doctor, with a nutritionist if necessary, and
maybe even with your grocer, to make sure that what you eat is good for
you.
This book spells out specifically what you should and should not eat
for more than seventy common disorders in which nutrition can really
make a difference. In each one, I have explained the nature of the
disease, how it develops, as well as how and why the food you consume
can affect its outcome. (I have also indicated which medications are
called for, because combining the right diet and drugs produces the best
results.) The diseases and symptoms I have selected are those I have
come across most often in my own practice. I have omitted some that are
either very uncommon, or in which the role of diet has not been clearly
and scientifically established. If your doctor won’t go food shopping with
you, take this book along instead. It’s the next best thing!
I want to be very clear on one point: This book is not a substitute for a
doctor’s care. No book is. Your doctor knows you best, and you should
consult him or her about any medical condition—before you put the
advice in this or any other health book to work. This is especially
important because, as I just mentioned, for many of the conditions I
describe here, eating the right foods is most effective when combined
with taking the right medications—which only your doctor can
prescribe. For every one of my books for the general public, my goal has
been to help patients communicate better with their doctors. I hope
you’ll use this book together to make you healthier and happier.
Ms. Sandra Pressman, a registered dietician with a master’s degree in
nutrition, is an experienced, practicing dietician with whom I have
worked closely for some time. (To find an R.D. near you, contact the
American Dietetic Association for a recommendation.) Sandy has
verified, amplified, and translated my medical advice into practical
dietary terms. I hope you find the book useful and enjoyable. The
guidelines are no more complicated than selecting “one from column A,
two from column B” in your favorite Chinese restaurant. Sandy and I are
not ascetics; we love good food and have kept in mind on every single
page how much pleasure a great meal can bring. So, good health, hearty
appetite, and enjoy.
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Preface: Why This Is Not the Usual “Diet Book”
Acne: When Doctors and Patients Disagree
Actinic Keratoses: No Fun in the Sun
Aging: No One Lives Forever—But It’s Worth a Try
Alcohol: Pleasure, Poison, and Empty Calories
Alzheimer’s Disease: What’s Cooking Where
When You’re Anemic: Is Your Blood Really “Tired”?
Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and Food: Angst-Free Foods
Arthritis (Osteo-and Rheumatoid): Nightshades and All
Asthma: Eat Right and Wheeze Less
When You’re a “Power” Athlete: Eating to Survive and Maybe Even
to Win
Cancer: A Tale of Fat, Fiber, Vitamins, and Heredity
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Vitamins for a Painful Wrist
Cataracts: Why It’s Cloudy All Day
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: It’s Not All in Your Head!
The Common Cold: What, If Not Vitamin C?
Congestive Heart Failure: When the Spirit Is Willing, but the Pump Is
Weak
Constipation: A Diet for Hard Times
Cystic Fibrosis: When the “Worst” Foods Are the Best!
Diabetes: How Sweet You Are, and Maybe Even Fat!
Diarrhea: Too Dry for Tears
Diet and Infertility: When What You Eat Is Inconceivable
Diet and Sex: Why “Spanish Fly” Has Nothing to Do with Aviation
Diverticulosis and Diverticulitis: You’re Just too Refined
Feeding Your Infant: Eat More and Weigh Less
Flatulence: When It’s Time to Ration Gas
Fluid Retention: When You’re Either Very Sick—or Simply
Menstruating
Food Allergy: Finding the Culprit
Gallstones: Too Much Fat, Too Little Fiber—and Too Much Fasting
Gout: The Price of the Good Life
Halitosis: The Bad Breath Your Doctor Should Tell You About, If Your
Friends Don’t!
Your Heart: What to Eat to Keep It Healthy
Hemorrhoids: Piles of Fiber
Hepatitis: Better Never than Late
Hiatal Hernia: Don’t Rush to Surgery
High Blood Pressure: Who? Me? But I’m So Relaxed!
Hyperactivity: The Sugar Myth
Hypoglycemia: No Sugar Even When You Need It!
Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Drugs, Diet, and Sometimes Surgery
The Irregular Heartbeat: When Holidays Are Bad for the Heart!
The Irritable (or Spastic) Bowel: Play “Rough” with Your Gut
Jet Lag: Fly First Class, Eat Economy!
When Your Kidneys Fail: You’ve Got Too Much of a Bad Thing!
When You Have Kidney Stones: Water, Water—Every Day!
Lactose Intolerance: Who’s Normal Anyway?
Leg Cramps: “Dancing” in the Dark
Malabsorption: Just Passing Through!
Ménière’s Disease: Too Dizzy to Eat?
Menopause: Free at Last!
Migraine and Other Headaches: No Dear, Not Tonight
Motion Sickness, Nausea, and Diet: Is It All in the Head, the Ear, or
the Gut?
Multiple Sclerosis (MS): A Fatty Diet that May Actually Be Good for
You!
Osteoporosis: When You Get All the Breaks in Life
When You’re Overweight: No More Intimate Dinners for Two—
Especially When You’re Dining Alone!
Painful, Lumpy Breasts: To Worry? To Diet?
Pancreatitis: Alcohol, Gallstones, and Bellyaches
Parkinson’s Disease: When “Good” Food and “Healthy” Multivitamins
Can Harm You!
Peptic Ulcers: You Mean I’m Infected, Not Nervous?
Porphyria: A Sweet Solution
When You’re Pregnant: Two Must Eat Better than One
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS): All I Want for Christmas Is—
Chocolate!
Psoriasis: When It Snows on Your Blue Serge Suit!
Raynaud’s: A Disease and a Phenomenon! The Woman Who Came In