The Doctor Is out There
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THE DOCTOR IS OUT THERE Joel Fuhrman, bestselling author and radical nutritionist (he once cured a heel injury by fasting for 46 days), says all you need to do to live an optimally healthy, disease-free life is eat pounds and pounds of vegetables every day. Can you live with that? by MARK ADAMS photograph by NATHAN PERKEL OCTOBER 2012 87 MEN’S JOURNAL he key scene in a health- Weeks” and bears a ringing endorsement from celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz and-fi tness guru’s biog- (“A medical breakthrough. There is no raphy is almost always question in my mind that it will work for you”), Eat to Live ought to be a typical diet the “Eureka!” moment book. A reader who cracks it open expect- ing WebMD-style advice about counting that launches him from calories and taking the stairs more often obscurity to self-help might be surprised to learn that the author preaches something closer to fruitarianism superstardom. Charles or Christian Science than to conventional Atlas was skinny and medical wisdom. In Fuhrman’s world, the number of calories one consumes is far poor until he discovered less important than the types of food he or the chest- expanding she ingests. Low-carb, high-protein diets are not only unhealthy, but they will also secrets of Dynamic-Tension. Dr. Robert Atkins almost certainly hasten one’s death from was fat and unhappy until he stumbled across an unpleasant disease. Olive oil should be avoided, and the Mediterranean diet is Tthe waist-melting wonders of low-carb eat- practically a sham. A slow metabolism is ing. Dr. Joel Fuhrman, whose radical ideas on preferable to a fast one. “Why would you want to speed up your metabolic rate?” he nutrition have made him one of the most infl u- asked me, throwing his hands up in disbe- ential diet doctors in America today, followed, lief. “You’re aging yourself!” Fuhrman’s number-one predictor of as he usually does, a di! erent path. Fuhrman whether someone will get cancer isn’t fam- was already famous as a world-class pairs fi gure ily history; it’s what that person puts in his mouth. “Your genes play a very small role,” skater, competing on the same amateur circuit as Dorothy Hamill and other future Olympic medalists, when, in 1973, at age 20, he suffered a life-changing heel injury. “I couldn’t take any impact on it, couldn’t jump and land on it,” Fuhrman says. “I couldn’t walk for almost a year.” We’re seated in his offices in a bland corporate park in exurban New Jersey, a suite that looks more like someplace to sign papers for a mortgage refinancing than the global headquarters of a health revolution. At 58, Fuhrman is still in excellent shape, a point that he illustrates by pausing midsentence to lift his shirt, flash his well-defined abs, and frog-jump up and down off his desk, an apple in each hand. His default facial expression is a smirk that implies he possesses an important secret, which he may. With a little more hair, he could pass for 15 years younger. When the U.S. Olympic Committee’s orthopedist urged Fuhrman to undergo an experimental surgical procedure for his Fuhrman, 20, heel, Fuhrman refused. He sought treat- himself of obesity, osteoarthritis, and his sister he says. “And nutrition has the ment instead from Herbert Shelton, a San and back pain — saw an oppor- Gale at the power to overwhelm genetics. Antonio naturopath who specialized in ir- tunity for a second act away from 1976 Nationals. The medical profession and the regular cures. Fuhrman, a fit 150 pounds, the ice rink. He earned a medi- Opposite: With masses have absolved them- Dr. Oz, whom was put on a regimen of only water for 46 cal degree from the University he knew in selves of all responsibility. They days. “They nearly killed me,” he says. “I of Pennsylvania, specializing medical school. think drugs are the answer to fasted down to 88 pounds.” His heel trouble in nutritional medicine, and, in everything.” vanished, but so did most of his muscle, and 1995, published the alt-medicine Fuhrman isn’t a crunchy he was unable to regain top form in time for manifesto Fasting and Eating for Health. The holistic thinker. He’s a data- analysis guy. the 1976 Olympics. book laid out the unorthodox, roughage- He speaks in a combative tone underscored COURTESY DR. JOEL FUHRMAN A less-farsighted man might have sued heavy rules for maximizing wellness that by a medium-thick New York accent and Shelton for malpractice. Fuhrman — who’d Fuhrman has since refined and expanded sketches little charts and diagrams to watched his father use natural methods to rid upon for an ever-widening audience. In June, illustrate important points. Fuhrman says the revised edition of his best-known work, he has reviewed 20,000 journal articles on Eat to Live, hit number one on the New York nutrition, culling the most important in- Mark Adams is the author of Turn Right Times bestseller list. formation from each. Out of this collected at Machu Picchu. He wrote about ping-pong Judging by its cheery, colorful cover, wisdom, tested on thousands of patients hustler Marty Reisman in the April 2012 issue. which promises “Lose 20 Lbs. or More in 6 over the years, he has devised a simple MEN’S JOURNAL 88 OCTOBER 2012 formula: H=N/C, or health equals nutri- “In the future, it’s going tion divided by calories. It is the foundation to become more and more of Fuhrman’s proprietary eating system, impossible for the econ- which he calls nutritarianism. One of the omy to support how ex- core tenets of nutritarianism is that every- pensive medical care is and one should eat at least one pound of raw the number of sick people vegetables and another pound of cooked we have,” Fuhrman says. ones each day, the equivalent of a throw- “Why don’t we just get our pillow-size bag of spinach and a very large population healthier so we bowl of steamed broccoli. Follow his advice, don’t need medical care?” Fuhrman promises, and you should stay Along with Fuhrman, healthy until at least the age of 95. the leaders of plant-based libertarianism include UTRITARIANISM is nutritionist T. Colin part of a growing school Campbell, co-author of of research-based dietary The China Study, and his thinking that insists that, comrade-in-arms Dr. in terms of wellness, you Caldwell Esselstyn, a car- really are what you eat. diovascular surgeon. Last Call it plant-based libertarianism. The U.S. year, Campbell and Esselstyn starred in the tified. The foods highest in micronutrients has the world’s highest healthcare costs — hit documentary Forks Over Knives — the title per calorie are unprocessed plant foods, $2.7 trillion in 2011 — while consistently reflects a preference for dietary intervention mostly fruits and vegetables, which make scoring lowest among developed nations over the surgical variety — and published a up 90 percent of an ideal nutritarian diet. for quality of care. Practitioners of plant- bestselling book of the same name. Perhaps In Fuhrman’s system, calorie-dense olive oil based libertarianism believe that every per- the biggest brand name in the field is Dr. (nine points) scores lower than white bread son needs to take full responsibility for his Dean Ornish, whose near-vegan diet helped (18 points) because its phytochemical load or her own health. This means adopting a Bill Clinton drop 24 pounds following a sec- is so low relative to its fat content. wellness-focused diet, mostly vegan. ond coronary surgery. Fuhrman is something “If you want ideal health, you need to Comprehensive improvements in diet of an outlier among this group in that he overcompensate and eat an excellent diet,” have long been shown to reverse, slow, or pre- argues that small amounts of fish, eggs, and Fuhrman says. He estimates that if all Amer- vent what are called “diseases of affluence,” low-fat dairy are permissible so long as a per- icans were to adopt a nutritarian diet, “the largely self-inflicted maladies like obesity, son cranks up the rest of his diet to meet the immediate impact is that cancer rates might coronary heart disease, stroke, and type 2 ultrahigh nutritional benchmarks set by the decrease by half. But the long-term impact, diabetes. More recent research suggests H=N/C standard. “The right raw materials over generations. .” He picks up a pencil that such dietary improvements also com- can . double or triple the protective power and draws a downward- sloping line. “If we bat Alzheimer’s and cancer. This movement of the immune system,” he writes in his latest get kids eating right, we could decrease can- shares some of the life- extension dogma of book, Super Immunity: The Essential Nutri- cer rates by 90 percent.” the calorie-restriction crowd and a little tion Guide for Boosting Your Body’s Defenses Like most evangelists, he maintains few of the anti-agribusiness, eat-local moralism to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free. barriers between his professional and per- of writers like Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s The nutrients that most interest Fuhrman sonal life. At least one patient recalls arriv- Dilemma) and films like Food, Inc. Its pri- aren’t found in supplements or multi vitamins. ing for an initial consultation and receiving mary concern, however, is wresting control He focuses instead on the immunity-boosting an invitation for her family to swim at the of America’s health back from the insurance power of micronutrients.