holistic health Archives - Amazing Health Advances

A Plant-Based Workplace Wellness Program Put to the Test

AHA Publisher — Fri, 02 Sep 2022 07:00:10 +0000

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM via Nutrition Facts – What is the return on investment for educating employees about healthy eating and living? “How do you wipe out the nation’s heart disease epidemic?” Those were the opening words to an editorial by Dr. Michael Jacobson, co-founder of Center for Science in the Public Interest, in the October 2005 issue of the charity’s Nutrition Action publication. Wrote Jacobson, “The best approach I’ve seen is the Coronary Health Improvement Project (CHIP),” which was renamed the Complete Health Improvement Program and then most recently, Pivio. CHIP tells people to eat more whole plant foods and less meat, dairy, eggs, and processed junk. It is considered to be “a premier lifestyle intervention targeting chronic disease that has been offered for more than 25 years.” More than 60,000 individuals have completed the program, which I discuss in my video A Workplace Wellness Program That Works. More than 60,000 individuals have completed the program Most CHIP classes are “facilitated by volunteer directors, sourced primarily through the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, who had an interest in positively influencing the health of their local community.” Why the Adventists? Their “health philosophy is built around the holistic biblical notion” that the human body should be treated as a temple. What’s more, many CHIP participants are Adventists, too. Is that why the program works so well? Because they have faith? You don’t know until you put it to the test. Researchers looked at the influence of religious affiliation on responsiveness to CHIP, studying 7,000 participants. Even though Seventh-Day Adventists (SDAs) make up less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, about one in five CHIP-goers were Adventists. How did they do, compared with the non-Adventists (non-SDAs)? “Substantial reductions in selected risk factors were achieved…for both SDA and non-SDA,” but some of the reductions were greater among the non-Adventists. “This indicates that SDA do not have a monopoly on good health…” Middle-class, educated individuals also disproportionally make up CHIP classes. Would the program work as well in poverty-stricken populations? Researchers tried to reduce chronic disease risk factors among individuals living in rural Appalachia, one of the poorest parts of the country. “Conventional wisdom has been that each participant needs financial ‘skin in the game’ to ensure their attentiveness and commitment” to lifestyle change programs. So, if offered for free to impoverished communities, the results might not be as good. In this case, however, the “overall clinical changes in this pilot study [were] similar to those found in other 4-week CHIP classes throughout the United States,” suggesting CHIP may have benefits that “cross socioeconomic lines” and are “independent of payment source.” So, why don’t employers offer it free to employees to save on health care costs? CHIP is “described…as ‘achieving some of the most impressive clinical outcomes published in the literature,’” including “clinical benefits of the intervention, as well as its cost-effectiveness…” Lee Memorial, a health care network in Florida, offered CHIP to some of its employees as a pilot program. (Sadly, health care workers can be as unhealthy as everyone else.) As you can see below and at 3:05 in my video, they reported an average 17-pound weight loss, a 20-point drop in bad LDL cholesterol, and blood pressure normalization in most participants. Lee Memorial initially invested about $38,000 to make the program happen, but then saved $70,000 in reduced health care costs in just that next year. How? Because the employees became so much healthier. They got a financial return on investment of 1.8 times what they put in. There hadn’t been a return on investment (ROI) study in the peer-reviewed medical literature until Dexter Shurney stepped up to the plate and published a workplace study out of Vanderbilt. “There was a high degree of skepticism at the planning stage of this study that active engagement could be realized in a sizable portion of the study group around a lifestyle program that had as its main tenets exercise and a plant-based diet.” Vanderbilt is, after all, in Tennessee, smack dab in the middle of the Stroke Belt, known for its Memphis ribs. (You can see a graphic of “Stroke Death Rates…by County” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention below and at 3:55 in my video.) Nevertheless, the subjects got on board enough to improve their blood sugar control and cholesterol. They also reported “positive changes in self-reported physical health and well-being.” Health care costs were substantially reduced for study participants compared to the non-participant group. For example, nearly a quarter of the participants were able to eliminate one or more of their medications, so they got about a two-to-one return on investment within just six months, providing evidence that just “educating a member population about the benefits of a plant-based, whole-foods diet is feasible and can reduce associated health care costs.” The largest workplace CHIP study done to date involved six employee populations, including, ironically, a drug company. The study included a mix of white-collar and blue-collar workers. As you can see below and at 4:40 in my video, there were dramatic changes experienced by the worst off. Those starting with blood pressures up around 170 over 100 saw their numbers fall to around 140 over 85. Those with the highest LDL cholesterol dropped 60 points and had a 300-point drop in triglycerides, as well as a 46-point drop in fasting blood sugars. Theoretically, someone coming into the program with both high blood pressure and high cholesterol might “experience a 64% to 96% reduction in overall risk of myocardial infarction,” a heart attack, our number one killer. As Dr. Jacobson concluded in his editorial in Nutrition Action, “For the cost of a Humvee, any town could have a CHIP of its own. For the cost of a submarine or a farm subsidy, the entire country could get a CHIP on its shoulder.” Key Takeaways More than 60,000 people have completed the Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP), formerly known as the Coronary Health Improvement Project, an approach lauded by Dr. Michael Jacobson, co-founder of Center for Science in the Public Interest, for its effectiveness in battling the heart disease epidemic. A lifestyle intervention program, CHIP encourages its participants to eat more whole plant foods and less animal products and processed junk. Most classes are led by trained volunteer facilitators, many of whom are Seventh-Day Adventists, whose “health philosophy is built around the holistic biblical notion” that our body should be treated as a temple. About one in five CHIP participants is Adventist, but when researchers investigated the influence of religious affiliation on responsiveness to the program, they found that both Adventists and non-Adventists achieved reduced risk factors and some were even greater among the non-Adventists. When CHIP was offered for free to impoverished communities, the overall results were similar to those from other four-week programs in the United States, which suggests that CHIP’s benefits may “cross socioeconomic lines.” Health care network Lee Memorial and Vanderbilt University offered CHIP to some of their employees, and participants experienced improvements in their health, such as better cholesterol. Lee Memorial invested about $38,000 to offer CHIP and got a financial return on investment (ROI) of 1.8, saving $70,000 in reduced health care costs the following year. At Vanderbilt, health care costs were substantially lowered for CHIP participants compared to non-participants. Nearly 25 percent were able to eliminate one or more medications, for example, getting about a two-to-one ROI in just six months. The largest workplace study on CHIP involved six employee populations, including white- and blue-collar workers. Those starting in the worst physical condition experienced dramatic changes, with significant improvements in their blood pressures, LDL cholesterol levels, triglycerides, and fasting blood sugars. Theoretically, someone coming into the program with both high blood pressure and high cholesterol might “experience a 64% to 96% reduction in overall risk of myocardial infarction,” a heart attack, our number one killer. To read the original article click here.

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Negotiating for Life: Mexico’s Oasis of Hope Hospital Touching Patients’ Body, Mind & Soul

AHA Publisher — Fri, 26 Nov 2021 08:00:30 +0000

George Thomas via CBN News – August 2017. Michelle Tucker remembers the words from that day while she was in the doctor’s office as her oncologist delivered the news. “I was told I had about four weeks to live, to go home and get my affairs in order,” Tucker told CBN News. The 46-year-old mother of three from Arizona had battled cancer since she was 19. It started in her breast, first spreading to her thyroid and then pancreas. “I figured I would take my children maybe to the beach for the first week of those four weeks,” Tucker recalled. “We love hearing the waves crash, so I figured let me take them to the beach and we’ll just kind of like ride it out.” Yet, there was something stirring in her that said she simply could not give up without a fight. “I had the attitude of like ‘Who are you to tell me my expiration date? There’s only one person that can do that and that’s not a doctor, no offense to medicine, that’s the man upstairs,'” Tucker recalled. In desperation, she researched alternative cancer treatments and ended up at the Oasis of Hope Hospital. “You get diagnosed with cancer, you’re not going to travel to Tijuana, Mexico. But when they have reached a point where the doctor is saying ‘We really can’t do anything else for you.’ This is the typical person that comes to Oasis of Hope,” said Oasis of Hope CEO Daniel Kennedy. Twenty-five miles south of San Diego and just across the U.S. – Mexican border, Tucker believes God is using Oasis of Hope to give her a chance to continue living. “From the moment you walk in the door, you feel this overwhelming spiritual presence,” she told CBN News during a visit to the facility in Tijuana. “There’s the pastor that sings with you. They pray with you. They become a family with people with strangers, complete strangers, from all over the world, all walks of life.” Tucker has been in remission now for two years. “Four years later, I’m still alive,” she exclaimed. Hospital Founded in 1963 Oasis of Hope was started in 1963 by the late Mexican doctor Ernesto Contreras, Sr., who believed in taking a holistic approach to fighting cancer. His son, Dr. Francisco Contreras, a surgeon and oncologist specialist, now serves as the hospital’s president. “My father felt that the reason for the failure in oncology, and medicine overall, is that we have become just mechanics of the human body,” said Contreras. The idea for Oasis of Hope originated back in the early 1960s when Contreras’ father, who was also a physician, decided to go on a mission trip to Greece and on that trip discovered three important elements that are today at the core of the hospital. Contreras says while traditional oncology focuses on destroying the tumor, his father wanted the hospital to focus on the patient’s emotional renewal, spiritual revival as well as physical restoration. The founder’s grandson, Daniel Kennedy, is proud of his grandfather’s lasting legacy. “There is no other clinic in Tijuana that actually has a pastor on the payroll, praying for patients every day, opening with praise and worship,” Kennedy told CBN News. Miracles Bringing Back Life, Hope, Faith, and a Future Ernesto Lopez is that pastor. He used to lead a local church in Tijuana. Now he walks the corridors of the hospital ministering to the spiritual and emotional needs of patients. CBN News asked Lopez if he’s encountered miracles at the hospital. “Yes, a lot of miracles,” Lopez responded. “Miracles of healing, miracles of salvation, miracles of bringing life back, bringing hope again, bringing faith again and have a hope and a future.” Using a combination of conventional treatments with alternative therapies such as whole-body hyperthermia, Ozone therapy, and dendritic cell vaccine immunotherapy, Oasis of Hope says it has treated more than 100,000 cancer patients from 60 countries. “The majority come from the United States because we’re just across the border from San Diego, but we’ve had patients from South Africa, from Vietnam, from China, from all over the world,” Kennedy said. Cancer-fighting Food Program Rosa Tessada is the hospital’s nutritionist. Working with kitchen staff, Tessada has designed a cancer-fighting plant-based food program to help patients live a healthier life. Ninety percent of meals served at the hospital are vegan-based. “We don’t want to make anybody feel like you have to leave your old life. Let’s just add more greens, more vegetables, and kind of enjoy food and go along with it,” Tessada told CBN News during a cooking demonstration. The hospital grows vegetables on its rooftop garden and teaches patients how to prepare healthy meals. “What the patients tell us is, ‘I’ve never done this. I’ve not used to eating these foods,'” Tessada said. “So what we do is help them to see, hey, you can make very healthy dishes, very fast, and very easy.'” It took a while, but Caleb Dominguez is now sold on eating healthier thanks to Oasis of Hope. Doctors in the U.S. told the 35-year-old they could do nothing for him after being diagnosed with an advanced stage of leukemia. Then he came to Tijuana. “I was going through their treatment plan and within weeks everything that my doctors were trying to fight had shrunk by half. The cancer numbers were going down. My strength was rising. My blood counts were coming back up. I just felt life being restored back to me,” Dominguez told CBN News. That was in 2007. Today, because of his experience at the hospital, Dominguez said his whole approach to life has completely changed. His eating habits, his attitude, and his walk with God have gone through a radical transformation. “Having known what I’ve been through. To be alive and well and healthy, taking all the lessons and experience here, I carry it with me everywhere I go,” Dominguez said. All Patients Need to be Treated with Compassion and the Love of Christ There remain several opinions on this alternative approach and others. For example, the American Cancer Society states some complementary methods have generally not been proven to help prevent or treat cancer or its symptoms. It recommends discussing any treatment patients might consider with their doctor or cancer team. While the doctors at Oasis of Hope are proud to share success stories like Dominguez, Tucker’s, and others, they point out not all patients who come here will make it. Still, Contreras believes all deserve to be treated with compassion and the love of Christ. “I believe that hope is a very powerful tool and that all patients should have hope because as a very old doctor said many, many years ago to a parent of a child, ‘While there’s life, there’s hope,'” he said. Contreras explained what he, along with his team of doctors, nurses, nutritionists, pastors, and counselors is negotiating for, is more time for patients. “I cannot guarantee anything,” he said. “The only thing I can guarantee is that I’m going to sit with you and I’m going to do everything possible. And I’m going to negotiate with you for life and God will decide yes, no, or maybe.” To read the original article click here.

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