Engine 2 Criticism and Responses

I'd like to begin by clearing up a misconception about this blog. The self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitude is a shtick. I'm toying with the stereotype that vegans and vegetarians are smug and condescending about their diets by getting in your face with over-the-top smugness and unprecedented condescension. It's just a joke, people. I just happen to be someone who has chosen a food path that will make me a better person. I don't judge those who stubbornly continue to make the world a worse place to live through their poor dietary choices. In fact, if you want heart disease, obesity, cancer, a low energy level, and the early onset of senile dimensia in return for being able to pitchfork rancid foods spiked with HGH and synthetic steroids into your stomach, I think that ought to be your own personal judgment-free choice.

But now I'd like to talk about the nutritional bases for Engine 2. The foundation for the Engine 2 diet was developed by a world-famous cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr., the father of Olympic swimmer, triathlete, firefighter, and Engine 2 Diet author, Rip Esselstyn. Rip implemented the plant-based regimen conceived by his father at an Austin, Texas firehouse -- the eponymous Engine 2 firehouse -- after noticing that his fellow firefighters ate horribly, were generally overweight, and suffered from a number of health ailments traceable to a diet high in saturated fats and cholesterol.

While it seems obvious to us today, Dr. Esselstyn was one of the first physicians to make the connection between diet and health. He saw his patients' chronic illnesses halt and cholesterol levels dive after putting them on a plant-strong diet free of animal fats and calorie-rich, nutrient-bankrupt processed foodstuffs. When his son Rip persuaded the burly, chest-hair-having firefighters at Engine 2 to adopt plant-based diets, he replicated his father's results. (One firefighter, JR, saw his cholesterol fall from a heart-attack-begging 344 to a doctor-desired 196 after a few months of eating meals with Rip.)

But after maintaining this blog for only a few days, I've experienced the same conventional-wisdom nutritional pushbacks as the Esselstyns. Brief responses are in order.

Criticism #1. You can't get enough protein without eating meat.

While it's true that some vegans and vegetarians can be short on protein and therefore unhealthy, if you eat beans, green, leafy vegetables, soy products, and other whole-wheat grains (think bagels), you get more than enough protein. Spinach is 51% protein; mushrooms, 35%; beans, 26%; oatmeal, 16%; whole-wheat pasta, 15%; corn, 12%; and potatoes, 11%. Source: The Engine 2 Diet, p. 32. And don't be misled: plant proteins are complete proteins. The myth that you need to consume meat to receive your full daily allotment of protein can be traced to meat- and dairy-industry-funded studies on rats in the early 1900s. The fact is that plants provide the body with all the requisite amino acids. The only vital nutrition that cannot be derived from plants is Vitamin B12, which you can get from fortified soy milk or cereal.

Criticism #2. I'm thin, why would I need to change my eating habits?

Don't be confused by appearances: you can be thin and have all the appearances of being healthy, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're healthy. Thirty-five percent of heart attacks happen to people with "desirable" cholesterol levels (between 150-199), while Engine 2 often lowers cholesterol to below 150, which actually repairs arteries and makes you virtually heart-attack proof. In one famous nutritional study known as The Framingham Study, which to date has tracked 5,209 residents of Framingham, Massachusetts over a period of sixty years, not a single person with a cholesterol level under 150 (attained without cholesterol-reducing drugs) has had a heart attack. Lesson: no matter your looks or body-fat percentage, if your cholesterol level isn't under 150, you aren't as healthy as you could be. Of course, this doesn't consider the reduction in stroke, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's Disease, and dimensia risk that has been found with a meat-free, plant-strong diet.

And I haven't even mentioned the short-term health benefits. Since beginning the diet 2 days ago, I have experienced two positive health consequences: (i) a reduction in intensity/frequency of headaches (which I've typically gotten from the demanding reading grind of law school -- or so I thought); and (ii) a more consistent level of energy throughout the day.

Criticism #3. I would do it, but it's too much money.

Most people save a ton of money eating on Engine 2, largely due to not going out to eat. One Engine 2 disciple who originally worried about the cost of the diet ended up saving $120 a month. I'll perform a comparative cost analysis of my own expenditures on March 1.

Criticism #4. I'm on board with no red meat and agree that a healthy diet should be plant-strong, but why eliminate fish, eggs, and oils?

As Esselstyn notes, "Fish . . . which everyone is fond of for its healthy omega-3 fatty acids, can contain more cholesterol than either red meat or chicken." A typical egg yolk contains 212 milligrams of cholesterol and 5 grams of fat. The egg white? Pure animal protein, which is bad for your kidneys and bones.

Why no oil, though? Engine 2 is based on a whole-food, nutrient-rich diet. Oil is refined and processed from the corruption of whole foods. Let's take olive oil, for example. The process begins with an olive. Then all the nutritious parts of the olive are discarded and the nutrient-sparse oil is extracted. In fact, olive oil has around 4,100 calories per 16 ounces (120 calories per tablespoon). It's low in nutrients and high in saturated fats. Plus it disguises the true, natural flavor of food, which is actually quite great once you wean your mental palate from the notion that food must be sauced and slathered to "bring out the taste."

Tomorrow we'll begin a very mature discussion of increased male virility as a result of Engine 2.