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Researchers at Harvard Medical School's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the United States have found that the Atkins diet and other high-meat, low-carb diets can lead to atherosclerosis , which increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Atkins appears to provide superficial, short term benefits of weight loss without an increase in cholesterol. A visit to the doctor may lead you to believe your health is improving. But Harvard researchers have shown that the longer-term effect seriously degrades cardiovascular health. After reporting their good science, the researchers then gave bad advice (which is usually the case for reasons we will detail in our upcoming book). They told the BBC: "For long-term health at least one-third of what we eat should be bread, rice, potatoes, pasta or other starchy food." This is terrible advice, as they do not specify the healthy versions of these foods. White bread, rice, potatoes and pasta aren't going to benefit health. T...

The World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRFI) issued a report this week saying that eating smoked, salted or cured meats places you at risk of bowel cancer . They're talking about ham, bacon, pastrami, salami, hot dogs, some sausages -- that sort of thing. They also warned parents that sending your child to school with a baloney sandwich or other processed meat product could contribute to bowel cancer later in life. (They didn't mention that the white bread and mayonnaise likely to envelop the baloney isn't doing them any favors, either.) WCRFI says a diet high in processed and red meat is the top risk factor for developing bowel cancer. The Spartan Diet calls for the total elimination of all domesticated animal meats, processed foods, and engineered foods from your diet. All smoked, salted or cured meats fall into one or more of these categories, and foods like baloney fall into all three.

Forget about that stale, sugary old industrial cereal that comes in a box. For a healthy start to your day, a delicious bowl of Spartan Muesli gives you incredible flavor and all the nutrients you need for total energy. It's easy to prepare, and you can make plenty in advance. We recommend you have it with Spartan Cashew Milk . INGREDIENTS 3 ½ cups rolled old fashioned whole-grain oats ½ cup raisins 1 cup sugar-free, sulfur-free dried fruit bits (date, fig, apricot, prune, apple, pear, cranberry, peach, cherry, pineapple, coconut, etc.) ¾ cup ground yellow or brown flax seeds ½ cup raw chopped walnuts ¾ cup raw whole almonds 2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon Spartan Cashew Milk Fresh fruit (sliced banana, peaches, apples or blueberries) INSTRUCTIONS 1. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients well with a large fork. 2. To serve, in a bowl, combine ½ cup to ¾ cup of muesli mix with ¾ cup to 1 cup of cashew milk and top with 1 cup sliced fresh fruit ...

Organic white tea is on the Spartan Diet Superfoods list. If you drink caffeinated beverages, we recommend that you choose organic white tea because it boosts your immune system, slows the aging process, facilitates weight loss, protects you from disease and even strengthens your teeth. More on all that below. First, what is white tea exactly? White tea comes from the same plant (Camellia sinensis) as green tea, the kind served in Chinese and Japanese restaurants, as well as black tea, which is the tea used for iced tea, English Breakfast tea and other ordinary teas served in Western homes and restaurants. The differences between white, green and black tea are in the particulars of harvesting and processing . Black tea is the most processed. After harvesting, mature tea leaves are first "wilted," which means they're dried for a few hours. The leaves are then "bruised" to break down the plant's chlorophyll and release tannins in a process called enzymatic oxi...

University of Connecticut School of Medicine researchers found in an experiment that the heart-protective effects of garlic are strongest in fresh garlic , and weaker but still present in garlic paste, pre-peeled cloves, garlic powder and garlic pills. Specifically, fresh garlic was found to be superior in protecting the heart from damage, and also facilitating the recovery from damage. Scientists must isolate causes and effects, such as the effect of different types of garlic on one function of one organ. But it's reasonable to assume that fresh garlic is also healthier for other organ systems and for health overall than non-fresh garlic. It's also reasonable to assume that fresh produce in general is superior to non-fresh. The Spartan Diet calls for lots of fresh garlic, and never any other kind.

A report commissioned by the British government's Food Standards Agency (FSA) and based on a review of 162 scientific papers by researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine concluded that organic food has no nutritional benefits over conventionally produced food. The conclusion does not follow from the findings. Although the most recent and relevant scientific papers were systematically excluded from the study, the papers they did include showed massive nutritional benefits in organic foods. One of the report's authors wrote: " A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs, but these are unlikely to be of any public health relevance ." Here are some of the "irrelevant" nutritional differences they found in organic foods: * Protein: 12.7% higher * Beta-carotene: 53.6% higher * Flavonoids: 38.4% higher * Phenolic compounds: 13.2% higher * Copper: 8.3% h...

A new report claims that seven out of 10 American children are too low in vitamin D levels . Vitamin D deficiency causes the body to reabsorb calcium from the skeleton, weakening bones. It also increases risk of heart disease, rickets and probably other bad health issues researchers haven't yet discovered. The conventional advice to remedy this health problem, of course, is: go buy a product. In this case, it's either milk with added (often synthetic) vitamin D, or vitamin D pills. Vitamin D is not a vitamin. It's a hormone. Your body produces it when your skin is exposed to sunshine. Milk isn't all that good for you. Neither are fake hormones in a pill. The best advice is to turn kids loose outside. They will get exercise, sunshine, fresh air and other things they need without anyone buying anything, or without experimenting on kids with ill-advice public health initiatives.

According to a leaked army memo, Britain's Afghanistan effort is being "hampered" by soldiers who are too fat, sick and weak to fight . The memo concludes that the army has "not consistently maintained our standards of physical fitness" and needs to "reinvigorate a warrior ethos and a culture of being fit." The memo echoes a similar problem among German forces in Afghanistan. A parliamentary report published late last year found that German soldiers were on average fatter than the German civilian population and generally "too fat to fight." The problem is not confined to Britain or Germany. US military drill instructors report steep, ongoing declines in the physical fitness of recruits . Contrast this to the athletic reputation of ancient Spartans. Every Spartan man and woman, girl and boy, trained as if they were to compete in the Olympic games. Unless there was a festival or a war, Spartan men trained hard outside every day. Every one of t...