Whey and the Ornish Diet

I received an email from someone with a basic question regarding the Ornish Diet, which is a specialized type of Low Fat Diet proven to reverse heart disease and arteriosclerosis among other things. This question has to do with whey, a common bodybuilding and athletic protein, and so I responded to his question as follows:

Reader:  Thanks for the information. I do have one question on Ornish diet. Is it ok to supplement with pure whey protein to keep my protein intake up? Or does that negate the effectiveness of the diet? Also....I have started juicing twice a day, broccoli, cabbage and brussels sprouts and assume this can be done in place of eating 2 cups of broccoli a day as raw veggies are always better than cooked.

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Answer: First of all, almost all store wheys that I have seen are loaded with dangerous excitotoxins and I document that here in my link called No Whey!  However, there is an alternative, undenatured or biologically active whey, which I document in my link called Yes Whey if you want more information. So, assuming you buy an undenatured whey, then whey powders should fit into an Ornish Diet.

Keep in mind, though, that probably no one in the studies of the Ornish Diet was taking whey nor were many, as I assume you are, into serious weight or strength training. So the bottom line is that you are into somewhat uncharted territory. But some whey should be great.

In fact, you may be interested to know that we're in this together.  I essentially follow an Ornish Diet but supplement with whey powder and egg whites (and some Dark Chocolate).  So far the studies on whey protein look very good:  it seems to avoid many of the dangerous properties of the other animal proteins. In fact, whey has many very desireable qualities, such as boosting immunity and raising glutathione, that even make it look advantageous. But keep in mind that there are no guarantees that they will not find that whey causes some sort of unanticipated issue. 

Consuming a lot of whey protein really goes against one of my cardinal rules:  eat only natural foods at normal physiological levels.  The reason is that so many supplements and vitamins have been found to cause issues when consumed significantly above the RDA.  More is definitely not better when it comes to supplements and vitamins. 

The same may prove true for protein and the amino acids.  Remember that many of the aminos have surprisingly strong properties.  However, so far, whey looks very good and it has even extended life span in one rodent study, which is the acid test of any dietary modification.

Also, juicing is great of course. In my opinion, it's better to avoid the Dirty Dozen vegetables and fruits:  they are finding health issues associated with pesticides almost daily now.  Or, perhaps I should say, it's better to consume organic if at all possible, for the Dirty Dozen, a fact I discuss in my link on Testosterone and Pesticides.