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No Cavities, but if that's not Working for you...

"You might want to read The China Study."

Good lord, there's someone still recommending that book after it was debunked by an English major and picked apart by Michael Eades and Chris Masterjohn? Recommended by someone who works in a dentist's office, no less--where they're supposed to tell you to avoid carbage? Yet the dental hygienist did today. Maybe she was worried about business slowing down. Maybe she hadn't heard that at least two of its main critics got a mouthful of cavities on vegan or vegetarian diets.

I didn't have any cavities, sensitive gums or other issues that a little more flossing wouldn't fix, and told her that I quit getting cavities after I started a low-carb diet. I added that since I'm from a family full of diabetes, that's another reason to be on a low-carb diet. "Well, if your diet isn't working for you, read The China Study."

I wasn't about to argue with a vegan holding a pick in my mouth. Even in a less asymmetrical setting, it would have been like arguing about religion.

Before I went low-carb, there was a diet that had stopped working for me: Body for Life, which includes quite a bit of  "good" carbs. I got almost all the cavities in my mouth on that diet--along with other problems usually put down to middle age. When I ditched the fruit, grains, milk and potatoes and went face down in the fat, I got rid of twenty pounds of fat, acid reflux, tooth decay, aches and pains, dry skin, three-hour naps, sinus congestion, and most of my TMJ pain. If I ever want to have all those problems back, I'll give dear Dr. Campbell's book a read.

Comments

Well I have to say my dentist and hygienist are quite 'on the ball'. Dare I say they always seem pleased with my teeth, and touch wood I haven't needed a lot of treatment in recent years. Note - I've been following the low carb high fat way for just over 5 years now.

I do not think people realise the whole round benefits a low carb high fat lifestyle can bring.

With regard to you personally Lori I think you've been brilliant with the dental treatment you've had since your accident this past year or so - forgive me I don't know the exact length of time.

Have a good weekend

All the best Jan
Lori Miller said…
Whole round of benefits is right--since our bodies are integrated, there aren't separate diets for heart health and dental health and so on.

The hygienist seemed to have forgotten that I couldn't clean my teeth for something like a month after my accident, but didn't have any decay on my next visit.
Galina L. said…
I wonder, did the hygienist herself read the "China Study". Dr. Eades described it as a 400 pages book consisted mostly of tables with a data.
Lori Miller said…
I'm sure she read the popular China Study, not the doorstop of observational data it was partly based on. The former also includes discussions of rodent studies masquerading as human studies in the book.

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