I just finished watching Dr. Joel Fuhrman on the Dr. Oz show talking about his recommended 7 day crash diet. Dr. Oz emphatically stated that this was the ONLY 7 day crash diet which he supports. Dr. Fuhrman explained the diet which was basically a whole foods plant-based diet allowing “all you could eat” of plants with very high nutrients. He said that “flooding” the body with these good nutrients would lead to a lifestyle where you would crave “real” foods over processed foods. Dr. Fuhrman stated that he treated approximately 20,000 people with this diet with tremendous success. Several of his patients came on the show to discuss their huge weight losses. Dr. Fuhrman suggested many recipes which were all plant-based. At no time, did Dr. Fuhrman mention any animal products as part of this “crash” diet.
Dr. Fuhrman’s segment on the show was approximately 30 to 40 minutes and, during that time, I found it fascinating that the word “vegan” was not mentioned at all…not even one time!!! Clearly, he was recommending a healthy “vegan” diet and it seemed to me as if the “V” word was purposely not mentioned on the show. This led me to address the inevitable question…Is “vegan” a dirty word? I can distinctly recall other peoples’ reactions when I first told them I became a “vegan.” There was a lot of eye rolling and, what appeared to be, annoyance on their part. I would go so far as to state that some friends actually reacted with hostility to my new lifestyle choice. I never understood it; especially since I truly believed that I was not imposing my veganism upon them and went out of my way not to judge them. It also seemed to me that fur coats were popping up everywhere when I never noticed my friends wearing them before. Is it that the word “vegan” caused these reactions? Why would anyone care enough to have such a reaction about my lifestyle choice? I still wonder about these reactions and think that, maybe, people just have very deep-rooted ties to the foods they have been eating for a lifetime and which they have been told were good for them.
Apparently, someone from Dr. Oz’s show may have realized that Dr. Fuhrman’s recommended 7 day crash diet (which was clearly “vegan”) would probably not have been well-received by viewers if it was presented as a “vegan” diet. This makes me wonder if there is anything I could learn, do or recommend to you from my observations. Perhaps it may be worth considering referring to my lifestyle choice to others as “plant-based” instead of “vegan.” Or, on the other hand, maybe not!!
