- A quart of whiskey, a pack of cigarettes and a cube of
LSD is better for you than eating one piece of meat, a doctor once told
Peter Burwash, former Hawai'i resident and Davis Cup champion turned tennis
coach, author and motivational speaker.
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- "The trauma of the extra (meat-derived) chemicals
in the body is horrendous," Burwash said, clarifying the analogy.
"An athlete should have no meat, fish, poultry or eggs."
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- A professional tennis player for seven years, motivational
speaker for 30 years and vegetarian for 34 years, Burwash spoke about nutrition
and exercise to nearly 150 attendees last Wednesday in the Kuykendall Auditorium.
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- Burwash spends 150 days a year touring the world as a
motivational speaker and has written 10 books on topics ranging from nutrition
to leadership to teen suicide. The lecture was sponsored by the Vegetarian
Society of Hawai'i.
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- America's weight-loss industry reaped a profit of $40
billion last year, said the 59-year-old. America's bookstores report the
top-selling category of books to be cookbooks, while diet books are second.
Out of 27,961 diet books registered in the Library of Congress in Washington,
D.C., none work, Burwash said.
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- The Atkins diet deprives the body of carbohydrates, forcing
the body to go into starvation mode. Fat is burned for fuel, along with
lean muscle and organs, Burwash said. Side effects include body odor and
halitosis, he added.
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- "A carbohydrate-starved body thinks you're sick
and zaps your appetite," he said.
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- Ron Estrada, a tennis specialist for Peter Burwash International,
the world's largest tennis management company founded by Burwash, said
he gave a tennis lesson to Dr. Atkins at a resort in the Caribbean three
or four years ago. Estrada found himself picking up tennis balls for Atkins
because he was not able to bend down to do it himself.
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- Burwash said Atkins was the "epitome of poor health."
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- The Atkins diet also requires a significant protein intake.
But too much protein can be detrimental, Burwash said, because it makes
the blood acidic, drains bones of calcium and causes tendons and ligaments
to tear easily.
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- Better food choices, not the diet of the week, are the
answer. Exercise, not meat, makes you strong, according to Burwash.
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- "You can't change a bad habit by just scratching
the surface," Burwash said.
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- Although lower in fat, chicken and fish contain higher
levels of cholesterol than red meat. Cholesterol can build up in arteries,
causing restricted blood flow through the body and oxygen to the muscles.
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- "One hundred fifty is the magic cholesterol number,"
Burwash said. "The key is to keep those arteries wide open."
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- Karl Seff, a chemistry professor at the University of
Hawai'i at Manoa, disagreed with Burwash's emphasis on monitoring cholesterol
intake.
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- "Cholesterol is a very minor health issue; it's
the animal fat and saturated fat [that we should be concerned with],"
Seff said. "All animal products have saturated fat, especially flesh.
The animal fat is bad, but dietary cholesterol is hardly worth fussing
about."
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- In addition to cholesterol, chicken contains 15 times
more carcinogens, a cancer-causing agent, than cooked beef, Burwash said.
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- Fish is faced with similar statistics. According to Consumers
Union USA, 49 percent of fish sampled in the U.S. was contaminated with
bacteria from human or animal feces, Burwash said. Fish from the Antarctic
and Arctic Oceans have tested positive for dioxin, a primary toxic element
of Agent Orange and DDT, an insecticide, he added.
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- In addition, eggs, "the refuse of the chicken's
menstrual cycle," are especially vulnerable to bacterial infection
once prepared due to the sterile environment they are created in, said
Burwash. They slow the bloodstream by 14-15 percent for 24 hours after
consumption, and increase chances of wrinkles and varicose veins.
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- The typical Western animal-based diet is largely responsible
for poor health in the U.S., Burwash said. Fast food restaurants are popping
up everywhere, including hospitals. 38 percent of hospitals have a McDonald's,
he said. Hormones from animal products have caused girls to begin menstruating
earlier, from 17.5 years of age in 1900 to 10.5 years of age today. The
number of women reported to have had facial hair removed last year is 2.5
million, he said.
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- "Today there is no excuse" to not have a healthy
diet, Burwash said, referring to the wide availability of natural food
in our communities.
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- Burwash became a vegetarian during his pro tennis tour
at age 25, he said, after making a bad frisbee throw on Waikiki Beach.
He accidentally hit a doctor in the head and, after apologizing, their
conversation turned to athlete nutrition and vegetarianism. The doctor
invited Burwash to the nutrition seminar that changed his life. Burwash
said his family and fellow athletes could not believe his decision to turn
vegetarian.
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- "I took a lot of abuse during that time," Burwash
said.
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- After only one year on a vegetarian diet, Burwash boasted
the highest fitness index of any athlete in Canada. He won 19 singles and
doubles titles during his pro tennis tour. He once told ESPN's Roy Firestone
during an interview, "becoming a vegetarian was the greatest moment
in my life."
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- According to William Castelli, former director of the
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, vegetarians
live longer by about 7 years, Burwash said.
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- © 2004 Ka Leo O Hawaii
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- http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/05/03/4095924b36626
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