Coast to Coast AM - Dec 23 2013 - Food and Diet, Cosmology and God

Date: 12-23-13
Host: George Noory
Guests: Dr. John McDougall, Hugh Ross

In the first half, physician and nutrition expert Dr. John McDougall argued that if people switch to a near vegan diet, high in starches such as wheat, rice, corn, and potatoes, they will actually be healthier, and able to lose excess weight. The increase in obesity and illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease are due to a diet of rich foods like meat, dairy, oils, and sugar, he suggested. The Pritikin Diet (similar to McDougall's Diet), popular in the 1970s, was fought against by the meat and dairy industry, who used lobbyists and other means to push their products as healthy to consume, he continued.

The low carb diet, such as Atkins, and newer variations like Wheat Belly and Grain Brain recommend the opposite of the McDougall Diet, telling people to eat meat, dairy, eggs, and oil and to not eat wheat, rice, corn, and potatoes. They take a little bit of truth-- that sugar is bad for people and exaggerate it, he said. "Just because sugar isn't good for people, doesn't mean that potatoes are bad for people, or bread is bad for people...These are traditional foods...your grandma and grandpa ate these foods, worked hard in the fields, went to battle on these foods. Why all of a sudden have they become evil foods?," he asked. McDougall cited how one of his patients, Olympic athlete Carl Lewis, followed his diet, and set the world record for the 100 meter dash. He also noted that ancient gladiators were vegan. "Why do you think the gladiators lived on barley and beans, and not meat? Because it was bad form to lose in the Coliseum...and they knew to be strong and enduring they needed to eat the right food," he remarked.

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In the latter half, astronomer and physicist Dr. Hugh Ross discussed cosmology, astronomical findings, the science behind the Star of Bethlehem, and his work correlating scientific discoveries with the evidence for God and creation through his think tank, Reasons to Believe. An advocate for 'intelligent design,' he said "the fine tuning that's necessary for the universe to have even the simplest kind of life, let alone intelligent life, is so extraordinary that there must be some kind of God that's responsible for all of this." Ross defined God as a being who is able to operate independent of space-time-matter-energy, "but is fully active within his entire creation."

"I believe that the universe has actually been designed to bring about the end of evil and suffering in the most efficient way possible," he continued, adding that "the entire universe exists just to make possible one planet (Earth) in which advanced life is possible." Regarding the Star of Bethlehem, seen by the Three Wise Men, it's described in the Bible as appearing, disappearing, then re-appearing. This suggests to him it may have been a type of star known as a "cataclysmic variable," a kind of re-occurring supernova that dramatically changes in brightness over different time periods.

News segment guests: Catherine Austin Fitts, Lauren Weinstein

Website(s):
reasons.org
drmcdougall.com

Book(s):
Why the Universe Is the Way It Is
Beyond the Cosmos: What Recent Discoveries in Astronomy and Physics Reveal About the Nature of God
Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men
The Starch Solution