Feast on fat
11:48 PM 6/16/04
Monica Eng Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO - Vinka Peschak starts each day by knocking back a full cup of heavy whipping cream. <

That's at 8 a.m. <

"At around 11 o'clock I take three or four egg yolks and make some kind of omelet with lard for breakfast," the Portage Park, Ill., resident explains. Peschak, a native of Poland, eats her omelet with a cup of buttery boiled vegetables and a slender piece of almond toast slathered in more butter or lard. <

Dinner is usually a fatty piece of pork or some kind of organ meat with lard-cooked french fries and more butter-soaked vegetables. <

In the middle of the day she might have a cup of coffee, "but only with a lot of heavy whipping cream in it." <

Peschak has been eating like this for more than five years. She is slim, energetic, and says, "I feel wonderful, never tired and never hungry." <

She is not on Atkins. She is not on South Beach. Peschak, along with an estimated 2 million folks worldwide is on the Optimal Diet, a Polish eating plan that requires the consumption of prodigious amounts of animal fat - preferably lard. <

The diet was hatched in Poland some 40 years ago by Dr. Jan Kwasniewski, who started developing it while working as a dietitian for a military sanitarium in Ciechocinek, Poland. There he observed that many of his patients were sick, "not because of any pathogenic factors ... but the result of one underlying cause - bad nutrition," according to his English language "Optimal Nutrition" book. After experimenting on his family and himself, Kwasniewski concluded that the ideal nutritional combo came from eating three grams of fat for every one gram of protein and half a gram of carbohydrates. <

After a couple of decades of refining this theory, Kwasniewski published his first book in Poland in 1990. But it wasn't until converts came forward with their stories of weight loss and recovery from disease in the mid-'90s that the diet really took off it its native land and Kwasniewski's books went into wide circulation. Today there are at least two magazines devoted to the Optimal lifestyle and Kwasniewski writes a twice weekly column for the regional Polish newspaper Dziennik Zachodni. <

It was one of these books that made it into Peschak's hands in late 1998, when she was having lunch with other Polish women at a Chicago factory. "One lady who just came back from vacation in Poland showed me this book she got there and it made a lot of sense to me." A few weeks later, Peschak started the diet. <

It wasn't until more than three years later, though, that Chicago would become the North American capital for this eating plan. That's when Tomasz Zielinski bought a little storefront on Milwaukee Avenue and opened Calma Optimal Foods. The first and only one of its kind in the nation, it operates as a deli, meeting center and, as of this spring, a restaurant for those on the lard-laden plan. Peschak serves as its manager. <

Sometimes called the Polish Atkins, the Optimal Diet severely restricts carbohydrates and sugars, but differs from Atkins by de-emphasizing protein and beefing up - or, more accurately, porking up - the fat to a level that would have made even the late Robert Atkins reach for his heart. <

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Criticism and praise
On average, the diet recommends a whopping 250 grams of fat per day, about four times what the FDA recommended for the average person to maintain his or her weight and about 10 times the amount of saturated fat allowed. So despite its popularity in Poland - Lech Walesa is reported to have lost 44 pounds and cured his diabetes on it recently - the mainstream medical establishment is skeptical. <

"I am very against diets like this," says Jadwiga Roguska, a practicing internist at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. "All high-fat diets are unhealthy in the long term and there is absolutely no benefit to weight reduction of this sort because it is threatening to health. ... Of course, high-fat diets will give you the benefits of energy and weight loss, but they are just not good for you." <

Nonetheless, Chicago physician Mark Sobor has watched an increasing number of his patients in the Polish community embrace the diet. <

"Kwasniewski is pure fat," says Sobor who practices in Jefferson Park and is also a licensed acupuncturist. "Eat fat non-stop. The more you take in the better and these people are fanatics about it. But the thing is they're all skinny." <

On a recent Sunday morning at the Optimal deli/center in Portage Park, about 30 mature, fairly slim followers of the Kwasniewski plan gathered for a weekly meeting. <

There was ginger-haired firecracker Irena Kozlowicz, 78, who went on the diet five years ago after Kwasniewski came to speak at the Copernicus Center in 1999. At the time she was suffering from eye problems, asthma and pain in her knees. <

"Now I can walk better than a young person," she chirps. "I can run up six floors of stairs and my grandson can't catch me. He's 17 years old. I am 78, but I feel like I am 50. I thank God for the diet." <

Jozef Michael Ostrowski, 71, says he has been on a variation of the diet his whole life. <

"Since the occupation of Poland my parents could only afford pork meat and liver and blood sausage and lard," Ostrowski says through an interpreter. "It is not like I was following this diet precisely but generally. At that time I didn't know this kind of natural food was good for me." <

Zofia Pawlik, 56, started the diet last year when she went on an Optimal vacation, a retreat to the Wisconsin Dells to learn about the program and eat its foods. Over the course of a year, she says she has lost 10 pounds while improving her energy and overall health. <

Weight loss and more
Dr. Sobor has seen a growing number of Kwasniewski converts who claim weight loss is only one of the benefits they've reaped. <

Chester Matuszewski, 46, for instance says that four years ago he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and was told that there was no way he could be totally cured. <

"Every single joint imaginable in my hips, elbows, knees and hands hurt," Matuszewski said. Remembering something from a Polish newspaper about the Optimal Diet, he decided to check it out even though it seemed unappetizing. <

"For years I thought that pork is not good for you and I didn't like the smell, but I forced myself," he said. "After two months I started to feel better and I didn't want to attribute it to the diet. But my friends also saw a difference in me and I had so much energy. Today after four years, I have no pain and no swelling and I am totally cured." <

Sobor hears these stories all the time, but still has doubts. <

"Do I recommend the diet? I don't know," he says. "I don't think Kwasniewski is as good as Atkins or that it is something to go on for a long time." <

Despite the popularity of the diet in its country of origin, it remains controversial there among traditional nutritionists who oppose its high cholesterol and fat recommendations. <

"They don't like it because they see it endangers their own positions as nutritional authorities," says Peschak. <

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No position from the AMA
In the U.S. the Optimal Diet hasn't yet caught the attention of the medical establishment. The American Medical Association doesn't have a position on Atkins, much less Optimal. And Lisa Dorfman, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, had not heard of it. <

Still, based on a quick description of the diet, she didn't condemn it outright. <

"I can see how this would be a very attractive program, certainly in the senior citizen community because these are nutrient dense foods and seniors don't need to eat a lot of food," says Dorfman, a licensed nutritionist. <

"And some of the foods are very nutritious albeit very high in fat and cholesterol. Liver is very high in iron and B vitamins, which would be lovely for senior citizens because they need those vitamins and are usually on a budget in that time of life. <

"But for the general public I see where there could be potential problems. We just know that long-term high-fat diets leave one with a heightened risk of heart disease, stroke and hypertension. This is certainly not for children, teenagers or pregnant women. <

"Most Americans are getting too much fat as it is and they are not getting enough activity and they have incredible risk for heart disease because of a whole multiple list of factors including genetics and stress. And so I can't imagine that adding fat and lard and cholesterol into the mix would be beneficial to that. <

"But for this group of Polish seniors I think it's adorable, especially if it was developed by someone from the old country. As a psychotherapist, I can see where they must feel like you've got to be healthy eating this because there is a connection to eating these foods. It's old country eating, going back to the basics. <

"It is different from the commercial processing chemical laden foods. I certainly believe these people are benefiting in some way, but it may be more than one way and it may be for certain groups and not for others is my gut hunch. It might not be appropriate for three-quarters of the population but maybe they've hit the nail on the head and this is perfect for them." <

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What about long-term?
Although there is general agreement in the health community that lots of refined flours and sugars and their accompanying insulin spikes are not healthful, most conventional nutritionists are still not ready to embrace low-carb, high-protein and high-fat diets because of their perceived effects on the organs. <

But could wear and tear on the liver, kidneys and heart be worth it for an older person to be free of the risks of obesity? <

"That I don't know," Sobor says. "No one on Atkins has died of kidney failure yet, but you can probably find a (kidney specialist) who says it's good, one who says its bad and one who is in between. No one really knows yet. <

"The final question is who dies faster, the people who are obese or the people who go on these diets. You would have to take 2,000 people on the diet and then 2,000 controls to see what is going to kill them first, the extra pounds or the extra protein load on the kidneys or whatever this diet will do. <

"The pounds are going to do it in the short and medium term, there's no question about that. But the jury is out on the long term. The final arbiter is death. If they live longer than you do, then they won." <

«the extra pounds or the extra protein load »

ON (Optimal Nutrition) is a LOW protein diet (50-80g per day), so that's not an issue. Great to see some coverage though.

Ha, that's what I told a lowfat-vegetarian coworker. He's got this insane idea that meat is toxic and he said it would kill me. I replied "OK, we'll talk about it in 25 years or so and see who's doing better". Having been low on the meat and fat before I can already compare the results on my own body and feel confident about winning the health race in the long term.

Funny thing is he turned vegetarian about the time I started lowcarbing. Almost a year later I'm healthy, skin&hair shining, calmer, no hypoglicemia. Meanwhile he's become a very nasty, moody piece of work. Well, to each his own.

Thanks to a line from another thread by K Walt, we can now add the unspoken thought that goes with all of these quotes...

"Of course, high-fat diets will give you the benefits of energy and weight loss, but they are just not good for you." And besides I've been a dietician for 25 years and I like bananas on my cereal.

Brobin
"

Blah, blah, blah! Haven't we heard THIS before?



Blah, blah blah!