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Improve Your Health with the CHIP Program
By Cyndi Rook
 As you look across the dinner table tonight, remind yourself that one-half of the people you see before you are statistically on course to die of heart disease. February is national heart month, and the Castle Wellness & Lifestyle Medicine Center is offering us an opportunity to improve these statistics the Tasty and Meatless way by hosting the Coronary Heart Improvement Project (CHIP). Developed by Dr. Hans Diehl, a nationally recognized authority on heart disease prevention and lifestyle medicine, CHIP is a four week program consisting of video lectures and presentations by Castle Medical Center nutritionists, registered dietitians, wellness instructors, and special guests. The program, which costs $275.00 per individual and $475.00 for a couple, will commence and conclude with a Heart Screen for each participant. This includes a detailed analysis of total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and blood sugar. Optional tests of homocysteine and C-reactive protein as well as heart scans will be available for an additional charge. Enrollees will have their blood pressure and heart rate checked and ideal weight and body composition determined. A lifestyle questionnaire will aid in overall health evaluation and recommendations.
The two Heart Screens are a $400.00 value, and participants also receive a Dynamic Living text and workbook plus a binder and various printed materials. CHIP promises to “reverse disease with a fork and knife,” and indeed, in addition to meal planning instruction, food demonstrations, recipes, and food samples, a gourmet heart healthy meal will be served on Sunday evenings as a way to commemorate and celebrate each week’s progress as a group.
The CHIP program, which has graduated more than 40,000 people in 100 cities across North America, is patterned after residential programs lasting several weeks and costing thousands of dollars, usually with dramatic patient improvement. According to Dr. Diehl, “there’s magic in groups.” Patients support each other, share helpful information and facilitate learning and understanding. Taking the program out into a community enables continued involvement with personal physicians and, in some cases, participation from local restaurants.
Both the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and the Center for Science in the Public Interest have endorsed CHIP’s plant-based nutrition program. T. Colin Campbell, PhD, leader of the now famous Cornell-Oxford China Study, notes that, “The current western model of disease is to say that disease is caused by genes and cured by chemicals. But we tend to forget or ignore the role that nutrition plays in disease prevention. The most significant thing we can do for our health is just to eat the right foods.” Researchers in Campbell’s China Study found very low levels of cholesterol among rural Chinese populations, whose diets are primarily plant-based, and virtually no heart disease. One of CHIP’s goals is to see cholesterol levels among participants drop below 150, because as Dr. Diehl insists, “You don’t want a normal cholesterol level. A normal level still puts you at risk for heart disease.” The American Heart Association and most physicians still claim that levels at or below 200 are normal, but that is slowly changing within the medical community. It is interesting to note that not so long ago, when cholesterol levels of 300 were considered normal, men routinely died of heart disease in their fifties.
CHIP gets results by teaching participants how to adopt better health habits and make positive lifestyle changes. Disease reversal is made possible by lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar levels, by reducing excess weight, increasing exercise, and by eliminating smoking. Participants have an average cholesterol reduction of 15%-20%. In 50%-85% of cases, the need for blood pressure medication is eliminated, and one-half of insulin-dependant Type 2 diabetics can be taken off of insulin. Within the thirty days, there is an average seven pound weight loss among the overweight with some losing as much as fifteen pounds. Perhaps most importantly, CHIP teaches long term strategies for maintaining optimal health.
This program has recently been tested in Hawaii with excellent results. Within the thirty days, average cholesterol levels fell thirty points, although four participants experienced drops of over fifty points. Blood sugar levels dropped 10%, and blood pressure levels were lowered significantly. The average weight loss was eight pounds.
If you sincerely wish to take charge of your health, and reduce or eliminate the need for medications, CHIP may be the answer. The Castle Wellness & Lifestyle Medicine Center CHIP program begins February 13, and will convene thereafter on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday through March 10. The second Heart Screen will take place on March 13. For further information and registration, call 263-5400.
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