the china study

The China Study (The most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted) by T. Colin Campbell, PHD. It. Blew. My. Mind. ...and ruined me! I now consciously watch everything I put into my mouth far beyond if it’s vegan or not.

A basic synopsis is that a 20-something year study was done on both humans and animals relating to diet and disease. The study found that a whole foods, plant based diet (vegan or practically vegan) like that of rural China is optimal for a healthy life free of diseases of affluence including Diabetes I and II, Heart Disease, Breast and Prostate Cancer, Alzheimer’s, MS, arthritis, cataracts, impotence, etc... Diet is more important in preventing or reversing these diseases than carcinogens present and genes.

I can’t even begin to describe how this book has opened my eyes (and I was already a vegan). I had no idea that cancer was preventable with diet. Now that I do I’m all the more into being vegan!

Making a case for being vegan is really secondary to showing the evidence of the numerous studies these scientists conducted so it’s not an obnoxious vegan diet book. While I really have no words to describe how awesome it is (other than “READ IT NOW”) I did mark some notable paragraphs.

“Very few people actually know what they should be doing to improve their health.”

If President Obama addressed the nation with a new vegan diet recommendation eyes would surely roll. Being vegan has a stigma attached to it that we’re not healthy and that you need meat and byproducts to be healthy. There’s that phrase we vegans have heard at least a thousand times: “Vegans don’t get enough protein.” That’s just not true! Meat eaters get more than enough harmful proteins (derived from animals) and not enough positive proteins (from whole-foods/plants).

“Your friends, family and colleagues may not be supportive. For whatever reasons, many people will find it threatening that you are now a vegetarian or vegan. Perhaps it’s because, deep down, they know their diet isn’t healthy and find it threatening that someone else is able to give up unhealthy eating habits when they cannot.”

SO TRUE! There’s an obnoxious and overweight woman who is a colleague of mine that always has to make a snide comment about what I’m eating - “Well I like to ENJOY my food...” Unfortunately I can’t say what I’d like to say to her - “So do I and I’m not 200 lbs overweight with health problems.” I’ll take my spinach over your deathburger any day!

“In practical terms this means that beef, pork, lamb and veal consumption is decreasing while lower-fat chicken, turkey and fish consumption is increasing, In fact, by consuming more poultry an fish, people have been increasing their total meat intake to record-high amounts, while trying (and largely failing) to reduce their fat intake. In addition, whole milk is being consumed less, but low-fat and skim milk are being consumed more. Cheese consumption has increased by 150% in the past 30 years.
Overall we are as carnivorous as we were thirty years ago, but we are able to selectively lower our fat intake if we so desire, due to the wonders of food technology.”

He then goes to show an example of a lower fat new-age diet meal vs. a high fat traditional meal. Surprisingly the new meal has less fat as a total percentage of calories, but more protein and much more cholesterol. The example shows that you cannot isolate certain parts of your diet and focus on them - like fat - but instead choosing a plant-based diet will take care of lowering all disease risk factors as well as provide a lot more nutrients and ZERO cholesterol.

“More people die because of what they eat than tobacco use, accidents or any other lifestyle or environmental factor. We know that the incidence of obesity and diabetes is skyrocketing and that Americans’ health is slipping away and we know what to blame: diet. So shouldn’t the government be leading us to better nutrition? There is nothing better the government could do that would prevent more pain and suffering in this country than telling Americans unequivocally to eat less animal products, less highly-refined plant products and more whole, plant-based foods. It is a message soundly based on the breadth and depth of scientific evidence and the government could make this clear, as it did with cigarettes. Cigarettes kill, and so do these bad foods. But instead of doing this, the government is saying that animal products, dairy and meat, refined sugar and fat in your diet are good for you! The government is turning a blind eye to the evidence as well as to the millions of Americans who suffer from nutrition-related illnesses.”

Basically the USDA’s Food Pyramid (that we all learned as children) will give you heart disease. Why don’t they remove meat and dairy? Because government is a business and recommending less would mean people might eat less meat and dairy, become healthier, visit the doctor less, take less drugs, and everybody (but veggie farmers) makes less money.

Read this book, then look at The Food Pyramid and try not to vomit all over your keyboard.