Did anyone else read The China Study and decide you needed to make some changes in your diet. I’m about 3/4 through the book and the author presents some pretty convincing research that animal protein is at the very least related to some mean diseases. Now I’m not ready to give up meat and dairy completely, but I would like to make an effort to cut it down to a few servings a week. The problem is I have a pretty boring (although relatively healthy i think) diet and I’ll need to shake up my routine. For example, currently my lunches are composed of a tuna sandwich one or two days of the week and a turkey sandwich the other days. I also eat ground turkey three nights a week in a taco salad. I’m not sure what I would eat for breakfast. I like my cereal, and bananas with peanut butter everyday will get old fast I think. So I’m just wondering if any other folks out there have tried to move to a more plant-based diet. How was your transition and what exactly are some of the staples of your diet? Thanks for any insight.
i have been a vegetarian my whole life (36 years). while growing up, my parents were very conscious about nutrition, and specifically lots of protein. at that time, i ate a lot of dairy as well.
my younger brother started trending towards vegan, and i started fading out dairy about 5 years ago. up and down with dairy til i read the china study. then i cut way back.
fast forward 2 years. i increased my weekly workouts from not much to moderate triathlon training starting this january. the total exercise level jumped way up. after really feeling the need to increase daily protein, i decided to start adding in a blast of whey and some yogurt in my smoothies daily. that is a compromise i am comfortable making. i would prefer to be vegan, but i dont want to get such a large portion of my total daily protein from soy - at least when i am working out as much as i presently am.
when/if i go back to a less athletic lifestyle, i will definitely drop the dairy back down.
in summary, i did read the study. what struck me was that this guy does the largest and longest running dietary study EVER undertaken - peer reviewed - and these whacko diets with no scientific basis, like atkins, still suck so many people in.
This book has been mentioned here before. I looked into it, lots of interesting articles about problems with the studies used in the book ect. Then when I got the book from the library, I was like this thing is huge, no way. Well I read a few pages but had seen enough to not feel to motivated to read it.
Now with that said, I think eating everything in moderation is a good idea, variety is the spice of life.
Oh ya, breakfast, i have found Whole oat oatmeal, a dab of honey, and some wheat germ, makes a very tasty and filling breakfast. I have been eating that for breakfast most every day for 6-8 months now. LOVE IT.
Oh and for the record, I use to like A sausage burrito and cinnamon melt from McDonalds for breakfast.
I’ve seen a detailed summary of the study before. Does anyone have a link to a resource that critiques it intelligently? I am inherently somewhat skeptical of the idea that animal proteins in any amount are always bad for you, I just don’t see the physiological basis for that. But if the study is sound it is certainly an interesting result.
If you chose a diet that includes no animal proteins at all, be sure to supplement with B vitamins…
You can also go to www.heartattackproof.com to read a bit about a multi-year study that has followed patients who essentially had ‘one foot in the grave’ after following a standard American diet for the better part of their lives. Yes, Drs. Esselstyn and Caldwell are both advocating the same diet, but Dr. Esselstyn has been following the same group of patients for something like 20 years. His study is quite convincing.
Showing that a zero animal protein diet results in less heart disease than the average american diet is a far cry from proving that animal proteins in any amount are bad. Given my activity level I would not be able to survive on a zero animal protein diet unless I chugged soy protein shakes constantly. That might have some nasty medical side effects in itself.
I don’t trust the gov to get it right with all the money the farm lobby doles
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Absolutely. Even if a study showed that milk and red meat were the worst possible thing for health, the government would find a way to spin it and keep them on the food pyramid. The industry is very powerful.
I think its best not to worry about conspiracy theories. I could easily cast the same sort of doubt over the china study since the author has connection with PETA. The proper thing to do is consider the facts, and the science. If they make sense, they make sense, if they don’t, they don’t, no matter the motivations of the people presenting them.
If they make sense, they make sense, if they don’t, they don’t, no matter the motivations of the people presenting them.
If you don’t take into account the motivations of the people presenting the data, you will have a very hard time sifting through it. Many nutritional studies are funded by the organizations that would reap the most benefits by positive results. And odds are, they are taking the data from the researchers and writing the papers themselves, or at the very least highly editing them. This is not conspiracy, it’s science- good or bad. I have worked for labs that were funded by pharmaceutical companies. All of our publications with their compounds had to go through them first. If you think they are going to publish the whole entire story, you’re naive (with space limitations in journals you’re never going to get the whole story anyway). If someone funded by the dairy industry found out that dairy was somehow bad for you, it’s probably not going to get published (and not necessarily with ill intent- If they are looking for positive data, they are likely to dump an experiment that’s not working, rather than spend the time following it up). Not conspiracy, it’s just how things work.
I agree that the author of the China Study, with affiliations with PETA, probably also has his own agendas. Because of this, you have to read the study with a careful eye. Realize that some things are probably left out. That’s all I’m saying. But maybe I’m over-skeptical from my years working in research…
It seems to me that the fundamental premise is wrong by contrasting a no animal protein diet with the average american diet and then concluding that the no protein in superior to any diet containing protein.
Bear in mind that in evolutionary terms a key to homo sapiens taking over is animal protein. It is the only source concentrated enough to allow for other pursuits (plant eaters spent all day eating i.e. grazing just to keep up) and hunting animals required new skills, team work, lots of exercise, etc.
The big difference is the nature of the protein as well as the quantity. Todays beef especially is high in fat whereas yesterdays protein was extremely lean. It was also consumed in conjunction with large amounts of virtually unprocessed grains and fruit which creates a whole new variable.
Here is a simple approach that works for me. Anything new to the human diet carries significant risk since we haven’t yet adapted. This includes feed lot beef, refined sugar, additives etc. On the other hand, a diet that was used for millennia, allowing for adaptation is likely to be pretty healthy. This would be lean protein in moderation, with large amounts of low processed grains, fruit and vegetables.
How beer and good scotch fits in that is still under review however.
Counterpoint - our evolutionary history only cares about us getting old enough to have kids. Whether you eat fried chicken every day or vegan you will live long enough to do this (except you might die of b12 deficiency as a vegan) The optimal diet for living a long healthy life past our reproductive years may have nothing to do with what is natural or what cave men ate.
That’s true- Most of our ancestors from long ago didn’t live long enough to see the effects of diet.
It’s funny to me when you look at people who live long healthy lives, you always see quite a few people who ate pretty crazy diets and did ok. Genetics has SOOO much to do with longevity. But with a good, clean diet I do believe that you can help yourself out a lot. So many cancers are linked to diet now.
Aflatoxin is produced by a mold (or some kind of fungus) that grows on bad peanuts. A lot of people, especially in developing countries have developed liver cancer from bad peanut butter.
I think we’re safe in the US though. They test for it in the supply.
