Our son may not be following in our footsteps but he definitely buys into the path we're on. Below is his 7th grade year-end term paper. A chip off the old block, if I do say so myself. Now we just have to get him to eat our way and really live plant strong!
As healthcare costs continue to rise in
the United States and diseases such as cancer, type II diabetes and heart
disease claim more and more lives each year, medical research is spending tons
of money trying to identify the root cause, and the fact is the answer may be
as simple as looking at the ends of people’s forks. “Genetics loads the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger,” said cardiothoracic surgeon, author, and television personality
Dr. Mehmet Oz. His statement is supported by decades of scientific and
clinical studies -- chronicled in such films as Vegucated and Forks Over
Knives, and documented in books like Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s The China Study -- that show the
Standard America Diet is the trigger for that which ails Americans and that the
cure can be found in adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet. There are other
reasons for leaving the Standard American Diet behind. As author Michael Pollan
noted in Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ blog post The Future of Food, “There are three principal motivators [for
adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet]: health, because we know high
consumption of red meat correlates with higher chances of certain cancers; and
the environment, because we know that conventional meat production is one of
the biggest drivers of climate change, as well as water and pollution; and
ethics, since the animal factories that produce most of our meat and milk are
brutal places where animals suffer needlessly.”
The Standard American Diet, also known
as SAD, is made up of refined and processed
foods, sugar and lots of meat and high-fat dairy. It is also severely lacking
in vegetables. The results of this lifestyle are not positive. According to the
Harvard Health Letter, in 2011 more
than thirty-two million Americans were taking statins for high cholesterol. In
2012, a report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that nearly half
of all Americans use some kind of prescription drug on a regular basis. The CDC
also reported in 2005 that 133 million Americas -- nearly one out of every two
adults -- had at least one chronic illness. Additionally, the percentage of
middle-aged Americans suffering from three or more ailments almost doubled in
the last fifteen years. Obesity is also on the rise among adults and children.
In 2011, The New York Times shared a
timeline of the evolution of the Standard American Diet showing that no state
in that same year had a prevalence of obesity less than twenty percent, and thirty-six
states had a prevalence of twenty-five percent or more. Additionally, one-third
of American adults were obese and seventeen percent of children and adolescents
ages two- through nineteen-years old were obese and twenty-six million adults
suffered from diabetes. In 2012, America was ranked number one in obesity worldwide.
The numbers are staggering yet growing even though more and more scientific and
clinical studies show that a diet rich in vegetables, whole grains, fruits and
legumes can prevent and even reverse most diseases.
In The China Study,
Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, detailed the
connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes and cancer. His work
is widely recognized as the most comprehensive nutritional study ever conducted
on the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease. Campbell’s
study examined mortality rates from forty-eight forms of cancer and other
chronic diseases from 1973 to 1975 in sixty-five counties in China, and
correlated them with 1983 to 1984 dietary surveys and blood work from 6,500
people, one hundred from each county. His study concluded that counties with a
high consumption of animal-based foods were more likely to have had higher
death rates from “western” diseases, while the opposite was true for counties
that ate more plant foods. He, therefore, concludes that people who eat a
whole-food, plant-based diet -- avoiding all
animal products (including fish and dairy) and reducing their intake of
processed foods and refined carbohydrates
-- will prevent, reduce or reverse the development of chronic diseases.
In another study, Dr. Dean Ornish of the Preventative
Medicine Research Institute brought together forty-eight patients suffering
from severe heart disease. Twenty participants continued to indulge in the
Standard American Diet. Twenty-eight adopted a strict whole-food, plant-based
diet and incorporated mild exercise. The results showed that eighty-two percent
of those on the plant-based diet experienced a reduction in their arterial
blockage. Those on the Standard American Diet did not get better and in most
cases experienced a worsening of their arterial blockage.
In a separate study, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, former surgeon, researcher and clinician at the Cleveland
Clinic, began a twelve year cardiac disease
arrest and reversal trial in 1985. His program, described in his book Prevent
and Reverse Heart Disease, called for avoiding oils, meat, fish, fowl and dairy
products. His trial involved eighteen patients who in the eight years prior to
the trial had experienced forty-nine coronary events. After twelve years on his
program, these eighteen patients experienced only one coronary event, and that
particular patient went rogue for two years. When he came back and resumed the plant-based
diet he had no further cardiovascular disease occurrence. Like Ornish,
Esselstyn’s trial showed conclusively that heart disease can be prevented and
reversed though a whole-food, plant-based diet.
Detractors of a whole-food, plant-based diet like to cite a
lack of protein and the vitamin B12 as reasons for not eliminating or reducing
meat and dairy from their diets. There are plenty of whole-food, vegan athletes
who dispel the protein myth, like tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams,
ultramarathon runners Scott Jurek and Rich Roll, NFL running back Arian Foster and
triathlete Brendan Brazier. All of these athletes and many others choose
healthful plant-based protein sources like beans, almonds, lentils, hemp seeds,
spirulina, quinoa, spinach and broccoli and go on to enjoy greatness within
their disciplines. Insofar as B12, those who follow a plant-based diet can get
that vitamin source from fortified non-dairy milk products and a rotating
variety of plants.
Another significant piece of a
whole-food, plant-based lifestyle that continues to emerge is the impact that
it has on the country and the planet. The book Healthy Eating, Healthy
World: Unleashing the Power of Plant-Based Nutrition by J. Morris Hicks, crystallizes the
interrelation between healthcare and energy/environment and animal treatment.
Countless studies, some of which are
cited above, show how transitioning to a whole-food, plant-based diet can
prevent, treat and even reverse diseases. Healthcare costs continue to rise and
that is directly related to the deterioration of the overall health of
Americans. Making more healthful dietary choices would significantly lower
healthcare costs. Eating better results in healthier people, which results in
less medical intervention, saving America billions of dollars.
The practice of raising animals for
human consumption is very taxing on the environment. Raising livestock uses seventy-eight
percent of agricultural land and thirty percent of the land surface of the
planet. With the world population rising, there simply is not enough land to
support everyone if people continue to eat so much meat and dairy. In addition,
raising livestock produces more greenhouse gases than all transportation
combined. Climate Change must not be taken lightly or misused for
political gain. It will have a serious impact on the earth (lessening the area
of land for starters because of rising ocean levels).
It takes 5,200 gallons to raise one pound
of beef. Meanwhile, there are one billion people who lack safe drinking water.
This should be a cause for concern for everyone. The amount of water to raise a
ten pound steak requires the amount of water that a typical family uses each
year in their household.
Bringing the Standard American Diet to dinner
plates requires 1.2 gallons of oil per day. If Americans collectively cut meat
consumption by just twenty percent, it would have the energy impact of everyone
switching from a gas powered car to a Prius. Oil supply is not infinite. Peak
oil production has already happened in the United States. Peak worldwide oil
production will happen eventually. When the oil production peaks, the price of
oil will sky-rocket. There is not enough oil in the earth to sustain everyone.
Intervention on a global scale is necessary.
In addition to the health and
environmental gains that will be incurred by consuming fewer animals, there is
the grave issue of animal suffering and cruelty. It is ironic that people will rescue
stray dogs, save seals and deride Michael
Vicks for dog fighting while at the same time passively engaging in the
slaughter of countless animals each year. In fact, in a recent survey,
ninety-six percent of Americans said animals deserve legal protection,
seventy-six percent said they believe animal welfare is more important to them
than low meat process and sixty-five percent said they believe in strict laws
that govern animal treatment. Given those numbers, it’s baffling that ten
billion animals are slaughtered annually in the United States. Some would argue
it is the circle of life, but when people do not require animal flesh for
survival that is simply not true. It is nothing more than a selfish desire to
eat meat. As the Vegan Society stated, “Much has been made of the ethical
considerations of animals and at the end of the day it is potentially obvious
-- every hamburger, every pint of milk, every egg -- is the result of suffering
and the assertion and dominion by humankind over the animal kingdom.” Musician Paul
McCartney also contends that if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone
would be vegetarian. It is easy to ignore how animal meat gets to dinner plates
when the slaughter takes place behind closed doors. It is the old adage, “out
of sight, out of mind.” The film Earthlings
should be required viewing for everyone who eats animal products. The movie
graphically depicts the needless and brutal suffering of animals by humankind
for food, clothing and entertainment.
Change is hard, especially when it comes
to diet. But if taking steps towards a whole-food, plant-based diet brings with
it profound effects on physical health, the country, the earth and animals, it
is worth it.
