So, back to food, eating, and health. Admittedly, I couldn't get through all of "The China Study". I got about half way through and then I skimmed the rest. The book is written by T. Colin Campbell, PHD and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II. They say some things I agree with, but his whole message is a bit of a stretch. Basically, at the beginning of his career, he was a huge advocate for meat and dairy until he did a study with rats. One group of rats was fed a diet of 5% animal protein and the other group was fed everything the same as the first group except each rat was given 20% animal protein. Both groups were also given high doses of aflatoxin, a carcinogen. By the end of the study, 100 weeks, all the rats in the group with the 5% protein diet were all thriving and the one's eating a diet with 20% were all dead or near death. Fascinating as this is, the protein that the rats were given was isolated casein and, from this study, the authors were convinced that all types of animal protein were the root cause of cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
They then conducted this "China Study" using 6500 volunteer Chinese citizens mostly from rural areas. They were able to gather data that included administering questionnaires, taking blood and urine samples, and they were also able to track their food intake for 3 days. Unfortunately, the he deprives the reader of most of the actual China Study itself. He's so obsessed with touting a vegan diet that we don't get to hear most of the facts about what the Chinese ate, and how certain foods and lifestyle choices affected their health. The only piece of information that he discussed was that the Chinese didn't eat much animal protein and the less they ate, the less they got sick.
Man has been hunting and eating meat since the beginning of time and yet Campbell stresses that consuming meat and dairy is the main cause of all modern disease. And he speaks nothing of the quality of the animal food. The way animals are raised conventionally in this country is extremely different from the practices of small, independent farms where animals are raised on grass and treated humanely. Conventionally raised cows, the meat and milk of which many people eat, are fed grain, corn and drugs (so they can survive all the disease that results from their living conditions and so that they produce an unnatural amount of dairy or grow unnaturally obese to yield more flesh and fat). The conditions they are raised in are simply disgusting--think of a concentration camp for animals and you've got mass produced beef, chicken, pork, and turkey. What more, the effect that these factories have on the environment is detrimental in several ways. The gasses emitted by the cows constitute 18% of greenhouse gas emissions (thank you Mark for that fact) and all the contaminants that these animals are fed end up in rivers, lakes, streams, etc. where wildlife is exposed to antibiotics, hormones and other chemicals. A small farm where the animals live in good conditions, uncrowded, on the pasture and in harmony yield a much higher quality product, rich with nutrients. Incorporating a moderate amount of animal food from your local farm (easy to find out their practices if it's local and also better for the environment)in your diet may be healthy for some people. I'm not implying that I'm against being a vegan (see below for a fabulous vegan recipe), or that being a vegan isn't healing to many people, I'm just against the thought that any one diet is imperative for every individual body and I strongly believe that processed foods, rancid fats, conventional meat and dairy, and man made chemicals are a serious detriment to our health and well being.
Which leads to the elephant in the room: processed and refined foods. Although Campbell does stress that one should eat a whole food vegan diet and to stay away from junk, he doesn't linger on the subject. Large companies (Kellog, Con Agra, Kraft, you know who you are)have made millions on turning sugarcane, wheat, corn and soy into what my hero Michael Pollan likes to call, "edible foodlike substances". The government subsidizes this industry so that the raw materials are cheap for these big corporations. When you buy a box of frosted flakes, you're paying mostly for the advertising and wrapping (multi color printing to boot!). Because these commodities are so cheap, it's also the reason the livestock is fed corn and grain instead of what they were born to eat, grass. Thus the modern American diet is based on three ingredients: cheap, genetically engineered corn, soy,and wheat. Does that sound healthy to you? Add the pollutants in the air and water and you've got what I think is the recipe for diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
Bottom line regarding "The China Study": even though I do agree with much of what he says, the main premise is hard to swallow (no pun intended).
On to my yummy morning creations I'd like to share with you. I have been using gluten free bread, but of course, this is a great snack (or I've been eating these for breakfast) for anyone:
- First, toast some bread.
- Spread on your favorite hummus,
- sliced tomato
- roasted green chile (it's that time of year here in the Rockies and Southwest)
- arugula
- fresh basil
- small pinch of salt
- and lots of lemon juice
You could also substitute avocado with hummus.
All I can say is deeeelicious! Happy eating!
