For many people, health is something they take for granted. When they’re feeling fit and strong they often neglect their health. It’s not until sickness strikes that many of us question they way we’ve been eating and living.
The price for not taking care of your health can be hefty. Healthcare modification to insurance plans will only go so far to creating a fit nation; good health must start with personal care. That means taking responsibility for what you put in your mouth and how often you exercise your body. That alone could reduce your visits to the doctor and, ultimately, your health bill.
Growing research shows that eating a mostly plant-based diet can ward off diseases and reduce the need for doctor visits. Your body is healthy and strong because it’s getting the nutrients it needs to maintain optimal health. You’re not filling your stomach with processed, fattening, sugary foods.
A whole-food, plant-based diet works to strengthen your body and allows you to consume more calories. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study, grew up on a farm promoting the consumption of dairy products, but years later through a comprehensive study in China, Campbell discovered why a whole-food, plant-based diet is critical to good health.
On CCN, he told Larry King, “What we learned is that we could actually turn on cancer development by simply increasing the level of animal protein intake, above the amount of protein that you really needed. We could turn it off by simply taking it away.”
The Larry King interview was filmed after an E. Coli outbreak that occurred in 2009. The interviewees, several guest experts in the nutrition and culinary industries, discuss the dangers of meat and if meat should be consumed.
Campbell was the only interviewee advocating a whole-food, plant-based diet. His reasons point to solid, comprehensive, peer-reviewed studies. He pointed out that studies he has led show that with the increased intake of animal protein, blood cholesterol increases. As animal protein is digested there is an increased production of acid that would create internal problems “that in turn would lead to a loss of calcium from bones which in turn would increase osteoporosis.”
“One of the biggest myths that we now confront is that we somehow have to consume animal-based protein. A whole-food, plant-based diet provides enough protein, enough of the other nutrients. We don’t need to start substituting this really good stuff that prevents cancer, prevents heart disease, prevents osteoporosis by sort of dumping in some animal foods or processed foods, maybe made out of plant fragments.”
To see the interview segment, click here.
