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“Good nutrition creates health in all areas of existence. All parts are interconnected.”
Author Dr Campbell gets into more daily life advice in his last couple chapters of the research dense book The China Study. He discusses the true idea of living ‘holistically’ and how what we eat is not only what we nosh on daily, but our impact on long-term health, environment, animals, ethics, and expenses due to food production. Plant based nutrition is less expensive and creates less damage to the soil and land used to produce crops than livestock and other animal based industries.
He states, “food and nutrition are of primary importance to our health. The process of eating is perhaps the most intimate encounter we have with our world; it is a process in which what we eat becomes part of our body.”
He goes on to explain the rich interconnectedness of eating well with how much or how often we MOVE, how we feel about ourselves, and that these behaviors work together. He claims from years of anecdotal evidence that “people have more energy when they eat well. This synergy between nutrition and physical activity is extremely important, and is evidence that these two parts of life are not isolated from each other. Good nutrition and regular exercise combine to offer more health per person than the sum of each part alone.”
Ever think that because you work out you can get away with eating however you’d like? Think again. The nutrition research shows that nutrition is a major player in overall health, wellbeing, physical activity, and more. Rather than self-sabotaging your hard work and sweat, image feeding your body to support that activity. Fill up with the best fuel possible and eat clean – your body will thank you!
Enjoy your veggies, fruits, beans, and grains this weekend (also known simply as plants)! Top it off with plenty of water….it’s going to be a hot holiday weekend!
Happy healthy independence to you and yours…
Cheri
So one concern that researchers have attempted to claim is that fiber can be great – but only up to certain levels. Some researchers had tried to claim that we shouldn’t eat over a certain amount of fiber, as it would block the absorption of essential nutrients by cleaning them out of our system before giving us time to soak them up or by binding to them and sweeping them straight out. Their recommendation was that we consume no more than about 30-35g of fiber each day. It sounds like a worhty cause for concern, but Dr. Campbell (again – from The China Study) proves otherwise.
You may remember from yesterday’s post that I had mentioned the fiber comparison between Chinese and American diets. In China, people consume about 33g of fiber per day on average, compared to 12g/day here in the US. Dr. Campbell and his team paid close attention to this as they studied 6 different biomarkers in Chinese citizens (like hemoglobin in the blood and other levels that help show the amount of iron present in the human body) and found “no evidence showing that increasing fiber intake impaired iron absorption in the body. In fact, [they] found the opposite effect. A good indicator of how much iron is in the blood, hemoglobin, actually increased with greater intakes of dietary fiber.” Standard grains in the Chinese diet like wheat and corn and unpolished rice provide significant amounts of fiber and iron. As long as you’d like, love on your fiber intake.
Dr. Campbell’s research through The China Study concludes that fiber intake is positively correlated with iron intake and absorption, and beyond that has shown significant links to reduced disease rates like cancer of the colon and rectum, as well as showing a healthy relationship with lowered blood cholesterol levels.
Which foods contain the most fiber? Whole grains, leafy green veggies, beans, and other plant sources.
Which foods have no fiber? Animal foods have virtually none. Make sure you include fiber throughout your day to improve your health, digestion, and elimination. Besides, fiber keeps us feeling full which might even help us control cravings and portions at mealtime. Three cheers for beans!
Enjoy!
Cheri
So I am still chewing away at the last few chapters of The China Study. As I finish up reading the last details, I have also drawn back through earlier chapters to give you a taste. There are several parts of this book I could read again and again, and then cross reference with other books and other author’s opinions…but here’s a scoop of what I remember most and what may be relevant for you to ponder. Enjoy!
One point Dr. Campbell makes is that even within China there is a significant range of nutrition habits. From county to county in China, people’s nutrition changes depending on the relative poverty or affluence in that area. So within the country of China, there are different nutrition habits and thus different patterns and rates of disease. He calls them diseases of poverty and diseases of affluence…with the second being more closely related to industrialized nations or wealthy pockets of people whom choose to display that good financial fortune through higher consumption of meats, dairy, and other animal products. They have strayed from the rural, simple and whole foods plant-based preferences of their neighboring counties and have different diseases presenting themselves. The people in this type of comparison are relatively the same genetically speaking (the Han people of China) and thus, the differences are due to lifestyle and nutrition, and in some cases environmental factors.
This within country, within genetically similar groups, comparison shows what happens when people choose “diets rich in plant-based foods to diets very rich in plant-based foods.” A very different comparison is to take a look at these overall plant-based lifestyles and compare them to the American diet – which we all know is not nearly as high in richly nutritious plants, but much higher in animal based foods, fats and proteins. In one chart, Campbell compares a typical daily calorie/nutrient intake from China to American daily choices…fiber intake for Chinese citizens is 33g/day while Americans average 12g/day. Percent of calories from fat intake soars at around 34-38% for Americans while Chinese consume about 14% of their calories from fat. We consume over double the amount of fat each day than these Asian populations. Pause.
Not only do Americans eat far more protein each day (total protein 91g/day vs. 64g/day in China), but from animal sources more often than in China (in American diets, 10-11% of daily calories come from animal proteins compared to only 0.8% for diets in China). Not even one percent of their calories from proteins come from animal sources. Interesting enough, Chinese consume 34mg/day of iron while our animal-based diet here in the States only gets us about 18mg/day of iron. What do we hear here in the US of A about iron? Eat your meat and get your dairy. China proves we don’t need animal sources to get iron and other nutrients we need…and they are getting three times the fiber that our bodies need. I have to wonder why so many US citizens have digestive or bowel related problems. A large part of the blame goes to nutrition choices (dehydration, lack of fiber, etc) and another role is the STRESS that we think is a normal way of life here in America. Stress is not destined to control our lives; we have to make choices so we can live healthfully. Pause. Relax.
What do you think about this research so far? Is any of it surprising? What does it make you consider when you sit down to dinner with your family?
More to come later this week – thanks for reading!
Cheri
Chapter by chapter, The China Study convinces me with a steadfast certainty that plant-based whole foods nutrition is what my body needs. Each section of this book describes extensive nutrition research as it relates to a different type of disease. The power of plants can, according to author Dr. T. Colin Campbell, prevent and even change the course of experiences like heart disease, cancers, autoimmune disease, diabetes and more. I am continually blessed by my love of vegetables, beans and other healthy foods that keep my body well – and now have scientific reinforcement for my choices.
The research in earlier chapters of the book are repetitive, and somewhat tedious if you are looking more for the hands-on guidance for daily life that comes later. However, to see the overwhelming agreement of these studies and their positive affect on our health locks in the message. What we eat can literally direct our health and change our lives. Dr. Campbell discusses genetics and the role they play in the rate of disease expression. He is very clear to acknowledge that disease is fundamentally caused by the existence of genes, yet goes farther to explain why some of us end up with a major diagnosis and others of us do not. It is the day to day lifestyle, environment, and internal health we create for ourselves – namely by how and what we eat – that may or may not cause the gene to actually initiate, promote, and grow into that diagnosis years down the road.
Even if you are a bit skeptical about the disease prevention and even reversal of illness, eating a whole foods plant-based diet has numerous benefits that our bodies need. We need to eat foods that are living – plants – and gain the rich diversity of vitamins, minerals, fiber, healthy fats and even proteins they provide. I am sure that if you ate a higly-processed and animal-foods focused diet and then made a complete turn around to a nutritious, colorful, living plant-based diet that you would notice a difference. Some people may notice positive effects immediately, others may take a while, in particular if your bodies have been deficient (even toxic) for years before. Good health takes time, attention, and loving care to cultivate.
More excerpts from the book coming later this week…chew on this for now and ponder what your own plate looks like.
What will you do today to live well?
Cheri
