I was with a client the other day and she presented an article that was written in one of Sydney leading news paper about the food pyramid she then went on to say Gee how corrupt the system is in developing it –She then went onto ask me do I ever just feel like giving up? Doesn't this seem overwhelming? Sometimes I get so tired of talking to people about diet and health who don't want to listen - do you really think we can change this system?
I informed her that I absolutely understand her frustration and once in a while I feel overwhelmed by the whole system too - but I only allow myself to feel that way for a nanosecond. Quitting in frustration is the way to make sure that the "other side" wins and let them have their way. I refuse to do that.
I also stay motivated by the successes we are having. I think plant-based nutrition is gaining momentum and while there are still lots of people we have to convince and lots of resistance from the medical field, people are finding out that about the power of diet to change their health. There are people who are receptive to our message - we have to stay focused on them rather than those who are not interested. The availability of information, particularly through the internet, has begun to chip (no pun intended) away at the monopoly that has been enjoyed for many years by drug companies and medical professionals. They should be concerned - we are gaining on them!
Malcolm Gladwell says in his book The Tipping Point that one infected person can start an epidemic of the flu. How about mobilizing one million plant-eaters to start an epidemic of health? That's my plan, and every day our community gets closer to that goal.
Why are there animal products in Transformation food pyramid?? This is NOT correct-there should be NO "animal foods" at all in it; 2-3 times a week is 2-3 time too many! This is the cause of disease!
Should I Eat Animal Foods?
A strong case can be made for eliminating dairy foods from everyone's diet. Cow's milk products have been linked to many conditions, including juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, chronic ear infections, and prostate cancer.
There are no cultures that eat a totally plant-based diet. Some healthy, hardy populations include some animal foods in their diets; however the amounts are quite small as a percentage of calories. But the consumption of animal foods is not required in order to achieve and maintain optimal health. Human nutrition needs can be easily met with a well-structured plant-based diet.
If you do choose to consume animal foods, restrict consumption to small portions only 2-3 times per week, and make sure that the animal foods you do eat are organic (the steroids, hormones and antibiotics administered to conventionally-grown livestock are extremely detrimental to health) or wild-caught if you are eating fish.
There is no question that the fastest and most positive changes in health and weight take place when one eliminates animal foods, and that a totally plant-based diet is the best protection against disease. In fact, there are no nutrients in animal foods which cannot be consumed in plant foods, with the possible exception of vitamin B12. Additionally, the consumption of whole plant foods does not involve the risks associated with the consumption of animal foods.
About Transformation Philosophy
Some people are surprised that the Transformation diet allows for the consumption of some animal foods, and this has generated controversy in some circles.
Transformation's inclusion of animal foods is accompanied by several qualifiers. Our plan allows for those who are not sick, or are only mildly sick (10 KG overweight, with no other health concerns, for example) to continue to eat animal foods. The most recent version of our food guide places animal foods toward the top, accompanied by the term "optional," which means that animal foods are not a necessary part of the diet or a requirement for optimal health. We instruct that only organic animal foods and wild fish should be consumed; that cow's milk products should be eliminated; and that kilojoules from animal foods should not exceed 10% of overall kilojoules. In other words, our clients consume animal foods two to three times per week, while eating plant-based fare the rest of the time.
We strongly recommend that people who are suffering from coronary artery disease, type-2 diabetes, and other serious conditions, convert to a low-fat vegan diet, and we provide ample published scientific evidence showing that doing so gives them the best chance to experience significant health improvement.
There are several reasons why we continue to allow small amounts of organic animal food as part of our main dietary plan for most people. The first is that there is no evidence that a vegan diet is required in order for the maintenance of optimal health. In fact, studies of populations with very low disease rates, such as the rural Chinese and northern Africans, have shown that these people do eat small amounts of animal foods. Their eating patterns are based on economics, since plant foods are cheaper and these populations are not generally wealthy, but the fact remains that they are not vegan.
Transformation dietary recommendations are based on what the best science shows to be the best diet for humans, not on my personal preferences or habits, or anyone's or any group's political agenda or point of view. We simply cannot back up the statement that a vegan diet is required in order for a person in generally good health to remain that way.
One area in which almost everyone agrees (including some of my critics on this issue), is that we must get the message about how diet can affect health outcomes to more people, specifically to more mainstream audiences. I agree, but if we are going to do this, we have to deliver a message that is defensible, and that people are willing to listen to. Transformation has been incredibly successful precisely because we have reached the "not yet sick" and "mildly sick" with our message, in addition to people who are very sick. Hundreds of these types of people have made huge changes in their diet, the most significant of which are the reduction of animal foods and an increase in plant food consumption.
Many if not most of these people would not have even listened if we had started with our most strict dietary recommendations (the ones we reserve for the sickest people). I do not consider it a good outcome to send a 31-year-old person eating some version of the Standard Australian Diet back into the world to continue doing so until he is really sick and then willing to agree to any form of restriction in order to recover. I want to get that person to start changing his or her habits before disaster strikes, and to do so, I must put forth a plausible and defensible plan.
The reality is that many of our clients, once they get started, end up making much more sweeping changes than they originally intended to make. Our files are filled with "accidental vegans" - people who just drifted in that direction and eventually decided that this diet and lifestyle was for them, or became more knowledgeable about issues like factory farming and changed their habits accordingly. We have found that if you can get someone to take a step in the right direction, you can generally get them to take more steps. They key is to get them walking down the path to better health in the first place, an option that does not exist if we scare significant portions of the population off during our initial interaction.
Now, at the risk of offending some people, I'm going to discuss another important point concerning people who do not eat animal foods and think that we should promote a diet free of all animal foods. The reason why people check out organizations like Transformation is that they are interested in improving their health. Unfortunately, many of the vegans in Australia are not doing a very good job of modeling health for the rest of the population. It is true that they have eliminated animal foods, but many vegans are still eating a horrible diet with too much fat and the inclusion of lots of processed foods. Many of them are overweight and unhealthy; we deal with this population consistently. I do not recall the last time I attended a vegetarian or vegan event where I did not encounter a significant number of people who were overweight or unhealthy-looking. This certainly does not entice people into wanting to become vegan; in fact it screams to them than that a vegan diet is not a healthy one.
Many of our clients who continue to eat small amounts of animal foods are lean, active, have healthy biomarkers and they look great. I'll compare these clients with unhealthy vegans (who are, unfortunately, quite common), and they come out ahead every time.
It is possible to be a responsible meat eater. It is possible to reduce your carbon foot print significantly by restricting animal foods in the way our general plan prescribes. If we could get all Australian to do this, we would dry up demand for animal foods produced on factory farms, and we would significantly reduce the incidence of heart disease, cancer, and other degenerative conditions. This, in turn, would ratchet down health care costs dramatically since most health care dollars are spent taking care of people suffering from diseases caused by poor diet and lifestyle choices.
I'm starting with the assumption that we all agree that our objectives are to improve public health, reduce health care costs, eliminate factory farms, and reduce the negative environmental impact resulting from our current eating habits. If that's the case, let's agree to meet members of the public where they are and make it attractive for them to join us.
Yours in Health
SK
