Lifestyle Diseases and Nutritional Extravagance

Lifestyle diseases are on the rise.

The China Study points out that as civilizations and cultures become more wealthy or affluent, consumption of animal products increase.  The Kings and Queens of old always had the choicest meats, fowl and dairy at their disposal, and as a result suffered from all the chronic health issues and lifestyle diseases of modern Western civilization.

Diseases of Poverty

On the other hand, "a plant based diet in poor areas of the world usually have insufficient variety, inadequate quantity and quality, and are associated with poor health conditions where childhood diseases are prevalent."

The diseases of poverty have high mortality rates for:

• pulmonary tuberculosis
• parasitic diseases
• intestinal obstruction
• digestive diseases

Diseases of Affluence

Today, Americans at all levels eat like kings and queens of the past. We suffer from this rich food composed of excessive amounts of animal products, just as the royalty did. The result is...we suffer from the diseases of affluence caused by and large from this extreme diet of rich foods.

Some of the diseases of affluence (nutritional extravagance) are:

• colon cancer
• lung cancer
• breast cancer
• leukemia
• childhood brain cancer
• stomach cancer
• liver cancer
• diabetes
• coronary heart disease

Two Types of Cholesterol: Blood Cholesterol and Dietary Cholesterol

Blood cholesterol is one of the strongest predictors of Western lifestyle diseases.

• Blood cholesterol is produced by the liver. All the cholesterol needed by the body is blood cholesterol. As the intake of plant based diet increases, we know the blood cholesterol decreases.
• Dietary cholesterol is found in animal products. Dietary cholesterol is not necessary to sustain human life since we manufacture all the cholesterol we need. Dietary cholesterol adds to our total cholesterol when consumed. As the consumption of animal products increases, the blood cholesterol increases.

The levels of cholesterol in some rural areas of China were as low as 80mg/dL. The average American's cholesterol is 215mg/dL.

In addition to Dr. Campbell's observations in The China Study, I have found that Dr. Esselstyn and other medical doctors confirmed the fact that patients that stayed below their recommendation of 150mg/dL of total cholesterol did not have any heart events. Blood cholesterol level has a great impact on our health.

As it has been said before, a whole food plant based diet tends to be the diet that will keep most of us free of the lifestyle diseases. These are the diseases that kill the majority of Americans each year.

When confronted with the evidence, Dr. Campbell and his family had no other choice but to abandon the Standard American Diet and follow a plant based diet. 

This has been my decision also. I have never regretted this change and find the adventure in different foods as exciting as any new learning experience.

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Lifestyle Diseases and Much More

The following items are covered in The China Study:

• The book reviews in detail all of the lifestyle diseases and additional diseases along with eight principles of eating right.
• The dark side is discussed regarding food, medical, insurance and the government cartel as drawn from Dr. Campbell's experiences while serving on many top level boards and committees.
• Plant protein, fat in plants and plant complex carbohydrates supply you abundantly with all the life giving nutrition you need.
• Dr. Campbell reveals that there is a symphony of hundreds of thousands of chemicals interacting when you eat plants. The body sorts it all out and uses what it needs to avoid lifestyle diseases and provide you with excellent health.

I hope you will read The China Study. The knowledge given in this book will change the way you see your life and why food is our best medicine.

         >The China Study

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