I'm not sure we have enough heroes today. Thus, I consider Dr. T. Colin Campbell my hero. I recently read T. Colin Campbell's book Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition [and he was co-author of the China Study] and I loved it! He is my new hero because his book covers some very important topics that I really appreciated: why the whole food plant based diet is the healthiest for most humans [based on his and others' many years of scientific research]; the Big Pharma and problems with it; some of the major problems with the "disease care industry" in the U.S.; the cruelty involved in the "meat" industry; how most (approximately 90-95%) of the 'diseases' currently afflicting many Americans could be solved by healthy nutrition alone (and Dr. Campbell isn't alone in this percentage; see Dr. Roy Wolford and Lisa Wolford's 1994 book The Anti-Aging Plan, where the authors suggest at least 85% of diseases can be controlled by diet/nutrition); Dr. Campbell's naivete in believing that good scientific evidence would convince others how important the whole food plant-based diet is (I can relate to that!); how even many cancers would be either prevented or halted with a whole foods plant-based diet; that our country's disease care system is unfortunately linked to profit, which makes it difficult for those in the industry to truly focus on health and prevention; that reductionist thinking is creating more problems than it may be solving; he even lambasts the supplement industry [which I applaud him for; I, too, became disenchanted with the supplement industry many years ago]; and many other important topics.
I appreciated reading in Whole about the research conducting by a Dr. Liu [a former student of Dr. Campbell's], who studied antioxidants and other factors in apples. After Dr. Liu discovered how rich the antioxidants are in apples, he then conducted 'reductionist' research and analyzed the apple's parts and made an amazing discovery: the whole apple is much better [more nutritious] than its parts! Less nutrition, including antioxidants, are available when the apple is broken down for selling as supplements than is the whole apple. I found this very ironic, and appreciated even more the now defunct magazine entitled Just Eat An Apple that Frederic Patenaude wrote and published for a few years. Fred named the magazine because, according to Fred's book Raw Food Controversies, RC Dini used to say, "just eat an apple!" when people would ask him "what should I eat for protein?" Right on Dr. Campbell, Dr. Liu, Fred and RC Dini!
With Whole, Dr. Campbell is contributing to the growing amount of research conducted by reputable scientists, medical doctors, researchers, and others how important eating a healthy, whole plant-based foods is, and how unhealthy meat, dairy and processed foods are. Whole built on the foundation of Dr. Campbell's China Study and other research, and helps support the vegetarian, vegan and raw food tenants, as well as noting how damaging the meat and dairy industry's practices are, which have been written about by several authors, notably John Robbins in Diet for a New America, as well as others. I found Dr. Campbell's book to be especially exciting and inspirational because he not only covers so many important topics that I have been reading about and researching on my own for years, but as a researcher and scientist himself, with other 40 years of research under his belt, his information packs a wallop!
I also appreciated Dr. Campbell's story that he naively thought that by telling others the truth, based on sound science, the disease care system would change. When I was in my 'activist' mode many years ago, participating in tabling sessions, going on the radio and television shows, participating in debates and the like, I, too, naively thought that by telling the truth, things would change. Dr. Campbell's experience shows that while some people change, getting the disease care system to change is going to be extremely difficult.
I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to read Whole, and refer you to the reading list noted elsewhere on this website for other related books; the more we educate ourselves, as well as have supporting evidence for important topics such as diet and animal cruelty, the more we can make informed decisions! We [I] may not be able to change the world as fast as we'd [I'd] like, but we can change our own way of thinking and eating, and make positive in-roads in our own lives!
I appreciated reading in Whole about the research conducting by a Dr. Liu [a former student of Dr. Campbell's], who studied antioxidants and other factors in apples. After Dr. Liu discovered how rich the antioxidants are in apples, he then conducted 'reductionist' research and analyzed the apple's parts and made an amazing discovery: the whole apple is much better [more nutritious] than its parts! Less nutrition, including antioxidants, are available when the apple is broken down for selling as supplements than is the whole apple. I found this very ironic, and appreciated even more the now defunct magazine entitled Just Eat An Apple that Frederic Patenaude wrote and published for a few years. Fred named the magazine because, according to Fred's book Raw Food Controversies, RC Dini used to say, "just eat an apple!" when people would ask him "what should I eat for protein?" Right on Dr. Campbell, Dr. Liu, Fred and RC Dini!
With Whole, Dr. Campbell is contributing to the growing amount of research conducted by reputable scientists, medical doctors, researchers, and others how important eating a healthy, whole plant-based foods is, and how unhealthy meat, dairy and processed foods are. Whole built on the foundation of Dr. Campbell's China Study and other research, and helps support the vegetarian, vegan and raw food tenants, as well as noting how damaging the meat and dairy industry's practices are, which have been written about by several authors, notably John Robbins in Diet for a New America, as well as others. I found Dr. Campbell's book to be especially exciting and inspirational because he not only covers so many important topics that I have been reading about and researching on my own for years, but as a researcher and scientist himself, with other 40 years of research under his belt, his information packs a wallop!
I also appreciated Dr. Campbell's story that he naively thought that by telling others the truth, based on sound science, the disease care system would change. When I was in my 'activist' mode many years ago, participating in tabling sessions, going on the radio and television shows, participating in debates and the like, I, too, naively thought that by telling the truth, things would change. Dr. Campbell's experience shows that while some people change, getting the disease care system to change is going to be extremely difficult.
I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to read Whole, and refer you to the reading list noted elsewhere on this website for other related books; the more we educate ourselves, as well as have supporting evidence for important topics such as diet and animal cruelty, the more we can make informed decisions! We [I] may not be able to change the world as fast as we'd [I'd] like, but we can change our own way of thinking and eating, and make positive in-roads in our own lives!
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