Sunday, February 28, 2010

Time for Nutritional Sanity

Recent Dr. McDougall Conference

Looking for a life changing experience but not quite sure who to believe on nutrition? A great place to begin is the McDougall web site. Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend Dr. McDougall's fantastic weekend intensive in Santa Rosa, a valuable educational experience on nutrition and health. I recommend it heartily.

One very noteworthy moment at the conference was when Amy Joy Lanou, Ph.D., author of Building Bone Vitality and a professor at the University of North Carolina, spoke about the moment of truth in her educational transformation. She had spent eight years pursuing traditional nutritional studies when she had her first encounter with Dr. Colin Campbell, author of the best-selling The China Study, and biochemistry professor emeritus at Cornell. By the end of Campbell's lecture, Amy had come to the conclusion that either all eight years of her education leading to her doctorate degree totally missed the point of what a good diet really is, or Dr. Campbell was a crock (not her exact words). After doing further research, she became convinced that the most vigorous science supported a vegan diet - time after time. The mantra, "there are no bad foods" turned out not to be sound nutritional advice, but blatant marketing for the current SAD (Standard American Diet) status quo (also not her exact words, but you catch the drift).

We do not need more data to know what to eat and what not to eat; we just need to do it. Choose your guru - Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn or his son Rip, Dr. Neal Barnard, Rory Freedman, or partake from what tickles your fancy from each of them. These are all pioneers pointing the way toward healthier lives for you and your family through sound and incredibly tasty nutritional practices.

There is plenty of science to say what is wrong with our diet. We don't need more statistics to say we are getting fatter - any trip to the grocery store will suffice to prove that. Just as we don't need more data to understand that dairy has literally milked us all - we have known that for decades.

One can either keep one's head in the sand and continue eating an incredibly unhealthy diet or decide to get smart, healthy, and feel great, making it much less likely that heart disease or cancer will become a part of your future.

I wish everyone a world of healthier choices.

Expressly yours,