I Want to Marry T. Colin Campbell

I'm going to try my best not to get back up on my soapbox for this post, but it's going to be hard.

I just finished reading Whole by T. Colin Campbell, the mastermind behind The China Study. This is another of those life changing books if you let the information in.

Oh, where to begin. There is SO much fantastic information in this book. Campbell has been researching nutrition for 50 years and at this point he is fully in the camp of eating a whole food, plant based diet (WFPB). Notice I didn't use the word vegan. Neither does Campbell. That isn't what he is proposing. His "aha" after years of research shows that when we eat foods as close to their natural state as possible, we get the greatest benefit from them. For example: Oranges have vitamin C. Vitamin C is good for us. So, lots of people take a vitamin C supplement. Or drink some OJ. But what Campbell's research has shown is that we are better off if we just eat the orange.  Why? Because our bodies are much smarter than we are. If we just give our bodies the vitamin c without all the other components of the orange, our bodies do not utilize it as efficiently. If we give our bodies the orange in it's natural state, our bodies will utilize what it needs at that moment in time.  Taking supplements for certain nutrients is all part of what Campbell terms the "reductionist" approach. It's huge in this country and it's a big problem for our health.

Campbell addresses the protein myth and our fascination with it in our country. I mean, what vegetarian or vegan has NOT been asked "But where do you get your protein?". Did you know that spinach and kale have about twice as much protein, per calorie, as a lean cut of beef? Did you know that animal protein has been linked to increased cancer rates in rats? A link has also been shown between cancer growth and the protein found in cow's milk.

We have been fed the line so much in this country that we MUST have animal protein to grow and maintain muscle mass.  But Campbell points us to chimps, gorillas, elephants and hippos, all of whom eat a 100% plant based diet and don't seem to be all that weak or scrawny.

Campbell also gets into the sticky subjects of our reductionist medical system, where we treat the symptoms but don't really do anything to prevent them in the first place. Why is this? Because our medical system is driven by profit and profit is reduced by preventive medicine. Campbell states, "...health information is controlled, and has been for a long time, by interests that are not in alignment with the common good--industries that care much more about their profit than our health. And those industries feel deeply threatened by the possibility of mass adoption of a plant-based diet". What are these industries? The medical, pharmaceutical and supplement industries. Scary information about the power these industries have over our food information and choices.

Campbell goes into our food choices and how they affect the planet. How the production of so much meat affects fossil fuel use, water consumption, deforestation, and global warming. 

And of course Campbell also goes into the hell that is factory farming. As he states, "Choosing plant-based foods over animal-based foods reduces pain in so many ways. It alleviates our bodily pain. It minimizes the pain animals experience by reducing CAFO farming. It also reduces human suffering associated with global poverty and hunger".

I've only hit a few high points in this review. The point I really want to come across is that the information presented in this book is valuable for all of us. It is not an easy read for many reasons. It makes us confront long held beliefs that just aren't true. It shows us how discerning and skeptical we have to be with information that is presented to us about our health, which is scary. There are parts of the book that are a little too scientific for me, as in, my eyes glazed over a bit when I tried to read about certain studies that were a little too detailed for my non-scientific mind. But do not let that deter you. Skim it, move on and get this valuable information.

This man is on a mission. He has fought against our current thinking on nutrition for many years. I can only hope that his message will be the catalyst this county needs to change our current unsustainable path.

And, unfortunately, Mr. Campbell is already happily married.