Dear Subscriber,
There has been a lot of talk on my Substack on diet. All of you know I am vegetarian. I am so, in large part, because a few decades ago, I was convinced, based on the China Study (available at Amazon), and data on California 7th day Adventists, that the healthiest and longest living people in the USA, followed such a diet (IF HIGH QUALITY). Of course, because of my personal spiritual feelings (not wanting to harm an animal unless absolutely necessary) I am personally quite hard core about it.
That said, I don’t emphasize being vegetarian to clients. Why?
Because I also realize that we are not lab animals genetically identical. We all have different metabolic set points – even genetically identical twins. We have different blood types, different metabolic rates, hormones, genetic polymorphisms, etc. I have seen people who just did not, nor could not do well without a carnivorous diet. And I’ve seen others not fare so well eating meat. I could easily tell that I am one of the latter. So, making the switch was easy for me. It was gradual, over years, but when I left Alaska (after 22 years) and came to California, the rest was easy. I gave up fish, eggs, and the very little chicken I was still eating having access to the abundance of fresh organic plant food here.
So, what about plants, and why do I medically stress simply moving in that direction? Well, the China Study published in 2006 provided really good evidence about a plant-based diet being healthier. Then we saw studies showing the vegetarian California 7th Day Adventists lived substantially longer and used the disease maintenance system less than their non vegetarian counterparts. This was a particularly compelling story as the difference between the two groups was mainly diet, and not social/economic/religious factors.
Now take a look at this just published major study from Harvard, the Nurses Study of thousands.