Part 5 – An Eye Opening discovery about Nutrition, Disease and the world of Veganism
Vegans and the world of veganism have always been foreign to me, like aliens from Mars. I never felt animosity toward them, but looked upon their practice with a bit of curious puzzlement. Like most Americans, I grew up starting my day on bacon and eggs washed down with a big glass of milk. There was fried chicken on Sundays, turkey at Thanksgiving, ham on Christmas, and corn beef for New Years. In between there was pork chops, meatloaf, hamburgers, hotdogs, and the occasional steak. We always had a green vegetable and potatoes, often smothered in gravy, but meat, milk and potatoes made up the centerpiece. Everybody knew that meat provided protein and milk made for strong bones and teeth.
I grew up believing that animal based foods were superior, later I changed my thinking to accept the idea that vegetables were probably better for you, but by only a degree. Now I’ve come to the conclusion that animal based food diets are slow poisons that are instrumental in causing many of our diseases. I’ve come full circle; I’m a vegan, and feel I should explain the why of that decision and the reasons for other choices I’ve made concerning my cancer treatment.
I have come through the Radiation and Chemo therapies with fewer of the side effects than predicted. I completed them with remarkable continued good health. I’ve had a couple days of being slightly constipated, had a slight nose bleed a couple mornings, noticed a bit more hair than usual in my comb, but nothing of the other ill effects that I was warned to expect: no nausea or vomiting, no periods of sudden and extreme fatigue, and only a moderate weight loss (10 pounds – down to a trimmer 185). I believe the weight loss was due more to the change in diet than to cancer. On the contrary I have a feeling of well-being I did not possess six months ago when I first noticed I had a problem. That is not to say I felt bad six months ago. I considered myself to be in good health and living a vigorous life style for someone my age. I now feel even better than when I started the treatment. That’s not supposed to happen. The doctors seem, like me, to be pleasantly surprised.
The present medical establishment’s recommended treatment for esophageal/stomach cancer consists of three steps: 1. Radiation Therapy; 2. Chemo Therapy, and 3. Surgery (after a resting period of a month or two). Surgery would remove a third of my stomach and a portion of my esophagus, and it is one of the most invasive. My surgeon would make two incisions, one from the side, and the other from my abdomen, lop off the parts close to the malignancy, pull the stomach up and staple it to the esophagus. This procedure adds a further peril to my survival. After heart disease and cancer, medical care is the third leading cause of death in this country. I already have cancer, number two killer, and medical care (surgery and its aftermath) is to be piled on top. I’m nearly seventy-three years old, and though my constitution is presently strong, it will not stay that way. There is the chance of infection or that the staple job will leak, necessitating more surgery. And then there is the recovery, six months or more. During that time I’m told that I will lose a good fraction of my weight – maybe forty or fifty pounds. I will be weakened, and my immune system will be further compromised, thus making it possible something else might come along to take me.
All this reminds me of a dog I once owned. Kody was a wolf/husky mix, an alpha type with lots of character, friendly to people and other dogs, but one that exhibited a self-possessed independence, and would abide crap from no human or other dog. He was still in prime physical shape at fifteen until he got into a fight with another of our dogs. Liquor (the other dog), a beautiful golden retriever, was not so smart, and psychologically damaged because he had gotten lost and was on his own for four months. He would jump Kody on occasions – sneak attacks. I didn’t know about the fight until Kody collapsed several days afterward. Liquor had bitten him near the groin and it had become infected. I treated the wound and he recovered, but lost a good deal of weight. After that Kody was an old, old dog, and lived less than a year. I think that type of outcome is similar to what I might face. Originally I expected to do the surgery, but I’ve been doing research and reading on the subject, and found enough information to give me another idea. I’m going to skip the surgery and go a different direction. I did elect to take five more radiation treatments for a total of thirty-three. This is to better insure that the tumor is shrunk as much as possible and the cancer is well devastated. I finished chemo two weeks ago and the completed radiation therapy last Friday.
I was in college for nine years, and loved it, nearly becoming professional student. Half of the courses I took were science classes, mostly biology, but I had a wide selection in chemistry, physics, math, geology, astronomy, and physiology. When I taught biology, I switched from the traditional approach to one that concentrated on biochemistry, cellular structures and their functions. I included a small section on basic nutrition – protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals, etc. I didn’t bother with diet or which foods to select. It was meat, milk products, vegetables, fruits, and grains – balance was the important thing.
I can therefore read a complex medical research paper. I may have to look up a few words, but am able to make since of it. I don’t have to rely on the authority of the medical establishment to make up my own mind of the efficacy of information. One of the things I did while researching was to read a book that was a real eye opener; one that changed my outlook on diet, nutrition and disease. A young friend of ours, Holly Glenn, gave me the book in August, about the time I started treatment. She is interested in vegetarianism, but said the book was a bit too academic, with more charts and graphs than she cared to wade through. She thought I might be interested, and passed it on to me. She was right. I couldn’t set it down. The book is The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, one of the most renowned nutrition researchers in the world. There is also a related documentary, a ninety minute video titled Forks over Knives that covers the same information.
The premise of the book is that an animal based food diet causes the “Diseases of Affluence” that plague the western world (USA and Europe). Those include heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, and the many autoimmune diseases that afflict western populations. And, conversely, a whole-food plant based diet will prevent those diseases; in some cases reversing their trajectory. Dr. Campbell sites one study after another, scientifically controlled experiments on laboratory animals and people that have been conducted over the last fifty years as he weaves a convincing argument backed up by a mountain of evidence.
The China Study was the clincher. It was ultimately made possible by Chou EnLai, one of the last survivors of the Communist Revolution that defeated the Nationalist Chinese and took over the country in 1949. He came down with cancer in the early 1970s. As premier he ordered a vast survey of the death rates of twelve different cancers. The survey was nation-wide, involving over half million data collectors and covering 96% of its population. A resulting colored map of the cancers showed an interesting distribution of the diseases: some areas were devoid of certain cancers while others revealed a high concentration. This in a country where 87% of those surveyed were of the same ethnic group, the Han people, and most were poor farmers whose family had lived in the same locales for generations. That survey lead to the China Study a decade later.
The China Study was made possible after the United States and China re-established diplomatic relations in the late 1970s. It was conceived when the Deputy Director of China’s health research laboratory came to Cornell to work in Dr. Campbell’s lab, and they began discussing the possibilities of an in-depth health study. The study became a reality in 1982. The two published an 896 page monograph in 1990. It described the study, led by Dr. Campbell, of 6500 subjects (100 from each of 65 chosen counties spread across the country), weekly blood test for all, weekly urine tests for half, and food samples collected to be analyzed. There were 367 variables, and when completed, the results provided 8000 statistically significant associations on life-styles, diet and various diseases. There has never been a more thorough study, before or since, on human nutrition and its impact on disease.
I get disturbed when I think about this study and the many others which show a direct link between an animal based food diet, commercially processed foods and our over-weight, diseased citizenry. It’s like someone has been keeping a secret from us for nearly a quarter of a century. Vegetarian diets and restaurants seem to be more popular these days, but I’ve yet to find many people who have heard anything about the connection. Two of my doctors have the book; one seems to have read it. Only a few other people have heard of the book or of its main points – An animal based diet is causing our diseases, and driving our escalating health costs; a whole-food, plant based diet will lower both.
Why hasn’t my government beat the drum of public awareness? Where is a Surgeon General like Dr. Charles Everett Koop who would take on such a political hot potato? Why does the Food and Nutrition Board (a government agency) continue to put out that silly food pyramid which includes meat, dairy and refined food products? Could it possibly be monetary? The big food related industries like Monsanto, Con Agra Foods, Kraft, Archer Daniels Midland, McDonalds, etc. stand to lose big money should the population change its diet to a more healthy one. The industry is represented by powerful forces in Washington, lobbyists that push their agenda, fill campaign chests, and influence government policy. The members on the Food and Nutrition Board have deep ties with the food industry, and the industry finances the board. It’s a conflict-of-interest.
Why did my doctors not instruct me that it was meat, dairy, eggs, and refined foods, consumed over my life-time, that caused the cancer, and maybe I should think about eliminating them from my diet as it might just help me cure? Complete silence from them. It’s like they never heard of it, and maybe they haven’t. Few medical schools stress the subject of nutrition, offering at best a cursory survey. And it’s money again. The emphasis of the medical establishment is to treat diseases already established, not to prevent them, and there is lots of money to be made, in heart bypass surgery, chemo, radiation, expensive medical equipment, and drugs produced by the pharmaceuticals. They wouldn’t be able to make nearly as many sales to a healthy population – they’d take a hit in their bottom line on blood pressure medicines, cholesterol medicines, blood thinners, and the myriad of other drugs that make for such great profits.
The people have a right to know this information, but twenty-two years have passed, and most of the nation is yet ignorant. Many would not change old eating habits anyway – but people have the right to know, the right to have the information so as to make their own decisions. The official message is silence in a vacuum - we are being lied to – they’re lying by omission.
Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
