The Challenge of Eating Healthy in America

In previous blog posts, I’ve shared that I stopped eating beef and pork a while ago. This was an unexpected development in my journey. At the time, I couldn’t really explain it beyond the fact that I had simply lost interest in eating them. They smelled and looked unappetizing to me, and I gradually stopped buying them for my family.

After removing beef and pork from my diet, I lost 20 pounds. However, I wouldn’t attribute that weight loss solely to changing my diet. I had been meditating for a few years by that point, and around the same time I was also running. I believe the weight loss resulted from a combination of factors, which I’ve discussed in previous blog posts.

Recently, I’ve started feeling the same way about chicken and fish. I’ve found myself less interested in eating them and more drawn to vegetarian and vegan meals. Over the past few days, for example, my diet has consisted primarily of beans, rice, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and pea protein powder. After replacing chicken and fish with cooked vegetables in my meals, I noticed that I had lost five pounds within a matter of days.

These changing dietary preferences have led me to do some research into the food we eat, why we’re drawn to certain foods, and how our food choices affect our health and the world around us. As part of this exploration, I recently watched the documentary What the Health, available on Netflix.

I want to share some of the key points raised in the film and then discuss how they relate to my own journey.

The documentary begins by discussing research linking processed meat consumption to cancer. According to the film, the World Health Organization reviewed more than 800 studies across 10 countries and found a link between processed meat consumption and cancer. The film also states that eating one serving of deli meat daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%.

The World Health Organization classifies processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning there is sufficient evidence that it can cause cancer in humans. This is the same classification given to substances such as tobacco smoke and asbestos. Red meat, meanwhile, is classified as Group 2, meaning it is probably carcinogenic to humans.

Dairy was another major focus of the documentary. The film discusses research suggesting that dairy consumption may be associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer in men. One source cited in the film reports a 34% increase in risk. (Reference here.)

The documentary also highlights a study examining women who had previously been diagnosed with breast cancer. According to the study, consuming one serving of dairy per day was associated with a 49% higher risk of dying from breast cancer and a 64% higher risk of dying from any cause. (Study here.)

Cheese also receives considerable attention. The documentary raises concerns about its nutritional composition, including its high levels of saturated fat and sodium, and discusses possible links between dairy consumption and certain health conditions, including autoimmune diseases and Type 1 diabetes.

Milk is another area of concern raised by the documentary. The film points out that cow’s milk naturally contains hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, regardless of whether it is organic. It also challenges the common belief that drinking milk is essential for building strong bones, citing research on bone health, hip fractures, and other health outcomes.

One of the documentary’s central arguments is that some of the organizations responsible for advising Americans about their health receive funding from the very industries whose products they are evaluating.

For example, the film highlights corporate sponsorships and financial relationships involving several major health organizations:

• American Diabetes Association: The documentary discusses sponsorships and funding from food companies, including Dannon and Kraft, as well as pharmaceutical companies such as Merck, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Janssen, and Novo Nordisk.

• American Cancer Society: The film points to relationships with companies such as Tyson Foods and Yum! Brands, the parent company of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC, along with several pharmaceutical companies.

• Susan G. Komen: The documentary highlights sponsorships involving KFC, Dietz & Watson, and Yoplait.

• American Heart Association: The film discusses financial relationships with meat producers, dairy companies, fast-food corporations, and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

These organizations take money from the very food companies that cause the diseases.

In addition, the documentary extends this concern to the federal government. The US Department of Agriculture creates dietary guidelines for Americans every 5 years. The committee that writes these guidelines are made up of people that made money from McDonalds, American Meat Institute, National Dairy Council, Kraft, Dannon, and candy companies like Mars and M&M.

It also discusses the considerable sums of money spent by the meat and dairy industries on promotional programs and lobbying. The meat and dairy industry spends at least $557 million promoting their goods through check off programs and at least $138 million lobbying congress. So it comes as no surprise that our children's school lunches are packed with processed meat and dairy.

There are even legal protections for these meat and dairy companies, for example:

• Animal activists can be labeled as terrorists for disrupting the profits of any business that uses animals under the animals enterprise terrorist act.

• Commonsense Consumption Act of 2009 applies to injuries or health conditions related to accumulated food consumption, weight gain, or obesity.

• Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act (widely known as the "Cheeseburger Bill"), a piece of U.S. legislation designed to protect fast-food restaurants, food manufacturers, and distributors from civil lawsuits.

Essentially, our food system is setup for us to fail. The food we consume causes health problems and then we go to doctors and hospitals. We are then put on medicine for the rest of our life. Thus, the pharmaceutical, medical, and weight-loss industries are making billions, even trillions of dollars every year from people getting diseases from our food system.

The documentary says "Chronic diseases are the cash cow of the pharmaceutical industry". Pharmaceutical companies don't focus on prevention, they focus on the medications for chronic diseases. The insulin industry generates approximately $28 billion to $30 billion in revenue annually. In the United States, treating disease like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes is a 1.5 trillion dollar industry.

Yikes, so essentially we are all taught at a young age to eat the wrong foods, we end up with health conditions, and these industries make a ton of money. So what is the solution? Moving to a more plant-based diet.

The documentary highlights research by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn involving patients with cardiovascular disease who adopted a plant-based diet. In a study published in 2014, researchers reported that 99.4% of patients who adhered to the program avoided further major cardiac events during the reported follow-up period. (Study here.)

The potential benefits of eating more plant-based foods extend beyond our personal health. Our food choices also have implications for the environment.

Animal agriculture contributes to greenhouse gas emissions in several ways. Forests are cleared to create pastureland or grow animal feed. Producing large quantities of crops such as corn, soy, and alfalfa for livestock also requires land, energy, and agricultural inputs, including synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.

These fertilizers can contribute to emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that traps substantially more heat than carbon dioxide. In addition, the storage and management of animal manure generates methane. Manure can also release nitrous oxide as it decomposes or is applied to fields.

There are many factors involved in the environmental footprint of our food system, but the scale of animal agriculture makes it an important part of the conversation about climate change, land use, and how we care for our planet.

Then of course there is the ethical and moral dilemma where factory farm animals are treated horribly, slaughtered, sliced, and diced and put on our grocery store shelves. And since we are all so busy and disconnected, we don't notice how strange it is that there are animal parts on the shelves and we don't even question or process the life that was taken or the person that may have been affected by slaughtering a living innocent animal. And yes, those that work at slaughterhouses have a higher percentage of suicide. Here's an article about the stress and anxiety caused by working at a slaughterhouse: article here.

This information may be triggering because food is so ingrained into our belief systems, culture, and society. We are told at a young age what to eat by our parents, grandparents, schools, and doctors so questioning this certainly takes some courage within. This is also very confusing for people that have been eating the same thing for many years, as it can often be difficult to create big changes in our diet.

Getting back to my own journey, this has taken me quite a bit of time to get my head around. As I said, I already transitioned off eating beef but I continued to eat chicken and fish. Now I'm transitioning to a more vegetarian and vegan diet so I made changes over time.

I have not transitioned my children over to a vegetarian and vegan diet and they still buy lunch at school which consists of processed meats and dairy everyday. Thus, I understand the complications this information can cause. I don't judge or shame anyone for their diet choices, that is not the point of this blog post.

My goal here is to share my own experience, knowledge, learnings, and perhaps it helps someone else out there. This is something I'm continuing to research and is ongoing for me but I can tell you that after transitioning to a more plant-based diet, I feel great. I have more energy and I'm healthier than I have ever been. I intuitively feel that moving toward a plant-based diet is the right move for me.