Documentary worth viewing before worshiping this Memorial Day at the alter of BBQ'd dead animals | Senior Focus | Max Greenberg | Palo Alto Online |

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About this blog: I developed a special interest in helping seniors with their challenges and transitions when my dad had a stroke and I helped him through all the various stages of downsizing, packing, moving and finding an assisted living communi...  (More)

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Documentary worth viewing before worshiping this Memorial Day at the alter of BBQ'd dead animals

Uploaded: May 30, 2016
No, this is not one of "those" horrible, scare-mongering videos of how the animals we eat are raised and then murdered for our enjoyment. You can find those on your own.

PurePlant Nation (now available streaming on Netflix) shows how we can live healthier, happier lives through a plant-based diet. Pure and simple. It actually presents facts and studies including The China Study. Here's a description of that study as it appears on Wikipedia:

The China Study is a book by T. Colin Campbell, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, and his son Thomas M. Campbell II, a physician. It was first published in the United States in January 2005 and had sold over one million copies as of October 2013, making it one of America's best-selling books about nutrition.[2

The China Study examines the relationship between the consumption of animal products (including dairy) and chronic illnesses such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer and bowel cancer.[3 The authors conclude that people who eat a whole-food, plant-based/vegan diet—avoiding all animal products, including beef, pork, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese and milk, and reducing their intake of processed foods and refined carbohydrates—will escape, reduce or reverse the development of numerous diseases. They write that "eating foods that contain any cholesterol above 0 mg is unhealthy."[4


Dr Campbell wrote this book well into his 70's, thus helping to qualify this blog post appearing in Senior Focus.

One of a number of things that helped me switch over to a plant-based diet, cutting out all animal and dairy products, was saying to myself those three magic words "Up until now" in response to my inner-voice that had been telling myself forever that "I love meat, I need meat, I must have meat, I can't live without meat."
Local Journalism.
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Comments

Posted by Mr.Recycle, a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis,
on May 30, 2016 at 1:45 pm

Max, just for some balance (and to help build an appetite for that BBQ), everyone should also watch the amazing French documentary, Steak (R)evolution, also on Netflix.:)

Netflix::
Web Link

Trailer
Web Link


Posted by Kazu, a resident of Downtown North,
on May 30, 2016 at 1:59 pm

If we are not supposed to eat animals, why are they made out of meat?

@Mr.Recycle, I just signed up for Netflix. Steak is the food of the gods!


Posted by Gale Johnson, a resident of Adobe-Meadow,
on May 30, 2016 at 4:41 pm

Max,

Enjoy your vegan diet. I won't 'alter' my worship for meat at the altar. Got the Weber pot fired up with skewers loaded with all kinds of meats. I'm a 79 year old farm boy from Montana. Never been in a hospital in my life, not even born in one. Hope to enjoy many more BBQ's out on my patio. Keep checking the obits tho, I'll make it there someday.


Posted by Healthy Vegan, a resident of Greenmeadow,
on May 30, 2016 at 5:51 pm

Thank you for promoting a plant-based diet. Despite numerous and well researched benefits to eating little or no animal foods, I'm afraid no amount of science will change most peoples' minds. But keep trying.


Posted by Reader, a resident of another community,
on May 31, 2016 at 12:36 am

Max Greenberg, you have just become my favorite blogger at Palo Alto Online. :-)


Posted by Max Greenberg, a resident of Midtown,
on May 31, 2016 at 7:44 am

Kazu: Humans are made of meat too. Perhaps you would have been one of the last men standing in the Donner Party.


Posted by Max Greenberg, a resident of Midtown,
on May 31, 2016 at 7:45 am

To all my meat eating readers out there, I still love you.


Posted by Mr.Recycle, a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis,
on May 31, 2016 at 4:36 pm

Love you too :)


Posted by Plane Speaker, a resident of Crescent Park,
on Jun 1, 2016 at 2:44 am

I have been reading and trying out different diets for health reasons.
Vegetarianism and veganism were two that I was very curious about because
they have the best spiels and propaganda. The gang of Colin Campbell,
Essylstein?, and others, most of them centered up around Santa Rosa
have a very good story backed by a lot of scientific facts.

The problem is that when I really began paying attention to their claims
they were exaggerating and reading things into studies that I did not agree
were their conclusions and summations of many of these studies.

Oh, there is overwhelming evidence that the standard American diet is
now unhealthy for most of us. To the best of my understanding the
reasons are as follows:

1. Not enough fresh fruits and vegetables.
2. Way, way too much sugar. Suggested is 6 tspns, average is 29 tspns.
3. Too much processed foods and chemicals.

However, there are really no studies, much as the vegans want to claim
that meat is toxic that actually say meat is toxic. This is where you will
see the vegans bouncing off the walls when they talk about the subject
making claims that meat is toxic, gives you cancer and heart disease.
( If you already have heart disease or coronary artery disease eating
plants based only may help to remove arterial plaque ... at least that
is the claim of vegans )

I like the slogan from Michael Pollan, eat food, mostly plants, not too much.
That makes sense, is doable, and can pretty much still be configured into
a normal American lifestyle, if you live outside a food desert anyway.

Another good one to remember for the plant mix is GBOMBS, meaning
greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries and seeds. If you throw some
meat, fish, dairy in there without overdoing it you will be healthy.


Posted by WilliamR, a resident of another community,
on Jun 1, 2016 at 11:05 am

WilliamR is a registered user.

@ Plane Speaker,

Quick question on your last paragraph--I like mushrooms, but what nutrients do they have? Are some varieties better than others?


Posted by Plane Speaker, a resident of Crescent Park,
on Jun 1, 2016 at 11:16 am

WilliamR ... the GBOMBS acronym comes from Dr. Joel Fuhrman.
His website is www dot drfuhrman dot com
Here is what he says about mushrooms.

M – Mushrooms

Consuming mushrooms regularly is associated with decreased risk of breast, stomach, and colorectal cancers.

In one recent Chinese study, women who ate at least 10 grams of fresh mushrooms each day (about one mushroom per day) had a 64% decreased risk of breast cancer. Even more dramatic protection was gained by women who ate 10 grams of mushrooms and drank green tea daily—an 89% decrease in risk for premenopausal women, and 82% for postmenopausal women, respectively.17-20

White, cremini, Portobello, oyster, shiitake, maitake, and reishi mushrooms all have anti-cancer properties—some are anti-inflammatory, stimulate the immune system, prevent DNA damage, slow cancer cell growth, cause programmed cancer cell death, and inhibit angiogenesis.

In addition to these properties, mushrooms are unique in that they contain aromatase inhibitors—compounds that can block the production of estrogen. These compounds are thought to be largely responsible for the preventive effects of mushrooms against breast cancer. In fact, there are aromatase-inhibiting drugs on the market that are used to treat breast cancer.

Regular consumption of dietary aromatase inhibitors is an excellent strategy for prevention, and it turns out that even the most commonly eaten mushrooms (white, cremini, and Portobello) have a high anti-aromatase activity.21 Keep in mind that mushrooms should only be eaten cooked: several raw culinary mushrooms contain a potentially carcinogenic substance called agaritine, and cooking mushrooms significantly reduces their agaritine content.22-23


Posted by Max Greenberg, a Palo Alto Online blogger,
on Jun 2, 2016 at 9:09 am

Max Greenberg is a registered user.

Great info coming from contributors. Regarding mushrooms, Paul Stamets is one of the world's leading authorities on the benefits of mushrooms and has a very successful business selling various extracts and all things mushroom related: Fungi Perfecti (www.fungi.com) He did a TedMed talk a few years ago in San Diego where he brought on stage someone very close to him who took some immune-enhancers for a period of time and appears to have reversed a terminal cancer. My understanding is lightly sauteing mushrooms releases protein which you don't really get when eating them raw.


Posted by Roger Overnaut, a resident of Evergreen Park,
on Jun 5, 2016 at 6:29 pm

Bacteria eat us, so why shouldn't we take our own turn at the meat table?


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