In this first section of the book I covered chapters 1-4 and pages 1-108. The main topics addressed in this first quarter of the book were the problems that all people in the U.S. face, such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Many of us are misinformed and confused on what is factual and what is incorrect.
A whole chapter covers proteins and what exactly they are, if they are truly good for us and if so what type of proteins should we be consuming, and how much of a certain protein is healthy. Many people today think that protein (mostly animal protein) is good for us, and we've been told to believe this for a very long time. In one study in the book it was found that most protein-rich children with diets most like our meaty American diets, had the highest rates of liver cancer. The people who eat the most animal protein have the most heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Could there possibly be a diet-cancer connection? This book is all about explaining that yes indeed, diet plays a much more important role in our lives than we could ever think, and yes certain diets cause cancer.
Another chapter goes into detail on the science behind cancer, and the possibility of even "turning it off". This chapter addresses some of the more popular cancer-causing agents such as Nitrites, artificial sweeteners, Dioxin, and Aflatoxin to name a few. Maybe some of you have heard of these in the news. These chemicals are all scary yes, because they have the potential of when being exposed frequently, incidence of cancer also increases. But what if there were a chemical that was capable of turning on cancer 100% of the time? Another experiment talked about in the book proves that yes, when protein was fed to rats at high levels they all got cancer every time! I was very shocked when reading this. If this is the truth then no wonder so many Americans are diagnosed with cancer every year. So many of us eat meat daily, some for every meal. These findings are astonishing. To prove their testings even farther, they conducted more experiments to prove that low protein diets could decrease enzyme activity and prevent dangerous carcinogen binding to DNA (cancer). To sum up this chapter- consuming less protein leads to less cancer.
In the fourth chapter it discusses China, and all the implications (or in this case non-implications) that this country has with cancer. It was found that cancer was much more profound in some geographic areas than in others. It is now being thought that cancer may be largely due to environmental/lifestyle factors and not genetics. Fascinating! They also compared the American diet to the China diet and how the differences between the two play a part in cancer rates. China has a significantly larger amount of fiber intake than the U.S. does and a much lower intake of animal protein than the U.S. does. China also has a diet that is based 90% of plant proteins. The following chapters will go into detail on the importance of plant diets.
Each of these issues and findings that I have stated affects everyone in our society. Something needs to be done about the way most people eat. We need to be informed on what proper nutrition is and what really may be the leading causes of cancer. Each of us should care about this because cancer is one of the leading causes of death and each of us knows someone who has been diagnosed and affected by the disease. If something is not done about this the problem it is only going to get worse. We need to take matters into our own hands and educate ourselves, no one is going to do it for us.
I agree that we as a society are misinformed and part of that problem is that we will believe anything that some "experts" will tell us. I never heard that too much protein leads to cancer! That's surprising for me because that is something I wouldn't guess would cause cancer. I agree with you that we need to educate ourselves and take charge or our health but the problem is that no one wants to put in the effort to actually do it. Our society is always looking for the quick solution and the problem is that the quick solution doesn't always work
ReplyDeleteI agree that we have terrible diets in this country. We eat too much junk and not enough good, wholesome foods. If we ate more fiber rich diets then our bodies would probably be in a lot better shape. All the chemicals that go on our food and then into our bodies have to have some affect on us as humans, or else they would be called something more friendly. Using less chemicals would probably help out too.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that research is now suggesting that cancer rates may correlate towards lifestyles and environments instead of genetics! Americans do need to include more fiber and greens into their diets, especially if it lowers cancer rates! The book sounds interesting, I hope you're enjoying it.
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