Read 'n' Seed 3: Second quarter of the China Study

In this quarter of the book I covered chapters 5-10 and pages 109-222.

The first chapter covered in this section focuses on heart disease in America.  The main points that stand out was the cultures that have lower heart disease rates also eat less saturated fat and animal protein and more whole grains, fruits and vegetables.  There were a few studies conducted that tried to alter heart disease in some patients by having them eat less fat and cholesterol.  The results were that the group of people who starved off their disease by eating less animal foods and more plant foods lived longer and the other group of people who didn't change their diet after already having a heart attack died.  This study suggests that the more animal protein you eat, the more heart disease you have.  In this chapter it is also talked about surgery and all that technology has helped with in the area of diagnosing and helping diseases, but is it truly helping or just covering up the problem? (As opposed to diet and prevention).  It is said that we not only know how to prevent heart disease, but also how to successfully treat it.  Not by surgeries that are dangerous, costly, and do not cover up the serious problems, but we've held the answer in our hands for a long time- eating the right food.

The next two chapters cover obesity and diabetes.  Many of us already know the complications from both.  It is talked about how both of these can be prevented and cured with eating a whole foods and plant-based diet, and with exercising.  We are given studies that prove the healing affects of food and lifestyle changes that can reduce the rate of diabetes.  So many of us are given misinformation and have habits that we aren't willing to change.  Imagine if we were educated on the facts and were willing to make moderate lifestyle changes- the outcome would be incredible.

Cancers (breast, prostate, colon, and rectal) are discussed as well.  With breast cancer we are given the risk factors and what increases these factors, such as a diet high in animal foods and carbohydrates.  Women who consume this type of diet hit puberty earlier and have menopause later, and this extends their reproductive years.  This also means that they have higher levels of female hormones.  According to the China Study data lifetime exposure to estrogen is 2.5-3 times higher among Western women than with women in China.  And according to one of the leading breast cancer research groups, there is overwhelming evidence that suggests that estrogen levels are a critical determinant of breast cancer risk- all the more reason to consume a plant-based and whole foods diet.  Environmental chemicals may also be a cause in disrupting hormones and maybe even cause Type 2 diabetes.  With colorectal cancer rates, they vary hugely between countries.  This seems to be because of environmental factors as well, such as diet.  Fiber is believed to be one of the main cures for preventing colon cancer.

In the final two chapters it is talked about autoimmune diseases and what many of them have in common, such as often happening in the same person or are found in the same population.  It is trying to be found as to why they happen in some ethnic and geographic areas and not in others and what causes them.  It is then talked about bone, kidney, eye, and brain diseases.  Once again it is said that a plant-based diet can prevent a broad range of these diseases.

This was a lot of information to take in.  The main point that I got from all of this was that people need to start taking charge of their diet and lifestyle.  There are so many diseases that surround all of us and we need to do all that we can in PREVENTING instead of only treating.  The public needs to be more informed on what can be done in bettering our health.  We should all care about these issues because it is our health and our lives.

Eye Opener: CSPI

I didn't think that the food I ate actually made that big of a difference on the environment, apparently I was wrong.  After calculating how much I eat a week with the Eating Green Calculator, I was surprised to learn how much I am taking from the environment and how much it costs by what I am eating.  Usually, I don't eat a lot of meat so I didn't think my results would be very high.

According to the calculator, in a yearly period it would take 0.5 acres of grass and grain needed to feed the animals I eat.  It would take 0.1 pounds of pesticides used to grow animal feed, 18.6 pounds of fertilizer used to grow animal feed, and the most astonishing, 3,255 pounds of manure are created by the animals I eat every year.

After recalculating the number of servings per week I would be willing to not eat, my results went down, even if it was just a little bit.  I cut back on all of my servings by at least one.  It may seem like a small change but did actually make a pretty considerable difference over the time period of one year.  In the end, I did take the pledge.  I've been wanting to cut back on my meat servings anyway- and this would be the perfect time to make that commitment.  I hope to only eat meat maybe a couple of times a week.

Here is the link to the Eating Green Calculator: Calculator

Read 'n' Seed 2: First quarter of the China Study

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.

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

For this activity I took a quiz to find out what my ecological footprint is and how my lifestyle affects the earth.  The quiz asked questions like how much I drive each week, how many people I live with, do I recycle, and how often I buy new products for my home, if I eat locally, etc.

The results in the end were surprising.  I thought I conserved resources pretty well but according to my results it would take 3.9 earths to sustain me, kind of sad.  My ecological footprint broke down as services being the biggest area of resources I use, followed by goods, food, shelter, and then mobility.  To support my lifestyle, it takes 17.2 acres of land and 16.6 tons of carbon dioxide.  Broken down into parts and what would be affected the most by my lifestyle would be energy land, followed by crop land, grazing land, forest land, built-up land, and fishing ground.

To reduce my part on the planet I want to start not using as much water by reducing time on dishes and taking shorter showers.  I want to start recycling more and driving less, car pooling with others and walking more is something I want to do.  Cutting back on electricity by turning off lights when I leave home and at night I'm going to do as well.

It is disturbing to think that my ecological footprint alone causes this much havoc to the earth.  If everyone else causes this much damage to the earth I don't know how everything is going to keep as it is right now. People need to start taking bigger steps and precautions to helping the earth otherwise it won't be around much longer.  Small steps everyday such as recycling, not using a lot of electricity and running water, eating locally, and walking instead of driving help.  If everyone became dedicated to doing these steps it may actually work, but we need to work together.

Here is the link to the ecological footprint calculator:Ecological Footprint Calculator

Read 'n' Seed 1

The title of the book I have chosen for the Read 'n' Seed project is "The China Study".  This book is about America's health and how it is failing.  It talks about American's and the overweight epidemic and how so many chronic diseases can actually be cured with a proper diet.  This book will look into different studies and all that nutrition can do, and what improper nutrition will also do.  

The reason I chose this book is because I have heard multiple good reviews on it and because nutrition to me is very important and is the underlying cause of so many conditions, good and bad.  I want to learn more about the power of nutrition because I hope to get into the nutrition field.  

Here are a couple links I have found regarding "The China Study".

1. The China Study Review
2. The China Study Website
3. Science Based Medicine Review

Conveniently, there are four parts to this book so I will be splitting what I read into these four parts for the four quarters of this project.  There are 417 pages in this book.  In the first part there are 4 chapters, the second part has 6 chapters, the third part has 2 and the fourth part has 6.

I look forward to reading this book.  Hopefully, not only myself but the readers of my blog will learn something from the book.

Introductory Post

September 22, 2011

Hello everyone!
My name is Bailey and I am a Junior majoring in Community Health Education with a minor in Psychology.  I started this blog for my Environmental Health class!

The 5 possible types of posts on my blog this semester will be:

1. Advocacy
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Read 'n' Seed
5. Share and Voice

Members of my web group will be:

1. Shelby@Reusing and Recycling with Shelby
2. Lana@Lana's Cove
3. Samantha@Observing Scenery with Sam
4. Dr. V. and Kristin@Enviro Surfing with Amy and Kristin