Did we ever have a discussion about The China Study?

[Crissy]

The China Study

 

I picked it up and put it down after a paragraph or two over several months, but yesterday I made time to really get started. I'm only a third of the way through the book, but this information is completely contrary to everything I believed about nutrition.

 

If you read this book, what impact has it made on your diet? Have you gone beyond changing your own diet to changing the way your entire family eats?

 

Did you make gradual changes? Did you commit fully to changing the way you eat, or did you 'experiment' for a single month?

 

Were you as surprised as I am at the results of these studies? :001_huh:

[abbeyej]

Well, I have only read small excerpts of The China Study, but I didn't find any of it all that surprising. My family tries to follow a more Eat to Live (Fuhrman)-inspired diet (though I do absolutely cheat, lol), and I think it's very much in line with the findings of The China Study.

 

We don't perfectly follow either book's recommendations, though I do try to keep our at-home food pretty much in line. (My kids do have dairy -- with ds' food allergies, they would be too restricted without it.) When we're out, we don't stick to the diet carefully. But just radically increasing our fruits and veggies at home makes a big difference... And I know if I'm following the EtL guidelines exactly, I absolutely *feel* better. But I'm weak. :D

[Heather in the Kootenays]

Of course, I'm making assumptions about what the book says.

 

In my experience, I've always been healthier there than I am when I'm here. We often eat Asian style food here. I find that eating less meat and dairy makes me healthier.

[Mamagistra]

I haven't attempted The China Study yet, but I'm on my second reading of Good Calories, Bad Calories. Fascinating stuff there regarding obesity, heart disease, and the villainization of fat. I highly recommend it.

[Crissy]

Of course, I'm making assumptions about what the book says.

 

In my experience, I've always been healthier there than I am when I'm here. We often eat Asian style food here. I find that eating less meat and dairy makes me healthier.

 

Your assumptions are correct, Heather. The studies focus on the effects of animal proteins in a person's diet.

[Crissy]

I haven't attempted The China Study yet, but I'm on my second reading of Good Calories, Bad Calories. Fascinating stuff there regarding obesity, heart disease, and the villainization of fat. I highly recommend it.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, Debra. I'll check it out.

[LauraL]

I picked it up from the library on my dad's recommendation and skimmed/read through a good portion of it. Our family is already into more grains, ess meat (cheaper too), so no problem there. The difficulty for me is the milk protein. Haven't really jumped into following his recommendations there, yet. Although dh has. I often have protein shakes (milk protein isolate) post exercise and sometimes at other times during the day in connection with my triathlon training, and hubby will come in and say--"are you trying to get cancer?" He really is concerned about it. I'm not sure how/if to balance the recommendations in the book with all the stuff I've read and studied re exercise nutrition and the need for protein. Soy protein as an alternative seems to have its own set of potential problems.