All the doctors I’ve visited for routine check-ups tell me I’m amongst the rare percentage of people in very good health. Diabetes and high cholesterol is starting to appear in younger and younger children – this is terrible!

Our grandparents lived on far less meat and far more whole grain foods than now and they lived strong and healthy till their old age. Now, people are already expecting heart disease and cancer much earlier. Chronic illnesses can be avoided, we’ve just lost sight of what is natural and good for us. Food addiction takes about a month to overcome – we need to give ourselves time to switch and a plant-based food day is a way to start!

It is time for people to be aware that doctors are trained to identify symptoms and prescribe medication/drugs, but have not received much education in food nutrition. I challenge any doctor to verify that they have sufficient education to prescribe a healthy diet plan! All hospitals engage dietitians to plan patient meals and not doctors! We’re in the 21st century and should educate ourselves to be more discerning!

It is time for the general public not to be led by misleading reports and by studies funded by pharmaceuticals whose main aim is profit-seeking. Do we ever ask ourselves who is behind the information and their motive?

From what I can see, the author seems to make some sensible arguments against the China study – by using other variables that could be possibly correlated with diseases besides animal protein.

But the fallacy of using this argument is that, if such an analysis is made, then we could very well say that none of the research papers in the world that studys correlation between variables stands.

Because if you found variables a and b to correlate, you could simply grab another variable that will (seem to) correlate with b (lets call it variable c) and and chunk it in and say that “a” may seem to cause “b”, but why doesn’t the author say that “c” can be the cause of “b” as well? Things simply don’t work this way and we know for sure there are indeed correlation between a and b.

The beauty of a Plant Based Food Day is that you don’t need to agree whether plant based diets should be adopted 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

Plant Based Food Day is just about eating more plant based food once a week. It’s a little bit like if I agree to reduce my water consumption, i don’t need to never bathe again or never drink water any more.

As to The China Study, I don’t know enough to say if I completely agree with Prof Campbell (chances are that 5 or 10 years from now, he, like most good scientists, may revise his ideas in light of new evidence). BTW, i hear he’s writing a follow-up book.

We don’t need to agree about The China Study. As you’ll see in the companion piece to the “Is Singapore ready for a plant based food day” article (to be out tomorrow in TOC), lots of folks who don’t necessarily support going 100% plant based do support eating more plant based. Thanks.

http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fallac/

“…(T)oo much eating meat(sic) increases the cholesterol and the risk of some cancers, diabetes and obesity”, so says some government guy. Does he have any data to back this up? I bet not. Meat is not the main culprit here; carbohydrates are.

i also agree, but not totally, that veg food could stand some upgrading. A few suggestions:

a. there’s veg food at non-veg places, such as the economy rice and nasi padang stalls

b. the veg stalls and restaurants are improving, and we can use the power of our demand to improve them more, by not buying the deep fried choices. i speak to stall/restaurant owners who say that customers want the deep fried mock meat.

Finally, too many people think that the only veg protein source is soy bean; actually other beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains and even vegetables contain protein.

More important than a Symbolic Day, I think, would be getting Singaporeans to reconsider the amount of meat consumed per meal – for instance, whenever I line up for economy rice/nasi padang, I see sedentary office workers getting two or more portions of meat, and no vegetables.

Of course, it doesn’t help that vegetarian protein options in the typical food court are totally sad and unpleasant.

Even more depressing is the number of folks who still smoke cigarettes, when everyone, even cigarette companies, agree it’s bad.

The good thing about a Plant Based Food Day is that it’s just a small change, and maybe people who give it a try will see it’s not strange, difficult or diagreeable. At the same time, they’ll be doing a little for their health and for the env, and every little bit counts.

Put it another way: it may be more difficult to convince Singaporeans to turn vegetarian as compared to other countries, but it may be easier to ask them to go meat-free just for one day a week than other countries.

Two reasons for this. First, Singaporeans are generally more pragmatic, and many vegetarians do so because of idealistic reasons (animal rights, environment etc.). Shunning meat is too much for Singaporean, but doing a little bit (once a week) is acceptable.

Second, it allows Singaporeans to contribute to the vegetarian cause (health, environment etc.) without sacrificing their favourite foods!

Unfortunately, that is very very far from true.

As they say, a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. For the rest of you who are reading the internet for genuine information that will have dramatic impact upon your life, it’ll do you good to read the following carefully: it could save your life!

http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fallac/

Here are some key points to take away: meat consumption has no effect on most diseases (plant protein consumption has actually more positive correlation with diseases than meat protein, though none of it is statistically significant). Wheat consumption is actually strongly correlated (with statistical significance) with most diseases. There is something inherently bad about wheat, but on top of that, the climate of wheat growing places is less favorable for good health.

Stop eating wheat, stop eating sugar, reduce carbs significantly, and stop thinking of meat as the enemy!

There is nothing to stop you from having your own meat free day.