Diet for a new America
Overview: Few of us are aware that the act of eating can be a powerful statement of commitment to our own well-being, and at the same time to the creation of a healthier world. In Diet for a New America, John Robbins brilliantly documents that our food choices can provide us with ways to enjoy life to the fullest, while making it possible that life itself might continue.
Stats for nerds
4recommend
6mentions
6people
2009–2020years
67% recommend33% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- It's surprisingly easy. It turns out that whatever you eat consistently for a few weeks starts to seem like "food". I've been vegan for 20 years and switched overnight after reading "Diet for a New America" by John Robbins (the combination of animal welfare, health, and environment really sold me). I used to be a huge meat-eater but within a few weeks I didn't really miss it at all.
- Thanks for saying that. Somewhat related, inspired by John Robbin's "Diet for a New America" [1], since 2015 going mostly vegetarian for breakfast/lunch was one of the better ways for me to reduce my footprint.
- t colin campbell, michael pollan, & Tim Robbins are probably the 3 most important writers on this topic. while the latter two definitely write more to stir reaction, prof. campbell basically published his results in the china study.
basically, all three writers/experts agree that a vegetarian diet consisting of unprocessed foods is the best (although not foolproof) way to ensure that you will lead a long and disease free life.
the modern food revolution is only about 60 odd years old at this point - human evolution cannot keep up with how quickly our food has changed and how quickly our caloric intake has increased. perhaps in 10,000 years we will be able to find a way to absorb nutrients from krispy kreme donuts and pizza but for now its best to stick low on the food chain and as michael pollan say - "Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants".
Anyone looking for sources or more info i recommend the following:
The China Study - T Colin Campbell The Food Revolution (Or Diet For a New America) - Tim Robbins The Omnivore Dilemma (Michael Pollan) Healthy At 100 - Tim Robbins
one last note - Diet for a new america was written in 1988!!! This information has been out there for decades - politics and misinformation has kept it relatively out of mainstream media and on the sidelines but the statistics and information is out there for those who take the time to look...
- What a load of Malarky.
Is the cup half full here or half empty ? It's both for me too, but it's often not aggression.
I think it's pretty normal for a boss to tell a joke as an effort to show calm and relax his/her employees. It's a good leadership attribute. I've seen women bosses do this - often. Most are not trying to assert control, but rather to fullfill the role most employees deserve - a boss whom shows strong leadership yet is approachable/approving/inspires/empowers.
I myself am cautious joking around when the bosses are present - not because of a lack of desiring control, but rather as a sign of respect to others and to myself. I want people to know I take my job seriously and rarely does joking around all the time accomplish this.
Interestingly enough, when I lose respect for the "bosses" I tend to joke with them more, but again not for control or aggression - rather to lighten the weight/mood under the circumstances - the respect for the person is not lost even though respect for the persons role has been.
So is joking or a lack of joking a form of showing aggression/submission or is it showing respect and caring ? I drink the half full glass thank you.
I've been reading these kinds of studies for over a decade and the more your read, the more you live the less you believe BS articles like this.
If your interested in the motive. Money, Name Publishing etc etc. Read John Robins "Diet for a New America", it's interesting how all the facts in life are sold to corporations for a reason.
T.
- > The cells used to start the process came from a cell bank and did not require the slaughter of a chicken because cells can be taken from biopsies of live animals.
I wonder how many different chickens they sampled from the cell bank. Does their entire product trace back to a single "Eve" chicken sample from the cell bank? For comparison, I read (in "Diet for a New America", I believe) that one ground beef hamburger includes cells from about one thousand different cows.
If they just need cell samples, I wonder how different the process would be to grow human meat in a lab. There might be a niche novelty market for "human burgers"!
- I strongly disagree with your recommendations for Campbell and Robbins (and I assume you mean John Robbins, not Tim Robbins). Like most nutritionists, they do agree on eliminating refined carbohydrates and processed foods from your diet. But these two specifically argue that saturated fats are unhealthy and low-fat diets are optimal, the exact opposite of the thesis of the study and article.
Robbins is a dietary extremist and his books make Quackwatch's list of non-recommended books that "promote misinformation, espouse unscientific theories, and/or contain unsubstantiated advice" [1]. The National Council Against Health Fraud even had a critical blurb towards his television program about Diet For a New America in their '91 newsletter [2].
While I find Campbell's actual research in the china studies important, the book infers much more than the studies showed, not to mention a lack of supporting follow-up studies that control for the most common criticisms (genetics, rates of exercise, comparisons with mostly meat-eating populations without diseases of civilization, etc.). I have a real issue with taking descriptive information from data and turning it into prescriptive advice before accumulating sound evidence. For a good critique, the always awesome SkepDoc Harriet Hall posted a review on the Science-Based Medicine blog (which I highly recommend) [3], although the comments get bogged down about her linking to a similar criticism by the Weston Price foundation.
Oddly enough, as a lifelong vegetarian myself, I find myself wanting to agree with these authors and recommending them to others. But it's disheartening these authors feel the need to fortify their ethical choices with shoddy scientific inferences. Yes, following their recommendations will almost certainly lead to better health, but only because those recommendations merely happen to correlate well with a healthier than average diet, not because their assumed causations about optimal health are necessarily correct.
However, I do agree with your recommendation for Pollan.
[1] http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/nonrecbooks.ht...
