Both approaches are popular. As readers of this blog know I've been plant based for years, and that is my bias. But this won't be another post extolling the virtues of the plant based lifestyle. Let's agree on one thing: there are practitioners in both "camps" that appear to be thriving and in robust health. And then let's also begin looking at the elephant in the room: "high level practitioners" of each approach have much better health than those who suffer with "standard diet" caused chronic diseases requiring the "medication for life" pharmaceutical prescription(s) that are so profitable for our primary care physicians and big pharma.
And these practitioners on both sides of the question, let's call it Paleo and Vegan for brevity, are not particularly fond of the "standard of care" practices that put pharmacology as the only solution for the chronic diseases prematurely killing some 70% of the population. This pandemic that is "too big to see" has made disease management the largest industry in US history. Sum lines 2, 5, and 7 below to see an approximation of the total:
The 10 Biggest Industries by Revenue in the US for 2022
1) Retirement & Pension Plans in the US - $1.257.9B2) Health & Medical Insurance in the US - $1.145.1B
3) Drug, Cosmetic & Toiletry Wholesaling in the US - $1.049.9B
4) New Car Dealers in the US - $978.7B
5) Hospitals in the US - $968.5B
6) Life Insurance & Annuities in the US - $886.7B
7) Pharmaceuticals Wholesaling - $868.8B
8) Public Schools in the US - $791.0B
9) Supermarkets & Grocery Stores in the US - $758.4B
10) Commercial Banking in the US - $703.4B
And this total does not include the "inputs" that contribute to the disease generation chain: processed food and fast food industries (Micky D on every corner!).
Wait a minute...did I just say "disease generation chain"? As if this "chain" of industries is a formal (but unacknowledged) economic force the US depends on?
Everyone knows this but I suppose it bears repeating: the US spends more on disease management (let's call it what it is) than any other country, but also has the worst health outcomes.
Clearly, something isn't working. What is it? In the simplest terms possible, the "health" of the economy has come to depend on a sick population. Read that again...take a minute.
We invest talent, labor, and resources in the creation of a diseased population. And Paleo and Vegan MDs alike will tell us (if we are listening) it does not have to be this way.
Well, in theory anyway. In reality this "disease production superstructure" will probably have to collapse before "the pandemic too big to see" looms into clear view. And there's a very good chance by then the US as we know it will have already been destroyed. Perhaps that has already happened.
Individuals can save themselves however, we cannot count on government to do it for us. If we want truly good health we have to take health into our own hands. And the foundation principle for good health is so simple it almost hurts: the body is self healing, we only need to discontinue allowing the ingress of toxins to the body at a faster rate than the body can remove them, which is pretty much the only thing that disrupts the "body heals itself" function.
It sounds simple enough, but we're addicted: we don't think of the "foods" we grew up with as dangerous toxins, but that's exactly what they are. How do we know this? Look around: far too many of us are not in possession of robust health. Meanwhile it is yours and yours alone for the taking, but we have been led to believe our personal health rests only in the hands of the health care industry. Poppycock. Tragically dangerous poppycock.
So let's look at what these Paleo and Vegan MDs and health practitioners that are not happy with the "pharmacological standard of care" have in common. For starters they are slim, fit, energetic, clear eyed, and young for their age. There aren't that many of them out there compared to the total population of MDs, but they are all about the education: they write books and do videos and TED Talks, give talks at local venues, run workshops and retreats, and etc, all with the same message: "it's the food" (that is the primary problem).
All of these folks are fanatical about consuming only whole foods, organic when quality organic is available. They all insist regular movement of the body is of critical importance. From there we can go into the areas of disagreement between the two "camps", should it be "plant based" or "animal based" (in other words, where do the majority of your calories come from?). One or the other may be more appealing to you, whichever it is will be your personal journey, and you will learn and make course corrections as you go. And I will again reiterate how beneficial the whole foods plant based approach has been for me.
On a final note: more and more health care professionals are taking into question the tragically absurd situation the US has got itself into by putting revenues before health. Here is one example in a recent Dr. John Campbell video where he questions the US push for Paxlovid, a new (patented) antiviral before any any peer reviewed studies by independent sources have been published.
And let's not also digress again into a conversation about how hundreds of independent studies demonstrated the efficacy of several off patent (pennies a dose) antivirals. Newer does not uniformly equate to better (with pharmaceuticals in particular), despite the revenue driven narratives. The link below takes us to where he begins to talk about that odd little "problem":
One last note, the title of his current vid is "let it rip", but those are not his words, they are of the Danish government, which is known to produce some of the best health science of any in the world. You may find the entire video interesting in that regard too.
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