The China Study
Posted by Aditya on January 1, 2008
For last few weeks I have been trying to change my way of living into a more humanized manner. So, I now abstain from coffee, milk, and added sugar. I never really consumed non-veg in large quantities, so curtailing that wasn’t such an uphill task. I also dropped eggs from my menu. I shifted my diet to fruits, increased the intake, and still hope to push it much more further. I also have started to work out almost everyday, with cardiovascular exercises and strength training. And more importantly, I have stopped staying awake till 3Am and instead sleep at around 11-12. Basically I am going berserk!
The results are really good for me, although they are not miraculous.Thats because apart from gaining excess weight I didn’t have any major health issues till now.I am an active and sports loving person, and do participate in various outdoor games regularly.
The main difference immediately noticeable was the mental acuity increase that I am seeing now. My thinking is sharper, more in depth and I am able to sustain the thought links for longer period. I am able to relate more diverse concepts with each other and evolve a more “awake” feel.
On the physical level, I am losing that extra fat and gaining muscle instead, so the first effect I noticed is while wearing the clothes. I now have more stamina compared to last month, and it reflects. For example, Although I slept at 5 after the new years party, and that also poorly, I could manage to stay alert during the lectures without even having the coffee. This state I can contrast with last month where I had to have a coffee before every lecture, and still could not concentrate fully through the whole time.
I have just started on this path, so I sincerely hope to see more benefits as I go on further down.
While searching for books on diet, nutritions and exercise,I came across a book called ” The China Study” . The book vindicates at least my personal beliefs and experiences after experimenting with my diet.
The book basically links animal proteins with many diseases prevalent in wealthy nations, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure related problems and so on. It says that the meat and dairy products contain many chemicals which aid in working of carcinogens and inhibits the anti carcinogen elements in the body.
The view which I identified with the authors is that they treat the food holistically. They don’t apply reductionism, by analyzing effect of each individual chemical present in the food on the body. Instead they conduct well designed experiments and establish statistically significant relationships through vigorous research.
I would recommend this book as a priority read for all.
Some links related to the topic :
The book.
link for PETA.
And a from a blog which I found very interesting: this, this, this, and this.
