I just finished a 17-day health program at Uchee Pines Health Institute, a 50-year old Seven Day Adventist (SDA) health program. The conclusions were astounding: A little health institute in the middle of a corn field in Northern Alabama is right and the world is wrong.
SDA members have believed in a vegetarian, plant-based diet since the 1860s, where this diet was proclaimed by Ellen White, a SDA prophet. White also advocated no: smoking, alcohol, or caffeine – a hundred years before the rest of the society. She discouraged processed foods, and advocated the maximum amount of whole plant foods (that is, the closest the food is to its natural state).
In the first 3 days of the program nearly everyone went on a 3-day fast, water only. Then the “guests” ate a healthy life-style for the rest of their stay, with many meals specially cooked to help heal their individual disorders. In addition, there were natural treatments, such as hydro-therapy (hot water baths, hot and cold showers, etc.), education, and prayer.
One of the slogans of Uchee Pines is 100% of health is 100% circulation. Some of the “lifestyle counselors” estimate that 90% of the guests, who continue with the plant-based diet after they leave, reduce their sugar levels, their cholesterol levels, and their blood pressure levels to normal numbers – all without medication.
We watched two shocking video documentaries: Forks Over Knives and Up Your Health. These videos contain the following conclusions:
Our food industry and our thoughtless nutritional habits are poisoning us and destroying the environment.
My thoughts are we can’t totally blame the food industry. One nutritionist say that we know with certainty what causes disease and we know with certainty what cures disease. But the cause tastes better than the cure. Often we choose to eat junk.
Check out The China Study in Wikipedia. It’s a three-page summary of a book that describes the best population study that has ever been done of the effects of various diets. The conclusion was that there is a 99.9% certainty that an animal diet correlates with all the major western diseases: heart disease, strokes, cancer, and diabetes. Also, a plant based diet can often reverse all these disorders.
The meat, sugar, and milk industries try to confuse the population with their advertising. This is an antithesis to the findings of leading nutritionists. This gives the average person enough doubt to eat the junk that they advertise. The drug industry does the same.
The nation’s nutritional guidelines (the standard America diet, or SAD) is controlled by the Department of Health, the Department of Health is controlled by Congress, and the big lobbyists (e.g., meat, sugar, milk, and drug industries) significantly influence Congress.
So perhaps we could allow our reason to guide our eating habits and not our stomachs. Perhaps we could accept our hunger and cravings and not act on them. Perhaps we could eat a plant-based diet.
Hi RG ,
I believe that a plant-based diet is the way to go to reverse what damage has been done to our body by consuming excess amounts of meat and processed food. Although, a habit is hard to break, and it will take a lot of determination and motivation to go through this vegan path and to sustain it.
Rachel,
Right on! You could have written my article!
Here is a short history of my battle with compulsive eating and it’s antithesis: a whole food, plant based diet with no eating in between meals (a big breakfast, a good lunch, and a tiny, tiny dinner (or none at all).
I was convinced of the 7th Day Adventist (SDA) diet over 20 years ago, and even went to a 7th Day Adventist doctor. He told me about their diet, and I tried it……for one day. Then, about 10 years later — and 90 pounds overweight — I went to Uchee Pines, a SDA health institute for 3 weeks, where I practiced the diet. They argued — validly — that it takes 3 weeks to break an eating habit. This time the diet lasted about a year, and I went back to my “grazing” compulsive eating, but now mostly vegan food.
I recently went back for another 3 weeks, and now I feel I’m committed to the diet, and love it. It takes over 20 years to get a valid idea through my thick head. Since I first went to the institute, I’ve lost about 60 lbs. I’m (for the moment) committed to get to my ideal weight.
tx again for your always interesting comments,
RG
Hi RG, did you also struggle during your fasting/ shift to plant based diet?
Thanks for your intuitive response RG
Just read this article and I totally agree with you! I believe that making that 180 degree turn from our lifestyle and food preference and replacing them with a plant based diet is truly something that is beneficial for us.
Recently read an article from a person who sustains a plant based diet all his life, and he said it’s not worth it. He said that 10 years of extra life isn’t worth it. What do you think? Is a plant based diet really sustainable?
Davina,
Tx for your always interesting comments. That guy has a point. Tell him that the vegans have conquered the fear of death. Once you eat only vegan food, you can’t wait to die!
I’m now suffering from the consequences of long-term thoughtless nutritional habits — especially drinking Diet Coke — with its aspertine — for over 20 years.
This guy has a valid question: is being in good health when you get older worth sacrificing the pleasure of eating junk (tasteful and addictive) food for, say, 40 years. This obviously is a personal decision. Of course, younger people don’t think about what will happen 40 years down the road.
I now do volunteer work in a hospital. I don’t think it’s worth it, nor do I think many of the patients — suffering from dialysis, cancer, diabetes, heart attacks, and paralysis due to strokes — think it was worth it either.
In a mystical way, living in the present moment when you are older — and suffering — is just as real as living in the present moment when you are younger — and enjoying the junk diet.
Plus, being fat wasn’t very enjoyable for me. In fact, my obesity hurt my career and my quality of life — not to mention getting the babes when I was younger. In addition, feeling lousy because of junk food was not very practical. Somehow I had — which many people seem to have — a taboo against good health.
Your friend poses this question: should we eat for pleasure and social life or should we eat for health and energy? Which choice seems more reasonable?
Does your friend really want to take part in the animal holocaust? And significantly contribute to global warming and environmental destruction?
So I conclude: leave the animals alone.
Tx again for your comment.
RG
Hi RG,
These are great points! I agree that it all comes down to making a worth of living your life and reaching your maximum potential by staying healthy thru a healthy lifestyle..
Also that do we really want to take part to animal holocaust? I remember reading/seeing an animal campaign.. It shows a picture of a dog, cat, horse, chicken, pigs, and it says “we all want to live..but where do you set the line between what is being considered as pets and what is considered as food”
HI RG! I’m trying to do the plant based diet but it’s so difficult to sustain. Do you have any tips?
David,
Thanks so much for asking for my advice. I love giving advice, but virtually no one asks for it, no one listens to my advice, and most people resent me for giving it.
So, now’s my chance. And do I have an answer!
Your question inspired me to write an article about it. And here it is.
RG
Thank you for your well thought reply, RG. It’s actually a whole article. I’ve been meaning to try to switch to a plant based diet myself. And maybe now is the perfect time to do so.
I think nowadays, organic lifestyle and switching into plant based diets are also beginning to rise. There are a lot of restaurants and even recipes online to help you get started.
Rachel,
As usual, your observations are an accurate perception of reality. This is free-enterprise at its best. Restaurants now realize that they loose customers when a client asks, “Do you have any vegetarian or vegan dishes?,” and the answer is “No.”
We can also see the dialectic at work. There are more and more studies and books that are saying, “Animal products are unhealthy — long term.”
This is not saying that a plant-based diet is easy. I’m in Barcelona now, and I dropped into a MacDonald’s (don’t worry I was only going to get a cup of tea). The place was jammed packed with young kids, around the age of 16. Where else could they go? And what tastes better for them than a Big Mac, fries, and a large Coke?
And what would happen if I asked one of them, “Have you tried a Veggie Berger with a cup of tea?”
tx for your addition to our enlightenment,
RG