In Search of Teachers, Not Presidents

By Derek Beres

While the Democratic debate has turned into an all-out popularity contest, and the most-discussed issues continue to be the economy, oil and war, there are two topics that none of the three candidates have really honed in on. They all spend a lot of time dancing around the perimeters, yet they never touch the essence of them. In fact, I’m not sure any of them even know what the essence is.

The two that I’m referring to are healthcare and the environment. Obviously healthcare is a huge concern, and has been addressed continually. Both Clinton and Obama support universal healthcare (well, wait — since when is America the universe?), and plan on having everybody insured if they were to gain the throne. McCain says the same, that we “can and must” cover everyone. It’s a hopeful idea, and one we can appreciate, especially given that numerous other countries already have this system in place without having to use it as a political platform. But of all three candidates, only one (McCain) even mentions the word “nutrition,” and makes some sort of claim to try to stop problems before they start — at the very bottom of his list.

Like our healthcare system already, everything is geared around curing, and not preventing. This sort-of thinking is what has led us to acquire what nutrition expert Colin Campbell calls “diseases of affluence,” illnesses that define the way Americans die in our times; namely: heart disease and cancer. (Not surprisingly, the third highest killer of Americans is the healthcare system itself, through faulty prescriptions, botched surgeries and wrongful diagnoses). In The China Study he not only shows why the way we approach nutrition is misguided, but that it is actually helping promote diseases like the aforementioned. He does not conclude that these nutritive guidelines — high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate meals — create the illness, but the way many Americans eat is certainly helping move us down the line a lot quicker, and more painfully.

Read the full article on the Huffington Post.