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Book Review: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

By Sean Michael Hall, L.Ac.

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration: A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets and Their EffectsBook Review: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Published in 1939, this is one of the most important books on nutrition ever written. 

Dr. Price presents in this work documentation of the detrimental effects on health, bone structure and fertility that are seen when modern foods (sugar, white rice, white flour, canned foods, jams, lean muscle meat, vegetable oils), replace traditional foods (liberal use of sea foods, organ meats, eggs of many species of animal and fish, full-fat dairy from cow, goat and camel raised on fast growing grasses on mineral-rich soil, freshly cracked and ground whole grain breads).

This book is at its best when he documents his travels in the late 1920s through mid 1930s. He traveled to isolated parts of Switzerland, northern Scottish islands, northern Canada and Alaska, the Melanesian and Polynesian islands, the Peruvian Andes and Amazon regions, throughout Central and East Africa, New Guinea and Australia.

In each location he meticulously documented dental cavities and dental arch and skull deformities, plus immunity to tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. He compared groups of the same “racial stock” that had no contact with modern foods, and were still eating their traditional diet to groups where “traditional” foods had been replaced by “modern” foods. And it is not pretty.

More important than the data he collected are the photos that he took. It’s enlightening to see photos of so many vibrant, strong, well-developed people. People that ate exclusively traditional diets. People that never used a toothbrush, yet had no history of tooth decay. It is equally heart-breaking when you see photos of what happens when “traditional” foods are replaced with modern foods. A photo can tell a thousand words, and simply scanning the photos in this book alone is well worth the purchase price.

The last third of this book rambles along, and it is written in the 30s, so there is some language that is not politically correct now. I wish he would have spent more time rigorously documenting the exact diets of the groups he came in contact with. It also would have been great to have more data on life expectancy, as well as tumor and heart disease data on the groups he studied. For those reasons, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Still, this book is so immensely important and influential to many, because we live in an age where there are virtually no people left on the planet that are eating completely traditional diets. The “white man’s” food has replaced traditional foods for almost everyone. For that reason, most of the photos that we now see of so called current “primitive” groups, show people negatively impacted by modern foods. Dr. Price provides hundreds of photos of what these people looked like 80 years ago, before unhealthy foods were introduced. The photos of these beautiful, vibrant people will blow you away, and make you reconsider what “normal” and “healthy” really is. Sadly, it’s hard to find examples of comparable levels of good health in those around us now.

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East Bay Acupuncture: Sean Michal Hall, East Bay Acupuncturist · Filed Under: Author: Sean Michael Hall, Book Reviews, Nutrition Tagged With: book review, modern diets, modern foods, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, nutrition degeneration, physical degeneration, primitive diets, Sean Michael Hall, traditional foods

Book Review: The China Study

By Sean Michael Hall, L.Ac.

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health by T. Colin Campbell
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I rate very few books 1 star.

This book deserves it because his thinking is flawed, his conclusions wrong, and most importantly, as a scientist he should know better! He is well-aware of the difference between correlation and causation. He even educates his readers on the differences, then turns around and makes faulty conclusions based on purely correlative data. Crazy!

Furthermore, many of the studies he cites to try to prove causation didn’t differentiate between saturated and trans fats. And we know clearly now that trans fats have many of the negative health effects he blames on saturated fats from animal-based foods. I won’t provide links here, but if you are interested in reading very well thought out critiques of this book you don’t have to go far.

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East Bay Acupuncture: Sean Michal Hall, East Bay Acupuncturist · Filed Under: Author: Sean Michael Hall, Book Reviews, Nutrition Tagged With: book reviews, nutrition, saturated fats, Sean Michael Hall, The China Study, trans fat

Book Review: Diet for a New America

By Sean Michael Hall, L.Ac.

Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth by John Robbins

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

In my early 20’s this book inspired me to shift my diet to a purely vegan diet. I followed the diet religiously for 5 years, which I regret. The book also inspired me to eat a whole foods, mostly organic and local diet, which I am thankful for. His arguments for the health benefits of a vegan diet are deeply flawed. He does, however, bring to light many of the moral and environmental issues our culture faces through its reliance on factory-farmed animal products. I believe his moral convictions clouded his judgment on the health effects of animal foods, especially when those foods are raised and eaten as they have been traditionally, throughout our evolution as a species.

There is no evidence of any traditional society subsisting on a purely vegan diet for more than one generation, and that makes his recommendations potentially dangerous. Starting a vegan diet after reproducing, or later in life, is probably not dangerous. However, starting earlier in life, or before reproducing, can be potentially unhealthy for the individual and for any offspring. The potential negative effects increase dramatically if those children are then fed a vegan diet. Not only do we not have a cultural precedent demonstrating the long-term effects of a vegan diet, but there is no scientific study that has examined the health effects of a vegan diet on multiple generations.

Cholesterol, saturated fats in moderation, fat-soluble vitamins essential for growth and reproduction, and other nutrients not found in, or poorly-absorbed from plant foods, are essential to health. These nutrients are found in easily-absorbed and metabolized forms in animal foods, and are especially important during the child-bearing years, breast-feeding months, and throughout the growth cycle from baby to child to teenager.

Thankfully, factory-farmed sources are not the only choice now, and most communities have access to local, sustainable farms that carry pasture-raised, grass-fed, organic choices. Unfortunately, blinded by the moral atrocities that have taken place, Robbins cherry-picked the data and came to far-reaching, incorrect conclusions that are misleading at best and deceiving at worst.

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East Bay Acupuncture: Sean Michal Hall, East Bay Acupuncturist · Filed Under: Author: Sean Michael Hall, Book Reviews, Nutrition Tagged With: book review, Diet for a New America, nutrition, Sean Michael Hall, vegan diet

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