Desperately seeking right

You can relax -- I haven't yet succumbed to the temptation of Shakeology. I haven't gone to Weight Watchers, either. Why? Well, I've had a few interesting experiences that have forced me to reconsider my course of action.

In other words, right now I'm conflicted as hell.

A few weeks back I started acupuncture to (hopefully) treat a jaw problem. Part of this treatment plan is a nutritional evaluation under the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I don't know what that sort of nutritional evaluation consists of, but it might turn up some useful information so I'm holding off on making any radical changes until that happens in a couple of weeks.

Secondly, part of my Welcome Aboard packet from the acupuncture clinic was a copy of The China Study. A co-worker told me about this book a couple of years ago, but from her description, it just seemed so... extreme, you know? But I figured since I now have it in my possession, I should read it.

Can I just say, OMFG!?! We're all gonna die.

OK, I'm overreacting slightly, but if even half of what this guy says is correct, then Americans are in big trouble. Worst part is that the guy's credentials are top-notch. This isn't some random guy looking to market weight-loss products on TV.

I'm starting to think that Western medicine is not set up to solve the problems Americans are now faced with. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I've always been a fan of "better living through chemistry", but I'm starting to see where The System might not be particularly motivated to promote the things we need to know to really be healthy, instead of just giving us pills to make the numbers on our tests look right.

I'm not giving up my internist, I'm just sayin', is all.

Long story short, what this book says is that no matter which way you turn it, animal products are strongly correlated to disease, particularly the ones Americans are facing in larger and larger numbers, in just about every manner you can think of.

Gulp.

So here I'd been thinking maybe my 10%-flexitarian plan was the reason I've gained twenty a few pounds in the past year or so. What I'm thinking now is that I'm not doing it right. If I was really eating only 10% of my calories from animal products, I wouldn't have gained tw... all that weight.

I know you might find this hard to believe, but I've been deceiving myself.

Also, sugar. It's a problem for me. Yes, sugar is not an animal product and it is fat-free, but it's also not exactly nutritionally dense, either.

Hate to say it out loud, but if I really want to be healthy and not have the next fifty years of my life be marked by one prescription after another, each trying to counteract a cascade of side effects, there's really only one thing I can do, and it ain't gonna be easy.

Worse still, even if I don't follow the advice in the book, I can't un-read it. If I don't act on it, then each time a new health problem rears its head, I will know that I might have been able to do something to prevent it, if I had only made different choices. To quote one Amazon review, "The China Study is the red pill."

Sorry for the obscure Matrix reference, but that really does sum up how I feel right now.

So all I need is to find a way to approach a major lifestyle change that won't leave me discouraged, overwhelmed, and at odds with the rest of my family.

Piece of pie, eh?