Dr. T. Colin Campbell Pushes Plant-Based Versus Vegetarian Or Vegan
Written by Vegetarian Star on January 12th, 2011 in Authors, Food & Drink, Nutrition-Health-Fitness.
Dr. T. Colin Campbell‘s book, “The China Study,” was named by Bill Clinton as a strong motivator for him going vegan. But in an interview with the New York Times, Dr. Campbell insists he doesn’t like using the words vegetarian or vegan. He and his family have been eating what he calls a “100% plant-based diet.”
He says his studies don’t necessarily indicate eating completely vegan is better than having a little animal products every now and then. But it couldn’t hurt to go veg all the way for future protection.
“I don’t use the word “vegan” or “vegetarian.” I don’t like those words,” Campbell said. “People who chose to eat that way chose to because of ideological reasons. I don’t want to denigrate their reasons for doing so, but I want people to talk about plant-based nutrition and to think about these ideas in a very empirical scientific sense, and not with an ideological bent to it.”
“It’s not because we have data to show that 100 percent plant-based eating is better than 95 percent. But if someone has been diagnosed with cancer or heart disease, it’s smart to go ahead and do the whole thing. If I start saying you can have a little of this, a little of that, it allows them to deviate off course. It’s not a religion with me, it’s just that the closer we get to a 100 percent plant-based diet, the better off we’re going to be.”
Is Campbell’s advice the reason Clinton can continue eating a mostly vegan diet because he can deviate with the occasional fish and not “fail?”
More at New York Times.
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January 26th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
As a good friend of Dr. Campbell, he and his son have written the foreword to my about-to-be-published book; by BenBella Books, the same as The China Study. Throughout my book, we talk about plant-based vs. vegetarian for two reasons:
1. The “v” words have stigma and mean different things to different people.
2. They also convey some idea about what you don’t eat but very little about what you do eat.
After all, you could eat nothing but potato chips and Diet Coke and call yourself a vegan; and you certainly wouldn’t be eating very healthy. In my book, we define optimal (the 4-Leaf level) as deriving over 80% of your daily calories from whole plants — in nature’s package. And we don’t fret a great deal about where you get those other 20%. In my case, I never plan to have any animal foods but if I do occasionally, it’s really not that big of a deal. Look for our book soon on Amazon: HealthyPEOPLE – HealthyPLANET. See book preview at hp2book.com Have a nice day, J. Morris Hicks.
January 25th, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Very impressed with Dr.Campbell and his research. 7 years of being a vegetarian followed by 12 years of not. I am on day 2 of my new plan-based life 🙂