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Science & The Spirit
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HERDING UP TROUBLE
Health Helps Part 20
By Dane and Vicki Griffin
In today’s frenzied lifestyle, “fast food”
is an accepted—and expected—part of the diet. But our health
is floundering as a result. It’s no secret that the typical
American diet is way too high in fat and protein. It’s also
loaded with sugar and salt, and very low in fiber, complex
carbohydrates, and fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Herd” what we’re eating?
The World Health Organization reports that we are eating a diet
that was totally unknown to our species 100 years ago.
Seventy-five percent of our protein and energy intake used to
come from plant sources: beans, brown rice, potatoes, whole
grains, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Today, it is just the
opposite: We rely heavily on meat and dairy products for our
protein and energy needs. In his or her lifetime, the average
American will make his stomach the graveyard for 12 cows, 31
hogs, 2 sheep, 2,300 chickens, 92 turkeys, 1,000 fish, and
26,250 pounds of dairy products! We consume an average of 135
pounds of fat every year per person. This adds up to one ton of
fat every 15 years and four tons in 60 years—if we live that
long!
Terrible toll
Meat and dairy products, loaded with animal fat and cholesterol,
are taking a terrible toll on human health. Diseases such as
cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke are responsible for
70% of the deaths in America. And one of the major causes for
these diseases is what we are putting in our mouths. Dr. Gio
Gori of the National Cancer Institute reports that “the
dietary factors responsible for cancer are primarily fat and
meat intake.”
An estimated 16 million Americans have diabetes. Sadly, most
could have avoided this terrible disease simply by avoiding a
high-fat diet. One million Americans die each year of heart
disease—again, largely due to a high-fat diet. And we’re
starting young. Fifty million children already have elevated
cholesterol, and as many as 70% of these already have fatty
streaks in their arteries. These will later become plaques,
causing blockage, strokes, and heart attacks.
The high cost of meat-eating
The price of our poor eating habits is phenomenal! Ten years
ago, the total direct medical costs—not counting such things
as lost work time and productivity—were already over $60
billion a year! This includes $8.5 billion for hypertension;
$9.5 billion for heart disease; $16 billion for cancer; $17
billion for diabetes; $2.4 billion for gallbladder disease; $1.9
billion for obesity-related musculoskeletal disorders; and $5.5
billion for food-borne illnesses. The cost of just one hospital
entry for a heart attack is $50,000 and up. An angioplasty1
costs at least $10,000, and there is usually more than one.
How is it now, brown cow?
Each year in America, 100,000 “downer cows”2 wind up in the
feed of other animals—and even in the national school lunch
program! Dead carcasses of diseased cows, chicken, sheep, pigs,
and road kills, often filled with cancer, are ground up and fed
to other animals. This puts these animals—and those who eat
them—at increased risk for cancer, bacterial or viral
infections, or even deadly prion diseases.3
Unwelcome hitchhikers
Listeria, shigella, salmonella, polio, leukemia, and other
deadly bugs are unwelcome hitchhikers on many foods, including
the dairy products we love so much. And pasteurization of milk
does not get rid of many harmful bacteria and viruses and other
harmful substances. An FDA survey of milk samples from grocery
stores in ten cities found that 73% of the samples contained
pesticide residues. Hormones and antibiotics are other
well-known “supplements” in our dairy products. Even fish
are becoming increasingly contaminated with mercury, pesticides,
bacteria, and tumors.
Predicted predicament
We cannot deny that the greed and gluttony of man have brought a
terrible curse of disease upon the world. God predicted our
predicament in Isaiah 24:4–6: “The earth mourneth and fadeth
away. . . . The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants
thereof; because they have transgressed the laws. . . .
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth.” God created the
perfect man and woman with a perfect diet of plant foods,4
and
it will be the fabulous fare of the redeemed.5 Doesn’t it make
sense to return to that diet—and make our lives better now and
for eternity?
Part 1
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4
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10
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Copyright © LifeStyle
Matters, Inc.
1. A procedure to repair damaged blood vessels.
2. Cows that fall and can’t get up.
3. Such as spongiform encephalopathy, often called “mad cow
disease.”
4. See Genesis 1:29.
5. Revelation 22:2.
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