Dealing with the Barriers to Change

Dealing with barriers begins with the realization that they are out there. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to have somehow learned the truth about nutrition are thrilled with our discovery and would not ever think of reverting back to our old ways of feeding our bodies. We also know that learning the truth about nutrition is no easy feat in these United States, where 90% of the people think they are already eating a healthy diet. In fact, most are eating the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) where they get the vast majority of their calories from things like meat, cheese, fries, pasta, soft drinks, refined grains, sugar, oil and chips. They consume almost zero fiber from whole plant foods and get less than ten percent of their calories from fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes..the natural food for our species.

My estimate is that less than 1% of the population of the United States consumes a diet that is comprised primarily of whole, unrefined, plant-based foods. Even most vegetarians are not consuming a diet that is anything close to an optimal diet for our species. Herein lies our first major hurdle. With almost no one eating this way, it makes it very difficult for people to make meaningful changes. In order to do so, they must really understand it and must have made a serious commitment to make major positive changes in their food choices. Here's a list of the barriers out there that I have noticed:

1. Very Few Doing It Now. While a tiny minority are actually consuming a near-optimal diet, an estimated 90% of the people truly believe that they are already eating fairly well and consider themselves to be in better than average health. They usually say that "I try to watch what I eat." Unfortunately, "watching" means many different things and rarely means what it takes to make someone healthy.

2. Tough to Eat Out. It is virtually impossible to order a truly healthy meal from the menu of any restaurant that doesn't cater to vegetarians. (It's actually pretty easy to order a healthy meal at most places, but one needs to ask questions, be creative and describe precisely what they would like to eat.) See the next article in the left column.

3. M.D.'s Are No Help. Most people believe that their medical doctors know what is best for their bodies, and that includes what they should be eating. Unfortunately for us, their training was in treating symptoms; not in promoting health. They are also a major part of an extended system that makes its livelihood by providing services to our sick population.

4. I'm Already Thin. Most people equate being overweight or obese with being unhealthy; therefore, most thin people will think that there is no reason to even think about changing their diets. The problem is that thin people, like everyone else, are not immune to the diseases of affluence caused by the rich Western diet.

5. What About Protein? The vast majority of people truly believe that they simply cannot be healthy without animal protein in their diets. After all, they have not yet learned that virtually all plants contain a combination of protein, fat and carbohydrates...or that the strongest animals in the world eat only plants.

6. Skeptical Family & Friends. Most people contemplating a major change in their diets will have to deal with families or roommates who will continue to eat the S.A.D. and will think that they have lost their minds. Some of them will be angered by their partner's desire to improve their diet.

7. Can't Give Up Favorite Foods. Before someone actually moves to a diet of whole, unrefined plant-based foods, they cannot possibly imagine that they would actually begin to prefer this new diet over their favorite foods of their past.

8. Vegetarians are Weird. Since there are so few people who are currently eating anything close to an optimal diet, many people will probably consider such individuals to be a little weird and would not be someone that they would want to emulate. Personally, I don't like the V-words. They only suggest what you DON'T eat rather than what you DO eat.

9. Awkward Dining in Friends' Homes. Since so few people are currently committed to eating a plant-strong diet, most hostesses will plan for every guest to have a portion of meat with their meal, particularly when the event is a barbecue or surf & turf party. While awkward at first , with practice, I have found that this is a non-issue.

10. Body Cleansing Process. When someone moves quickly from a very unhealthy diet to one that approaches nutritional excellence, it is not uncommon for them to suffer a bit as their body goes through withdrawal, cleanses itself and adjusts to this improved way of eating. Without some advance knowledge of this phenomenon, one might naturally want to just return to their old way of eating.

11. The Government. We all grew up with the USDA pyramid endorsed by our government, an institution that we would like to think that we can trust. Unfortunately, special interests have prevailed and the food pryramid is more about money than it is about promoting health.

12. Our Educational System. Since the first grade, we have been taught the importance of animal protein and calcium from cow's milk to build strong bones. You see, the educational system is part of a larger system consisting of government, medicine, media, food producers and pharmaceutical companies; and once again, this huge "system" is much more about money than it is about promoting health.

13. Dieticians and Nutritionists. Like doctors, these good people have been taught the system described above and endorsed by our government. They all mean well but only a small percentage of them have learned the truth about the health-promoting powers of whole, plant-based foods or the destructive properties of animal-based foods.

14. Lack of Healthy Convenience Foods. At my latest check, there was not a single line of frozen meals anywhere that derived less than 25% of their calories from fat. Most were well over 30%.

15. Last, but not Least...the Media. We tend to believe what we hear on the news, particularly if we like and respect the TV anchor-person reading the story. We frequently hear about tiny, insignificant improvements in drugs or some diet fad, but we almost never hear the real truth about nutrition. We must remember that the media is paid by their advertisers.

So why would anyone want to take on something with all of these barriers? The answers are simple and they are many. Primarily, once you realize that you can take charge of your health, have a trim & vibrantly healthy body, avoid or reverse chronic disease while doing wonderful things for the planet...just by changing what you put on your fork, the barriers all shrink to insignificance.

Collectively, the above barriers plant a pretty strong seed of doubt regarding anything that doesn't fit neatly within our own world of what we believe to be legitimate and authentic. For this reason, we tend to discount anything that challenges our overall system of understanding. Many people apply labels like quackery or scam to things that they don't understand and say things like, "If this stuff is true, why haven't I ever heard it before?" Dr. Campbell devotes the entire final 100 pages of his book, The China Study, to comprehensive answers to that question. Everyone should read that book, and 400,000 people already have. People are beginning to listen to the voice of truth.

Until your China Study book arrives, I recommend that you cruise around this site for a few hours. It is filled with information that will help you build the resolve to take on the most important challenge of your life. It's kind of like running a marathon. The first and most important step is understanding the difficulty of the training regimen and then making a commitment to take on the challenge. As you read through the information on this site, perhaps you will become inspired to read some of the other fine books that are featured. This process is all about knowledge and commitment. Then, once you experience the benefits of an optimal diet and your tastes begin to change, few people can ever imagine going back to their old way of eating.

With an ideal diet approaching 100% of these health-promoting foods, what should be our goal? Should we just double or triple our percentage up to 15 or 20% of our diets or should we shoot for 80 or 90% or higher? The simple answer is that each individual will make up their own mind. We have found that once people really understand, and truly believe, “the big picture truth about nutrition,” that they will want to make major improvements in their diets. If they just strive to “watch what they eat” a little better, there is little likelihood they will ever reach a level of nutrition that will provide any significant and noticeable benefits to their body.

I sincerely feel that the first step in coping with the barriers to change is the acknowledgement that they are out there. Then, with enough education, we can eventually reach the point when we say "I can do this because I deserve to be healthy." After consuming a near optimal diet since 2003, I can honestly say that once I experienced the benefits and started loving the food, the barriers mentioned above were no problem whatsoever. Again, it's really about education and commitment. And part of the education process is learning about the barriers in advance so that you will know how to handle them.

For me, learning the truth about nutrition has been the most important single thing that I have ever learned. It has changed my life and has led me to my life's major definite purpose...being a part of a grassroots movement to change the world for the better, simply by helping people learn and experience the near magical powers of eating the right food.

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June 2, 2009 - Stonington, CT