Breaking the Food Seduction by Neal Barnard M.D

Author:Neal Barnard, M.D.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780312314941
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2010-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

What Really Matters to You?

Sometimes finding the right motivator is a bit of a challenge. Several years ago a community group outside New York City asked me to give a series of nutrition lectures at various schools. Dean Ornish had just made a huge splash with his research showing that a vegetarian diet, exercise, and stress management, could actually reverse heart disease, and my hosts were eager to convey this message as broadly as possible.

The first talk was at a college. The students listened politely to my lecture, although it was pretty clear that the dangers of cholesterol and saturated fat seemed pretty remote to this young and generally healthy group. The second lecture was for a high school crowd that was far more interested in acne creams and music videos than heart disease risk factors. So I decided to switch gears and talk about other reasons they might want to forego meat, figuring that they might find filthy slaughterhouse conditions and sloppy government inspections to be suitably “gross” and controversial, which they did.

But the third talk was at an elementary school. As I walked into the gymnasium the students were sitting on the floor, and teachers were busily reprimanding the rowdier kids. While I had long harbored the illusion that I was still in touch with my “inner child,” I soon realized I had absolutely nothing to say to these kids. What could possibly motivate a grade-school child to think about diet? I couldn’t spot any budding cardiologists in the group and couldn’t recall a single storybook character who had ever had a cholesterol problem. In the end, all I could think to do was to ask the students how they felt about farm animals. “If you were a pig,” I ventured, “would you rather be stuck in a huge indoor farm—in a stall where you could barely even turn around—or would you rather be out in the field with your families?” They reacted instantly. “With our families! With our families!” the kids yelled. And that was the way the talk went. I figured that, three decades hence, those who had decided to simply leave the pigs alone would certainly have healthier hearts and trimmer waistlines than the kids who decided to go ahead and eat them.

If you’re looking for a bit of extra motivation, see which of the following points mean something to you. They are all linked to the advantages of breaking free from unhealthy eating habits.

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