Nutritionist Eisman Talks to Sarasota

George Eisman is considered one of the nation's foremost educators on vegetarian nutrition. That's what the first line of his intro says, but when VegSarasota hosted him on Monday April 30th, you quickly realize he doesn't slant his views to vegetarianism. He simply talks about what is healthy to eat, and what is not. It just so happens that all animal products, especially dairy, are extremely unhealthy to consume. George explained this very well and cited many facts and references to back explain this fact to the audience of about 60 interested attendees.



One interesting item a lot of people learned last night was that people can and have cured themselves of the now #1 Killer in the country: Cancer. This great book by Jane Plant is one that George recommended:
Your Life In Your Hands: Understanding, Preventing, and Overcoming Breast Cancer


Ironically, this is in fact the same exact book:
The No-Dairy Breast Cancer Prevention Program


But (not to my surprise) the wealthy agribusiness industry suppresses any attempt to publicize the fact that animal products are bad for you, so the book was retitled for American distribution.

Also referenced was the China Study in which it's revealed that the incidence of Breast Cancer in Women and Prostate Cancer in men is approximately 1 in 5,000 for those in areas where animal products (esp dairy) are not consumed, and it is about 1 in 30 in the United States.

Another cited source was even this great Food Chart put out by the USDA (no longer a pyramid in the traditional sense) showing the meat group is now titled the 'meat and beans' group because protein from beans is the same (actually better if you look into it) as protein from animal flesh. Given that even the most active adult actually needs less than 25g of protein per day, I'd say it is time for the "Protein Myth" to be dismantled, as excess protein leads to (among other things) calcium being leeched from the bones.

Although this does have dairy on it as a group you can see the trend from the old "4 food groups" is to de-emphasize animal products in favor of whole foods like whole grains, fruits, and veggies. Lots of plant foods, especially those wonderful dark green ones have loads of calcium, with NO fat or bad cholesterol.

Everything discussed was so empowering and informative I could make this entry really long, but I can see your mouse hand getting twitchy, so let me sum this all up - Animal products bad, greens and plant foods good.

Thanks to everyone for attending, to George for speaking, and to Richard's Whole Foods for the food.

One final quote from George:
"Most nutrition professionals agree that moving away from an animal product-based diet to a plant-based diet is the single most important improvement Americans (and others who eat similarly) can do to improve their well-being. I personally have eaten vegan (totally vegetarian) for over 15 years and have raised my two children that way since birth."


Victoria, George, Raylon, Dill, Melanie

And the rest of his bio for those interested:
George Eisman has served as a faculty member in Dietetics and Nutrition at several universities and colleges and created the first accredited program in Vegetarian Studies. He has worked in a children's hospital, a nursing home and for public health agencies in four states. Eisman has spoken at numerous events and conferences and is the author of two books, The Most Noble Diet (1994) and A Basic Course in Vegetarian and Vegan Nutrition (2003). Purchase George Eisman's books online from Farm Sanctuary.