I am currently working to obtain a certification in Plant Based Nutrition through the T. Colin Campbell School of Nutrition. It is probably one of my favorite series of courses I’ve taken to date. Anything that makes me think and expand my horizon on a topic is a good thing. These courses help put a framework to approaching the subject in a fact-based way with esteemed and notable professionals in the field including T. Colin Campbell himself.
There is so much interesting material here on not only how nutrition affects the individual but how the individual is influenced in how they approach nutrition. There are many factors that go into how someone makes their food choices and those are broken down into what they describe as “Five Dimensions/Spheres of Influence on Food Choices”:
- Public Policy— international, national, and local government programs such as school meals, agricultural subsidies, and regulations
- Industry— corporations that manufacture and sell food products
- Organizational— including schools, churches, the workplace
- Community —neighbors, friends, and family
- Individual —including personal knowledge, attitudes, cultural background, and preferences
As an assignment – we were asked to write about which two spheres had the most influence on our own food choices throughout our life, and how? I am going to share with you what I wrote because I think it’s helpful to review and learn from the past in order to do better in the future. I share a lot of personal information here, some of which is hard to think about but it’s all true and it reminds me of how far I’ve come from where I started. As an aside – this assignment got excellent commentary and contributed in part to passing the course.
Community
I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s as an only child to a single mother, which was very unusual at the time. We moved around a lot. Life was stressful and unstable. She was a smoker since age 15. My mother was twenty years old when I was born and really didn’t care about nutrition. It was all about convenience as the priority was working to support us. I was raised on formula and not breast-fed. Breakfast was sugary cereal with milk or a Pop Tart (or 2). Lunch was a hot dog or whatever they were serving at school. Dinner was some sort of TV dinner or fast food. Occasionally we had a home cooked meal of meat, potatoes and steamed broccoli (which would turn anyone off to eating vegetables in the future). There was always Pepsi in the house as well as ice cream and candy. I ate so much sugar as a child that my cavities developed cavities and eventually all of my teeth had to be capped because there were hardly any teeth left. I never learned how to cook, I wasn’t allowed to while living at home. Then I went away to college and we all know how that goes in terms of dorm food and junk food. I was put on medication for anxiety and depression during my senior year in college and was on some form of those for the next 17 years. I was basically set up to have a difficult life in terms of my health. And I did.
Individual
With much life happening in between – years later I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Mantle Cell NH Lymphoma, probably due to radiation exposure I didn’t realize at the time. The question was always in my mind – did my poor nutritional status and other lifestyle factors for all of those years growing up and into my 30’s contribute to developing this disease? If I was “set up” in a healthier way would I have been able to fend off the radiation exposure and mitigate the damage to my genes that caused my disease? While we will never know the answer to this – I do know that living a healthy lifestyle which includes consuming a whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet is the best defense against developing many chronic diseases as well as mitigating the effects of many acute problems. I started this journey into a healthy lifestyle about 20 years ago, well before I was diagnosed with the cancer but the symptoms were already there. Because I was having these weird symptoms that were brushed off by doctors – I started reading about nutrition and learning how to change my biochemistry in a more positive way. Reading The China Study was one of many resources I used in my quest towards a healthier lifestyle. Learning about nutrition and the impact on health was transforming for me. It opened up a new exciting world, one I wished I had found 30 years earlier.
I got off the anti-depressant medication (medically supervised), became whole food plant-based and started exercising. While my strange symptoms progressed for years and then ultimately led to my diagnosis – my healthy lifestyle helped me go into remission quickly after several rounds of chemotherapy, and stay cancer-free with what is considered a “terminal” disease. The doctors do agree that my healthy lifestyle has a definite impact on how well I am doing. At almost 60, I am in the best health of my life. Now I am a Certified Health Coach and I teach others the benefits of a WFPB diet, among other aspects of healthy living. I am an example of how successful this can be. I do this work because I wish I had someone like me in my life years ago to give me this information.
*As a footnote – my mother passed away at age 68 from COPD and emphysema. Her early death could have been completely avoided.
Which of these 5 Spheres have had the most influence on your own food choices?
I am now over 1/3 of the way through the program and I look forward to sharing more learning over the next few months. As I said earlier – there is so much good information here – information that can help people live longer and better quality lives. I look forward to sharing more information in the future.
Wishing you good health and a great life –
Sheryl
