< previous page | page_4 | next page >
Page 4
| Faster, Not Better |
| At the same time, our increasingly high-speed, modernized society fell in love with fast food, and burgers and fries replaced many a three-square meal. Fresh fruits and vegetablesalong with the vitamins they containnearly disappeared from the dinner table, and from public consciousness. |
| Our diet changedand continues to changemore during this period than during the thousands of years preceding it. Unfortunately, while these changes brought more choices to our table, they did not bring healthier choices. |
| SMART MOVE |
| Back in the 1950s, when the medical establishment was enthralled by pharmaceuticals and high-tech equipment, nutritionist Adelle Davis was insisting that diet was a direct cause of many diseases. The author of Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit (1954), among many other titles, Davis considered the prevailing approach to wellness completely backward in its focus on cures rather than causes. "Thousands upon thousands of persons have studied disease," she wrote. "Almost no one has studied health." At the time, she was dismissed as a quack. |
| The Big Question |
| In the 1970s, a few researchers finally began asking why, when so much money and research and brain power were being channeled toward health care, wasn't there a decline in the rates of cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses? |
| Around this time, some really puzzling data came to light: many less wealthy and less technologically savvy countries had lower rates of heart disease and cancer than the United States. At that point researchers realized they had to start looking at other factors, such as eating habits and lifestyle. |
| They discovered that in less developed countries, diets consisted mostly of basic, unrefined foods such as fruits, vegetables, and grains. This contrasted sharply with the prevailing diet in the United States and other wealthy countries: meat and potatoes, fast food, and a paltry amount of fresh fruits and vegetables. |
< previous page | page_4 | next page >