Description
What happens when you eat an apple? The answer is vastly more complex than you imagine.
Every apple contains thousands of antioxidants whose names, beyond a few like vitamin C, are unfamiliar to us, and each of these powerful chemicals has the potential to play an important role in supporting our health. They impact thousands upon thousands of metabolic reactions inside the human body. But calculating the specific influence of each of these chemicals isn’t nearly sufficient to explain the effect of the apple as a whole. Because almost every chemical can affect every other chemical, there is an almost infinite number of possible biological consequences.
And that’s just from an apple.
Nutritional science, long stuck in a reductionist mindset, is at the cusp of a revolution. The traditional “gold standard” of nutrition research has been to study one chemical at a time in an attempt to determine its particular impact on the human body. These sorts of studies are helpful to food companies trying to prove there is a chemical in milk or pre-packaged dinners that is “good” for us, but they provide little insight into the complexity of what actually happens in our bodies or how those chemicals contribute to our health.
In The China Study, T. Colin Campbell (alongside his son, Thomas M. Campbell) revolutionized the way we think about our food with the evidence that a whole food, plant-based diet is the healthiest way to eat. Now, in Whole, he explains the science behind that evidence, the ways our current scientific paradigm ignores the fascinating complexity of the human body, and why, if we have such overwhelming evidence that everything we think we know about nutrition is wrong, our eating habits haven’t changed.
Whole is an eye-opening, paradigm-changing journey through cutting-edge thinking on nutrition, a scientific tour de force with powerful implications for our health and for our world.
Joe Woodhouse (verified owner) –
I am writing this review from the perspective of someone who has experienced almost miraculous improvements in health and awareness after taking up a whole food plant based diet two and a half years ago. These improvements in cholesterol, blood pressure, weight and cardiovascular function in the face of a life threatening heart defect, along with remarkable improvements in cognitive ability have proven to me on a personal level that the truths that Dr. T. Collin Campbell explores in his new book, “Whole” are valid. They constitute some of the most important and helpful knowledge available to humans at this point in history.
The confusion, sown by the unmitigated greed of mindless corporations looking only for short term profit, (buttressed by government funded reductionist science that ignores the big picture, and well meaning NGO’s that feed upon the profits), has blinded humanity to the simple truth that exuberant health is attainable by adopting a whole food plant based diet.
The deepest insights in “Whole” pertain to human awareness and how it can be twisted to become maladaptive and dysfunctional in its drive to maintain exuberant life at all levels, all the way from the cell, to the individual person, to our societies and to our whole planet. To restore the awareness that leads to exuberant health, the person and society must understand the patterns that have so effectively captured and imprisoned our awareness with false belief.
This is one of the great and seminal books of our age. I recommend it to all. One of the most illuminating stories it tells is of a great man (Dr. T. Collin Campbell), who came to know the truth and was willing, in the face of powerful economic and political forces that tried to squelch that truth, to continue to teach so that we could be informed and enjoy exuberant health.
John Chancellor (verified owner) –
There is a quotation from Isaac Asimov at the beginning of Chapter 9 of the book, “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” One of the primary reasons that science is gathering knowledge faster than we gather wisdom is the nature of scientific research. The first major lesson you will learn is the difference between a holistic, or as the author coins it a wholistic approach and a reductionist approach to research. The wholistic approach backs up and looks at the big picture in context. The reductionist model narrows the scope and looks at isolated, small slices of research. We have been moving deeper and deeper into a reductionist model in so many areas of modern life and in particular in scientific research. You will need to keep these two approaches in mind as you read through the book. Mr. Campbell believes that we gain insight and therefore wisdom by taking a wholistic view of things in the proper context.
Mr. Campbell tries to condense 50 years of professional research, the wisdom gained from that research and the transformation of his personal philosophy into a 300 page book. That is a very difficult task. While he does a very admirable job, I believe it is asking a bit much to think that most readers will reach the same level of understanding that he achieved after a life-time devoted exclusively to this study.
The major theme of this book is that our health-care system is ” …more properly called a disease-care system, because it just reacts to and manages disease, producing the expensive and disappointing outcomes we’ve come to tolerate and expect without knowing there’s another, better way.” The better way in his view is Whole Food Plant Based diet. Mr. Campbell states, “The foods you consume can heal you faster and more profoundly than the most expensive prescription drugs and more dramatically than the most extreme surgical interventions, with only positive side effects.”
A most compelling argument is made against the vitamin and supplement market. He makes a convincing case that for the most part we are fooling ourselves and literally wasting billions of dollars when taking these. Filling our bodies with vitamin pills does not come close to providing the benefits we expect for the simple reason that the pill does not remotely match the vitamins and minerals found in the natural fruits and vegetables. In fact some supplements we think are doing good are actually doing significant harm. “In a study in Finland showed that beta-carotene supplements given for 6.5 years increased lung cancer deaths by 46%.”
“What you eat every day is far more powerful determinant of your heath than your DNA or most of the nasty chemicals lurking in your environment.” Currently, hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent on genetic testing and sequencing every year in the United States, without getting us any closer to solving our health-care crisis.” Mr. Campbell’s major argument, backed up with significant proof, is that a plant based diet is a fast, efficient path to better health. It would put us on the path to better health with no side effects.
The tone of the book was Mr. Campbell against the world. While there is no doubt that he must feel like a lone voice crying in the wilderness, I am not sure this approach is the most effective for converting large numbers of followers. He launched a direct assault on the pharmaceutical industry, medical profession, food industry, academia, non-profit health organizations, the news media and the government. He makes a very compelling case that all those organizations have absolutely no incentive to change. In fact to change would decrease their power. My only concern when you are vastly out-numbered and facing foes with unlimited resources, a frontal attack is ill-advised. A more prudent approach would be to use guerilla tactics.
The second issue I have is that as consumers, we certainly must share the blame for our current health care mess. We don’t/won’t do the things we should be doing for better health. The pharmaceutical industry did not condition us to prefer a pill over the proper diet and lifestyle. Humans are lazy and have always sought the magic bullet. There are countless stories of people who will not abandon their vices even when they know they are dying a slow death.
Mr. Campbell is a highly trained, well-recognized scientist. Having spent his life doing research to very exacting standards, he is conditioned that his claims must withstand scrutiny. His conclusions are based on scientific research. You will be impressed with his knowledge and the level approach he takes. He is constantly seeking to find the truth. Since he is no longer dependent on research grants, he is free to speak very frankly about his intimate knowledge of scientific/medical research.
As I was reading this book, I could not help but think of Galileo. He was among the first to teach that the earth was not the center of the universe, that in fact it revolved around the sun. Galileo had scientific proof for his belief. He was not greeted with open praise for his discovery. He was tried by the Catholic Church and found “vehemently suspect of heresy”. When facts contradict thousands of years of practice, change and acceptance comes slowly. There are too many people with too much vested in the status quo.
A very eye-opening and alarming book. We have been conditioned – brain washed – about that constitutes good nutrition. It is ruining our health. You have the power to take control and totally change that.
Sheltopia (verified owner) –
T. Colin Campbell’s earlier book
The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health
was a distressing, technical read with chapter after chapter filled with research on dread diseases including heart disease and cancer. But it had an uplifting note: a solution!
“Good food and good health is simple,” Campbell said. A whole foods, plant-based diet staves off heart disease and cancer — diseases that are not inevitable, but can be prevented, even treated, by eating only healthy foods.
The China Study Cookbook: Over 120 Whole Food, Plant-Based Recipes
the “official companion to The China Study” by LeAnne Campbell, PhD (T. Colin Campbell’s daughter) is filled with recipes to prepare life-giving foods accompanied by beautiful photos (by Steven Campbell Disla).
The focus of Whole is neither the silver lining nor the yummy foods although it is reiterated — “There is no healthier way to eat than a whole food, plant-based diet, without added fat, salt or refined carbohydrates.”
In Whole, Campbell expresses his frustration and anger that the science of nutrition and its role in preventative health care has not affected government policy.
Even as someone involved with helping set national nutrition guidelines, Campbell has not been able to affect change from a top down approach. Evidence-based nutrition, diet and preventative health measures have been largely ignored. A grassroots movement is needed, Campbell says, to change our culture of food and health.
Campbell makes a strong point. Here are just a few of his findings of his more than 50 years of nutrition research including more than 300 professional research papers from lab studies on rats to human population surveys (i.e. The China Study):
Cancer growth is controlled far more by nutrition than by genes or environmental hazards/carcinogens.
Relatively low animal protein intake triggers cancer.
Cow’s milk protein (casein) promotes cancer growth.
Campbell is frustrated and angry that:
industries i,.e. dairy, egg and beef have been successful at sidelining this information;
nutrition advice focuses on specific nutrients and is aimed at selling supplements when it is the complex interactions of the many nutrients (in leafy greens, for example) that provide the benefit, not individual vitamins and minerals which, isolated, can be harmful;
powerful organizations meant to promote health such as the American Heart Association and American Cancer Society focus on cures that do not materialize rather than disease prevention;
billions of dollars are poured into health care research, but Americans are sicker than ever; and
people are given confusing, misinformation about their health and aren’t given information from taxpayer-funded research with, “Not a word about prevention. About empowerment. About the fact that simple changes in diet may turn off cancer progression.”
It’s valuable information, which, unfortunately, makes for a dry and depressing read.
Fortunately, Campbell is not alone. Others agree with him that whole-foods, plant-based eating is a key to health and there’s a movement building to get the word out. Doctors Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., Dean Ornish, John McDougall, Neal Barnard, and Joel Furhman have also written books on the topic.
Rip Esselstyn (Caldwell Esselsytn’s son) has just published
My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet–Plus 140 New Engine 2 Recipes
, a follow up to his popular
The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter’s 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds
.
Documentaries such as
Forks Over Knives
,
Vegucated
, and
Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead
present the information in entertaining ways.
Dr. Michael McGregor, M.D. at nutritionfacts.org creates great 2-4 minute videos about plant-based nutrition info including information on how government food/nutrition policy can help or hinder our health.
Pj Bauer (verified owner) –
Having embraced whole foods plant based nutrition, this book has helped us sort out some of the hype of vegan product promotion from what is truly important to remember while making a commitment to changing our diet. It makes clear what is important about plant based whole food choices and how we have strayed from understanding ourselves as whole organisms in the complexity of our planet’s ecosystems. We are truly fearfully and wonderfully made.
The other plus in reading this book is that the forces of manipulation of our food and our minds are laid bare. I walk through the store understanding more about how to nourish our bodies than ever before, feeling free of the tendrils and claws of the advertising and marketing hype. Another triumph for Dr. Campbell.
Bill (verified owner) –
This is a well researched, and well written book on nutrition. I am most often disappointed by nutrition books as they always seem to be written only for the purpose to sell books. To do this, they make some spectacular and far-fetched claim.
Whole is written by a man who gave his life to the impartial investigation into the science of nutrition, and understanding what the body needs (and doesn’t need) to insure optimal health.
Not really a “page turner”, this is a nothing but the facts presentation of a subject that should be vitally important to everyone who eats!
M. Reilly (verified owner) –
We live in a society where science had reduced nutrition into tiny particles, tiny nuggets. Take this antioxidant for your eyes, swallow this fish for your heart, drink this milk for your bones. How complex nutrition has become when it is reduced to its fractionated parts. Nutrition, according to T. Colin Campbell is so much more than the sum of its parts. It can not be reduced to a set of nutrients that we must ingest in order to experience wellness. WFPB diet(Whole Foods Plant Based) it the only way to assure that the body will receive what it needs at any given time. We are marvelously made, we are marvelously complex and at any given time, an apple can have a different effect when eaten depending on our body’s needs at the time.
When I go to my gym and watch the women raving over “candy bars” with just enough chocolate, just enough vitamins, fiber, minerals, etc. I am amazed that they prefer this unnatural nutrition to WFPB foods. It doesn’t make sense unless you believe that your nutritional needs can be fractionated and apportioned into a higly refined “meal bar.” It can’t.
This book is written for those who reject the reductionist view of nutrition that pervades our culture. Plastic food created in a laboratory can not supply your long term needs, nor should it. “Nutrition viewed wholistically is the crucial factor in health.” At the heart of homeostasis and health are the relationships between all the various elements that go into our WFPB food. Reductionist science and its complexity tends to “ignore these relationships.” This book is for the thinking man or woman who refuses to believe that a pill or some individual vitamin, or element is how we achieve wellness. It’s not. Dr. Oz fans will not be happy reading this because they are always seeking the next reductionist fix for themselves.
A Reader (verified owner) –
Whole is another informative, eye-opening book by Dr Campbell (the first was The China Study). He is as frank and direct as ever, naming names and calling out prominent organizations. The final chapter is titled ‘Making Ourselves Whole’. He wrote: “I have tried for years to enact change from the top down, and it simply doesn’t work……The most important step is to change the way you eat. The diet is simple: eat whole, plant-based foods, with little or no added oil, salt, or refined carbohydrates like sugar or white flour…….There is nothing more convincing than experiencing the change for oneself. That crucial shift in the way we think about our health will happen, one person at a time. Eventually, policy will begin to change. Industry, deprived of the income produced by ill health and our ignorance, will follow.
It’s time for us to begin a real revolution – one that begins by challenging our individual beliefs and changing our diets, and ends with the transformation of our society as a whole.”
The book provides a detailed, convincing explanation of why people like Dr Campbell have been vilified for encouraging this approach to health. The status quo is big, big business, and isn’t going down without a nasty fight. Thank goodness for people like Dr Campbell, Dr McDougall, Dr Esselstyn, Dr Ornish, and other trail blazers who aren’t afraid to speak out. I have to deal with ‘social pressure’ due to choosing a whole foods, plant based diet, but it’s worth it for improved health and less harm to the environment.
If you are interested in nutrition and understanding the forces behind the food and health industries, this book is a must-read. I loved it.
MaryBeth D. Smith (verified owner) –
I eagerly purchased the latest book by T. Colin Campbell, and couldn’t wait to read it. I became aware of his work when I watched “Forks Over Knives” the movie, and subsequently read The China Study. Why is this information about food and nutrition not more widely known? Surely, if people were armed with the facts, people would be empowered to choose differently, eat differently, and improve their health dramatically.
In Whole, Dr. Campbell gives a look into the “strange bedfellows” in the food research business. Academic research results are available to the highest bidder, usually a huge food conglomerate or industry special interest group. Dr. Campbell tells the story of his own academic sacrifices when his results defied the orthodoxy.
The first half of the book is interesting and moves pretty well. As I got to the middle of the book, I found it to be repetitive. He has a good thematic idea and analogy, which he then overworks, in case the reader has forgotten the previous points. He did a good job of painting the dreary picture of life in academic research, beholden to grant monies and telling the sponsors what they want to hear. I became depressed and discouraged reading his personal story in the last several chapters of the book, and frankly just skimmed them.
Dr. Campbell’s research stands on its own merits. It is unusual because it takes a systems approach to the complex field of nutrition. Since most scientific research takes place under a strict cause-and-effect, linear paradigm, he makes a strong case for taking a new view of an old but essential subject. The information is excellent. However, if you have already read The China Study or seen Forks Over Knives, you’ll be able to skim most of the last third of the book.
Sandy (verified owner) –
I strongly suggest that people should read The China Study before reading this book. Additionally, for those looking for specific nutritional advice, get “Forks Over Knives,” which includes recipes, as does Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn’s book (which is specifically geared to address heart disease), and read books by Dr. Neal Barnard.
“Whole” addresses the reasons why those who influence our “health” (or, more appropriately, our sickness) — that is, the medical establishment, government agencies and media — refuse to accept the truths unearthed by Dr. Campbell and his team at Cornell. Of course, the primary reason relates to profits. It is a useful book for those who can influence policy and science. But it is also invaluable for us consumers who have been duped for so long.
My partner (who is, sadly, a carnivore) is currently being treated at the NIH for a bad case of cancer. He certainly needs medical intervention to claim back his life. And we just can’t say more positive things about NIH’s doctors and nurses, who in our experience surely are among the very best in the world. We are so grateful to them. But it is heart-breaking that the staff there encourages him to eat ice cream to gain back some weight, never recommended a plant-based diet, and the only thing I could find to eat in their cafeteria was salad bar with beans out of a can (there may have also been a processed-frozen veggie burger, fried in oil on a griddle, and on a refined flour bun). In addition to addressing the conflicts at NIH as discussed by Dr. Campbell in his book, it is high time that medical establishments — and their staffs — lead by example.
I applaud Dr. Campbell for his tireless effort to make a significant difference to the health of human beings during his lifetime. He is my hero. I wish I had learned from him years earlier than when I finally picked up The China Study two years ago. But I am also fearful because the research that he cites continues to be primarily from the 1980’s and 1990’s — years that will soon seem irrelevant and outdated to younger generations. We are sorely in need of young scientists and doctors to whom he can pass the baton, professionals who are courageous enough to fight off the forces that would preclude them from doing additional whole-based research and who are brave enough to speak out — LOUDLY — to patients and the public at large.
Gregorio (verified owner) –
Campell’s book is well written. He has a background in biochemistry and nutrition and ke knows a lot about diet. I hope more people will consider his basic message which is that better health requires eating a plant-based diet. We already know about all the diseases we suffer from, largely due to our overly processed, high animal fat diet. Campell takes plenty of swings at the food industry, the media, big Pharma and even the medical establishment for not doing more to get poeple to eat whole foods as the main way to prevent disease. I hope more researchers will work on how plants are beneficial to humans.
Katie King (verified owner) –
T. Colin Campbell doesn’t try to change your mind about what you eat and how. In this readable book he simply offers the data that shows how our massive food industry puts revenue and profits ahead of consumer health, and how government regulation is complicit in this process. They are able to do this by making health claims based on isolated research, not a holistic review of how the human body reacts to different foods. He offers some guidelines for how to be a more rigorous skeptical consumer of the food you eat. Well worth the read.
Max Iacono (verified owner) –
I really enjoyed and learned a lot from reading this book. It is not only a book about nutrition and nutritional science. It is one of the best explanations I have come across recently about SCIENCE as a wider topic. It reflects on such things as…. the nature of science, what is science and what is not science, what is the scientific method, what is the scientific process, what is “normal science”, what is “outlier information”, what are paradigms, (and what is heresy and why) and how do paradigms look when one is standing inside of one, how can one get perspective on a paradigm, what is specialized and analytical science, what is integrated and holistic science, what is reductionism, what are some of the blinders and forces and vested interests that can act on the psychology (and understanding) of scientists….and more. And it explains all of the preceding in simple clear language with clear and convincing arguments and examples. There was one little story I really liked in one of the opening chapters: Two young fish are swimming in the ocean in one direction when they cross paths with a much older fish swimming in the opposite direction. The older fish says: Hi guys, how do you like the water today? The two young fish swim a bit further and then one of them turns to the other one and says: By the way, what the hell is water anyway? (and that’s what happens when one has always known just one paradigm and environment) (but if one has been “a fish out of water” just one time, then he / she will know right away what water is, just how accustomed one is to it, and also maybe a bit about what lies beyond it). Maybe that’s also what some of our fellow earthlings astronauts or cosmonauts thought or experienced when they looked down on that blue planet from up above? (after experiencing plenty of G forces on the way up and then weightlessness?) So I thought the book was in fact about much more than nutrition. But it also already has further changed the way I eat. Though on that score I had been lucky enough to figure out most of what it explains already. (notwithstanding all the wrong information and representations that are out there) Maybe I had already managed to see through certain ideologies using science writ large ? But I better stop here and NOT give myself too much credit since this is about giving the BIG CREDIT that is due to T. Colin Campbell.
Stan Kingma (verified owner) –
I highly recommend this book to anyone serious about managing their health. The author identifies the social and political forces keeping whole-food plant-based (WFPB) nutrition information from becoming main stream in the United States. He summarizes the data that supports his WFPB conclusions outlined in “The China Study.” His writing style is succinct and to-the-point. He names names and identifies opposition…obviously not concerned that those identified can oppose his position.
This is one of the most important health books written in recent years. You will benefit greatly if you will only read and absorb this information. I’m in my mid-seventies, healthy and active, and have seen first-hand the changes in the kinds of foods we are now eating and the negative health effects. First growing up with mostly local, farm fresh plant food and locally processed meats… then seeing an increasing amount of processed foods rich in salts, sugars and fats sneaking into our diets… and finally observing the obvious effects of the foods we are eating and the complicated drugs that we are ingesting: obesity, increased cancers; arthritis; expanding heart disease. It’s obvious that something has changed the health of our nation. Dr. Campbell identifies the solution. This book is a must-read!
His research outlined in his earlier book “The China Study” is the foundation for the conclusions of this book. Read it for further background. I also recommend “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease,” by Dr. Esselstyne, a Cardiologist who adopted “The China Study” research and clinically proved that heart disease can be reversed through a WFPB diet.
Happy Reader (verified owner) –
For some time now the medical doctors and dentists in our extended family have been pushing a vegetarian diet. I thought they had really gone overboard until I read this book. WOW!! A lot to think about. I’m not sure just how I stand on this issue (very little or no meat, no dairy and lots and lots of plants), but I AM happily eating more vegetables and fruits. A truly amazing story and full of lots of good, solid scientific information. Quite readable. The author is easy to understand and very personable.
K. L. Salm (verified owner) –
T. Colin Campbell does it again. First the China Study, then this book. He has done so much to open our eyes to the truth about nutrition, and the paradigm our current health care system subscribes to as it relates to diet. It benefits primarily corporations, (big pharma) and certain medical industries – not the American public’s health! After all, there would be no money to be made if we could all keep ourselves healthy simply by what we eat.
The authors describe “reductionism” in detail, (only briefly mentioned in the China Study). From single nutrients being the magic bullet, (supplement industry), compared to the WHOLE food, ( there’s a really cool segment on the simple apple), to the design of scientific studies, wherein only one reaction or enzyme, or gene, or…you name it – is responsible for a bad/good health situation. Nutrition: Food, and our bodies are way too complex to narrow it down to one thing or – one small 5 step reaction. It all works together in a huge “symphony”. And funding for studies are granted mainly to studies with a reductionist design. Scientists do them this way because they are the ones funded and accepted. The whole – istic studies are swept aside. Why? Is it because they truly are not credible or is it because there is no money to be made in promoting them?
Every aspect of the system/paradigm is covered. From the well-meaning recent grad student to the politician, to the Disease industry “go-for -the -cure” organizations. All are caught up in the Reductionist paradigm. It keeps the “Corporatocracy” (my word), in the black and powerful, while the American population largely gets sicker and sicker. EVERYONE needs to read this along with the China Study and pass the message on! Eat the WHOLE food folks.
We are connected to each other, other countries, the environment and the planet. I learned some new amazing facts about climate change with which I was not previously aware – and, how the livestock industry and METHANE play a bigger role in it than anything else. Poverty and social implications as it relates to our diet are discussed. In EVERY situation, when the WHOLE is considered it is beneficial to eat a whole food plant based diet!
Eric Clise (verified owner) –
This book page by page, and chapter by chapter, lifts the vail of misinformation that we all have come to accept as the current “Gold Standard” for medical science. The pernicious corrupting influence of business interests have led us all to believe that health can be acquired from our doctors, from newer and more miraculous research, and from the right medications, supplements, and surgical procedures. The more you read Campbell’s compelling argument, the more it becomes clear that we have all been horribly mislead. It is not that we are puppets to evil capitalists (although there is some of that), it is the nature of business to find ways to grow, and medicine and science and research are all businesses. The truth about health is really bad business for 90% of the current participants of the medical, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Besides, they tell us all what we want to hear, we don’t have to change our lifestyles to be healthy…we just need to take their pills and everything will be good. Read, become outraged, become informed, and make better decisions. Be prepared for pushback from friends, family, and especially from your Doctor. They will think you have gone off the deep end with your new paradigm busting perspective…sort of like how people felt about Columbus sailing off the edge of the flat world or some crazy notion about the earth orbiting the sun. Become a Standard American Diet health heretic, you will only be burned rhetorically.
Donald D. Forrester (verified owner) –
This book is quite astonishing both in its message and its presentation and organization. Clearly and concisely, Campbell reiterates and defends his insistence (in The China Study) that animal protein, fat, and processed food drive most of the diseases in our culture. He provides the arguments and the references for these claims, and is very credible. But he also demonstrates a scholar’s understanding of how policy, funding, and turf-defense collude to “feed” Americans with the wrong information, the wrong philosophy, and enormous, wasteful healthcare costs. Further, and of great importance to anyone interested in philosophy, science, or the philosophy of science, he takes on the accepted paradigm of reductionism as the preferred, in fact, the only method for studying medical conditions and researching remedies for them. Although he surely does respect the roll that reductionism can play in science, he points out how much vital information is lost and how unimportant some of the results of a reductionistic method and interpretation are in a system as complex as human nutrition. He makes the point that relationships between and context of ingested nutrients count tremendously in trying to understand what is detrimental and what is beneficial to human health.
Even more impressive to most readers should be the fact that Campbell isn’t selling anything–not supplements, not nutriceuticals; not diet books. He just wants people to eat whole, plant-based, low-fat foods: apples, green beans, brown rice, etc. It will cost us all less up front, as these foods are very reasonably priced, but also will save us enormous amounts of money and suffering in the long run.
This book is a gem.
Kevin T (verified owner) –
Whole is one of those books that has the potential to change your life forever. Reading the China Study before this book is highly recommended, since that book provides the foundation for Whole. Campbell does a great job at explaining why our culture is convinced we should eat meat and dairy, and it basically boils down to profit. The businesses that stand to make a buck off medicine, meat, and dairy, in their understandable quest for greater profits, will use all means to stay relevant in the American diet and health system. Profit, not health, is the motivator for much of our current understanding of medicine and diet.
Campbell is not afraid to speak out against the current system, and offers many outside-the-box perspectives. If you believe his teachings, you will find yourself feeling appalled by the things you see in your daily life, from junk food diets to the superficial pursuit of cures for certain diseases.
His views are highly controversial, and sometimes anger others. People don’t like being told they are eating wrong. In my view, presenting this information is a favor Campbell has done for the world, but I don’t think very many people will be changing their diet anytime soon. It will take lots of time, and might never happen. The beauty of it is that we have personal freedom to choose to follow the diet prescribed by Campbell, and prevent many of the diseases in ourselves that face our country.
Thank you Dr. Campbell for a great book.
Hela Viola (verified owner) –
OK, the first few chapters regarding the holistic view of life, science and medicine are excellent, mind opening, and I am a skeptical scientist myself. That said, the emphasis on nutrition is overly done; there are many other contributors to overall health that were ignored, and that by itself is not very holistic.. The chapters about the politics are probably more of interest to Americans (even though we are all influenced by the American impact on the world, of course) and too detailed. Some of this could have been easily been delegated to appendices to make the total message more accessible without overloading the reader with details.. A short synopsis of the “China Study”” could have been of help, again as an appendix. There is a danger of moving from the overly complicated to the overly simplified in terms of the analysis. That said, I enjoyed the book, found interest, and agree with a lot of the content.
sdmsmd (verified owner) –
This is a follow up book to Campbell’s The China Study. While The China Study reveals the scientist’s work of over 30 years in the field of nutrition, many people are still unaware of the information that Campbell shared. Whole is a response to this situation. This book has a few chapters that are dense, where the author explains some of the technical aspects of his work, but he also takes aim at the current reductionist view in the field of nutrition. We are too focused on certain vitamins or other ingredients…like acai or blueberries…something that is bound to be the next ‘superfood’ and not just eating a varied plant based diet. Campbell also takes aim at many of the well-meaning charities such as the American Cancer Society or American Heart Association. He digs into how they operate and how they overlook diet as a first and most important step in the prevention of disease. There is too much politics and not enough common sense in our approach to health. Because of this current state of affairs, disease is managed rather than prevented and it is clear from both The China Study and Whole that many of our current chronic diseases are wholly preventable via a whole foods diet. Bottom line is if you feed your body a variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, and legumes and avoid added oils and animal protein, your body will pull all the necessary nutrients out that it needs. There is simply no need to be so focused on one thing like fiber, protein or calcium. Common sense has been overridden with reductionist science and dietetic advice.
Virgil (verified owner) –
This book is the best explanation and documented evidence as to why we suffer the so-called health crisis. Of course it is proven that a whole food plant based diet is the key to healthy longevity and freedom from disease, but most people need to know why, if we know this, that we still practice the direct opposite diet. People also need to know that “the junk that passes for food is in fact the biggest contributor to our health crisis, and the junk that passes for medicine keeps up just well enough to continue to spend on both the food and the medicine”. For those who think that “natural medicine” or supplements are even part of the answer, think again. They are not poison but they still don’t reverse the causes or sources of illness. In my experience as well, those who sell and push those products, as Campbell explains thoroughly, do not mean harm, but they too suffer the universally destructive brainwashing of our so-called health care system which is based simply on ignorance, and/or arrogance and greed.
In my 35 years as an educator and facilitator of genuine health care, I have taught this message. But I am in the extreme vast minority. So few have ever eaten close to healthfully, for long enough, or far enough into the process to experience the remarkable differences in their health. Most people follow the pouplar health fads and call it a day. Few that I have ever met in my life eat right. I have. I have been vegan since 1985. I even went as far as to continue further to 100% raw vegan for 12 years in a row. I also taught vegan, raw, and wfpb classes for decades to my clients, all of whom got remarkable results improving their health and eliminating problems. So I know what I am talking about.
This is one important “groundbreaking” book, yet just like its predecessor The China Study (also by Campbell), it will not get a fraction of the notoriety it deserves due to the overwhelming marketing machine that has literally campaigned against health and has promoted the self interest of disease for a hundred years. This book goes into easy-to-read depth, complete with references from all the most prestigious professional organizations in that time, and the present, to clearly display the incredible simplicity of how to reverse our health crisis fast, easily, and cheaply. The book explains and documents how the disease marketing machine has taken over not only the economy but the minds of the masses. It explains why the vast majority continue to eat, suffer and preach the garbage foods, medicine and treatments that keep us all sick and tired, and fully brainwashed, even as we continue to take drugs for all of our ailments.
For anyone at all interested in true health (not sales pitches or arrogant dissertations), I recommend this book (and it’s sister The China Study) as the two books required to set one on a path of genuine health. Read them and you will know 100 times more than any nutritionist, and especially doctor, when it comes to the most important thing in the world: your health and how to preserve it, which is the one thing that Campbell goes into detail about in this book. The take-away message is this: “They” do not have your best interests at heart. Not in the least. But take it from me. You can easily change your life, and preserve your old age happiness. Get this book. Get truly enlightened.
Jack R (verified owner) –
I read several dozen of these reviews, top, bottom and 3-star. Some really helpful. But not one gave a clear preview of what this truly exceptional book has to offer. (As an author and a lifetime reader, who watched both of my parents and all of my aunts and uncles suffer and die from the modern degenerative diseases, and later in life encountering the same diseases myself in the last 10 years, I have read intensely into modern insights into disease, medicine and health.)
At the outset, Campbell notes that the United States has by far the most expensive health care system in the world (common knowledge), but is last among major nations in healthcare. He observes that in fact we actually have a “disease care” system— we only go to the doctor when we are sick, and we expect to come home with a specific prescription for our specific malady that day. Our entire medical research system, uncounted billions of dollars, is based on REDUCING and isolating disease and official remedies to the single, simplest pill or procedure. He calls this “REDUCTIONISM”.
For example, the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States is from our prescription medicines (even when taken properly) and medical care (doctors/hospitals). Meanwhile, When the United States had 80,000 cases of BPH (prostate) the entire country of China had 80; when 14,000 American men died of prostate cancer, in the same year 18 died of prostate cancer in Japan. Obviously, everyone, especially research scientists should be wondering why.
When I was a boy, they taught us about atoms. Then they learned about protons, electrons and neutrons., Then Neutrinos, quarks, muons, bosons, fermions, and now the Higgs boson!
Similarly, their knowledge of chemistry and of our bodies is exponentially deeper and denser, although a microscopic amount of research money goes to studying what makes it so. When we eat, there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of chemicals interacting as our bodies metabolize food.
The key engine inside the cell is the enzyme which must fold into a precise three-dimensional shape for different tasks and it decides in a fraction of a second which configuration is required, although if it tested 1012 different combinations every second it would take about 1026 years to find the right one. And, 300 different enzymes are involved in the metabolism of magnesium alone.
BUT, we would throw in a pill with ONE form of a given vitamin or mineral and expect to have a magical effect on this astronomically complex process that goes on in our body every second of every day.
And, I’m sure everyone noted 2 weeks ago Dr. Oz was busted by a congressional committee for advocating on his TV show things that have not been scientifically proven. For example, he is appearing in an ad advocating Garcinia Cambogia, cheerily speculating that maybe it works by BLOCKING ONE ENZYME that is making us fat (although no valid scientific study has proven anything like this about this ancient Asian food).
For me, this is a very exciting book: I/we can just skip heart disease, strokes, most cancers, diabetes, dementia and the others as we age!
You might also read Dr. Esselstyn’s book: he was the chief surgeon of the world’s number one rated heart Hospital. Ran an independent study of a small group of people who had terminal heart disease. 100% of the adherents reversed the heart disease and all the symptoms – – 23 years later 5 of them had died, but not one of heart disease.
And, for eat this/not that advice from another in this growing community of credible doctors and researchers, look up Dr. Greger’s 1500 short videos on NutritionFacts.org.
Good luck!
LuvKimono (verified owner) –
After reading The China Study I was hungry for more, so when Whole became available I bought it immediately. This is not the same kind of book as The China Study. This book does two things: 1) It explains clearly the methodological underpinnings of T. Colin Campbell’s approach to nutrition research (wholistic as opposed to reductionist), and 2) he explores in detail the collusion between industry, government, the medical profession and the nonprofits they dominate to steer people toward eating animal protein (which causes cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disease and other conditions), purchasing nutritional supplements and placing their hope in gene therapy as a future cure for these diseases. They do this not because these will help improve our health but to maximize their profits and in the process they threaten to bring down the entire healthcare system around our ears.
Campbell is very courageous, and has been so during his entire career. He understands that the changes that must be made will only come about from the bottom up rather than from a reliance on trying to change the minds of those who profit from the current system. Though he has often faced possible expulsion from some scientific boards and organizations because of what he advocates, he has never backed away from what he believes is right, And he has befriended and works closely with other advocates of the whole food plant based diet approach to health.
If you want to know the specifics of the diet he advocates, read The China Study. If you want to read about how his ideas with regard to his research have evolved and about what he has had to do to get the broadest possible hearing for the ideas contained in The China Study, read Whole. Highly recommended.
Peter Arnold, CLU, CFC, CNM (verified owner) –
This is a block-buster book!
Like its predecessor, “The China Study”, this masterpiece by Dr. Campbell should be in everyone’s home library, in my opinion.
Here’s my own call on this…
WELLNESS – I have long been a believer in the concept of TOTAL wellness (physical / spiritual / occupational / financial / personal / social / mental). My wife (an RN) and I feel passionately about this. It’s almost impossible for most of us to keep a “balance” within this overall wellness ‘wheel’ – but when these components are in reasonable “harmony”, our health, and happiness, will usually soar. As a professional Financial Advisor and Business Consultant, my own primary emphasis has been on bringing “financial” wellness to my clients – but obviously, that’s only ‘part’ of the equation.
PHYSICAL Wellness. – Of all of the factors I mention, our PHYSICAL wellness is the absolute most crucial. Because of this, I personally, decided to study for my Certified Wellness Coach (CWC) designation too, as I believe it’s necessary to get much better informed, and prepared, in this critical area. There is nothing on this planet as precious as our HEALTH. Nothing. We can have all the wealth and riches in the world – but without our “health” – it doesn’t really matter.
NUTRITIONAL Health – Of all the different ways to keep “healthy” (exercise / rest & relaxation / avoiding stress, alcohol, tobacco, white sugar-flour-salt / proper diet & supplementation / staying hydrated / etc) — proper DIET takes the “top” priority – and Dr. Campbell zeros in beautifully, and clearly, on the “power” of (ideally, clean, green, organic, non-gmo, WHOLE FOOD) NUTRITION as being the master KEY to human health.
WAKE UP CALL – This massivly reseached, intelligent, timely piece provides us with a new roadmap to a healther, happier life. But, it’s a highway with many severe “potholes” along the way, because of the brutally strong, entrenched forces “opposing” it – the Food Industry – Big Pharma – the Fast Food Chains – the Media – the (allopathic) Medical Machine – and others. This is a RED ALERT – we need to be ON GUARD, in order to protect ourselves against these realities, and to spread the word – to create an “awareness for others” of Dr. Campbell’s highly significant (peer-reviewed) scientific findings. Otherwise, we (they) could face tragic health consequences.
No longer should our WELLNESS be about pushing knives / needles / drugs / radiation / TV commercials / french fries at us — it’s should be about us taking “more control of our own health and longevity” – through self education – and through safe, holistic, natural alternatives – both for preventive purposes – and for healing protocols – beginning with the “right” NUTRITIONAL therapies.
This great book is life changing – without hesitation, an important, 5 STAR classic!
Sincerely / Peter Arnold, CLU, CFC / Atlantic Canada
David (verified owner) –
On February 17, 2015, I was 225 pounds – literally fat, sick, and feeling nearly dead. My blood pressure was 182 over 108. My resting heart rate was 92. I had read The China Study a year ago and was intrigued by Dr. Campbell’s studies, which to my knowledge have never been refuted (even by those with the money and power to do so). So I decided to buy Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition, and make a change in my life. 32 days later, I have lost 20 pounds, my BP is down to 136 over 82, and my resting heart rate is 72. I am feeling better than I ever have. I sleep better, have more energy, and am more mentally focused at work and with my family.
This book makes a very strong argument as to why the reductionist methods of science have misled the American public regarding what REALLY can help prevent heart disease, stroke, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and a host of other killers in Western Culture, not to mention hiding the devastating environmental impact of factory farming. I am a proud WFPB convert, thanks to Dr. Campbell, and I hope to be able to spend many more active years with my wife and kids, instead of slowly killing myself with animal protein. Give it a chance and see if it works for you.
A. Menon (verified owner) –
Whole is a provocative reflection on nutrition and its role in health. The author gives a highly critical account of health policy and nutrition in the United States from his long experience in both policy, medicine and biochemical and nutritional research. The book is balanced, the author tries to be objective to the extent possible when one has an entrenched view, and full of evidence. The account is fairly damning of reductionist western medicine’s philosophy on health and methodology for curing disease. The author believes the complexity of the human body does not lend itself to targeted cures based on the body having missing ingredients and believes we need to view the body wholistically and that nutrition is the most import determinant of health. Furthermore good nutrition is founded in a whole foods and plant based diet and that animal meat and dairy are key sources of free radicals. Unfortunately after reading this it is pretty hard not to rethink your diet so practically the book is inconvenient but of course the lessons learned are truly invaluable.
The book is separated into 4 sections which the first and last are an introduction and conclusion. The first core content section is titled Paradigm as a Prison. The author goes about discussing the current western paradigm of medicine and health for which reductionism is king. The author discusses how reductionism makes sense for certain kinds of problems but when faced with complexity of a level that is incomprehensible reductionism leads to misunderstanding and is akin to people being blinded trying to understand an elephant by considering a small part. The author shows some metabolic charts and describes some of his early research regarding a potential carcinogen and how the concepts of cause and effect turned out to be so much more nuanced than initially believed. There is no question that reductionist science has been the way of progress for science from the enlightenment with its champion being physics but there is definitely a growing appreciation of the intrinsic difficulty to understand the details of complex dynamical systems in other parts of applied math and science more broadly. The author notes that though broad based health studies don’t use the same kinds of statistics and chemical analysis to try to argue their point, they give a robust view of how health is impacted by diet and his China Study gives a form of insight into nutrition and health that is of extreme importance. In particular the author argues convincingly that nutrition can’t be understood by decomposing the orange as the nutrition absorbed by the parts is different from the whole and that a whole foods and plant based diet leads to much lower cancer rates. These are the results from his China Study which looked at health across China as a function of different diets. Its almost impossible for someone to believe that nutrition doesn’t impact health but nonetheless the author notes as a general point that cancer rates of ethnic groups are a function of their local conditions and eating habits. The more contentious point is not about the importance of nutrition for health but on its magnitude of influence and its speed of effectiveness. The author believes that cancer rates are predominantly determined by nutrition, not partially and that a turn to a whole foods and plant based diet can have quick turnaround effect. As a consequence of these two fundamental differences he believes health policy needs to be totally changed.
This takes the author into his next section which is a description of the status quo. It is fairly damning and many of the institutions most people think are promoting worthy goals the author takes apart. Many people will likely be offended but the authors arguments are clear and most are persuasive. The author argues that the current policies in place focus on health care after health issues surface rather than the recipe that people should follow to prevent health problems from arising. The author also argues that from multiple directions the whole foods plant based diet will help the planet and that includes environmental noting the methane emissions from the dairy industry. The author argues that the current health care system and reductionist medicine already is the third largest killer in the United States though that is not a recognized fact though there is strong evidence to suggest it. The author argues that the funding of research science lends itself to trials with narrow goals and is funded by a combination of the government and drug companies (which are subsidized by the government) and narrow goals are perpetuated by self interest. The medical profession is also biased by its self interest and as a consequence not for profit foundations, headed by doctors, continue to pursue solutions that are within the current western paradigm to the detriment of the health of society. The author argues that the research centers, both university and professional, the medical profession, the government, many of the large charities and the media are all doing society a disservice with their current approach (some more consciously than others).
Whole is a great book that makes the reader re-think a lot of things that are taught to them throughout their lives with strong evidence. One comes away with more healthy skepticism and some reinforced beliefs about the role of diet in healthy living. Unfortunately the diet proposed is pretty hard to follow so unfortunately most of us will fail at it due to problems of self control, but nonetheless important lessons are learned from this and a more realistic perspective of the medical profession and current policy are formed. Definitely recommend this
william morrison (verified owner) –
A powerful follow to to the China Study, in which Campbell updates and clarifies the science and refutes his critics. He demonstrates the limitation of reductionist thinking in the area of nutrition, and invites the reader to extrapolate this to the limitations of this approach to scientific thinking in general. There is a disturbing description of the democratic political process and its deviation from “by the people , for the people”, which can be seen to operate in other areas eg climate change and other pressing issues in the world. Finally, he considers what the individual can do both personally and socially. A stimulating read! Bill Morrison
LadySheShe (verified owner) –
Wow this book really makes you think about what the heck we are eating and putting in our bodies. This is a great read for anyone interested in living. If you really don’t care about living or any quality of life, don’t bother reading this book. Yeah, it’s a little heavy on the science and in-depth in explanations, but if you have completed high school you should be able to understand the gist of it. Take what you will from reading it in living your life and what you put in your mouth. I guarantee you will start to rethink what we call “food” in America and what the heck we are consuming.
Constance Aimee (verified owner) –
To me, this book is science information uninhibited. Dr. T. Colin Campbell not only speaks about a own research, but presents the picture of a system many of us live in. No one is asked to believe him outright. As readers, we are given his knowledge and experience, and left to decide for ourselves. I personally have always questioned everything around me, and never took anything at face value…but how many people sincerely believe that the nutritional guidelines are sincere and based on scientific fact, without coercion from sponsors? How many people do you know feel like everything appears to kill us, and it’s just the luck of the draw; or that they cannot believe in new stories about what foods are good and bad anymore?
I enjoy the openness of this book, and I feel it inspires more questions for me about the complex workings of the human body and our relationship with the foods we eat.
I have more experience on the cooking side of things, and my interests have always been with making delicious, healthy food that won’t leave friends and family sick, but will give them vibrancy of life. Campbell is correct in that the best way to find out, is to try the WFPB diet oneself. I, personally, am fascinated by our relationship to what we eat, how it came that we eat what we do, and the amazing properties of plants in general. I have traveled and cooked in different countries around the world, wanting to learn what people eat in other areas, and experience what life was like. The changes of diet and lifestyle greatly influence how I eat today, and my view on why so many people I have met are have diet-related illnesses.
The question of why so many people cannot tolerate gluten, have Type 2 Diabetes and often die from it, are obese and cannot lose the weight, their weight yo-yos up and down. I have learned a bit about, regardless of disease, what foods just about anyone can eat. I like food to be simple, and nutrition to be accessible to everyone, and have found a HUGE amount of edibles that grow all around us, wild, and the positive effects of whole food, plant-based diets on many people.
Read this book, especially if you wish to delve further into the topic after reading The China Study! Be your own educator! Take the initiative, and try it out for yourself. No one is the expert on your own body but yourself.
Josh Johnson (verified owner) –
This presents a very interesting view of food and our system of medical care. Rather disturbing.
The book’s thesis is that both our food advisors, food production businesses along with both the medical research and medical service providers including the major organization such as the Cancer Research Society are all trapped in a paradigm that neglects major areas of knowledge. He feels and make a good argument that these organization while not “evil” are fueled by the profit motive and as such make their decisions on what is proper research information based on profit rather than what might be best for overall health.
He feels that a plant based diet void of both meat and milk would dramatically increase the health of the nation and decrease cancer rates. He feels that this would be very bad for our overall economy in the short run. As a result extremely strong influences work to keep this from occurring.
It is not that major Cancer researchers do not want to cure cancer but that in order to fund their research they have to operate in the current paradigm. He feels this neglects major areas of potential benefits. He states that if a researcher wants to investigate any type of holistic approach such as overall nutrition then their career will be very much in question and it is extremely unlikely they would obtain funding.
I am afraid to say his thesis sounds reasonable but I do not feel competent to judge the validity of his arguments.
L. Wells (verified owner) –
I am already re-reading T. Colin Campbell’s sequel to his groundbreaking The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted, which begins as a heart-wrenching tale of his utter disbelief, following the publication of The China Study, that the evidence he had presented, and documented over 40 years of painstaking research, had been totally ignored by the medical establishment, the government and the public. Because I was convinced by The China Study to adopt a whole foods, plant-based diet, I too was appalled and saddened. What will it take to convince people that the way to good health is, as Hippocrates said centuries ago, through our food? In this book, Campbell goes deeper into the scientific method that all researchers use to prove or disprove their hypothesis, whatever it might be. He tries to help the reader understand why scientists, and the public they are supposed to be serving, have taken a reductionist perspective concerning our health rather than a holistic approach. He describes how breaking down nutrients into their lowest form, and then ingesting those vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc. in pill form is not only doing us NO good whatsoever, but it it also harming us. He describes a study (it might have been a hypothetical; I don’t remember) in which one group of subjects would be given all the nutrients contained in the proverbial “apple a day” and another group given the whole apple. When their blood was tested for the presence of the nutrients, the group who ate the apple had more of the good stuff than the pill group. We need to wake up and pay attention to this scientist. He is trying to save our lives and he’s not asking us to buy pills or pre-packaged food, or any other product. He’s giving it all away and no one is paying attention. In some ways it’s a very depressing book, and I will probably read it again, just as I keep going back to The China Study, as a reminder of why my vegan lifestyle is best for me and why I advocate for it whenever I have an opportunity (when I’m asked).
BOYD C MYERS (verified owner) –
A bit repetitive, but gets his reductionism point across…Whole Foods have Macro, micro, vitamin, phyto- and probably as yet discovered nutrients in the right proportions and packaging for humans to utilize for their total nutrition! Would have liked to have him elaborate more some of the details of the China Study as I sense there is more to glean! bcm
Bubba Fide (verified owner) –
Excellent book. However, I came away wishing Mr Campbell would had addressed directly the studies and information provided by Gary Taubes and others. If the premise in “Whole” is true, then Gary Taubes and “Good Calories Bad Calories” is not. However, even after reading Whole, I have my doubts on who is correct regarding the relationship between heart disease and saturated fat.
Jxgardner (verified owner) –
Campbell’s starts out possibly a little boring but accelerates throughout the book to a conclusion that strikes me as a crucial criticism and warning about our society which is based on profit and money.
The key word is REDUCTIONISM ( vs wholeism ). …. I.e every segment of our society …. medicine, Pharma, agriculture, etc etc. goes the reductionist route. That is, we are driven by money and capitalism, and all concepts turn into ‘ money and profit concepts ‘..
Campbell in his final chapters lays into the medical and nutritional organizations that should be bringing out the truth and defending us. But, the exact opposite. … Coke, junk food inc, you name it … they are donating big bucks to American Cancer Society and down the line .
Sad, medicine is all about curing the diseases they should be concerned about preventing.!! It’s a rigged system as Campbell rightly points out.
And, very sadly, the people who choose to read the book already know but may not fully realize.
A revolutionary message … that sadly may go unheard and ignored . Capitalism may motivate but has it’s weakness in reductionism. A great word for what is happening to our society.
Jazzed (verified owner) –
I wish medical and food science students had to read this. Western science, and its funding, breaks down incredibly complex systems into a lab experiment with two variables and pretty grotesque amounts. It is actually frightening.
The author was 79 and financially set when he wrote it. He is trying to help us.
Cynthia Bookish (verified owner) –
I admired Dr. T. Colin Campbell in The China Study and Forks Over Knives, and in many videos and interviews I have seen him in on youtube. He is not an alluring, attractive person or speaker, but he is an earnestly, authentic individual and a dedicated scientist who came to the conclusion about the connection between whole food, plant based health through his own extensive research and lifestyle choices. While I have a morning smoothie with some ‘supplements’ in it, by and large I get my nutrition from eating whole food, plant based as Dr. Campbell, Dr. Greger and others recommend.
Mystical Reality Is (verified owner) –
Brilliant book by a brilliant man! T. Colin Campbell is one of the few people I truly admire. He is brilliant, dogged, ethical and principled. He tells it like it is and pulls no punches. There is an abundance of false information about health and diet. You will not find any of that here. He has summarized the latest solid scientific knowledge about diet and health and explains it very well. This book will quite possibly make you VERY angry as well as VERY healthy. You would think that if people discovered the way to stop cancer, diabetes, reverse heart disease and multiple immune diseases and more that it would get attention from the world press, governments trying to cut medical costs and maybe merit a Nobel Prize or two. Well, that’s not happened and they HAVE figured it out. And it is NOT what you might think or have been told. Even more amazing, it is really simple to implement the remedy. He explains it in detail with all the references to the pertinent research. If you want to be healthy and have your friends and family know how to be spared the majority of the major health issues plaguing America and much of the world today, read this book and you will know the truth. If you are suffering from one of these illnesses, read the book and he will tell you what you need to do to get better, if your illness has not gone too far, and it probably hasn’t. And you will wonder why this information is not being loudly publicized…. But, he answers that question, too – which is why you may get very, very angry. I won’t spoil it for you, though. This could be the most valuable book you ever buy – it can save your life and the lives of those you know if you apply the knowledge between the covers. Good luck! Buy it, read it and then give it to a friend or loved one or donate it to your local library! That is the only way others will hear about this… The more you know, the better your life can be.
Raptorduck (verified owner) –
First, full disclosure. I’ve worked for the pharmaceutical industry for 36 years, including as a research scientist! I’m hardly somebody Dr Campbell would expect to endorse his book. Well not only do I endorse it, The China Study turned me into 100% WFPB diet addict. The day I finished it was the last day I ate animal based food. And I’m a Powerlifter to boot. No strength loss here. I slept better, lost 5 lbs to under 10% body fat, and have a resting heart rate under 50, and my age is older than that! It works. I’m sold on WFPB and him.
What convinced me? data. As a scientist, in god I trust, everybody else bring data. He does and he did.
I don’t agree with everything he says though. I think he “mostly” misses the point on reductionist research. It is not bad or evil. It is necessary. In my research, I follow what is called systems theory, which is wholistic like Dr. Campbell professes. But it creates a feedback loop with reductionist science (e.g. research domain hypothesis). Decomposition helps understand systems, but systems are greater than the sum of their parts, what Dr. Campbell argues. I think a better view would be that reductionist methods are misused and their results misinterpreted or wrongly extrapolated or inferred. They can complement whole systems research. Reductionism is not the enemy. Wholeism is the endgame, but it is not an exclusive undertaking.
Finally, he might oversell benefits of WFPB a tad. He looks at populations and prevalence rates etc. but we are individuals. There are always outliers and genetics cannot be dismissed altogether. Risk factors are plural and sometimes compound. My BP has not dropped yet. I still take statins etc. it’s been 5 months. Some benefits take longer and you can still get cancer or heart disease, but the odds are, on the Whole (pun intended), lower on a WFPB diet. One should never overpromise benefits. That’s what industries he is critical of, do, including mine. On that point, I thank him for not assuming that people like me don’t mean well, we do, I do. But we are part of systems that have unfortunate side effects.
His message is not easy to digest for the masses. Just today I saw on the news a story about remarkable new research from the University of Iowa that INCREASING your daily intake of cheese will help you fight disease and extend your life. I wonder who funded that research. This book will tell you. It’s an uphill battle and the rock keeps rolling down and crushing you.
Jeremy F, Reno, NV (verified owner) –
This book was very interesting. The insight, knowledge and practical experience that T. Colin Campbell brings to this book is undeniable.
I remember a quote from Jim Rohm, “Life change doesn’t begin with inspiration. Life change begins with education.”
If you’ve ever considered adapting to a whole food plant based lifestyle but haven’t been able to take that first step this is the book that should energize you to do so.
The awareness of the impact a WFPB lifestyle has on our health, the planet and the animals inspired me to do so over a year ago.
Reading this book and T. Colin Campbell’s book, The China Study, have turned it into a calling for me.
KUPONGIRL (verified owner) –
This book is extremely informative if you are interested in nutrition and how it affects your body and overall health. This author does a marvelous job explaining the benefits of proper diet, proper nutritional lifestyle changes and its positive benefits, as well as the lifetime effects on the entire body.
The more I read this book, the more I am informed and educated regarding what is best for my overall health from a nutritional standpoint. I am thoroughly convinced that whole foods and a plant-based lifestyle, profits exceptional benefits! These benefits are what I desire to indulge in!
The author also talks about the difference in supplements and how whole foods plant-based eating is the healthiest way. I agree! To me, it is not about being vegan or a vegetarian, but providing your body with the proper nutrients generated from the correct foods; whereby it can proper heal itself. I am sincerely enjoying every chapter of this book! It is supplying me with all of the necessary information to strongly desire to properly eat only whole foods that are plant based. The more I read this book, I am thinking “why isn’t everyone reading this book?” Perhaps after you read a copy of this book, you will agree with me that the education, information, and insight shared in this book is life-changing, and mandatory for the whole truth!
Jennifer Fair (verified owner) –
Interesting read
T.A. Fisher (verified owner) –
It’s a bit hard for me to review this one as I realized upon reading it I already knew a lot of the information in it. In other words it wasn’t the book I thought it was. And the information I didn’t know, was pretty easy to understand through skimming. Granted, that means I may have overlooked some nuances but I definitely got the gist. To be fair, I shouldn’t have waited over 7 years to read it either. As I bought it in 2015.
overbooked (verified owner) –
I cannot say enough about this book. It is a must-read. The China Study, by the same author is my favorite book of all time, across all genres, but this one is a very close second.
Drew (verified owner) –
When you follow the science and not the lies from governments or corporations trying to sell you dead food, you find the truth that will keep you healthy. T. Colin Campbell does just that. Thank God for bold and courageous people like Dr Campbell who aren’t afraid to stand up to powerful interests to his own hurt.