Healthy Learnin'

About a year ago, I was part of a graduate class with a very enticing name: "It's All About You: Health and Wellness for the Educator." Now, I'm not typically the kind of person who wants it to be "all about me," but for three credits, I could deal with it. Within the context of the course, we read a book called "The China Study." This book reveals the results of research that took place in the 70s. This research was intended to show that by exposing people in Asia to animal protein, it would exponentially improve their health. Unfortunately for those researchers, exactly the opposite occurred. After introducing animal protein, the subject's health declined and many "western diseases" resulted - heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. They continued the study to see if the opposite would hold true - and it did. A plant based diet resulted in the disappearance of cancer. The course also delved into a healthy lifestyle including regular exercise of different varieties. As students, we were challenged to change our lifestyles and document it, and I did.