Post by Nelson Campbell
Here we go again. The government issued new dietary guidelines, and once again they missed the mark. Sure, they advised us not to consume too much sugar, but that’s an easy recommendation to make. Sugar has been bashed for years; everyone knows eating too much sugar is unhealthy. But the elephant in the room is the irrefutable body of scientific evidence suggesting that animal-based foods — dairy, eggs, and all meats (red, white, processed, lean, and fatty) cause changes within our bodies that can, for some, lead to debilitating and deadly chronic disease. Even more astounding, plant-based foods can not only help prevent these diseases, but can sometimes reverse serious conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Our government once again failed to adequately communicate this life-changing truth to the public, for one simple reason: money.
Picture courtesy of Pixabay.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said earlier this year that the 2016 guidelines would remain essentially unchanged from the prior guidelines, especially with respect to meat consumption. And to the glee of the animal products industries, he stayed true to his word. Barry Carpenter, who spent much of his career at the U.S. Department of Agriculture before becoming CEO of the Meat Institute, said, “Consumers who choose to eat meat and poultry, as 95 percent of Americans do, can continue to enjoy our products as they have in the past.”
I expected this outcome and would have been shocked had it turned out differently. As our film PlantPure Nation shows, our government is not a government of, by, and for the people; it is a government of, by, and for the wealthy special interests who know how to pull its levers.
Picture courtesy of Pixabay.
Whenever I see our government submitting to the rich and powerful, I always come back to one idea — an idea my mom discusses at the end of our film when she talks about love. When I interviewed her for the film, I didn’t know what she was going to say when I asked that question of her, and hadn’t even planned on asking the question. But it came out in the course of our discussion, and I loved how she responded. She said in a heartfelt way that money does not have the importance many people think, and then went on to talk about the primacy of love. Ultimately, what she was talking about was a way of seeing the world.
When we see industries manipulating our government to their financial benefit, we often start talking about “the system,” and we forget that our society is an aggregation of people. “The system” doesn’t decide to harm others. People make decisions that harm other people. Yes, systems provide incentives for bad behavior, but people still make the decisions that hurt other people.
I have always thought that I would never make a living hurting others. If this means living in a small trailer or doublewide, then so be it (actually, this simple lifestyle sounds pretty good to me). Now, don’t get me wrong; I recognize that there are many people who are ignorant of the truth and make poor decisions out of ignorance. But that is not true with the government and industry leaders who crafted our dietary guidelines. They know the intense interest in a plant-based diet, so you would think that their concern for others should drive them to do a little research. And you certainly don’t have to dig far into this issue to discover the truth, as so many millions have already done. No, these people are either ignorant by choice, or they know the truth and choose to disregard it — either way, it is evil. It is the trading of human life for money and power.
This sort of behavior is grounded in a view of the world that is, at its core, a materialistic view, and by this I don’t mean simply a money-driven view. I mean “materialistic” as the antithesis of the idea that all of existence is indivisible, and that ultimately it is impossible to commit an evil act within an indivisible universe without consequence to oneself. I believe that cause and effect go deeper through time and space than we might imagine, and the idea that you can hide from the consequences of your wrongdoing from behind the wall of an organization or bureaucracy is just an illusion. I don’t want to go into further detail here about this notion because it is a deep idea that deserves more than cursory treatment, but I will just say that there is more to the story of reform than ideas about changing systems. We need to foster in this world a more compassionate view within the hearts of individuals, motivated by the idea that what we do in this life matters.
Which brings us to our PlantPure Pods. Through a message of healing, we are encouraging self-love and love of others. And we are doing this through a strategy that engages people, not government.
I would like to suggest that we see the new dietary guidelines as an opportunity, a catalyst to accelerate interest in the grassroots movement we are launching. I especially would like to suggest that everyone reading this share our film, PlantPure Nation, with everyone you know. The message of this film is more relevant today even than it was the day I decided to make the film. Our government is trying to pull the wool over our eyes once again, but they cannot stop us from sharing the truth with those we love.
Picture courtesy of Pixabay.
We look forward to the new year. We have many exciting initiatives in the pipeline that we will be sharing over the coming months. And the fact that our government is once again giving us the green light to eat lean meat, low-fat dairy products, and eggs is relevant only to the extent that it brings more attention to our cause. So buckle up and hold on!