What Everybody Ought to Know About Nutrition Research

Why is nutrition such a polarizing topic?

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. Within minutes I became fixated on the screen. The world around me felt distant, and time stopped.

The words I was reading fascinated and terrified me simultaneously.

Was it really true? What if all I thought I knew about nutrition was wrong? What if these people who were eating nothing but meat were right?

Could I have been so “brainwashed by society,” as they call it?

Flashback: It is 2006, and I am sitting at my computer in the office. I am a forestry student in my practical semester. I am supposed to conduct a research study on the socio-economic benefits of a sawmill.

However, I am procrastinating by researching how to eat well.

I recently developed a passion for running and wanted to ensure my body gets all the nutrients it needs to perform well. I also wanted to reduce my ecological footprint as much as possible.

When I stumbled upon Steve Pavlina’s article “Why Vegan,” every cell in my body screamed “Yes.” This was it. This was what I was looking for.

I almost instantly cut out all animal products. And almost by accident, I adopted a whole foods vegan diet.