Change Of Diet John Robbins Asks Us To Think Beyond What We Eat To How It Affects Our Planet

There was nothing capricious about best-selling author John Robbins’ decision to stop eating meat, eggs and dairy products.

The only son of the founder of Baskin-Robbins, he grew up “believing in dairy products the way some people believe in the Bible,” Robbins said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Santa Cruz.

Which makes his decision to become vegetarian almost 10 years ago somewhat startling.

“I didn’t just do it to feel better physically. I could see the whole picture. I realized that the food choices that are best for us are also best for the earth and best for other creatures,” said Robbins, who will be a featured speaker at this weekend’s Body Mind & Spirit Expo.

Robbins did more than give up certain foods. He became an activist and a self-educated expert.

In 1987, he wrote “Diet for a New America,” the best-selling book that provided a mountain of evidence that a meat-based diet was not only linked to cancer and heart disease, but that raising livestock was tough on the environment, contributed to world hunger and was cruel to animals.

Among the 2,500 documented references were these statistics: Half the land on this planet is dedicated to grazing for livestock. One acre of land can produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes compared with 250 pounds of beef. More than 100 million people could be fed if Americans reduced their meat consumption by 10 percent.

A frequent public speaker, Robbins followed up with a 1992 book called “May All Be Fed: Diet for a New World” (Avon Publishing, $12) and founded a non-profit organization call EarthSave. That group, which has chapters around the country including a fledgling unit in Spokane, is dedicated to spreading the message that eating a plant-based diet not only makes you feel better, but is better for the planet.

“You can eat healthy food and go to the health club, but that’s a narcissistic way of life. There are other forces that need to be addressed in a political way using our collective voices,” Robbins said. “It’s not just about making a lifestyle change. That’s just a piece of it.”

Robbins realizes that his message might seem radical to some - “if it serves their purpose, they see me as a radical” - but he has some fairly palatable suggestions for people who are contemplating a change in their eating habits:

Eat less meat, or no meat if you can do that.

Ask the produce manager at your supermarket to stock organically grown fruits and vegetables. Support local growers who don’t use pesticides.

Experiment with dairy and meat alternatives. Try cooking with soy milk or almond milk. Think of tofu as an ingredient, adding it to sauces or marinating it and then throwing it on the barbecue.

Grow a garden for your family and donate surplus produce to the local food bank.

Still, Robbins realizes making those kind of changes can pose a challenge in modern America.

“We live in a world where people tend to choose things that will most likely please others rather than being loyal to the truth,” he said. “For instance, the Department of Agriculture is charged with promoting the sale of animal products, as well as overseeing the nutrition of the country. They couldn’t possibly be farther from (being) objective.”

He cites the school lunch program as a good example.

“Schools have access to subsidized high-fat cheeses and meats such as ground pork, but if they want to serve low-fat cheese or whole wheat bread, they have to pay extra,” Robbins said.

However, Robbins is encouraged by the growing number of people who realize that our personal wellbeing is tied into the health of the planet. The movement got a highprofile boost recently when a group of physicians, including Dr. Benjamin Spock, came out in favor of a plantbased diet.

“Ben is courageous enough to learn as he goes along,” Robbins said.

People who cut animal products out of their lives should begin to look for a change in the way they feel within a week or two. “You should feel great, lose weight, become more emotionally healthy,” he said.

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