The Roots Of Institutions & Ideas #1
Story Time
Growing up I always saw my parents reading. It was rarely any type of fiction it was always history. Due to their leadership by example, I grew to enjoy reading history. It gives you a base to understand the world we live in and if you read enough of it you start seeing patterns both good and bad. Technology will always change but fallen human nature will not. Start noticing bad patterns throughout history and you’ll start getting a spidey sense for things in current events.
The Other Day
The other day I was watching a video from a doctor I usually like watching and in this video, the one being interviewed said something that sent me down a rabbit hole for about 30 minutes. What she said was that the founding of the American Academy of Dietetics(which later became the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND)) had its roots in a vision from God about meat being bad and so they started a dietary association based on this vision. I should also mention that the AND states that it’s the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals.
Additionally, the ADN receives or has received money from various companies
Mcdonalds
Pepsi
Coca-Cola
Sara Lee
Generall Mills
The Sugar Association
And Others
I am a very religious individual, super-mega religious in fact. But how did they know that the vision they received was from the creator and not some demon playing games???
Especially since humans had been eating meat for generations and generations up to this point with no problems.
The roots of this push away from animal products from the experts go deep and this seems to be one of many institutions that are influenced by something other than science.
Turns out the founder of what would become the AND, Lenna F Cooper, was hanging around the woman that did have the vision.
Re-Certification
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by this point about institutions coming about not by a search for truth but more of a religious fervor. The reason that this concerns me is that I need to re-certify every two years for my personal training certification. This requires me to take some extra courses and each one holds a number value to it. Achieve the overall number and I’m recertified. I thought that already having my certification there would be some discount on these extra courses but nope…
One of the courses is in nutrition and is one of the more expensive ones. The money by itself isn’t bad but how do I know that the information and, “Knowledge” in here is based on science and not “Science.” Truth/research or religious-like fervor masquerading as truth/research. Will my money go towards propping up something that has a bias?
Even in my personal training cert there was information stating that some seed oils were good. But at least they acknowledged that not all protein(either from plants or animals) is not created equal.
When looking into any organization it's important to see who the founders are, what their beliefs are, and how they came to their conclusions. In training as a Marine Corps Officer, we were often told, “Turn The Map Around.” This phrase is meant to change the focus of one setting up an attack or defensive line. If I were the opposition force (OpFor) what would I do? Now, the only reason I mean to bring this up is to create an approach to better understand the motivations of an organization.
We can also understand this through what type of lenses people posses. A lens is a way through which you view the world.
The lens will also dictate what problems you see and how to address them. A bad lens will cause you to crash into things and see something for what it is not. A good or better lens will do the opposite. If the founders of an institution or idea have a bad lens, you can expect the result to be that those who adopt their lens(ideas) crash into things and barely make out what something is. With this bad lens, how can one expect that they have the ability to solve an issue or correctly identify one?
The Masterminds
Some, but not all, of the influence in Western dietetics towards a meatless diet. If you wish to become vegan/vegetarian, or already are one, and have a concern for the well-being of animals I have no issues with yall. I’m considering adopting an ovo-lacto diet for a short while to see how my body performs in the future myself. But my aim in this post is to point out how some institutions come about not from logic and a search for the truth…
…but from prior/strongly held beliefs.
Ellen G White
Founder of the 7th Day Adventist Church who had the, “Vision”
Founder of Frosted Flakes and mentored by Ellen G White
Points to him for that awesome mustache
Lenna F Cooper
Founder of the American Academy of Dietetics and mentored by John Harvey Kellogg
Elimination Diets
Veganism does have a place. It can be a way to distance one’s self from all the processed food that’s on the shelves of your average grocery store here in the West. Your body, being free from all the things that are making it run poorly, can be a huge power boost.
But that’s where I believe it ends. It cannot be sustained but based on your genetics you might be able to go longer than others.
Vegetarianism seems legit based on how well one does it. If I was forced between veganism or being a vegetarian for the rest of my life I’d choose the latter.
Myself Currently
Due to religious reasons, my diet most of the year is largely plant-based with shrimp here and there. It will be for a few periods of two weeks here and four to six weeks there. It’s for a higher purpose and I've experienced many benefits from this but I know by now how my body runs on a mostly plant food diet versus a mostly animal foods diet. Apparently, your blood type can affect how well you do on certain diets but type this into Google you will find how some say it’s, “DeBuNkEd.” But I”m still open to modifying my diet a bit in the future.
Wrap Up
Look into the beliefs and practices of those who founded institutions, started companies, or started revolutions, and your eyes will become wide open…
Thank you for making it to the end. Until next time…
