…among a plethora of other health and environmental disasters.

A good friend just sent me a note (forwarded from one of my blog readers) asking that I take a look at the “Teaching the Food System” project at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. The reader stated,

I thought Jim might be interested in exploring this; It would be nice if this could be expanded to other schools.

My response. I just took ten minutes and perused the info on the Johns Hopkins food system project. On the surface, they appear to be advocating better treatment of animals — but make no mistake, they’re still talking about eating animals—indefinitely.

It’s safe to say that ANY large, accredited, university within the greater food “system” is going to be teaching the same thing. Some may offer a kinder and gentler version of animal abuse and our “need” for animal protein—but it’s the same old USDA pyramid. How could it be anything else?

A pig is a pig is a pig. As far as your health is concerned, it makes no difference if he’s had a nice life or not.

The good folks at Johns Hopkins probably mean well, but like all of the nutritional scientists in the USA (except for one), they have chosen to support the food industry (including the meat & dairy portion) for which they work.

From the Johns Hopkins website. The glossy video provided below doesn’t fool me one bit; it just tells me that our “food system” is just getting real good at placating the animal rights folks and the environmentalists.

Ten billion animals still have to die every year in this country and we’ll all still be eating the animal-based foods (flesh, eggs and dairy) that promote cancer, diabetes & heart-disease. We’ll also still be using ten times too much land, water and energy in the process—which is grossly unsustainable for very much longer. In my view, they’re just adding to the confusion at Johns Hopkins—because they’re ignoring the wisdom of The China Study and not telling us what I learned during my “blinding flash of the obvious” moment in 2003:

“We’re eating the wrong food!!!!!!” You won’t need to watch the whole video to get the picture. From the Johns Hopkins website preceding the video:

The short film Out to Pasture: The Future of Farming? (34 minutes) contrasts raising food animals on pasture with the prevailing industrial approach. Several pasture-based farmers are profiled; they discuss how they got started in farming (three transitioned from confinement operations), what’s important about their farming methods, how their conventional-farm neighbors view them, how to keep young people on the farm, the future of the food system and other topics. The film also features Robert Lawrence, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, and John Ikerd, a leading thinker on sustainable agriculture.

The Bottom Line. Slick video. Same confusing message. Lingering question, “Should we be eating animals or not?” This is probably not the kind of feedback my  reader was looking for when she forwarded me this information about Johns Hopkins.

Regardless of the glitter of the brand, their schools of nutrition are still teaching the same old disease-promoting USDA garbage.

Herein lies our biggest problem. It’s all so confusing and people are conditioned to think they must be right if it’s got a Cornell, Harvard, Yale or Johns Hopkins brand. One final comment, this is a classic example of doing a better job on the “wrong things.”

Eventually, the Harvard, Yales and Johns Hopkins of the world are going to have to start teaching us about the “right things.” See third link below.

• Link to the Johns Hopkins “Teaching the Food System” site.
• An earlier blog. Why are the “world’s greatest thinkers” missing the boat…
• An earlier blog. Doing “things right” or doing the “right thing.” Which is better?

Just remember, you can still get cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease from eating animal foods that come from the pasture instead of the CAFO, industrial feedlot. Why is Johns Hopkins not telling us that? The good news is that you don’t have to wait for them.

At the rate they’re going, they may not provide any true clarity on this subject for another hundred years. But you can take charge of your health today. Oh, for the complete truth about nutrition, I recommend The China Study over Johns Hopkins 1000 to 1.

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

• The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD 
• Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
• An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
• Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com

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J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.

Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.

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Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation