Addictions Die Hard and Where Was the Staff Psychologist?

Before hitting the road this morning, I had a banana, 3/4 of a cantaloupe, 1/4 of a baked acorn squash, 1/2 an avocado, 1/4 pint of blueberries and an apricot. I had about the same portions for lunch near the end of the New Jersey Turnpike. I first began encountering the fringe rain from Bertha when I got to Maryland. It seems you can't go North and get away from hurricanes.

Before I had my lunch at the rest stop, I walked by the folks having their "treats" from Carvel. As I scooped out my avocado half a few minutes later, it occurred to me that I'd never had an ice cream that tasted so good. The flavor and texture changes from the bites near the skin to those near the seed. But even in the face of all that, I still felt the tug of the Carvel treat - addictions die hard!

Since the long term consequences of animal protein consumption are more severe and extensive than those of cigarette smoking, I foresee a day some years from now when all such products have something like the following: "Warning: the Surgeon General has determined that regular consumption of animal protein will significantly reduce your life expectancy and significantly increase your chances of getting cancer and heart disease."

We are with this where we were 20 years ago with cigarette smoking. Look how long it took to get a warning label on a pack of smokes. And if anything the beef and diary industries are even more powerful lobbies than the tobacco industry. The two groups held up the publication of the "new" four food groups by four years and had the recommendations substantially watered down from those originally presented by the physicians' advisory panel.

One of the missing ingredients in Fuhrman's program is having a staff psychologist as the group facilitator. Our leader was really his administrative assistant making sure we got books and tapes that we wanted and that the program costs where put on our credit cards. He suggests avoiding emotional entanglements during the fast. They aggravate any symptoms and moderate the success of the work. There should be a sign in each room that reads "Please do not discuss Politics, Race or Religion with your fellow fasters."

A couple of hours before the diabetic had her setback of hitting the snack machine, we were sitting around and the discussion turned to how bad "all the Latinos" were in our country. She had some painful memories around that issue and got visibly upset when expressing her feelings. A person with a counseling background would have easily spotted what was going on and helped her through the emotional conflict our discussion brought up.