We at METI are reminded every day of a famous statement made by the German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, who more than two centuries ago said:  “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” 

And this is for the simple reason that we have been on the ‘receiving end’, so to speak, for the past 10 years, for daring to promote the whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet for the control and reversal of non-communicable diseases (NCD) like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer. 

Initially, nearly ten years ago, when asked at a radio show how we could reverse diabetes, our response: ‘Eat a plant-based diet’ was received with a burst of uncontrolled laughter from the interviewer. We will not give details of how we have been coping with the next phase, but at times they were rather unpleasant…We are now slowly moving to the final phase, where the evidence is becoming so overwhelming that even the most intractable opponents find no more arguments to oppose us. 

The famous intervention a few months ago in Parliament by the present Minister of Finance could well go down in the Annals of Parliamentary Democracy as a turning point: when she demanded that the Ministry of Health should take action to look at the ‘root causes’ of chronic kidney disease, in order to ensure the government would not need to purchase any further ‘dialysis machines’! When politicians pull their weight: public servants must follow suit! 

And it is based on these encouraging signs that we at METI are now organizing various community education events that will be ‘rolled out’ over the next few months in the hope of reaching out to all adults in this country affected by NCD conditions that are making their lives so miserable. The traditional medical approach to these conditions has almost exclusively focused on managing symptoms, rather than helping patients achieve remission by focusing on the root cause, which is the wrong diet that the average Samoan consumes day in, day out.

Advocates of the WFPB diet have repeatedly drawn attention to the exceptional health of the populations living in those countries that most routinely consume a plant-based diet. One example is the ‘Blue Zones’ (places on Earth, where there is a high proportion of centenarians), like the Seven Day Adventist community in Loma Linda, California, USA. But the same advocacy for promoting the plant-based diet can be just as effective if one follows the health profile of populations that used to be mostly plant eaters and now have embraced the fatty, animal-based Western diet. 

A good example is Japan. Recent statistics show that one out of three adults in Japan has diabetes or pre-diabetes. Also, 71 per cent of Japanese adults have high blood pressure (over 140/90) or pre-high blood pressure over 130/85. This phenomenon is an excellent example of the law of “cause and effect.” The alarming increase in these medical conditions is the result of a shift after the war from the traditional Japanese-style diet (which used to be plant-based) to the Western-style diet (animal-based). 

Ever since KFC and McDonald’s were brought to Japan in early 1970, Japanese dietary habits have changed radically. They now eat 18.4 times more dairy products, 9.3 times more meat and poultry, 6.1 times more eggs, 2.0 times more fish and 3.9 times more oil than they did in 1950. Similarly, in our own country, traditionally, people were plant-eaters and if you look at the famous pictures of the Mau movement days, you didn’t see many obese Samoans. This has changed dramatically, with nowadays, 85 per cent of adults being overweight or obese.

Just like in other countries, like Japan just mentioned, in Samoa, people have become accustomed to eating the animal-based Western diet. To prove this we offer just one simple statistic: in Samoa, ‘the dietary energy provided by vegetable oils increased from 2 per cent to 26 per cent between 1996 and 2011.’ Most people afflicted with NCD conditions feel unwell and are ready to hear the good news that these conditions can be reversed by simply switching to a plant-based diet. To educate the community about this: this is the challenge that METI will tackle in the months to come. 

We invite you to visit METI’s Healthy Living Clinic at House No. 51 at Motootua (across from the Kokobanana Restaurant) to become further acquainted with METI’s whole food plant-based diet and Lifestyle Change programs. Or call us at 30550. Learning how to follow these Programs might be your ‘game changer’!