But, For those of us that eat boiled or broiled or baked chicken breast, seafood, and lean red meat periodically, it has NOT been shown to be harmful. The trick is in balance--as in most things. Moderation is the key. Too much meat or exclusively vegan are extremes on a spectrum.
The other issue is that these extremes tend to lead to militant behavior overall. Many vegans are so patronizing and judgmental. And their entire cosmology seems to reek of EXTREMES. Often, vegans look SICK. They often smell funny to me, and need i mention that certain areas of the anatomy has the overwhelming scent of broccoli? Mmm...perhaps a metabolic imbalance? Also, they are forever weak and over-taxed. Their skin is dull and gray, the shine goes out of their eyes, they are bone-thin, emaciated. Their diet also seems to fling them into some weird mental state.One of my friends dated a vegan who once made her stop the car so she could chase a fox through the woods because she was sure it was responsible for her missing cat. I think the psychological
things at play here might have been a bit more insidious...she was probably chasing the fox out of some repressed instinct to hunt for meat....but that's just a guess.I think the jury's still out on how HEALTHY veganism really is, even though on the surface, it seems to be good for us. We have to define what KIND of healthy we want to be.
We are here to enjoy what life has to offer, and to me the sense of deprivation in the variety of my food is not worth the minimal increase in health. I get a balance of all the good stuff and i take supplements and i stay away from high fat and sugar. So it's a personal choice, but not one that should be foisted on everyone else. And veganism can suck the joy out of life in many ways.
For me, variety is the spice of life, and balance and moderation in all things is the healthiest, overall, place to be. I think that's actually the ultimate goal for us as a species...to learn how to be balanced. And i believe that while we should live and let live, that we're at the top of the food chain (so far) and that these plants and some animals were put here for our own sustenance. While scientific data seems, at first glance, to indicate that a PROPER vegan diet is healthier for us, I'm not convinced, because i do find other studies to contradict that. Just like with the Supersize Me documentary, extremes on overindulgence, as well as extremes on underindulgence, are EQUALLY bad choices. My opinion.
Here's something to consider:
The late Mahatma Gandhi devoted much of his life to the advocacy of strict vegetarian diet, and for years he experimented on his own body to find a suitable selection of plant foods on which to sustain health.
But all attempts were failures. In 1929, Gandhi and 22 companions went on a diet consisting of a limited selection of uncooked plant foods. Whereas the diet worked out well for a time and led to
marked improvement in consumptive cases, it failed to prove adequate on a long-range sustenance basis. One by one Gandhi's companions were forced to depart from the diet, and Gandhi himself had to add goat milk to his fare in order to regain health."For my companions I have been a blind guide leading the blind," declared Gandhi after the experiment was over. Gandhi still felt, however, that "the hidden possibilities of the innumerable seeds, leaves and fruits" of the earth could be explored and found to provide mankind with adequate nourishment. He never stopped trying to experiment along these lines, but he always had to turn back to goat milk to regain his strength.
In the end he had to acknowledge the necessity for animal food. In 1946 he declared: "The crores of India today get neither milk nor ghee nor butter, nor even buttermilk. No wonder that mortality figures are on the increase and there is a lack of energy in the people. It would appear as if man is really unable to sustain life without either meat or milk and milk products. Anyone who deceives people in this regard or countenances the fraud is an enemy of India."
These are strong words from a man who devoted most of his life to the search for a satisfactory vegetarian diet. But Gandhi's experience is not unique in the field of nutrition. Many others have also gone through the experience of believing that man could thrive exclusively upon a limited selection of uncooked plant foods, only to find in the end that animal products were necessary for sustenance. ....
And vegan diets for children? forget about it. They need meat in their diet in order to develop properly. Why wouldn't that matter after we are adults too?
In another study of five families on a vegan diet, these were the results:
# 55% reported loss of muscle and muscle tone on the diet
# 55% also report difficulty staying warm, a thyroid problem
# 59% are plagued with food cravings
# A whopping 67% report scattered thinking.
# 46% feel they are looking older than they should.
# 54% feel run down, chronically tired.
59% don't feel like exercising or working on the diet.
Guess you could call this FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
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