recommending diets that recommend eating animals--why?

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the tip, Michael. I hope that Dr. Fuhrman’s book encourages meat-eaters to eat fewer animals.

It does make me very sad, however, that he actually incorporates meat into his “health plan.”

We all know that you can a little bit of meat and still be mostly healthy. And that you can be vegan, but eat only French fries and thus have some health issues.

I can’t believe that the answer to unhealthy vegans is to eat animals—the answer is to eat healthier vegan foods. Everyone needs fruits and vegetables and grains and legumes in their diets.

If we look at the big picture and take everything into account, then a healthy vegan diet is the way to go. “Everything” includes the horrible animal suffering in slaughterhouses and factory farms, the environmental destruction, and the labor issues of the meat industry. Why support any of that with our hard-earned money, when it doesn’t do anything beneficial for our health?

Even if you’re reasonably healthy while eating some meat, you’re still ingesting artery-clogging cholesterol, too much protein (damage to the bones and kidneys), and all the hormones and antibiotics.

I also worry about “health plans” that count calories. People have a hard time following those rules and eating less, often ending up frustrated and worse off than before the diet. A healthy, low-fat vegan diet means eating until you’re comfortably full, without the mental anxiety of counting calories, feeling hungry, or feeling guilty about going over your calorie count.

That said, I am still glad Dr. Fuhrman is around and encouraging meat-eaters to eat less meat. I wouldn’t normally question his work—for instance, if a person who eats meat three times a day cuts down to one time a day thanks to Fuhrman, he or she wouldn’t hear a peep out of me! But since this is a pro-vegetarian list and his diet incorporates dead animals, I had to respond.

I have seen too many vegetarians go back to eating meat, because of some diet plan or another, and they end up gaining weight and losing energy. And feeling bad for the animal abuse they’re supporting. It is very sad to see.

Here’s a great article about how humans “have” to eat meat or not:

http://goveg.com/naturalhumandiet.asp

Thanks again for posting to the list.

Alex

 

At the Red Victorian Peace Cafe in SF last Friday evening, Dixie Mahy presented (under the auspices of the SF Veg Society) a video of Dr. Joel Fuhrman's talk, " The Greatest Diet on Earth. " My wife and I attended.

 

We were highly impressed and immediately purchased his Eat to Live. It's terrific!

 

According to Fuhrman, the key to health consists of eating high nutrient-dense food, not necessarily vegan food. Vegans can be unhealthy eaters, fat and sick. However if your criteria for healthful food involves high nutrient-density, rather than vegan, you're less likely to wander off the healthy path. And it will be more difficult to rationalize away eating lots of vegan pasta, bread, tortillas, and vegan processed desserts (which I had been doing) or cooking with olive (or other vegetable) oil.

 

Fuhrman's message is clear, to the point, non-doctrinaire, and backed by much research. For more info, go to: www.drfuhrman.com.

 

Best, Michael