Health and Veganism

[LillyThePink]

ok, so I frequent another board and every single day, this guy comes and posts links to recipies, pushing veganism as the choice for a new generation.

Think of a food Jehovahs Witness and you've got this guy pegged.

in addition, he makes claims about "meat eaters" that I'm sure are absolute bollocks, but even though I just eat dead flesh pretty much every meal, I don't really know that much about nutritional stuff...

Anyone want to link me with some really good "EAT THIS!!" sites.



The claim today was that meat eaters who need to lower their colesterol usually have to go on pills to accomplish it, whereas going vegan would do it naturally for them.

[FFed]

A friend of mine sent me this link awhile ago. I haven't really looked at it, but you can see if there is anything worth while there. Beyond Vegetarianism

[LillyThePink]

Thank yoooooooooooooooooou!!

[arcticpenguin]

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/publ...chol/wyntk.htm

High blood cholesterol: what you need to know

Quote:

A variety of things can affect cholesterol levels. These are things you can do something about:

Diet. Saturated fat and cholesterol in the food you eat make your blood cholesterol level go up. Saturated fat is the main culprit, but cholesterol in foods also matters. Reducing the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in your diet helps lower your blood cholesterol level.

Weight. Being overweight is a risk factor for heart disease. It also tends to increase your cholesterol. Losing weight can help lower your LDL and total cholesterol levels, as well as raise your HDL and lower your triglyceride levels.

Physical Activity. Not being physically active is a risk factor for heart disease. Regular physical activity can help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise HDL (good) cholesterol levels. It also helps you lose weight. You should try to be physically active for 30 minutes on most, if not all, days.

Things you cannot do anything about also can affect cholesterol levels. These include:

Age and Gender. As women and men get older, their cholesterol levels rise. Before the age of menopause, women have lower total cholesterol levels than men of the same age. After the age of menopause, women's LDL levels tend to rise.

Heredity. Your genes partly determine how much cholesterol your body makes. [b]High blood cholesterol can run in families[b].

My notes: Your body manufactures cholesterol, it's not just from your diet. Note the bit in the diet section about saturated fats. Some plant fats are saturated, some are not.

Runs in families: look up 'familial hypercholesteremia' for more.

[LillyThePink]

AP *smooch* Cheers, matey!

[arcticpenguin]

It is especially important that someone pursuing a vegan diet (as opposed to ovo-lacto vegetarianism) knows about cobalamin = vitamin B12. This is not naturally available from plants, and you cannot live without it.


http://www.beyondveg.com/walsh-s/vit...vegans-1.shtml

[arcticpenguin]

Neurologic Impairment in Children Associated with Maternal Dietary Deficiency of Cobalamin --- Georgia, 2001

[zakur]

Why I Am Not a Vegetarian by Dr. William T. Jarvis

[delsydsoft]

I LOVE this site, especially since my roommate became a vegetarian. The Mad Cow website has a comprehensive list of products derived from cows. It really makes the whole vegetarianism/veganism thing seem pointless. Enjoy.

Mad Cow

[BillyJoe]

A vegan is, almost by definition, a religious fanatic. He will hold on tenaciously (see sig) whatever you say.
Best of luck though.

[Tony]

Quote:

Originally posted by zakur
Why I Am Not a Vegetarian by Dr. William T. Jarvis

Thanx for the link.

From the link, a danger of veganism.

Ideologic Vegetarianism

Much of my professional life has been spent studying health fraud, quackery, and related misinformation, and their impact on people's lives. I have discerned a recurrent sequence of behaviors: First, the prospective vegetarian eliminates reportedly unhealthful foods from his or her diet, beginning with foods that society considers "bad for you" (e.g., sugar, coffee, and white bread). Next, if concerns about food safety grow to neurotic proportions, the person scrutinizes labels and worries about ingredients indicated by terms he doesn't understand. Then he may patronize health food stores, where clerks and publications can feed his phobias. He may treat modern foods as poisonous. Finally, if he deems vegetarianism not restrictive enough, the "health foodist" may turn to veganism. In my opinion, it is at this point that vegetarianism becomes hazardous, especially for children.

The case of Sonja and Khachadour Atikian illustrates what can happen to those seduced by ideologic vegetarianism. The Atikians were immigrants from Lebanon who —because of unrelenting media barrages focusing on environmental pollution, diet, and health —became overly concerned about the safety and healthfulness of modern foods. Sonja Atikian began shopping at health food stores instead of supermarkets. Gerhardt Hanswille, a self-styled herbalist from Germany, taught classes in the rear of a health food store she patronized. Although Hanswille was not licensed to practice medicine, he saw 40 to 45 "patients" day. He treated Ms. Atikian for a sore knee, and she took some of his courses. Hanswille taught that: (a) people should not kill animals, nor consume animal products; (b) God intended cow's milk to be food for calves, not human babies; (c) eating eggs deprives hens of fulfilling their divinely intended role as mothers; (d) people should not poison themselves or the earth with the unnatural products of modern living; (e) using herbs both as food and as medicine is God's way; and (f) the medicines of doctors are poisons. "Choose whom you will believe," said Hanswille, "me or the doctors. You can't have it both ways."

Ms. Atikian chose poorly. Except for eating fish occasionally, she followed the herbalist's advice during pregnancy. She delivered a healthy 8.2-lb girl named Loreie. Hanswille convinced the Atikians that the newborn would become a superbaby if they gave her a vegetarian diet of raw, organic foods. He dissuaded them from having the infant immunized and from continuing to see a pediatrician. And he induced them to rely on him for healthcare advice.

Four and a half months after her birth, Loreie's weight was still at the 75th percentile, but when she was 11 months old, breast-feeding —her sole source of animal food —discontinued. Fed only fruits, vegetables, and rice, she eventually stopped growing, slept more and more, and had more and more infections. As the baby's health spiraled downward, Hanswille assured the parents that her decline was merely "the poisons coming out of her body" and that she would eventually become the superbaby they desired. In 1987, 17-month-old Loreie died of bronchial pneumonia complicated by severe malnutrition. She weighed 111/4 lbs. The Atikians were charged with failing to provide their daughter with the "necessaries of life." Their defense was that they had truly believed they had been providing the "necessaries of life" when they followed Hanswille's advice. The judge acquitted them after the discovery that the prosecution had failed to provide important information supporting the couple's story.

[LillyThePink]

Thank you alll soooooooooooooooo much. That Mad Cow site is going to make his head explode *lol*